http://www.arabnews.com/?page=9§ion=0&article=65170&d=10&m=6&y=2005
Friday, 10, June, 2005 (03, Jumada al-Ula, 1426)
Analyzing the Arab Mindset
Abdullah Bajubeer
The popular reaction to the newspaper report about an Iraqi
farmer shooting down an Apache helicopter some time ago prompted me to look
more carefully into the Arab way of thinking, particularly the influence of
superstition on the Arab mindset. I was shocked to find that instead of finding
logical solutions to the challenges posed by sophisticated technological
advancement in many areas, the Arab mind seeks refuge in solutions based on
legends and superstitions. A resistance to the pressures of the modern world
controlled by reason and logic still lurks in our deepest recesses; it prefers
to wallow in intellectual lethargy and self-indulgence, being content with
imported technology without the least effort to develop the technology as
non-Arab countries are doing and have done.
I wonder how a mindset weighed down by legends and
superstitions can be impressed by contemporary world development based on
science and technology. Will the rapid and radical changes happening in the
world help the Arab mind to make a qualitative shift in its thinking style and
open its doors to a rational and scientific approach? The Arab mind should
learn how great achievements have been made with the help of science and
technology so that society found a way to escape the curse of backwardness. An
intelligent and logical approach to realities will enable us Arabs to throw
away the superstitious way of thinking which has obstructed our progress over
centuries. The new approach would also gear us to counter the challenges of the
changed world more effectively.
Dr. Ibrahim Badran and Dr. Salwa Al-Khamash have written an
excellent book on the Arab mindset. The book gives considerable insight into
our way of thinking and our actions. The authors define superstition as ideas,
customs and practices without a rational explanation; they have no basis in
scientific fact. A superstitious mindset is a mentality that attempts to
achieve an individual's or group's goals by activities that are not based on
science or logic. Sometimes information based on logic is not enough to free
people from the grip of superstitions. Another requirement is a social
environment free from accumulated and inherited ideas steeped in superstition.
A superstitious society will not doubt its power to defeat
enemies armed with modern weaponry. The freak event of the Iraqi farmer armed
with a primitive gun felling an Apache helicopter is an instance of how reason
can be obfuscated by unreason. This single event might have boosted a popular
belief in superstition, notwithstanding a thousand other instances of modern
war machines reducing Iraq's defense to rubble. The Arab mind is ready to
accept anything opposed to science and reason. It is kind of realization of a
dream or fantasy lying deep somewhere in the dark corner of the subconscious.
It is nonsense to believe that a small militant outfit with
hardly any weapons to match the enemy will succeed in the battle for Baghdad
only because they are the descendants of Arabs who established mighty Islamic
empires in the past. They do not acknowledge that present-day realities are
vastly different from those in their ancestors' times. Superstitions cannot
defeat science nor can wishful statements in newspapers defuse the fury of
Patriot missiles or bombs.
Dr. Badran and Dr. Al-Khamash also pointed out that a society
under the influence of superstition will achieve little progress. They also
said that poor people were more vulnerable to superstitions. I do not agree
with this view. I believe that the menace is widespread among all classes.
Some Arab commanders reportedly consulted a sorcerer in order
to find out the outcome of the 1967 war with Israel. The uneducated charlatan
made the graduates of military academies and universities believe that they
could win the war while the enemy would be routed in the first encounter. It
might have been under the influence of this prediction that a section of the
Arab media reported the next day that Israel's 175 fighter planes had been shot
down in midair in the early hours of the first day of the war and the
victorious Arab forces were approaching Tel Aviv. The facts, however, were
rather different: All the military airfields and planes of the Arab country
were bombed and destroyed by Israel in a matter of six hours after the
beginning of the war.
The Arab media is not altogether free from a similar menace.
I can produce many instances to prove the hold of superstition on journalists
and writers. Several of them organize special functions to invoke the powers of
saints, visit tombs or resort to sorcery. The extent of the influence of
sorcery on society is evident from the increasing number of reports of
swindlers who persuade people, particularly the wealthy, to part with large
sums of money and then they - the swindlers - disappear.
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
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Berdikusi dg Santun & Elegan, dg Semangat Persahabatan. Menuju Indonesia yg
Lebih Baik, in Commonality & Shared Destiny. www.ppi-india.org
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