Muslim Men in Muslim Lands
April 18, 2007 at 11:02 am | In Islam, Men, Rants | 35 CommentsThere are numerous accounts of women who travel from Western countries to these Muslim lands and are so enamoured with the architect, the opportunities (for ex-pats) and the hospitality of the people.
Some of these journeys are made to visit family and friends, others is migration, for some its business or perhaps pleasure.
As a woman in these Muslim countries, such as Pakistan, Syria, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the UAE to name a few, there seems to be a problem with the native men folk.
Incidencies of being sexually harrassed by men – whereby they consider themselves to be Majnun’s or Ranjha and leechingly hand out their mobile phone numbers to women passers by. Not to mention groping too.
Sometimes even being groped in the market place is something thats not un-known. To bump into someone unaware is quite differrent to knowingly being groped, sometimes by boys as young as 12 and by men as old as your grandfather.
The retort for this is blame put on the women. “They weren’t dressed properly, they were immodest or were attracting attention”
Some even present the following verse in addition to their response when asked why men harrass women
Surah Al-Ahzab
59. O Prophet! Tell your wives and your daughters and the women of the believers to draw their cloaks (veils) all over their bodies (i.e.screen themselves completely except the eyes or one eye to see the way). That will be better, that they should be known (as free respectable women) so as not to be annoyed. And Allâh is Ever OftForgiving, Most Merciful.
However, I don’t find that to answer my question. Do these men who supply the above verse mean to imply that women who do not cover are deserving to be harrassed? That it permits men to harrass those who they deem to be insufficiently covered? It has a waft of the opinion made by the Australian Imam who referred to uncovered women as like slabs/pieces of meat, but this phenemona of blame on women isn’t restricted to Muslims but seems to be a thought shared by men regardless of background or religious faith
Adorning hijaab not only because it is a command from Allah (swt) for the believing women, but because we attribute it to have some kind of protective quality seems to rock that argument when faced with harrassment in all shapes and forms by men.
The hijaab in itself should not solely be seen as a shield against this kind of attention, and so when in such a predicament one opts to seclude and isolate themselves for fear of being molested.
The men should be educated in the basic Islamic principles of how to behave and of the collective notion of brotherhood and sisterhood. But who’s going to bother with that, when its just easier blaming the women?
Why is self-restraint amongst men of Muslim countries problematic?
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Assalam Alaikum Sumera,
Having noticed some of that behavior in UAE I think part of the problem is that these men do not seem to be religious. Sure they live in an Islamic country but that does not mean they are practicing, believing men of firm iman and taqwa.
The type of men who engage in such lewd activities are the ones who are generally rich and spoilt. Their concept of religion seems to be to the extent of showing up for prayers every now and then. Other than that, they hang out at malls, beaches, etc and plan their next move on women.
It is a sad state of affairs but with Dubai imitating the western society as much as it is, things seem to be getting worse.
Blaming the women is just a sign of weakness. Women do their part and men sure as hell need to do theirs!
Comment by believer786 — April 18, 2007 #
WalaykumAsalaam Mushir
Im sure lack of Islamic principles plays a part in it, but that cannot account for all of the lewd behaviour.
Living in the West, very few Muslim women are harrassed (of a sexual nature – not racism) and are able to freely go about their business. If there is any harassment, its from and at the hands of Muslim men.
The non-Muslim men couldn’t care less, most don’t even look your way and seem to have more self-restraint.
So why is there such a difference between the 2 groups of men? and whats causing it?
Comment by Sumera — April 18, 2007 #
Do these Muslim men harass non-Muslim women, as much as they seem to harass Muslimahs?
I do agree with Believer, though. A brother who fears Allah in his heart, wouldn’t even think of accidentally brushing against a sister, never mind pinching her bottom!
Non-Muslim men in the UK do their own share of harassment, but mostly in the form of leers and wolf-whistles, etc. Groping seems to be a cultural phenomenon. It’s twisted!
If we want an end to it then these Muslim men should learn to fear Allah: “Zina of the hand is touching”.
Also, Muslimahs should not be afraid to give these lechs a mighty thwack! Seriously, it’s our Islamic right – maybe even a duty! If i was living in a climate of such perversion (Allah forbid), i’d carry a brick in my bag, and learn how to use it. Why should they get away with such disgusting behaviour?
If these men don’t learn by fearing Allah, they’ll certainly learn by fearing pain! Either way works for me.
