So, Fox News is reporting that Bush and Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah are *NOT* really holding hands? (Not having Fox Snews, and being grounded at home from a recently ascertained allergy to soy beans and nearly all their manifestations, I’ll have to take Mr. DiLorenzo’s word for it. It sounds like something the red meat, red-state news channel would assert. Hand-holding is clearly for blue-state wimps and wusses and not Texas he-men and world saviors.)
The holding of hands by Saudi men is an interesting social custom, one I learned and easily accepted. It means the person you are talking with is important to you and considers you important. You have each other’s undivided attention. It is usually done during a one-on-one conversation, or by someone who wants to get, keep and hold your attention while he is talking with someone else — “Hold on a minute, you’re next.” The first time this happened to me, at a masjid in Columbus, I wanted to talk with Saudi friend of mine named Ibrahim (who was studying for his PhD at Ohio State) who was in the midst of a heated discussion with several other people. He grabbed my hand and kept me until he was finished. It felt very awkward — holding hands, after all, is not something most American men do. But as I said, I got used to it.
The custom has spread to the wider Muslim world among observant Muslim men. It has no greater meaning than simply being a social custom some Muslim men use to gain and maintain someone’s attention and trust in conversation.
What interests me is how these photos will play in Saudi Arabia and the wider Arab Gulf (Persian Gulf for those who send me nasty e-mails on the subject). Because they really aren’t meant for us. The goal, if I can suss one out, is to show Saudis that Bush and Abdullah are close, that Abdullah matters to Bush (and thus to the United States), that Bush and the CP trust each other, and that closeness means nothing about the relationship will change.
Which is gonna make a lot of people really, really angry, I’m guessing.
2:13 pm on April 26, 2005
