Paper written by Prof Omar Hasan Kasule MB ChB (MUK), MPH (Harvard), DrPH (Harvard) EM: omarkasule@yahoo.com
Qatar’s leaders developed, starting about 2 decades ago, a vision of providing an intellectual and cultural gate way to/from the Arab World as well as providing leadership in the media, political, religious, social, and educational fields. Judging from the facts on the ground, they have achieved a high degree of success by attracting many institutions and individuals to live and work in Qatar and make their contributions to the grand vision.
Qatar is a hub for many things. The Aljazeera group is a media hub. Qatar Airlines is a transportation hub. The Education village is an educational hub. The many think tanks are an intellectual hub; some are western in origin such as the Rand Corporation and The Brookings Institute while others are Arab and Muslim. Qatar has been a hub/host, in the past 5 years, of many international conferences with a wide diversity of themes. Qatari initiatives in the Libyan and Syrian conflicts make it a hub for resolving issues arising out of the Arab Spring. Qatar also played a role in seeking peaceful solutions to longstanding conflicts in Palestine and Lebanon. Qatar is becoming a hub for culture, arts, and entertainment the crown of which will be hosting the World Cup.
Qatar has been able to garner influence in regional and world issues by balancing, reconciling, and mediating contradictory trends and ideologies starting within the country and extending the experience to the whole region.
On the Islamic theme the conservative thought is balanced by the liberal thought. International Muslim intellectuals and think tanks that have been hosted in Qatar also provide an additional Islamic dimension.
On the higher educational front, the westernizing impact of the educational village with 10+ western universities is balanced by establishment of the Qatar Faculty of Islamic Studies situated in the village as well as Arab and Islamic symbols and culture are apparent in the village.
Qatar University is walking the tightrope between western English-based programs and Arabic and Islamic-based ones. The university attracts more Qatari students than the western universities in the education village
On the school educational front, international western-oriented schools operate alongside Qatari schools with Islamic and Arab orientations.
On the ideological/intellectual front, western think tanks and cultural organization operate alongside Arab and Islamic peers.
On the linguistic level Qatar is leading the initiative to save the Arabic language from marginalization by English. A major international conference was recently held on this issue. There is a palpable tendency to strengthen Arabic as a medium of education.
Qatar will continue to prosper as it continues to balance and moderate the various ideological tendencies to channel them toward the good of both Qataris and citizens of the Gulf region and the Arab world.
