What is your first impression about Muslims or Arabs ?

[Dev]

Hello everybody

As a human being we often take the first impression or introductions as an experience and we often make our assumptions on that ground. I would like to know what was your first impression on Arabs or Muslims. Have you changed your outlook because of your involvement with the culture (even if it is a hafla level dance ) , or have you been brought up with a generous attitude. I don't know if its too personal to ask?

I had to learn about Islamic culture at school and Arabic is a complementary subject in every state. I don't get shocked when I see a Burqa wearing Muslim lady. I don't think I even thought about it. I always celebrated Eid and Muharam and never thought it was something extra ordinary. I have many friends who are Muslims .
Regarding Arabs , i had no idea except Misr . and for us kids it was a mystical place full of mummies and curses and all the great Pharaohs and not forgetting the pyramids.

I did have reservations passed on to me by my parents about Muslims , I was told not to bring Muslim friends in the kitchen , but allowed in the other rooms in our house, they eat beef that was the sole reason for my parents to take that decision . But there was some exceptions, only if they are the sons or daughters of local doctors or the police chief . I was told not to be friendly with Muslim girls and never eat in any Muslim peoples house , again exception, doctors and police chiefs are fine and the local principal. They eat beef but they are educated beef eater !!!

And the worse one was every time there was tension between Pakistan and India the whole of India looked at the Muslim people with disgust, so did I at that time.

I have grew up from all this but my parents are not. I eat beef and my parents know about it, they never stopped me entering their temple though.

Regards
Dev

 

[da Sage]

My first impression of Arab people is that they are probably Muslim or conservative Christians. I think I've actually met more Christian Arabs than Muslim ones, but I think of the Christians as having a very conservative home life, like the Greek family in My Big Fat Greek Wedding or the Greek girl I went to school with. I see Arabs and Muslims (like the local Somali population) as being very entrepreneurial - small businesses, a tight community that supports each others' business ventures.

I see observant Muslim women as generally taking great inspiration and strength from their religion. The more conservative women are probably also the strongest in their families and their communities - like the stereotypical Protestant Christian "Church Lady", they are opinionated and influential - not shy and retiring!

When I was a kid, I read anything I could get my hands on about the Middle East and Asia, which was mostly National Geographic and Smithsonian Magazine. I also read a book by an oilman's wife about her time in Saudi Arabia. I remember it described a very gender-divided society, the popularity of smoking, and polygamy as common among the rich/titled. I later learned that not all of the Middle East is like Saudi Arabia, but at first I thought it was. We also had a woman speak to our Girl Scout camp about her time in Saudi Arabia...I think she was the wife of an engineer. She told us about the liquor/wine restrictions! So I was over-exposed to Saudi Arabian stories, and other ideas came from fairy tales via the Red Fairy Book, the Green Fairy book, etc (there were a couple of stories that were related to Arabia in my mind then, not that I remember them now). And The Horse and His Boy (C.S. Lewis orientalist fantasy nation, inspired by the Ottoman Empire/Turkey).

 

[Kharmine]

My first experience with meeting Muslims was in college. Most of them came from Indonesia, but a large segment came from Iran and Iraq. They were all very different, but almost universally friendly-- they seemed inclined then to separate the U.S. administration and the policies they disliked from its people. Muslims were definitely exotic to me then, different and interesting.

Back then, the tension was between those Muslim foreign students who supported their governments and those who didn't.

I still remember the Iraqi kid who told me how to tell who were the campus spies sent from his country: "They drive the sports car with the big bird painted on the hood (the Pontiac Trans Am), and they never go to class."

Things changed after the 1979 revolution in Iran, the subsequent wave of radical religious movements, the big demonstrations against Americans, the taking over of the U.S. embassy and the capture of its personnel as hostages, etc. Suddenly, the tension was less between different groups of Muslims, and more between Muslims and non-Muslims.

As a journalism student, I studied politics and history and understood the forces leading to anti-Americanism. I knew many Muslims back then -- we've all graduated and moved on and vanished. I had a dear Muslim friend whose father was assassinated for being a moderate philosophy professor on a campus taken over by religious radicals. My friend felt it would be dangerous to return to his home country, but felt as the eldest son he couldn't stay away. I never heard from him again.

There aren't that many Muslims where I live now - my current hometown has more Buddhists than anything -- but I remember that in Denver after 9/11, a call went out to demonstrate community support for the innocent Muslim residents feeling harassment. Crowds of people, mostly non-Muslims and Westerners, came out to one of the main mosques. At a signal, everyone linked hands in a circle all around that mosque. Then they dropped back and another circle of people took their place. And another circle after that. A very simple demonstration that moved me.

