Communication As Hiding Information

The dominant Arab-Islamic communication pattern is characterized by hiding information, while the dominant Western communication pattern is a process of transmission of information. Most of the Arabs and Muslims use certain unique methods of communication, such as a-takiya and al-iajaaz, in order to hide information. In other words, they tend to express the minimum amount of information when they are communicating. And they do so because they use communication as a process of hiding information. Yet in the West people tend to transmit the maximum amount of information. In addition, information in the Arab-Islamic culture is a measure of certainty, while in the West information is a measure of uncertainty. Most of the Arabs and Muslims consider their beliefs to be certainties, unlike what most people in the West do. From the perspective of the Arab-Islamic mind, information is a set of certainties, while in the West information tends to be a set of uncertainties. All of this forms the basis of the mutual misunderstanding between the Arab-Islamic world and the West.