Qatar - UAE Surroundings

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Qatar - UAE Surroundings

The size of Connecticut

It is one of the emirates in South West Asia. It is surrounded by the Arabian Gulf except on the south. To its south lies Saudi Arabia. In size, it is slightly smaller than Connecticut. Most of the country is a low, dry, barren plain. It is a vast expanse of sand. The climate here sports very mild winters and hot and humid summers. Most of the population in this country is Islamic. Arabic is the official language of this region. Qatar sports people from all parts of the world. The petroleum industry has attracted people from all over and they have made their home in Qatar. Qatar has tons of expatriates who are mostly men and hence it has caused a weird sex ratio. Qatars sex ratio is the weirdest, its 1.88 males per female. According to the population poll taken in 2007 in Qatar, more than half the population of Qatar was not citizens. Most of the non citizens are from Asia and are all on temporary contracts. Among the non citizens, there are people belonging to every single region, right from Christians to Hindus to Buddhists etc. most religions here do not face any limitations however Christians do. Foreign missionary groups are not allowed to operate here.

No Democracy

Qatar uses all the Sunni laws even to run its own government. As compared to other Arabic countries, Qatar has a more liberal law for instance a woman is allowed to legally drive in Qatar while this may not happen in Saudi Arabia, women arent allowed to drive. Qatar has undergone a fair bit of modernization as well as liberalization ever since the current Emir took over. Thanks to the current Emir Hamad Bin Khalifa Al-Thani, women are allowed to take part politically by casting their vote. Qatar became the first country among all the other Arab countries to allow women to vote. Qatar allows its women to dress as they please provided it is modest and no longer is shorts taboo for men. Qatar even tolerates alcohol today but not on a large scale. Qatar sports a few bars and clubs however most of the nightlife belongs to the clubs and pubs in the big hotels.
Qatar has been liberalized but has been careful not to become as liberal as its counterparts, the UAE. It still upholds a bit of traditionalism and refuses to give in to western culture entirely. It has not given way to the western laws that UAE has embraced.