Slavery has been outlawed in most arab countries for years now but there are villages in jordan made up entirely of descendants of runaway Saudi slaves. Abdulrahman knows he might be free, but hes still an arab. No one ever wants to be the arab - its too old and too tragic, too mysterious and too exasperating, and too lonely for anyone but an actual arab to put up with for very long. Essentially, its an image problem. Ask anyone, Persian, Turks, even Lebanese and Egyptians - none of them want to be the arab. They say things like, well, really we're indo-russian-asian european- chaldeans, so in the end the only one who gets to be the arab is the same little old bedouin with his goats and his sheep and his poetry about his goats and his sheep, because he doesnt know that he's the arab, and what he doesnt know wont hurt him. Diana AbuJaber
About This Quote

The person who said this may have been speaking about the many problems that plagued the people of the Middle East. The peoples of that area often came into conflict with one another, resulting in war and bloodshed. As a result, many were enslaved by others. This quote refers to how hard it is for people to accept themselves as they are, and how hard it is for them to accept others if their own heritage doesn't align with their new identity.

Source: Crescent

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