Why I won't be moving to Dubai

Earlier this year I visited Dubai for the first time in five years. The change in such a short space of time was astounding. The speed at which development takes place is truly breakneck.

It’s said that a quarter of the world’s cranes reside in the area. It’s as if they take an area of desert, plan the most ambitious development of its kind in the world, and just slap it up. The place oozes money, you can see it dripping on the streets.

Everyone says Dubai is a sign of the Day of Judgement. I definitely caught sight of proverbial barefooted, naked destitute herdsmen doing their thing. The ordinary people of Dubai invariably curse the place. One taxi driver, always the fount of knowledge in any city, brought his family over from Pakistan in 1982. Such has been the rise in prices due to Europeans and American moving in, that he’s had to send his family back recently.

It is still undeniably true though that Dubai would be the city of choice for many UK Muslims if they had to pick somewhere else to live. That isn’t a fantasy wish either – many have left and are considering leaving. The Guardian in 2005 found two-thirds questioning their future in this country due to the political situation.

Dubai is arguably the closest a Muslim state comes to the lifestyle enjoyed in the UK. The comforts and trappings are there, while psychologically it’s more comfortable being a Muslim in a Muslim state. The meat is halal, the call for prayer is heard from mosques, and there are even handy showerheads in public toilets.

I would argue against calling in the removal vans though. Upping sticks due to current Islamophobia or hedging against things getting worse in the future is unduly pessimistic. This is especially so given it completely ignores the capacity for making change. Some would say this defeatist attitude is not surprising. Most of the UK’s Muslims came to the country as economic migrants, not political dissidents. Where there is an advantage for self, all well and good, otherwise let’s look at where else the next buck can be made.

The irony is that engaging in the civic sphere is exactly what will cement the Muslim place in this country. The seedlings of this participation have been planted in the last few years, and the prospects are promising. It will be a gradual process though. Muslims don’t have to so much explain themselves, as just be there, be part of the indispensable furniture.

This type of public-mindedness doesn’t exist in Dubai. In June, the ruler announced that he was ‘gifting’ £5bn to education projects in the Middle East.  It’s said to be one of history’s largest charitable gifts. In any other country though, this would be known as public spending. Granted, it’s not just for Dubai, but the man made his personal wealth from the natural resource of the region. It properly belongs to the people. These states have taken the maxim of “no taxation without representation” to an unfortunate conclusion, but the taking of money from the people nonetheless exists in a different way.

Despite this, Tony Blair last year held up Dubai as the model for the rest of the Muslim world. In fairness, economic success is what democracy in the UK is based on too. The only thing likely to seriously unsettle the government is financial turbulence. Arguably the only difference in the body politic between Westminster and the UAE is the beauty contest over which personality gets to implement the Tory policies.

There is far too much emphasis placed on economics. Gordon Brown sent Ed Balls of all people to Palestine to look at how their economy could be built, while the Iraqi economic prospects was one of the PM’s key focuses on his recent visit there. In these cases it is farcical to be talking about building prosperity under divisive military occupations.

But it’s also depressing to make material wealth the be-all-and-end-all for good societies. I wouldn’t want to live in Dubai because I would not be able to contribute to making it a better place. The freedoms in our country give people the space to make their views known, and work towards change in their communities, the country, and ultimately the world.

Comments

[Yunus]

One thing people could do, moving there, is to work for people like my son (who has autism). As I recall, the very first specialist centre for diagnosis/support in the entire Middle East was only opened perhaps 7 or 8 years ago. Considering the diagnosis itself is less than half a century old, that's no surprise, but I would imagine there is much work to be done there - as there is here.

[Umm Zaid]

Salaam 'Alaikum

An interesting perspective on "why not" in the context of the "hijrah" that so many Western Muslims speak of: not being able to contribute to improving the place you'd move to. An honest admission, and important to point out that, insha'Allah, you're already helping to make the place you live a better place.

[Abdur Rahman]

Salaams Osama,

Eid mubarak (a bit late I know, but there you go)!

An interesting post. I agree. In my own case, I don't have anywhere else to go back to. I don't think I'd enjoy living in Dubai either.

Abdur Rahman

[Ted Harvey]

You hit on a really critical matter in 'engaging in the civic sphere'. I must accept what you say about there being no such concept in Dubia as I know almost nothing about the place.

However, engagement in the civic sphere has something that has long been in decay in the U.K. Indeed I suspect that the search for a reconncection with civic society is one of the drivers for the imporving fortunes of the SNP in Scotland.

