Arab Influencers, fakes and flakes #2

[saffronparker]

Habibti, as a halfie, it's not that we're ashamed of our mother's side but it's because of the prejudice we face after disclosing that information. I have heard all sorts, especially when it comes to Moroccan women, and being called 'ibn/ bent lmaghribiya' is used as an insult these days. People also start assuming things, and I will not accept having my mother's character questioned...especially when she is an honourable woman. Also, every time I have mentioned my dual heritage, (older) people have told me to only mention my father's heritage because that is how it should be in Islam. At the end of the day, there is no pleasing anyone but we're in no way ashamed of our mother's cultural background... bel3aks li el fakhr.

P.S. Zainab Alalwan has never denied that her mother is Moroccan and she has mentioned it several times.

Echoing this below.

I understand your point. But some of these individuals at one point were very comfortable talking about their different background. For instance, Dana Altuwarish used to talk about wanting to visit Iraq, and others, like I just don’t understand where has that energy gone? I’m not speaking about those who are non Arab. I’m talking about the mixed arabs. If you’re raised in your fathers country and speak that dialect 3adi that’s literally the norm. But it’s just ignorant to not educate yourself about your other side because of societal opinions, doesn’t matter if your mother is Moroccan or Lebanese or a falafel. You’re not full whatever and just own that Noha the style icon looked so embarrassed to admit her father was Egyptian in her interview with Anas, she tried to make it look “better” by saying her mother’s family are wealthylike wtf?



But Hala can prove she is Saudi, her father is from a prominent family and is a well known businessman, her mum is yemeni. Rawan on the other hand has never talked about her lineage her tribal ancestry. Which honestly just makes her look suspect.




Girl, I’m personally not offended, I think it’s really good we are having this conversation! habibti I know there’s a huge issue of the bedoon, and it’s sad a lot of the younger generation of them are suffering from depression, committing suicide it’s truly tragic. But the Iraqis she’s referring to,( I personally know a few of them) are not/ we’re never bedoon! they literally have zero ties to Kuwait. Their parents were born in Iraq, and dropped their Iraqi citizenships to live in England. It’s a complete difference between the issue of bedoon. They are doing it for the image, because apparently being Kuwaiti is trendy now

Just what another poster has said - some Arabs feel uncomfortable admitting their background because of the blatant and/or obtuse racism they’ll receive.

I see ~some~ people will poke and prod others to “just admit what you really are” because they want to assert themselves in the (unnecessary) pecking order of Arab nationalities.

 

[dolce&dolma]

Echoing this below.



Just what another poster has said - some Arabs feel uncomfortable admitting their background because of the blatant and/or obtuse racism they’ll receive.

I see ~some~ people will poke and prod others to “just admit what you really are” because they want to assert themselves in the (unnecessary) pecking order of Arab nationalities.

Yeah, but let’s not normalise pretending to be something you’re not xx imagine being so fragile you care what others think aboutespecially regarding something that is out of your control

 

[saffronparker]

I understand your point. But some of these individuals at one point were very comfortable talking about their different background. For instance, Dana Altuwarish used to talk about wanting to visit Iraq, and others, like I just don’t understand where has that energy gone? I’m not speaking about those who are non Arab. I’m talking about the mixed arabs. If you’re raised in your fathers country and speak that dialect 3adi that’s literally the norm. But it’s just ignorant to not educate yourself about your other side because of societal opinions, doesn’t matter if your mother is Moroccan or Lebanese or a falafel. You’re not full whatever and just own that Noha the style icon looked so embarrassed to admit her father was Egyptian in her interview with Anas, she tried to make it look “better” by saying her mother’s family are wealthylike wtf?



But Hala can prove she is Saudi, her father is from a prominent family and is a well known businessman, her mum is yemeni. Rawan on the other hand has never talked about her lineage her tribal ancestry. Which honestly just makes her look suspect.




