108-742: Qataris ( Arabic : قطريون ) are the nationals of the State of Qatar , located on the northeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in the Middle East . Herodotus , the Greek historian and traveler from the fifth century B.C., noted that the people of Qatar were Canaanites and skilled seafarers. In the mid-first century A.D., Pliny the Elder referred to the inhabitants of the Qatar peninsula as
216-440: A niqāb or burqa , are sometimes worn by women. Depending on the context and setting, men and women will make micro-adjustments to their dress to better suit the situation, such as tilting the agal for men or loosening the abaya for women in informal contexts. Some differences exist between rural ( Bedouin ) and urban traditional dress, although these variations are mostly minor and superficial. Jewelry , typically gold -adorned,
324-554: A 7th-century war poet , and Rahmah ibn Jabir Al Jalhami , an 18th- and 19th-century pirate and transitory leader of Qatar. Recurring themes in Qatari folklore are djinn , pearl diving , and the sea. Almost every story has a positive moral behind it, such as honesty, strength or piety. In Qatar, the clothing worn is similar to other Persian Gulf countries, typically consisting of a ghutra , agal , and thawb for men, and an abaya and shayla for women. Face veils , usually either
432-575: A collection of related dialects that constitute the precursor of Arabic, first emerged during the Iron Age . Previously, the earliest attestation of Old Arabic was thought to be a single 1st century CE inscription in Sabaic script at Qaryat al-Faw , in southern present-day Saudi Arabia. However, this inscription does not participate in several of the key innovations of the Arabic language group, such as
540-435: A corpus of poetic texts, in addition to Qur'an usage and Bedouin informants whom he considered to be reliable speakers of the ʿarabiyya . Arabic spread with the spread of Islam . Following the early Muslim conquests , Arabic gained vocabulary from Middle Persian and Turkish . In the early Abbasid period , many Classical Greek terms entered Arabic through translations carried out at Baghdad's House of Wisdom . By
648-1081: A dialect of Arabic and written in the Latin alphabet . The Balkan languages, including Albanian, Greek , Serbo-Croatian, and Bulgarian , have also acquired many words of Arabic origin, mainly through direct contact with Ottoman Turkish . Arabic has influenced languages across the globe throughout its history, especially languages where Islam is the predominant religion and in countries that were conquered by Muslims. The most markedly influenced languages are Persian , Turkish , Hindustani ( Hindi and Urdu ), Kashmiri , Kurdish , Bosnian , Kazakh , Bengali , Malay ( Indonesian and Malaysian ), Maldivian , Pashto , Punjabi , Albanian , Armenian , Azerbaijani , Sicilian, Spanish, Greek, Bulgarian, Tagalog , Sindhi , Odia , Hebrew and African languages such as Hausa , Amharic , Tigrinya , Somali , Tamazight , and Swahili . Conversely, Arabic has borrowed some words (mostly nouns) from other languages, including its sister-language Aramaic, Persian, Greek, and Latin and to
756-487: A lesser extent and more recently from Turkish, English, French, and Italian. Arabic is spoken by as many as 380 million speakers, both native and non-native, in the Arab world, making it the fifth most spoken language in the world, and the fourth most used language on the internet in terms of users. It also serves as the liturgical language of more than 2 billion Muslims . In 2011, Bloomberg Businessweek ranked Arabic
864-690: A millennium before the modern period . Early lexicographers ( لُغَوِيُّون lughawiyyūn ) sought to explain words in the Quran that were unfamiliar or had a particular contextual meaning, and to identify words of non-Arabic origin that appear in the Quran. They gathered shawāhid ( شَوَاهِد 'instances of attested usage') from poetry and the speech of the Arabs—particularly the Bedouin ʾaʿrāb [ ar ] ( أَعْراب ) who were perceived to speak
972-472: A number of families with dual citizenship . Qatar has been described as a rentier state that has allocated a significant portion of its wealth from hydrocarbon exports towards the social welfare of its citizens, in a sense, "buying their loyalty". Such programs are seen by the House of Thani as being integral to maintaining their legitimacy . Initially, the distribution of wealth in the rentier state model
1080-466: A plethora of loanwords from Aramaic , Persian , Turkish , and more recently, English . Phonetically, it conserves many classical Arabic features such as emphatic consonants and interdental sounds, which distinguish it from other Arabic dialects that have simplified these elements. Syntactically, Qatari Arabic exhibits structures that align with other Gulf dialects but with unique adaptations, such as specific verb forms and negation patterns. As English
1188-570: A result of these various benefits, some Western analysts have described Qatari citizens as "too rich to care" about disrupting the political system or questioning the legitimacy of its ruler. Despite these outward appearances of prosperity and contentment, recent surveys reveal that some of the Qatari population is dissatisfied with state benefits. While services like healthcare and education enjoy relatively high levels of support, other aspects, such as retirement benefits, receive notably less endorsement. Benefits and privileges afforded can vary depending on
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#17327656929721296-594: A result, many European languages have borrowed words from it. Arabic influence, mainly in vocabulary, is seen in European languages (mainly Spanish and to a lesser extent Portuguese , Catalan , and Sicilian ) owing to the proximity of Europe and the long-lasting Arabic cultural and linguistic presence, mainly in Southern Iberia, during the Al-Andalus era. Maltese is a Semitic language developed from
1404-462: A script derived from ASA attest to a language known as Hasaitic . On the northwestern frontier of Arabia, various languages known to scholars as Thamudic B , Thamudic D, Safaitic , and Hismaic are attested. The last two share important isoglosses with later forms of Arabic, leading scholars to theorize that Safaitic and Hismaic are early forms of Arabic and that they should be considered Old Arabic . Linguists generally believe that "Old Arabic",
