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Overcoming mutual misconceptions

From Arab News Newspaper
By Raid Qusti

A year has passed since an evil act was perpetrated in New York City. Nineteen men, 15 of them misguided Saudis, had it in their hearts and minds that the United States was the root of evil in the world and the cause of injustice and corruption, and as such deserved to suffer such atrocities. Their mission was not only to attack Americans, but also to shatter the historic friendship between the United States and Saudi Arabia.

As a young Saudi, I would like to offer my condolences to the families of the victims of Sept. 11 and share with them a moment of mourning. So many families lost loved ones on that day: A wife, a husband, a son, a daughter, a relative or a friend. The people who died in the Twin Towers had nothing to do with politics. They had nothing to do with the military. They were ordinary people of various nationalities, all just going about their daily routine.

I grew up in the United States. I received part of my education there, at a public school. I studied the same textbooks as American children. I attended plays and field trips; I took my lunch like American children. I grew up in an American social environment, celebrating with my American friends their birthdays and attending their social gatherings. I was exposed to the same television and print media as Americans. And I had many American friends whom I regularly visited.

At the same time, I maintained my Muslim identity to the extent that when I moved back to Saudi Arabia to live in Makkah I felt like that was home too.

I have been asking myself since Sept.11 : Do Americans think I am evil just because I am a Saudi national? That is what the smear campaign in several American media outlets over the past year would like us to believe is true. But the American mainstream media do not speak for all the American people. America is one of the greatest nations on earth, not only because of its constitution, but also because of its extraordinary diversity. And I have concluded that it would be wrong to believe that a nation of over 200 million people who come from every ethnic background we can think of — European, Asian, Hispanic, African, and Arab — hate me because I am a Saudi because of what appears in the editorials of some of their newspapers, or even because of what 15 other Saudis did. The American people know better than that.

One of the many things that we have learned after Sept. 11 is how ignorant Saudis and Americans are of each other. Many Americans I have spoken to, for instance, were amazed to discover that many Saudis have different backgrounds, that those who live in the Hejaz region are often descendants of families who came here hundreds of years ago from other Arab countries — and even from Russia, India and Indonesia — to settle in the Arabian Peninsula for religious or economic reasons. All this happened long before the modern Kingdom of Saudi Arabia was established in1932 .

But are we to blame only Americans for this ignorance? Would it not be appropriate to at least partly put the blame on ourselves? It is the responsibility of Saudis, and Saudis alone, to open up as a society, and properly represent ourselves and our culture to the world. The fact that we have not done so in the past is what has left us vulnerable to the hate campaign when it became clear that 15 of the hijackers were Saudis. Ignorance is at the root of all hatred. We are now hated because people did not understand, and still do not understand, who we are and what we are about.

I think it is about time we Saudis realized that we can no longer isolate ourselves from the rest of the world in fear that globalization will change our culture for the worse. Islam can withstand any change, is indeed defined by its very timelessness. As Saudis, we are part of the global community, whether we like it or not. Globalization, for all its faults, is a one-way train: You either get on it, or it leaves you behind.

The other thing I have noticed throughout the last year is how many Saudis have falsely assumed that they understand what America is. Saudi writers produce columns in the local press full of judgments about America based only on what they experienced while living there as students or on a private visit. They presume that they have a full understanding of Americans and American politics. Many might find this hard to believe, but we Saudis are probably more ignorant about Americans than Americans are of us. There are Arab and Islamic study centers scattered all over America. Any American can, if he so chooses, learn everything about our Arab culture and our Islamic religion. Dare we ask how many centers for American studies, and other religions, there are here? Dare we also ask the so-called experienced analyzers of the West who appear on our TV shows if they ever studied American politics?

Yes, after Sept. 11 my generation does indeed dare to ask, and we will continue to ask until we get answers. After Sept. 11 we Saudis have a grave responsibility to make the whole world — and not America alone — understand that the hijackers do not represent the reality of Saudi society.

I was queuing in the airport at the end of my holiday a month ago in a European city. Another Saudi, who was wearing traditional clothes and seemed to be very pious, was in front of me. A white woman in front of him was struggling to lift a heavy suitcase onto the X-ray belt. She asked the pious Saudi for his help. At first he ignored her by pretending not to hear. When she asked again, he yelled in her face: “No!”

Of course, I made a point of helping her and I can only hope she does not stereotype all Saudis as being like that as a result of this experience.

Two Saudis standing in a queue at a European airport. One refuses to help a white lady, presumably because she is a woman and a Christian. Another helps her because, first and foremost, she is a human being.

Which image do we want the world to have of Saudis after Sept.11 ? And how would we prefer to see ourselves?

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(Raid Qusti,27 , is Assistant Public Relations Manager at the Kingdom Holdings Company. He is a regular contributor to Arab News and his work has appeared in The Washington Post.)

Posted by Muddy at September 25, 2003 11:52 AM | TrackBack