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Saudis and the Muttawa Life
11 Plays3 years ago
Salman soliloquizes on his life in Saudi and the influence of the Muttawas (Religious Police) during the 80s and 90s.
Follow the show on Instagram: @expatbratpodcast
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Transcript
Introduction to the Expat Brat Podcast
00:00:05
Speaker
Hello people, it's Salman Qureshi and welcome to the Expat Brat Podcast.
00:00:11
Speaker
It's a wonderful day, isn't it?
00:00:13
Speaker
You're out and about and butterflies are flying around your car making it look like it's spring where it is spring?
00:00:22
Speaker
It is spring.
00:00:23
Speaker
Is it fall?
00:00:24
Speaker
No, it's fall.
00:00:25
Speaker
It doesn't matter.
00:00:26
Speaker
The day is beautiful.
00:00:27
Speaker
You're on your way to meet someone you haven't seen in a long time.
00:00:32
Speaker
And you're just excited about
An Ideal Day and Aging Reflections
00:00:34
Speaker
it.
00:00:34
Speaker
And everybody's just, you know, calling you up to congratulate you on the latest, greatest thing you've done in life.
00:00:42
Speaker
And it comes with lots of love and money so you can quantify it.
00:00:49
Speaker
And.
00:00:51
Speaker
And you happen to just right now open your phone and there's a text message from your local lottery, which you didn't even put your name in or buy a ticket for, but somehow you've won.
00:01:05
Speaker
That's the kind of day I hope you're having.
00:01:08
Speaker
So wonderful.
00:01:10
Speaker
Because I...
00:01:11
Speaker
Because I'm having a good day too.
00:01:15
Speaker
Yeah.
00:01:15
Speaker
You know, if you've been listening to this podcast, then you know my inner struggles of being transiting from a young, fun, happy guy.
00:01:25
Speaker
I think I've always been nice to people and kind and loving.
00:01:31
Speaker
at least in my head.
00:01:32
Speaker
And as I'm growing older, I find myself sniping at things or just being more cranky.
00:01:38
Speaker
And I'm really, really trying hard.
00:01:40
Speaker
It's like an inner battle I've got going on where I'm trying not to become an old...
00:01:48
Speaker
angry person who no one wants to be around.
00:01:52
Speaker
Okay.
00:01:52
Speaker
So that's where I'm at.
00:01:54
Speaker
And so I remind myself of all the good things.
00:01:57
Speaker
I like to show gratitude people.
00:02:01
Speaker
So much gratitude for everything I have, including my short height.
00:02:07
Speaker
Gratitude.
00:02:10
Speaker
Did that?
00:02:11
Speaker
Is it still recording?
00:02:11
Speaker
Oh, sorry.
00:02:14
Speaker
I've been sitting back, right?
00:02:16
Speaker
And I wanted to share some stories from the past because the way I see it, again, as I grow older, I'll probably lose some of these stories and memories and everything.
00:02:29
Speaker
And now I've decided this podcast is part entertainment, part a reminder for me when I get really old to listen back and go,
00:02:38
Speaker
Oh, yeah, that did happen in my life.
00:02:41
Speaker
So I don't know who this podcast is for anymore.
00:02:43
Speaker
If you're listening, thank you.
00:02:46
Speaker
For me, it's a time capsule thing now as well.
Growing Up as an Expat in 80s Saudi Arabia
00:02:49
Speaker
All right.
00:02:49
Speaker
So I don't know how many of you as expats.
00:02:53
Speaker
You know, I've grown up as an expat.
00:02:56
Speaker
I was born in Saudi Arabia and I grew up there.
00:02:59
Speaker
And there was it was a particular event.
00:03:03
Speaker
Weird kind of world.
00:03:05
Speaker
All right.
00:03:06
Speaker
Just so you know, back in the 80s, it was it was this place that was transitioning and had all kinds of like hypocrisy.