1512-558: A significant portion of oil revenues redirected to the ruler's personal treasury. However, protests during Sheikh Ahmad bin Ali Al Thani 's rule led to a more equitable distribution of oil revenues, known as the "quarter rule". His successor, Emir Khalifa bin Hamad Al Thani , furthered this trend, significantly increasing social aid, housing benefits, and salary increments. In 1985, Arabic newspaper Al Raya reported that
1620-470: A single language, despite mutual incomprehensibility among differing spoken versions. From a linguistic standpoint, it is often said that the various spoken varieties of Arabic differ among each other collectively about as much as the Romance languages . This is an apt comparison in a number of ways. The period of divergence from a single spoken form is similar—perhaps 1500 years for Arabic, 2000 years for
1728-637: A total capacity of 1.1 MW of solar power. Qatar signed a deal with Total and Marubeni in January 2020 to build a solar power plant that could produce 800 megawatts of electricity. The plant was built in Al Kharsaah at a cost of $ 467 million and was completed in 2022. Qatar's electricity supply is regulated by Kahramaa . 2012R = CO2 calculation criteria changed, numbers updated From 2007 to 2010 energy export of Qatar have increased from 930 TWh to 1,748 TWh. In three years population growth
1836-461: A total indigenous population estimated at 240,042. An estimate in 2022 put the population of native Qataris at around 300,000. In recent years, the fertility rate among Qatari women has declined, mostly due to higher educational attainment and delayed marriages. Two distinctions exist between Qatari citizens: those whose families migrated to Qatar before 1930, commonly referred to as "native Qataris", and those whose families arrived after. Previously,
1944-507: A type of Arabic. Cypriot Arabic is recognized as a minority language in Cyprus. The sociolinguistic situation of Arabic in modern times provides a prime example of the linguistic phenomenon of diglossia , which is the normal use of two separate varieties of the same language, usually in different social situations. Tawleed is the process of giving a new shade of meaning to an old classical word. For example, al-hatif lexicographically means
2052-507: A variety of regional vernacular Arabic dialects , which are not necessarily mutually intelligible. Classical Arabic is the language found in the Quran , used from the period of Pre-Islamic Arabia to that of the Abbasid Caliphate . Classical Arabic is prescriptive, according to the syntactic and grammatical norms laid down by classical grammarians (such as Sibawayh ) and the vocabulary defined in classical dictionaries (such as
2160-476: A wider audience." In the wake of the industrial revolution and European hegemony and colonialism , pioneering Arabic presses, such as the Amiri Press established by Muhammad Ali (1819), dramatically changed the diffusion and consumption of Arabic literature and publications. Rifa'a al-Tahtawi proposed the establishment of Madrasat al-Alsun in 1836 and led a translation campaign that highlighted
2268-737: Is a Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world . The ISO assigns language codes to 32 varieties of Arabic , including its standard form of Literary Arabic, known as Modern Standard Arabic , which is derived from Classical Arabic . This distinction exists primarily among Western linguists; Arabic speakers themselves generally do not distinguish between Modern Standard Arabic and Classical Arabic, but rather refer to both as al-ʿarabiyyatu l-fuṣḥā ( اَلعَرَبِيَّةُ ٱلْفُصْحَىٰ "the eloquent Arabic") or simply al-fuṣḥā ( اَلْفُصْحَىٰ ). Arabic
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#17327656929722376-590: Is a minimum level of comprehension between all Arabic dialects, this level can increase or decrease based on geographic proximity: for example, Levantine and Gulf speakers understand each other much better than they do speakers from the Maghreb. The issue of diglossia between spoken and written language is a complicating factor: A single written form, differing sharply from any of the spoken varieties learned natively, unites several sometimes divergent spoken forms. For political reasons, Arabs mostly assert that they all speak
2484-492: Is a sister language rather than their direct ancestor. Arabia had a wide variety of Semitic languages in antiquity. The term "Arab" was initially used to describe those living in the Arabian Peninsula , as perceived by geographers from ancient Greece . In the southwest, various Central Semitic languages both belonging to and outside the Ancient South Arabian family (e.g. Southern Thamudic) were spoken. It
2592-478: Is believed that the ancestors of the Modern South Arabian languages (non-Central Semitic languages) were spoken in southern Arabia at this time. To the north, in the oases of northern Hejaz , Dadanitic and Taymanitic held some prestige as inscriptional languages. In Najd and parts of western Arabia, a language known to scholars as Thamudic C is attested. In eastern Arabia, inscriptions in
2700-511: Is considered the prestige lingua franca in Qatar, bilingual locals have incorporated elements of English into Qatari Arabic when communicating on an informal level. This mixture of English terms and phrases in Qatari Arabic speech is colloquially known as Qatarese . The practice of interchanging English and Arabic words is known as code-switching and is mostly seen in urban areas and among the younger generation. Sunni Muslims make up
2808-408: Is credited with establishing the rules of Arabic prosody . Al-Jahiz (776–868) proposed to Al-Akhfash al-Akbar an overhaul of the grammar of Arabic, but it would not come to pass for two centuries. The standardization of Arabic reached completion around the end of the 8th century. The first comprehensive description of the ʿarabiyya "Arabic", Sībawayhi's al - Kitāb , is based first of all upon
2916-472: Is credited with standardizing Arabic grammar , or an-naḥw ( النَّحو "the way" ), and pioneering a system of diacritics to differentiate consonants ( نقط الإعجام nuqaṭu‿l-i'jām "pointing for non-Arabs") and indicate vocalization ( التشكيل at-tashkīl ). Al-Khalil ibn Ahmad al-Farahidi (718–786) compiled the first Arabic dictionary, Kitāb al-'Ayn ( كتاب العين "The Book of the Letter ع "), and
