british opinion of Arabs

It's an easy confusion, arwa - it didn't bother me at all! Do you have a grandmother? If you do, she is very lucky to have you as a grand-daughter. I'm very fond of my oldest grand-daughter and we have lunch together quite often. of course I also love my other grandchildren very much.

Mishap, the role of grandparents differs from family to family, sometimes they got involved in childcare and raising up, sometimes they're not.. definitely they are respected and loved, they are always nice to their grandchildren..

i don't really know much about the pensions (though i guess it's not really good), about the system of education for students, there is universities which are state-funded and others which u pay more fees to join it (depend on the grade we get in secondary school) .. about our education stages, on 4 years we go to KG, then at 6 primary school, then at 12 preparatory school, then at 15 secondary school, and finally the university .. that's too long years of education but really it's not deserve all this years (that's bad) we need to enhance our education system

Hi Arwa. I've only been to Egypt once, to travel on the Nile by boat. Fantastic. Loved it. I would like to return to see how things have changed.

salam whenim64, it's good to hear from u .. if i know "interested grandparents who would like to chat with Gransnetters" i will tell them, but my grandma is not interested in the internet at all :D

numberplease, may be one day you get a chance

absentgrana, actually, old people have much experience in life than younger people.. they have more respect to others, i can speak without being insulted (most Americans specially, hate arabs and they insult me without even hear me)

hello johanna

anno, yeah i have my last grandmother (the rest died , grand-fathers and my second grand-mother ) , definitely your grand-daughter is very lucky too i'm really pleased with our conversation

NfkDumpling, i'm glad that you loved your trip here in Egypt.. i hope u enjoyed it and come again soon

Hello Arwa. I loved Egypt. My husband was an engineer and worked there a lot. I've been to Cairo and Luxor and Al Masid, and some other smaller towns that I can't remember the names of .
I honestly don't think people have a bad opinion of Arabs at all. I just think that some of us in the Western world are quite shocked and saddened by some of the more extreme incidents in some Arabic countries (eg Saudi Arabia, Iraq), particularly towards women. We just don't understand it
You are doing a really good thing to present the warmer and friendlier side to us, thank you for being an excellent ambassador!

Salaam Aleikum Arwa. I hope you enjoyed celebrating Eid al-Adha.

I have never been to Egypt, but I have a friend who is living in my house who is from Libya. I have known him for more than four years and this is the second time he has lived with me and my husband. He first came to England to learn English and now he has returned to do a PhD at the nearby university. This week I have been editing and proofreading his doctoral thesis with him - it was very difficult, but now I understand a great deal about the Maghreb States and about the relationship between Tunisia and Libya.

I teach English as a second language so I have met many Arabs from different countries. Like people everywhere they are all different, but my students and lodgers have all been delightful, interesting people. Because I am a Christian we have had many discussions about faith and about the differences in our cultures.

beachee, unfortunately the media always focus on the bad things happen in arab countries they don't reflect the truth (i guess just like our media also don't reflect the truth) .. speaking about women, we're not treated badly as Europe countries think, that also depend on the place and family where a girl raised in ..

my parents are cultured and open-minded, they always treated me well, i worn my head cover (hijab) after my decision and to follow my religion which i believe in.. i go alone to my university, i can do what i want when i want.. there are many parents and families like us, and on the other hand there are others who treat women badly..

about the extreme incidents in some Arabic countries, we're really sad too when we see terrorists and extremists kill under the name of Allah (GOD) .. this is very sad cause that is not right and our religious book never said that you can kill for any reason (except war and when a person attack you)

so i'm trying to change this bad image which is taken of us because of these terrorist acts

Arwa. Thank you. I repeat ... you are a great ambassador

w Aleikum Al Salaam grannyactivist, it's very interesting to have discussions about faith and differences in cultures.. i really like to know how people see me (or us as Arabs), so that if there is something wrong or misunderstood i try to change it and also i understand the world around me better

grannyactivist, i also want to thank you for your wish about celebrating Eid al-Adha

Beachee, thank u and i'm glad to speak to you

Good work Arwa. Keep it going

This is a great thread - thank you for starting it, Arwa!

i think people from a British heritage generally tend to regard people as individuals, so there is little prejudice against Arabs in my experience. My eldest son teaches Ancient History to grades 10 to 12 (15-18 year olds), so he loves reading about Egypt. My brother used to go there every year for his holidays.

I don't think many people really think about it, but we all write in Arabic regularly ie numbers! Just think how hard maths would be, if we used Roman numerals.

it is a great pity that men of violence have tainted Islam with acts of terror: the same thing happened with Irish terrorism: there was a great deal of prejudice against the Irish a generation ago, when it was really just the IRA hotheads.

I am not religious myself, but I do believe that Islamic culture could teach some people a lot about family values and modesty. On another thread we talked about the niqab, and the general consensus was that the islamic veil is fine, full facial covering is very confronting, but a scantily clad Western girl showing too much flesh is equally confronting from the opposite perspective!

Good post Joan, and your last comment is so very true - especially in my case!

I am enjoying this thread. So pleased that arwa has returned to chat some more with us. It's great to be able to speak directly with each other, without propoganda and press mis-reporting getting in the way.

Joan good post

Only just spotted this thread.
Well done arwa for starting it. Great responses from Grans.
I too like to treat people as individuals and like to think I am NOT prejudiced against any particular group.
I would love to visit Egypt, but fear of flying prevents this!

Yes it is nice to have visitors isn't it.
I was just wondering whether us Brits do think of Arabs as a group - or do we tend to think of them as nations e.g. Egyptians, Saudi's, Libyans, Palestinians etc or as regional groups - N Africans, Middle Eastern, Gulf States etc
I suspect when we think of Muslims as a group the ones that first spring to mind are our own Pakistani and Bangladeshi communities, as those are the groups that we have most contact with - if only via our long tradition of eating "indian food" . (It is nice to see that some "indian restaurant" owners now call it "Bangladeshi cuisine" etc - as very few of our "indian restaurants" are run by people from India.)
On the other hand we only have a sprinkling of "arabs" living here, those I have come across have tended to be engineers or doctors.

That's true, JessM. I had an Egyptian woman doctor way back when the kids were small and the wonderful surgeon who operated on my arthritic hand was also Egyptian.

hello Joan, i do like you post and i agree with it specially the last phrase .. speaking about niqab, it's not obligatory in islam at all, the islamic veil is obligatory to women after puberty, and that's to protect them from bad men who look at her in a bad way and may hurt her (physically (Sexual harassment) or psychologically (saying a word about her body) .. at home we never wear vials, and we have a good life with husbands like any other women.. some women prefer to wear niqab just to get closer to GOD .. saudi arabia is more religious than egypt, so they oblige their women to wear nigab and also it's something in their culture

whenim64, people working in media use the press and propaganda to direct audience to a specific opinion (not all of them off course, but that really happen) .. in egypt for example in our revolution against our ex-president, media and press tend to transfer wrong image of people in tahrir squar like saying they are not egyptians, they are paid to do so.. little who transfer the truth like it is..

that's why i'm glad to speak with you directly to get opinions and transfer the good side of us