The Life of Saudi Arabia

The Life Of Saudi Arabia The life of Saudi Arabia is a culture that is different than any country and Region. Saudi Arabia is located in the middle east on the other side of the world over 860,000 miles away from the U. S. The most common language for Saudi Arabia is Arabic (6 million) the other two are are spoken by Saudi’s Nejdi Arabic (8 million) and the Persian Gulf(1. 5 million) Saudi Arabia has a religion than no other country has, there religion is Muslim anyone that doesn’t believe in Muslim has death penalty but their hasn’t been any recent confirmed reports about that in a couple of years.

The last Christian that was there was told to leave Saudi Arabia in 1985. They only believe in one god that they call Allah, they pray three times a day, there religious for there holiday is Ramadan, It is a time when Muslims around the world focus on prayer, fasting, giving to charity, and religious devotion. The last third of Ramadan is a particularly holy period, they read the Quran which is similar to the bible. They aren’t allowed to celebrate Christmas or Easter .

The police go around and make sure there isn’t any Christians there. Saudi Arabia is the world second largest country in the Asia. Its population is estimated to consisted of 16 million citizens and an additional 9 million registered foreign people and 2 million illegal immigrants. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia was found by Abdul-Aziz Bin Saud known for his career as Ibn Saud. The Saudi government has been an absolute monarchy since its inception and it describes itself as being Islamic.

Saudi Arabia is the birthplace of Islam and the kingdom is sometimes called “the land of the two holy mosques” in reference of Al-masjid al Haram(in Mecca),and Al-masjid al nabawi(in medina) the two holiest places in the Islam. Saudi Arabia has the second largest oil reserves which are concentrated largely in the Eastern Province. Oil accounts for more than 95% of exports and 70% of government revenue although the share of the non-oil economy has been growing recently.

This has facilitated the transformation of an undeveloped desert kingdom into the worlds wealthiest nations. Vast oil revenues have permitted rapid modernization such as the welfare state. It has the worlds 6th largest gas reserves. It is the only country that women aren’t allowed to drive. Every adult women has to have a close male relative to be her” guardian” you explain them as minors with very little authority over their own life’s. The guardian is entitled to make a number of critical decisions on a women’s behalf.

These include giving approval to the women to travel, to hold some types of business licenses, to study at a university or college and to work if the type of the business isn’t deemed appropriate for a women. Even when a guardians approval isn’t legally required they still sometimes ask for it. Women are also said to faced discrimination in the courts where the testimony of one man equals that to two women and in family and inheritance law. Polygamy is permitted for men that they can divorce their wife without needing any legal justification.

A women can only divorce with the consent of her husband or judicially if her husband harmed her. Cultural norms impose restrictions on women when their in public and these are enforced by the religious police the Matawa. They include requiring the women to sit in separate designed family sections in restaurants to wear a abaya which is a loose fitting full length black cloak covering the entire body and to conceal their hair, Men have to wear headdress(scarf).

There is also effectively a ban on women driving. Men marry girls as young as ten in Saudi Arabia. Child marriage is believed to hinder women’s education. The dropout rates for girls increases around puberty as they exchange education for marriage. Roughly about 25% college aged young women do not attend college in 2005 and 2006 there was a 60% dropout rate. Female literacy is estimated to be around 70% compared to men with 85%. The men think that women are weak no matter how high their status’s are.

Although some Saudi’s would like more freedom the women have said they didn’t want any radical change. Education is free at all levels. The school systems is composed to Elementary, intermediate, and secondary schools. A large part of the curriculum at all levels is devoted to Islam and at the secondary level students are able to follow religious or a technical track. Girls are able to attend school. The portion is reflected to in the rate of literacy which exceeds to 85% among males and 70% of females. Classes are segregated by gender.

The Saudi public school religious curriculum continues on that they have hate towards in the “unbeliever “ which is christian,jews,Shiites,sufis,sunni Muslims who do not follow the wahhabi doctrine, Hindus atheists and others . The Saudi religious studies the curriculum is taught outside of the kingdom of Madrashed throughout the world. Critics have described the education systems as “medieval” and that their goal is to maintain the rule of the absolute monarch by casting it as the ordained protector of the faith and that Islam s at war with all the other faiths and cultures. Traditional music is generally associated with with poetry and sung collectively. Instruments include the rababah, an instrument not unlike a 3 string fiddle, and various types of percussion instruments such as the tabl(drum) and the tar(tambourine). Of the native dances the most popular is a martial line dance known as the ardah which includes lines of men frequently armed with swords or rifles dancing to the drums and the tambouries. Bedouin pottery is very popular in Saudi Arabia.

Football is the national sport in Saudi Arabia scuba diving, sailing and basketball are very popular also played by both men and women. More traditional sports as camel racing became popular in 1970’s. A stadium in Riyadh holds races in the winter . The annual camel race began in 1974 its one of the most important sports constants and attracts animals and riders throughout the country. The conclusion is that people in the Saudi Arabia live a very rough life especially the women being controlled/disrespected by men! We should thank god everyday that we don’t live a life like they do!