3024-455: Is inherently more stable, more capable of creating jobs and opportunities for the next generation and less vulnerable to the boom and bust cycles of oil and natural gas prices in Qatar. However, Qatar has still not published a plan for which they state how they will achieve this diversified economy. Thus, the effectiveness of such a plan cannot be commented on until such a plan is produced for public consumption. Ease of political acceptability on
3132-477: Is not as ornately embellished as jewelry for special occasions. In contrast, jewelry used for a wedding can be so plentiful in quantity and heavy enough to cause a bride mobility issues. Y-Chromosome DNA Y-DNA represents the male lineage. The Qatari Y-chromosome in large belongs to haplogroup J which comprises two thirds of the total chromosomes Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) represents the female lineage. The Qatari mitochondrial DNA shows much more diversity than
3240-574: Is not present in the spoken varieties, but deletes Classical words that sound obsolete in MSA. In addition, MSA has borrowed or coined many terms for concepts that did not exist in Quranic times, and MSA continues to evolve. Some words have been borrowed from other languages—notice that transliteration mainly indicates spelling and not real pronunciation (e.g., فِلْم film 'film' or ديمقراطية dīmuqrāṭiyyah 'democracy'). The current preference
3348-855: Is official in Mali and recognized as a minority language in Morocco, while the Senegalese government adopted the Latin script to write it. Maltese is official in (predominantly Catholic ) Malta and written with the Latin script . Linguists agree that it is a variety of spoken Arabic, descended from Siculo-Arabic , though it has experienced extensive changes as a result of sustained and intensive contact with Italo-Romance varieties, and more recently also with English. Due to "a mix of social, cultural, historical, political, and indeed linguistic factors", many Maltese people today consider their language Semitic but not
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3456-483: Is primarily desert terrain, there exists restrictions on how Qatar can expand its productive base and thus, most of the Development Strategy is focused on increasing efficiency of all current physical and social structures put into place. In particular, there is a plan to tackle technical and economic inefficiencies in the production, distribution and use of water. As of 2017, a more diversified economy
3564-572: Is the third most widespread official language after English and French, one of six official languages of the United Nations , and the liturgical language of Islam . Arabic is widely taught in schools and universities around the world and is used to varying degrees in workplaces, governments and the media. During the Middle Ages , Arabic was a major vehicle of culture and learning, especially in science, mathematics and philosophy. As
3672-590: Is the variety used in most current, printed Arabic publications, spoken by some of the Arabic media across North Africa and the Middle East, and understood by most educated Arabic speakers. "Literary Arabic" and "Standard Arabic" ( فُصْحَى fuṣḥá ) are less strictly defined terms that may refer to Modern Standard Arabic or Classical Arabic. Some of the differences between Classical Arabic (CA) and Modern Standard Arabic (MSA) are as follows: MSA uses much Classical vocabulary (e.g., dhahaba 'to go') that
3780-413: Is to avoid direct borrowings, preferring to either use loan translations (e.g., فرع farʻ 'branch', also used for the branch of a company or organization; جناح janāḥ 'wing', is also used for the wing of an airplane, building, air force, etc.), or to coin new words using forms within existing roots ( استماتة istimātah ' apoptosis ', using the root موت m/w/t 'death' put into
3888-511: Is used for another group of Arabs who similarly migrated to Persia but who returned to Qatar at an earlier date. J.G. Lorimer noted that around 2,000 Huwala lived in Doha and Al Wakrah by the early 20th century. The Baharna community comprises tribes such as Al Sayegh, Al Haddad, Al Majid, and Al Safar. This group has historically been involved in various trades and crafts, and typically derive their names from inherited professions. For instance,
3996-524: Is used to denote concepts that have arisen in the industrial and post-industrial era , especially in modern times. Due to its grounding in Classical Arabic, Modern Standard Arabic is removed over a millennium from everyday speech, which is construed as a multitude of dialects of this language. These dialects and Modern Standard Arabic are described by some scholars as not mutually comprehensible. The former are usually acquired in families, while
4104-414: Is very commonly used by Qatari women during special occasions such as weddings and festivals and, to a lesser extent, for daily use. Most jewelry worn by Qatari women is handmade, even after the rise in popularity of more cost-efficient manufactured jewelry. In modern times, the jewelry pieces worn by women are typically smaller in size than those in the past. Jewelry for daily use is lightweight and thin, and
4212-445: The Lisān al-ʻArab ). Modern Standard Arabic (MSA) largely follows the grammatical standards of Classical Arabic and uses much of the same vocabulary. However, it has discarded some grammatical constructions and vocabulary that no longer have any counterpart in the spoken varieties and has adopted certain new constructions and vocabulary from the spoken varieties. Much of the new vocabulary
4320-477: The Al Sayegh family, translating to " goldsmith ", is notable for its history of involvement in the country's goldsmithing industry. The Baharna, predominantly Shia Muslims, have faced discrimination within Qatari society due to their religious beliefs, despite their Arab roots. Transitional tribes include those that originally led nomadic lifestyles but later adopted a dual existence, living seasonally between
4428-792: The As Salatah and Al Khulaifat districts of old Doha . The Hadar's economic life heavily depended on the sea, influencing their cultural and social structures. Huwala refers to Sunni Arab families who historically lived on the southern Persian coast before returning to the Arabian Peninsula. This group includes families such as Al Marzooqi , Al Obaidli, Al Hammadi, Al Jaber, Al Nasuri, and Al Mahmoud . They retained their Arab identity despite their time in Persia. Upon their return, they settled in areas like Qatar and Bahrain, where they were collectively known as Huwala. The term Qbaeil