00:03:15
Speaker
I wouldn't I don't want really want to call it hypocrisy because it's.
00:03:19
Speaker
It was it was clear what people wanted, but there was just I don't know what the right word for it is, but there was so much like going on there.
00:03:28
Speaker
You know, there's just this it was like a new country, wasn't it?
00:03:32
Speaker
Even though Saudi Arabia technically has been around for like, what, a hundred years, hundred plus years.
00:03:39
Speaker
But as a country, you know, they in the 70s, they had lost their king, this progressive guy, King Faisal, who was setting up television and schooling for girls and and along with boys and all of that stuff.
00:03:55
Speaker
And he got shot.
00:03:56
Speaker
And obviously, the next king coming in was a bit more careful.
00:04:01
Speaker
I think it was King Fahd, right?
00:04:02
Speaker
Throughout my time in Saudi, he was the king.
00:04:09
Speaker
And, you know, if I was in his place, I'd do the same.
00:04:11
Speaker
I'd be like, hey, I just want to rule.
00:04:14
Speaker
I want to enjoy this.
00:04:15
Speaker
He was in his earlier days known as a playboy or like, you know, like out there because he there's this rumor of him losing millions on poker nights in France or something along.
00:04:29
Speaker
I was a kid.
00:04:30
Speaker
So, you know, these stories circulated and I don't know if they were made up.
00:04:34
Speaker
There was no WhatsApp.
00:04:35
Speaker
So maybe they were true then.
00:04:37
Speaker
Right.
00:04:38
Speaker
If there was WhatsApp, I'd be like, definitely.
00:04:40
Speaker
Not true.
00:04:41
Speaker
It's just something someone's spreading.
00:04:43
Speaker
But it was there.
00:04:44
Speaker
And obviously, once he became king, he had to put on this front.
00:04:48
Speaker
Or he actually changed.
00:04:49
Speaker
I don't know.
00:04:50
Speaker
You know, who knows what people are like behind closed doors.
00:04:54
Speaker
And I think he titled himself the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques.
00:05:00
Speaker
So it was this kind of like this going back to conservatism after what happened to King Faisal particularly.
00:05:07
Speaker
And I know there are probably other factors.
00:05:09
Speaker
I'm simplifying it.
00:05:10
Speaker
and a lot of Western influence.
00:05:14
Speaker
So you had people driving around in Cadillacs, you know, Chevys, GMCs, which back then were popularly referred to as gyms among Saudis.
Cultural Clashes and the Role of Mutawas
00:05:27
Speaker
And every Saudi, I think, had one because they had like five vibes that they could fit in.
00:05:33
Speaker
And hey, the stereotypes, I know it sounds like I'm stereotyping Saudis, but at that time it was true, okay?
00:05:37
Speaker
There were stories, there were neighbors, Saudi neighbors and stuff who would lock their wives up before they went to work.
00:05:43
Speaker
Right.
00:05:43
Speaker
So it's not it's not made up that, you know, you have to remember these are newly urbanized people coming from Bedouin stuff.
00:05:53
Speaker
And then on top of it, this religious extremism.
00:05:56
Speaker
So it all combined to create God knows what in people.
00:06:00
Speaker
And so you had this Western influence.
00:06:01
Speaker
You had these movies and music.
00:06:03
Speaker
And I went to a school that was full of Western expats and teachers.
00:06:08
Speaker
And so you had this kind of weird mix of things.
00:06:13
Speaker
And I don't think that kind of time will ever come again for a lot of places.
00:06:17
Speaker
So there I was as a kid growing up.
00:06:19
Speaker
And amongst them, the most things that influenced my life, whether I liked it or not, was the existence of the religious police.
00:06:33
Speaker
yeah uh they were called mutawas okay mutawas were uh these um these mostly young guys i guess and they were formed they were like the strict uh enforcers and really like what do you call it black and white like you know the the the uh
00:06:53
Speaker
My God, I'm forgetting words.
