Culture Clash

Assalamu'alaykum,

It is 01:15 o'clock in the morning here and I just cannot close my eyes and fall to sleep. My stomach keeps on punching my intestines and refuses to let me settle down. Astaghfirullah, I have faced this diarrhea ever since I landed here in Morocco and to be honest I am yet to find the reasons behind this ailment that I have been enduring all this while. Only Allah knows how I bore the pain when it strut and I literally crawled to go to the toilet.

The environment out there is very much at peace right now like any other cities in Morocco except for the two cities I have been to; Marrakech and Casablanca that were really alive with the blasting stereos pervading all over, causing some people either to enjoy from its amusement or suffer from explosive nuisance. There is no big extravagant luxurious amenity whatsoever you have to expect here in this blessed and deteriorating country in the sense that they do not really have all the 24-hours stalls or restaurants which Malaysian people always love to spend their nights at and almost all shops are closed here when the clock-needle reaches 12. They really make use of the days and get a good sleep at nights.

Propitious


Apart from how Morocco has been striving to catch up with the modernity that is growing taller with its people craving for a proper education and remedy of their extreme poverty pain, I have always wanted to share with you how the Arabs here are being helpful, friendly and coarse at the same time. It does not fade not even a part of it that I still remember clearly when I was in Morocco on the very first day, Brother Ikram who fetched us at the airport told us that;

"Orang Arab dekat sini baik dan peramah."

and right after he said that we witnessed a few conversations between Ikram and the Arabs took place. All of them replied the Salaam (Islamic greeting) with joyful face. They were indeed propitious with timeless smile engraved on their face and the willingness to assist us finding our way 'home', well to Rabat actually was admirable. This one uncle we encountered parked his car at the side of the road and came to us to explain the direction and he even led us to the exit before finding the customers for his Petit Taxi. Henceforth, my first impression was that Arabs are indeed having a soft heart and a bit harsh at character was invigorated. Not that I am overgeneralizing but harshness is one of the built-in character in every Arab and how do they deal with it is a different thing. Not one Malaysian house that we visited but to have advices kept in our memory about all the crucial facts that we have to know on how to work it out with Moroccans.


The Ma'ahad students have also favoured me in so many things. Everyday they brought us promenading (walk) around the city of Oujda, visiting the Masajeed, Suqs(markets), food-stalls, beaches, gardens, internet cafe, finding medicines at pharmacy and taught us Arabic and everyday we went out with different students. They did not grumble, not even once but they unstoppably offered their helps at any time. I learnt that when they say they are going to help, they really mean it until there is some compelling situation where they really cannot get out of it, they would seriously apologize and suggest another solution. One night they knocked on our door and handed us the blankets at the end of the spring season because of the coldness that we could hardly bear despite the fact that we had all the blankets stuffed inside the cupboard.

In this Ma'ahad everything is for free and you just have to go out to the markets to find some raw materials for your breakfast, lunch and dinner. Believe me, they cooked everything for us. Subhan Allah, they would never let us feel discomfort and did not mind to spend their money to feed us up though we did not ask for it. I admire that.

Forceful Behaviour


On the 8th of May, 2011 we arrived at Ma'ahad Bu'us Al-Islami, a place that we had given our all out to go and to get the 'Ilm (knowledge) like peeling the onions one by one and my convenient feeling towards Arab shockingly stopped here. This was when I really experienced to live with Arabs and got to see their cultures first hand. It is so funny when I recall back how I got myself at the boiling point when they forced me to eat their foods even though I rejected it politely and they insisted and pulled my hand, and it was not like a normal gentle pulling like how Malaysians do it, this is a real one like how they do it in tug of war, well it is almost like that. By Allah, I felt so terrified on how forceful they were and began to be defensive by pointing out my disagreement towards their intolerant behaviours after days they have been treating me the same and there was no signal of change or at least I can say an improvement. Silent was my first choice at first, thinking that I have just to deal with it but not until they physically put their hands on my head and pushed it while having my neck in their arm dragging me all the way from Masjid straight away to the dining room. I know it sounds a bit scary but they are really rough and it was not a problem at all actually except for the head. I am Malaysian and to play with Malay heads is not a wise thing for you to do except your really want to have a scuffle with us.


