Televised Mourning

Our television has 2,400 channels.

We were excited when we first found out but quickly realized that the majority of them are pay channels that have not been paid for... We have then been left with CNN, BBC World, Al Jazeera International, a French, a German and a Chinese channel - and a couple hundred Arab channels of which a few show series and moves in English.

In an attempt to locate some Kuwaiti channels I searched through 500 of the 2,400 (and found 3) but along the way I often wondered if a particular channel was from the Gulf or from other Arabic-speaking areas.

Well, today is the day to find out - following the tragic death of Sheikh Ahmad Bin Zayed Al Nahyan the brother of Sheikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan the ruler of Abu Dhabi and President of the United Arab Emirates - the United Arab Emirates have entered into 3 days of state mourning (the story is here). All television channels from the UAE have cleared their schedules and are broadcasting non-stop Qur'an recitals and prayers for the deceased.

When they say state mourning it is certainly not just the 1 minute of silence that is often observed elsewhere in the world, the wearing of black armbands or the lowering of the flag to be flown at half-mast.

Mind you, when the Emir of Kuwait died in 2006, Kuwait observed a 40-day mourning period.