Preparation for Interview
I had to do a lot of things to get ready for this final interview because I had forgotten most of the questions. So the first thing I did was memorize the questions, so that the interview could flow well. The next thing I did was talk to Mohammad and see when he was free to do the interview. Once we had the time and place set, I went over the questions once more. I chose not to test my phone out for recording before the interview because I felt like it worked well the other three times. I was right that it was going to work just fine too. Muhammad and I met at Caribou where I have done all my interviews. The Interview was conducted at the end of November, but I can’t remember what day to be exact.
This was probably the most comfortable I felt during any of the interview because me and Muhammad had become friends over the semester. During the whole interview we were joking around and we went off track a lot during are conversation. It did not seem like we were really even doing an interview and just having a good time talking. I don’t really think any of the stuff he said surprised me much because I had heard similar answers in the past three interviews. But if I had to choose one thing it would be that private schools have graduation ceremonies and public schools do not. That was one thing that I did not hear in any of the other interviews.
Transcript of Interview #4
Kyle= K and Muhammad= M
K: Hello Muhammad, thank you for letting me has this interview. How are you?
M: I am doing well how are you?
K: Good, thank you. To start off the interview can you tell me a little about yourself and your country?
M: I am Muhammad, and I am from Saudi Arabia. I have been in American since 2007. I have 3 brothers and 1 sister. Two of my friends have gotten married and now it is my turn (Ha-ha). I am majoring in electrical engineering.
K: What part of Saudi Arabia are you from?
M: I am from the Capital city that is right in the middle.
K: Are you the oldest sibling in your family?
M: No I am in the middle; two of my brothers are older than me.
K: How is the education here different to back in Saudi Arabia?
M: It is much different here, because in America you have to do some research. Back home they just have the books and they say remember this and this and that, because the exam is going to be just like this. That’s pretty much it.
K: How is interacting different between men and women in Saudi Arabia.
M: They are like separate. You can talk to the women in your family and it won’t matter, but other than that no you can’t do it. Also when we are sitting together… they need to cover their face. You can’t like go to any family and go inside their house like your friends for example, and you can’t see their mothers or sister face.
K: What are weddings like in Saudi Arabia?
M: Well the clothing is similar here for the women, but it is different from the men. It is also separate. Men will be on one side and women will be on the other.
K: What are the celebrations like?
M: In my region for the men it starts and goes from like 9-12 and there is a lot of sitting and talking with dinner. Then that is it, everyone go home. But for the women they also start at like 9 as well, but they go all the way into the morning. The women are singing and dancing, but the men are just like sitting and talking and then leave. But there are the men who also dance and celebrate, not all just sit and talk.
K: What are the basic beliefs that you have for religion?
M: Well women need to cover their body and there face. The men can wear anything, but it still needs to be appropriate. So like the guy can’t just wear underwear and go outside (ha-ha).
K: Are there any other beliefs?
M: Yes, I believe that there are 3 religions from god… They are Jewish, Muslim, and Christian. But the other religions I do not believe in.
K: Do you have different rules of eye contact in Saudi Arabia?
M: Well sometimes... From man to man there are not really any rules. But when it is from a man to women it is a big difference. You need to act polite toward women and watch what you say.
K: What do you eat for breakfast, lunch, and dinner usually?
M: For breakfast I eat a food from back home that is healthy and kind of sweet with coffee. Then for lunch I usually will go to Chipotle because it is rice and chicken. Then for dinner I will usually make some type of Arabic food.
K: Why did you decide to come to St. Cloud State University?
M: Because I use to study in the Twin Cities and then I tried to get into a place in New York. When I didn’t get in I talked to some of my friends and they mentioned St. Cloud State University to me. After I was accepted I chose to come here and that is how it happened.
K: What do you think of St. Cloud State University?
M: I like the people, but the weather sucks.
K: What are you favorite activities to do in Saudi Arabia?
M: Play soccer, talk to friends, play Volleyball, and play cards.
K: What are some of the foods back home that you don’t eat here?
M: I don’t really know how to make lamb or beef. I kind of just cook chicken. There are some other foods that I don’t know how to say in English, but I miss them.
K: About how many days of school did you have during the week in Saudi Arabia? And how long were the days?
M: We had 5 classes a week and it depends on your schedule for how long the day is. We have Thursday and Friday off of school.
K: Who do you most respect in your family?
M: Both my mother and my father.
K: Do they both work?
M: No only my father works. My mom says at home and does house work.
K: How many people live in your house?
M: Umm… I have just my little brother and my little sister living with my parents.