00:06:54
Speaker
This isn't very exciting to listen to if I have to pause like an old man every so often and go, I can't remember the word I was trying to say.
00:07:03
Speaker
So these religious police, they were feared.
00:07:07
Speaker
They caused some real fear.
00:07:09
Speaker
And they had a big influence.
00:07:10
Speaker
And I'll tell you why in a bit.
00:07:13
Speaker
The whole thing was...
00:07:15
Speaker
they were as powerful or more powerful than the police.
00:07:20
Speaker
They were a sister, like a sister concern, not a sister concern, like a parallel enforcer of law, but particularly religious laws, right?
00:07:32
Speaker
So they'd go around in their gyms and these mutawas would, around prayer time.
00:07:37
Speaker
So in Saudi prayer times happen five times a day.
00:07:41
Speaker
They'd go around making sure the shops were shut down.
00:07:44
Speaker
If you were not walking towards the mosque, if you're in a country where at that time there were probably like 99% Muslims.
00:07:53
Speaker
And if you weren't, you got busted.
00:07:54
Speaker
They'd take you in and cause a lot of trouble for you, maybe even fine you, jail you.
00:08:00
Speaker
So there was all these kind of things happening.
00:08:02
Speaker
Forget like...
00:08:03
Speaker
doing something extremely naughty, these guys would just clamp down on anything they thought would affect your religion.
00:08:13
Speaker
And the first time I was made conscious of them, as far as I can remember, I was sitting in the backseat of my dad's car.
00:08:22
Speaker
We were driving, and my dad and my uncles, and there were a couple of people in the car, my mom, and someone mentioned that
00:08:30
Speaker
that Michael Jackson, this is the 80s, yeah?
The Michael Jackson Ban and Personal Rebellions
00:08:34
Speaker
Around the time Michael Jackson released Bad.
00:08:37
Speaker
And so this is 1986 or 88.
00:08:41
Speaker
God, you know when it is.
00:08:44
Speaker
You can Google that.
00:08:46
Speaker
And Michael Jackson was declared banned by the Mutawas.
00:08:52
Speaker
Okay, the Mutawas basically went, because they took everything literal, like the religion,
00:08:58
Speaker
They basically said if Michael Jackson is singing about being bad, then he wants people to be bad.
00:09:04
Speaker
And we can't allow that.
00:09:05
Speaker
Astaghfirullah, the devil and whatnot.
00:09:08
Speaker
And so his music was banned.
00:09:11
Speaker
And there were other reasons, right?
00:09:12
Speaker
They basically claimed that the Saudi youth was being misled from the path of righteousness by Michael Jackson.
00:09:21
Speaker
He was basically getting them to moonwalk
00:09:25
Speaker
towards away from the mosque, I suppose, in their eyes.
00:09:30
Speaker
And I guess it's true.
00:09:32
Speaker
So maybe they were right from their point of view.
00:09:33
Speaker
I don't know.
00:09:34
Speaker
What do you think?
00:09:35
Speaker
So so they they banned him.
00:09:38
Speaker
And I Michael Jackson meant the world to me at that age and time.
00:09:43
Speaker
So because I had just I come back from London.
00:09:46
Speaker
I had his VHS tapes and I would watch them all over again.
00:09:50
Speaker
I grew up watching Thriller.
00:09:51
Speaker
I was very young.
00:09:52
Speaker
I don't even know why my parents my parents allowed me to watch it because I was so scared of it.
00:09:56
Speaker
I would peek, run away, come back in.
00:09:59
Speaker
That's how I watched the Thriller video because it was scary.
00:10:03
Speaker
And but he also like had a big impact on me because I wanted to dance because of Michael Jackson.
00:10:09
Speaker
Right.
00:10:09
Speaker
I loved his music.
00:10:11
Speaker
He made me want to get up and wiggle.