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4536-512: The Bani Utbah confederation arrived in Qatar. Branches from both sides controlled different portions of the peninsula at differing points. In 1848, Mohammed bin Thani migrated from Fuwayrit to Al Bidda . Prior to this migration, each tribe and settlement had its independent leader, and there was no documented instance of their unification in battle. The concept of a unified land or nation
4644-580: The Catharrei and described them as nomads who continuously wandered to find water and suitable grazing lands. Throughout the years, Qatar saw successive influxes of Arab tribes from the interior, particularly during the 17th and 18th centuries. From 1664 to 1666, a severe drought in Najd forced many to migrate to the Qatari peninsula. During this period, the Al-Maadeed tribe, as well as several tribes of
4752-711: The Qatar National Vision 2030 . In the Development Strategy, there are four pillars, one of which, the economy pillar, discusses policies, regulations, and political motives related to Qatar’s dependence on oil. For sustaining economic prosperity, Qatar aims to: These objectives were created under the notion that Qatar's hydrocarbon income will continue to decrease in response to the increase in renewable energy technologies and depletion of oil resources. An enlargement of its productive base (hydrocarbon and mineral assets) by investing in physical and social infrastructure effectively attracts tourists and expatriates to
4860-568: The Xth form , or جامعة jāmiʻah 'university', based on جمع jamaʻa 'to gather, unite'; جمهورية jumhūriyyah 'republic', based on جمهور jumhūr 'multitude'). An earlier tendency was to redefine an older word although this has fallen into disuse (e.g., هاتف hātif 'telephone' < 'invisible caller (in Sufism)'; جريدة jarīdah 'newspaper' < 'palm-leaf stalk'). Colloquial or dialectal Arabic refers to
4968-479: The Y-DNA lineages, with more than 35% of the lineages showing African ancestry (East African & Subsaharan) & the rest of the lineages being Eurasian. Arabic language Arabic (endonym: اَلْعَرَبِيَّةُ , romanized : al-ʿarabiyyah , pronounced [al ʕaraˈbijːa] , or عَرَبِيّ , ʿarabīy , pronounced [ˈʕarabiː] or [ʕaraˈbij] )
5076-494: The northern Hejaz . These features are evidence of common descent from a hypothetical ancestor , Proto-Arabic . The following features of Proto-Arabic can be reconstructed with confidence: On the other hand, several Arabic varieties are closer to other Semitic languages and maintain features not found in Classical Arabic, indicating that these varieties cannot have developed from Classical Arabic. Thus, Arabic vernaculars do not descend from Classical Arabic: Classical Arabic
5184-474: The oil industry , police , army , and security services. The government settled Bedu families in the 1960s, discouraging the nomadic lifestyle. Today, many live in urban areas but return to the desert to stay connected to their roots. Despite their small population, Bedouin tradition has a disproportionately outsized role in Qatari culture . Many Bedu see themselves as noble and "pure" Arabs, often looking down on
5292-419: The "learned" tradition (Classical Arabic). This variety and both its classicizing and "lay" iterations have been termed Middle Arabic in the past, but they are thought to continue an Old Higazi register. It is clear that the orthography of the Quran was not developed for the standardized form of Classical Arabic; rather, it shows the attempt on the part of writers to record an archaic form of Old Higazi. In
5400-846: The "purest," most eloquent form of Arabic—initiating a process of jamʿu‿l-luɣah ( جمع اللغة 'compiling the language') which took place over the 8th and early 9th centuries. Kitāb al-'Ayn ( c. 8th century ), attributed to Al-Khalil ibn Ahmad al-Farahidi , is considered the first lexicon to include all Arabic roots ; it sought to exhaust all possible root permutations —later called taqālīb ( تقاليب ) — calling those that are actually used mustaʿmal ( مستعمَل ) and those that are not used muhmal ( مُهمَل ). Lisān al-ʿArab (1290) by Ibn Manzur gives 9,273 roots, while Tāj al-ʿArūs (1774) by Murtada az-Zabidi gives 11,978 roots. Energy in Qatar Energy in Qatar describes energy production, consumption, and policies of
5508-454: The 11th and 12th centuries in al-Andalus , the zajal and muwashah poetry forms developed in the dialectical Arabic of Cordoba and the Maghreb. The Nahda was a cultural and especially literary renaissance of the 19th century in which writers sought "to fuse Arabic and European forms of expression." According to James L. Gelvin , " Nahda writers attempted to simplify the Arabic language and script so that it might be accessible to
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#17327656929725616-453: The 1961 citizenship law defined Qatari citizens as only those families who have been in the country since the 1930s, though this was repealed in the 2005 citizenship law . In 2021, a law was signed by Emir Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani restricting the rights to vote in local elections for those whose families' arrival post-date the 1930s, leading to minor demonstrations and public disapproval. This led Al Thani to announce later that he would amend
5724-406: The 1970s onward. By the 1980s, more accurate and comprehensive demographic data became available. The 1986 census recorded 101,859 Qatari nationals, reflecting a high natural increase rate and increasing naturalization rates. The 1997 census showed an indigenous population of 151,771, with a notable rise in the number of births. By 2010, the population of Qataris aged 10 and above was 174,279, with
5832-571: The 4th to the 6th centuries, the Nabataean script evolved into the Arabic script recognizable from the early Islamic era. There are inscriptions in an undotted, 17-letter Arabic script dating to the 6th century CE, found at four locations in Syria ( Zabad , Jebel Usays , Harran , Umm el-Jimal ). The oldest surviving papyrus in Arabic dates to 643 CE, and it uses dots to produce the modern 28-letter Arabic alphabet. The language of that papyrus and of
5940-834: The 8th century, knowledge of Classical Arabic had become an essential prerequisite for rising into the higher classes throughout the Islamic world, both for Muslims and non-Muslims. For example, Maimonides , the Andalusi Jewish philosopher, authored works in Judeo-Arabic —Arabic written in Hebrew script . Ibn Jinni of Mosul , a pioneer in phonology , wrote prolifically in the 10th century on Arabic morphology and phonology in works such as Kitāb Al-Munṣif , Kitāb Al-Muḥtasab , and Kitāb Al-Khaṣāʾiṣ [ ar ] . Ibn Mada' of Cordoba (1116–1196) realized
