In Saudi Arabia, too many people are too judgmental. There is always a criterion for the best and the worst. People treat each other according to it. People judge others for being less religious than they are, less wealthy, less well-connected and even less Saudi. This last point has to do with the length of time your ancestors have lived in the Kingdom!
The trend at the moment seems to be to look down on people and we all participate in it. The religious look down on those they consider as less religious; the wealthy look down on the less wealthy people, the educated treat the uneducated others as inferior, Saudis believe they are somehow better than other nationalities and so on.
When expatriates feel excluded here, it is not just because they are foreigners; it is also because we as a society have a problem integrating with other people. We get so wary of other peoples’ opinions. Thus walls around houses get higher, windows are seldom opened and balconies rarely sat on. We create the walls and live behind them, thinking of uninvited attention as an invasion of privacy.
In jobs Saudis may be preferred but some Saudis are better than others. If you happen to possess a certain name, you are “in” — regardless of your qualifications or lack of them. Wealth is also decisive; the wealthy get away with traffic violations and perhaps more serious violations as well. When they get away, they scorn those who are punished as they should have been. The self-identified righteous judge everybody by their own standards. They look at anyone who is the least bit different and their verdict is soon pronounced: He is an atheist. He is not a true believer or, if they are feeling really charitable and kind maybe, he needs guidance.
Who sets these rules?
Who gives employees at the port the right to go through people’s personal belongings when shipped from abroad? The employees often confiscate personal pictures and papers and many people speak bitterly of their experiences when shipping personal items from abroad. Someone had her landscape paintings taken. As if that were not bad enough, the customs employee also went through her personal family pictures, removing them from their envelopes and leaving them in a disordered heap. Another woman says that her daughter’s pictures arrived from customs with writing on them. Somebody decided that the family needed guidance so he wrote on the photos suggestions for those who had offended his code of conduct.
At weddings, social gatherings and even in mosques, there is always someone who either mocks people or directly criticizes them. And to disguise the insult and the affront, the guilty one wears a big smile and continues his quixotic campaign to establish society’s morals and behavior.
There always seems to be something wrong with the way we look at each other; there is always disapproval of others, no matter what they do. We always run others down for not doing what we think is right. And of course! we ourselves are always right, aren’t we?
In a recent article in the Arabic newspaper, Al-Madinah, a columnist complained that he had received a letter quoting a scholar who said that Arabs should keep their roots pure. How many years has it been — if ever — that Arabic roots were pure? And who decides on “purity” or “impurity”? The columnist was angry — and he has every right to be — because how can anyone speak seriously of “pure roots.” Of course, Hitler did. Such a thing is totally against religion, law and human nature. What is so special about who we think we are? Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, said that before God, all people are equal and that it is only deeds that make people good or bad — not their race, color or national origin!
Until the day comes when we remember this basic rule of our religion, we will continue to fight others’ bad opinions of us and until we remember the basic rule, we deserve their bad opinions.
Arab News Features 17 January 2003