Al-Khawa is a new phenomenon threatening Arab communities in the diaspora

In a country to which many Arabs migrated in search of a more stable and just life, fleeing corruption, injustice, and extortion of influence, some of them today discover a painful paradox. The practices they thought they had left behind in their homelands have begun to reappear, but this time within some circles of the communities themselves. While thousands of Arab immigrants achieve honorable success stories in work, integration, and building a decent life, a worrying phenomenon quietly infiltrates some closed environments on the sidelines, which is the return of the "Khawwa" style in a new, more complex and hidden form.
Khawwa in its popular meaning is nothing but imposing benefit or practicing kidnapping, depriving rights, or seizing others' money by force or pressure. It is a phenomenon associated in the public memory with neighborhood gangs or areas where the law is absent and institutions are weak. But the paradox is that some of its manifestations have begun to appear today within communities that are supposed to live in countries based on the rule of law and order. The only difference is that Khawwa is no longer practiced through direct threats or explicit violence, but it is managed with more cunning methods, hiding behind money, influence, closed relationships, and sometimes behind legal facades that are difficult to uncover, and it can also be through defamation or assassination of the victim’s character.
The problem itself is not related to the economic success achieved by some members of the Arab communities abroad, as this success is a source of pride for everyone and proof of the Arab human’s ability to work and strive wherever they are. But the imbalance begins when the money earned without knowing its legitimate source turns from a means of success into a tool of domination, and when some individuals believe that owning wealth or influence grants them an unwritten right to control work paths within the community or impose their influence on others.
These practices often start with methods that seem ordinary on the surface. A small business owner may find themselves forced to deal with a certain person who imposes themselves as an intermediary in the field of work or trade. Over time, this intermediary becomes a mandatory gateway that cannot be bypassed, forcing some to pay unjustified commissions or enter into unequal business relationships. In other cases, new business owners may face indirect pressures pushing them to "contribute" to a certain interest system under names that may seem social or solidarity-based, while in reality, it is just a modern form of disguised extortion.
More dangerously, some who practice these methods do not act as isolated individuals but seek to take refuge in narrow networks of relationships resembling small lobbies where interests and suspicious connections intersect in all sectors, including security and official professional ones. Within these closed circles, the justification of deviant behavior gradually begins, presenting extortion as merely "managing interests," and portraying economic pressure on others as a kind of "legitimate influence." Over time, these justifications turn into a firm conviction among some individuals, making deviation for them a normal behavior in which they see no fault.
Here begins a stage more dangerous than mere financial extortion, which is the normalization of deviation within individual consciousness. A person who finds someone justifying their behavior or sharing it may reach a stage where they believe that what they do is not only acceptable but also deserved. Over time, this thinking turns into something resembling a social disease, where the person becomes bolder and more arrogant, beginning to believe that they have the right to obtain what others have through soft force, economic pressure, or through a network of suspicious relationships. Thus, Khawwa transforms from a limited act into an undeclared system imposing itself within some closed circles.
What is painful about this phenomenon is that it deeply strikes the nature of relationships that are supposed to exist within immigrant communities. The community abroad is not just a transient population gathering but a social solidarity network whose members rely on each other to face the challenges of the new life. In such an environment, values of cooperation, trust, and mutual respect are supposed to prevail because exile by its nature imposes a kind of solidarity among people.
But when extortion and hidden pressure practices infiltrate this network, trust begins to erode gradually. The business owner becomes wary of their partner, the worker fears the intermediary who brought them to work, and the small investor hesitates to enter the market for fear of falling into the closed interest network. Over time, the community turns from a cooperative society into an environment dominated by suspicion and caution, an environment where healthy human relationships and stable economic projects cannot flourish.
The harm does not stop at economic or social relationships but extends to affect the culture and identity that Arab communities strive to preserve in the diaspora. These communities often seek to transmit their moral and social values to new generations and present themselves as a model of hard work and commitment to the law.
But when young people see examples of their compatriots achieving influence through pressure, extortion, or suspicious relationships, the message they receive is confusing and dangerous at the same time.
Instead of reinforcing the idea that success comes through diligence, work, and commitment to values, some may internalize that real influence is built through deception and exploiting others. Here the loss is doubled: a moral loss striking the values we grew up on, and a social loss threatening the community’s image and future in the host society.
If this phenomenon has roots, some of them are undoubtedly related to poor upbringing or intellectual distortions that developed in environments where exploiting others is considered a form of intelligence or strength. Also, failure to truly integrate into the host society may push some individuals to close themselves within narrow circles where they reproduce negative behavior patterns they carried with them from troubled environments. Added to this is the distancing from ethical and religious controls that prohibit injustice and unlawfully consuming others’ money, controls that historically formed one of the fundamental pillars of Arab and Islamic culture.
Confronting this phenomenon cannot be done through silence or social politeness, because silence is the ideal environment for the flourishing of extortion and the growth of crime. The more those who practice these methods feel that society tolerates them or fears confronting them, the bolder they become and the wider their influence grows. Therefore, the responsibility to confront it does not lie solely with legal authorities but also with the members of the communities themselves, and with social and cultural leaders who are supposed to be trustworthy, honest, qualified, and understand the meaning of bearing responsibility to protect the values that unite people.
Arab communities in the diaspora are not just transient human gatherings but an extension of culture, identity, and a long history of values based on justice, solidarity, and respect for others’ rights. If we want to keep this image bright, we must confront all behaviors that try to turn money or influence into a means of extorting others, threatening their safety, or kidnapping their children. Money may grant its owner temporary power, but it does not grant moral legitimacy and will open a hell whose destination is unknown. Human dignity cannot be imposed upon by "Khawwa," nor can it be bargained under any name or pretext, because societies that allow such practices to penetrate their internal fabric undermine the foundation of trust among their members and open the door to a culture of fear instead of a culture of cooperation and mutual respect. Ultimately, the true measure of any society’s success remains its ability to protect its members from injustice, not providing a fertile environment to strengthen some members’ ability to practice it and provide poor formulations and suspicious lobbies to protect it.