What is the special aspect of Saudi society? Where is the “specialness” we always hear about whenever anyone talks about a controversial issue? When one is brought up, suddenly the whole country begins saying that Saudis are different and how any change is going to compromise our “specialness.” It is as if we believe that we are a limited edition of the human race, that we are different from every other human being and that what suits everyone else does not suit us.
It is understandable for each country to have its own customs and traditions that set it apart from others but in our case, we seem to have missed the point completely. What distinguishes us as a nation is not whether women cover their faces and wear black robes or what kind of white thobes our men wear. Each one of us might see these things differently — but to me, they are only of secondary importance. What distinguished this country — or any other — is its spirit and its history. In fact, the way we relate to our history is very important. I wonder if in fact we relate to it at all.
Looking around and taking the most obvious example, we see that old houses and buildings that represent a piece of history are thoughtlessly knocked down and a concrete monstrosity put up in its place. History and national heritage don’t seem to count in this particular case but when if something is related to tradition — especially anything related to women — the swords go up and everyone goes on the defensive. The strange thing is that this special character is confined to women only, as if the only thing that distinguishes a country is what its women do. Why do we always have to tread softly around this issue? We have to carefully justify our actions and dreams and put them within the “special” walls so that we will not exposed to social fury and ostracism.
I read about a Saudi woman engineer who participated in an international conference. She talked about her work but to avoid offending or angering people who think that women should not work as engineers, she had to say that her work was not outside the customs or traditions that Saudi women are obliged to adhere to.
Earlier this year a female rally driver who participates in Gulf rallies was interviewed as the first Saudi woman rally driver. She also had to make it clear that though she was proud of what she does, Saudi society is not ready for women drivers and that any change would have to be made in compliance with the “national character.” (Is there only one in a population of some 20 million?)
The message seems to be that if women go abroad, they can be rally drivers or engineers but when they come back home, they must remember that we are different here. Some people take this to the limits of illogicality. A recent letter to the editor of a local paper commented on the issue of women driving. In order for the writer to avoid getting into a discussion of women’s abilities, readiness or society’s needs, he went straight to the subject of our “special” character that has to be preserved. Women must stay home at all times, he said, and to help solve the transportation problem, he suggested that in every family there were surely enough men to drive.
He counts the father and children as possible drivers; by “children” of course, he means boys age 12 and older! Evidently according to this individual and many others who agree with him, we should allow male children to drive. And actually they are driving right now. To get around the driverless situation, some families depend on their sons to drive them; others give the boys cars to push them into early manhood. What we forget is that those children will surely get into accidents for the simple reason that they are not ready to drive, don’t know how to drive and are too young and immature to be behind the wheel.
Not long ago, sitting idly in my car, I decided to pass some time by looking at other drivers in the street. I noticed in the car next to me that the driver’s head was about the same height as the steering wheel! I looked again and more closely and yes, it looked like a boy no older than 13. He noticed the surprise on my face and sped up in front of us, running a red light and zigzagging between cars to show off. Doesn’t this phenomenon strike people as odd and out of character? The picture we have of ourselves and our society is one in which we stress men’s sense of responsibility and our following Islamic values.
Islamic values, however, emphasize preserving life — both ours and other people’s.
Charities, Islamic Style
One of my favorite columnists recently wrote about an academic who specialized in Islamic culture. The academic pointed out that during the days of Ottoman rule in Egypt, there were a number of different charitable endowments.
There were endowments for children who were beaten by their fathers, endowments for taking care of old and sick animals to prevent their owners from killing them and endowments for providing food for birds that sat on a wall surrounding a ministry!
The columnist went on to examine the kinds of endowments we have here and what we do with our charitable donations. She gives an example of some friends who wanted to give money to an organization which was digging wells in an Asian country. Nothing wrong with this but it is too often the case that people here send their charity abroad. They don’t seem to think that perhaps their charity could be used to help people here in the Kingdom.
As the columnist pointed out, many of our hospitals lack medicine and our schools lack many items that could make learning easier and more interesting.
What most people think of when they want to donate to charity here is to build a mosque. Now as important as mosques undoubtedly are, in many areas we have more mosques than people to pray in them. Isn’t the idea of a mosque that it should be a place where people from the neighborhood meet, pray and get to know one another? What about the Islamic community that Muslims are supposed to feel they belong to?
How can an Islamic community be a reality if there is a mosque on every corner and only a few people pray in each? People should realize we have enough mosques; their money could be used more wisely to build and equip hospitals or repair our poorly-maintained roads and streets.