Hmm… maybe those self-defense classes are going to my head? Nah…
Comment by iMuslim — April 18, 2007 #
“Do these men who supply the above verse mean to imply that women who do not cover are deserving to be harrassed? That it permits men to harrass those who they deem to be insufficiently covered?”
If they do, i’d like to ask them, “Who the heck do you think you’re fooling?! Do you think Allah, Al-Adl, will accept that rubbish excuse on the Day of Judgement?”
*hits silly man over the head with her brick*
Comment by iMuslim — April 18, 2007 #
iMuslim: Some of these Muslim men in Muslim countries seem to harrass anything that’s remotely shaped as a woman! They dont restrict it to colour or background; truly open minded eh? ~rolleyes~ They even have warnings written in travel brochures!
I encountered this kind of disgusting behaviour in Pakistan. And I was surprised at my own reaction to it of feeling ashamed and dirty. Although I knew it wasn’t my fault, I had been fully covered and avoided eye contact with the men.
So my reaction to it left me feeling really confused. I recall bathing numerous many times a day to get that “dirt” off me. Nauthobillah, I wouldnt wish that feeling upon anyone.
Comment by Sumera — April 18, 2007 #
Salaam alaikum,
I’m one of the first to say that there are problems, MANY problems with the way men and women realte to each other in the West. But, Western men have very often grown up around women (so they’re not sudden novelties) and in a climate that teaches, at least officially, that women are equals in terms of being rounded in their abilities and in terms of being worthy of respect as people. And our culture teaches, again at least officially, that both men and women are responsible for their actions. Yes, women are also exploited as sex objects here, yes, we’re also depicted as flighty, superficial, and all those things. But I think that the plain fact is that the norm here is to have a higher standard of behavior than seems to be the case among these men. Behavior of that sort is reprehensible and people know it.
Sumera, it makes me feel awful that that contact in Pakistan left you feeling dirty and ashamed and confused. What must it do to women who experience unwanted contact like that and can’t stop it or go back to a place where it’s not acceptable.
Comment by Hana — April 18, 2007 #
WalaykumAsalaam Hana
Im not too sure whether its entirely related to exposure to women, as in the West you still get men who work and live amongst women but still behave appalingly, but yes places and spheres of life that are entirely male dominated breed these kind of attitudes a lot more often and readily (construction workers come to mind.
Thats why I seriously doubt segregation works. I went to a co-ed school, and a mixed university and to be frank, I much prefer it than single sex schools seeing the by product that comes out of those types of schools.
I suppose it comes down to having idealistic notions and expectations of Muslim countries, that since they are predominantely Muslim they would have a higher standard of behaviour and basically behave and implement those values Islam brought and emphasised.
Im not sure what can be done to address the behaviour aside from education. I think in some countries where women are seen to be the honour of the family, “revenge” is sought through that avenue, which I dont agree with at all but I see how it could act as a deterrent.
After that incident, I would go to the market place with a huge bag as a weapon. I didnt need to wallop anyone with it though but I was always a lot more apprehensive and wary of men around there.
Comment by Sumera — April 19, 2007 #
I didn’t realize that Muslimahs were harrassed too, I thought it was just western women that were the targets. I was hassled terribly in Morocco before I started wearing hijab and djellaba. I just assumed they thought all western women were sluts and therefore fair game. But what now, all women are fair game?
Comment by Asiya — April 19, 2007 #
Seems like anything goes these days Asiya. Whatever they can grab, regardless of who it belongs to is good enough for them!
Comment by Sumera — April 19, 2007 #
Once I was walking with a colleague in Saudi who was a grandmother and limped. She wears niqaab. A car pulled to the side of the road and a couple of young men (her grandson’s age) tried to pull her inside. I have never been so frightened in my life! I have been groped numerous times in Saudi while in hijab and abaya!
Comment by Suroor — April 19, 2007 #
salaam,
i apologize on behalf of my crazy gender. but there is tons of sexual frustration that plagues the muslim world due to socio-economic factors. i know that in egypt it is HARD to get married and pakistan as well. lack of education, reaffirming a backward precedent subjugating women, these play a role as well.
im not sure when muslims will get it that hijab is more than pieces of cloth; that it embodies a state of mind and taqwa-based attitude prescribed for the betterment of women AND men alike.
Comment by naveed — April 20, 2007 #
Suroor: Oh my! That must’ve been awful. Whats with these people??
