Question: What are Saudis famous for?

When I came to the US, I found out that many Americans and international students have a quite limited knowledge of the Saudi culture and identity. I used to joke and say that we (my family) have a swimming pool filled with oil in our backyard, and some would be puzzled for few seconds (actually considering that it might be true!).

I also bought a couple of pillows that have woven camel images on the front. I would tell my visitors: Hay, no Saudi house without a camel, right?!

So, other than the usual suspects (oil, riches, gender-segregation, allegations of terrorism) can you think of something the Saudi’s are famous for?

And for Saudis, what would you want to be known for?

Other than our camels and oil barrels: Is there anything else out there?!

Note: I will keep this post on top of the page for a couple of days.

Comments

[Hope]

Three things came to my mind: Hajj, mutawa3, kafeel. But then, I am an Egyptian living in Kuwait!

[raf*]

dear aya,

obviously "birthplace of islam/ka'bah in makkah" has to be mentioned TOGETHER with "wahhabiyah".

desert, desert, desert.

the place where peter o'toole became famous.

the place where toni shalhub (a.k.a. omar sharif) became famous.

the representation of "the arab world" to many people from "the west".

loud, obnoxious, misbehaving young men.

quiet, obnoxious, misbehaving old men.

i'm afraid the picture ain't rosy.

what nobody knows but SHOULD:

- breathtaking natural scenery: the desert, asir

- wonderful architecture: the painted houses in najran, mada'in salih, the (few remaining) old houses in jiddah

- amazing & unspoiled coral reefs off the hijaz coast

- rebellious young generation (yeah, that includes YOU)

--raf*

[matthew hogan]

How about transforming a militant charismatic racist anti-white African-American leader (Malcolm X) at a time of racial confrontation in the USA into a humanistic believer in the possibility of universal brotherhood, ultimately marginalizing the growth of a movment of dissident race warriors in the USA? Even stopped-clock Wahhabi's can be right once in a while.

[AhmedT]

I don't mean to be negative but the first thing that comes to mind is Wahhabism and its proliferation everywhere via direct support from Aal-Saud. Now its coming back and biting everyone (including them).

[John Kactuz]

Intolerance, of course. What a silly question!

The Saudis are about the most bigoted people on earth. Their religion teaches nothing but hate and anger towards non-Muslims. They mistreat their own women and even other sects of Islam. Their abuse of expatriot foreign workers deserves a chapter by itself - no a book, or better a whole library.

Not content with the evil they do in their own land, they spend billions to spread their vile message - as if the world needed more hate.

No I am not talking about the average citizen of the land of Arabia - I am talking mostly about the House of Saud and the Islamic religious establishment in that country. May they rot in the darkest corners of hell!

John Kactuz

PS: I do follow about a dozen Arabian blogs (so not to use that ugly name again) and it is always a joy to me when the average people - specially young boys and girls - make monkeys out of the religious police, or when common people make sad but true statements about how pathetic some things are in their country.
Oh yes, The true figures are unknown, but about 20,000 members of the royal family take at least 51% of the wealth, and the other 14,980,000 arabians get the rest - if they are lucky.

[Aya]

Great feedback, thanks everybody.

And please bring it on!

Whether it is romanticized, realistic, positive, negative, degrading or stereotypical views you have...All is welcome.

[green]

HUGE Houses. Walls. SUVs. Boring Al Saud Weddings. Corrupt and greedy Al Sauds. And Al Rashids. Rampant public littering. Dangerous driving conditions. Young boys driving cars. Henna bearded old men with short dirty thobes wielding sticks, yelling (in english), "woman cover your hair. "Secret" pubs in western compunds. Hypocrisy. Bad taste. Enslaved ex-pat workers, particularly maids. Rampant, unspoken of, child abuse. Too many useless, lazy, childish, abusive Saudi men in general. Polygamy. High divorce rate. Neglected and emotionally abandoned children.

Stunning deserts. The rocks, the minerals, the sand, the sun. Running through wadis in shorts in the evening. (yay!!!) Camping trips in the desert. All night parties in the desert. The night sky in the desert. The hospitible bedoin. Tough, smart, hard-working Saudi women (the country's brain trust). Really smart and with it young women. The Red Sea. Taif. Cheeky baboons. Ally cats. The old souks. Old architectures (what is left of it). Fun ordinary weddings - esp the women dancing. Gorgeous horses. Cool falcons. And the camels were all right in my book as well.

[Pazuzu]

-Good tips
-bad customers
-cute beards
-weird looks

[Anon]

I am a fellow Saudi, yet I feel estranged among my own kind; due to my family standing.

So I guess Saudies are famous for estranging their countrymen.

[Aya]

Dear Anon, What do you mean by your family's standing? And surely I agree with you, we are good at estranging each other!

[Sandra]

What a great idea for a post. For a regular (blue state) American, these comments brought much more dimension to a part of the world I have limited understanding of. I would love to read many more comments.

[Kashmiri Nomad]

I have a post dealing with the same question on my weblog. It was posted in Feburary 2006. Come and have a look. As a Saudi I would value your opinion:

http://kashmiri-nomad.blogspot.com/2006/02/saudi-culture-anyone.html

[jomster]

The first thing that comes to mind is the mutawaa..the second thing that comes to mind is the oil...the third thing is definitely the mutawaa..the fourth is the horny drooling saudi male you see during DSF in dubai ogling at anything with curves walking around.. and fifth, did i mention the mutawaa..

[Organic Muslimah]

Polygamy, Slavery (technically still exists), women can't drive, the color black, Sex, fat kings)

They think about me (an Egyptian)

we are all belly dancers (like so3ad hosni and Nabeela 3beed)

[Jhinx]

Islam, Haj, Muslim State, Wealth, oil, jobs, Dreams coming true (for asians at least..though not anymore, its Dreams shattered now), anxiety, fear, the dreaded police- police stops you, you shiver, I know-it-all syndrome saudis, mix of nationalities, bonded labour, kafeel, Iqama-right given to saudi to sieze some rights of expats, no taxes, S**, S** starved expats and saudis, oh. a lot more. Still a fantastic place, they let families board planes, buses prior to bachelors, saudi women have eyetalk with saudis only, expats fear to even steal a gaze, women waiting to prove they can perform better, in all areas, but sill this is an excellent country, giving an opportunity to lot of countries to get easy foreign exchange, completely westernized women in Abayas, 5Riyal shops.

[Aya]

Organic Muslimah and Jhinx, thanks for the comments, it is always interesting to read what others think about your country.

[sara]

Are you all saudis posting these comments about saudi arabia?....
That is such a negative way to think about your country and not to mention an awful image you present to other people about saudi!

[Aya]

Sara, do you think if people drew a rosy image of Saudi Arabia then the negative image will simply vanish and go away? Plus, most of the comments here are not from Saudis, so what do you suggest we do? If you are interested in a censored version of people thoughts then you are definitely in the wrong place. You can go to the Saudi Information Ministry's website for that purpose.

[Saudi Sara]

Great comments everyone ;) really intresting!
wow a lot o mutawaa talk :P

personally what first comes to mind
*Islam
*Desert
*Hypocrisy (sp?)
*Woman rights
*spoiled people
*hard working people
*CHANGE!!

[blueshark813]

Saudi is famous for being gentle,high fashion people, and very beautiful people lets look into the positive sides!!!

[lolo]

Hi evry one
I live in Ausralia
and the peaple here think that saudi peaple live in tent ..
Also, they think we are very rich