Arab Superstitious Thinking: Yemen as an Example [Archives:2000/07/Focus]

Abdullah Moammar
Teacher of Psychology,
Sana’a University

Arab societies in their different social, economic and cultural, structures suffer from backwardness, ambivalence and overlapping two patterns or even more in all social domains. This, in fact, is what is reflected on the Arab personality.
Social structure plays a vital role in molding social and cultural awareness. In this case it will produce a personality with dual awareness as a natural result of the backwardness and ambivalence suffered by this structure. This is backed up by some conventions, thoughts and traditions that contribute to the formation of the social awareness beside other external factors, all of which create the behavioral and cultural ambivalence in the Arab personality.
Classes in the Arab society were not a result of social activities and domestic differences as in western societies but they were rather based on imitation or were rather forced by colonizers. In such cases classes are not formed by social activities but are formed due to social conventions.
The combinations of systems, relations and social types merge to form the prominent social structure in society and since the relationships among individuals react against one another within the frame if culture in society, it is considered to be one of the basis that form the Arab personality, which is characterized by the existence of mingling social relationships that are forced by the social and economic structure.
The cultural structure combines both traditional and modern elements. As far as the first kind is concerned, it rejects anything new that does not agree with its ideology. Accepting new ideas is considered as being astray. The second thinks that exceeding limits of traditions and conventions is the righteous way for progress and development In such a society contradictory cultural types are bound to exist. In other words, beliefs in magic, superstitions and spirits are existing beside the modern and liberal beliefs and thoughts, all of which would play a vital role in molding and forming the individual’s personality. Individuals grow up in a society that believes in a set of traditions, conventions and social values that they accept out of their will. They also might, intentionally and temporarily, accept a set of traditions and conventions of other societies they happen to be in touch with for one reason or another.
Illiteracy is one of the common stigmas in Arab societies.
Widespread Illiteracy plays a role in the belief in superstitions, besides the family tendency to strengthen the traditional and superstitious way of life. A researcher indicated that the most dominant values are always those related to family. Such values greatly affect the personality of the individual and their role might be stronger than the role played by schools in many cases. It is known that referential groups affect its members especially the young and impose on them a certain kind of behaviors and social and cultural values that create a special way of thinking.
Culture embraces values, conventions, traditions, ethics and habits that man acquires from society or the group he belongs to. Moreover, it is the mental reflection of his treatment of nature in his long history.
Heritage with all its constituents even the cultural, metaphysical and superstitious is part of culture and can not be separate from it. In this sense culture embraces heritage and through culture we think of the future of any society. Usually, the cultural heritage is likely to become dominant at times of civilizational defeats. Whenever, there is a defeat, factors that help develop and shape the social awareness fade away and society tends to stick to the social and cultural formulas available. In other words, it tends to go back to the past, metaphysics, myths, superstition to create a guide for its social awareness and refrain from looking for new ways. Heritage is part and parcel of history and when nations think of their heritage they really think of the culture they have got through history. Therefore, this heritage functions as a force, pushing them towards the future in case it is still historically independent.
This retreat, in fact, is sometimes considered to be a way to go beyond the present and a cry of protest against any technical development in society. Some would consider it an aggression against their social and economic interests or against the more advanced and powerful west.
Thus it seems clear that the common culture in the Arab world is of a dual-element. The traditional culture coexists with the modern culture in society and there are supporters for each.
Some people may about the availability of such big amount of superstitions in our life. I think that some are attributed to illiteracy, ways children are brought up, education at the basic levels and heritage. Scientific thinking may sometimes be unable to solve one’s problem. In the repetition of attempts to find solutions within a scientific framework, individuals go back to search for solutions within the intellectual framework which is a natural result to the inability to obtain any scientific answers or explanations to a certain phenomenon. In such cases societies tend to use the old expressions and concepts that are existed in their public culture and beliefs. This in fact, confirms what I have said about duality of thought that affects the intellectual structure of the Arab personality.