Naveed: Thank you for your input! I dont its purely a result of socio-economic factors, yes money is tight and getting married in much of these countries is hard. But groping passersby in some frenzied attempt to release pent up frustration isn’t quite the appropriate path to take. And im sure they are aware of it too.
It is a great shame that the advice and guidance Islam brought isn’t being practised. By both males and females. Im sure there are females who purposely attract this kind attention, and there are those men who fear Allah and find this kind of behaviour reprehensible.
Comment by Sumera — April 20, 2007 #
There was a enlightening post a while back by sister Safiyyah regarding this.
It is an extension of the philosophy that is all too apparent in the Muslim world, that the Muslim man can do no wrong, and that all that is wrong with the ummah can be blamed upon our womenfolk. They’ll back it up with a few misquoted hadith, completely neglecting the ethics and adab with which the Prophet sallallaho’alayhi wa salam treated his wives and the women of his community.
It’s a direct result of taking segregation too far, where a man feels the need to harbour contempt for women in order to make it easier to keep segregated. Now, I’m actually all for reasonable segregation of the sexes in the public sphere, but it needs to be with the right intention. I want to give my sisters their space not because I find them repulsive or because I can’t control my urges, but because I value their privacy. Unfortunately, too many Muslims interpret segregation as repulsion, and thus feel as if they are excused from their despicable behaviour when they happen to come across women; after all, “she shouldn’t have been there in the first place.” Ugh.
I’ve seen efforts by many community leaders in India to counter this sort of behaviour (at least, within their own communities), but this sort of behaviour has been tolerated and accepted for so many generations that it has become commonplace. Still, it’s good to see that many sincere Muslim men do recognize the problem and are doing something about it.
May Allah guide us all.
Comment by Faraz — April 21, 2007 #
because they think it’s socially acceptable to do so! that’s why. obviously say a man on the streets of London – might want to look at me but he KNOWS it is considered impolite. he may do so surreptitiously – or smile in a friendly open way – but if he tries to grope etc. or look in a lewd fashion – he knows it’s socially unacceptable. Or he ought to anyway. The issue is what message is society sending to men? what behaviour is considered okay?
that is the crux of the matter.
Comment by sonia — April 21, 2007 #
Seems to me in a country like Saudi Arabia, what with their crazy rules, it’s pretty difficult to say that the society overall is sending a message that men ought to respect women and not treat them like a ’sex-thing’. No I think the message they are sending is quite the opposite: women are ’sex-things’ – they are fitnah, keep away till you are allowed to have sex legally with one etc. Well it’s hardly surprising how men look at women in that context – is it?
Comment by sonia — April 21, 2007 #
also the other thing is once you keep on about how something is ‘forbidden’ people become obsessed with it. women are the ‘forbidden fruit’ for these men. if normal sexual interest is made to feel something ‘dirty’ then its not suprising people become repressed. and when people become repressed, instead of having a healthy sex life with their girlfriend, it seems they are off trying to grope women in shopping areas in hijab! now frankly i think that’s disgusting and i’d rather young guys find themselves a nice girlfriend and sort themselves out that way. Oh but we can’t have that can we..young people having sex without being married! *haram* Fine. But let’s be clear about the reality ( and side effect) of such social and cultural repressive attitudes towards sex.
Comment by sonia — April 21, 2007 #
of course, such obsession with sex i see no different as the other extreme of the spectrum – e.g. viewing women only as sexual objects – i.e.as seen in much of the advertising industry, porn industry etc.
Comment by sonia — April 21, 2007 #
Whoops, I didn’t realize you already linked to Safiyyah’s post.
Comment by Faraz — April 22, 2007 #
Faraz: Yeah, I had read Safiyyah’s post a while back, and although I know what most Muslim countries are like, in my naivity I didn’t anticipate Saudi to follow suit. However, hearing tales about the lewd behaviour thats rampant even in the Kingdom has shattered that naive outlook.
I think the problem certainly does involve in some cultures seeing women as repulsive and thats why they are allocated their own quarters and space. If they stray out of their seclusion then they are deemed responsible for whatever ill falls upon them. Taking “pardah” a bit too literally I suppose.
Sonia: I agree that lewd behaviour has its unfortunate presence in any culture, but in predominantely Muslim countries, with the emphasis on Islamic values and morals – like lowering of the gaze and zina of the eyes, limbs to name a few – you really expect them to be examples of good moral behaviour.
