Comments on: Form for the Other Saudis

By: Hassan Abdullah

Hassan Abdullah — Sun, 01 Jun 2008 07:48:45 +0000

heraish

Who told that Ali Alnoaimi is a Shiite ?

However, you are wrong Mr.Ali is a Sunni and it is impossible in KSA that a Shiite holds such a leading position as Ministry of Petroleum and Minerals

By: ubergirl87

ubergirl87 — Tue, 27 May 2008 11:38:54 +0000

They’re very presumptuous, there is a growing group of non-muslim Saudis. It must be frustrating for them, not being recognized.
Anyway, I’m sorry to say that from what I hear, there is a hell of a lot of discrimination base on sect. So shameful. Does anyone know if this happens in other khaliji countries?

By: heraish

heraish — Sat, 26 Apr 2008 23:47:01 +0000

Ali Al-Naimi the oil minister is a shii.

By: ali hammoud

ali hammoud — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 12:37:05 +0000

But United States is a secular country , while Saudi Arabia is not. No matter what religion or sect you hold, you are treated based on merits.

By: YANATRY

YANATRY — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 10:51:27 +0000

Dont surprise>>>

this kind of things are used in any military application I try myself after high school grad

I were in Jeddah for training at the airport and in the permission form you have to fill your sec .

it is there officially

By: Abdulaaziz from Canada

Abdulaaziz from Canada — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 06:03:06 +0000

Hi,,good article as usual, this is my first time commenting on one of your articles.
Yes we have some discriminatons in all levels not only the Sheia vs Sunnah…but I believe things are getting better….what we should do as educated young people is to try to move on and ignore these things and work on reaching to each others (I am sunni from Riyadh)…I remember When I was doing my Bsc in King Saud University, I tried to make friends with some sheiah students but I always somehow got rejected from them..they are so suspecious of me although I wasn’t relegious and I never discussed any sensitive conversations…..
my friend, I am currently doing PhD overseas and i have a lot of experience in dealing with so many people from various backgrounds….
I have many Iranian (Sheiah) friends here in Canada. One of them once told me that sunni Iranians have no right to join the army, no chance to have highly excutive jobs or even being in Police…so sunna in Iran are suffering a lot more than Sheiah in Saudia…i am not saying things here is perfect but there are so many places where minorities are treated like crabs…Hopefully with more people getting educated overseas and with less relegious controling of the primary education and controling of young children in Mosques or Hozat , we could have less single minded people. I know sunni guys when they see a sheia man think he is the one who killed Omar …I know Sheiah guys when they see a sunni man think he is the one who killed Ali…all of this products is a result of the feedings of shaiks and Ait Allahs….It is a dead past and we should forget about it.

By: Hala

Hala — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 02:14:28 +0000

ِِِA lot of discrimination here in Saudi is based on lack of knowledge and ignorance, in the work places as I’ve witnessed it is not only against Shiite Muslims but also against women, expats from other poor countries and even Sunni of liberal appearance or ideology or vice versa depending on the management. I think that a person can’t ignore his own sect, gender or beliefs when it comes to promotion of ideas, everyone of us will be biased to what he/ she is subjected to, so yes I think you can’t ignore the fact that you are moved by this form because you are a Shiite Muslim, and there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that. I get moved a lot by forms of discrimination against women and that doesn’t make me my opinion unbiased, I think the first step toward enlightening others of whatever wrong they’re doing is by expressing it out loud, otherwise, things will never change. I for instance was trying to find a census on death records for an academic work that I’m doing but couldn’t find any, so I don’t really think the form was trying to conduct any meaningful census, I think Abdullah is just an optimistic person, but my own guessing is that this question on sect was placed after certain incident, we don’t usually find a sect question, but in this particular case, a staff at the ministry forms department may give you the origin of this trend. I’m sure some staff did something that caused the checking of the sect.

By: abujoori

abujoori — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 19:44:24 +0000

Khawaja,

What an interesting comment!!.

I agree that many Saudis struggle with their identity and in many occasions question if Saudis; All Saudis are treated the same and equal. Yet, I cannot be other than that as long as I belong to this country. I’ll belong to Saudi Arabia as long as I am alive.

I really really do not care what we are called but I care more that we keep being one united country. The continuity of being one “real” nation is one true challenge ahead of us. Not many Saudis take this as an issue. They feel more comfortable within their other identities they belong to. Future generations will face tougher times answering that challenge.

By: Abdullah

Abdullah — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 06:33:19 +0000

Rain,

1. Forgive me, my statement was misinforming! It is illegal to ask religion related questions on the US Government forms. However, I do remember writing down “Islam” or “Muslim” on multiple occasions! I tried to look online for a sample form, but did not find any.

2. As far as the ethnic background field, it is not only used for statistical/census purposes. It is also used to satisfy the affirmative action policies.

By: Rain

Rain — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 04:17:45 +0000

Abdullah

‘Most of the forms I filled in the United States asked for my ethnic background and religion. ‘

1. It is illegal to ask the religion question on any form. Please substantiate with a sample form.

2. The ethnic background boxes are for statistical/consensus purpose and are optional.