Page 6 - Protestant Missionary Activity in the Arabian Gulf

"Qibla" or area v/est of the Seef Palace, and the^Murgab" or

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area from the old suq inland to the city walls. On the first
day after Ramadan the families of the Sharq would receive

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guests, on the second day the families of the Qibla, and on

the afternoon of the second day the families of the Murgab.

The American Mission and the diplomatic community in Kuwait i

had borrowed this Arab custom is. the early part of the century

to provide an annual opportunity for their friends to call on

them. The Mission would sit on Christmas Day, and the diplo­

matic community, then just the British Political Resident,

would sit on New Year’s, Of course, in those days, Dr. Scudder
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went on, many more people would call, including the Ruler
himself, but then the Mission was an active and influential

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force in Kuwait. Nowadays, the people that came were just the

more traditional Kuwaitis, including representative members

of the £oJal family, and personal friends of the Mission.

The Mission call customarilj’- began with a call upon the mis­
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sion padre (Beit al-Qass) followed by a call upon the mission i

doctor (Beit al-Duktoor or Hakim). The calls upon the padre’s

house were discontinued in the early 1960’s as a policy of the

incumbent pastor. But even as late as 1936 a few undaunted

traditionalists still beat manfully upon the closed door of

Beit al-Qass demanding the right to pay thEir respects before

trudging up the hill to Beit al-Duktoor.

The hospital itself had been closed in the 1960’s and

by 1972 there was no longer a long list of officials or dig­

nitaries who were calling on the doctor as a matter of proto-

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