Berkley Center

Qatar prides itself on its rich Islamic history and its ties to the rest of the Islamic world. Among the most notable tourist attractions in Doha are the Museum of Islamic Art, the Spiral Mosque of the Kassem Darwish Fakhroo Islamic Center, and the Simaisma Mosque. Throughout the country, the strong Islamic identity of the natives is ever-present, but Qatar’s identity is changing.

Over the past few decades Qatar’s economy has grown rapidly, requiring the small nation to take in a large amount of foreign workers. Today more than three-fourths of the people living in Qatar are immigrants, many of whom are neither Arab nor Muslim. Around 60 percent of those currently residing in Qatar are not Arab, and the country has sizable Christian, Hindu, and Buddhist minorities. In a country where the state religion is Islam such changes in religious demographics could seriously change the culture and identity of Qatar.

The emir and his government has been very tolerant of the new religious diversity, even encouraging the construction of churches. Despite the tolerant standpoint of the government, not all Qataris have been so open to change. During my time in the country I was forced to confront stark and unapologetic racism, classism, as well as religious intolerance.

These unpleasant realities of a country quickly modernizing and diversifying became apparent every time I went to the grocery store or got into a taxi. Once, after realizing that I would be empathetic to his situation, a Burmese taxi driver explained to me that he lived in worse conditions in his labor camp in Qatar than he had in Myanmar, and that he had not been paid in months. He explained to me that he believed his boss would have treated him better had he been Muslim.

I was initially shocked by the situation in Qatar and the ever-present inequalities. After getting over the blatant openness of the system, however, I realized that the discrimination, while more pronounced and brutal, was not that different from what happens in most countries with large immigrant populations, even my own. There are many enclaves in both Europe and the United States where recent immigrants live in squalor, are forced by their situation to take degrading jobs, and make extremely low wages. These foreigners are often viewed as unwanted aliens whose presence will destroy the cultural and religious purity of the nation they have entered.

Qatar has chosen to resist diversifying pressures by only allowing migrant workers to remain in Qatar for a short number of years. During their time in the country, migrants live away from the wealthy international or Qatari populations. These unwanted foreigners are kept at arm’s length to prevent them from diluting Qatar’s cultural identity, even as their labor build’s the state itself. And while the living situation that results for many of these workers is much worse than what a typical immigrant to the West encounters, the desire to prevent the influence of immigrants is the same world 'round.