When I tried to find the significances behind their dreadful weird ways of firming the fraternity, I learnt that they were being really generous. Subhan Allah. I wondered back what would make them to push me to eat with them while they could have it all for them. They just wanted me to enjoy the meal together and it would not be a problem if I could not bear the taste, just sit with them. I laid against the wall inside my room and sighed.

"I should not have argued with them. I just have to understand their culture and deal with it. Ya Allah, help me to survive."

Winning Argument

One of the inevitable situations being in Arab country is to have a debate with them regardless of time and place. Arabs generally are really good at debating with people and they would come out with any kind of evidences that they find it suitable to make their argument more powerful. I had faced it uncountably and to be honest most of the time I would never give the trophy to them if it was not my fault. I encountered a lot of unofficial debating contests with the Arabs here and it was amazing actually to debate with them though I hardly understood what they were saying and how I arduously used the Arabic language to defeat them. I was not doing it for fun but it really irritated me when they did not want to admit their mistake no matter how obvious it was. I went beserk once with one of the Ma'ahad students. He came and accused me of being arrogant. He said that I refused to have a conversation with him and I did not know how to deal with people. Subhan Allah, that was the first word came out of my mouth before I clenched my fist and began to talk. I explained to him that I was a new student and needed times to learn the language steadily and I would be ashamed if I could not communicate with him and that would make he feel even more offended. He went all with his long-listed points in his head and I decided to succumb and went back to my room to avoid from Shaytan controlling myself and he surprisingly tailed me. I turned around and said

" Sofi ya Akhi. Limaza tatahaddas mislu hakaza. Laisa jayyid. Ana la astatik an atakallam ma'ak lianani ta'ban wa urid an anam. Tisbah 'ala kheir"
"Enough my brother. Why are you talking this way. It's not good and I am not capable to talk to you now as I am so tired and I want to sleep. Good night."

Allah swt really wanted to test my perseverance during that time when he stood up at the door room and kept on nagging. I jumped from my bed grabbed his hand and said;

" Yalla, turid an tatakallam ma'i sohih? Yalla!."

" You really want to talk with me right? Let's go!."

and he replied " la', la', la', ana amzah faqod. Zi', zi'." After for almost 5 minutes he was rambling on how I have been so haughty he said that he was only kidding. I knew that I should talk to them more often but I was new and after all he said that he was only joking. Masha Allah. I chuckled before I went off to sleep.

High-temper and Forgiving

This is one of the most wonderful admirable characters of Arab people. They get easily mad like a roaring tiger chasing after the giraffe for his dinner and forgiving like there is nothing happened between them. There was this one night when everyone was having their dinner and chatting each other, cracking jokes, discussing the Islamic jurisprudence issues and suddenly we heard someone shouted in a very high pitch of sound and holding a knife in his hand. I was petrified and was about to jump in to calm his down but I knew that was not really a wise thing to do. The students asked him to settle down and he screamed even louder. He ended up threw a chair to the wall and washed his hand. It was a serious matter I guess and when tomorrow emerged, they were talking and playing with each other like they did not go through a fight the night before. I learnt that they do not keep things inside, they forgive and forget.

These are some of the Arab behaviours I can share with all of you. Of course it is not applied to all but it is just my experience so that it may help you to understand other cultures and getting yourself one inch away from ethnocentrism. Arabs they are unique and creative.

"All mankind is from Adam and Eve, an Arab has no superiority over a non-Arab nor a non-Arab has any superiority over an Arab; also a white has no superiority over black nor a black has any superiority over white except by piety and good action. Learn that every Muslim is a brother to every Muslim and that the Muslims constitute one brotherhood. "
- This sermon was delivered by Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) on the Ninth Day of Dhul Hijjah 10 A.H. in the 'Uranah valley of Mount Arafat' (in Mecca).

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