6048-654: The British representative Lewis Pelly . Due to the country's highly arid environment, traditional professions were largely centered around maritime activities, primarily fishing and pearl hunting . Pearling was seen as a more lucrative venture because of the high costs associated with fishing and the potential for windfalls from successful pearling trips. However, as a result of the financial system favoring ship owners, sailors and divers would see very little profit for themselves, leaving most in poor financial straits. Furthermore, both were seasonal professions, leaving those in
6156-478: The Development Strategy is dependent on the residents' acceptance of the current government as proven with other laws in the past. Qatar aims to set itself apart on the international stage with its plans to diversify its oil - based economy and improve inefficiencies within social and physical structures of the State. In 2009 Qatar was the 7th top producer of natural gas (2.9%) in the world, exceeding Algeria (2.6%),
6264-412: The Middle East and North Africa have become a badge of sophistication and modernity and ... feigning, or asserting, weakness or lack of facility in Arabic is sometimes paraded as a sign of status, class, and perversely, even education through a mélange of code-switching practises." Arabic has been taught worldwide in many elementary and secondary schools, especially Muslim schools. Universities around
6372-562: The Netherlands (2.5%) and Indonesia (2.5%). 75% of the natural gas production was exported in 2009 (67/89 bm ). The energy content is high. Harnessing solar power has become an important objective for Qatar in recent years. By 2030, Qatar has set the goal of attaining 20% of its energy from solar power. The country is well-positioned to capitalize on photovoltaic systems , as it has a global horizontal irradiance value of approximately 2,140 kWh per square meter annually. Furthermore,
6480-475: The Qatari desert and coastal villages. These tribes, including Al-Maadeed , Al Dawasir , and Al Subaie , transitioned to a settled lifestyle for economic reasons. The ruling Al Thani family belongs to this category, having migrated from Najd to Qatar in the late 17th century and settled in various coastal towns, eventually becoming prominent through trade and pearling activities. Qatar’s Afro-Arab population descends from slaves brought from East Africa for
6588-690: The Qur'an is referred to by linguists as "Quranic Arabic", as distinct from its codification soon thereafter into " Classical Arabic ". In late pre-Islamic times, a transdialectal and transcommunal variety of Arabic emerged in the Hejaz , which continued living its parallel life after literary Arabic had been institutionally standardized in the 2nd and 3rd century of the Hijra , most strongly in Judeo-Christian texts, keeping alive ancient features eliminated from
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#17327656929726696-576: The Romance languages. Also, while it is comprehensible to people from the Maghreb , a linguistically innovative variety such as Moroccan Arabic is essentially incomprehensible to Arabs from the Mashriq , much as French is incomprehensible to Spanish or Italian speakers but relatively easily learned by them. This suggests that the spoken varieties may linguistically be considered separate languages. With
6804-488: The State of Qatar . The International Monetary Fund ranked Qatar as having the fifth highest GDP per capita in 2016 with a 60,787 USD per capita nominal GDP over a population of 2.421 million inhabitants. In 2014, oil and natural gas production made up 51.1% of Qatar's nominal GDP. Thus, Qatar has a worldwide high ranking of per capita GDP due to its significance production and exports in both crude oil and natural gas in proportion to its relatively small population. Qatar
6912-413: The State. However, should the government not cautiously or properly invest for the new economy, the population would lose their current standard of living and the cost would be primarily directed at them. The government plans to attack inefficiency in technology, physical infrastructure, institutions and processes in order to make a lasting contribution to improve the use of resources over time. Since Qatar
7020-640: The accolades of renowned folk heroes . Like elsewhere on the Arabian Peninsula , folktales – known in Qatar as hazzawi – play an important role in Qatar's culture . Some of Qatar's folktales have a distinctive local character while others have been imparted by nomadic tribes wandering between the present-day Arab states of the Persian Gulf . Local folk stories were seldom documented, instead being passed down orally from generation to generation. Among Qatar's most noted folk heroes are Qatari ibn al-Fuja'a ,
7128-425: The area, and provides better roads and housing for citizens as well. However, constant construction in Qatar for improving and creating physical infrastructure has caused frustration within the population throughout the process. The government's gradual transition to a more stable economy while maintaining the wealth of the nation primarily comes at a cost to Qatar’s government since hydrocarbon assets are property of
7236-574: The conversion of Semitic mimation to nunation in the singular. It is best reassessed as a separate language on the Central Semitic dialect continuum. It was also thought that Old Arabic coexisted alongside—and then gradually displaced— epigraphic Ancient North Arabian (ANA), which was theorized to have been the regional tongue for many centuries. ANA, despite its name, was considered a very distinct language, and mutually unintelligible, from "Arabic". Scholars named its variant dialects after
7344-588: The country prior to the 1930s. While some Arabs may view this group as "less" Qatari, most consider them full citizens. Despite occasional discrimination, this group is well integrated into Qatari society, and intermarriage is increasing. Unlike in the Atlantic slave trade , African descendants in the Gulf did not typically possess a diasporic consciousness or desire to return to their ancestral continent. Instead, they integrated into local social structures. Consequently,