Its slightly bizarre because to a certain extent Islam doesn’t see sex as something thats forbidden or dirty, infact its encouraged within the context of marriage. Then again, marriage itself comes with its own set of responsibilities and obligations that need fulfilled…they don’t want the whole package – no, they are far too “young” and “immature” to be tied down but not young enough or are immature enough to make the decision to have sex! Obviously there are other factors at play here, but its not so easy to pull them apart.
Comment by Sumera — April 22, 2007 #
Yes that kind of behavior is all too common and people (read men) do use that excuse all that often. After sometime one feels as if one should just give up since these people are unlikely to change.
Comment by saqi namah - that's it — April 23, 2007 #
“Its slightly bizarre because to a certain extent Islam doesn’t see sex as something thats forbidden or dirty, infact its encouraged within the context of marriage.”
yes i agree and that’s a redeeming feature of islam over say a religion that would suggest human sexuality is a sin.
but your key point is that it is encouraged within the context of marriage. and till we get married, we either hear nothing about it, and it is generally a ‘taboo’ subject. so naturally there is going to be confusion until then.
Comment by sonia — April 23, 2007 #
Saqi: This kind of behaviour is so deeply ingrained that eradicating it, or at least correcting it seems to be something we’d be in the long haul for
Sonia: So would you say repressed sexuality in a way, leads to these lewd behaviours because theres no scope for discussion?
Comment by Sumera — April 23, 2007 #
It’s a very scary thought whereby one thinks here am going to an islamic country only to be *groped/harrassed*. I was given a tel# which at first I had no idea what the guy was trying to tell me. I thought he was speaking to someone behind me. I just swore at him and he kinda *ran*. I believe if women there started taking actions into their own hands, something is going to be done. Carry something a brick or even those shoes won’t miss a mark! Or better, scream your heads off! (is that allowed???or is it haraam too?)
Comment by sf — April 23, 2007 #
According to some voice is awrah, so screaming would be haram I assume :p
Its best to wallop them with something, like a brick if it was available.
Comment by Sumera — April 23, 2007 #
As a Christian male that’s lived worked in the mid east and now Afghanistan I’d agree that much of this comes from the ‘homosocially’ imposed segragation of sex’s. The ‘forbidden’ fruit issue really translates into male preoccupation with anything sexual.
What I’ve noticed within the past 10 years is a sharper edge to the youth in Saudi as it applies to this. They conduct themselves as if there will never be any price to pay for this conduct. They act above the law as the rape and abuse of non muslims (usually foreign domestics) has been unofficially condoned for so long that the attitude has now transferred to women in general. Sadly, Muslim women have only become concerned as this conduct is now also directed at them.
Comment by PatB — April 24, 2007 #
An interesting article (”The Times” 21 April London) on Racism/sexism in Saudi
Ed Hussain, once a proponent of radical Islam in London, tells how his time as a teacher in Saudi Arabia led him to turn against extremism
During our first two months in Jeddah, Faye and I relished our new and luxurious lifestyle: a shiny jeep, two swimming pools, domestic help, and a tax-free salary. The luxury of living in a modern city with a developed infrastructure cocooned me from the frightful reality of life in Saudi Arabia.
My goatee beard and good Arabic ensured that I could pass for an Arab.
But looking like a young Saudi was not enough: I had to act Saudi, be Saudi. And here I failed.
My first clash with Saudi culture came when, being driven around in a bulletproof jeep, I saw African women in black abayas tending to the rubbish bins outside restaurants, residences and other busy places.
“Why are there so many black cleaners on the streets?” I asked the driver. The driver laughed. “They’re not cleaners. They are scavengers; women who collect cardboard from all across Jeddah and then sell it. They also collect bottles, drink cans, bags.”
“You don’t find it objectionable that poor immigrant women work in such undignified and unhygienic conditions on the streets?”
“Believe me, there are worse jobs women can do.”
Though it grieves me to admit it, the driver was right. In Saudi Arabia women indeed did do worse jobs. Many of the African women lived in an area of Jeddah known as Karantina, a slum full of poverty, prostitution and disease.
A visit to Karantina, a perversion of the term “quarantine”, was one of the worst of my life. Thousands of people who had been living in Saudi Arabia for decades, but without passports, had been deemed “illegal” by the government and, quite literally, abandoned under a flyover.