When I'm feeling tired and exasperated with all the constant demonizing, charges and counter-charges that go on, I think back on that event. The people who participated in the protective encircling of that mosque didn't ask questions, and the Muslims didn't grill them to see who was politically correct and holding the "right" opinions.

I've read the Koran, and books about its history. I want to know more about the forces that both tear us apart and unite us. In the end, I believe that we have far more in common than what divides us. But, if all we do is focus on our own victimhoods, our own grievances and resentments, and our self-righteousness about what we believe in general, we'll never see the humanity of the Other.

 

[khanjar]

My first exposure was due to a couple of daggers we had in the house, who they belonged to and the stories around them, they belonged to an uncle we had never seen and he had got them whilst stationed at Masira in Oman. Later my father came to be working in Saudi Arabia and brough back strange things of the Arab culture and at the age of ten we, the family spent three weeks in Saudi Arabia over Xmas, I was fascinated by the architecture and art of the arabs, Jeddah being the place where Lawrence of Arabia had a house, Strange though, where I live now, a few hundred metres away is yet another house that belonged to Lawrence.

I was hooked, I read anything I could get my hands on about the Arab culture and geography, I found them a fascinating people with a great depth of something not in the people I knew in the west, this of course was the faith they followed and seemed to follow it unlike believers of a different ideaology in the west.

I read Thesiger and his reports of the Marsh Arabs, the books by T.E.Lawrence and one book by Wilfred Thesiger had many photographs taken by himself on expeditions in the 1950's, photographs of Old Dubayy, which I later went on to find the locations and rephotograph as it was then.

And yes like da sage, I read the C.S.Lewis's books, the one called ''The horse and his boy'', I loved that one and read it several times, but was aware even at that time not a particularly nice slant was being put on the Calormen, in the deity they worshipped, ''Tran''.

I attended a merchant navy college and this was my first exposure to Arabs in Britain, it was about the time Iran and Iraq were at hammer and tongs with each other and this flowed over into the college resulting in some being asked to leave.

Years later, trips and times spent in U.A.E, my interest being finding the real country not the modern Dubayy, I went in search of fajales,date groves, old forts and watch towers and met many real people along the way, very hospitable people with little but friendlyness and honesty, I admired these people.

I sought out films, anything with a desert or Arabian feel I watched avidly, the classic, '' Lawrence of Arabia '' was my favourite, and there I learned of the dabblings the West, namely the British did in their lands. Also had T.E. Lawrence's recorded personal notes and his Biography he clearly having a fascination for the land of Arabia.

Most recent film and one I watch regularly, is Ridley Scott's '' Enemy of God'', at last a film with honesty, I recommend any interested to watch it .

 

[cathy]

Dipali--I think you asked an honest question but it has been misinterpreted.

 

[Awasef]

My first exposure to Arabs and Muslims was as a baby. I don't react to them now in any way because I have developed antibodies that make me immune to experiencing adverse reactions. Hopefully a vaccine will be developed one day. Good luck.

 

[PriscillaAdum]

This thread is just boggling my mind. I dont even know WHAT to think.


Regards
Priscilla

 

[Ariadne]

What is your first impression about Muslims or Arabs?

Well for me that is really two separate questions. I have always been aware that one is a religion and the other is a location in the world.

Have you changed your outlook because of your involvement with the culture (even if it is a hafla level dance ) , or have you been brought up with a generous attitude.

I am guessing this is your real question.

In my case the answer is no, there hasn't been a change. Dancing may have something to do with culture but I see little connection with any religion in it. Culture has always fascinated me and always will. Why would dancing change that?

 

[da Sage]

"Have you changed your outlook because of your involvement with the culture (even if it is a hafla level dance ) , or have you been brought up with a generous attitude."

My parents never demonstrated any particular attitude for or against Arab people or Muslims, but there are not many where they live. It is something that never came up - when they learned one of my classmates was second-generation Iraqi, it was no big deal (although he did "stand out" visually in a crowd of other locals). My father hired a Turkish national right before 9-11; there was a problem because he had let his immigration status lapse, and then 9-11 happened, and then it was hard to fix it after the fact because of the US bureaucracy, but they managed.

My parents treat everyone with respect, so I learned to do that too (most of the time:redface. Although I think my dad would still spit in Jane Fonda's face for her behavior during the Vietnam war.

I probably would not have tried to learn Arabic if it weren't for bellydancing (I've since given up on Pimsleur, and decided I need a tutor), but I have always tried to read what I can about Arabs and Muslim culture around the world (India, Indonesia, etc).

