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The view from Arabia on political, social, economic, cultural and historic issues by Dr. Mohammad Talal Al-Rasheed
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01 Aug, 2011
Author: Dr. Mohammad T. Al-Rasheed
Let us say it one last time (I hope): Let them drive! I suppose we are the only country in the world that is still debating this moot point. Islamic countries, non-Islamic countries, countries that are not countries, nations that are not nations, and just about anything walking the face of this earth will not begrudge a woman the right to drive and experience the misery of our times. In ancient times, they rode camels and wandered the desert alone. No one said a thing. Surely riding a camel in the middle of nowhere in the year 600 AD is more dangerous than driving from A to B in town.The custodians of our religion who make up their own madness deem the act haram –not kosher in terms the western reader can understand. How can a mechanical activity be kosher or not kosher? It is like saying cooking on a gas stove is haram and wood should be used instead. Logic? Yes, in its own mad way, it is their logic. The same applies to their notion of execution by beheading using a sword while buying state of the art aircrafts for the army. Why not use swords in battles as it used to be? Perhaps Moslem armies might achieve something using a sword since they never achieved anything using a gun. At least swords were manufactured in Islamic countries and we know how to sharpen them when we know nothing about the layout of a delta wing for example.
That same warped logic tells us that a woman being driven by a stranger in the middle of the night is the hallmark of morality and adherence to Islamic law. But for her to drive herself to wherever she is going is immoral, illegal, haram, and the hallmark of temptation. So they legislate to allow for the father or husband to import a total stranger to drive the women around. Other men who see a car with a woman in it being driven by a total stranger think it the right thing. Those same men who saw a woman defying the rules and driving herself around shouted obscenities at her that did not stop at them calling her a harlot.
We know nothing of irony in this place; otherwise, we would remind those people that a woman driving a car in a conservative society like Aswan, for example, is never called a harlot. Nor are all women in Islamic countries who drive their children to school anything of the sort. Or are they all doomed in hellfire when the time comes? Worse, those same people allow their own daughters to drive when traveling but deny them the right when at home. Surely, the pathetic obscenity of this whole farce is clear enough especially when a man allows a female surgeon to cut him open but will not allow her to sit behind a wheel.
The truth is much simpler than what they want us to believe. The ban has nothing to do with religion or even local custom. It has to do with our inherent fear of women. We like to control them thinking that they are too dangerous to handle. And what better way to keep them ‘under control’ than to deny them their basic rights? This behavior comes from masculine lack of confidence. And our men have no confidence in themselves or their capabilities. Compare scholastic achievements between boys and girls and you will see who comes out on top.
We lack the basic ingredients to boost our confidence. We are not allowed to choose our mentors, leaders, teachers, and not allowed to think for ourselves in matters political or religious. We are always told what to do. Our critical faculties have become numb, much like an arm that is tied for a long period. Soon enough you will not feel any sensation in that arm. We have reached a point where our critical faculties are beyond being numb; it seems we no longer have them. What remains is obvious: no brain means use of force. You choose your own form of force, be it physical, mental, and/or issuing rules and regulations that keep the subject subjected.
I am the father of three girls, and, unlike many an Arab father, a proud one at that. Two of them are of driving age and I relish the times outside the Kingdom when they drive me around. They are sane, measured, and full of confidence. They are a match for any kind of ‘man’ whose pants slip to show half his ugly behind and dirty underwear, and can navigate the streets of New York with ease. They don’t like being told what to do. They do not like to be ‘driven’ around as if they were mentally and physically retarded. They are educated and can joust intellectually with the best of them. What more is needed of a woman?
Source: Published by Bahrain Confidential
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Betty Wiggins
30 Sep, 2011
Love your logic, and that is what it is..logic. Maybe this is why it is not understood by the average Arab man, you make to much sense, but, keep it up because the future of your daughters and the daughters of other Arab men is at stake....good luck!
Fadi
19 Sep, 2011
nice article. thank you
COMMENT TITLE
May 1, 2011
Have you ever heard the Latin phrase "acta est fabula"? The meaning is easy enough. Acta is, of course, act and fabula means finished. So the 'Act is finished' is the translation. It was more of a proverb until the highly gifted French author
Monthly
03 May, 2012
I should think valor, dignity, human audacity should make these people somewhat timorous of hanging in there when the cycle of time says: withdraw.
Source: Published by Bahrain Confidential Magazine
Number of comments: 0
Published Monthly
03 Apr, 2012
The most immediate power, however, that you meet every day, is your immediate superior, be they a teacher at school, a boss at work, or even a step-mother at home.
Source: Bahrain Confidential Magazine
Number of comments: 0
Monthly by Bahrain Confidential Magazine
07 Mar, 2012
If ever there was a hat in one's feather, or is it a feather in one's hat --one never knows dealing with French diplomacy-- this is it.
Source: Bahrain Confidentail Magazine
Number of comments: 0
February 2012 - Monthly
02 Feb, 2012
We know a lot about tyranny in this part of the world. We almost breathe it daily.
Source: Bahrain Confidentail Magazine
Number of comments: 0
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