A non-Saudi black student I had met at the British Council accompanied me. “Last week a woman gave birth here,” he said, pointing to a ramshackle cardboard shanty. Disturbed, I now realised that the materials I had seen those women carrying were not always for sale but for shelter.
I had never expected to see such naked poverty in Saudi Arabia.
At that moment it dawned on me that Britain, my home, had given refuge to thousands of black Africans from Somalia and Sudan: I had seen them in their droves in Whitechapel. They prayed, had their own mosques, were free and were given government housing.
Many Muslims enjoyed a better lifestyle in non-Muslim Britain than they did in Muslim Saudi Arabia. At that moment I longed to be home again.
All my talk of ummah seemed so juvenile now. It was only in the comfort of Britain that Islamists could come out with such radical utopian slogans as one government, one ever expanding country, for one Muslim nation. The racist reality of the Arab psyche would never accept black and white people as equal.
Standing in Karantina that day, I reminisced and marvelled over what I previously considered as wrong: mixed-race, mixed-religion marriages. The students to whom I described life in modern multi-ethnic Britain could not comprehend that such a world of freedom, away from “normal” Saudi racism, could exist.
Racism was an integral part of Saudi society. My students often used the word “nigger” to describe black people. Even dark-skinned Arabs were considered inferior to their lighter-skinned cousins. I was living in the world’s most avowedly Muslim country, yet I found it anything but. I was appalled by the imposition of Wahhabism in the public realm, something I had implicitly sought as an Islamist.
Part of this local culture consisted of public institutions being segregated and women banned from driving on the grounds that it would give rise to “licentiousness”. I was repeatedly astounded at the stares Faye got from Saudi men and I from Saudi women.
Faye was not immodest in her dress. Out of respect for local custom, she wore the long black abaya and covered her hair in a black scarf. In all the years I had known my wife, never had I seen her appear so dull. Yet on two occasions she was accosted by passing Saudi youths from their cars. On another occasion a man pulled up beside our car and offered her his phone number.
In supermarkets I only had to be away from Faye for five minutes and Saudi men would hiss or whisper obscenities as they walked past. When Faye discussed her experiences with local women at the British Council they said: “Welcome to Saudi Arabia.”
After a month in Jeddah I heard from an Asian taxi driver about a Filipino worker who had brought his new bride to live with him in Jeddah. After visiting the Balad shopping district the couple caught a taxi home. Some way through their journey the Saudi driver complained that the car was not working properly and perhaps the man could help push it. The passenger obliged. Within seconds the Saudi driver had sped off with the man’s wife in his car and, months later, there was still no clue as to her whereabouts.
We had heard stories of the abduction of women from taxis by sex-deprived Saudi youths. At a Saudi friend’s wedding at a luxurious hotel in Jeddah, women dared not step out of their hotel rooms and walk to the banqueting hall for fear of abduction by the bodyguards of a Saudi prince who also happened to be staying there.
Why had the veil and segregation not prevented such behaviour? My Saudi acquaintances, many of them university graduates, argued strongly that, on the contrary, it was the veil and other social norms that were responsible for such widespread sexual frustration among Saudi youth.
At work the British Council introduced free internet access for educational purposes. Within days the students had downloaded the most obscene pornography from sites banned in Saudi Arabia, but easily accessed via the British Council’s satellite connection. Segregation of the sexes, made worse by the veil, had spawned a culture of pent-up sexual frustration that expressed itself in the unhealthiest ways.
Using Bluetooth technology on mobile phones, strangers sent pornographic clips to one another. Many of the clips were recordings of homosexual acts between Saudis and many featured young Saudis in orgies in Lebanon and Egypt. The obsession with sex in Saudi Arabia had reached worrying levels: rape and abuse of both sexes occurred frequently, some cases even reaching the usually censored national press.
My students told me about the day in March 2002 when the Muttawa [the religious police] had forbidden firefighters in Mecca from entering a blazing school building because the girls inside were not wearing veils. Consequently 15 young women burnt to death, but Wahhabism held its head high, claiming that God’s law had been maintained.
As a young Islamist, I organised events at college and in the local community that were strictly segregated and I believed in it. Living in Saudi Arabia, I could see the logical outcome of such segregation.
In my Islamist days we relished stating that Aids and other sexually transmitted diseases were the result of the moral degeneracy of the West. Large numbers of Islamists in Britain hounded prostitutes in Brick Lane and flippantly quoted divorce and abortion rates in Britain. The implication was that Muslim morality was superior. Now, more than ever, I was convinced that this too was Islamist propaganda, designed to undermine the West and inject false confidence in Muslim minds.