00:10:13
Speaker
Right.
00:10:13
Speaker
Shake that booty.
00:10:14
Speaker
And and and I think in my early life, I was considered a decent, good dancer.
00:10:21
Speaker
I don't actually know.
00:10:23
Speaker
If I was a good dancer, but because look, guys, putting it in context, OK, I'm growing up in Saudi where no one dances.
00:10:31
Speaker
So someone who can wiggle their body a little bit and not look like they're being electrocuted probably stood out.
00:10:37
Speaker
Right.
00:10:38
Speaker
I was willing to dance.
00:10:39
Speaker
And that made me the top five dancers in Saudi, I guess, because there were only three.
00:10:45
Speaker
Right.
00:10:46
Speaker
And.
00:10:47
Speaker
And yeah, so, you know, he had that influence.
00:10:49
Speaker
I was I that news hit me hard.
00:10:51
Speaker
And I as a kid, I didn't know how to process that.
00:10:54
Speaker
Well, what did it mean?
00:10:56
Speaker
You know, have I lost Michael Jackson for life?
00:10:59
Speaker
And so those VHS tapes became so dear to me as well.
00:11:03
Speaker
I watched them over and over again.
00:11:04
Speaker
One of them was the making of Thriller and the other one were all his music videos in the general documentary of his life up until that point.
00:11:13
Speaker
And I loved it.
00:11:14
Speaker
Right.
00:11:15
Speaker
So it was just exciting.
00:11:16
Speaker
And these guys banned it.
00:11:18
Speaker
They banned the music.
00:11:19
Speaker
They banned replicas of him.
00:11:21
Speaker
Anything.
00:11:21
Speaker
If you looked or imitated, imitating Michael Jackson was banned.
00:11:25
Speaker
Right.
00:11:26
Speaker
That's how hardcore these guys went.
00:11:28
Speaker
They basically wanted to erase him.
00:11:30
Speaker
And a pre-internet world, I guess in some ways it was easier and it was a bit more successful.
00:11:35
Speaker
So while other countries were struggling with smuggling drugs and stuff, we had people smuggling Michael Jackson audio tapes.
00:11:44
Speaker
Yeah, so that, you know, if that doesn't paint a good picture, what does, right?
00:11:49
Speaker
So that's what made me conscious of this whole mutawa phenomena.
00:11:55
Speaker
And again, it didn't hit me too hard.
00:11:57
Speaker
And then I started hearing stories from my parents and uncles about their experiences.
Family Anecdotes and Mutawa Encounters
00:12:01
Speaker
One of them really stood out for me, okay?
00:12:03
Speaker
So one of their modus operandi, if that's how you pronounce it, again, was mutawas, if they caught you, they'd shave your head off.
00:12:13
Speaker
That was one of their punishments.
00:12:14
Speaker
OK, so a lot of people who got busted for doing whatever, you know, if they were being naughty or they would just claim, hey, I went for the holy pilgrimage, the umrah, the minor pilgrimage.
00:12:28
Speaker
And it's it's rewarding to shave your head after that.
00:12:31
Speaker
That was the cover up.
00:12:32
Speaker
Most people knew you had gone to jail.
00:12:34
Speaker
All right.
00:12:34
Speaker
And so the mutawas as punishment would shave your head off.
00:12:38
Speaker
And I had these two uncles who were heading to Makkah.
00:12:43
Speaker
Their story happened in the 70s, okay?
00:12:45
Speaker
And it still makes me laugh.
00:12:48
Speaker
One of them had long hair, you know, like... When I say long hair, not like heavy metal long hair, probably till the nape of his neck or something.
00:12:56
Speaker
And the two of them are in the car.
00:12:58
Speaker
They get to the border of Makkah.
00:13:00
Speaker
So again, for those of you who don't know, because Makkah is a religious city...
00:13:04
Speaker
They have and they have a strict rule about not allowing Muslims in.