7452-587: The direct irradiance parameter is roughly 2,008 kWh per square meter annually, implying that it would be able to benefit from concentrated solar power as well. Qatar Foundation has been active in helping Qatar achieve its solar power goals. It established Qatar Solar, which, together with Qatar Development Bank and German company SolarWorld , embarked on a joint venture resulting in the creation of Qatar Solar Technologies (QSTec). In 2017, QSTec commissioned its polysillicon plant in Ras Laffan . This plant has
7560-587: The emergence of Central Semitic languages, particularly in grammar. Innovations of the Central Semitic languages—all maintained in Arabic—include: There are several features which Classical Arabic, the modern Arabic varieties, as well as the Safaitic and Hismaic inscriptions share which are unattested in any other Central Semitic language variety, including the Dadanitic and Taymanitic languages of
7668-728: The eve of the conquests: Northern and Central (Al-Jallad 2009). The modern dialects emerged from a new contact situation produced following the conquests. Instead of the emergence of a single or multiple koines, the dialects contain several sedimentary layers of borrowed and areal features, which they absorbed at different points in their linguistic histories. According to Veersteegh and Bickerton, colloquial Arabic dialects arose from pidginized Arabic formed from contact between Arabs and conquered peoples. Pidginization and subsequent creolization among Arabs and arabized peoples could explain relative morphological and phonological simplicity of vernacular Arabic compared to Classical and MSA. In around
7776-607: The fact that they participate in the innovations common to all forms of Arabic. The earliest attestation of continuous Arabic text in an ancestor of the modern Arabic script are three lines of poetry by a man named Garm(')allāhe found in En Avdat, Israel , and dated to around 125 CE. This is followed by the Namara inscription , an epitaph of the Lakhmid king Imru' al-Qays bar 'Amro, dating to 328 CE, found at Namaraa, Syria. From
7884-510: The fourth most useful language for business, after English, Mandarin Chinese , and French. Arabic is written with the Arabic alphabet , an abjad script that is written from right to left . Arabic is usually classified as a Central Semitic language . Linguists still differ as to the best classification of Semitic language sub-groups. The Semitic languages changed between Proto-Semitic and
7992-636: The global oil economy. In 2015, Qatar was ranked as the 17th top producer of crude oil worldwide at an approximate 1.532 million bbl/day. In 2013, Qatar also ranked as the 11th top exporter of crude oil at an approximate 1.303 million bbl/day. With high production of crude oil, Qatar is one of the few countries that has little crude oil dependence on other countries for domestic energy consumption. While Qatar does not import any crude oil, it does, however, import approximately 2,555 bbl/day of refined petroleum products. The following table depicts how much oil each sector of Qatar's economy consumes in 1000 tonnes in
8100-705: The history of enslavement is often suppressed, though traces persist in music forms like the liwa and tanboura . Exhibits at the Bin Jelmood House at Msheireb Museums document this history through photographs, installations, and oral interviews with Qataris of enslaved ancestry, such as musician and actress Fatma Shaddad . The Ajam , ethnic Shia Persians , were historically active in boat building and still speak Farsi . Qatar's government has supported population growth through extensive subsidies and social welfare programs, including housing loans, reduced dowries , and family allowances that grow with
8208-597: The inclusion of new words into their published standard dictionaries. They also publish old and historical Arabic manuscripts. In 1997, a bureau of Arabization standardization was added to the Educational, Cultural, and Scientific Organization of the Arab League . These academies and organizations have worked toward the Arabization of the sciences, creating terms in Arabic to describe new concepts, toward
8316-503: The industry with few methods of earning income outside of select months. Reports written by British diplomats in 1930 and 1931 document how some locals had been forced to pawn off pieces of furniture to make ends meet after the pearling industry had collapsed due to the introduction of cheap cultured pearls . After oil was discovered in nearby Bahrain in 1932, many Qataris opted to migrate there for economic opportunities. Similarly, many migrated to Saudi Arabia and Kuwait after oil
8424-613: The language. Software and books with tapes are an important part of Arabic learning, as many of Arabic learners may live in places where there are no academic or Arabic language school classes available. Radio series of Arabic language classes are also provided from some radio stations. A number of websites on the Internet provide online classes for all levels as a means of distance education; most teach Modern Standard Arabic, but some teach regional varieties from numerous countries. The tradition of Arabic lexicography extended for about
8532-568: The late 19th and early 20th centuries, while others like Na'im and Al Manasir made the journey from the Trucial States . They typically entered Qatar during the winter to graze their camels. Notably, the Bani Hajer and Al Kaaban (Al-Qaʽabiyah) are the only Bedouin tribes considered indigenous to Qatar, though they also have branches in regions like Al Hasa and Bahrain . During the mid-20th century economic boom, many found work in
8640-604: The late 6th century AD, a relatively uniform intertribal "poetic koine" distinct from the spoken vernaculars developed based on the Bedouin dialects of Najd , probably in connection with the court of al-Ḥīra . During the first Islamic century, the majority of Arabic poets and Arabic-writing persons spoke Arabic as their mother tongue. Their texts, although mainly preserved in far later manuscripts, contain traces of non-standardized Classical Arabic elements in morphology and syntax. Abu al-Aswad al-Du'ali ( c. 603 –689)
8748-420: The latter is taught in formal education settings. However, there have been studies reporting some degree of comprehension of stories told in the standard variety among preschool-aged children. The relation between Modern Standard Arabic and these dialects is sometimes compared to that of Classical Latin and Vulgar Latin vernaculars (which became Romance languages ) in medieval and early modern Europe. MSA