I worried whether my observations were idiosyncratic, the musings of a wandering mind. I discussed my troubles with other British Muslims working at the British Council. Jamal, who was of a Wahhabi bent, fully agreed with what I observed and went further. “Ed, my wife wore the veil back home in Britain and even there she did not get as many stares as she gets when we go out here.” Another British Muslim had gone as far as tinting his car windows black in order to prevent young Saudis gaping at his wife.
The problems of Saudi Arabia were not limited to racism and sexual frustration.
In contemporary Wahhabism there are two broad factions. One is publicly supportive of the House of Saud, and will endorse any policy decision reached by the Saudi government and provide scriptural justification for it. The second believes that the House of Saud should be forcibly removed and the Wahhabi clerics take charge. Osama Bin Laden and Al-Qaeda are from the second school.
In Mecca, Medina and Jeddah I met young men with angry faces from Europe, students at various Wahhabi seminaries. They reminded me of my extremist days.
They were candid in discussing their frustrations with Saudi Arabia. The country was not sufficiently Islamic; it had strayed from the teachings of Wahhabism. They were firmly on the side of the monarchy and the clerics who supported it. Soon they were to return to the West, well versed in Arabic, fully indoctrinated by Wahhabism, to become imams in British mosques.
By the summer of 2005 Faye and I had only eight weeks left in Saudi Arabia before we would return home to London. Thursday, July 7, was the beginning of the Saudi weekend. Faye and I were due to lunch with Sultan, a Saudi banker who was financial adviser to four government ministers. I wanted to gauge what he and his wife, Faye’s student, thought about life inside the land of their birth.
On television that morning we watched the developing story of a power cut on the London Underground. As the cameras focused on King’s Cross, Edgware Road, Aldgate and Russell Square, I looked on with a mixture of interest and homesickness. Soon the power-cut story turned into shell-shocked reportage of a series of terrorist bombings.
My initial suspicion was that the perpetrators were Saudis. My experience of them, their virulence towards my non-Muslim friends, their hate-filled textbooks, made me think that Bin Laden’s Saudi soldiers had now targeted my home town. It never crossed my mind that the rhetoric of jihad introduced to Britain by Hizb ut-Tahrir could have anything to do with such horror.
My sister avoided the suicide attack on Aldgate station by four minutes. On the previous day London had won the Olympic bid. At the British Council we had celebrated along with the nation that was now in mourning.
The G8 summit in Scotland had also been derailed by events further south. The summit, thanks largely to the combined efforts of Tony Blair and Bob Geldof, had been set to tackle poverty in Africa. Now it was forced to address Islamist terrorism; Arab grievances had hijacked the agenda again.
The fact that hundreds of children die in Africa every day would be of no relevance to a committed Islamist. In the extremist mind the plight of the tiny Palestinian nation is more important than the deaths of millions of black Africans. Let them die, they’re not Muslims, would be the unspoken line of argument. As an Islamist it was only the suffering of Muslims that had moved me. Now human suffering mattered to me, regardless of religion.
Faye and I were glued to the television for hours. Watching fellow Londoners come out of Tube stations injured and mortified, but facing the world with a defiant sense of dignity, made me feel proud to be British.
We met Sultan and his wife at an Indian restaurant near the British Council. Sultan was in his early thirties and his wife in her late twenties. They had travelled widely and seemed much more liberal than most Saudis I had met. Behind a makeshift partition, the restaurant surroundings were considered private and his wife, to my amazement, removed her veil.
We discussed our travels.
Sultan spoke fondly of his time in London, particularly his placement at Coutts as a trainee banker. We then moved on to the subject uppermost in my mind, the terrorist attacks on London. My host did not really seem to care. He expressed no real sympathy or shock, despite speaking so warmly of his time in London.
“I suppose they will say Bin Laden was behind the attacks. They blamed us for 9/11,” he said.
Keen to take him up on his comment, I asked him: “Based on your education in Saudi Arabian schools, do you think there is a connection between the form of Islam children are taught here and the action of 15 Saudi men on September 11?”
Without thinking, his immediate response was, ‘No. No, because Saudis were not behind 9/11. The plane hijackers were not Saudi men. One thousand two hundred and forty-six Jews were absent from work on that day and there is the proof that they, the Jews, were behind the killings. Not Saudis.”
