tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3569425364802315563.post8703199043355005193..comments2024-03-11T12:49:08.014+03:00Comments on SUSIE of ARABIA: Impressions of a Canadian Ex-PatSusie of Arabiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13315336613944665651noreply@blogger.comBlogger68125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3569425364802315563.post-43623047261453049532012-11-16T15:02:48.141+03:002012-11-16T15:02:48.141+03:00Hi Susie,
Thank you for a very interesting blog! I...Hi Susie,<br />Thank you for a very interesting blog! Is it possible for you to conduct a follow-up interview with the Canadian lady? It would be nice to hear her impressions after more time in ksa. Thanks!<br />BellaAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3569425364802315563.post-19404606670091564802011-02-23T17:35:30.149+03:002011-02-23T17:35:30.149+03:00The lady who was interviewed here doesn´t seem to ...The lady who was interviewed here doesn´t seem to be too smart. I´m sorry, but she really does sound rather simple-minded. She is ignorant and clearly she thinks her way of thinking or her interpretation of religion (Islam) to be superior than other cultures and religions in Canada or in the West, for speaking in such a berating way about the culture, traditions and way of life in the West. Not all youth in the west drink, smoke, do drugs or "walk around naked in the streets", as if these "half-naked" women were whores. <br /><br />And how does moving to a supposedly Islamic country make your faith stronger? Your faith comes from within you, you have to *work* for it. It doesn´t come from not having to see "half naked women" in the streets, and it clearly doesn´t come from wearing the abaya without the fear of "sticking out" of the masses. It doesn´t even come from having a muttawa order you to pray five times a day, since true faith does not come from coercion or use of force. <br /><br />You´re either a pious, "good" muslim or you´re not. No outside, societal pressure can change that. <br /><br />And so what if your child happens to learn stuff from Christianity, Christmas and other religions and cultures? Is it really that horrible to have your son subjected to other ways of thinking? <br /><br /> Is your, or your son´s faith that weak that you have to keep him away from different ways of thinking? <br /><br />Your way is not the only way, and your way is not necessarily a "right" way, nor are other cultures and religions the "wrong" way.<br /><br />I would like to apologise my possible grammatical errors, I am not a native English speaker.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3569425364802315563.post-47254607935954765482010-02-20T05:25:18.488+03:002010-02-20T05:25:18.488+03:00Nasser, if you are still reading,
I was stunned by...Nasser, if you are still reading,<br />I was stunned by the youtube clip of the interview that you sent Susie. I was still thinking about it the next morning when I woke up. Thank you.Helenehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01819796384565573135noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3569425364802315563.post-13285107076907097292010-02-18T16:23:32.582+03:002010-02-18T16:23:32.582+03:00Ditto to everything that Judith said. But just in ...Ditto to everything that Judith said. But just in a in a harsher less respectful way. I'm very sorry that I can't find one positive thing to say about this woman except that I positively hope that she STAYS there. I just feel sorry for her 'Paki' kids. I hope they don't end up too scarred living there.The Queenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04071652918414242294noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3569425364802315563.post-66443003731400659492010-02-17T08:12:26.954+03:002010-02-17T08:12:26.954+03:00Susie, just read your comment. I cant speak for ev...Susie, just read your comment. I cant speak for everyone, its the nature of things. I see people in western societies do worst things to people, based on color & religion. You wont ever see Arabs forming hate groups like they do in the west & going after people. <br /><br />As for the women who was interviewed: STOP complaining about not having free education, your in a different society of course nothing will be the same. So what Saudi's are privileged.. are you jealous? I don't understand this woman, she moved to this country only to tear it apart. I'm not saying its perfect it has its corruptions but what society doesn't? If your going to relocate only to complain about things then please no one is holding you hostage, feel free to return to your country leave Saudi and the entire GULF for that matter.Gypsyheartyasihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06047628943985742582noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3569425364802315563.post-37850690905251117702010-02-16T05:16:38.547+03:002010-02-16T05:16:38.547+03:00The interviewee is quite courageous. Yet I find he...The interviewee is quite courageous. Yet I find her values turned strangely upside down. <br /><br />She has chosen a society in which to raise her children that condescends to whole classes of people, in fact to all people in certain specifics. It deprives the mothers of all us of basic rights, and produces women who she describes as selfish, narrow minded and lazy. And she does this, for the reason that, as she said, she can wear an abaya in public without stares? And so as to not be exposed to Halloween and Christmas? Why can't one just pay no attention to Halloween and Christmas, and put up with some stares? <br /><br />She did also mention her aversion to seeing semi-nude women in public in the west. I don't like semi-nude women in public either. But having read this interview, I think I'd rather ignore that than to try to ignore how people are being treated.Helenehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01819796384565573135noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3569425364802315563.post-90225643146716336332010-02-16T02:34:30.996+03:002010-02-16T02:34:30.996+03:00i am so shocked to read this interview.
