THE REAL ARAB

Evening Star, Issue 21581, 29 November 1933, Page 11

THE REAL ARAB

SIMPLE YET SHREWD MIXED HUMAN QUALITIES DEMAND FOR JUSTICE The uncompromising shadow of the Arab lies across the centuries from those early, days when Arab seamen sailed to China in search of commerce. For fifteen centuries the Arab has been known and feared in the East Indies, and the mark he has left there is deep, writes H. W. Williamson, in the ‘ Daily Mail.’ The Arab is a queer mixture of philosophy and passion, of careless bonhomie and deadly purposefulness. He blends self-indulgence with Spartan discipline in a fashion peculiarly his own. First of all with the Arab comes his pride of race. His is a noble heritage, and pride in it is imbibed with his earliest food. He carries himself with that supreme confidence which belongs only to princes, and his sensitiveness to possible slight, or injury seems to the outsider a little overdone. Incidentally, his ideas about genetics are by no means confined to his splendid horses. Cast your mind back for a moment over the ‘ Arabian Nights ’ and recall the astonishing mixture of amorous dalliance and calculated cruelty displayed in almost every story. The genuine Arab is there shown in all his little weaknesses and mighty strength. Tenacity of purpose is one of the outstanding characteristics of the race. A colloquial proverb, often in the mouths of people, says: “ Patience is a most excellent quality; its rewards are great and sweet.”

Tho foreigner who, bearing no malice, has supposed time to cover up old hurts and enmities, has been shocked into started remembrance after long years of contented oblivion by tho vengeance of the unforgetting Arab. Insults and wounds may not be avenged at the time they are suffered, but inevitably there will come a settling day. Mohammed himself enjoined his followers not to forget “ the justice of requital.” And Arab memories are good. The A rab,wherever he is found, is essentially a simple being. It would be surprising, indeed, if the desert should produce a complex personality; that doubtful privilege is reserved for overcrowded cities.

The foreign observer, amazed at the extreme poverty of numerous Arabs, a poverty which goes hand in hand with a cheerful generosity unknown to richer men, seeks the answer to such a puzzle. He is met with another proverb: “ Contentment is the key of repose; in the desert resignation is the best companion.” I have met and talked with Arabs in many odd places, but never have 1 found them at a loss in word or deed. They have acute minds, sharpened by difficult circumstances and much reflection in loneliness. If they brood over their troubles and fancied slights it is not surprising when one considers that ordinary human intercourse in the Hedjaz or in Yemen may mean meeting another human being about twice in a week. I have found tho Arab remarkably self-sufficient. He is a great student, for as he is taught from childhood, “ To be ignorant is death to the liv--ing,” .he must know all he can about those things which surround him and make up the life of his people. To have to admit to an inquisitive stranger that he did not know would bo intolerable. This self-sufficiency, however, rarely becomes unpleasantly obtrusive, but it docs give the Arab that simple dignity which seems to be his birthright. This same dignity makes the Arab a very pleasant and confident companion in strange places. Although the proverbial lore of the Arabs—like that of most other nations —contains numerous admonitions against excesses of all kinds, the Arab is as given to extremes as any other people. “ Moderation in everything is a precious ideal ” has frequently to be quoted to a desert dweller. Mohammed knew his people and their weaknesses well when lie laid down stringent rules governing the entry of the Faithful into Paradise.

The need for extreme discipline was

recognised in the institution of the month of Ramadan—the _ month of abstinence. Between sunrise and sunset no True Believer will eat a meal or drink anything other than water. Such long-drawn-out observance of % strong religious taboo, however, lead* to indulgence in numerous excesses between sunset and sunrise. How often do Arabs face the month following Ramadan with worn-out bodies and even wearier minds! So many then discover that in _ very truth “ tha fruit of rashness is repentance.” The Arab has a deep-seated sens® of justice, and if he feels he has been robbed by a single hair’s-breadth of his rightful du«s he will not rest until things are put right. To ba strictly fair, he is as much interested in the principle involved as _in • the smaller matter of material satisfaction. He has a tidy mind capable of docketing debits and credits witlx amazing accuracy. This may bo proved by any who will deal generously with him, for no foreigner has ever exceeded an Arab in generosity, while many have mourned the day they tried to “ squeeze one. Arabia was one of the great civilising forces of the ancient world—sha even forced her script on Bantus and Malays, while ve still use her numbers —and although she has been outstripped in the race in recent centuries. she still at intervals show* something of her old vigour. And whenever national jealousies trend on her. susceptibilities she will stir again and murmur: “Such as you do, so will you find in your turn.”