My Ride to Work

I was taking the train to work in the morning one day, half asleep and hungry. I had gotten up ten minutes earlier in a panic and had no time to eat – I think getting up in the morning for work would be less stressful if humans could inhale food or even absorb it through their skin. As a consequence of waking up late I had to catch a few extra minutes of sleep while standing up in the train. In my semi delirium I was thinking of 7 – grain pancakes, which I had recently discovered while brunching at Smitty’s, and warm maple syrup when in the foggy distance I heard the word ’Arab.’

I looked around lazily and saw two gentlemen looking my way, are they talking to me? I scanned the tightly packed passengers enveloped around me to see if anyone had acknowledged their comment. Failing to find such a person I looked at the two of them again to find them staring back and whispering to each other. The lack of sleep having slightly affected the speed of my mental faculty, it took me a few seconds longer to finally realize they were talking about me. I was slightly confused, although flattered that they thought I was Middle Eastern, an Arab I am not. I do not even know how to speak Arabic. Actually, I was born in Calgary to two Indian parents.

Then, as someone’s backpack smacked the side of my head it occurred to me. My hijab. They must have thought that I was an Arab because I wear a scarf on my head, which by the way did not match with my outfit, as everything looks the same colour in the morning. I thought to my self, poor fellows, they have mistaken the fact that I wear hijab to mean that I am Arab.

Many Arabs are in fact Muslim, but many, almost 93% of all Muslims are not Arab. The word Arab has many meanings, having been applied to people with varying ethnic and religious backgrounds. In the Biblical tradition an Arab is someone who is a descendant of Abraham through his son Ishmael. In the linguistic context an Arab is anyone whose first language is Arabic, which belongs to the Semitic family of languages. There are more that 250 million people including Christians, Jews and people of other faiths who are considered Arabs under this definition. The epistemology of the word Arab does not describe a particular ethnicity, and has meanings in Semitic languages including “west / sunset“, “desert“, “mingle“, “merchant“, “raven“, “comprehensible.“

Historically, the first use of the word Arab occurs in Assyrian inscription of 853 BC, where Shalmaneser III lists a King Gindibu of mâtu arbâi (Arab land) as among the people he defeated at the Battle of Karkar. Some of the names given are in Armanian but others are written in Proto – Arabic dialects. The Hebrew Bible occasionally refers to peoples called `Arvi, translated as “Arab“ or “Arabian“. The scope of the Hebrew is unclear, but it seems to refer to desert–dwelling Semitic tribes. The early Islamic word, ’arab referred to sedentary Arabs, in the cities of Mecca and Medina, and the terminology ’a’rab referred to the Arab Bedouins. Following the conquest of the 8th and 9th centuries as the Arab Muslims spread into France in the west, China in the east, Asia Minor in the north, and the Sudan in the south, many groups came to be known as ’Arabs’ not through descent but through this process of colonization.

In terms of clothing, because of the geographical situation of some Arabic speaking nations the intensity and rapid fluctuations of heat during the day and cold during the night require a special type of garb. The local head wraps for both men and women prevent sweat from evaporating, while the billowing robes trap sweat and recirculate it as cooler air. Conversely, during the frigid night the head wraps, and robes prevent heat from escaping. Since many Arabs are Muslim, Islam requires both men and women to dress modestly, and the hijab is an aspect of that. An extension to the Judeo – Christian tradition, which encouraged women to cover their heads as seen in many depictions of the Virgin Mary, Islam also asks women to veil.

As I extracted, organized and slotted these ideas in preparation to discuss it with the gentlemen, the train stopped and in the chaos of passengers boarding and exiting, they were gone. A much needed discussion missed: an opportunity lost.

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