The Western dehumanization of Muslims

It is approaching that time of year again when I fly to the UK to spend Christmas with family and friends. I have lived in Dubai for nearly 16 years, which I guess makes it my home — indeed, the longer I live out here, the more detached I feel from the country where I was born and spent the first 40 years of my life.
There are aspects of life here where, as a Western migrant, I still sometimes need to remind myself to adjust, but there is also a lot of good, like there is anywhere in the world.
Yet there remains a view among many of those who have not been here that the Middle East is some kind of restrictive, dangerous Third World. Questions I still get asked when I visit the UK include, “how do I enjoy myself, given it’s so restrictive,” to which I reply, “I go out, see friends, you know … normal stuff.”
Another favorite is, “it can’t be good for women, they can’t do anything.” Like drive? “Yes, they can.” Work? “Yup, that too.” But they can’t be managers? “Again, yes. In fact, I have had as many female bosses as I have men in the nearly 16 years I have lived here.”
That is not to say it is perfect. Indeed, there is a reason why companies are going that extra mile to recruit women into senior engineering and science roles in the Arab world — but there is an effort to redress the balance.
In 2019, shortly before COVID-19 hit, the World Economic Forum released a report that identified Jordan as a country where workers were more likely to have a woman as a boss than a man. Jordan led the pack, with 62 percent of all managerial positions filled by women.
But according to a report published by Corporate Women Directors International, there is generally still a long way to go. The report explained that, in 2023, women remained vastly underrepresented in the corporate boardrooms of 16 countries in the Middle East, North Africa and Turkiye region, “holding just 8.6 percent of board seats in 1,148 listed companies.”
It should probably not be surprising that Westerners have such a veiled view of the Middle East. Little is reported of the region except negative stories. There is rarely a mention of the children being killed most days in Gaza without the apparent justification that “Israel has a right to defend itself.”
In October, journalists working at leading international news organizations reported that they were being expected to write content that was against the Palestinians. It is a claim that the news organizations deny, but it was well documented that more than 100 BBC journalists wrote an open letter criticizing the organization’s coverage of the Israeli war in Gaza, accusing it of being pro-Israel.
Since the 9/11 terror attacks in the US, Muslims have been portrayed as anti-Western. The French banned women from wearing veils in public, while the US in 2017 imposed a travel ban on people from seven Muslim-majority countries. 

Islam and, in turn, the countries where the religion is dominant have become demonized.

Peter Harrison

When attacks are carried out by Muslims, they are portrayed as Islamist terror attacks. Yet, when a white Western man gets in a van and drives through a crowd of Muslims outside a mosque in London or walks into mosques in New Zealand carrying multiple automatic weapons and opens fire, killing many men, women and children, they are “lone wolves.”
Islam and, in turn, the countries where the religion is dominant have become demonized.
Baroness Sayeeda Warsi, who recently resigned from the Conservative Party due to its “hypocrisy and double standards in its treatment of different communities,” said the quickest way to dehumanize people was to “make them Muslim,” even if they are not. She was pointing to the pro-Gaza demonstrations in the UK, which were attended by people of all faiths, yet the crowds were widely reported as being dominated by Muslims.
Equally, the war on Gaza is portrayed as targeting Muslims who are aligned with Hamas, rather than claiming the lives of innocents, no matter their faith or politics.
Muslims also find themselves described as “moderate” or “conservative,” rather than as people.
While Israel “defends itself,” those living in Lebanon and Gaza are “tribal” or “terrorist supporters.”
I was once asked if Westerners were allowed to celebrate Christmas in the Middle East, yet the shops in Dubai’s malls have been selling Christmas decorations since at least October. Hotels have been taking bookings for their Christmas Day lunches for months.
Life out here — my dear compatriots — is fine. Maybe not perfect, it even has its nightmares, its fallings out, but it is fine and for now that suits me.
I know many people who have lived or live in areas targeted by bombs, tanks and guns — they have friends and family still in these areas. One person I know recently learned that her school in Lebanon was targeted, while another lost a relative to a sniper in Gaza.
These people are just that — people. They are haunted by the images coming out of their home countries. They did not choose these wars, but they have to live with them, while they do not get to see their families. So, when I get on that plane to visit my family, I do so in the knowledge that some of my equally deserving friends and colleagues are not so lucky.

• Peter Harrison is a senior editor at Arab News in the Dubai office. He has covered the Middle East for more than a decade.
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