00:13:09
Speaker
I think they still do have that law.
00:13:11
Speaker
I'm not sure.
00:13:12
Speaker
And so they check you at the border of Mecca before you were let in.
00:13:17
Speaker
They were pulled over.
00:13:18
Speaker
And my uncle with the long hair was asked to step into the office.
00:13:23
Speaker
OK, this is the 70s.
00:13:24
Speaker
They haven't had a lot of experience.
00:13:26
Speaker
They don't know what's going on.
00:13:27
Speaker
My other uncle sat in the car for a while waiting.
00:13:30
Speaker
And time passed by and it went on and on and on.
00:13:33
Speaker
And they're like, what's going on?
00:13:34
Speaker
So he walks in to check in on his friend who is having his head shaved.
00:13:40
Speaker
And sometimes to embarrass you, they'd only shave the middle of your head.
00:13:46
Speaker
So you'd have to go to a barber and do the rest.
00:13:48
Speaker
So they were doing that to him, to the uncle with the long hair.
00:13:51
Speaker
But because this other uncle, this friend of his dared to step in, they said, yep, you too.
00:13:58
Speaker
Get on that next seat, on the next chair.
00:14:01
Speaker
And they shaved his head from the middle as well.
00:14:05
Speaker
For no fault of his, he got roped in and they both had to shave their heads and come back.
00:14:11
Speaker
And my uncle, my dad, and everyone had a laugh at their expense because they got busted, right?
00:14:17
Speaker
So those were the kind of stories that went around.
00:14:19
Speaker
And so you...
00:14:20
Speaker
were very careful around them.
00:14:22
Speaker
And these are minor punishments.
00:14:25
Speaker
I'm sure it got brutal sometimes.
00:14:26
Speaker
Some of them would have whips and stuff and and start hitting you like you were cattle, you know.
00:14:31
Speaker
So it was it wasn't it wasn't all laughs.
00:14:34
Speaker
It was very frustrating.
00:14:36
Speaker
That story stuck with me and kind of just, you know, the embarrassment they wanted to cause you was just interesting.
00:14:43
Speaker
I had another family friend's kid who came in through the airport and he told us about how he had just come back from the States and he got lectured by one of the mutawas at the airport who pulled him aside, who saw him.
00:14:56
Speaker
And he was like, is your name Michael or Jack?
00:15:01
Speaker
And he's like, no, it's Amir.
00:15:03
Speaker
And he said, well, why do you look like Michael and you have long hair and this is not the way of Muslims and stuff?
00:15:11
Speaker
So they were really they were like Mormons in a way.
00:15:13
Speaker
Right.
00:15:14
Speaker
Like very literal interpretation of everything.
00:15:17
Speaker
And.
00:15:19
Speaker
And so he remembers just being really worried.
00:15:22
Speaker
For some reason, he didn't shave his head.
00:15:24
Speaker
Maybe I don't know if the guy was lazy or didn't have the facilities at the airport.
00:15:28
Speaker
But he said, like, go in and get your head shaved, get a haircut later.
00:15:32
Speaker
Right.
00:15:32
Speaker
So just really over parenting, I guess, in a way.
00:15:36
Speaker
And.
00:15:37
Speaker
I had my scariest moment then, you know, the real impact of their actions, which I experienced, which really left a huge mark on me, was when in the middle of the night one day, one night,
00:15:55
Speaker
We're sitting there and we're woken up.
00:15:57
Speaker
We were all asleep.
00:15:58
Speaker
And there's like a little bit of like, like just my parents are like running around.
00:16:05
Speaker
All right.
00:16:05
Speaker
This is like a stressed environment in the house.
00:16:08
Speaker
I have two elder brothers and they were both out.
00:16:11
Speaker
And my mom was just looking really upset.
00:16:15
Speaker
And my dad was getting ready to leave.
00:16:16
Speaker
And I was like, what's going on?
