Dr. Othman Al-Saleh and His Passion for Cineraria

Kuwait has lost Dr. Othman Abdulmalik Al-Saleh, and with him, a first-rate legal scholar. May God have mercy on him; he was forthright and clear in matters of law, speaking the truth—nothing but the truth. to everyone, young and old, and his articles and research—as well as the testimonies of his friends and colleagues—bear witness to this. Many of his colleagues and admirers have written about Dr. Othman’s capabilities and legal expertise. As for me, I will write here about another area in which Dr. Othman excelled: the cultivation of roses. May God have mercy on him; in addition to his passion for law, he was a lover of nature’s beauty. When I visited him at his home in Al-Ardiya—a few weeks before his passing—I saw him with his sleeves rolled up, working with both hands in his garden, which was filled with various types of trees and climbing and trailing roses… In the center stood a cage where various beautiful birds sang. The late Dr. Othman adored a flower in his small, beautiful garden called “Cineraria,” which he called “Sinanir” because of its bright color and exquisite shape... I see these roses often in the gardens and orchards of the Netherlands, but I rarely see them here in our gardens because of the extreme care and constant daily attention they require... Because of Dr. Othman’s deep interest and passion for this type of rose, I promised him I would bring him new hybrid varieties of “Cineraria” seeds, but his untimely passing, which took us all by surprise, prevented him from receiving these seeds that I had actually secured for him. May God have mercy on him; he adored “Senaria” roses despite the difficulty of propagating and cultivating them… just as he adored the law despite the difficulty of enacting and upholding it… He loved for the law to prevail just as he loved for the roses to prevail. For in the law there is justice, and in the roses there is beauty. And a country where justice and beauty prevail is a beloved, wonderful country. May God have mercy on you, Dr. Othman, and may you dwell in a paradise filled with “Sinanir” roses...!