If you want to learn about Arab culture/norms...

The Arab Mind ^ | 1983 | Raphael Patai

[aphrodite74]

I am now reading 'The Arab Mind' a book by Raphael Patai. It was published in 1983. The author gives an unvarnished look at norms in Arab culture. I am learning SO much that I wanted to share it with more FREEPERS. Its an essential topic for us to know about given current events in our post-911 times. If anyone knows of more books on this or related topics, please share! Is there a recommended books list for FREEPERS anywhere on this site?

[Cronos]

If you guys want to know about the Muslime mind -- go to the site http://www.flex.com/~jai/satyamevajayate/ -- it is incredibly well-researched.

Aso, I would warn against the generalisations in the book you recommend -- Arabs are not all one kind -- in fact your true ARabs would be found only in the Saudi, Kuwaiti and Jordan regions. Yemenis are different na dhave a longer history as civilised people (part of the Kingdom of Sheba and also part of various Ethiopian Empires), Lebanon and Syria are strongly Phoenician, Algeria and Morocco have a substantial Berber population and Iran is not Arab. So, you have a number of Arabs who are Christians (as in Palestine, Egypt, Syria, Iraq) and a number of muslimes who are not Arab.

[bill1952]

Thanks for the link!
Just added it to my favorites!

[wideminded]

"The Jewish Mind" is not a good book. It may contain a lot of information, but it's as boring as "The Arab Mind" is interesting.)

Thanks. I thought it was just me. (There were a few interesting parts IIRC.)

[bill1952]

Wait a minute.
I hear this all of the time.

Arab, schmarab. I understand that most people use the term "Arab" interchangeably with Muslim, but making a point about the historical & cultural differences between different groups of peoples involved within the Islamic religion begs the real point; that despite their differences, they mostly all believe the same damn thing, and they act on it.

Anyone knows that Iran is Persian, and nobody's gives a flea-bite of concern as to whether it is a Persian muslim, a Pakistani muslim, or for that matter, a french muslim, that gives a terrorist group the bomb, or acts in a concerted and violent way against the US.

For that matter, I don't care one whit if they are followers of Fatima or not, I.e, Sunni vs Shiite.

I'll check your link, though. :)

[backhoe]

Thanks for looking.

[Cronos]

That's my point -- the issue isISlam. I don't give a rat's behind about the ethnicity and seemingly, neither do you.

[Peach]

I'd love it if we had a book section on FR. When I read a book that has important information, I try to type notes in my Word file for reference.

[Gamecock]

And why do any female Muslims blow themselves up, because their status in paradise is highly questionable?

Islam is a works based religion. At judgment your deeds and misdeeds are placed on a scale. Whichever is greater determines where you spend eternity.

To the Muslim (with some exceptions) dying in a spiritual battle (jihad) tilts the scale in your favor.

Unlike Christianity, there is no grace.

[CatoRenasci]

I read Patai's The Arab Mind, having earlier read Lawrence's Seven Pillars of Wisdom, Lewis' What Went Wrong, some of Ba'at Yeor's work on Dhimmitude, the Koran and a couple of dozen other works on the Middle East going back to Sir Richard Francis Burton's travels. I thought the book was spot on, though clearly written from a western perspective.

To an extent, you can judge a book by its enemies, and the people who really hate Patai's work are the lefty Edward Said types who glorify the Palestinians and long for a return of Arab power. Of course they won't like it: Why Patai is even a jew! Imagine, a son of monkeys having the temerity to write about the glorious Arab mind! Why, he barely has a mind, how can he understand the greatest civilization man has ever known? < /sarcasm>.

[angkor]

I'm about halfway through this at the moment, it's quite good:

The Closed Circle: An Interpretation of the Arabs
by David Pryce-Jones

From Publishers Weekly
Following the end of colonial rule in the Middle East, the newly independent Arab nations did not become progressive and free: they are despotic; most persecute religious or ethnic minorities; all oppress women; none has participatory institutions. In a scathing and provocative critique, Pryce-Jones ( Paris in the Third Reich ; Cyril Connolly ) blames these dismal conditions on what he sees as a Muslim reversion to tribal and kinship structures as well as slavish obedience to complex codes of honor and shame that prevent concepts such as open debate, democracy and accountability from taking root. With Islamocentric shortsightedness, Arabs understood Nazism in terms of German revenge for humiliation suffered in World War I. Arab leaders admired both Hitler and Lenin as careerist conspirators who made good. Pryce-Jones sees the same tribal, king-of-the-hill mentality at work today in the Palestine Liberation Organization, a careerist group built around a few audacious personalities who arrogated the right to speak for a whole people.

[DooDahhhh]

How do they make intelligent people (if they are) believe in all this bunk???????????????

[monday]

"In that kind of environment (which is their own damn fault), one does not expect their children to survive to adulthood."

They have the same fatalistic attitude that the ultra religious of any religion have. The belief that their fate rests with God and only God, coupled with the fact that they look forward to dying as a martyr for their religion, means that they don't take ordinary precautions most westerners take for granted.

When they shoot into the air at funerals, if someone dies from the falling bullets, they don't blame the shooters, they shrug and think his time was up and his death was inevitable. Their willingness to die and carelessness makes them more likely to die.

As a survival strategy, I wouldn't consider it the best, but they are reproducing faster than they are dying so far, so I guess it isn't hurting them.

It is working much better than the western strategy of not reproducing very much but regulating safety upon peoples lifestyles in order to extend individual lives.

[kiwi_hawk]

"For starters, Arabic armies can't and don't fight. Even with state-of-the-art equipment, they bail out and run"

I know what you mean although quotes from soldiers in the battle for Fallujah remarked that " we have killed all the dumb ones that stood and fought and the smart ones are staying hidden and or snipe at us."
So the fanatical fighters can not be called cowards only because they are looking forward to death from the belief of a waiting paradise stocked with underage virginal boys and girls. I personally can't wait for them to get there. I believe Arabs on the whole who are not convinced about the whole Martyr business are prone towards cowardice in battle ( as seen in the Iraqi security forces) because they are brought up to follow instead of lead and subsequently panic easily.