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Qatar

Culture & Identity

Way of Life

The people of Qatar live a fairly comfortable lifestyle based on their economic success and wealth, but this lifestyle is a relatively new switch from their historic way of life, which was simple and based on the lands.

Today the people's lifestyle is still arguably based on the lands as much of their wealth comes from natural gas and crude oil, two natural resources. However, these economic successes have only changed aspects of their culture as traditional dress, many foods, religion, and family are still rooted in their past.

The people maintain most aspects of their past in a cultural sense, but from a lifestyle viewpoint the historic life is all but lost. The most noticeable part of daily life that has existed for years is that of Islamic rules. Friday is Islam's holy day so Friday and Saturday remain the country's weekend days off. Islam also helps contribute to dietary restrictions and social interactions, truly altering the entertainment options and nightlife in the country.

However, must of the routine and normalcy of life today in Qatar is based on modern day changes. New foods have been introduced thanks to new technologies and economic wealth, cell phone and other technology is the norm for most people, and modern amenities from air conditioning to transportation makes life much simpler today that it was in the past.

The oil and natural gas industries has also given many people regular jobs that run on a schedule giving most people defined working hours and free time. These industries have also urbanized the people so today nearly everyone in the country lives in Doha or another urban area, including the sprawl from the capital. This urban lifestyle also affects the way of life to a great degree.

Today the way of life is based on modern technology and economic success, but the culture remains rooted in the past with family, religion, and society at the heart of the country.

Ethnicity

Less than half of Qatar's population consists of citizens, but the citizen population is homogenous as nearly every citizen is an ethnic Arab. Arabs are from the Arabian Peninsula, from which Qatar extends. However, over half of Qatar's population today consists of non-citizen immigrants, most of who are from South Asia, including the Indians, Pakistanis, and Bangladeshis. There is also a significant number of Persians as well as small, but noticeable European and North American populations in Qatar; however most of these foreigners are only workers who stay for a couple years before returning to their home countries.

Language

Arabic is the only official language in Qatar. 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 Qatar may not even understand Arabic speakers from a country further away, like Morocco. Obviously the dialect of Arabic in Qatar is most closely related to the dialects spoken in nearby countries like Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

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

Nearly 80% of Qatar's citizens are Muslim, although less than half the population is citizens. Christians make up about 10% of the citizen population and the rest of the citizens adhere to numerous other faiths. Among the non-citizens, most are Muslim, Christian or Hindi.

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, Qatar is fairly liberal in how they practice Islam.

Dress

As a Muslim country, there are a number of religious laws which should be obeyed by everyone in Qatar, although few foreigners seem to actually follow them. A large percentage of the local population is foreign, many of whom come from Europe, North America, India, and the Far East, so local religious dress and dietary restrictions have little meaning to these non-Muslims.

The locals dress very conservatively as they cover themselves entirely with loose fitting clothing so they reveal nothing. The men generally wear all white outfit called a dishdash and a white keffiyeh or head scarf. Foreign men are not required to imitate this local dress, although men are expected to cover up, meaning everything from the wrists and ankles up should be covered. The local women tend to wear black with a head covering, but rarely do women in Qatar cover their faces. Likewise, foreign women are not expected to imitate the local dress, but should again cover up from the wrists and neck and are best to also cover their hair, although there is no pressure to do so.

Despite these rules, which any culturally sensitive visitor should follow, the locals are quite forgiving. Generally speaking, the locals dress one way and most foreigners dress in whatever way they want. Most visitors and tourists to the country wear shorts and short sleeve shirts, which the locals are tolerant of, especially on beaches and in resorts. Although following local dress isn't necessary, covering up is greatly appreciated and respected by the local population and by visitors from neighboring Muslim countries. Having said that, there is no real expectation that a foreign women covers her hair and doing so may get more odd looks than not covering her hair.

Behavior

How most Qataris behave and the expectations for how foreigners must behave is deeply rooted in the people's Islamic faith. To conservative Muslims it is considered improper for a man to touch a woman, even holding your wife's hand or offering to shake a local woman's hand can be considered inappropriate to a very conservative Muslim, but in Qatar you'll rarely encounter this issue from the locals. While almost no one will take offense at hand holding, don't offer your hand to a local woman unless she does so first.

Also due to Islam, pork products and alcohol are forbidden in Qatar; however the country is aware of foreign interest in these items so they can be found with a bit of searching. Alcohol can be purchased at any "foreigner" hotel restaurant or bar, however outside of hotels there are no bars or pubs and alcohol cannot be bought for home consumption unless you're a foreigner residing in the country, in which case you can purchase a certain amount of alcohol each month. Pork can also be bought at certain stores by foreign residents, but it is not sold in restaurants, not even in restaurants catered to foreigners.

In addition to following the above mentioned dress and following the local dining etiquette (see our Qatar Dining & Food Page), the most important behavioral restrictions tend to be common sense. Avoid sensitive conversation topics, such as politics, finances, religion, and business unless initiated by your local counterpart. Also try to avoid being loud, rude, showing off wealth, or getting noticeably drunk in public.

Identity

The people of Qatar identify in a number of ways and, among themselves, this tends to begin with their tribal or ethnic affiliation. This divides the people into the Bedouin, the Abd, and the Hadar people, which are defined primarily by ethnicity, but also by history. Of these people, the Bedouin people have the longest history in the region and are ethnically Arab, the Abd are people of African ancestry, and the Hadar are people with Persian ancestry.

On a secondary level, and to most foreigners, the people of Qatar identify as being "Qatari," which is a politically-based identity that differentiates (and unites) the local people from the foreigners, who are many in Qatar. Most temporary immigrant workers in Qatar tend to identify as they did in their home country, which is often tied to either ethnicity or citizenship.

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This page was last updated: December, 2013