It was the first time I heard so precise a number of Jewish absentees. I sat there pondering on the pan-Arab denial of the truth, a refusal to accept that the Wahhabi jihadi terrorism festering in their midst had inflicted calamities on the entire world.
In my class the following Sunday, the beginning of the Saudi working week, were nearly 60 Saudis. Only one mentioned the London bombings.
“Was your family harmed?” he asked.
“My sister missed an explosion by four minutes but otherwise they’re all fine, thank you.”
The student, before a full class, sighed and said: “There are no benefits in terrorism. Why do people kill innocents?”
Two others quickly gave him his answer in Arabic: “There are benefits. They will feel how we feel.”
I was livid. “Excuse me?” I said. “Who will know how it feels?”
“We don’t mean you, teacher,” said one. “We are talking about people in England. You are here. They need to know how Iraqis and Palestinians feel.”
“The British people have been bombed by the IRA for years,” I retorted. “Londoners were bombed by Hitler during the blitz. The largest demonstrations against the war in Iraq were in London. People in Britain don’t need to be taught what it feels like to be bombed.”
Several students nodded in agreement. The argumentative ones became quiet. Were they convinced by what I had said? It was difficult to tell.
Two weeks after the terrorist attacks in London another Saudi student raised his hand and asked: “Teacher, how can I go to London?”
“Much depends on your reason for going to Britain. Do you want to study or just be a tourist?”
“Teacher, I want to go London next month. I want bomb, big bomb in London, again. I want make jihad!”
“What?” I exclaimed. Another student raised both hands and shouted: “Me too! Me too!”
Other students applauded those who had just articulated what many of them were thinking. I was incandescent. In protest I walked out of the classroom to a chorus of jeering and catcalls.
My time in Saudi Arabia bolstered my conviction that an austere form of Islam (Wahhabism) married to a politicised Islam (Islamism) is wreaking havoc in the world. This anger-ridden ideology, an ideology I once advocated, is not only a threat to Islam and Muslims, but to the entire civilised world.
I vowed, in my own limited way, to fight those who had hijacked my faith, defamed my prophet and killed thousands of my own people: the human race. I was encouraged when Tony Blair announced on August 5, 2005, plans to proscribe an array of Islamist organisations that operated in Britain, foremost among them Hizb ut-Tahrir.
At the time I was impressed by Blair’s resolve. The Hizb should have been outlawed a decade ago and so spared many of us so much misery. Sadly the legislation was shelved last year amid fears that a ban would only add to the group’s attraction, so it remains both legal and active today. But it is not too late.
© Ed Husain 2007
Extracted from The Islamist, to be published by Penguin on May 3, £8.99. Copies can be ordered for £8.54 including postage from The Sunday Times BooksFirst on 0870 165 8585
Comment by PatB — April 24, 2007 #
PatB: It is a great shame to see Saudi in the state that its in. And it doesn’t seem to be improving, on the contrary it seems to be becoming a lot worse and ingrained with the passage of time. I fear its considered a way of life for many of those living/working in Saudi. When a community’s attitude reaches that level of conceding defeat, is it possible to turn it around?
Thanks for the article. It was certainly an eye opener.
Comment by Sumera — April 24, 2007 #
Salaams
That was an interesting read. I always take anything i read about Muslim lands, good or bad, with a pinch of salt. I agree that the UK beats certain Muslim lands in many ways, but glorifying Tony Blair is another matter, entirely.
I don’t trust many news sources – for some reason, i always feel that there is an agenda. I don’t just mean the British press, any news source. It’s just too easy to be lead astray by a few well chosen words. Propoganda has become a well-tuned art form, used by both ’sides’. We have to be vigilant and not just accept what we like to hear.
May Allah help us in that.
Wa’salam
Comment by iMuslim — April 24, 2007 #
“Sonia: So would you say repressed sexuality in a way, leads to these lewd behaviours because theres no scope for discussion?”
yep it definitely does – and as pat b points up there – and it also leads to homosocial societies. this obviously isn’t just a ‘muslim’ thing – india for example: traditionally a homosocial society. women are for marrying and keeping in the home – but real affection, feeling, identification – are reserved for one’s male companion. making respect for women hard to gain. which completes the vicious cycle. but in general, underlying everything is a view that women are only good for one thing: and that’s sex. and i think domination plays a big role in the understanding of sex. as any pscyhologist knows, that’s a big problem. so i see the whole problem bound up with not thinking of sex as something that happens with another equal human being, whom you love and respect, but something a man ‘does’ to a woman ( okay he might have to be married to her) but it’s seen as a ‘possession’. which doesn’t say much for marital bliss..
