Just to let you know, regarding the case of maid abuse of which you speak, the perpetrator of the abuse was a non-Muslim Malaysian woman of Chinese ethnicity. (This was a rather big case when it was first announced.)

I’m not a brother, I’m a girl.

Have only just noticed you are not from Saudi Arabia.

Social ills maybe prevalent in other countries too but at least they don’t exhibit the level of religious hypocrisy that exists in Saudi Arabia. If the Saudis didn’t try to be so holier than thou they wouldn’t be getting the bulk of the criticism.

Not really. You say that an official dismissed her case, saying she wanted to stay in a country that was not hers. He was declaring her to be an alien, no longer wanted in the country. Of course the decision is contemptible on compassionate grounds, but as I have pointed out, it’s not unprecedented. Many states, including the UK, take take similar actions.

You are unbelievable but I wouldn’t expect otherwise from a Saudi Wahhabi who has his/her ears and eyes shut and sealed.

You totally discount the fact they were legal residents in the country right from day one, had continued to be so for at least 7 years when the husband passed away after a short illness, that all the children were born in the country. How could you even imply the same might have happened in the U.K when you know it not to be true? You ought to be ashamed of yourself.

Am I to assume you’re unaware anyone coming to work in the U.K, doing so legally, and residing here continuously for 4 years is entitled to citizenship through naturalisation, so compassionate grounds wouldn’t even have come into the picture? But I forget, non-Saudis can never become citizens can they? Haram Alaik that anyone should even have the dreams of their offspring staying on in peace in the country after they (the parents) have broken their back through hard labour for the Saudis.

You say that an official dismissed her case.

You took this out of context please read the whole post. Just because I said “case” it doesn’t mean she was illegal. Perhaps my command of the English language is not good enough for you. I have only been speaking/learning it for 8 years now. If you prefer, I am fluent in these other languages and don’t mind repeating myself in any one of them.

Arabic, Somali, Swahili, Tigrinya, Italian and Serbo-Croat.

Not really. You say that an official dismissed her case, saying she wanted to stay in a country that was not hers. He was declaring her to be an alien, no longer wanted in the country. Of course the decision is contemptible on compassionate grounds, but as I have pointed out, it’s not unprecedented. Many states, including the UK, take take similar actions.

How about the case of the Filipino house girl who had a hot iron pressed to her cheek? Or the Somali girl locked away in the bathroom every supper time for the unforgivable crime of being “too beautiful and willowy”! According to her employer i.e. the lady of the house, the girl had to be locked away whenever the husband was around so he could never see her! …why, when the common view is that Arab men don’t like skinny women anyway.

Whether Arab men like ‘em chubby or not is beside the point, abuse is abuse and should be condemned as such. What I object to is the way such social ills, which are NOT by any means unique to Saudi society, are blamed on or used to attack Salafism/Wahabism or whatever the heck you want to call it. Here is a story about maid abuse from Malaysia, I warn you that the pictures are just as disturbing and harrowing as the ones you paint. This is also an increasing problem in Singapore and China, as recent controversies in those countries have shown. On the back of such awful cases, is it just, for instance, to dismiss the whole of Malaysian society and/or their practice of Islam as “CRUEL and HEARLESS”?

And then of course your countrymen, or rather your govn, is perfectly happy to strangulate the meagre economy of a very poor muslim country, somaliland, for no other reason than they can of course do it.

Actually, I’m of Pakistani origin. That’s the country in which a council of “elders” ordered the gang rape of a woman as punishment for a dispute involving her brother. Currently, I reside and pay taxes in a country that was party to an act of aggression against a sovereign Muslim state, resulting in a situation that is now claiming (on average) the lives of 63 of my brothers and sisters, daily.

I regret getting involved in this Saudi business, it’s ruined Eid for me, my favourite day of the year. I’m now in bad mood and feeling guilty for the bad things I have written about the Saudis…

I’m sorry you feel that way. You made some very strong and sweeping statements that I felt were unjust and needed a response. Don’t take any of it too personally, it wasn’t meant that way. From one brother to another, chin up and enjoy the celebrations.

The Somali lady and her kids were not illegal immigrants, there is a huge difference, I think.

And yet you only see fit to mention the case of what you bizarrely refer to as a “piously veiled” Saudi woman. There will always be those who don a Hijab/Nikaab, or grow a beard or indeed pray Eid Salah out of custom while being ignorant. Why their existence in Saudi warrants a hissy fit, I don’t quite understand.

