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Published: November 25th 2010
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Most people by now have heard of the news phenomenon that is Al-Jazeera. In the US, many still view it with deep suspicion (due to a misguided perception that it is, somehow, anti-American), but generally it has developed a reputation as one of the better international news programs in the world. Fewer know that it is based in Doha, Qatar and even fewer know what its name means. In Arabic, “al-jazeera” translates as the “the island” or, more aptly in this case, “the peninsula”. Qatar is a spit of a peninsula jutting off the enormous peninsula of Arabia. You get the picture.
Although I was only in Qatar for a short weekend, and in no real position to make any sweeping analytical assertions about Qatari society, I was struck by the differences I noticed between it and all the other Gulf states that I have visited. Actually, that said, I have been struck by the differences I have seen between all of them! (The only Gulf Cooperation Council member I am missing is Kuwait – which I better rectify soon.) All of them, in their own way, are grand societal and economic experiments, some more successful than others.
What
gets me about Qatar is that while the Al-Thani royal family and most native Qataris share close ties with the Saudis – both “tribally” (the two royal families are both from the Najd in central Arabia) and religiously (both adhere to the austere Wahhabi strain of Sunni Islam) – Qatar has taken a very different approach to dealing with both its domestic policies and international relations.
While in Saudi all citizens and non-Saudis are forced, when in public, to adhere to pretty strict social norms for fear of religious corruption, in Qatar there is a much more relaxed attitude. This difference is made especially clear in the case of local women. In Saudi, women still are not allowed to drive and there are severe limitations on where they can work. Qatari women not only can drive but they are remarkably integrated into the workforce (for one, I noticed that most of the guards at the Islamic Art Museum were women, as were many of the customs officials at the airport). As for the large expat community (nearly 75% of the population in Qatar’s case), rather than trying to make them conform over much to the Wahhabi strictures, people are
pretty much allowed to live their lives as they see fit (within “reason”). I found myself almost shocked to see men running in shorts. And there are bars where alcohol is freely available.
But these “lax” attitudes go well beyond being able to get a drink. Rather than trying to control the flow of information, as is the case in Saudi, Qatar is one of the few countries in the region with a completely free press - Al-Jazeera being the most famous case in point (which is why it is not so popular with many of the governments in the Middle East). Al-Jazeera will even broadcast items that are critical of the Al-Thani family. There was also an early push to make Qatar the intellectual and educational hub in the Gulf, most obviously with the establishment of the Education City – even my alma mater Cornell maintains a branch of its medical school in this complex just outside of Doha. This development preceded the rapid expansion of foreign universities that are being set up in the UAE and elsewhere in the Gulf. And, from what I can tell, this endeavor has been successful due to the thoughtfulness of Qatar’s
approach – rather than simply throwing money at the buildings and facilities, Qatar allows the partner schools full intellectual freedom to develop their programs.
All of political and cultural experimentation made me interested in Qatar before I arrived. But I must admit that I was convinced that I would find Doha a little soulless, perhaps a bit like Dubai. Yet again, however, my preconceptions were proven wrong. Doha actually felt more “real” to me than Dubai, more solid, more livable.
***
Since I had limited time, I concentrated on the grand sweep of Doha’s corniche and the attractions around it. First and foremost, I made a beeline to the brand new Museum of Islamic Art, an I.M. Pei stack of postmodern cubes rising out of the bay on its own artificial island. It is an obvious example of Doha’s attempt to invent itself as a cultural center. The exhibits are beautifully displayed, thematically on one floor, chronologically/regionally on another. A temporary exhibit on European perceptions of the Ottomans takes up much of the ground floor.
Nearby, a bit inland, Souk Waqif confounded my expectations (like the city as a whole). I had read in my guidebook
that while there had been a market at the spot since at least the nineteenth-century, it had grown into a warren of ugly concrete structures by the 1980s. The Qatar government, recognizing the potential tourist value of the souk, replaced the concrete with a re-imagined vision of a “traditional” mud-walled market. I fully expected it to feel very “Disney” and very touristy. But despite the fact that this was a fabricated space, I was surprised by how real - and how Qatari – it all was. Most of the shops were not selling tourist trinkets, but rather spices, kitchenware, fishing gear, horse tack, clothing, etc. And while the food options included plenty of international chains (Dunkin Donuts!), there were also many hole-in-the-wall restaurants and food stands that were advertised only in Arabic, serving local fare. I stopped for harees, a porridgy, wheat based dish at a home-cookin’ spot run by a feisty bedouin woman named Umm Ahmad. There were also several “majlis”-style coffee houses with men smoking shisha pipes. I ended up coming back to the souk in the evening for dinner and people watching before my departure for Singapore.
Much of my time in Doha, though, was simply
walking the corniche. The corniche is quite long, stretching almost 8km from one end to the next, and has been developed into an inviting strip of parkland and paths. It is perhaps the best place to see the Old Doha and the New Doha, from the old wooden dhows lashed to the jetty next to the über-modern Islamic Art Museum, to the low-slung architecture of Souk Waqif and the bold line of futuristic skyscrapers on the northern edge of the bay.
Doha and the rest of the “jazeera” definitely deserved more than a stopover….
PS Using some of my credit card points, I was able to stay at the brand new Oryx Rotana while I was in Doha. It has been a long while since I have stayed in such luxurious accommodations while traveling. One could get very used to the pampering!
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Ami
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The Islamic Center at night is the color of turmeric!