Arab societies suffer duality of thought as a natural result of the dynamic conflict between tradition and modernism. This conflict results in chaos in the social, economic and cultural systems including habits, traditions and values. This is because the present life has created behavioral patterns that belong to both cultures the traditional as well as the modern in an attempt to create harmony between requirements of both while in fact it does not do any positive job. On the contrary, it does the opposite, especially in the field of education and family behavior. Therefor it needs a special study on the individual personality through analyzing the historical element and its role in forming the present Arab personality.
Development programs of many Arab countries do not try to deal with the real factors that affect the formation of the new Arab personality to abolish the superstitious ones. This involves, improving education, counselling censorship, encouraging publishing books and creative people and giving them the chance to create and innovate.
Within this domain we can not separate Yemen from the other Arab societies especially after the revolution of 1962, and after Yemen has joined the international market that affected the cultural and traditional types that were available before the revolution. However, this joining did not erase all those types which remained to coexist with the new and modern ones. This, of course, is a result of the policy adopted by the Imam and the insufficiency of the social, economic and development programs of the government of Yemen.
Like many other developing societies, Yemen is undergoing a process of change from tradition and isolation to the Modern Age and is trying to absorb modern culture and to reform social life according to its elements and requirements.
The culture that was dominant before 1962 was not a result of external factor or a result of a conflict between two cultures. It was rather a result of a backward and isolated social structure opposite to what happened after the revolution when the society could not grasp the social and economic development that accompanied this openness and as a result a dual culture was created. This culture was a result of a conflict between two different societies: the first is a Yemen suffering from isolation the second is more progress than that which many individuals could grasp. This confrontation created a dual thinking that is observed in the Yemeni society. Belief in the supernatural powers, spirits, genies and their ability to harm mankind and also the belief in man’s ability to be elevated to space, etc. has created an internal conflict and contradiction within the individual. For this reason, myth and metaphysics have become an important constituents of the Yemeni society’s culture after the revolution of 1962. This is due to means of spreading culture that can be divided into two types, the first is traditional education, depending on traditional sciences; religion and Arabic. The second is superstitious that tends from time to time to spread ideas aimed at preserving the present system such as the idea of the existence of genies and devils and their ability to harm people and the idea that all kinds of sickness could be ascribed to such invincible powers that have the power to meddle with our own lives. As part of the Imam policy to strengthen the people’s belief in such creatures he occasionally tended to tell people that he had control over genies and that he owned nations of them. Moreover, he used to tell them that he could speak to angels, knew all his political opponents and all who hated him. The Imam was also famous for treating the possessed people.
The Imam’s regime also spread metaphysical ideas either by rumors about the Imam himself or by the absence of any educational institutions. Here are some examples:
1- Once the Imam announced that the Red Sultan of genies had been killed leaving his kingdom in chaos. The Imam warned the people against them and sent many letters to governors and judges warning them against the mischievous deeds of genies which had become out of control. Until he could appoint a new king for genies the Imam told his people that they could save themselves from genies by covering their foreheads and that is what really happened. All people in Yemen covered their foreheads with tars to protect themselves from genies.
2- The Imam Ahmad used to spend some time in his palace all alone pretending that he was contacting genies.
3- After the murder of the Imam Yahya by the “constitutionalists”, who called for introducing a constitution, crown prince Imam Ahmad triggered off a rumor that such people were asking for creating a new Quran. The result was that all the people believed him and stood against them. 
4- People used to believe that Sana’a was guarded by talisman and that any enemy or snake tried to enter Bab Al-Yemen would die.
As a result of those cultural constituents, a superstitious personality that believes that diseases are caused by genies and devils has been created.
Since traditional culture has created many sources of diseases it has also created sources to treat such diseases. Religion, magic, personal experience, fabricated stories of quacks, easiness of getting a license for practicing ‘herb’s treatment,’ lack of health services and the spread of illiteracy helped spread such cultural ideas that attribute everything happening to man to unreasonable sources. That is the problem of thought which is considered to be part of the social structure that was strengthened by the ruling group before the revolution.
Thus the characteristics and features of any personality are shaped by the thoughts, ideas and beliefs dwelling in the mind and from which the society and the individual’s culture is formed.
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