Samah Allah: Geology, not wisdom

According to some Arabs—by which I mean the “thobe Arabs”—we, the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states who wear dishdashas, are ignorant and bedouin in the negative sense of the word. Our advantage is that geology placed oil and gas beneath our lands. This narrative fades to some extent and resurfaces depending on the regional situation. To be fair, geography plays a significant role: North African Arab states harbor increasing resentment toward us as Gulf Arabs, while countries geographically and socially closer to us, with extensive intermarriage ties such as Egypt, Syria, and Lebanon, may exhibit a somewhat better attitude.

Take Egypt, a beloved country and arguably one of the closest to us, even among the “thobe Arabs,” as an example. Last March, just days after the war in the region began, the Egyptian parliament refused to condemn Iran for shelling GCC states, arguing that Iran is fighting America and Israel. This was a grave miscalculation in political judgment. At the very least, as dishdasha-wearing Arabs, we should have expected an unconditional condemnation, after which the Egyptian parliament could have discussed the war in whatever terms it wished.

We moved past this stage thanks to considerable efforts commended to His Excellency President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi. However, unfortunately, the crisis resurfaced when el-Sisi asked the Egyptian parliament to authorize him to deploy Egyptian troops to defend Saudi Arabia, which has been subjected to intense missile attacks for weeks by Iran-backed Houthi militias. New narratives have begun to appear on social media. At the outset of the war, the slogan was “Falafel and taameya, not American bases.” Now, unfortunately, the narrative “Saudi Arabia is not my cause” has emerged against us.

As dishdasha-wearing Arabs, particularly in Kuwait, we consider Saudi Arabia to be Kuwait. As the late King Fahd famously said, “Either Kuwait remains, or Saudi Arabia departs with it.” I am almost certain this applies to all GCC states. Yet the question remains: whom do we blame for the resentment, malice, and envy that surface whenever “the gourd strikes the jar,” as our Lebanese brothers say? Blaming geology, as mentioned in the title, is a major objective error. Geology has been fair to many “thobe Arabs,” as wealth from oil and gas has also manifested significantly in Iraq, Algeria, and Libya, and to a lesser extent in other countries.

The truth is that God has blessed us with objective governments that prioritize the welfare of their citizens. Consequently, their citizens enjoy some of the highest incomes globally, and their passports are among the most powerful. They benefit from excellent road infrastructure, commercial complexes, markets, and logistical services, as well as superior medical and educational services. They are now pioneers in using digital applications that allow them to conduct transactions while sitting in their living rooms, and they are taking rapid strides in the field of artificial intelligence.

In contrast, “thobe Arabs” whom geology did not neglect have squandered their wealth on empty slogans and rampant corruption. This has left their citizens without hope, deprived of decent services, and unable to see light at the end of the tunnel. They sleep on coups and wake up to civil wars. Ultimately, many are swallowed by the Mediterranean Sea, having decided to save themselves and their families from the hell of their homeland, which has oppressed and persecuted them, by fleeing to Europe. However, death awaited them at sea, and those who reach Europe continue to suffer, facing a right-wing European extremism that despises them and treats animals better than it treats them.

If we are to be polite, we might blame geology. But the truth that “suit Arabs” must know before we do is that God has subjected them to corrupt regimes that have ruled them for decades, and their attempts at political and economic reform—such as those being pursued by His Excellency President Sisi—collide with the scale of corruption that has gnawed at state institutions. Meanwhile, we, the “dashdashi” Bedouin Arabs, who are clumsy in our conduct and squander our money on dancers as their media portrays us, have been blessed by God with moderate regimes that are close to their peoples. In the past, we were held up as an example, like the Scandinavian countries, for our prosperity. Now, after irrefutable evidence—most notably that we are among the countries that lost the fewest lives during the coronavirus pandemic because we were the best prepared—the example is held up for our high quality of life. Gentlemen, do not blame geology; it is as innocent as the wolf is of the blood of Jacob’s son. Blame yourselves for your mismanagement. As you are, so shall you be ruled. Has the message been received? I hope so.