Quick Facts About the Saudi People
Saudi Arabs are a family people. Power travels up and down tribal lines. Intermarriage of cousins is encouraged to keep the tribal wealth inside the family. Saudis love to 'hangout' and visit family and friends. Drinking green coffee and eating dates is very common in family visits as is conversation about politics, religion, sex, business, etc. It is quite normal to hear elaborate stories that heap honor on the story teller or his family. Shame and honor are major factors for decision making in a Saudi family. Glory is found when a person brings honor to his family in the most public of ways, but a child lives his whole life in fear that he may shame his family.
Saudi Arabs are Wahhabists, having an ultra-conservative interpretation of Islam, called Salifism by Saudis, which some believe encourages and perpetuates an intolerant, if sometimes violent expression associated with terrorists in the world today. Fifteen of the 19 plane hijackers who crashed into the World Trade Towers and the Pentagon in September 2001 were from Saudi Arabia.
Saudi students attend government schools and universities for free. Many Saudis will not take jobs in the service sector. This type of work is perceived to be shame. This factor increases the kingdom's need for foreign workers at every level of society. Many young Saudis whose fathers went to a university abroad and return home to management careers are not getting the same opportunity to study abroad and even fewer find management positions upon graduation. Those who do usually find their positions not on merit, but on family connections. This unwillingness to work creates a high "unemployment rate." Many of the younger generation want change, but few are ready to pay a personal price to bring about that change.
The open practice of other religions is forbidden in Saudi Arabia. While there are some Christians among the expatriates working in Saudi Arabia, there are very, very few believers among the Saudis themselves. A Saudi arab who converts to Christianity is likely to be executed by beheading. Still, God reveals Himself to Saudis through encounters with believers and in dreams and visions. Saudi Arabs are slowly being exposed to Christian media and literature, and many Saudis are inquiring as a result. Saudis on travel to Europe or living elsewhere are exposed to Christian witness.
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