the answer is simple. before Islam, Arabs were nothing. as soon as Islam was flourishing 1430 years ago, the nation became stronger and stronger. when the Arabs started to abandon the teachings of Islam and when back to their old way of living, they became weak again. most of Muslims actions nowadays do not represent Islam, and people will always blame any Muslim's action on his/her religion.
So you believe it was the abandonment of Islam that led to the arrested development? I can see where this could be plausible. how a small handful of nomadic thugs can rise to prominence so quickly upon the world stage is astonishing. What I don't understand is why the rest of the Arab world looks to Saudi Arabia as the keeper of the faith. to make a comparison, the Saudi's are to the rest of islam, as migrant farm workers are to mainstream America. how does the rest of the Arab world tolerate this?
and about the story you've read. there is no law in Islam that bans women from driving or anything similar. it's just that the mentality of the men over there is not that civilized for them to cope with a women driving a car next to them. they just might harass the girl forever. and as side not, only in Saudi are women not allowed to drive, all of the other arab and Islamic countries have no such rule.
I understand there is no such law, ...that's why I refer to it as an archaic tradition.
I know what you mean about ignorance and lack of civility. We see the same here in North America.
There are some white men who are absolutely apoplectic at the idea of a Black man as President.
on the one hand, ...I have compassion for them. They too are victims of a deprived upbringing,
...but on the other, I sometimes secretly enjoy their pain.
Does that make me a bad person.