00:16:18
Speaker
I was really young still, you know, like eight, nine, ten, maybe at most.
00:16:22
Speaker
And me and the younger siblings, my sister, me and my younger brother, were just like in panic.
00:16:27
Speaker
We're feeling the stress.
00:16:29
Speaker
We're really scared about what's going on.
00:16:30
Speaker
So apparently my brothers were at some party and there was music and they got busted by the Mutawas.
00:16:37
Speaker
And they got, you know, they were, I don't know, taken in with a group of friends that were all stuck there.
00:16:44
Speaker
And my dad was rushing over to stop them from punishing them further or something.
00:16:50
Speaker
Okay.
00:16:51
Speaker
In that moment, I felt real fear for my brothers.
00:16:54
Speaker
I was too young to comprehend the situation completely, but I was afraid for them.
00:17:00
Speaker
I didn't know what was going to happen to them.
00:17:03
Speaker
The shaving head thing was in my head.
00:17:05
Speaker
But more than anything else, I felt so angry and powerless.
00:17:11
Speaker
When you feel powerless, it creates this sort of anger that is different to any other anger you can ever have.
00:17:18
Speaker
I wanted this to stop.
00:17:20
Speaker
I was just thinking, even as a kid, I was like, my brothers were just having a bit of fun.
00:17:25
Speaker
You know, that's what young people do.
00:17:27
Speaker
And for them to just climb down and be so, you know, just kind of just like angry about everything that's going around.
00:17:33
Speaker
You can't have that.
00:17:34
Speaker
You can't do that.
00:17:36
Speaker
It just, that moment was the angriest I've ever felt.
00:17:39
Speaker
I was afraid for my brothers.
00:17:41
Speaker
I was just worried sick.
00:17:43
Speaker
And it still, you know, plays in my mind sometimes when I really think about it.
00:17:48
Speaker
And I don't know what I was more angry about when when when they banned Michael Jackson or did this to my brother.
00:17:54
Speaker
I'm being honest.
00:17:55
Speaker
OK, so it turns out my dad rushed in.
00:17:59
Speaker
He was slightly hooked up.
00:18:02
Speaker
One of my other brother's friend also his dad showed up.
00:18:07
Speaker
They're both sort of well connected.
00:18:09
Speaker
So they kind of got them to tell us to agree.
00:18:12
Speaker
to not shave their heads, but to just send them to get a haircut.
00:18:16
Speaker
And apparently, like I said, they were just at a party with friends.
00:18:19
Speaker
There was music.
00:18:19
Speaker
There was a guitar.
00:18:21
Speaker
Oh, dear Lord, there was a guitar of the devil's instrument.
00:18:26
Speaker
And my brothers told me later, they asked, it was a friend's guitar, and they handed it to my second sister.
00:18:33
Speaker
eldest brother, Sammy, and said, break it, break it in front of us.
00:18:36
Speaker
And so he kind of tapped it slightly on the floor and said, yeah, it's gone.
00:18:40
Speaker
It's ruined now.
00:18:41
Speaker
And they said, no, break it into pieces.
00:18:44
Speaker
And so he looked at his friend who said, yeah, go ahead, man.
00:18:47
Speaker
We can't do anything about this.
00:18:49
Speaker
It was probably obviously an acoustic guitar for it to break.
00:18:53
Speaker
And so he had to smash it, which is kind of cool.
00:18:55
Speaker
You know, if you think about it in their haste to punish my brother and their friends, they kind of created a heavy metal rock concert moment where my brother's like slamming a guitar onto the floor, smashing it.
00:19:06
Speaker
So the irony of it.
00:19:08
Speaker
Right.
00:19:09
Speaker
Probably.
00:19:09
Speaker
And he still had his long hair.
00:19:11
Speaker
No, actually.
00:19:11
Speaker
So he my elder brother, Fahad, was the one with the long hair.
00:19:15
Speaker
And they made both of them get a haircut.
