Syb's Saudi the land I loved

I am now writing my seventh book but of all the books I have written the first means the most to me because it was written in Saudi. It is a tale about Saudi and its life style at the time (1974) based on many of the things we experienced as described in Mike’s Saudi.

At the time we felt there was a big divide in the understanding of the expatriate and the Saudi’s we were sent to teach. As we can see today Islam and Arabic culture is often badly portrayed and misunderstood in the West, no doubt helped by the more radical views of disinfected followers of the terrorist fringe. It was my experience that these do not represent the views of most Muslims who now seem to find it difficult to convince others of the true religion as written in the Koran. By selecting abbreviated passages from any religious text it is possible to support any view no matter how far from the true dedication of the text and often read in a context often means the opposite.

In Inshallah I tried to express in an unlikely love story of the normal family life of many Saudis and their acceptance of Islam, not always as strict as the Matawa (religious police) would like. However I tried to make it acceptable to the Western mind set as possible without deviating too far from the facts as actually experienced by myself. To me at that time they were friendly generous people who accepted me into their families during the time I stayed with them I wore purdah when we went out, and divided into separate rooms when none family members were present. Life of course was different to what I was used to but no worse for that.

I loved my time in Saudi, no doubt things have changed now after all it was forty years ago. But if as Christians or Muslims we stuck to the words of our Profits and didn’t infect them with our own agendas the world would have been a much nicer place.

Inshallah available from  amazon.com/dp/B007OIX3XM   

Mike's Saudi (41) Fateeha at the Supermarket

Fateeha had her moment too when Syb and Mum took her to the Supermarket, Of course in Dahran there was Safeway full of American products so she knew about them and used them when she was home. But Booths was a rather different type of prospect being a rural institution and of course the product range was totally strange to her. Not to allow the strangeness of the produce throw her and much to Syb and Mum’s dilemma she took the tops of the jars, dipped her finger in and tasted it. Syb rescued the opened jars from the shelf where Fateeha had returned them and put them in her trolley, explaining that it was not done here. Fateeha continued on her merry (but reformed) way filling a second trolley with everything she fancied. At the checkout she paid cash said something to Syb who turned to Mum and said “Fateeha says they are all for you”. I believe Mum still had some of things Fateeha bought for her when she died years later.

Pork is considered dirty in the Quran and no Muslim would touch it or anything made of it. However Mansour understood that we did not share this view and said we should not hold back knowing that we had not been able to enjoy bacon in Saudi. He suggested that we should have an English breakfast; next morning we took him up on it and had what to us was the usual fry up. We were sat at the table opposite the two of them and could see the discomfort on their faces as we tucked in, they were literally on the verge of being sick. We hurried our breakfast and never touched anything to do with pork in front of them again. It just made me realize how psychological indoctrination can really affect the human mind but it was a very low price to pay for our guest’s happiness.

Mike's Saudi (40) Mansour and Fateeha visit an English pub

On another occasion we took them to a typical Lakeland pub. It was a beautiful evening ideal to impress our guest with. A low sun across the field with cows grazing, in the distance the church bell ringers were practicing and all was quiet with not too many people about. I got us a round of drinks the girls had Pims and we had scotch, as we sat there enjoying the scene Mansour said “Seeing you don’t drink, how come you know so much about them?” In Saudi at this time I didn’t drink just to be on the safe side and had told him that I didn’t touch it. Fateeha loved the Pims and of course her husband wanted to know what it was. “When I was young we used to call it a leg opener” I told him. His eyes widened “Really get her another one.” I did but after sometime we left only having two rounds, the evening was so perfect it needed a clear head to enjoy it to the full.

One of the things that both of them were enchanted with were the acres of green grass, in fact Mansour used to enjoy rolling in it. Whilst the landscape in Saudi had its attraction for Syb and me we loved the desert and used to drive into it and stop out there where the silence made your ears hurt but to Mansour and Fateeha it was nothing. However the Lake District is one of the most beautiful areas in England, with its lakes, trees and everywhere the green grass and it truly impressed our guests. One day I had something to do so Dad looked after Mansour “I’ll show you our souk” he said meaning the local village market. Naturally Mansour loved it he came across some everlasting socks which intrigued him so Dad bought him a pair which proved to be his prize possession for the rest of the holiday.

Mike's Saudi (39) Masour and Fateeha visit Milnthorpe church.

 

 

At our home in the Lakes Fateeha was much happier and conversed with Syb in their own Arabic/English language, she was most interested in the way Mum ran the house. She was so naive about the west that she had even packed an iron to press their things because she wasn’t sure if we had them in the UK. I can’t remember much of our day to day holiday together but one or two high lights will do. Mansour wanted to see a Christian church and there was a nice old one in the village that we went to. In those days churches were left open for people to use.

At the door I had to stop the two of them taking their shoes off as they would at the mosque. Once inside the girls stayed by the door at the back of the building while Mansour and I went for a walk round as I explained how the service was conducted and the church used. Suddenly a middle aged lady appeared from nowhere and took Mansour on a guided tour pointing out all the features and dates of the church and its history. She really was knowledgeable and also made some kind remarks about the influence of the Arabs on the world. However she was one of those people who naturally have a loud commanding voice, poor Fateeha who understood little English stood at the back convinced that Mansour was getting the riot act read to him for entering a Christian church. When we left it took her husband a few minutes to convince her otherwise, in fact he had enjoyed the tour and learned a little about our history.

 

 

Mike's Saudi (38) Mansour and Fateeha in England.