Girl, I’m personally not offended, I think it’s really good we are having this conversation! habibti I know there’s a huge issue of the bedoon, and it’s sad a lot of the younger generation of them are suffering from depression, committing suicide it’s truly tragic. But the Iraqis she’s referring to,( I personally know a few of them) are not/ we’re never bedoon! they literally have zero ties to Kuwait. Their parents were born in Iraq, and dropped their Iraqi citizenships to live in England. It’s a complete difference between the issue of bedoon. They are doing it for the image, because apparently being Kuwaiti is trendy now

Also on Noh

I understand your point. But some of these individuals at one point were very comfortable talking about their different background. For instance, Dana Altuwarish used to talk about wanting to visit Iraq, and others, like I just don’t understand where has that energy gone? I’m not speaking about those who are non Arab. I’m talking about the mixed arabs. If you’re raised in your fathers country and speak that dialect 3adi that’s literally the norm. But it’s just ignorant to not educate yourself about your other side because of societal opinions, doesn’t matter if your mother is Moroccan or Lebanese or a falafel. You’re not full whatever and just own that Noha the style icon looked so embarrassed to admit her father was Egyptian in her interview with Anas, she tried to make it look “better” by saying her mother’s family are wealthylike wtf?



But Hala can prove she is Saudi, her father is from a prominent family and is a well known businessman, her mum is yemeni. Rawan on the other hand has never talked about her lineage her tribal ancestry. Which honestly just makes her look suspect.




Girl, I’m personally not offended, I think it’s really good we are having this conversation! habibti I know there’s a huge issue of the bedoon, and it’s sad a lot of the younger generation of them are suffering from depression, committing suicide it’s truly tragic. But the Iraqis she’s referring to,( I personally know a few of them) are not/ we’re never bedoon! they literally have zero ties to Kuwait. Their parents were born in Iraq, and dropped their Iraqi citizenships to live in England. It’s a complete difference between the issue of bedoon. They are doing it for the image, because apparently being Kuwaiti is trendy now

On Noha Nabil - I watched that too. She didn’t look embarrassed to mention her father is Egyptian. She mentioned it without Anas asking her and retold how she’d been to Egypt to see him, her Egyptian family etc. I didn’t detect embarrassment at all. She said her mother’s family were strict in the context of:- it was rare for a Kuwaiti woman to marry an Egyptian man at that time. But she seemed pretty happy to volunteer the information, smiling throughout. Should she have been embarrassed?

 

[Asi19]

Yeah, but let’s not normalise pretending to be something you’re not xx imagine being so fragile you care what others think aboutespecially regarding something that is out of your control

Lmao how is it pretending to be something that you're not? If you're a true tribal Arab, you would know that it is traditional for children to follow their father and the same goes in Islam. Even if you don't understand it, you have no right to comment on whether we're fragile or not because the reality is that so many people get bullied for it in the gulf. It's different if we're levantines or south asians claiming to be from the gulf, but if your father is khaleeji then so are you. Whether you choose to disclose your mother's heritage is up to you, and if you don't, it doesn't necessarily mean you're ashamed...

 

[q8gamer]

I think shes Kuwaiti aswell. I mean, Hala moved to Dubai alone at like 24 and was travelling and thotting around and no one told her she’s not Saudi.

I mean, everyone knew Hala is Saudi because she comes from a prominent well-known family plus Hala always dresses in a specific Western way that isn't permitted in Saudi Arabia (yet). It's a huge country with its own unique policies/laws/regulations and this has produced a "diaspora" community including social media influencers. I've seen the Saudi diaspora in England. Most of the Saudi female influencers got famous outside of Saudi Arabia because of that country's unique policies/regulations. In contrast, most Khaleeji citizen female influencers are kuwaiti women based in Kuwait.

More importantly, Rawan is no Hala she dresses in Dubai the same way she dresses in Kuwait. Rawan officially moved there in early 2020 when she was pregnant.

At the age of 23, moving to a foreign GCC country with your unborn baby is strange she has no family relatives or parents or husband with her there. Is it logical to raise a small baby there alone

Her Dubai apartment is not even large or fancy. Her real name is Rawan Abdullah not "Rawan Bin Hussain". She was previously caught contradicting herself about her lineage/family (3ayam or not). Nothing about her story makes sense. Too many gaps and holes.

 

[ninaaaaa]

Lmao how is it pretending to be something that you're not? If you're a true tribal Arab, you would know that it is traditional for children to follow their father and the same goes in Islam. Even if you don't understand it, you have no right to comment on whether we're fragile or not because the reality is that so many people get bullied for it in the gulf. It's different if we're levantines or south asians claiming to be from the gulf, but if your father is khaleeji then so are you. Whether you choose to disclose your mother's heritage is up to you, and if you don't, it doesn't necessarily mean you're ashamed...

