KSA GRANTS IQAMA TO FOUR MILLION BURMESE

[PaklovesTurkiye]

April 3, 2017 Islamic World, NRIs Corner, Top Stories Leave a comment

Jeddah: The kingdom of Saudi Arabia decided to give residency permits (iqamas) to Four million Burmese Muslims who escaped their country under religious oppression.

A large number of Burmese citizens have been living in the Kingdom for more than 70 years. The Sheikh of the Burmese community in Makkah, Abu Alshamaa Abdulmajeed, praised the role of the Saudi government in assisting the Burmese community and supporting them as they resettled in the Kingdom.

The iqama will now allow them to access health facilities; educational facilities and job opportunities. Till date, 170,000 Burmese have received their iqamas

“Additionally, due to this new government move, students who are studying in schools run by charitable organizations will now have the opportunity to study in public schools from the primary to secondary stages,” said Abdulmajeed

He added. “The dream of returning to Burma has faded from the hearts of members of the community due to a lack of passports, especially as the Pakistani and Bangladeshi embassies have refused to grant them passports. The fear of prosecution and torture against Muslims also makes this dream impossible at this time.”

http://www.siasat.com/news/ksa-grants-iqama-four-million-burmese-1165124/

 

[Dawood Ibrahim]

Nice Move

 

[Hakikat ve Hikmet]

More wealth/resources for the KSA on the way!!!

 

[Khafee]

I think the figure is 400,000 and not 4m

 

[Luffy 500]

Alhamdullilah. Richer Muslim Nations must stand up for poor refugees regardless of religion or national origin. That's how Islam spread. I wished my pathetic country that is currently ruled by pro-indian facists also gave shelter to all burmese Muslims feeling one of the most horrific genocide by animalistic satanic loons of burmese buddist.

 

[kris]

Nice gesture

 

[Morpheus]

I think the figure is 400,000 and not 4m

Agree, 4m would be 12.9% of Saudi Arabia population

 

[Saif al-Arab]

The correct number is 400.000 as there are nowhere close to 4 million Rohingyas in KSA. There are apparently only 2 million of them in the entire world.

Another example of how news from KSA is always somehow distorted/incorrect no matter the topic. Quite unbelievable in fact.

KSA/Arabia has welcomed Muslims from all corners of the world for 1400 years in a row and Arabia has welcomed desperate people for millennia upon millennia.

Iqama is good but we must nationalize all expats born in KSA to parents born in KSA regardless of being Arab or non-Arab expats and as long as such people want to become Saudi Arabian citizens and serve the holy land with all what that entails. Including assimilation.

In fact KSA should give citizenship to all capable Muslims across the world willing to live in the holy land.

 

[HAIDER]

The correct number is 400.000.

KSA/Arabia has welcomed Muslims from all corners of the world for 1400 years in a row and Arabia has welcomed desperate people for millennia upon millennia.

Iqama is good but we must nationalize all expats born in KSA to parents born in KSA regardless of being Arab or non-Arab expats and as long as such people want to become Saudi Arabian citizens and serve the holy land with all what that entails. Including assimilation.

In fact KSA should give citizenship to all capable Muslims across the world willing to live in the holy land.

Security threat... KSA should never make this mistake. Let the locals live with there custom and culture. Against the disturb the local fabric. I am for preserve the " pure " local culture and heritage.

 

[Saif al-Arab]

Security threat... KSA should never make this mistake. Let the locals live with there custom and culture. Against the disturb the local fabric. I am for preserve the " pure " local culture and heritage.

Half of our expats are fellow Arabs. Not only that but from neighboring Arab countries (Egypt, Sham and Yemen). There are currently 500.000 Syrians who escaped the murderous and pagan Al-Assad regime and they have no trouble assimilating. They are attending school, university, work places with locals and singing the national anthem when our national football team is playing on stadiums.

It seems that you have never visited KSA. Hijaz for instance is one of the most cosmopolitan regions in the Muslim world. If not the most cosmopolitan. Makkah is the NYC of the Muslim world in this regard.

However you must understand that all non-Arabs, who originally came from abroad, assimilated willingly. The powerful Arab culture, which throughout history has influenced other cultures much more than it was influenced by outside influences, also helped greatly. For such people it was one of the biggest honors in their lives to settle in the holy land. As well as being able to speak Arabic due to its status and importance in Islam. For most of Islamic history Arabic was the language of science and education in the Muslim world as well. If a person in for instance Indonesia was able to speak Arabic 400 years ago, it meant 99,9% of the time that this person was a learned person and well off.

For instance today our Afro-Arab community, mostly centered in Hijaz, are some of the most patriotic people out there. Same story with our Turkmani minority, Caucasian, South East Asian etc. In Hijaz you have nationals whose families have ancestral ties (mostly partial only nowadays obviously) to literally every single Muslim region in the world. This includes modern-day Pakistan.

