why does the west assume that non-muslims are treated bad in the middle east?

Question

i have lived in the middle east for 8 years.and westerns(like myself) are welcomed.and no one went around killing them either.in Qatar they are about to build the biggest church in the gulf.so how do they oppress non-muslims?should we blame the media for putting such a negative of the middle east?


note:i don't want anyone saying "well look at Iran and Iraq or Afghanistan".because the argument is senseless(not even muslims can go there).
because those are not the only countries in the middle east.and are certainly not the majority.

and women can wear whatever they want as well.the government doesn't force them to wear burka.in fact many of the Muslim women don't even wear hijab.

actually it depends on what part of saudi you go.in jeddah women don't have to wear the abaya.

Answer 1

My cousin recently married a Muslim from Bangladesh and went to meet his family over there. To my surprise and with deepest apology for my stereotypical view of Muslims She returned unharmed. I agree with you completely. I believe it depends on the location. I learned a lot of humility from this and also made another step in loving all people regardless of religion.

Answer 2

I'm a muslim and was born in the US. But my parents are from Pakistan and I've lived there for 3 summers. Half of my family lives there and I talk to them a lot. In Pakistan, women are not forced to wear hijab and stay at home. Most women are educated, and the ones that are not are from rural areas, not from the city. Women also have government positions in Pakistan and Benezeer Bhutto (I think I mispelled her name) was the prime minister. Its not as bad as everyone makes it out to be. Men do not mind their wives working if it is a descent job but I'll be truthful and say that most would not want their wives to be working in a small employment (such as some fastfood restaurant or as cashier). They consider it their responsibility to fulfill the wife's needs and the wife is never forced to work. Many homes have maids and the wives are not forced to clean the house. The only thing the wife does is cook and sometimes she doesn't even do that. So women have it easy there (for the most part). I do understand that there are exceptions and I've seen them as well. But those exist in the US and everywhere else in the world. Abusive husbands are not made that way by their religion, its just their anger and own personality. There is room to improve but not as bad as the media shows it. Now why would the media be showing happy wives and happy husbands? of course they want a story so they'll show bad examples. But that could easily be done for western households too. Besides, women were not so liberated in the west always either. Its fairly recent since they've been getting full rights but even now there are some placed that pay women less than men for the same work. Also, its cultural ideals and not islamic ideals. The wife of the Prophet (pbuh) led an army of men in war! That was such a long time ago so how could people accuse islam of treating women unequally. Also more than 200 hadith were memorized and recorded by Aisha. She's an example against the misconceptions toward islam today. wow, didn't notice my answer was so huge sorry! :P

Answer 3

Didn't our troops operate out of Qatar, during the overthrow of Saddam Hussein?

What if you substitute evangelical Christians for non-Muslims, does that premise still hold.

If you carry a Bible and talk about Jesus, how does that go over in Muslim countries?

It can be dangerous, but Muslims are being converted to Christianity at the risk of death.

grace2u

Answer 4

Don't understand answer #1. Did you mention Christians?

Most of us have never visited the Middle East, so we are informed by the media, yes. My lack of experience there acknowledged, I don't think every place in the Middle East is the same. If you live in Qatar, you cannot say that conditions are the same in Iran or Syria, etc.

Answer 5

Well they are nobody knows because the country has no freedom of speech and no access to media. Some Asian citizens venture in the middle east just to be paid less and be a slave. Do a search on overseas contract workers their testimony will bear the proof. Asian workers are treated as lower class citizens they work hard for less.

Answer 6

Media bias. Because of 9/11, and the Iraq War, it's a great time to portray Muslims and Middle-Easterners in a bad light. So, they do. If FoxNews (a major U.S. news outlet) says: "All non-Muslims are killed over there!" it brings in big ratings, and that means big money. Unfortunately, in a capitalist society, that's really all that matters.

Answer 7

Because there is a lot of documented evidence that Christians have been badly persecuted in the past in Islamic countries,along with forced conversions at the threat of death itself,many personal testimonies have been recorded by Christians concerning this,do a search on the internet and see the evidence for yourself.

Answer 8

Well then let's talk about Saudi Arabia. If I go there my wife would have to dress ridiculously, not be able to go out without me, and there are places in the country neither one of us are allowed to see.

Qatar is one of the better ones, Egypt is OK too. I don't think it is everywhere that you are automatically going to have a problem, but I think there are obvious safety issues even in the good countries.

Answer 9

My Friends its all media who stereotypes our minds. I've read that they say Muslims attack everywhere, calls them terrorist. Who started World War 1? and 2? Well the media is focussing on Muslims as the target, specially U.S. Channels (Please I have no evil thinking, this is my belief. Freedom of Speech)

Islam(Muslims religion) is the word of peace. It teaches brotherhood, No hatredness. Topics such as Prophet(Peace be upon him) was touched to shatter the feelings of Muslims. So...

So I curse the media for everything.

Answer 10

Because we have the internet and now days you can download video clips of westerners (and easterners) getting beheaded in Ritual by 'peaceful' Islamic people.