00:19:17
Speaker
Same thing like my uncle.
00:19:18
Speaker
It's like one of them was just stuck because he was there.
00:19:21
Speaker
And they both had to cut their hair short.
00:19:22
Speaker
Right.
00:19:23
Speaker
It was hilarious later.
00:19:26
Speaker
And, you know, the next morning, I really I just hugged them because I remember just being upset about it.
00:19:31
Speaker
And we laughed at it later.
00:19:33
Speaker
But, you know, in those moments are when you really realize what dumb people can do.
00:19:39
Speaker
So those those that one really left a mark, you know,
00:19:43
Speaker
And I remember one of my closest encounters was around prayer time.
00:19:47
Speaker
We'd be out playing football or cricket and sunset would happen.
00:19:51
Speaker
And that's the time for the Margaret prayer.
00:19:53
Speaker
And you had to scram, right?
00:19:55
Speaker
And one of our games went over and we had to rush.
00:19:59
Speaker
And suddenly we saw the GMCs, the gyms coming with the Mutawas.
Hypocrisy of Mutawas and Yearning for Freedom
00:20:03
Speaker
And we're like, run.
00:20:04
Speaker
So everyone scrambled away.
00:20:06
Speaker
I hit with a friend between this small alleyway between two buildings and
00:20:11
Speaker
And I just held my breath.
00:20:13
Speaker
It was like a war zone situation.
00:20:15
Speaker
Right.
00:20:15
Speaker
And the enemy soldiers are there.
00:20:17
Speaker
And you just I just stood there because I was like, oh, if we get busted, I don't know what's going to happen.
00:20:23
Speaker
And the GMC slowed down around where we were hiding.
00:20:26
Speaker
And for a second, I thought, that's it.
00:20:29
Speaker
I'm done.
00:20:29
Speaker
I'm gone.
00:20:30
Speaker
And one of them got off.
00:20:32
Speaker
And I was like, OK, I'm going to have my moment to go.
00:20:34
Speaker
But for whatever reason, he got back in and moved off.
00:20:39
Speaker
They moved on.
00:20:40
Speaker
And me and my friend, I still like we were, you know, it sounds silly, but we were panicked as hell.
00:20:46
Speaker
Our heartbeat was like racing, like Usain Bolt's speed or something, you know, and that's the kind of stuff that just made me go.
00:20:54
Speaker
Why is this happening?
00:20:55
Speaker
Why is this place like this?
00:20:56
Speaker
Now, recently I've heard, you know, in recent years, they first reduced their powers.
00:21:01
Speaker
And now they've completely stripped them off.
00:21:03
Speaker
And I think now they're done.
00:21:04
Speaker
I don't think they exist anymore, if I'm correct, especially with the way they're trying to open up and tourism and everything.
00:21:10
Speaker
But that was what it was like.
00:21:12
Speaker
You know, everyone had a story about some kind of encounter.
00:21:16
Speaker
I had smaller encounters, too, like another one which really angered me.
00:21:20
Speaker
This one was...
00:21:21
Speaker
This one plays out to more of the hypocrisy with it.
00:21:24
Speaker
I was walking.
00:21:25
Speaker
I had this fat silver chain.
00:21:27
Speaker
I was like, you know, the deal.
00:21:29
Speaker
This is when I was like 16, 17.
00:21:31
Speaker
I was trying to be cool.
00:21:33
Speaker
I had an earring.
00:21:34
Speaker
You know, anything to kind of...
00:21:38
Speaker
stand up against the establishment or whatever, right?
00:21:41
Speaker
So I'm there, I'm doing all this.
00:21:43
Speaker
I'm walking on the street with my friends and this Cadillac guy in a Cadillac pulls over right next to us, rolls down his window, bam, mutawa, right?
00:21:51
Speaker
He looks at me and he starts lecturing me how a chain is not something men wear and that those who are wearing the ring of fire around them and you're not Bob or Michael, this is an American thing.
