My Little Blue Book

[Lachlan09]

Here in Oman, a lenient (compared to the Kingdom of Snotty Arabia) Arabian Islamic country facing Iran over the Gulf, the government recognizes that foreigners like to drink. To protect the local population from our evil ways and from the temptation to themselves, alcohol is obtainable in 3 ways. 1) coming to the country at duty-free, 2) in hotel bars, hotel pubs and in restaurants and 3) bought from discreet liquor shops with a personal liquor permit book.

There is no law against a muslim Omani (or mulsims of other nationalities) going into a hotel bar or restaurant and consuming alcohol on the premises, it is a personal decision – some do exactly that. However, no muslim of any nationality can obtain a liquor permit or get duty free booze – only non-muslims.

Anyway, last week, my Turkish next door neighbours knocked on my door and very nicely asked if I could buy them alcohol and they would give me the money. I thought it would be okay (not knowing all the permit rules) but my wife later told me not to do it. Anyway, I later found out the permit is for the holder’s own use and cannot be used to even give alcohol as a gift. Buying it for someone else is illegal but to give to a Muslim is a very serious offence (remember here, the stated punishment for trying to convert a Muslim to Christianity or other religion is death). So I told them pronto – sorry no can do. I could be imprisoned and kicked out the country for getting them booze. Different if I really knew them and could trust them but I’ve only met them once, at my New Year party. Them drinking my alcohol in my house was not illegal, but handing them a few cans to take home is. Strange rules !

(All my neighbours in my little housing compound are muslims. Some are Turks, some are Lebanese and some are Palistinian-American. The landlord told us before moving in that our neighbours were American which we liked the idea of, but he didn’t say they were muslim Arab-American). I have to be careful, I don’t really trust people like that outside of a “Western” setting and cannot really relax. I better tone down our next party to a few close friends only. The Palestinian wife over the way, a white American convert to Islam, watches everything we do and doesn't say hello even. Yet her daughters dump their candy wrappers outside our front door, not hers. Only last week, her 10 year old daughter said to my daughter “Israelis are killing all the Palestinians” and also said “I hate your religion” (meaning Christianity). I told my daughter and son never to say anything about anything to any muslim. Just be pleasant and say nothing of any import. Don't let them get you angry, even under extreme situations or they'll call the police)

[xena]

Not sure what you can do. Totalitarian regimes, whether they be political or religious, have the same basic problem - they're totalitarian. Don't be too surprised about the kids comments about Christianity (and Judaism) - they're taught all sorts of weird falsehoods about both. for example, Christians are supposed to believe in three separate gods: the Father, the Son, and the Virgin Mary (?). Oh, and we're apparently all deceived into thinking it was Christ who died on the cross, when it was obviously (?) Judas who was just made to look like Christ (?). And as long as you're essentially not allowed to correct them on their misunderstandings (because they can call the cops and claim you were proselytizing), they'll never know how wrong they are.

Now, this is in marked contrast to many muslims who've grown up and are living in Western countries. There tends to be a much greater appreciation of other religions and cultures.

But, the problem is the totalitarianism of the situation, not necessarily Islam. It was similar under the soviet system, when people were taught all sorts of nonsense about what life was like in capitalist countries, and religion, in general, was dismissed on the flimsiest of superficial grounds (cosmonauts went into orbit and didn't see God or any angels, therefore they didn't exist). Totalitarianism breeds intellectual laziness.

But, as for the laws forbidding you to purchase alcohol for muslims, I guess I could expect that. Just out of curiosity though, wouldn't them asking for you to purchase alcohol for them be an offence of sort? But, also be careful with this route as I suspect that your testimony in court would be judged to be of lesser value than a muslims. Sharia law works weird that way.

It'd probably be best to just drop it, mind your p's and q's (see what I did there?) and get out of the country when your contract is up. The current rise of Wahabism is making things more and more uncomfortable for westerners as time goes on. Just be glad you've got a country to go back to - there are many indigenous Christians in Islamic countries (eg. Copts, Maronites, Greeks, etc.) who have nowhere to escape to.

[Lachlan09]

Good advice. Mixing it is just going to cause heartache ! At least I can drown my sorrows !

Hmmmm maybe I should invite them round for a "pork disguised as lamb" party ! - Wuah hah hah hah hah !

Seriously, I realize I’m in their country, their World and I’ve been here with my family 3.5 years. I won’t cause them to raise eyebrows and will show respect etc. What you read above is by and large frustration, mainly as a result of the breathtaking arrogance of the local driving by nationals.

Oman has one of the highest road-death rates in the World and you can see why. Despite organized driving lessons, good roads, safety-designed vehicles and government initiatives to make driving safer etc, the standards of driving and traffic care are deplorable. Unrestrained kids leaning over the front seats while Dad has an infant on his knee while on the mobile phone and driving at 130kms/hr is not untypical, severe tail-gating (1 metre distant or even less !!) at speed (usually in a land-cruiser or such) to push other users out of the way is common, as is changing lanes at will, no lane discipline, no signals, drifting across lanes at curves in the multi-lane highway, shooting red lights, even reversing down slip-roads to get back to the highway – you name it, they do it. Also, many don't wear their seat-belts. In a survey by an Omani university (GUTech) one interviewee said she didn't wear her seat-belt because it wrinkled her clothes !!! Many accidents involve “roll-overs” where vehicles bounce over and over and also vehicle overshoots at speed into ravines etc. Also head-ons and pile-ups. The majority of dead are men 25-50, though many young childen are killed too, usually by flying through the windscreen or being crushed etc (see above). Last month, the police reported 69 road-deaths for the month of December in a total of over 200 serious accidents the same month – not bad for a small country, mostly all locals involved in crashes. Between 2000-2008, 6,000 men, women and children died in traffic accidents and 70,000 were injured, many seriously. They will not solve the terrible accident and fatality rate because of arab arrogance. Even nice quiet guys get in their cars and then it’s like Jekyll and Hyde ! To quote Wikipedia "It (Oman) has the second highest death rate from traffic accidents in the world (surpassed only by Saudi, followed closely by the UAE). "

Oh Lord let me live till I’m old and let me die peacefully of natural causes !!

Time for a MacAllans I think in the comforting surroundings of my favourite chair !