Religious Diversity and Coexistence

A person who is not familiar with the Middle East and its culture would probably assume that the only religion practiced in the region is Islam. However this is not entirely true. Although Islam is the most widely practiced religion in the Middle East, Christianity, Judaism and Hinduism also have a significant amount of followers.

When I moved to Qatar 4 years ago, I was surprised to learn that there was religious tolerance here. Being Catholics, my family and I were pleased to know that there was a Church available. Although, at the time, mass was celebrated in a small establishment, the fact that us Catholics were given the premises to practice our faith was a great privilege. The official and much larger Church (Our Lady of the Holy Rosary) was completed and officially open in 2008. The Church itself is a symbol of our religion, and so being provided with the large area of land and the opportunity to practice in a proper location is considered an immense blessing.





As with all religions, Catholicism incorporates both material and nonmaterial culture. The Church, both physically and spiritually, is an example of material and nonmaterial culture. The fact that the Church is tangible, symbolizes Christianity, and is an essential component of our religion – the place where we celebrate mass and pray – establishes the material aspect of culture. The non-material aspect of the Church is what happens during a mass. When we all pray and sing together, we are united on a spiritual level, incorporating our values and beliefs in a common language.

In the Catholic Church, singing is of great importance and significance. It is believed that singing praises is more powerful than reciting prayers. I am proud to say that I am a member of one of many choirs in our Church. The choir that I am a part of loves to compose music that reaches out to the spirituality within people and which also makes the mass more inspiring.



The fact that two religions, Islam and Christianity, can coexist quite peacefully in a region where the dominantly practiced faith is Islam, contributes to the process of diversification. Coexistence is the essential element that will help, not only avoid conflict but in understanding people’s attitudes and beliefs.

The Punk Movement

With the appearance of a shaved porcupine and the attitude of a badly behaving Rottweiler, the punk had a major impact on the vanilla attitudes of the British population. It developed as a counter-culture, completely going against the values and norms of the general public; they were the bad boys and girls of the day. Mothers probably made up nasty stories about punks just to keep their children in line.

The punk movement came up as a way to show the world that there were those who simply would not succumb to the folkways and the mainstream scene, be it fashion or music. A typical punk wore torn or recycled clothes that no decent Brit would look at twice, held together crudely with safety pins. Body piercings too were very common.

The punk movement also brought about a genre of music known as punk rock. The music is very aggressive, played with distorted guitars and loud drums. The singer practically screams at the audience. Mostly, punk rockers sing about their ideologies and their views of the world. Some famous punk rock bands are “Sex Pistols”, “Minor Threat” and the American sell-out band “Green Day.”

The punk movement gave rise to various other factions, sort of like a culture within a sub-culture. Goth and Emo are both off-shoots of the punk rock movement. As are “hardcore punk,” and “anarchy punk.”

Punk rock isn’t only isolated to Europe and the Americas. There are punk rockers in the Middle-East as well. Musicians like Rachid Taha are heavily influenced by punk rock. Bands like Mazhott (Damascus), Creative Waste (Saudi Arabia) and Slumpark Correctional (Syria) are also quiet popular in the region.

Abaya - A Fashion Statement

Butterfly, fold, and jumpsuit are three of the many names given to the designs of the modern Abaya. Originally, it was a cultural garment worn by women in the Middle East to cover up the shape of their body. In fact, women in the past did not have to wear it since most of them covered themselves up modestly. Today, in the Gulf countries in particular, the designs are constantly in change, depending on the trending world of fashion. Rather than having a loose black cloth, it now comes in various shapes and with multiple embroidery designs.


Since the clothing under will not show, girls tend to portray their fashion sense by the Abaya they are wearing. Not only is it a type of material culture that women use to cover up, but it also shapes the social relationships. I remember having a Syrian lady visiting us in Doha. She was shocked by how the Qatari girls wore the Abaya. It was a culture shock to her, as she was used to the plain loose black cloth, and not the multiple designs. However, since the material component is shaped in some way by the non-material culture, she has adapted to this trend as everyone else was following it, and is seen as a sign of modernization.

New designs are out everyday, ranging from very loose to very fit. Those designs come from other countries and act as a cultural diffusion. The neighboring countries influence us. Therefore, when there is an Abaya exhibition such as Heya or a fashion show, young designers from all over the Gulf countries would display their unique designs, and the Qatari girls would buy them. Here are a few abayas I bought from the Saudi section

The young girls here are attracted by each other’s unique Abaya designs. I was ordering popcorn before entering the movie at Villaggio, and I saw this girl wearing an Abaya that attracted my attention. So I went up to her and asked her where she got it tailored. She replied by saying that she had it made in one of the Abaya exhibitions held at Doha Exhibition Centre. I kindly asked her if I could take a picture of the Abaya in order to make the same. Here is how it looked like.

