General Chat

I'm not used to general - can't believe how quickly the threads move!!!!!!!

i havent digested all this thread but if the boot were on the other foot.......for example, a white expat, person in saudi nicks a loaf of bread , gets caught and the punishment is a hand amputated. thats LOCAL law..
tell me, would he not prefer for the punishment to be ex pat law( law back home). wear a tag for a week and a slap on the wrist from a lily livered magistrate?

Bob

Has anyone actually read, or heard, the Archbishop's speech in it's entirety. I know I haven't - nor, I suspect have most of the reporters who have been giving us their opinions all week.

Good point Fiona.

As for if I was living in Saudi, I wouldn't be. But also - if I was in another country I would expect to have to know their language (or at least some of it) and follow their laws. If I didn't like them to that extent, I'd come home again.

In many countries if you didnt like the laws it wouldn't be your choice to come home again, you'd be sent home.

I have lived in various countries of the Middle East for many years, almost 3 of which were spent in Saudi Arabia.
I didn't particularly agree with many of their laws, couldn't see sense/reason in some of them, which makes them all the more hard to swallow. However, I am a firm believer of the 'when in Rome' rule.

As for your comment Dave, ref: the American woman in Starbucks who was sitting with men....well, a woman cannot sit with a man/men unless he's husband, or a part of your immediate family, ie father, brother, uncle, son. It's a long drawn out explanation, but unmarried males and females do not mix. The woman should have gone to the Female Only of Family Only section and I'm really surprised that nobody told her this....it's very difficult to actually get away with sitting where you're not supposed to .
Just imagine a woman going into a male public toilets in the UK, someone would say something pretty sharpish, wouldn't they!!

Several times I have been refused a coffee in Starbucks/other coffee shops, either because I was alone or because I was with another female. The point being that in both cases I was without a Mattram (male-minder - ie my husband, father, brother or son). The rules sound complicated, but in fact are not. IF there is a 'Female Section' or adequate 'Family Section' then I was likely to be served, and hardly ever refused. It's not Starbucks who make the rules, these are the rulings of the Religious & Moral Police.
Sometimes I was out in public without my head covered, and I would be told off by the Religous & Moral Police. Or maybe they considered that I had too much make-up on....and so on!! It's hard to swallow but the consequences are not worth the hassle, you learn to bite your tongue.
I could list so many incidents, reasonable and unreasonable (in my estimation) but the point is, that is their law and that is their country.

I had two choices, abide by it, or have my Resident's visa cancelled.

I can't even BEGIN to explain how the PC Barmy Brigade and soft-touch pussy-footing of UK makes my blood boil.
However, I don't believe the Archbishop meant that Sharia law would be brought in instead of our laws, rather that some aspects of Sharia Law would be integrated into our law for the purpose of Muslims living here, whether they were born here or not.

As an ex-pat living in the Middle East - IF such an occasion arose that I was arrested and faced court hearing or trial, I sure as heck would wish that it wasn't through a Sharia court, but that they would take into consideration my nationality and integrate some kind of 'western' thinking law.....and when I think of how easy I could break the law out here - unknowingly in so many cases - I can't help thinking that I see the sense in what the Archbishop was trying to say, albeit in a clumsy way.

K

So Charlie, do you think this way of all religions or just muslims? I'd be interested to know.

I'm sorry if I have reacted strongly, but I really think your comment is very sweeping...

Charlie B/ Bernard, considering you were accusing others of small-mindedness this morning don't you think it's a tad small-minded to tar all Muslims with the same brush? How many do you know well?

I met many Muslims with my job - medical secretary - all very nice people - one in particular Prince Abdulrahman Al Wehebi no less [I told him I knew one day my prince would come] was a really nice guy, a Saudi psychiatrist who absolutely loved it over here and came regularly as he was a big friend of our Prof - a neuropsychiatrist. Sadly, my Prince seemed to disappear off the face of the earth and Prof felt that he had perhaps been rather outspoken about life in Saudi and that's why we never hear from him now. He rang me up from Saudi one NYE to wish me Happy New Year and bought me lots of little presents - when he left last time we collected and bought him a Welsh rugby shirt - the largest size they had and tried to picture him wearing it as he rode his camel in the desert carrying a Kalashnikov - which he did all the time apparently.

that's mudered that one stone dead again then!!

Personally I don't think that the Law and Religion mix can you imagine what the Law in this country would be like if Religion (Christian, Muslim or anything else) had too much say we would be in the Dark Ages turning back the clock 100's of years. I for one would not want to live in any country run by religion.

viv

Neither do I Viv, scary thought....btw I'm thinking Christian religion

Mind you , I heard this week that a Jewish legal system (I've forgotten the name of it) has been running in this country alongside our own legal system for hundreds of years? Maybe it can work.... guess it depends on what and where, as always.