Culture Qatar

Religion

In Qatar, the country's official religion, which is the most practiced by the inhabitants, is Islam. Like several countries in the Persian Gulf, Qatar has faced several waves of migration over the past 30 years, so it is now a multi-religious country. Muslims represent nearly 68% of the population, Christians and Hindus nearly 14% respectively, Buddhists about 3%. The last percentage belongs to people who belong to other religions or who do not belong to any of them.  Among the Muslims in the country, 90% of them are Sunni and 10% are Shi'a and can all practice peacefully. Although there are some restrictions for non-Islamic religions such as the prohibition of proselytism, the Constitution, as well as several laws of Qatar, allows sufficient religious freedom for its population. Although the country's senior leaders are Muslim, many government positions are held by people who do not practice Islam.

Aesthetics

As for visual arts in Qatar, it is a very popular aspect throughout the country. According to the Art Newspaper, this country was the largest buyer of art in 2011. Due to its strong connection with Islam, calligraphy is a very popular visual art form in Qatari culture, for example it is found in the country's official logos. When it comes to music and dance, folk is of great importance to Qatari people because it brings them closer to the sea. For example, several folk songs tell stories of adventures in boats such as pearl hunting. The folk dance called Ardah, still widely practiced, is danced to drum sounds as well as poetry. On the sports side, soccer is by far the most popular sport among Qataris, but there are still several other sports practiced such as basketball, handball, volleyball, horse racing and camel racing. Camel racing is a popular and very traditional sport in Qatar since historically it was very popular with the Bedouin tribes, especially during special occasions such as weddings.

Languages and communication

The most widely spoken language in Qatar is Arabic and the most widely used dialect is Qatari Arabic. As for the second language in the country, English is used and is increasingly spoken, especially in certain areas such as commerce and to communicate with people who do not speak the Qatari dialect.  For business meetings, it is always important to have a copy of the documents in Arabic and English. English is also widely used in training courses for health professionals. Other than these two languages, some Qataris also speak several other languages such as Persian, Hindi, Urdu, Nepali, Tagalog and more.

In Qatar, there is an etiquette to follow in several circumstances and some gestures considered inappropriate may even be punishable by law. During a greeting, a woman cannot offer to shake a man's hand to greet him, she can only do so if the man extends his hand to her, but this is very rare since normally men and women do not shake hands. Most of the time, the man will put his hand against his heart as a sign of greeting. However, if the woman is a business associate, it is more common for them to shake hands, but only if the woman extends her hand to the man first. As for meetings, there is a very specific etiquette to follow that will make the rest of the meetings much more pleasant if it is properly followed. It is essential to be enthusiastic, to take your time and to really take an interest in the people present at the meeting, such as asking how their health, family, friends in common, etc. are doing. For business meetings, since the pace of life of Qataris is rather slow, it is important not to start immediately on the subject of the meeting too quickly, it could be insulting for the majority of Qataris.

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