Kuwait Valentine's Day

(AP Photo/Gustavo Ferrari)

An Arab woman looking at a shopwindow decorated with Valentine'sDay items, in Kuwait City, Wednesday, Feb. 13, 2008. A group of conservative Kuwaiti lawmakers are looking to amend the country's legislation to prevent any commemoration of Valentine'sDay, parliamentarians said Wednesday.

Islamists, who control a sizable bloc in the parliament, believe such imported holidays are corrupting young Muslims and stripping this small oil-rich Gulf state of its identity. "We are now studying the necessary amendments that would ban celebrations contradicting Sharia (Islamic Law)," said parliamentarian Jamaan al-Hirbish, part of panel examining "alien phenomena" being embraced by Kuwaitis.