[ppi] [ppiindia] This Ostrich-Like Attitude Is Not Doing Us Any Good

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http://www.arabnews.com/?page=7&section=0&article=80019&d=31&m=3&y=2006

Friday, 31, March, 2006 (01, Rabi` al-Awwal, 1427)


      This Ostrich-Like Attitude Is Not Doing Us Any Good
      Lubna Hussain, lubna@xxxxxxxxxxxx
     
        
      The usual introductions were being made around the restaurant table. An 
engineer working for a big oil company. A nurse working in the VIP section of a 
hospital. An IT consultant. When it came to my turn I quietly half-mumbled my 
name and confessed to doing a variety of things. I was hoping that the comment 
would fall upon deaf ears, but unfortunately it did not.

      "You!" accused engineer. "You're that journalist, aren't you?"

      As much as I wanted to feign ignorance, I had to own up to my identity 
and the whole throng lunged for the jugular.

      "I thought I recognized you," began IT consultant with a disgusted tone 
followed by an accusatory, "I read your stuff."

      "Oh yes, page three. Right?" interjected doctor.

      What ensued was an attack upon my hidden agenda and questions as to what 
it was that I was trying to achieve through my blatant disregard of tradition 
and custom. It was quite typical of the kind of criticism that I have grown 
accustomed to being lavished with since appearing in print last year.

      "Take your last article," pontificated engineer. "You talked about child 
custody in Saudi Arabia and how foreign parents are not allowed to stay here, 
but do you know that exactly the same problem exists in the West?"

      "Look," I explained. "What I write about has nothing to do with 
specifics. I just think that we deserve codified laws. At least if there was 
some kind of structure in place, then we would not be at the mercy of the 
capriciousness of the courts. As a woman I think that I should have the right 
to be heard impartially without being judged on the basis of my gender."

      "Well," he said sounding defensive, "let me tell you that my cousin had a 
child in Canada and is now banned from going to visit. All because his wife 
filed a petition in the court against him. Is that right?"

      "No. In spite of the fact that I don't really know the other side of the 
story, that's definitely not right," I confessed. "But that doesn't really 
condone what's going on here. I am not really trying to expound the virtues of 
other countries or their systems but I just think it's important to identify 
ways of improving our own."

      "Yes, but they're not perfect," he clarified.

      "By all means they're not. I don't think so at all, but then again 
neither are we!"

      I am certain that you can well imagine what the rest of the evening was 
like, but it really is quite symptomatic of some of the underlying problems 
that exist within our society. In my opinion such an attitude that 
preponderates only serves to asphyxiate the healthy arena of discussion, debate 
and discourse so pivotal to the process of change.

      If I chose to, I could feasibly live anywhere in the West. But for me, 
that is not an option. I enjoy my life here immensely. I live here because I 
really believe in this country and its people. I write here because in spite of 
the obstacles that I face and the negativity I am subjected to, I have seen 
change happening and things have progressed and moved forward. To me, this is 
extremely rewarding and heralds a new era of enlightenment and tolerance. There 
is so much potential in Saudi Arabia and so much scope for the future that I 
find it to be one of the most exciting places in the world.

      However, there are still those who strongly believe that as writers and 
journalists we should not be drawing attention to prospective areas for 
improvement. I remember once a Saudi friend telling me that instead of 
publishing my views in the newspaper, I would be better off and more effective 
visiting the various ministries and knocking on their doors with my complaints. 

      "At least," she suggested, "it will be a cleaner way of doing things. 
After all, it's not nice to wash our dirty linen in public."

      "Yes, but don't you think it's about time we acknowledged our problems?" 
I asked incredulous at her indifference to what was going on around us. 
"Recognized them? Identified them? Did something about them?" I questioned 
rhetorically.

      "That's well and good, but why do we have to announce them to everyone? 
We know that we have troubles but why advertise? Why should the outside world 
know about internal issues?"

      And there was the crux of the matter. That if somehow we could mask 
reality, pretend that everything was hunky-dory, present a spotless veneer of 
idealism, then everyone would believe us and we would believe ourselves too. 
And that's the danger. Falling back into the trap of complacency where we had 
been ensnared for far too long.

      The other mistake that we tend to make is in believing that change 
somehow equates to a desire for imitation. That by evolving as a society, by 
abandoning some of our moribund practices and outdated attitudes we are somehow 
compromising our identity. What we have to understand is that change is a way 
of protecting this identity. That if we do not recognize the necessity to 
refine ourselves and adapt to a new world order then we will be rendered 
obsolete.

      We are an immensely proud people with a religion that forms the bedrock 
of our existence. But what we seem to have overlooked or forgotten is the 
inherent flexibility that Islam affords us. Islam is not the monolithic 
religion that it has been accused of being. Far from it. It is a religion of 
diversity. One of the sayings of the Prophet (peace be upon him) advises us not 
to make the religion difficult and if there are multiple ways of practice open 
to us, then to choose that which is easiest.

      As a Muslim woman, I want to practice my religion unfettered by the 
strictures of male-dominated hegemony. That is what I am trying to point out. 
If we can learn lessons from other countries in order to achieve such 
edification, then this does not necessarily imply a selling out of our 
principles. I wonder why it is that when it comes to imbibing the negative 
aspects of other countries, we are so enthusiastic, but when it comes to 
adopting their positive qualities we are so reluctant. Recognizing that we can 
progress without compromising our integrity is paramount if we are to preserve 
what really matters and purge what really doesn't.


      * * *

      (Lubna Hussain is a Saudi writer. She is based in Riyadh.)
     


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]



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