Kuwaiti astronomer Saleh Al-Ajiri passed away at the age of more than 100.

The friend and lawyer Imad Al-Saif tweeted the following expressive words of lamentation: “It is as if Kuwait had a piece of its heart cut off by the passing of the astronomer Uncle Saleh Al-Ujairi, the scientist who preceded the era of his homeland and his environment and established a science that was (metaphysical) for the entire region.”

The kind father is gone, the address of the joke, the fountain of tenderness and the pride of humility, and the tenderness of national giving.

I met Uncle Saleh nearly sixty years ago when he was dealing with the bank in which I was working. His kind fatherly smile was always in his face while presenting his company’s transactions to me to finalize, and the company was specialized in cleaning, run by a resident expatriate.

Despite the sensitivity of the work that the company was doing due to its need to hire large numbers of cleaners, and what this means for the possibility of mistreatment of them due to their poor condition and need, the company kept a distinguished work record and was never heard of abuse.

I was always happy to meet him especially after I knew that he was the author of the famous calendar, the “Al-Ujairi Calendar”, which was used year after year in all offices and shops including my father’s shop, on which he and the accountant depended to know the history and that coincides days as well as weather forecasts, when to change winter clothes to summer or vice versa and other things that were necessary at the time.

Despite his knowledge and wealth, the late Al-Ujairi was a good, humble and beloved person, and he was welcomed everywhere but he preferred the Diwaniya of his late comrade Barjas Al-Barjas.

He loved his work and his calendar, which he published once a year. Although 70 years have passed since the publication of the calendar, it has not changed, and the general external design has remained the same, unlike the image of the Amir of the country which has changed five times.

The calendar did not bring him much money despite the effort and time he spent in issuing it, but it was his preoccupation throughout the year as he was interested in what was written on its lower margin, or what was written of wise sayings, jokes and sayings behind each of its papers that covered the days of the year. It was an example in the accuracy of its calculations, and therefore the state officially adopted it.

The late Al-Ujairi was not only a prominent astronomer ahead of his time, but also an enlightened scholar who entered a semi-forbidden area, unconcerned with the criticisms he heard about his response to predictions, even those related to the start of the “flies breeding” season.

We hope to turn the house of the great deceased into a museum. The late man was throughout his life a representative of the good side of our history, from which many things disappeared.

We also wish his family or any government agency to ensure the continuation of the issuance of the Al-Ujairi Calendar as it is from us and for us!

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By Ahmad alsarraf