Is it considered a breach of protocol or courtesy to wear a thobe if you're not an Arab?

July 18, 2006 1:20 PM

Is it considered a breach of protocol or courtesy to wear a thobe if you're not an Arab?
posted by arimathea to society & culture (9 comments total)

That is to say, American.
posted by arimathea at 1:20 PM on July 18, 2006

I'd say it depends on where you wear it.
posted by empyrean at 1:30 PM on July 18, 2006

No it's not.
posted by convex at 1:53 PM on July 18, 2006

I suppose more importantly, are people in Arabic countries going to look at me funny for doing so?
posted by arimathea at 2:09 PM on July 18, 2006

It depends on how sensitive you are to such things. There's an argument that a non-Arab would be appropriating another culture's signifiers. I, personally, would be hesitant, but then I freely admit that I'm a whiny PC liberal no-fun wet-blanket when it comes to this sort of thing. Having said that I certainly wouldn't judge you if you chose to wear one.

My, they do look comfy, don't they?
posted by lekvar at 2:16 PM on July 18, 2006

If you're headed to the desert, I can tell you from firsthand experience the thobe is a thing of joy. The material from which it's made is a very breathable linen which dries quickly and allows air to circulate, keeping you nice and cool and shaded. Best of all, you won't need sunscreen!

The pattern--or the absence thereof--on the men's headscarf (the official name escapes me) does have a significance as noted in this PDF:

All-white headscarf: Wearer has not made the hajj (pilgrimage to Mecca)
Black & white pattern: Wearer is from a country with Presidential rule (Libya, Egypt, etc.), and has made the hajj.
Red & white pattern: Wearer is from a country with a monarchy (Saudi Arabia, Yemen, etc.) and has made the hajj.

I don't think a non-Muslim wearing such an outfit would be considered a breach of protocol unless you're confronted by fundamentalist religious types who take offense at a non-Muslim wearing a scarf and claiming to have made the hajj, but if you're an American and you're meeting fundamentalist religious types who take offense at your choice of headscarf, it's not the headscarf with which they've really got a problem.
posted by fandango_matt at 5:14 PM on July 18, 2006

Nobody will care, and many will view it favorably.
posted by evariste at 7:44 PM on July 18, 2006

fandango_matt: you mean a kaffiyeh?
posted by spaceman_spiff at 8:48 PM on July 18, 2006

My buddy is an Indian who lived in the UAE. This is what he said happend just a couple of years ago:

One day the local Arabs (who are very racist and proud to be locally from UAE) pass a law saying that thobe is the official Arab dress. So it pretty much prevented the non-Arabs to wear it. So my dad's friend wore it one night, and he got throwin in jail. This was in Abu Dhabi btw, which is the capital city of UAE.

If you're white and American, no one's going to say a thing. If you're a member of a darker ethnicity, don't do it.
posted by exhilaration at 6:02 PM on July 19, 2006