K: What are some of the holidays that you celebrate?
M: I celebrate the basic Islamic holidays.
K: What is dating like back home?
M: We don’t have dating back home. Back home if you want to date, you need to find a secret place so that no one finds out. If a guy gets caught with a random girl, than he will go to jail and the girl will have to call her parents to get picked up from the police station. When the parents pick up the girl, than she will be disciplined (Beat her, maybe kill her, or just get in trouble).
K: So are most marriages arranged?
M: Yes, and if the male figures out that she is not a virgin the man can divorce her and get money from her family. The girl’s family will give you money to not say anything about it, but some men will keep her as his wife and not take the money sometimes.
K: What was graduation like in high school?
M: We had a ceremony at the end when we graduated. Private school has ceremonies but public school does not.
K: Okay, well that is my last question. Thank you very much for helping me out.
M: You are welcome and I will see you on Thursday.
BACKGROUND OF SAUDI ARABIA
(FINAL PAPER)
Saudi Arabia has many interesting qualities that separate it from any other country. It has a very important history that makes the world what it is today. In Saudi Arabia the language spoken is Arabic and it is written from right to left. It is home to the second largest religion around the world, and the religion is known as Islam. Also in the early times the peninsula where Saudi Arabia now is was one of the biggest trade centers in the world. Some qualities that make Saudi Arabia a special place are the history of the country (First Saudi State, Second Saudi State, and the Third Saudi State), religion and its five pillars of faith, and food.
Saudi Arabia is located in the Middle East boarding the Red Sea and it fills most of the Arabian Peninsula. In the summer time the humidity becomes very bad and In the book Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, David Long says “in the summer months (mid April- mid October) the temperatures can average 113 degrees F. David Long also says “In the winter months (December and January) the day time is around 59 degrees F and at night can drop below freezing”. Saudi Arabia is basically a desert, with a variety of different kinds of them. There are three primary deserts that occupy the area which are Great Nufud (An Nafud), Syrian Desert, Rub al-Khali. The U.S. Department of State says “The population of Saudi Arabia is 28.7 million people” .The size of the country is approximately 1,960,582 million sq. km. also known as 784,233 sq. miles.
Saudi Arabia’s history has helped its personality develop into what it is today. The Arab peninsula has given the area much history because it was an important trading center and also the place where Islam was “born” a very long time ago. During the 18th Century a man with the name Shaikh Muhammad bin Abdul Wahhab wanted to bring back the original form of Islam but was forced to leave by religious scholars who didn’t believe in what he was trying to do. When Wahhab left the area he found protection in a town ruled by the man named Muhammad bin Saud. Both Shaikh Muhammad bin Abdul Wahhab and Muhammad bin Saud agreed to one another to help bring back the teachings of Islam. Muhammad bin Saud decided to call it the Saud house. They decided to have their capital be Diriyah where they became partners. As the years went on the Saud House continued to grow and had almost taken over all of the Arab Peninsula. The Saud house was becoming very powerful with the allies of other areas. But the Saud house came to an end after about 75 years, when an Empire combined of North Africa and the Middle East destroyed it. The reason for destroying the first Saudi State is because the Ottoman Empire thought the Saud house was becoming too powerful.
After rebuilding the Saudi State, the Second State began with the Al-Saud family retaking control. Www.saudiembassy.net says that the new Saudi ruler was “Turki bin Abdullah Al-Saud and decided to transfer his capital to Riyadh, some 20 miles south of Diriyah”. Turki chose to take his ruling to the next step and make sure that everyone in his empire had everything they needed to live their lives. During this time they were able to get most of the land back that was lost to the Ottoman Empire. As the years went on almost everything you could think of was becoming stronger. A few examples are trade and agriculture. The only thing that was not as strong for the Second State that the First State had was the amount of land controlled. But once again this all had to come to an end. The problem was the Al Rashid dynasty of Ha'il (The Ottoman Empire) wanted to move into the Arab Peninsula where the Saudi State was at the time. The Al Rashid dynasty of Ha'il began to take over parts of the Saudi State around the year 1865. As the war got worse for the Saudi State Abdulrahman who was ruling at the time, was forced to leave with his family and go to Kuwait. The Second State lasted almost as long as the first one did; this one was about 67 years. It ended in 1891 with the battle of Mulayda.
In the year 1902 Abdulaziz Al-Rashid began trying to retake the old Saudi State area back. In the year 1932 he had finally done it and named the country Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. That name is still being used in today’s world.