Not only is the influence regional, but is also Western in some way. For example, in one of the exhibitions, I saw a design that had studs on the shoulders, along with others that were “funky”. I kept thinking inside my head that I saw those designs on a dress a star was wearing, and now it is implemented on the Abaya. Lady Gaga acts as a major influence to all those girls that want their Abaya to be extra original. Also, recently young girls have their Abayas tailored in a way that it would look like a jumpsuit from the bottom, which is also influenced by the West. I have also seen girls that deliberately shortened their Abaya, and when I first saw it and asked them why, they would say that they wanted to show their heels off. I completely understand that it is a cultural norm, and those designs just keep getting updated by the day.

Arabia’s Cultural Diffusion Through Arabian Horses

By many, the Arabian horse is said to be a treasured part of the Arabian culture and heritage. Though essentially Arabian, this breed of horse is now found in all areas of the world. Sociologically, one can say that a huge subculture of Arabian horse enthusiasts is in existence because of the cultural diffusion that has occurred. The Arabian heritage and culture is spread to all parts of the world through this horse breed thanks to this cultural diffusion. Horse shows focusing on the Arabian horse are held in many Arabian and non-Arabian countries to showcase the breed’s beauty, athleticism and extraordinary movement to a large audience. The biggest shows are the Salon du Cheval that is held in France, the Breeders World Cup that is held in Las Vegas and the Scottsdale Arabian Horse Show that is held in Arizona, among others.

I attended the Qatar 20th International Horse Show and I met some of these previously mentioned enthusiasts. I noticed that because of their love for this breed, many of them have visited the whole Middle East and have made an effort to learn about the culture of the region. Some have even put their time into learning the Arabic language. Some shows also feature some sort of majlis seating area, with traditional Arabic food served to the audience and judges. Furthermore, some shows even feature a class for traditional horse and rider costumes, like the one seen in the photo below.

Source

Even though cooperative links and division of labor are said to be in existent in art worlds, they can also be said to exist within the Arabian horse enthusiasts breeding farm and/or training facility. Just like some works of art, labor is divided to make things easier for the people doing the work. For example, there are grooms who take care of the horses, trainers used for training, veterinarians to make sure the horses are in good health etc... So even though division of labor and cooperative links are said to exist within art worlds, technically one can see that they also exist in the work place.

The Fluffy Show- More Than Just Laughs

On February 6th 2011 The Regency in Qatar held a big comedy show starring Gabriel Iglesias (AKA. Fluffy) as well as many other comedians from different cultures. Hearing about this I could not wait to attend as I am a huge fan of Gabriel Iglesias and stand up comedy in general. The show included comedians from not only the Arab world but all over the world including Saudis, a Qatari, a Palestinian, a Native American, a Pakistani and one person from the Philippines. Therefore, in addition to being a fun time I thought it would be the perfect event to talk about in my blog considering its gonna include many cultures.

The comedians came on one by one each discussing their own culture and poking fun at it. The Qatari Comedian Mohammed Fahad Kamal, discussed the Qatari cultures and poked fun at the social norms that exist. Meanwhile, Edwin San Juan, a Filipino American, discussed the filipino culture and the difference between the older generation and the younger generation. Each comedian focused mostly on their culture discussing the norms. For example Fahad Al Butairi, host of a popular Arabic web show Layekthar Show ('Enough Show'), made jokes concerning the Saudi culture. For example one joke was regarding the Saudi engagements and how his mother would bring up different women who she thought would be great for him. Another joke is the Saudi culture in regards to cars and shopping, as seen in the video below.

Some comedians delved into more sensitive issues such as the Egyptian situation and other political and social taboos. For example, the Qatari comedian discussed the flirting culture in the Gulf, or Ibraheem Al Khairallah who discussed Egypt and Hosni Mubarak.

In terms of sociology this event fell under the critical theory, because it allowed these comedians to discuss issues, which may not be acceptable to discuss normally, through comedy. This created a lighter atmosphere without changing the message. It also fell under the Interaction theory as it allowed many different comedians from different cultures to interact with a large, diverse audience and bridged cultural gaps and stereotypes. As the lead comedian Gabriel Iglesias mentioned in his set he had very stereotypical ideas of what the Middle East would be like yet when he arrived he saw a completely different thing and felt guilty for having those previous stereotypes, furthermore, he said he'd be telling people all over the United States about how untrue those stereotypes are. He ended his set by saying that he believes comedy is a great way to get over differences and create a bond globally, because as he tweeted "East Meets West & together we laugh the best :)"