 

[kayshier]

This thread is just boggling my mind. I dont even know WHAT to think.


Regards
Priscilla

agreed.

 

[Aniseteph]

I don't know what to think either. I can't answer any more than I can answer what my first impression was of Bhuddists or Spanish people or Russians... I'd take any one I met to be an individual first and a representative of a faith/culture/nationality second (if that...)

I expect it might be different if I lived in an area where one group had a large community but weren't very integrated.

Belly dance has affected me in that I'm more interested than I was. If there was a local class I'd learn Arabic, and I've got into a whole lot of music I'd never have found otherwise.

 

[summerdance]

My first exposure to Arabs and Muslims was as a baby. I don't react to them now in any way because I have developed antibodies that make me immune to experiencing adverse reactions. Hopefully a vaccine will be developed one day. Good luck.

:clap::clap::clap::clap::clap::clap:

This thread is just boggling my mind. I dont even know WHAT to think.

Regards
Priscilla

ِAgreed 100%. Seriously guys ?!?

 

[gypsy8522]

This thread is just boggling my mind. I dont even know WHAT to think.


Regards
Priscilla

:wall: :wall: :wall: :wall:

 

[da Sage]

Seriously guys ?!?

I was seriously raised in a place without many Muslims or Arabs. Seriously, Hispanic people were rare. I met a person of American Indian descent on a trip, and was seriously excited about it, because I hadn't knowingly met someone of that ancestry before. My Korean friend told me that her father was "very strict, because he is Korean". She said it, I didn't. And seriously, her dad ran a martial arts school (how's that for stereotypical?).

I was seriously curious about other cultures, and I had access to magazines that had seriously cool pictures and stories in them. So I read them. Seriously.

I had certain ideas about these people. I assumed that some of them might have different tastes, or different opinions than most of the people I knew. Then again, my own family has lots of quirks that most people we knew didn't share. So I knew that everyone is individual, and than there's tons of variation within any group.

Would it seriously be better if I had had no opinions about Muslims or Arabs at all? If I knew nothing, and cared to know nothing until someone else told me? Seriously?

I don't think this is a bad question, and I don't think there's anything wrong with answering it honestly. Does anyone want to tell me what their first impressions/ideas were about Americans or Christians? Everybody has to start somewhere, when they are learning about the world.

 

[masrawy]

the fruit doesn't fall far from the tree ...

Me too I don't know what to make out of this thread except we only have Mr D to thank for bringing it out for general discussion instead of keeping it as a family secret.

You see, I have the same condition as poor Awasef oh dear she has been suffering from since she was born too.

I have been exposed to a different strain of this dreadful virus I just didn't realize it until I started to travel at the tender age of 19 I have lived and suffered from this dreadful disease without knowing

I learned the truth about it when I went to France and one of my first girlfriend family member an older gentleman, he was positive that she only go out with me, because I have a big manhood just like the other Arabs and Muslims. The man was paralyzed from the neck down but he can recite every filthy thing Charles de Gaulle have said about Muslims and Arabs.

Needless to say my girlfriend asked me about the missing 2 inches in my manhood ... I told her Ooh I have been circumcised just like my other cousins ... the children of Abrams.

The kicker was this gentleman was a Jew born in Alexandria and left with all of his money in 1956 and lived the high life as a Frenchman.

Fast-forward .. upon arriving to US I lost my extra 2 inch manhood and bragging right .. we just get replaced by the Black man.

Furthermore, the symptoms of the disease changed to the psyche side of things cowered, wife beater, they treat women their women like piece of shit .. and terrorists just to name a few.

You see, if Mr. D did not bring it out I would have lived and died thinking I'm the only one who suffer from the disease. ... in hey I learn something new thing about us Muslims and Arabs.
　

meat eater​

　
Dear Mr. D. you have made it crystal clear about your attitude toward Muslims and Arabs in this forum ..

the fruit doesn't fall far from the tree ...​

 

[da Sage]

Hi Masrawy, I have never heard this interesting trivia about Arab gentlemen! :lol: Although I did read in the Kinsey Report about the Portuguese...so what else should I know, please enlighten me...

I'm afraid I was overly sharp with summerdance. I had no idea she was Arab, I assumed she was just another a white-bread American/European who thinks all preconceived notions about gender, nationality, and racer are Evil Prejudices That Can Never Be Overcome, instead of a base that can be rebuilt/augmented with better information and wider experience. I guess I should check out people's profiles before I make assumptions about who they are and where they're coming from.

 

[Mosaic]

People are people, are people - culture and beliefs just don't come into my thought processes I meet someone and get to know them eventually ( or not- depending of situation) I may learn where they originated from and what they believe, but having learnt that it won't colour my impressions one way or another. If we click we click, if we don't we don't.

