Beingborn to a Muslim family I have always found that general perceptions aboutMuslims are acting as a hindrance in the achievement of my objectives. Myparents have always advised me to understand the values and beliefs of Islam sothat it may become possible to defend my social and religious location. Quiteearly in my childhood I started learning Holy Quran as per social practiceshere in Saudi Arabia and now I am a grown up man who not only understands butalso practices/performs, as much as possible the duties and values of Islam. Islampromotes brotherhood, justice and equality which can clearly be seen in thesocial setup of Saudi Arabia where people are always willing to help oneanother keeping in mind that they are believers of same religion and philosophyof life.
When I compare my society with rest of the world, I feel that I amlucky enough to be born in this region but there are some laggings that areneeded to be overcome in order to make Saudi Arabia a more comfortable place tolive-in. Our society is quite rich in culture provided with the fact that it isconsidered to be a Holy place by the Muslims belonging to all the parts ofworld. People from different cultures and ethnicities visit our country withthe view to perform pilgrimage (Hajj/ Umrah) and because of this we get tointeract with one another and with the passage of time many positive aspects ofother cultures are becoming part of our culture and making it an even bettersocial locality. Imust also state that our society is little bit rigid.
As the rule of law andjustice is based on the principle of equality and punishments are same for allthe citizens no matter from which segment of society he / she belongs to. Thisis a very positive aspect of my society that it treats everyone on the basis ofequality and there is no room for favoritism and bias. Subjectivity however isinvolved in some aspects of life because Arabs do not feel that muchcomfortable with non-Arabs and this is a very important factor that makes oursociety little bit conservative when compare with the other developed parts ofthe world. The climate is quite hot that is considered to be a significantreason lying behind the attitude of Arabs towards life.
Oil exports form amajor source of revenue for most of the population and it is also acting asmajor determinant of Saudi-Arabia place in the world. Different countries tryto make alliance with Saudi Arabia only because of the fact that it is rich inoil exports and therefore can serve to be very helpful in pursuit of theireconomic stability. All these factors are playing their role in affecting thelife style and living standard of all the members of our society. Ifeel that race and ethnicity are given much important in our society that istotally against the teachings of Islam. In addition to this gender bias is alsoquite common that is acting as a major hindrance in the way of economicdevelopment because women are not provided with the required opportunities andenvironment so that they can help in the betterment of economy and society.
Ihave also noticed that there is a dire need to create awareness regarding practicalityof Islamic teachings so that we may become able to practice Islam with proudand present a society that can be treated to be the role model for the rest ofthe world.