How about the case of the Filipino house girl who had a hot iron pressed to her cheek?

Or the Somali girl locked away in the bathroom every supper time for the unforgivable crime of being “too beautiful and willowy”! According to her employer i.e. the lady of the house, the girl had to be locked away whenever the husband was around so he could never see her! …why, when the common view is that Arab men don’t like skinny women anyway.

And then of course your countrymen, or rather your govn, is perfectly happy to strangulate the meagre economy of a very poor muslim country, somaliland, for no other reason than they can of course do it.

These are the cases you never get to hear about. The forgotten victims, -too poor for anyone to care about. And of course the poor are always wrong.

I regret getting involved in this Saudi business, it’s ruined Eid for me, my favourite day of the year. I’m now in bad mood and feeling guilty for the bad things I have written about the Saudis…

I agree with Izzy Mo that the Saudis are not the biggest problem facing the umma.

I don’t know what you mean by “Saudi Tawheed” but on the general point about the gap between what Islam says and what people practice, that isn’t a struggle that is unique to Saudi Arabia. This is my problem with some of the comments posted here, they seem to be based on the assumption that Saudi should be held to a different standard compared with the rest of the Muslim world; I’m yet to come across a good reason why.

Based on this case alone, I’d say the U.K is a lot more Islamic with regards to the treatment of orphans as per the Qur’an.

Even the UK has a policy of forced deportation for those it deems to be illegal immigrants, a policy that has been criticized by the UN. If you don’t believe me, take a look at this; some of the cases relate to families with children who have lived here for a while. This is not to excuse what happened to the family you mention, but such policies are practiced beyond Saudi.

the Horn of Satan rose from the Najd.

Groan!

just about everyone who has worked in the Gulf region has a few stories about arrogant, nasty locals and the contemptuous way workers from Muslim countries are treated.

And yet you only see fit to mention the case of what you bizarrely refer to as a “piously veiled” Saudi woman. There will always be those who don a Hijab/Nikaab, or grow a beard or indeed pray Eid Salah out of custom while being ignorant. Why their existence in Saudi warrants a hissy fit, I don’t quite understand.

What motivates this? It’s not the “we’re the Saved Sect and they’re just grave-worshipping lumpen proletariat who we’re paying” thing, surely?

The question is so contrived it doesn’t deserve a response.

The Saudi Wahhabism is a particularly heartless and cruel reductive version of Islam that doesn’t give two hoots about the welfare of struggling Muslims elsewhere.

The only reductivistm I see is coming from you. As for not giving “two hoots” about the welfare of struggling Muslims elsewhere, how do you explain this?

Eid Mubarak all. Taqabal Allah minna wa minkum.

I have to be convinced of why it is wrong, in this case the “Saudi tawheed.

I was wrong to question the Tawheed, only Allah Subhana wataallah can judge that, astagfirullah. But it will always be beyond me how someone displaying so much outward appearance of compliance in the observance of the Qur’an and Sunnah can also be so VERY cruel, so devoid of compassion. And the Saudis are nothing if not CRUEL and HEARTLESS. Their treatment of Muslims from the developing world working in that country is despicable, …I could list about a hundred harrowing stories but I won’t.

You know we imitate the kafirs so much we call each other names and we cant even make sense of those names.

To the best of my knowledge, the Saudis are the only ones calling everyone else Kufr. YOU have even questioned the Islam of the average Turk, something I find offensive as some of my friends are Turk and are also the best of Muslims.

It maybe true that there is a bit of jahiliyah in all societies but the Saudis are beyond jahiliyah, in my opinion.

w/s.

Asalamualaikum wa rahmatullah. When it comes to issues of aqeedah I cant be satisfied with that it is wrong, I have to be convinced of why it is wrong, in this case the “Saudi tawheed.”

You know we imitate the kafirs so much we call each other names and we cant even make sense of those names.

There are always people who think they are better than others for whatever reason. It is a good thing Yusuf that you are a white brother and you will probably never expirience the bigotry of some Muslims but I bet that if there were blacks or African immigrants in the sub-continent Muslim countries they wouldnt be treated any better than a Indo-Pak would be treated in Saudi. There are some things from Jahiliyah that we will never rid ourselves from. You should note that I have never seen as many interacial marriages among any other Muslims than I have among the salafis. I happen to be one of those marriages, Alhumdililah.