A British jihadi posted a gripe-fest about the Islamic State on his Tumblr account, ripping on Arab manners including other jihadists walking off with his shoes.
Omar Hussain, a 27-year-old former grocery employee from southern England, goes by Abu Sa’eed Al-Britani since running off to join ISIS. He frequently writes PR, including an appeal for doctors to come to the Islamic State, and other missives.
His post on the “Culture Clash” is, like other writings, pulled from his “Message of a Mujahid” video series. His first complaint is that Arab get up in others’ private space too much.
“They see no issue in unplugging your mobile phone to charge their own phone. Even if it’s your own charger, they would casually take your phone off charge to charge their own phone, even if there is no real need for them to charge their phone at that current time,” he complained.
“Sometimes it may get quite hard to hold a civilised conversation with a Syrian man, one minute he’s listening to you speak and the next he’s playing around with the other Syrian brother standing next to him. There is a time for being serious and a time for being childish and joking around. However the line between the two is somewhat hard for our Syrian brothers to judge.”
Hussain complained that the Arabs walk off with other guys’ shoes.
“Apparently brotherhood dictates that they can take anything from you without permission, and you have no right to get upset. Sometimes you would enter a building and when leaving, you would see the person with your shoes walking 100 yards ahead of you and it can be quite irritating to have to wait for him to return, especially if you are in a rush to go somewhere,” he said. “Even more irritating is when he comes back really slowly or stops about 50 yards away casually talking to another brother while he knows you’re waiting for him.”
And then there come the food habits, as he claims the Syrians in his midst keep the kitchen “appalling” and waste grub.
“There have been numerous times when I have advised my Arab brothers about certain flaws I have seen in them yet my advice has not been accepted due to it being an insult on their ways,” Hussain said. “Psychologically speaking, it is very difficult for a person to accept the truth if it is bitter, and no matter how kindly you try and tell a person he is bad at his job, he will be offended.”
He also complained that the administration of the Islamic State suffers due to Arabs who are “the laziest and unfit for their jobs.”
“Another ‘great’ feature of Arabs in administration is that there is no queue in any of their offices. You could be waiting in line for half an hour and then another Arab would come and push in the queue and go straight in. Even more ironic is that he would even barge in front of the guy who is speaking to the admin. It’s not unusual for Arabs to push in nor is it unusual for them to interrupt you while you’re speaking to the admin. And because the admin is also an Arab he also sees no issue in another person interrupting you.”
However, he says, Chechens have a way of getting through the bureaucratic red tape: “The Arabs are very scared of our brothers from Chechnya as they always raise their voices when speaking to Arabs in administration. If you need something from an Arab in administration, it seems that the only way your request will be heard is if you raise your voce and show signs of slight irritation at their laziness to do simple tasks.”
Hussain also complained that since the Arabs sleep so soundly they talk loudly when others are sleeping. “It would seem quite obvious to the average Tom, Dick or Harry to speak in a very low tone when others are sleeping yet our Arab brothers tend to consider otherwise.”
The British jihadi saved some scorn for bad drivers in the Islamic State, beggars he found annoying, and shopkeepers who stare at you. “Saudis and Egyptians seem to be the most knowledgeable and friendliest of all Arabs,” he concludes.
“No doubt we all have unpraiseworthy traits which may annoy others, but this is all a test from Allāh… I would strongly advise my Western brothers to join a non-Arab battalion if the above mentioned traits are something one cannot live with.”
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