No I think she means that overall it has been normalized to not disclose information regarding one’s true ethnicity across the Gulf and it shouldn’t be like that. Why is it embarrassing if your mom is Moroccan, or if you have Egyptian family? If anything these places have rich history in art, culture, etc. compared to the Gulf. Especially if you’re an influencer with a platform...how is the younger generation supposed to move on from social stigmas about non- Khaleejis when people from these countries are ashamed of themselves??? For what??? Even white people have no shame in talking about their 1% Black, 10% Native, 30% German, etc. ancestry so why is it wrong to that among Arabs? Racism isn’t as much as an issue as people make it out to be. I was in Khobar a couple of months ago and the amount of half Saudi half Pakistani/ Moroccan / Uzbek/ Iranians etc I met was shocking but no one gave them probelms soooo.... Arabs/ MENA really need to get it together. We have have Lebanese ppl who claim to be white, North Africans who put colonial flags in there biosPersians who say they’re as Aryan as Hitler even though there ppl have greater historical accomplishments, Assyrians who blackfish w tanner and appropriate Iraqi culture when it benefits them( cough cough Aatra)....like everyone needs to get it together this is not normal and we should all be proud of our roots and teach ppl about them...being afraid of bullying is not an excuse

@q8gamer yes thanks for your thorough response! some of the ppl I’m talking about do actually have Kuwaiti bedoon ancestry and their situation is quite sad because they came to Canada as refugees but don’t have citizenship in Iraq or Kuwait but still have family there. As for my friend none of us are sure looool but whenever we go to family events with her they all expose her saying oh yeah we’re from the same part of Iraq and our parents grew up together So I wonder why she lies about being Kuwaiti in the West because people don’t care about that here

 

[dolce&dolma]

No I think she means that overall it has been normalized to not disclose information regarding one’s true ethnicity across the Gulf and it shouldn’t be like that. Why is it embarrassing if your mom is Moroccan, or if you have Egyptian family? If anything these places have rich history in art, culture, etc. compared to the Gulf. Especially if you’re an influencer with a platform...how is the younger generation supposed to move on from social stigmas about non- Khaleejis when people from these countries are ashamed of themselves??? For what??? Even white people have no shame in talking about their 1% Black, 10% Native, 30% German, etc. ancestry so why is it wrong to that among Arabs? Racism isn’t as much as an issue as people make it out to be. I was in Khobar a couple of months ago and the amount of half Saudi half Pakistani/ Moroccan / Uzbek/ Iranians etc I met was shocking but no one gave them probelms soooo.... Arabs/ MENA really need to get it together. We have have Lebanese ppl who claim to be white, North Africans who put colonial flags in there biosPersians who say they’re as Aryan as Hitler even though there ppl have greater historical accomplishments, Assyrians who blackfish w tanner and appropriate Iraqi culture when it benefits them( cough cough Aatra)....like everyone needs to get it together this is not normal and we should all be proud of our roots and teach ppl about them...being afraid of bullying is not an excuse

@q8gamer yes thanks for your thorough response! some of the ppl I’m talking about do actually have Kuwaiti bedoon ancestry and their situation is quite sad because they came to Canada as refugees but don’t have citizenship in Iraq or Kuwait but still have family there. As for my friend none of us are sure looool but whenever we go to family events with her they all expose her saying oh yeah we’re from the same part of Iraq and our parents grew up together So I wonder why she lies about being Kuwaiti in the West because people don’t care about that here

Idc what she’s saying, from my experience of growing up with khalijis 7 times out of ten they are ashamed of where their mother is fromwhich is honestly pathetic and an insult to her. Most gulf countries have laws in place where you can now sue someone for attacking you verbally regarding your lineage, bahrain for example have hefty fines for this. So for “bullying” I’m not buying it what are you 8? Most gulf Arabs especially my generation don’t even care about that, so the fact people’s still are ashamed is weird.

Idc what she’s saying, from my experience of growing up with khalijis 7 times out of ten they are ashamed of where their mother is fromwhich is honestly pathetic and an insult to her. Most gulf countries have laws in place where you can now sue someone for attacking you verbally regarding your lineage, bahrain for example have hefty fines for this. So for “bullying” I’m not buying it what are you 8? Most gulf Arabs especially my generation don’t even care about that, so the fact people’s still are ashamed is weird.

Also @Nina well said, arabs today are a mess

 

[Asi19]

Idc what she’s saying, from my experience of growing up with khalijis 7 times out of ten they are ashamed of where their mother is fromwhich is honestly pathetic and an insult to her. Most gulf countries have laws in place where you can now sue someone for attacking you verbally regarding your lineage, bahrain for example have hefty fines for this. So for “bullying” I’m not buying it what are you 8? Most gulf Arabs especially my generation don’t even care about that, so the fact people’s still are ashamed is weird.

