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Kuwait

Culture & Identity

Way of Life

Oil has changed the way of life in Kuwait. In the past life was based on survival as many people lived in the desert, near an oasis, or along the coasts, but the people were spread apart and the population was very small. Today oil has given the people jobs, urbanized the population, and job growth has gone up so much that today there is a large temporary immigrant population to fill extra jobs.

Nearly everyone in the country today lives in the cities, particularly Kuwait City and the capital's urban sprawl. Unlike the past, the capital, and throughout the country, life runs on technology and life in the desert is only available due to this technology. Life in these cities appears similar to many other cities with public transportation taking many people to and from work or school. Most people have regularly scheduled jobs so have a standard work day and work week (the weekend is Friday-Saturday in Kuwait). Most people get food from the local shops, most of which is imported, as are most goods.

The oil industry is so large and growing that the small population can't occupy every jobs so there are many foreign workers in the country (although not in comparison to the Gulf Coast countries further south). For most of these people the daily schedule is the same as the cities dictate the pace of life and daily schedule.

Despite the technology and modern amenities in Kuwait's cities, for most people life truly revolves around religion. Nearly everyone in the country is Muslim, which dictates a huge number of things, beginning with the Friday-Saturday weekend since Friday is Islam's holy day. More than this, religion dictates how people dress and how people entertain themselves. Dating comes with strict rules that most people follow and alcohol is outlawed so the country's nightlife and entertainment options are limited in some ways. However, family is important to the Kuwaitis so most free time seems to be spent at home with family, not out on the town.

Ethnicity

About three quarters of the people living in Kuwait are ethnically Arab, with only about half of the total population being Kuwaiti citizens. Among the citizens, nearly all are ethnic Arabs and even among the immigrant population, about half are Arab. The Arab people are originally from the Arabian Peninsula, on which Kuwait sits on the edge of. Among the many non-citizen, migrant workers in Kuwait, many are from the Middle East, there are also significant numbers of Persians and South Asians, including Indians, Pakistanis, and Bangladeshis. There are other immigrants in the country for Europe, North America, and elsewhere.

Language

Arabic is the only official language in Kuwait. The written form of the language is called Modern Standard Arabic (written in the Arabic script), which gives the language consistency across countries from a written perspective. The spoken dialects of Arabic are so drastic from location to location that Arabic speakers in Kuwait may not even understand Arabic speakers from a country further away, like Morocco. Obviously the dialect of Arabic in Kuwait is most closely related to the dialects spoken in nearby countries like Saudi Arabia and Iraq.

Arabic is a Semitic language; other closely related Semitic languages include Amharic (Ethiopia) and Hebrew. More distantly related are languages like Berber (North Africa) as well as historic languages including Phoenician and ancient Egyptian.

English is the most commonly taught second language in the country and nearly everyone speaks at least a minimal amount of English if they are not completely fluent. Among the immigrant groups dozens of additional languages are spoken, including Persian, Hindi, and Urdu, but again many of these people speak either English or Arabic as a means to communicate across linguistic groups.

Religion

Muslim is the official religion of Kuwait with about 85% of the people being Muslim. Of these Muslims, about 70% are Sunni and 30% Shia. The last 15% of the population follow numerous religions, most popularly Christian, Hindi, and Parsi.

Islam (the name of the religion, whose followers are called Muslims) is a monotheistic religion, whose holy book is called the Qur'an. The Qur'an is believed to be the word of God spoken through the prophet Muhammad from 609-632 CE (Common Era is preferred over AD (Anno Domini or "year of the Lord") since the Islamic world doesn't believe Jesus was the messiah). Islam believes Muhammad was the last prophet sent to earth by God, the last in a long line of prophets, which includes Moses, Abraham, and Jesus among others.

Muslims follow five pillars of their faith: testimony, prayer, alms-giving, fasting, and pilgrimage. These pillars, and other tenants of their faith, can give great structure to their lives as some foods, like pork, are forbidden and every Muslim is expected to pray five times a day. However, the level of participation in each of these pillars and to what degree Islam influences an individual's life varies from person to person and community to community. Generally speaking, Kuwait has a range of liberal to conservative Muslims.

Most Muslims are Sunni, which is the branch of Islam that closely follows the teachings of Muhammad and accepts Abu Bakr as the first Caliph (a ruler of an Islamic community); the Sunni Muslims are sometimes referred to Orthodox. Shia Muslims believe only God can chose who heads the Islamic community and believed it was Ali, Muhammad's son-in-law who was first chosen; Ali became the first Imam (according to Shia Muslims, this term only refers to the leaders of the faith, to Sunni Muslims Imam is often times used in reference to the prayer leader in mosques).

Dress

The dress in Kuwait is somewhat divided as modern western-styled clothing can be seen as can more conservative Islamic-inspired clothing and more traditional Kuwaiti clothing. The traditional clothing in Kuwait for women tends to include long pants, a long robe on top, of which there are numerous varieties, a scarf called a malfaa, a headdress called a shila, a facial covering, and the abaa, which is a large black piece of clothing that entirely covers a woman and her other clothing. For men white pants were the norm as was a large robe and full body covering called a deshdasha, although numerous other robes and shirts also existed. Men also tended to wear a hat of some sort as well as a jacket or vest.

This traditional dress is similar to how many people on the Arabian Peninsula dress today and in the past, but today most men on the Arabian Peninsula wear a white and red checkered cloth on their heads called a keffiyeh, which is generally loose-fitting and the bottom is often tossed over the top to be a bit cooler; this is similar to the dress of Saudi Arabia.

Today the people of Kuwait wear whatever they feel most comfortable in. For some this is western clothing, for others the traditional clothing mentioned above, and for many women today clothing similar to that mentioned above, but without the face covering and more colorful and decorative. In fact many people regularly switch clothing depending on their personal tastes or the situation; many professionals wear western-styled clothing to work, but more traditional clothing in the home.

As a visitor to Kuwait, you are not expected to wear the local dress, but you are expected to cover up. This means both men and women should have long pants and long-sleeved shirts on at all times, although most Kuwaitis are forgiving of mistakes. Few foreign women cover their hair and there is no expectation that foreign women do so, but in a mosque or with more conservative Muslim company it is a good practice.

Behavior

How most Kuwaitis behave and the expectations for how foreigners must behave is deeply rooted in the people's Islamic faith, but today there is great freedom on how to act and behave. Sometimes single women travelers are looked at oddly by conservative Muslims and for these same people it is also improper for a man to touch a Muslim woman, even holding your wife's hand or offering to shake a local woman's hand can be considered inappropriate to a conservative Muslim. However, in Kuwait you'll rarely encounter these issues.

Additionally, Islamic law forbids pork products and alcohol; however there is little worry about adhering to these rules since neither is available anywhere in Kuwait. You should note that attempting to take either into the country is also strictly forbidden so don't try to smuggle any pork or alcohol into the country as punishments can be severe.

Identity

The Kuwaitis tend to identify as either "Kuwaiti" or as "Arab." Most people first identify as Kuwaiti and these people tend to view this political-affiliated identity to being defined as a Muslim with strong family ties and a history in the region. This is an identity growing in popularity due to the large immigrant population in the country; being Kuwaiti indicates an individual is a native and citizen of the country. On a secondary level, many Kuwaitis like identifying as Arab, which is a more unified and regional definition. This identify is tied to both the ethnicity and the religion of Islam in Kuwait, but it also ties the people quite strongly to neighboring countries, particularly Saudi Arabia.

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This page was last updated: December, 2013