Anyone from Saudi?

Assalaamaoalaikum everyone.  I hope to travel soon to Saudi in six months to live.    Every since I have been speaking with different people, they told me about how life was for them as a foreignor living in Saudi.  The Americans say that they are paid well there, and treated with respect.  But when I talk to people who lived there that were not Americans at the time of their stay in Saudi, then they say their pay in Saudi was terrible for them if they were not Americans, British, etc.  My question for anyone who is a Sudian is :

I also heard alot that you can smell the arrogance in the air when you arrive in Saudi? The people who I talked to were fifteen in total, and fourteen of them lived in Saudi.  The fourteen people lived in Saudi for 2-8 years.   One lived in Dubai for 4 years., but the response was still the same.  I did not tell any of them what the others discussed with me until they revealed to me about the arrogance coming from the Saudis.  But they still said that they loved living there as well. 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_named_after_people

abuayisha wrote: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_named_after_people

Some quandaries have popped up...
How many can be qualified as "Muslim" countries on the list?
How many were established by eliminating the people of the same religion?
How many are still ruled by the family that established that name?



Edited by Sign*Reader - 09 April 2012 at 1:09pm

abuayisha wrote: Lady I am not Saudi, but having spent a great deal of time in the Gulf, I think the opinions you've received are common to the region.  With respect to salary, in my opinion, it has little to do with "respect" and more to do with business.  If the Saudi government or private sector knows that a teacher in India makes equivalent to $100 monthly, they will contract that Indian teacher at let's say,  $300 monthly,  to work in Saudi.  The Indian teacher has agreed to this contract and is happy.  Likewise, if an American teachers makes $3,000 monthly in America, her contract in Saudi will likely have a comparable or greater salary, along with housing, transportation allowance and tickets in order to attract the American teacher.  Thus, one would not reasonably expect,  from a business perspective,  for Saudi to pay an Indian teacher from India $3,000, nor an American teacher $300.

Does anyone think this argument will hold water in any independent lawful society? Or for that matter in a truly independent Islamic court of law if there was one?

The answer will be resounding no. I know none of us can make a change there but justifying with hypothetical smack dab of hypocrisy, one has call spade as spade! With this attitude what the Muslims migrating to west are left with west to stand for? The money part is one thing but the treatment by the police state is another.
The indentured coolies of the British Indians origin in South Africa were also contracted! They could not travel from one city to another just like KSA or vice versa.

For the Americans(white) it is a land of country clubs or Palm Springs, all paid for doing zilch and endless partying to boot! They are demigods to them.

With respect to the criticism of arrogance leveled against the Saudi people our Prophet (saw) has defined arrogance as rejection of truth and belittling people - looking down of people, or thinking you are better than people.  This unfortunately is a general problem and characteristic of mankind which we all must struggle against.  Saudi is a tribal society and I often think tribalistic mannerisms are confused or interpreted by outsiders as arrogance.  Anyway, at the end of the day when living in a country that is not our homeland, even though it is a Muslim country, we must prepare ourselves for a cultural awakening and a new experience.  So when packing your bags remember to bring along plenty of patience and forget about how things are done back home in America.  Saudi is not America.  Please remember to make du'a for me when you make umrah, and I wish you all the best.

Saudi Arabia is better than home for the smart Americans who would like  a fat retirement account while having a good time tax free. It works for the indentured labor too if they go back to their homelands with some savings, it may not be that great if they decide to follow Americans to the land of free.
Anyways no one can beat the Americans or some of the other NATO member aka as old colonial masters. The Saudis couldn't be considered as candidates for the arrogance list before the six days war based on the tribalism tendencies. It is a case of nou- veau- riche disease and American MIC umbrella no more no less. Remember during six days war the price of oil was somewhere in mid teens and there wasn't a lot for the Saudis to brag about while the specter of Soviets hanging over near by! But with prices pegged to the dollar and Uncle Sam's spending out of control with printing press churning dollars full speed, Obama being clueless about energy policy gives Saudis ever more arrogance. The Standard Oil did a great job in creating this symbiotic relationship and then MIC took over and created a masterful police state with complete bells and whistles... 
Most Arrogant Nations List


Edited by Sign*Reader - 09 April 2012 at 8:54pm