I don't want to derail this thread but come on now, what do you know about this? If the people you know are ashamed of their mothers, then that is on them. Thing is you're not stopping to consider why they might be ashamed? Let's not pretend that there is no prejudice when it comes to being a mixed khaleeji. Personally, I couldn't give a f*** about what people think about me, but when your mother is made out to be, excuse my language, a gold-digging bleep who does black magic just because of her nationality you wouldn't accept it either. Are we supposed to fight everyone or should we ignore them? The latter is difficult as no one would stand for their mother being insulted. So, it's not just because of 'bullying', the whole thing is exhausting and some people just don't want to deal with it when they can simply avoid it. Also, aren't you Iraqi living in the UK? So, I don't think you can speak on most gulf arabs not caring about this particular topic. Speaking of our generation, there was recently a trend making fun of Moroccan women on Khaleeji tiktok (mainly Saudi) where they promoted negative stereotypes, and this shows just how much our generation 'doesn't even care about this' like you said.

Again, you're entitled to your own opinion but you shouldn't be so quick to invalidate our experiences, especially if you don't really know what it is like. This is the last time I'm speaking on this particular topic and I hope there are no hard feelings

 

[ninaaaaa]

Anyways back to gossip is Noura Alkhalifa a bit deranged lol. It seems to me that she thinks actual life is a Disney movie? Or does she just hang out with kids a lot lool

 

[aajohar]

I don't want to derail this thread but come on now, what do you know about this? If the people you know are ashamed of their mothers, then that is on them. Thing is you're not stopping to consider why they might be ashamed? Let's not pretend that there is no prejudice when it comes to being a mixed khaleeji. Personally, I couldn't give a f*** about what people think about me, but when your mother is made out to be, excuse my language, a gold-digging bleep who does black magic just because of her nationality you wouldn't accept it either. Are we supposed to fight everyone or should we ignore them? The latter is difficult as no one would stand for their mother being insulted. So, it's not just because of 'bullying', the whole thing is exhausting and some people just don't want to deal with it when they can simply avoid it. Also, aren't you Iraqi living in the UK? So, I don't think you can speak on most gulf arabs not caring about this particular topic. Speaking of our generation, there was recently a trend making fun of Moroccan women on Khaleeji tiktok (mainly Saudi) where they promoted negative stereotypes, and this shows just how much our generation 'doesn't even care about this' like you said.

Again, you're entitled to your own opinion but you shouldn't be so quick to invalidate our experiences, especially if you don't really know what it is like. This is the last time I'm speaking on this particular topic and I hope there are no hard feelings

Not all half khaleejis are embarrassed, I met moroccan/Bahraini girls and they were so proud to be half Moroccan. They told me that in Bahrain, Moroccan ladies are seen as beautiful and great housewives. Most of Arabs are even embarrassed about their mothers’ first name so I’m not surprised that they also hide their ethnic background.

 

[cherryblues]

If you’re not declaring the other half of your ethnicity doesn’t that add to the stigma? Is it just not as bad as the people that push these racist stereotypes? Aren’t we feeding into the whole issue?

I’m fully aware that when we women get married to another type of Arab that the children should follow their father’s side culturally and islamically but since when did that mean erasing your mother’s heritage? There is mild racism against non khaleeji Arabs in the GCC but these influencers can change that but instead they just feed into it. It’s never ending cycle if we keep making excuses for them.

 

[Asi19]

View attachment 852042 q
Im wondering who gifted her this RM. I saw that she is still doing ads for cheap clothes.

It is probably fake, most people with RMs have replicas. Either that or she has a khaleeji kharouf I doubt she has married a prince as she is still posting 'provocative' pictures on instagram.

 

[saffronparker]

Idc what she’s saying, from my experience of growing up with khalijis 7 times out of ten they are ashamed of where their mother is fromwhich is honestly pathetic and an insult to her. Most gulf countries have laws in place where you can now sue someone for attacking you verbally regarding your lineage, bahrain for example have hefty fines for this. So for “bullying” I’m not buying it what are you 8? Most gulf Arabs especially my generation don’t even care about that, so the fact people’s still are ashamed is weird.




Also @Nina well said, arabs today are a mess

Did you grow up in the Uk?

 

[saffronparker]

If you’re not declaring the other half of your ethnicity doesn’t that add to the stigma? Is it just not as bad as the people that push these racist stereotypes? Aren’t we feeding into the whole issue?