And worrying about local culture, tradition and customs disappearing from KSA of all countries (one of the countries whose people are most attached to their ancient culture, traditions and customs) is as worrying about lack of people in China or India.

Of course there will be challenges but nothing that cannot be dealt with successfully. You have 3 generation "Pakistanis", "Syrians", "Yemenis", "Egyptians" in KSA who hardly have any ties to Pakistan and who would love to become citizens of KSA and live here forever but due to the current rules, it is very difficult for such people to receive citizenship. This must obviously change.

 

[HAIDER]

Half of our expats are fellow Arabs. Not only that but from neighboring Arab countries (Egypt, Sham and Yemen). There are currently 500.000 Syrians who escaped the murderous and pagan Al-Assad regime and they have no trouble assimilating.

It seems that you have never visited KSA. Hijaz for instance is one of the most cosmopolitan regions in the Muslim world.

However you must understand that all non-Arabs, who originally came from abroad, assimilated willingly. The powerful Arab culture, which throughout history has influenced other cultures much more than it was influenced by outside influences, also helped greatly. For such people it was one of the biggest honors in their lives to settle in the holy land. As well as being able to speak Arabic due to its status and importance in Islam. For most of Islamic history Arabic was the language of science and education in the Muslim world as well. If a person in for instance Indonesia was able to speak Arabic 400 years ago, it meant 99,9% of the time that this person was a learned person and well off.

For instance today our Afro-Arab community, mostly centered in Hijaz, are some of the most patriotic people out there. Same story with our Turkmani minority, Caucasian, South East Asian etc. In Hijaz you have nationals whose families have ancestral ties (mostly partial only nowadays obviously) to literally every single Muslim region in the world. This includes modern-day Pakistan.
And yes, arabs can get along with arabs, because they are familiar with there culture and traditions. But, not non arab.

And worrying about local culture, tradition and customs disappearing from KSA of all countries (one of the countries whose people are most attached to their ancient culture, traditions and customs) is as worrying about lack of people in China or India.

City limits is not the issue, I see threat,when foreign elements start having impact on local traditions. Pakistan is no doubt an example, our local traditions are dying slowly, due to sudden impact of hardcore Islamic law and fatwas been injected by jahil mullahs among the poor and innocent locals. Give all credit to first Afghan war.
العرب للعرب

 

[Indika]

Good gesture, an act that would make saudis proud for generations to come and put them in league of great countries.

 

[Saif al-Arab]

City limits is not the issue, I see threat,when foreign elements start having impact on local traditions. Pakistan is no doubt an example, our local traditions are dying slowly, due to sudden impact of hardcore Islamic law and fatwas been injected by jahil mullahs among the poor and innocent locals. Give all credit to first Afghan war.
العرب للعرب

Arabia is literally located almost in the center of the world and on the crossroads of the 3 most populous and historically important continents (Asia, Europe and Africa). Arabia has been welcoming Muslims from all corners of the world and fellow Arabs from the Arab world for 1400 years in a row. In pre-Islamic times Arabia was a refugee for non-locals for millennia as well. In fact the first humans who ventured outside of Africa inhabited Arabia and used this ancient land as a launchpad to inhabit the remaining world.

Today KSA hosts one of the largest expat communities in the world.

Moreover we have never had any problems with foreigners causing problems due to the reasons that I stated in post 10. The only thing that I can think of is pro-MB Egyptians who escaped to KSA during the time of Nasser. However their influence was only negative on certain fronts and besides any serious failures committed in the past should be blamed on the local rulers and locals first and foremost as in every other country.

In any case we are not talking about any mass-invasion or influx of foreigners.

Besides I do not consider fellow Arabs to be foreigners at all. On many fronts I and most Hijazis have more in common with neighboring Egyptians and people of neigbhoring Sham (Jordan, Palestine, Syria) than we have with our own people from the Eastern Province. Geographically as well. However those differences are microscopic in the wider picture and when you consider everything that is important.

Therefore as I stated it should not be a problem to assimilate/give citizenship to our Arab expats and non-Arab expats who want to become citizens and who have a long connection to this land, its people, culture etc. For instance as I mentioned second or third generation Pakistani "Saudi Arabians".

It would also be mostly an economic boost and a boost on other fronts. There is no reason not to do it as long as it is controlled.

Don't forget the Saudi Vision 2030 here. The current unrealistic/unprecedented system of no taxation, countless of public benefits and handouts cannot survive forever let alone much longer nor is it healthy for anybody. KSA is thankfully moving away from this and at a quite quick rate seeing the developments in the past 1 year.

Of course such "controversial" topics must be thoroughly discussed and closely looked at by the decision makers but I can tell you that most locals would not have anything against granting the currently 500.000 Syrians in KSA citizenship if they want to become KSA citizens and serve KSA with everything this entails as I wrote previously. Or our Palestinian community which is also numerous and old.

Likewise hardly anyone is against the news that this thread is about.