Qaradawi: Churches in Qatar OK

Posted: Fri May 23, 2008 12:38 am

http://www.jihadwatch.org/dhimmiwatch/archives/021112.php

This may sound like a big conspiracy, but do you think Qatar is bringing in Christians with the hopes of them forming more permanent roots. To then later treat them as true dhimmis and form a group of working/second class citizens?"

I don't think so; they already have a group of "working/second class citizens".

I spent three rather unhappy weeks there in 2005 and this is what I found:

Qatar has a population of just under a million, but only about 25% of them are Qatari citizens, the rest are "foreign workers".

The Qatari government pays all its citizens a certain amount of money just for being Qataris. Not enough to make anyone rich, but enough to live on, if you want to. So there is no incentive at all for a Qatari to take a low-paying job. For that reason, everyone you see pumping gas, waiting tables, driving a truck, etc., is a foreign worker.

The largest group of foreign workers is Pakistani, with Filipinos coming in a close second. So even among the foreigners, a large per centage is Muslim.

Compared to countries like Saudi, Qatar is fairly liberal; while there I saw a movie, drank alcohol in a bar, and bought rock and roll CDs.

But the whole time I was there, every time I met a Qatari, I would wonder, "does this person want to kill me?"

And then when I went to come home I found out that you have to apply for permission to leave the country. That scared me. I understand wanting to control who comes into your country, but why would you care if someone from another country wants to go back where he came from?

If I never go to an Arab country again, it will be OK with me.