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August 25, 2009 - Goanet's 15th Anniversary
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> Domnic, is it possible that the Saudi sense of what is right or wrong
> (depiction of gods as images, non-Koranic religious texts) just
> clashes with the standards of others? If so, whose conceptions should
> hold valid in Saudi Arabia itself?
To the Saudis, there is no other religion in the world except Islam. Period!
As such, they won't listen to any logic that falls outside its perimeters.
There are two basic rules for the expatriates:
Do not discuss (1) religion and (2) politics. Any problem arising out of these
two
rules lands one behind bars and results in deportation.
It's a country where 'my ship, my order' works. So, obviously, only their
concept
is valid.
Although the country tells the USA and the Human Rights watchdog they have no
objection for expatriates to practice their religion behind closed doors, raids
are
often carried out and expatriates/visitors imprisoned and then deported to
their
countries for gathering for religious purposes inside homes.
I am sure you are aware that SA is the only country where there is no church
and
perhaps there won't be one even in the future. I say so because when the Pope
asked
the head of the country to allow him to build a church, he bluntly told him
that
that was not possible because the whole of SA was holy!
> When I was a young student in West Germany many moons ago, I found
> that smooching on a train was quite acceptable, but a group of 15
> well-pigmented twenty-something-year-olds from various parts of the
> Third World sharing a hearty joke on the same train caused
> consternation!
Smooching in Saudi Arabia will result in public lashing and imprisonment. As
for
sharing a joke, here is what I witnessed at an airport in Saudi Arabia:
Incoming passengers were standing in queues for immigration clearance. One
group of
people comprising of eight persons, including a woman of Indian origin with a
2-year
old child, who had arrived from the UK, were close to the immigration counter
when
suddenly they burst into a laughter.
The officer stepped out of the counter, approached the group and asked them why
they
burst into a laughter. Nobody replied. As a punishment, he asked the whole
group
to move to the end of the queue, which meant that they had to wait for another
hour
to get to the counter, but having no other alternative they did so, though
hesitantly. Furthermore, he went to each immigration counter, pointed to the
group
and ensured that none of the officers would accept them.
Mind you, they did this to the UK nationals who, besides Americans, are given
special treatment. Can you imagine the repercussions if those passengers were
from
a Third World Country!
> We need to remind ourselves that religious tolerance wasn't a given in
> most parts of the world till the 19th century.
But those parts of the world have now improved.
> I'm impressed by countries like Malaysia and Bangladesh where, for the
> most, religion is quite a personal matter contrary to the stereotypes
> we have and often promote about Muslims. (The latter has a
> fundamentalist problem in pockets, much like India.) I'm sure there
> must be many other such countries, which one has not visited.
Most rules imposed in SA are not followed by the adjoining Islamic countries.
> But, for some reason -- or is it, for a reason? -- Saudi Arabia is
> always created into the poster boy when we need to make a whipping boy
> of The Other! FN
I leave it to you to arrive at your own conclusion.
Moi-mogan,
Domnic Fernnades
Anjuna, Goa
>
> 2009/8/22 Domnic Fernandes <domval...@hotmail.com>:
>
> > You are right, Rajan. Every non-Muslim is harassed
> > at the Saudi Arabian immigration
> > and customs office, but Hindus are indeed singled out
> > because they think they are
> > 'kaafir' - people without a religion.
> > No idols/religious pictures are allowed into the
> > Kingdom; when found, they are
> > dumped in a trash can right under one's nose.
> > What is shocking is that they don't even respect
> > our Holy Bible. When they come
> > across one, it, too, is sent to the trash can!
