Meeting and socialising with Qataris

Again contrary to all things here about socialising needless to say most of them are true, I live across the road from Qataris. Now, I am a single woman, I don't live on a compound - but I meet them in the street very often especially the husband when he comes from the mosque.

The wife herself invited me into their home - they showed me all around their house, they introduced me to the the husbands mother, they came to visit me altogether on Christmas ( husband, wife, cousins, children) they brought me a present, they invited me on Eid and even put Henna on my hands.

If they see me in the street they make an effort to stop and say Hello and invite more often than not to drink tea with them in the Majlis evenings where we have many discussions.

I have also Muslim Neighbours who came and had dinner with me on Christmas Eve and the daughters even put up the Christmas tree and had a lot of fun in doing it for me.

I consider myself to be a very lucky person.

Dear Safwany,

very bad manners on your part. One thing about Westerners is that they don't want to offend anyone by doing the wrong thing. They have probably been told to always get into the back seat of the car if there is a man there. Sometimes too they are shy believe it or not.

If you are offering a service and you offer to take them it is not necessary for them to sit beside you. This does not automatically mean that you are their taxi driver and if I was them I would have ditched you immediately. They were not going to socialise with you as far as I understand.

There was no reason for you to be frustrated if they chose the back seat. If you do not want this kind of behavior offer them to take a taxi and meet you at the desired residence.

If they were your friends and it was two ladies they anyway prefer to sit together.

Canarybird

Yeah I knda knew about the head dress but to my opinion the white robe is really convenient when it's warm.

I see plenty of arabs in Europe who wear it either like you said on Friay prayers or on other occasions.

Yes clemenza. It is common amongst the entire middle east and north and east africa. There are regional differences in style (types of collar, sleeve, buttons etc).

As an expat (especially if you dont look middle eastern) i would not recommend it to be worn.

Even arab expats , while wearing the thobe on occasions (eg friday prayers), they will more likely wear one in their own regional style and will not wear the headdress.

Respect

GIASI

Depends on the time of year, I think the rule is not to wear white after "Labor Day", OH wrong culture, my mistake.

Actually they do wear darker colors during the winter week.

the white robe is common in most arabic countries isn'it?

I would not recommend an expat trying to dress Qatari.

Good morning everbody

Well, I went throught the discover Qatar website and I read that wearing the traditional Qatari white dress is not polite. What if expats like the way they dress, should they refrain from wearing th "thowbe"?

My husband and I have met quite a lot of nice Qataris. We found them to be welcoming, gentle and generous folk with a good sense of humour. One drawback was we met them separately. My husband with the men in the Majlis, myself in the inner quarters. If we were to meet them outside it would be my husband and I with only the husband. I wouldn't say its a matter of how highly educated, its more a matter of how conservative.

Still, I don't see the harm in asking. They understand we are not completely familiar with their culture and if its not suitable for them they will simply tell you so politely.

HelloQatar,

First of all if they were Qatari ladies they wont go in the same care with a strange man they just met for the first time or even they knew before.

As for those two western ladies like I said before they thought it is wrong to sit beside any man as they thought it is against the culture which is wrong as I am expat myself and I have my own culture and beside we are not doing something illegal by sitting beside each other.

Ayman

Thanks very much everyone, this has at least given me something to go on. We have many Muslim friends here so I certainly know better than to serve alcohol (!) but they are generally very relaxed about mixed gatherings. Thanks to everyone who replied

Lachalla

GIASI,

I think you are right in that trying to mix groups is a balancing act. We have been in social settings with conservative arabs and it is always looking over your shoulder to see that you don't offend someone. In the arab world there is very little husband and wife social activities (together). I would be very aware of the problems and I think I would wait on the arabs (Qatari) to make the first move or invite.

Lachalla,

You are right to raise this question because its not as clear cut as people are inferring. You will find that most conservative muslim arabs (mainly qataris but some other arabs too) will not bring their wives to a formal dinner, unless it is explicitly clear that men and women will be completely segregated. Other muslim arabs have a more moderate view and dinner parties with other married couples mixing together is quite acceptable, however, make sure no single men or women are invited. In both scenarios, make sure no alcohol is served at all. For non muslim colleagues, the situation is very much like anywhere else.

hope that helps

Respect

GIASI

Maybe they weren't comfortable in the front seat with you, if they had been two Qatari women, how would you have reacted. Why do you treat western ladies different than Qataris?

It seems that the our western members getting a wrong idea about sicialising here and they think that all the arabs would react the same.

Today I had to pick up two Ladies by my car, we were planning to go to show them an apartment compound, when they get inside the car they both choosed the back seats, I got furstrated and I looked at them and said I am not your taxi driver and one of you should sit in the front seat, they were shocked and they said "we heared it is not right to sit beside a male in a car unless he is related or something like that" .......... !!!!!!!!!!!!

I told them not everything you hear is right or true...

This is an example.

Ayman

Lachalla,

Depends on which company you work with really, ie: your colleagues. What I have found is that they are very friendly, if it is a family to family get together, husbands and wives sit together and have a fine chat. ALso if the couples are educated, they have no problem in a get together and they reciprocate. We have done both. There is also no harm in asking them directly.

Regards

Angelo

KaZaNoVa

Well nice topic Lachalla, i think everyone have his own culture, well i think making friends in qatar specially u the marrried couples would be nice but it also depend on the family some Qataris dont mind while others do thats what i think form my personal opinion ..... i'd better go heeh anyways welcome to Qatar