The 5 Gulf States Tour Summary

The group, with our guide George on the left.

Let me check my notes.

This is a scene from the '60's.

Traditional way to greet guests... dates and coffee.

Honestly I didn’t know what to expect in the Arab Gulf States, but as someone said on the blog “A traveller seeks the truth of a place, the essence that can only be appreciated by seeing the puzzle as a whole.” Or as John Mahaffy said: “It's no wonder, Joe, these trips inspire your curiosity and the drive to ‘see it all’ yourself.”

I thoroughly enjoyed this tour and the Saudi Arabia one as well. I learned a lot about the Arab Gulf States, Islam, the culture and the people. I found the people to be much friendlier and more approachable than I expected based on the images and stories that Western media relates to us. We were continually ‘welcomed’ by local people when we met them. At every hotel we visited we were always welcomed with a traditional small cup of local coffee and dates. The countries were modern and clean (mostly). The food was excellent and because there is no ground water, we could eat and enjoy all the salads and fruits. We visited many cultural, religious and natural sites that gave us an excellent overview of the area. Having said that, I learned a lot and have a lot to reflect on. Following that will be a section on interesting topics and facts relating to the Arab world.

As I traveled through the six Gulf States that I visited I could not get past the thought or fact that without the discovery of oil and gas, none of what we saw would exist. Without the money oil generates there would be no desalination water plants that have allowed the population to grow much larger than the desert could support. And without that money none of the skyscrapers that we saw would exist. Oman did not have electricity for the public until the 1960’s. Caravans were still the main mode of transportation of people and goods well into the 1940’s. Most of the resources they did have were based around the sea, in fishing and pearl diving. And without that oil money none of the millions of expats that live and work here would have been encouraged to come. With the exception of Oman, the Gulf States seem to be in competition with each other to see who can build the biggest, most outlandish, expensive, buildings, facilities or events with which to impress the West.

I find it fascinating that Christians, Jews and Muslims all believe the Old Testament up to Moses and then they disagree. And Muslims believe in all the prophets, including Jesus but believe that Mohammad was the last and most important prophet.

The amount of change that three generations of North Americans have seen has been compressed in the Arab world to just one generation. The change has been rapid and changed their world in many ways.

In June of 2013 Saudi Arabia changed their ‘weekend’ from Thursday and Friday, to Friday and Saturday to match the rest of the Gulf States, who had done the same earlier to coincide with the international markets of the rest of the world.

The peoples of these countries are obsessed with fragrancies, from incense and frankincense (which is burned in many shops and souks) to various perfumes that both men and women wear on the their clothing leaving a rich scent in your nostrils as they pass by.

Lung problems are prevalent due to the dust and sand in the atmosphere. There is a vitamin D deficiency due to the way the people cover up for religious reasons and to protect themselves from the glaring sun.

Most of the Arabian Peninsula has no water. Saudi Arabia has no rivers at all. So all the countries rely on the very expensive technology of converting salt water to fresh on a massive scale. Here is one example: Dubai has no groundwater, but they use 130 billion gallons of water yearly, or 477 million gallons daily. They only get 4 inches of rain per year, less that the Sahara Desert. They operate 7 desalination plants including the world's largest, Jebel Ali. They use two methods to convert the water, 1) evaporation which requires heating the water to boiling point and collecting and cooling the water vapour and 2) using reverse osmosis and running the water through ultra fine membranes to remove the salt. But wealthy residents don’t drink that water, they import millions of bottles of Fiji, Evian and Perrier and the rest of the country, and the thousands of tourists, drink bottled water. (Which raises the question of where do all the plastic bottles go?). The dark side of this is that it consumes 15% of their entire energy output of Dubai and it costs $2 to produce what costs America 5 cents. And because of the oil wealth a litre of gasoline is often cheaper in these countries than a litre of water. The leftover super salty brine gets pumped back into the gulf which is bad for the environment and is slowly raising the temperatures of the sea water and than combined with climate change will have a negative impact on the area. That is just one city in the six countries we visited. The top users of desalination are: Saudi Arabia, which is the global leader producing 9.7 million cubic metres of water daily to support a population of over 34 million. Next comes UAE and Kuwait who use it for 90% of their drinking water; Oman and Qatar, followed by Israel who use it for 80% of their water and the USA, because of the demands in coastal states like California and Florida.