00:22:05
Speaker
And he lectures.
00:22:05
Speaker
Luckily, he didn't see the earring because I was just like facing him.
00:22:09
Speaker
It was on my left ear.
00:22:10
Speaker
So I kind of just positioned myself so he can't see that side.
00:22:13
Speaker
I was just like, I don't want him catching that.
00:22:15
Speaker
That'll just blow his roof off or something.
00:22:18
Speaker
And he lectures me the whole time.
00:22:20
Speaker
Like he goes off.
00:22:21
Speaker
First of all, I'm like, you know, you feel like a kid, like someone standing and lecturing about this stuff.
00:22:26
Speaker
So you're angry about that.
00:22:27
Speaker
And then it hits me.
00:22:28
Speaker
I'm like, he's lecturing me about all this Western influence and he's driving a Cadillac.
00:22:33
Speaker
All right.
00:22:33
Speaker
Or a Chevrolet.
00:22:34
Speaker
I can't remember.
00:22:35
Speaker
Oh, sorry.
00:22:35
Speaker
It was a Chevrolet.
00:22:37
Speaker
And I just I'm just thinking, dude, do you not realize your own hypocrisy?
00:22:43
Speaker
Just really just piss you off.
00:22:45
Speaker
Right.
00:22:46
Speaker
So those kind of things left me wanting to get out and just being really angry at them all the time and just knowing that we were powerless and
00:22:57
Speaker
You know, you're bringing in movies smuggled in, audio cassettes smuggled in.
00:23:03
Speaker
It was just a crazy world where two powerful forces were colliding against each other.
00:23:09
Speaker
And in the middle was just us young kids wanting to grow up and have some fun.
00:23:15
Speaker
And we were stuck in between that.
00:23:17
Speaker
And that's why...
00:23:19
Speaker
I have a hard time when people talk about banning things or being extra strict.
00:23:25
Speaker
Even when I disagree or I know it might be dangerous, it's still a hard one because that left a huge thing on my head about it.
00:23:33
Speaker
That's it.
00:23:34
Speaker
Now you know my psyche, why it's like what it is.
00:23:37
Speaker
Okay.
00:23:37
Speaker
And those are stories.
00:23:38
Speaker
And if you ask anyone who grew up around that time, I guarantee, you know, they'll all have a story.
00:23:43
Speaker
Except for my friends who lived in these expat compounds, especially the Saudi city compound.
00:23:48
Speaker
It was heaven on earth for anyone growing up there.
00:23:52
Speaker
Because you knew the Mutawas didn't come in there.
00:23:53
Speaker
They weren't allowed.
00:23:54
Speaker
And so everybody was much more free.
00:23:56
Speaker
Women drove.
00:23:57
Speaker
They didn't wear a bayas.
00:23:58
Speaker
It was just like a whole different world.
00:24:00
Speaker
Right.
00:24:00
Speaker
And something you aspired to.
00:24:01
Speaker
Yeah.
00:24:03
Speaker
As a kid on the outside, if I made friends inside Saudi because I could say I'm going to go in and see them and I get to experience this freedom, right?
00:24:11
Speaker
That's the state of mind we had.
00:24:14
Speaker
So, yeah, everyone else probably did have a story.
00:24:17
Speaker
And that is my life in Saudi with the Mutawas, man.
00:24:22
Speaker
Some great times, I guess.
00:24:24
Speaker
Some great memories.
00:24:25
Speaker
Anyway, I got to run.
00:24:26
Speaker
I got more stuff to do, more butterflies to see as I drive through the streets and
00:24:32
Speaker
And I hope you guys have a great few days ahead.
00:24:35
Speaker
Till next time, guys.
00:24:36
Speaker
Take care.
00:24:36
Speaker
Bye.
00:24:37
Speaker
Or as a dog would say, woof.