RIYADH, 21 March — Six months after the Sept. 11 attacks, Arab News spoke to Saudi students who returned from studying in the United States to pursue their education here in the Kingdom, to see how they had come to terms with the experience.
Abdulmohsen Saleh had to stop work on his Ph.D. thesis, which he was researching in Los Angeles.
"I don’t want to go back now," he said. "Before Sept. 11, we used to go out without fear. But things changed overnight. My wife remained stuck up in the house and kept the doors locked until I returned in the evening. I would like to complete my thesis in the Kingdom, if possible; but the problem is that the company I work for insists that the thesis be completed at an American university."
Abdulrahman Adnan, 23, now a Saudi student, told Arab News that he was not affected by the backlash as much as many others, since he doesn’t look like a Saudi and speaks English with an American accent. Nevertheless, he still decided to terminate his studies at the University of Central Florida.
"I took things in my stride," he said. "I understand the situation the Americans found themselves in. Anyone would have reacted the way they did, I suppose — although there was a bit of an overreaction in some cases. However, nobody actually harassed me — and my American friends were okay with me. I would like to continue my studies there. But let things cool down a bit. Then, maybe, I can enroll for an associate degree in marketing. Until then, I’m maintaining contact with my American friends, both on the phone and by e-mail."
Saudi freelance journalist Safinaz Murshid, who works at the King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Center, recalled: "I was in Connecticut on Sept. 11. Apart from the utter chaos and confusion that immediately followed the attacks, things were otherwise normal for me and my sister, who was completing her Ph.D. in nursing."
Alyan Alhashdi, a student at the Institute of Business Administration in Jeddah, said: "I still can’t come to terms with the fact that I had to leave the US. But that’s the reality, and I have to face it."
Alyan said he longs to return to the US to meet his friends there.
"You just can’t compare Saudi schools with those in the US. They are completely different," he reflected. "I will graduate from the IBA in Jeddah and then I will complete my Master’s degree in the US."
He expressed his hope that in the intervening time the anti-Arab hysteria in the US will have cooled down.
For Adel Saeed Bashatah, life as a foreign Muslim student in the US was positive, thanks to the overwhelming support he received from his university following the Sept. 11 events.
"I found every form of support from the university, from the professors, from the instructors, from my colleagues, and the students themselves," said Bashatah, a graduate student in nursing at George Mason University.