i am of i...i am so shocked to read this interview.<br /><br />i am of indian origin and know of people who worked at saudi arabia in good posotions of engineers and doctors! so this is so shocking for me to hear that they are considered lower class...shraddhahttp://www.theselfloveproject.com/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3569425364802315563.post-48713987135261091682010-02-13T08:49:23.509+03:002010-02-13T08:49:23.509+03:00Why would you want to bring your kids up in an obv...Why would you want to bring your kids up in an obviously mysoginist, racist society, where they will be influenced by their spolit brat peers, than in Canada? Is it really just because you don't want to have to explain our religions exist? Is having a single prayer count as 100,000 worth it....by the way isn't that also taking the lazy way out?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3569425364802315563.post-38478692706317646862010-02-12T07:46:35.036+03:002010-02-12T07:46:35.036+03:00I thought the person's father was from Tunisia...I thought the person's father was from Tunisia. The vast majority of Tunisians are Muslim, so unless I am missing something, shouldnt have at least 1/2 of her family been Muslim anyway?<br /><br /> As to going to Saudi to find real Islam, I am married to a Saudi and she insists that she had to leave Saudi to find real Islam.<br /><br /> As one Egyptian journalist once said "In the West I saw Islam everywhere and no Muslims. In the Muslim world I saw Muslims everywhere but no Islam".<br /><br /> I dont think I have read anything, bar The Qur'an, that held so much truth as those words from the Egyptian.أبو سنانhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04213826171467402183noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3569425364802315563.post-11089330263486781862010-02-12T07:10:38.613+03:002010-02-12T07:10:38.613+03:00Parisa's seems to be the only rationale commen...Parisa's seems to be the only rationale comment in rebuttal to this interview. The KSA is similar to apartheid South Africa and the Jim Crow South in the US prior to the Civil Rights Act. In both cases the ruling class based its hateful prejudice on scripture and justified the violence committed against those considered inferior as a right given to them by God. <br /><br />Bombing churches and killing children, spitting on students as they enter their newly de-segregated school accompanied by the National Guard; lynching or beating to death any black man without due process, simply for whistling at a white woman; brutally violent minority rule of a predominantly black country for most of the 20th century, going so far as to side with the Nazis for the sake of racial purity: all carried out by bible-toting holy rollers who think that their values are the true way and the only way. Religious hubris.<br /><br />What I don't understand is how this educated woman rationalizes that raising her children in an environment of hateful prejudice, not to mention one that forces her to accept severe restrictions on her personal freedoms, is so much better than in the West.<br /><br />All zealots, regardless of religious affiliation are dangerous to humanity at large and those who live amongst them who do not challenge the injustices committed by the so-called righteous moralists are just as narrow minded and intolerant. To abide evil in one's community is to encourage it. Religious purity that denies basic human rights to half a country's population (yes, women are human) and treats those of other national and ethnic origins as slaves and chattel is not a holy endeavor. The total opposite, in fact. There simply is no moral justification for it. <br /><br />And once the world can figure out how to be independent from the oil underneath the deserts of the Middle East, the fanatics in that part of the world can try to eke out a living pounding salt and those who want to live free can leave and join the modern world. Insha'Allah.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3569425364802315563.post-32692166444967705222010-02-11T19:58:37.617+03:002010-02-11T19:58:37.617+03:00Hi Anon @ 9:18AM - The internet has literally chan...Hi Anon @ 9:18AM - The internet has literally changed the world and brought us all closer together. It's the greatest invention, maybe of all time!<br />There are good and bad people everywhere, in every color, shape and size. The important thing is to take each person as an individual and not to lump everyone from one group all together as the same. The sad thing is that when tourists visit other countries, many of the things they do are choices. Being here, I feel that I do not have choices and that I must conform even if I don't really agree or want to. Thanks for your comment. <br /><br />Hi GypsyHeart - What I don't understand in the treatment of Asians here is - doesn't Islam teach that everyone is the same and that no one is better than anyone else? It's hard to rationalize why they act this way.