Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Keeping the Faith Today
Modern life requires compromises with religion, but then it always has. As such, there's
not much that separates a Peninsula life from a Western one, except perhaps in the degrees
of temptation and opportunity. That's changing as access to Western culture becomes more
prevalent in the region.
Except in Saudi and Kuwait, alcohol is widely available and has become a source of
curiosity and experimentation for many youngsters and a way of life for some Arabs who
have studied and worked abroad. Drugs, largely smuggled in from across the Gulf, have led
to addiction (together with the familiar misery, shame in the community and family disrup-
tion) in a small but growing number of Arabian youths who seek to emulate the kind of
rock-star lifestyles they see celebrated on satellite TV.
Covering Islam - How the Media and the Experts Determine How We See the Rest of the World (1997), by the late Edward
W Said, examines the way in which the media portrays the Islamic world.
All of these temptations and opportunities are causing a new generation, educated to
think and research the truth for themselves, to question the knowledge handed down from
their elders. The uprisings of the Arab Spring of 2011 were partly symptomatic of the pull
in two directions between a traditional life, governed by Islamic principles and concern for
society, and the realities of a modern life where the individual and his or her own personal
needs and satisfactions take priority.
OTHER RELIGIONS ON THE PENINSULA
All the indigenous people of the Peninsula today are Muslim. One or two Muslim converts to Christianity wander
in a state of miserable purgatory on the periphery of society, barred from all social interaction with family and
friends by a decision that most Muslims would consider not just heretical but also a rejection of common sense,
history and culture.
This is not the case with expatriate Christians whose religion is respected and provision for worship catered for
in church services across the region. There are also Hindu and Buddhist temples tucked away in small suburbs of
the region's big cities and travelling missions visit expat camps in rural areas to bring comfort to those separated
from the familiar props of their home communities. Small enclaves of Jewish people who have lived on the Penin-
sula for centuries are given private latitude in Yemen as part of the Muslim culture of religious tolerance.
Saudi, as keeper of Islam's holiest shrines, is the exception: no religious observance is permitted other than
Islam. That said, a blind eye is turned towards pockets of private worship among Christians.
Despite the trend towards greater liberalism in most countries of the Arabian Peninsula,
it's probably fair to say there is no less faith involved. The mosques are still full on a Fri-
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