To think that people who admire Dubai's low crime rate often miss the fact that it's partly due to nearly 90% of the population being temporary workers?

[Carla786]

Some people might remember a week or so ago on AIBU there was a thread about whether the OP should move to Dubai. Many posts praised the low crime rate & compared it favourably to UK.

I was critical of this for several reasons. Checking facts later, I realised that nearly 90% of Dubai residents are Expat workers or migrants who've held in a restrictive system (the kafala system has been strongly criticised for being essentially indentured servitude, and there have been reforms but it still seems concerning).

It's unsurprising crime, especially violent crime, would be low when most people are either temporary expats or people who've likewise been sourced specifically to come and work (and are held in a punitive system), and whose families often depend on the remittances they're sending back.

Obviously the harsh criminal code in Dubai (though there have again been some recent reforms) plays a role, but the population makeup alone makes comments on Dubai's superior morality/crime control etc very questionable.

I myself think policing and crime need serious reforms in the UK but people comparing it to Dubai favourably are comparing apples to authoritarian oranges.

Thank you, I definitely think Trump's involvement in Gaza is suspicious.

I will look at this mosque programme. I do think that you can't judge general worship on a single mosque service, but I agree that elements sound disturbing.

Thoughts: you write : ' get lost for words, because it makes no sense at all that so many thousands of men should get together, stand up, kneel down, stand up again, chanting. It was as though I was watching some sort of brain washing. Like some sort of cult you see in the old films in Talking Pictures. I suppose if they say it over and over they believe it, it sinks in, until the next service.'

Catholic mass: kneel, stand, kneel, recite fixed prayers, Anglican liturgy, Judaism: davening (swaying), chanting prayers, Eastern Orthodox: repeated Kyrie Eleison, Buddhist mantra chanting etc
All religions have ritual elements that involve chanting/singing, kneeling, repetition, groups gathering. This is not inherently cultlike.
Menstrual taboos : strongly agree with you on this. Less strict mosques don't have taboos on menstruating women going, but many do. Also prayer at mosques is optional for women, so this may also have been why there were less.
Women being covered up : I agree the lack of sun is unhealthy. Again I think it's fair to say this isn't unique to conservative Muslims. Amish & Mennonite women cannot show their legs, United Pentecostals similar, Hasidic Jewish women etc Not to mention in the Victorian era, for one, women were supposed to always cover their legs with stockings and ideally longer dresses too, as well as arms (though bare arms were fine for evening stuff). The major issue is that these conservative dress norms are getting more common in Islam, not less, while it's the opposite for most other religions.

Muslim women not being allowed out at night? I googled and couldn't find anything about this being banned, though several forum threads etc were advising women not to unless for a specific reason.

Was this the programme you watched? I've started it & the first 10 minutes don't seem cultlike.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m002n29b/prayer-and-reflection-series-1-11-glasgow-central-mosque

Do you think maybe it being unfamiliar made if seem more disturbing? I can see why an unfamiliar service in a different language, with a large crowd of men could seem worrying...especially if you were watching very early in the morning with building disturbance going on.

It was. It made my blood run cold. It was completely alien, not because I am Christian, which I am, but because of the horror of the whole thing. I cannot understand their real purpose: do they have one? Certainly not of peace, because if they did cover the earth, which they say they will do, opposition will spring up immediately. I do not think it would last, but I think the fight back to something we can grasp, would take a long time.

The thing is, I think this is a brand new cult we are seeing. The world is not like Dubai, where the western workers are treated well, because Trump developed a lot - if not all - of it, and presumably he would be there like an arrow to safeguard his investment! We cannot expect him to protect us: at least not unless his golf courses in Scotland are threatened.

Did you catch the bit where they said: A is the only god, and followed it with 'he is the greatest'. Now you may think it is splitting hairs, but if he is the greatest, who is great and greater? Do they realise they are saying there must be at least two others to compare, and not only one?

Now, with the masacre in Sydney, we have to be more careful than ever. Everytime there is a terror attack we get comments like ''They are ordinary loving people. We had no idea they would kill people. That is our problem now. You cannot tell good from bad. We don't even know if they are men or women under those flowing robes. How can they say their god created the heaven and earth? The women cannot enjoy the sun, and cannot go out to see the stars and moon. It follows that their god only created the world for men.

That, for starters, doesn't make sense, or even hints at a religion. A faith is something you feel in your heart, not forced upon people.