8856-478: The law to allow all citizens to vote in future elections. Children of Qatari mothers and foreign fathers are not granted Qatari citizenship; however, as of 2018, they are granted permanent residency status, which entitles them to similar state benefits as Qatari citizens. Nonetheless, the government limits the number of permanency residency visas it issues each year. The 2005 citizenship law allows for revocation of citizenship without appeal, which has been used on
8964-422: The majority of native Qataris at 85% to 90%, with the remaining 10% to 15% comprising Shiites . The music of Qatar is based on sea folk poetry, song and dance. The historical importance of pearl fishing have deeply resonated within the region's artistic expression, manifesting in melodies, tunes, and dances that reflect the bond between humanity and the sea. Music has served multiple cultural purposes in Qatar in
9072-883: The many national or regional varieties which constitute the everyday spoken language. Colloquial Arabic has many regional variants; geographically distant varieties usually differ enough to be mutually unintelligible , and some linguists consider them distinct languages. However, research indicates a high degree of mutual intelligibility between closely related Arabic variants for native speakers listening to words, sentences, and texts; and between more distantly related dialects in interactional situations. The varieties are typically unwritten. They are often used in informal spoken media, such as soap operas and talk shows , as well as occasionally in certain forms of written media such as poetry and printed advertising. Hassaniya Arabic , Maltese , and Cypriot Arabic are only varieties of modern Arabic to have acquired official recognition. Hassaniya
9180-782: The need for a lexical injection in Arabic, to suit concepts of the industrial and post-industrial age (such as sayyārah سَيَّارَة 'automobile' or bākhirah باخِرة 'steamship'). In response, a number of Arabic academies modeled after the Académie française were established with the aim of developing standardized additions to the Arabic lexicon to suit these transformations, first in Damascus (1919), then in Cairo (1932), Baghdad (1948), Rabat (1960), Amman (1977), Khartum [ ar ] (1993), and Tunis (1993). They review language development, monitor new words and approve
9288-489: The number of children per couple. These measures are designed to promote marriages and larger families and have led to a significant increase in population. Historically, the Qatari government has been secretive about the total size of its native population, considering it a "national secret". Throughout the 20th century, Qatar's population saw dramatic changes. In 1904, the British Foreign Office estimated
9396-424: The one whose sound is heard but whose person remains unseen. Now the term al-hatif is used for a telephone. Therefore, the process of tawleed can express the needs of modern civilization in a manner that would appear to be originally Arabic. In the case of Arabic, educated Arabs of any nationality can be assumed to speak both their school-taught Standard Arabic as well as their native dialects, which depending on
9504-549: The overhaul of Arabic grammar first proposed by Al-Jahiz 200 years prior. The Maghrebi lexicographer Ibn Manzur compiled Lisān al-ʿArab ( لسان العرب , "Tongue of Arabs"), a major reference dictionary of Arabic, in 1290. Charles Ferguson 's koine theory claims that the modern Arabic dialects collectively descend from a single military koine that sprang up during the Islamic conquests; this view has been challenged in recent times. Ahmad al-Jallad proposes that there were at least two considerably distinct types of Arabic on
9612-403: The past, ranging from being used in weddings and other celebrations to religious rituals, as lullabies ( hadhada ), and in military parades. Workers would also sing amidst the toil of their daily tasks, mainly during sea-based activities. In contemporary times, khaliji ('gulf') music has gained in popularity among the locals. Qatari folklore largely revolves around sea-based activities and
9720-412: The pearling industry. In the early 1900s, approximately 6,000 Afro-Arabs were recorded as living in Qatar, of which more than 4,000 were slaves. After Qatar abolished slavery in 1956, many former slaves continued to carry the family names of their former masters and operate within that family's social network. The 1961 citizenship law ensured citizenship for former slaves whose families had been brought into
9828-557: The policy of the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs at the time was to distribute monthly stipends of QAR 750 for single men, QAR 1,050 for married couples, and up to QAR 1,770 for couples with children. In addition to providing essential services like healthcare, education, and housing—all at no cost to citizens—there are no taxes and an abundance of state benefits, including land grants, interest-free loans, scholarships for students studying abroad, and guaranteed civil service jobs. As
9936-473: The population at approximately 27,000. Economic hardships in the early 20th century, exacerbated by the decline in pearl fishing and the Great Depression , reduced the population to around 16,000 by the mid-1940s. The discovery of oil in the late 1940s reversed this trend, leading to a population increase. By 1970, the first official census recorded 45,039 indigenous Qataris, although the true number
10044-545: The proportions for which each sector consumes oil has been consistent. Qatar has a high economic dependency on the global oil and natural gas market with 51% of its nominal GDP coming from oil and gas exports in 2014. An indirect result of the instability of oil prices within the most recent decades has led the Qatari government to develop the Qatar National Development Strategy 2011–2016 (Development Strategy) as an efficient strategy to achieve
10152-410: The region may be mutually unintelligible. Some of these dialects can be considered to constitute separate languages which may have "sub-dialects" of their own. When educated Arabs of different dialects engage in conversation (for example, a Moroccan speaking with a Lebanese), many speakers code-switch back and forth between the dialectal and standard varieties of the language, sometimes even within
10260-458: The same sentence. The issue of whether Arabic is one language or many languages is politically charged, in the same way it is for the varieties of Chinese , Hindi and Urdu , Serbian and Croatian , Scots and English, etc. In contrast to speakers of Hindi and Urdu who claim they cannot understand each other even when they can, speakers of the varieties of Arabic will claim they can all understand each other even when they cannot. While there