<br /><br />Hi Aaishah - I think we can all agree that everyone has different experiences and that anyone coming here would come with an open mind, ready and willing to assimilate into the culture. What one finds upon arrival, however, may not be what was expected or hoped for. And let's face it - there are jerks everywhere and fortunately for you, you didn't run into any while you were here, but she and her husband have. Thanks for your comment.Susie of Arabiahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13315336613944665651noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3569425364802315563.post-58273416262499444652010-02-11T18:09:19.963+03:002010-02-11T18:09:19.963+03:00I lived in Saudi Arabia for a couple of years and ...I lived in Saudi Arabia for a couple of years and I never experienced the level of racism that the interviewee encountered. My(then) husband is black and speaks fluent, native level arabic and I dont believe that he experienced that level of racism either. I lived in an area that was predominantly Saudis. In a building that was 100% Saudi and I never had any problems. In fact I would open my door practically every day to a gift whether it be food in Ramadaan and/or fruits baskets etc. As a black woman of Jamaican descent speaking with a British accent...I never had ANY issues. I was embraced and I embraced my Saudi neighbors and friends who cried when I had to leave!<br />I say all that because I believe ones experience in Saudi is very much what you make of it. I went there and immersed myself in the culture. I learned the language. I was respectful and as a result I benefited tremendously. Maybe some of the expats would do well bearing that in mind.<br />The fact that the interviewee felt that she in some way had a "pass" because she was light skinned was strange to me. Its kind of ironic to me because in the UK being of Turkish origin would place you right next to the Pakistanis in the social ladder. <br />Odd.Aaishahnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3569425364802315563.post-70602007615417831972010-02-08T09:44:45.132+03:002010-02-08T09:44:45.132+03:00I have to disagree, I'm born in Saudi i have n...I have to disagree, I'm born in Saudi i have no clue what you mean. Although i understand the racism towards south east Asians,but thats how they are treated all over the GULF not just SAUDI people see them as cheap labor regardless of how wealthy or their status. Now i don't agree with this as i find it rather ignorant and stupid. But Arabs themselves come in all colors so for you to think its just based on his color is WRONG. You might be treated better then your husband,but they also see you as an "easy woman" because you are from the west and white. I have had many friends who have gone through this, were Saudi men try picking them up, because they have this stupid idea that all western woman are the same & easy to sleep with. I went to a boarding school in Europe and am now finishing my post secondary in Canada. Thank God i'm not in Saudi, i miss the some things, i'm so glad i'm not there anymore.Gypsyheartyasihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06047628943985742582noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3569425364802315563.post-65606934662091170592010-02-04T18:35:27.929+03:002010-02-04T18:35:27.929+03:00"Thanks for all the links, Nasser - that last..."Thanks for all the links, Nasser - that last one you just sent is blocked here in KSA!"<br /><br />well in that case..<br /><br />http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/saud/interviews/alrasheed.html<br /><br />http://www.kcl.ac.uk/schools/humanities/depts/trs/staff/mar.html<br /><br />http://www.shiastudies.org.uk/?p=5&id=8&cat=module&sub=news&seo=House-of-Lords-seminar-on-Saudi-Arabia-and-civil-libertiesNassernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3569425364802315563.post-15138693062848345392010-02-03T09:18:50.797+03:002010-02-03T09:18:50.797+03:00Thank you for your thought provoking entry, Susie....Thank you for your thought provoking entry, Susie. Guess what? Your blog entry is forwarded to a mailing list for Indonesian students studying in Australia. The wonders of internet. I am an Indonesian myself. I remember my mother being treated like a maid when she was in Saudi for UMRAH. It saddens me to no end, that The so called caretakers of the Holy Cities are totally out of touch with the REAL WORLD. And if they are being brought up as spoilt brats when they are young, imagine what kind of leaders they will become. Their sense of Racism is akin to tribalism during the Times of Jahiliyah. And don't even make me start on the behaviour of Saudi tourists down here in Gold Coast, Australia. They drink alchohol and really go all out with their excesses. As a muslim working alongside my western colleagues here. Its EMBARASSING to watch.I hope they open their eyes. They are still my brothers in Islam. I fear that if they dont change, Allah will change then the hard way.