http://www.arabnews.com/?page=7§ion=0&article=81682&d=4&m=5&y=2006
Thursday, 4, May, 2006 (06, Rabi` al-Thani, 1427)
Learning to Think and Tolerate Differences in Saudi Society
Abeer Mishkhas, [EMAIL PROTECTED]
LAST week I came across an article online about a meeting of Saudi
journalists and the topics that they discussed. The article was mainly about a
speech made by one participant in which she addressed a number of obstacles
that Saudi women in general face. Among the points she mentioned - which
concern and trouble many women here - were the restrictions imposed on women in
the name of tradition.
For example, medical personnel having to cover their faces and a lack of
choice in such matters as driving or obtaining official IDs. Many women agreed
with the speaker while many others did not; that is hardly the problem as there
is always space for more than one opinion. And for the sake of diversity and
simple fairness, we must accept that everyone will not hold the same opinions.
At the meeting, however, there were people who were out to impose their beliefs
on everyone else and to entertain no opinion but their own. As a result, the
speaker was verbally attacked and the photographers were asked to stop taking
photographs lest they be published and give a "false impression about the women
attending the meeting."
Obviously, Islam's message of tolerance and respect had not reached those
who were so loudly complaining. They could have expressed their opinions in a
quiet and civilized manner and made their ideas clear in the same way. It
seems, however, that their idea was that everyone must be of the same mind and
have the same opinions - which of course means theirs. They even went so far as
to say that individual opinions were dangerous! Alas! I was not surprised but I
was saddened. It is sad how some of us refuse to see the difference between
engaging in friendly discussions and between fighting simply to maintain a
dominant position.
Bad as what went on at the meeting was, what was even worse was on the
website. A good number of comments and reactions were very disturbing and very
sad. Some just attacked the speaker for having "destructive" and "foreign"
ideas; others were praying for her to return to "the right path", i.e. to hold
the same opinions they held. And worst of all, many attacked her personally,
using the most abusive and horrible language. Such reactions are becoming all
too normal on websites or on TV. But then, just when I thought things could not
get worse, they did.
It was said that some of the women at the meeting had no right to talk
about Saudi women since they themselves were not "pure" Saudis. What, I want to
know, is a "pure" Saudi? Must we, like some 19th-century Europeans, have a coat
of arms with sixteen quarterings of nobility to prove that our grandparents,
great-grandparents and great-great grandparents lived here and only here in the
Arabian Peninsula? This idea of "purity" is both hateful and very alarming.
Unfortunately, this is not the first time I have heard it and even more
unfortunately, it is widespread.
There is always someone who will accuse another of not being "pure."
According to those people, only those whose historical roots are firmly in the
Arabian Peninsula have the right to talk. As for the others, they should be
silent and thankful to be allowed to live here among the "pure." How racist is
that? I would like to remind these lovers and extollers of Arab "purity" that
one of the companions of the prophet (pbuh) was Persian. And that the prophet
predicted that this Persian would be one of the 10 companions who were going to
heaven. The Persian's advice was taken in battle and because it was, the army
of Islam was saved. No talk of Arab "purity" rears its ugly head there.
Islamic history is full of such examples. We can recall the famous
incident during the time of Omar ibn Al-Khatab when he learned that the son of
one of his governors in Egypt had beaten an Egyptian man and called him
"inferior." Omar's response was to bring the governor, his son and the Egyptian
to Madinah. The Egyptian was given a whip and told to beat the governor's son
in the same way he himself had been beaten. He was also given the power to beat
the governor. No mention of "purity" or anything else there - just the
beautifully simple Islamic practice of returning to wrongdoers a taste of their
own medicine.
These are the examples that we talk about and that our children are
taught in school. But I wonder - do the teachers say anything about respecting
people and their ideas? Not agreeing, but just respecting? Or do we say one
thing and do another?
Frankly I see this stupid talk about "pure" Saudis as a tragic waste of
time. I long for the day when we finally realize the difference between having
a mind that thinks and one that runs on automatic, alienating people in order
to avoid facing the real problems that all people who live in this country have
to deal with.
I long also for the day when people will have the right to speak and
propose ideas that may shock those who are most comfortable dwelling in the
shadows of their dark and unlit minds.
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