Comment by sonia — April 24, 2007 #
and also – sorry – me going on again. I realize we’ve had the concubinage discussion on Suroor’s blog – but i just wanted to point out – what is the fallout of centuries of thinking women are [possesions]? Are we really suprised that there would be any social ramifications in male – female relations? { I never realized that concubinage existed, – i didn’t even realize slavery was ‘tolerated (yes yes with those ‘humane ‘ conditions – whatever)when i was young.}
Comment by sonia — April 24, 2007 #
I think seeing women as possessions, something to exert control over, or to keep in check by chastising(like she’s a child who can’t think for herself) certainly doesn’t help matters. And the whole emphasis of men being protectors of women has gone to the head of some male members of the species.
Comment by Sumera — April 24, 2007 #
I do not condone but understand the male dominated society that leads to female abuse in the tribal areas I work in Afghanistan. These Pashtun tribes are generally very uneducated/illiterate and adhere to the patriarchal form of tribal governance and women are married very young (generally 10 years and up) to men sometimes six times their age. They are property to form alliances thru marriage and garner dowery/political position.
I am amazed at this same concept in an educated country like Saudi Arabia. The age of the married is higher and the abuse slightly different but the same attitudes persist.
Why?
Comment by PatB — April 25, 2007 #
PatB: For some clans in Saudi, and in some other cultures, marriage is seen as bringing two families together, and sadly for some, benefit of some kind (perhaps money, property, a prosperous business). That in itself is not really the issue, since usually the 2 parties in question are aware of what benefit their marriage will have on their families, respectively.
In Saudi, there is the increasing problem with dowry. There’s long been the trend that fathers demand a high dowry, or wish the man to be of high financial status alongside other issues – such as this example
What perhaps used to be a cultural norm for these countries, tribes and clans is increasingly seen as alien and outdated concepts. But there remains a few that seemingly still hold onto those – some willingly, others forcibly.
Comment by Sumera — April 25, 2007 #
This is my opionion, my personal opinion based upon observing Arab culture for some years as to why this problem persists. It is not scientific in any way and a gut feeling.
For 13 centuries and 60 generations Arab men have been taught that they are better than women. From the moment of their birth they are celebrated in their masculinity. They are born to lead and the woman follow and obey.
I remember watching when Saudi women were allowed to drive in SA in 1990, during the 1st Gulf War. The Saudi men were extremely mad as they saw this as direct disrespect to themselves, to their power, to their position. They saw this as an attack on their feifdom of position as ordained by God.
This attitude is also supported in the Mosque and the Qur’an. If you are only worth 1/2 a mans witness then you are worth 1/2 a man. This is taken to heart and trump to any argument to the contrary. You may argue that this is not the case because it is uncomfortable but I’ve witnessed this too many times from the mouths of Imams/Mullahs and seen the demonstrated attitude of the religions male practitioners.
The combination of the patriarchal culture and Islamic tradition/theology reduce women to a lesser position that is easier to exploit.
The rise of hard line wahhabi Islam that exhorts strict 7th century interpretation underwrites the worst of these practices.
If Islam reinvents itself to coexist with whatever we consider modernity/democratic process I believe Muslim women will be the key to this transition.
As a foot note; when slavery was the law in the US the educating of slaves was against the law as an educated person is a threat to unreasonable circumstances. In the mid east educating women is considered by many (in Saudi too)to be a ‘waste of time’. The Taliban attempt to burn any school that educates women.
I know many of you on this site are thoughtful/sincere and very intelligent/well educated and I wish you luck in this challenge.
Comment by PatB — April 26, 2007 #
The problems in Saudi and many other Muslim countries are dire purely due to their misapplication of Islamic laws.
The most recent occurrence of that being the implmentation of the Hudood ordinance in Pakistan. They couldn’t differentiate where the verses spoke of women prostituting themselves and where those who are raped!
The education in these maddrassahs and other islamic establishments aren’t addressing the real issues amongst Muslims today. And that is where they are failing everyone.
Thanks for your input on the issue PatB.
Comment by Sumera — April 26, 2007 #