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3569425364802315563.post-12168976561909533222010-02-03T09:18:49.127+03:002010-02-03T09:18:49.127+03:00Thank you for your thought provoking entry, Susie....Thank you for your thought provoking entry, Susie. Guess what? Your blog entry is forwarded to a mailing list for Indonesian students studying in Australia. The wonders of internet. I am an Indonesian myself. I remember my mother being treated like a maid when she was in Saudi for UMRAH. It saddens me to no end, that The so called caretakers of the Holy Cities are totally out of touch with the REAL WORLD. And if they are being brought up as spoilt brats when they are young, imagine what kind of leaders they will become. Their sense of Racism is akin to tribalism during the Times of Jahiliyah. And don't even make me start on the behaviour of Saudi tourists down here in Gold Coast, Australia. They drink alchohol and really go all out with their excesses. As a muslim working alongside my western colleagues here. Its EMBARASSING to watch.I hope they open their eyes. They are still my brothers in Islam. I fear that if they dont change, Allah will change then the hard way.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3569425364802315563.post-14948358701470767262010-02-02T07:25:36.846+03:002010-02-02T07:25:36.846+03:00Thanks for all the links, Nasser - that last one y...Thanks for all the links, Nasser - that last one you just sent is blocked here in KSA!Susie of Arabiahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13315336613944665651noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3569425364802315563.post-40122949047750078342010-02-02T07:12:13.026+03:002010-02-02T07:12:13.026+03:00http://www.madawialrasheed.org/http://www.madawialrasheed.org/Nassernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3569425364802315563.post-24490793503960506092010-02-02T03:53:02.344+03:002010-02-02T03:53:02.344+03:00I enjoyed reading this interview and the comments....I enjoyed reading this interview and the comments. Thank you!Susannehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03115294023069458287noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3569425364802315563.post-21799986917058232602010-01-31T21:23:30.449+03:002010-01-31T21:23:30.449+03:00Parisa, I agree with you. I feel Islam is more co...Parisa, I agree with you. I feel Islam is more compatible with democratic North America than it is with patriarchal/tribal Saudi Arabia.<br /><br />The one advantage here is that there are more Muslims and at times like Ramadan/Eid there is a real feeling of community celebration.Sandynoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3569425364802315563.post-84936527221018390972010-01-31T03:04:17.935+03:002010-01-31T03:04:17.935+03:00Hi Ilse - The women in the photo with the two kids...Hi Ilse - The women in the photo with the two kids in a stroller in the mall is just a stock photo I pulled from the internet.Susie of Arabiahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13315336613944665651noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3569425364802315563.post-57062150291064782672010-01-31T02:21:49.041+03:002010-01-31T02:21:49.041+03:00Very interesting. Beautiful baby! Is that the wo...Very interesting. Beautiful baby! Is that the women in the mall with the children in a "car" stroller? Frankly, I do not think I would have the courage to live in KSA. But, I think I'd love to visit.Ilsehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09055254564640587182noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3569425364802315563.post-14057157211950256242010-01-30T22:29:41.474+03:002010-01-30T22:29:41.474+03:00I am a Muslim women from a non-arab country. I liv...I am a Muslim women from a non-arab country. I live in US now. I am not restricted, I do not have (and didn't have) Hijab.<br />But I think a country which treats the dark-skin people like this, is not a great place for practicing Islam !!! <br />North America is a good place for Muslims. I think it is much better than KSA. There is no Islamic rule for these kind of Hijabs. It is just some traditions from Pakistan and Arab countries. <br />Also I think "Fitnah" is something like calling your classmates by their country and race, like "Paki boy" ! <br />I am just so surprised by this interview !!Parisanoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3569425364802315563.post-38349001902213582982010-01-30T17:45:42.780+03:002010-01-30T17:45:42.780+03:00PS I am visiting from the Blog awards. Congratulat...PS I am visiting from the Blog awards. Congratulations on your nomination!Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07874897254332872367noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3569425364802315563.post-84828286366934004742010-01-30T17:45:19.084+03:002010-01-30T17:45:19.084+03:00Wow. I learned a lot in this post. Very interestin...Wow. I learned a lot in this post. Very interesting. I can't imagine not having any places to take the children to play and meet other people. It sounds like she has a great idea of starting and art group for other mothers and children.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07874897254332872367noreply@blogger.com