Here’s something that caught me totally by surprise. I’d heard about al-Bulaiwi’s death in custody, but I’d had no idea there were formal charges against the morals police.
news link: may not last long

Religious police might harass Saudi guys for wearing pants but not usually foreigners. It also depends on which part of Saudi you are staying in, if Jeddah or eastern region.. no worries, you have no problem. But if you are staying in Riyadh, it is more conservative here.

About your hair.. I hope one of the guys living in Saudi will tell you more about it. As a woman, I have seen more and more SAudi guys wearing their hair longer, I don’t know if they get arrested for that.. I think you might be asked to have it cut by religious police, but it has been a fashion between the youth these days to have long hair ( so many )

About your boundries.. read more about Saudi Arabia (or ask your friend).. basically.. no drinking in public (some do in the privacy of homes, religious police may break into homes but not into compounds) no flirting with girls in public, no talking to girls, do not have a none related woman in a car with you..
You have to have you (iqama) ID card with you all the time.
The climate is too hot.. bring light clothes BUT not shorts. It is not acceptable for a man to reveal his body in public..
body and facial piercing is not acceptable for men

If you have specific questions.. don’t hesitate..( it is another world! you might enjoy it here.. you would never know until you try)

I stumbled on this forum while googling ( yeah i know) ‘expats in saudi’. My topic / question may not be appropriate here but i couldnt help but trying to get what seems to be wide personal views (saudis and westerners)

I and a few of my colleagues have been invited by a fellow graduate to take up positions in his father’s company. his dad has suggested coming to see for ourselves to decide if the way of life is for us or not.

All this talk abt westerners, im british by passport but african by origin, does this mean we aint got a chance seeing as the saudis’ themselves aint got jobs and the ‘blue eyed westerner’ has it all ?

octo mentioned abt being harrased for wearing jeans ? should i unbraid and cut my hair b4 i visit ? ive read abt lashings and imprisonments by the religious police, wot are the boundaries for young men ?

Advice please!! I am only asking this because there is a mixture of gender and races(north south east west southwest northeast…..)

You also talk about “the people who call for allowing drugs, that’s abuse of free speech.” That’s not abuse of free speech, it’s just an unhealthy request, very easy to be proven as such.

We have to use our hearts and our minds and take position against abuse. I guess free speech can be abused too… In this case, in the adult world, you don’t censor free speech, you speak up against sick ideas. Sick ideas are just another kind of pollution ! In this sense we can use the word ‘clean’ devoid of any pejorative sense: a clean environment, a clean social environment, a clean learning environment, clean minds, clean hearts, yes.

You also talk about “the people who call for allowing drugs, that’s abuse of free speech.” That’s not abuse of free speech, it’s just an unhealthy request, very easy to be proven as such.

We have to use our hearts and our minds and take position against abuse. I guess free speech can be abused too… In this case, in the adult world, you don’t censor free speech, you speak up against it. Sick ideas are just another kind of pollution ! In this sense we can use the word ‘clean’ devoid of any pejorative sense: a clean environment, a clean social environment, a clean learning environment, clean minds, clean hearts, yes.

And women and sex are very clean notions, and in islam, sex with your wife or husband is considered a good deed! (And it accounted as a good deed in the day of judgement), because you don’t allow the need for them to seek the unclean solutions, sex outside the marrige and such.

Oh no, I didn’t mean torelance to women, that’s insane, I meant general torelance to people’s actions, tolerance/intolerance to the sick guy who waits outside the pharmacy in prayer times, tolerance/intolerance to the guy that cruises around the girls’ highschool to harass them, tolerance/intolerance to a poor person who was forced to steal because he wasn’t getting any of the donated money, tolerance/intolerance for free speech.
And yes, there should be some level of intorelance to free speech, and not totally removing the limits, let people talk about causes and how to improve and current problems however they want, don’t let ignorants abuse it and be destructive (I read websites on how sexually abusing children shouldn’t be a crime and we should allow adults to marry children, that was disqusting, also the people who call for allowing drugs and so on, that’s abuse of free speech).

A quote from U Thant, 3rd secretary of the UN might be insightful here:
“As a Budhist, I was trained to be tolerant of everything except intolerance”

The moral compass is formed in each of us when we are treated with respect, with faireness and empathy and we learn to be intolerant to intolerance. Do you know how many times I told students: I will not tolerate this or that? But never, I will not tolerate YOU on the basis of gender, race, religious or sexual orientation, social status, or health condition.