Our next leave in the UK was due in a few weeks time when we visited Mansour and Fateeha. “We are going to have a holiday in England and France” he said, as it happened we would be in England at the same time and we hoped to meet. I gave him my parent’s phone number and asked him to call me while we were there. “Will £10,000 be enough to cover our stay in England?” he asked. I assured him it would be more than adequate, remember this was 1980 and he could have probably bought a small hotel for that much. Of course his plan was to stay in London for the whole time, as he had never been out of Saudi Arabia before it was probably the only place in the UK he knew.

Leave came and we were at home with my parents in the Lake District when the call came through from are rather inebriated Mansour, he sounded really unhappy and we could hear Fateeha crying in the background. “I’ll be down to see you tomorrow”. I would like to have made it the same day but it was a six hour trip and it was already three in the afternoon. Next day Syb and I set out for London and to find the hotel where they were staying and determined to look after them for the rest of their stay in England. Mansour in his ignorance had climbed into a taxi at Heathrow and asked the driver to find them a hotel. He certainly had; it was one of the grottiest hotels in central London and was charging him through the nose for his accommodation.

  At the time our car was a 2CV Citron a 600cc French utility car and not very big so we had to leave some of their luggage at the hotel to be called for the following day for which they charged full room rate. The hotel had depressed Mansour so much that as many Saudis do when visiting non Muslim countries he hit the bottle and not being used to it, its effects soon began to tell. This of course alarmed Fateeha as she had no control over the situation, no family to call on in England only us. In fact when we picked him up he was still the worse for wear, I removed his half empty bottle of whiskey to Fateeha’s relief. Throughout their holiday they wore western clothes and looked remarkably smart. Six or so hours later when we arrived at my parent’s house he wasn’t too bad though I did support him as he met them. My father a man of many hidden talents greeted him in Arabic much to my amazement and to Mansour’s surprise and delight.

Fateeha was much happier now and conversed with Syb in their own Arabic/English language, she was most interested in the way Mum ran the house. She was so naive about the west that she had even packed an iron to press their things because she wasn’t sure if we had them in the UK. I can’t remember much of our day to day holiday together but one or two high lights will do.

 

 

Mike's Saudi (37) Events that changed my working life

The report on the American contract that had done Mansour and myself so much good had been widely talked about. So when Abu and I visited the supply squadron their training control asked us if we could do a similar report for them, we checked with our captain who was enthusiastic and gave us the go ahead. Abu had only just started with me so it rested mainly on my shoulders but he was with me most of the time hopefully learning his trade.

We acted as Mansour and I had done previously, Abu talked to the Saudi trainees and I to the American contractors. There was no one missing from the contract this time but the discipline was appalling most of the work was being done by the contractors as the trainees were absent. The personnel in the training control were so frustrated that they had to let training slide or fabricate results, from the training point of view it was a very unhappy ship. Naturally when we eventually wrote our report we highlighted this failing which was from the top officer to the lowest recruit. In our office Khan our redoubtable Pakistani read the report which I felt was measured and fair. “Mr. Mike this will get you into big trouble. You may be right but it is criticizing the Saudis they will cause you trouble”. I felt it was right if we were ever going to get the stores personnel trained to work properly someone needed to do something about it. (How young and foolish was I and how old and wise was Khan)

Abu and I showed the report to the new boss and went through it with him in detail explaining my reasons for each criticism he was delighted and immediately circulated it to the contractors and his Head Quarters. He phoned for an appointment with the top officer in Supply, later on he, Abu and I went on to the meeting in the officer’s office. We watched as our new boss went through the report (giving credit to me) with the Prince who was the top officer in supply. The Prince gravely nodded at each point without comment, when the boss had finished, he thanked us for coming and we were dismissed.

Naturally the report was actually fair as seen from the American contractor’s point of view and they embraced it. At least it would allow them to do some training. Our next event in the chain that was to develop was we had a visit from members of the RSAF Riyadh Head Quarters together with their advisors and the report was white washed and the Supply Squadron continued as before. Next our new boss was replaced with a Major who was thought to be safe, Abu Garda was moved to another office where he was totally bored, the American contractors training manager was fired and I became in effect the new Majors secretary. I think I was lucky to have been saved if somewhat emasculated. As it turned out it was a job I grew to love.

 

Mike's Saudi (36) A new workmate

Shortly after our report had gone in Mansour was moved to the office of the Base Commander which broke up our team at work though we continued our socializing particularly as Fateeha and Syb had become close friends. At the same time our boss was transferred to Riyadh, so we had a new one. A young dynamic captain who drove a BMC Mini and was by Saudi standards very progressive, he had just returned from the States and was fired up with what he had seen over there. He encouraged me to help him in the impossible task of improving the training of the Saudi trainees with my new colleague and workmate, Abu Garda.

Abu Garda was also an Imam and had committed the whole of the Koran to memory a prodigious feat and could recite sections of it in a delightful half sung style of the Islamic clerics. (I wonder how many Christians have learnt the Bible from cover to cover.) Not only was he working with me but he was also studying English Literature at the University, from this you might gather he was exceptionally intelligent, and he was. His spoken English was excellent and his written English even better. As an Imam he would pray five times a day and during his prayer time he would give me a passage from an English translation of the Koran to read so we could discuss it on his return. Despite all his accomplishments he was a typical Saudi in that much that what could be done today was left to tomorrow, when I accused him of procrastination he would smile and say “Mike it is our way we will do it later Inshallah”.

He was a very serious guy entirely the opposite of Mansour but we got along just fine. Not unnaturally he was held in awe by his contemporizes and was referred to on all religious matters and lead the prayers whenever there was a requirement to do so.