Saudi Arabia has made a big impact on the world today because of the religion it started. The religion that is taught is Islam which means Peace. The Islam community also calls their religions leader god, but in Arabic god is known as Allah. According to infoplease.com “In 2005 Islam had the second largest religion in the world with about 1.5 billion people, right behind Christianity which has about 2.1 billion”. The Islam religion is still growing fast and according to B.A. Robinson who wrote about the Islam religion on ReligiousTolerance.org says “If current trends continue, Islam will become the most popular world religion sometime in the mid-21st century”. Just like in every religion there are holidays that are celebrated. Muslims have four major holidays that consist of Ramadan, Eid al-Fitr, Hijra, and Eid al-Adha.
The Islam religion believes that Allah gave information and knowledge to Muhammad and other prophets. Some of the other prophets were Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, and Jesus. The book Quran is what all people who follow the religion use. Muslims believes that all the words in the Quran came from Allah himself told through Muhammad. Muhammad began writing the Quran around the year 610. There are five main pillars of faith to follow in the Islam religion and they should be followed as much as possible by each person. The first pillar of faith is Shahadah, which talks about the confession of faith. That means that there is only one god and Muhammad was gods last prophet. This is the first thing told to a new born baby and the last thing told to a person who is dying. The second pillar is Salat, which means prayer. Muslims are supposed to pray five times a day and every time they do, they are supposed to face Mecca while doing it. All of the prayers that are said during the ritual prayer come from the Quran. The third pillar is Ramadan, which means you fast during the month of Ramadan. During the month of Ramadan no Muslims is suppose to drink or eat any food from dawn to dusk. The month of Ramadan occurs at different times of the year because Muslim Calendars are different than Solar Calendars. The fourth pillar is Zakat, which means the wealthy help out the poor. The wealthy give the poor two and a half percent of their possessions to help out. The last pillar is Hajj, which means the pilgrimage to Mecca. All Muslims must make a trip to Ka'bah at least one time in their life. Ka’bah is a very important shrine in Mecca for the Islamic religion. Richard Hooker of http://www.wsu.edu says “By recreating many of the events of the life of Abraham and Ishmael who are, in Islamic tradition, the founders of the Ka'bah, one injects oneself into the core of Islamic history and re-evaluates one's life and one's society in the perspective of that history.”
Saudi Arabian’s still eat most of the same type of food today that they did when the country first began even though most people live in cities and towns now. The Islamic religion has set some rules that Muslims must follow when it comes to eating. They are not able to drink alcohol and are not allowed to eat pork products or any type of meat that has claws. These are just a few of the things that are not allowed, but there are much more. When slaughtering an animal, the only way that a Muslim can eat it is if they slaughter it properly by following the Islamic law. Even though people in Saudi Arabia are not able to eat pork it has not stopped them from eating meat all together. They still eat lots of meat and according to David Harris of http://www.ehow.com say that “On average, a Saudi eats about 88 pounds of chicken each year”. That is more chicken eaten in a year than any other place in the world. Another kind of meat that they like to eat is lamb. The thing about lamb is most Saudi Arabians prefer to eat it only on holidays and celebrations. Having bread, rice, milk and yogurt with their meals is also a very popular thing. One of Saudi Arabia’s most popular breads is called fatir. The fatir looks basically like a tortilla and is very flat. The two other most popular kinds of breads are arikah and kimaje (flat bread). Saudi Arabia produces most of its own dairy and vegetables that they need because of how good their agriculture and industries have become over the years. Over the years more and more fast food places have been built in Saudi Arabia, but still most of the time the people their prefer to eat their traditional foods. One of the most common meals eaten by Saudi Arabians is Kapsa which has chicken and rice. During holidays Muslims will always have vegetables, hummus, rice, and flat bread with their meals.
Just like in every country there are table manners and that is how it is in Saudi Arabia. If you are eating on the floor than you should sit crossed legged but if you want to kneel than you should only put one knee on the ground. While eating you should only eat with the right hand because the left is considered to be dirty. When a Saudi Arabian has a guest, they are offered the more pricey meals to show respect. When having a meal in Saudi Arabia there will almost always be some food left-over to show hospitality.
Overall Saudi Arabia is a very interesting county that is different from any other. It has many qualities that make it the place it is today. Not only has the qualities in Saudi Arabia made it what it is today, but it’s also helped other countries build its own personalities. A few of the things that Saudi Arabia has done to help other countries make its own personalities is the amount of Petroleum that Saudi Arabia has and the most important is the Islamic religion. Who knows where the world would be right now financially, technologically and religiously if it wasn’t for Saudi Arabia.
WORK CITED
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