I compiled a list of the top 10 misconceptions about Arabs for foreigners, in an attempt to dissect them and set the record straight. For most of these, I’ll be taking direct examples from Jordan – my country – since that’s the place I know most about, however, most of the points I make will likely apply (in one way or another) to other Arab countries as well.

10) Arabs live in tents, ride camels, and wear different clothes

Just because Native Americans used to live in teepees doesn’t mean they do now, its as simple as that. Arab tradition – dating from a few hundred years ago – revolves around utilizing camels for transportation and tents as an ideal way of living. That doesn’t mean that this applies now; we have technology as do others and thus have access to all resources that can improve our living conditions. Even outside the capital and main cities, Jordanian villages are far from the form that some people in the west imagine. If you were planning to visit an Arab state in hope of exploring an Aladdin-esque world, think again .

In desolate areas of the desert, we still have native tribal Jordanians who – by choice – decided to remain following their traditional Bedouin lifestyle. Even these people, though they might appear closest to the western image of Arabs, still blend in quite well if/when they need to visit the city for errands, etc.

9) Arabs are rich, own oil wells, and control the world

I WISH! I really do … First of all, I need to reiterate that some countries (like Jordan over here) have absolutely no oil. Second, lets take a look at the figure to the right:

This is a list of countries sorted by their GDP (Gross Domestic Product) per annum, courtesy of Wikipedia. It is quite clear what I’m trying to point out: in the top 25 GDP countries, only one Arab state exists: Saudi Arabia, with a rank of 25. The U.S., Italy, Mexico, Australia, Indonesia, and Norway, among many others, exceed Saudi Arabia. So, considering that the Arab country with the highest GDP is rather “average”, I guess that points out how we measure with other countries. You can check the full list, too.

To further emphasize my point, we may want to see the Gross Domestic Product per person and the rankings of countries accordingly. This list on Wikipedia shows this; when sorting all countries by Rank, we see that the United Arab Emirates is ranked 17-19, Saudi Arabia is ranked39-44, and all Arab countries have even lower ranks.

I’m not doing this to negatively describe the standards of livings in Arab states; a GDP per capita ranking of below 44 is still quite fine, but surely does not reflect that Arabs are – in any way – in financial control of the world.

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