THE Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice – the mutawwa always very eager to make sure Muslims lead moral lives – has taken the extraordinary initiative of training its staff in religious tolerance, communication skills and how to behave when faced with a tourist.
About 80 high-level mutawwa are joining the Supreme Commission for Tourism in a campaign known as “Ya Hala!” for training sessions in Jeddah, Riyadh and Dammam.
The central theme is to train Commission members in dealing with the expected large influx of tourists, including non-Muslims, who want to visit the Kingdom’s historical and cultural sites.
Non-Muslims, as we know, are not particularly partial to abayas and praying five times a day. And they sometimes are a little jumpy during calls for prayer. Just like mutawwas who get jumpy when they see a bare leg or arm.
My first reaction to the mutawwas becoming involved in the tourism industry was to perhaps ask the government to keep them away from tourists when they arrive, and then let them roam about when our visitors have gone.
Then I realized that was a little extreme and perhaps the mutawwa and our visitors can learn more about each other and the cultures we come from.
Saudi Arabia is indeed ready to welcome foreign tourists, especially non-Muslims, within our borders. After all, we have been welcoming Haj and Umrah pilgrims for more than 1,400 years. But it will take a lot more than training Commission members to communicate with tourists.
First, we have to consider what we can offer non-Muslim tourists. Alcohol is illegal. There are no nightclubs or cinemas. And the two major venues that would be Saudi Arabia’s biggest attractions – Makkah and Madina – are off-limits.
“Saudi Arabia cannot be tourism as usual,” said tourism chief Prince Sultan Bin Salman. “We have the eyes of Saudi society and the Muslim world upon us. A lot of Muslims would happily accept many things in their own countries but not in Saudi Arabia because this is the birthplace of Islam.”
What to do?We have desert, more desert and some more desert after that. We have mountains with snow, valleys with water and Red Sea beaches that offer some great fishing, shipboard dining and the most exotic scuba diving on earth.
We have rich archaeological sites, including the 2,000-year-old tombs and dwellings from the Nabateans.
But we have two major obstacles to overcome. First is, what conduct and dress shall we accept from non-Muslims? The second is the lack of infrastructure at our historical and cultural sites.
If we truly want non-Muslims to visit our country, spend money here and help the economy while broadening the understanding between the Muslim and non-Muslim world, we can’t insist that female visitors wear abayas and men wear more than shorts. And we can’t lead them around by the nose, but give them the freedom to explore the desert, places like Old Jeddah and the Red Sea at their leisure.
Certainly visitors should respect our culture and sensibilities by dressing modestly. Women should not be required to dress in an abaya but they should keep their legs and arms covered. Rather, we should offer the abaya as a symbol of our heritage and culture. Sell elaborately embroidered or traditionally designed abayas at a reasonable price as a tourist item, much like when tourists purchase saris in India or ponchos in Mexico.
Our lack of infrastructure, however, is a more daunting hurdle. Prince Sultan acknowledges that, “We need a lot of infrastructure development” and that Saudi bureaucracy doesn’t encourage investment in tourism.
“It’s totally disorganized,” Sultan said recently. “There’s too much duplication. To get a license you have to go to five different organizations and spend a year chasing a license. It should take only a few days. This is going to be a challenge—to clean up the system.”
Equally troublesome towards implementing a successful tourism industry is the destruction of historical sites, the neglect of the historical railway used by T.E. Lawrence, better known as Lawrence of Arabia, and the trashing of some of the most pristine desert sites by off-road motorcycle riders and litterbugs. We have a lot to offer non-Muslims. We constantly complain that Westerners in particular do not take the time to understand our culture and our religion. Saudi Arabia can be a classroom that offers non-Muslims hands-on experiences in the wonderful things
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1 comment:
This post gives me a a new perspective of Saudi Arabia, I've always wanted to visit, but only in terms of umrah or hajj.
Now my mind is filled with thoughts of historical sites other than those found in Mecca and Medina, snow capped mountains and beautiful beaches.
I'm currently living in a Muslim majority country that welcomes many non-Muslim tourists. It does a fair job of accomodating both its non-muslim citizens as well as its non-muslim tourists. It's a tricky task, but I think it's worth the effort when you consider the exposure both groups get to each other and perhaps the the increased respect and understanding it inspires.
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