I was raised in an open, loving 'global' family ... members come from all walks of life, all cultures and beliefs systems.

I am married to a Malaysian Chinese Buddhist, My brother married a Turkish girl, one cousin married a Lebanese Muslim, another an Indian woman, an Aunt married a Japanese, A cousin's daughter married an Egyptian, a couple of others married Maori Men ( mixed race marriages are and have been pretty common in NZ for a very, very long time) -There have been Indonesian, Polish, Greek, Brits, Dutch and who knows what else, who have become family, and we have wonderful family get togethers with a myriad of yummy foods LOL!

Becoming involved in the dance was an offshoot of my love of ME history which became a love due to family members and travel and my dad's wonderful stories about Egypt in particular when I was a small child.

I lived in Indonesia for close to 11 years and have many Muslim and Balinese Hindu friends. To be honest I could count on one hand my Christian friends, but would need several hands to count my other religion affiliated friends

When my youngest son was little, I remember someone asking him what religion was he and his answer was " I don't know but think I am buddhist, Hindu, Muslim & whatever my mummy is" ... why did he say that? Simply because his world was coloured by people who followed these various beliefs and to him every single one was perfectly normal and natural. A child doesn't judge by culture or religion - everyone is a friend unless they have a falling out (which generally repairs itself after a short while) - Today he is like myself just a simple believer and we take the good from all walks of life and cultures and embrace it!
~Mosaic

 

[summerdance]

Would it seriously be better if I had had no opinions about Muslims or Arabs at all? If I knew nothing, and cared to know nothing until someone else told me? Seriously?

It would be seriously better to not act as if Muslims and Arabs were aliens from Mars. It would be seriously better if you did not feel we needed your opinion about our culture. It would be seriously better if you did not talk down to me. I am not 5. It would be seriously better if you did not assume. You know what they say happens when you assume.

Seriously, Thanks.

 

[da Sage]

I did have reservations passed on to me by my parents about Muslims , I was told not to bring Muslim friends in the kitchen , but allowed in the other rooms in our house, they eat beef that was the sole reason for my parents to take that decision . But there was some exceptions, only if they are the sons or daughters of local doctors or the police chief . I was told not to be friendly with Muslim girls and never eat in any Muslim peoples house , again exception, doctors and police chiefs are fine and the local principal. They eat beef but they are educated beef eater !!!7
Regards
Dev

Interesting. I know there are not so many Christians in India, but were your parents' rules the same for them? Or did it just never come up?

I was raised not only eating beef, but also pork. Pork was actually the last meat I cut out while going vegetarian....pepperoni and pork rinds are soooo tasty...I still miss them.

I never lived anywhere where Christians weren't the majority, and that's the religion I was raised in. So it's weird for me to think of different religious groups fighting - that is something that's always happened Somewhere Else Far Away. It doesn't make sense to me, and must be a scary way to live.

 

[khanjar]

I grew up in an area where there were no ethnic minorities, everyone was white, Christian, largely middle class and boring, but when I first came across muslims and Arabs, it was in their own countries and there I developed a healthy respect for them, their faith and culture. Something which has remained until this day.

What we see and hear which is media inspired, I largely ignore, for I know the media is guilty of many sins, the things it does in order to make a story and there reap the dividends.

The politicians too, does it occur they also are guilty of manipulating facts to suit their own ends ? Look at what we have now, a certain paranoia by security forces, look at the restrictions we in the west now have to take on board.

Don't get me wrong, for I am aware of the actions of an extreme minority, but they are no reflection on the majority, because say a fraction of a percent of the population of a culture and faith choose to interpret their belief to cause harm, it does not mean everyone of that culture and belief think the same, it is wrong for people to even suggest a link. There are bad eggs in every culture, but more often the case is, the bad eggs are a miniscule fraction of the whole of the people and probably not wanted by the majority.

Personally, those who are Arabs, or of the Islamic faith in the west, I pity them what they have to go through in these countries.

To me, Belly Dance and other dances are part of a culture I admire along with the music and the art, seeing as there is such a following in the west for this dance, I really cannot understand why some people choose to take part of a culture and despise the rest. I wonder if these people even begrudge the Arab culture their dances and music.

Well, we have just had an Islamic art exhibition at college and now we have the jewellers, it is clear to see they are inspired by what they saw, myself included with my designs in niello and fret work, something the Arab culture are masters at. Not only that, but they can create things of beauty with the minimum of tools whereas us in the west, ever seen a jewellers workshop, thousands of pounds worth of tools before they even start attempting to create.