I was thinking the other
day about my book “Inshallah” and my life in Saudi Arabia in 1978, I have no
idea how it would be now. When I wrote “Inshallah” I did it with the purpose of
trying to make expatriates appreciate that although different the Saudi way of
life and appreciation of the world had a reason to it. A difference I tried to
explain in an adult story form to show life in a family against its traditions
and religion.
The episodes in the
book are either taken directly from families I knew intimately or in the case
of Mark and Jinnya a reasonably fair interpretation of a situation of the
English man and a wilful Saudi woman who fall in love. Her character seems a
bit excessive at times but I have known girls just like her. The western
thought that all Muslim women are down trodden is far from the truth and if you
care to read the Koran you will find there are many provisos that are ignored
by extreme and to some extent more moderate Islamists.
Just like the
Catholic Church in Christianity the rules have been altered to suit a political
situation there are too many examples for me to list here but just two will
suffice the crusades and the inquisition. Where in the bible does it say that
we should ask Mary mother of Christ to intervene, no it quite clearly states
that it is through Christ we should communicate with God.
Sorry I’ve gone off
the script a bit but it does annoy me when any religion twists it’s mantra to
serve a worldly purpose. Not only that but it leads to miss understandings and
general confusion so people blame one another through ignorance. This leads us
back to why I wrote “Inshallah” in my own little way I hoped to increase the
understanding between east and west. But now things have changed so much that I
doubt if I were to go back to my Saudi homes I would recognised the place even
if they are still there. As for my book it is now just a fine love story in a
place which has ceased to exist.
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