10368-627: The settled population (hadar) as influenced by urban and Persian elements. Intermarriage between these groups is rare. The Hadar community comprises those who inhabit the coastal villages across Qatar, engaging primarily in maritime activities. This group includes tribes such as Bu Kuwara, Al Muhannadi , Al Mannai , Al Bin Ali , Al Sulaiti, Al Sada, Al Khulaifat, Al Sudan , Al Bu Samait, Al Buainain , Al Kubaisi , and Al Humaidat. These tribes often monopolized specific coastal areas or neighborhoods, which are still known by their tribal names today, such as
10476-520: The social standing of a family. Arabic is the official language of Qatar according to Article 1 of the Constitution . Qatari Arabic , a dialect of Gulf Arabic , is the primary dialect spoken. As the prestige dialect within the nation, Qatari Arabic not only functions in everyday communication but also plays a significant role in maintaining cultural identity and social cohesion among the Qatari people. The vocabulary of Qatari Arabic incorporates
10584-458: The sole example of Medieval linguist Abu Hayyan al-Gharnati – who, while a scholar of the Arabic language, was not ethnically Arab – Medieval scholars of the Arabic language made no efforts at studying comparative linguistics, considering all other languages inferior. In modern times, the educated upper classes in the Arab world have taken a nearly opposite view. Yasir Suleiman wrote in 2011 that "studying and knowing English or French in most of
10692-563: The standardization of these new terms throughout the Arabic-speaking world, and toward the development of Arabic as a world language . This gave rise to what Western scholars call Modern Standard Arabic. From the 1950s, Arabization became a postcolonial nationalist policy in countries such as Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco, and Sudan. Arabic usually refers to Standard Arabic, which Western linguists divide into Classical Arabic and Modern Standard Arabic. It could also refer to any of
10800-501: The towns where the inscriptions were discovered (Dadanitic, Taymanitic, Hismaic, Safaitic). However, most arguments for a single ANA language or language family were based on the shape of the definite article, a prefixed h-. It has been argued that the h- is an archaism and not a shared innovation, and thus unsuitable for language classification, rendering the hypothesis of an ANA language family untenable. Safaitic and Hismaic, previously considered ANA, should be considered Old Arabic due to
10908-451: The world have classes that teach Arabic as part of their foreign languages , Middle Eastern studies , and religious studies courses. Arabic language schools exist to assist students to learn Arabic outside the academic world. There are many Arabic language schools in the Arab world and other Muslim countries. Because the Quran is written in Arabic and all Islamic terms are in Arabic, millions of Muslims (both Arab and non-Arab) study
11016-417: The year 2014, notice how all of the oil products used in Qatar are from refined petroleum sources. The sectors of the economy which consume the most of oil - based fuels for energy usage are transport and residential. This is due to Qatar's limited resources related to agriculture, forestry, and fishing since it has primarily desert terrain. And while oil consumption for energy usage has quadrupled since 2000,
11124-483: Was 34.00 billion kilowatt-hours (kWh), which is an average of 15,056 kWh per capita. Qatar's exploration of the oil market began around 1923, when its own pearl diving market took a hit with the entry of Japan's cultivated pearls into the market. Qatar's first oil discovery was made in late 1930s with oil deposits found in Dukhan field . Since then, Qatar claims to have 1.5% of global oil reserves, while producing 2% of
11232-617: Was a member of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries ( OPEC ) until their departure on January 1, 2019 due to a desire to increase autonomy from neighbors in the Persian Gulf following poor relations. Since 2007, natural gas production in Qatar has significantly increased and is the primary fuel chosen for energy consumption within Qatar. In 2014, Qatar ranked as the fourth highest natural gas producer worldwide. Qatar's energy consumption in 2016
11340-541: Was discovered in those respective countries due to the relatively small size of Qatar's early oil industry. The Bedouins , comprising approximately 10% of Qatar's native population, are traditionally nomadic tribes who roamed the vast deserts of the Arabian Peninsula , unconcerned with political boundaries and recognizing only the authority of their tribal sheikhs. They did not settle permanently in one location. Several Bedouin tribes, such as Al Murrah and Al Ajman , migrated to Qatar from regions like Najd and Al Hasa in
11448-551: Was exclusive, with only a select few involved in its creation and allocation, while the majority benefited as recipients. Despite the perception of every Qatari holding a "winning lottery ticket," the reality was that hydrocarbon revenues were controlled by the state and channeled to citizens through specific mechanisms. During Qatar's early years of oil wealth, infrastructure and social services evolved slowly alongside hydrocarbon development. Initial efforts targeted basic needs like electricity, water, healthcare, and education, albeit with
11556-409: Was likely closer to 47,700 due to undercounting. Estimates by 1975 suggested the population had risen to 60,300, with the naturalization of foreign-born wives of Qatari men believed to contribute to a large percentage of this increase. Despite small-scale naturalization in specific instances, Qatar's naturalization policies, like most other Persian Gulf countries at the time, were relatively strict from
11664-590: Was not present. However, with Mohammed bin Thani's arrival, Qatar began to gain significant economic and political weight. Beginning with him, the House of Thani would rule Qatar starting in 1851, following the Battle of Mesaimeer . Following the Qatari–Bahraini War in 1867–1868, Qatar was recognized as an independent political entity in September 1868 with the signing of a treaty between Mohammad bin Thani and
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