else's partner has? To me, it's like sexual orientation or anything else -- it's their private business so nobody else's opinion or voice really matters.
I have two sisters that are biracial. I have dated black men (I am white). And like PM, I grew up in the south of the US. My sisters would catch a lot of crap from people, and I know that must have been tough for them, but they survived.
I have to say, though, that I was completely flabbergasted when I discovered how racist people are here. I guess I just assumed that the whole "brotherhood of Islam' stuff was the bottom line. And it's not. Here in Qatar at least, culture is a lot stronger than religion in many things, and race is one of them. My (white) Qatari friends would never allow their sisters to marry a black Qatari -- which I find amazing. One friend has a brother who was basically cut off from the family when it was found out he had married a black Qatari divorcee. I mean, she's Muslim, she's Qatari -- not sure really if the main complaint was because she was black, a divorcee, or because his mom didn't get to choose his wife. But how bizarre and sad is that??
I have another Qatari friend whose father had a black slave woman (a concubine basically) that he shared with his brother up until about 20-30 years ago -- and he fathered a child by her, eventually married her and gave the child his name.
"Most plain girls are virtuous because of the scarcity of opportunity to be otherwise."
-- Maya Angelou
else's partner has? To me, it's like sexual orientation or anything else -- it's their private business so nobody else's opinion or voice really matters.
I have two sisters that are biracial. I have dated black men (I am white). And like PM, I grew up in the south of the US. My sisters would catch a lot of crap from people, and I know that must have been tough for them, but they survived.
I have to say, though, that I was completely flabbergasted when I discovered how racist people are here. I guess I just assumed that the whole "brotherhood of Islam' stuff was the bottom line. And it's not. Here in Qatar at least, culture is a lot stronger than religion in many things, and race is one of them. My (white) Qatari friends would never allow their sisters to marry a black Qatari -- which I find amazing. One friend has a brother who was basically cut off from the family when it was found out he had married a black Qatari divorcee. I mean, she's Muslim, she's Qatari -- not sure really if the main complaint was because she was black, a divorcee, or because his mom didn't get to choose his wife. But how bizarre and sad is that??
I have another Qatari friend whose father had a black slave woman (a concubine basically) that he shared with his brother up until about 20-30 years ago -- and he fathered a child by her, eventually married her and gave the child his name.
"Most plain girls are virtuous because of the scarcity of opportunity to be otherwise."
-- Maya Angelou