I’m fully aware that when we women get married to another type of Arab that the children should follow their father’s side culturally and islamically but since when did that mean erasing your mother’s heritage? There is mild racism against non khaleeji Arabs in the GCC but these influencers can change that but instead they just feed into it. It’s never ending cycle if we keep making excuses for them.

If you’re not declaring the other half of your ethnicity doesn’t that add to the stigma? Is it just not as bad as the people that push these racist stereotypes? Aren’t we feeding into the whole issue?

I’m fully aware that when we women get married to another type of Arab that the children should follow their father’s side culturally and islamically but since when did that mean erasing your mother’s heritage? There is mild racism against non khaleeji Arabs in the GCC but these influencers can change that but instead they just feed into it. It’s never ending cycle if we keep making excuses for them.

The onus is on racist individuals/families/societies to correct their thinking but I get what you mean.
My children are half Arab and we teach them to own and be proud of their whole mix but it is absolutely not their responsibility to teach a racist society to not be racist or to continuously “own up” to what they are just so that others can finally relieve their need for knowledge aka gossip.

 

[cherryblues]

The onus is on racist individuals/families/societies to correct their thinking but I get what you mean.
My children are half Arab and we teach them to own and be proud of their whole mix but it is absolutely not their responsibility to teach a racist society to not be racist or to continuously “own up” to what they are just so that others can finally relieve their need for knowledge aka gossip.

I absolutely understand where you’re coming but I’m just talking about these influencers who are wishy washy about their ethnicities. They have big platforms and are quite influential. My point is it wouldn’t hurt for them to speak up about it. They have young and impressionable followers and it could make and difference.

 

[saffronparker]

I absolutely understand where you’re coming but I’m just talking about these influencers who are wishy washy about their ethnicities. They have big platforms and are quite influential. My point is it wouldn’t hurt for them to speak up about it. They have young and impressionable followers and it could make and difference.

By wishy washy, do you mean only mentioning it once? Because it’s not something anyone needs to announce every week to temper the frustrations of other Arabs.

There were two examples mentioned in this thread whom I’m referencing: One half Moroccan and one half Egyptian. In this thread, both were accused of hiding their ethnicities. In reality, they’ve both happily mentioned their ethnicities in public spaces and on social media but don’t declare it every day because it isn’t necessary.

The ones who actively lie are in a different category and I don’t include them here.

 

[cherryblues]

By wishy washy, do you mean only mentioning it once? Because it’s not something anyone needs to announce every week to temper the frustrations of other Arabs.

There were two examples mentioned in this thread whom I’m referencing: One half Moroccan and one half Egyptian. In this thread, both were accused of hiding their ethnicities. In reality, they’ve both happily mentioned their ethnicities in public spaces and on social media but don’t declare it every day because it isn’t necessary.

The ones who actively lie are in a different category and I don’t include them here.

By wishy washy I just mean those who lie continuously about their ethnicities and only push one half of their ethnic background which almost adds to the stigma instead of helping. Those mentioned before I don’t follow them so I’m not quite sure.

Influencers who have two ethnic backgrounds can shed some light though! They have big platforms and make a change in society. It wouldn’t hurt to do so that’s all I’m saying especially when there are pretty crappy stereotypes about certain races. I’m not sure about you guys but I usually here it come from men and not women.

 

[aajohar]

It is probably fake, most people with RMs have replicas. Either that or she has a khaleeji kharouf I doubt she has married a prince as she is still posting 'provocative' pictures on instagram.

I was really surprised when I heared she has married a Saudi prince, even a liberal Saudi wouldn’t accept her to post this kind of pics.

 

[ninaaaaa]

I was really surprised when I heared she has married a Saudi prince, even a liberal Saudi wouldn’t accept her to post this kind of pics.

I honestly doubt she married a prince she would have posted it all over social media and would probably stop dressing the way she does...that is what used to pay the bills after all but she wouldn’t need to do that with Saudi $$$...

 

[dolce&dolma]

I honestly doubt she married a prince she would have posted it all over social media and would probably stop dressing the way she does...that is what used to pay the bills after all but she wouldn’t need to do that with Saudi $$$...

She’s probably his girlfriend and that’s it. She’s a Maronite and I don’t think any high ranking princes family would approve of her. Not because of the way she dresses/acts but because she’s had two public relationships now. I agree with the other ladies, I think the watch is fake too. I don’t understand the appeal behind RM watches?