A striking feature of this decline in the UK, is the growing extent to which we have a growing super-rich elite who pay no or little taxes to the public exchequer. This latter point is perhaps a pointer towards the self-interested powerful elites who faciliate the disengagement. Ironic that this happens under what is supposed to be a left-of-centre Labour Government.

William Hutton in his writings in the London 'Observer' newspaper recently covered this topic very well. The greed and avarice of the very well-off is a constant theme in his excellent writings... and of course some of them have scuppered off to Dubia.

[Yahya Birt]

"Dubai, indeed, has achieved what American reactionaries only dream of—an oasis of free enterprise without income taxes, trade unions or opposition parties (there are no elections)."

Indeed. For more incisive analysis by Mike Davis, see his "Fear and Money in Dubai":

http://newleftreview.org/?view=2635

[Abu Sinan]

You have made some interesting points. I dont think there is really any Muslim out there that would not want to live in a Muslim country if they could.

This must be balanced against other interests of course. Are there any Muslim countries where one has a modicum of freedom? The answer is yes, places like Turkey, Indonesia and UAE show that.

Once you move on past that, however, do any of these places offer the ability to maintain a good standard of living. UAE offers both the small amount of freedom and the opportunity to make money.

Next, does your choice have a good future for Muslims. I would say this is where the UAE fails. Dubai looks like Las Vegas on steroids, and unfortunately in my visits there, it has the morality of Las Vegas as well.

Yes, you can hear the adhan from mosques, but you might have to avoid the drunk people walking down the street. Yes, Ramadan is nice in Dubai, but the numerous brothels are not.

Once again the people of the Islamic world choose to take the worst of what Western society offers, materialism, greed, open sexuality, and choose to leave behind the best of what the West has to offer, freedom of speech and assembly, democracy, hard work, work ethic, and technology.

My wife and I thought about moving to Dubai, but we have changed our minds. My wife is from the Gulf and would like to live in the area, but if the best selling points about the city and area are that it is like Las Vegas, with a Muslim veneer, then our answer is no way.

At least here in the West we dont have the hypocrisy that goes with what Dubai has. Sure, we have Las Vegas, but we dont try to sell it as an Islamic country. Dubai is nothing but a poor imitation of the West and they will pay for it in the end with their hypocrisy.

Dont even get me started on the way they treat their works.........cost of living, racism and a whole host of other issues.

Thanks, but we'll stay where we are at.

[saladin]

I have thought about this a lot, and many people miss, some important aspects of hijra.
Being able to practice the five pilars is the basics, but there is more. When we think of an islamic life, we think of having a family orientated society, a relatively crime free society, a society where the society condemns base behaviour such as drinking, prostitution, violence etc. A society where our children can be protected from the bad things, and are thus free to grow without bad influences for as long as possible.

There is another important consideration, and that is , where is our resources best utilised? Where can we make the most impact. Is it in changing a non islamic society, or supporting an islamic society.
Questions such as
a) can we change a non muslim society - where are the true leavers of power (has anyone thoroughly investigated this)
b) what happens if we transfer all our industrial expertise, in engineering, managment, etc to a non western country?

These are the kind of things we should be considering, and as such questions such as where can you have freedom of speach is a misnomer if it has no effect ( you can shout as much as you like in an empty field, as it will have no impact).

Also we do have to look at history, just as the jews do. Are we guarenteed safety, or is safety a temporary condition as it suits the governments. Should we have our feet in an islamic and a western country so that we can move if we have to, etc, etc

[Rebecca]

Until recently, I had the impression that Dubai was relatively open and cosmopolitan judging from what other people told me about the place (I've never been there).

However, I was shocked to find out from a (half English half Arab) colleague who used to live in Dubai that Jewish people (meaning not just Israelis but also people of other nationalities who are either visibly Jewish or with "Jewish" names) are not allowed into Dubai. The same colleague told me that he once managed to get a (Jewish) American client into Dubai only because he knew someone high up in the airport authority.

I don't think many people are aware of this situation. I had no idea. I told this story to a (British) Muslim friend of mine and he was shocked as he's been on holiday to Dubai with his family and was totally unaware. Then when he thought about it, he realised that he'd never seen anyone visibly Jewish in Dubai, but as he'd only been there on holiday, he hadn't registered this as strange.

This has completely put me off ever going to Dubai.

Osama: Did you know this? Is it another thing that put you off Dubai? What do you think about it?