The Gulf States have so much fossil fuel they are able to create their energy cheaply and have no need for renewable energy. We saw only one, very large, solar farm somewhere in Saudi Arabia but nowhere else, none on houses and no wind farms. We saw very few electric cars and no Teslas.

The internet, social media and television has changed the lives of the peoples of the Gulf States immeasurably. They are inundated with commercials and programs from the west and they can see what the rest of the world has materialistically, what they wear and what they like to eat. All of these countries have invested massive amounts of money into large modern air-conditioned shopping malls that house many Western shops and fast food outlets. They are all here McDonalds, Dunkin Donuts, KFC, Burger King, Starbucks, and even Tim Horton’s. This has changed the eating habits of many residents and contributed to an unhealthy diet, obesity and diabetes, particularly in women who have traditionally been encouraged to keep house and raise children and were therefore not physically active enough. The Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia and others have appreciated this and it has caused a rethinking of the way women have been treated. They are now beginning to be encouraged to exercise. The clothing shops are full of Western style clothing which is also changing the behaviour of the younger generation who are getting interested in fashion and non traditional dress. I have to say though that many men in all of the Gulf States looked very elegant with their traditional clothing. We were taught how to recognize men from different states from the robe they were wearing. And how they keep them so white is quite amazing too. It takes some of the daily decision making of what to wear when you have a national dress. Depending on the country the head scarves the men wear can be called Yashmagh, Chafiyeh, Shumagh, Ghutrah, Keffiyeh and Hattah. The Saudis wear red checked Keffiyeh that not only protect them from the sun, the wind and the dust but also to symbolize bravery and represents the colour of the country and flag. All of these six Arab countries have welcomed large numbers of expatriates into their countries to augment the work force and to do the work that the locals don’t want to do. Qatar and the UAE have many more expats than actual citizens (see the table below). They come from India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Nepal, Pakistan and many countries in Africa. They are people who are struggling to earn a living in impoverished conditions at home and grab the opportunity to improve their lives. Most are supporting family back home. They are hired on contracts and when the contract ends, or when they are no longer working they are told to leave. They might be able to stay for a number of years but they will never be granted citizenship, even if they marry and have children. They are usually housed in large neighbourhoods or compounds removed from the local native population, but where they can mingle with their own kind. I talked to many of these people in hotels, restaurants, museums and shops and they seemed happy to be able to improve their lives in this way and although they said they sometimes felt second class they welcomed the opportunity. Most of their wives refused to come because of extended family back home or because they didn’t want to dress as Arab women are expected to. They are used and taken advantage of by the Arab States. I thought of it as a new form of slavery, but that’s a strong word with other connotations and revised to indentured service. This is not unique in the world, Japan whose population is rapidly aging is engaging in the same practise to find workers.   

Thanks to social media the Gulf States have witnessed what the world views as entertainment that was previously beyond their vision: pop stars and different types of music. They have watched world sporting events like football (or soccer), formula 1 racing, tennis, basketball, the olympics… and with the money they have they are actively pursuing these events and paying larger prize amounts in order to have them take place in the Middle East. Qatar built eight soccer stadiums in Doha to host the World Cup. As a matter of fact, it was when Qatar hosted the 2022 Fifa World Cup that the rest of the world became aware of the plight of the expats and the living and working conditions they were subjected. Because of the spotlight on sport, the western media gained access to life in the country. We heard stories of brutal working conditions on construction sites, low wages and sub standard living conditions for foreign workers. And because of the glare of the reporting, the government of Qatar was embarrassed and made steps to improve both living and working conditions for the workers. The other Arab countries followed suit.

The Hijri calendar, also known in English as the Islamic calendar, is a lunar calendar consisting of 12 lunar months in a year of 354 or 355 days. It is used to determine the dates of the Islamic holidays and rituals, such as the annual fast and the annual season for the great pilgrimage. In almost all countries where the predominant religion is Islam, the civil calendar is the Gregorian calendar which the rest of the world uses. The first year of the Hijri calendar was 622 CE. It was established to mark the Hijra, when the Prophet Muhammad was chased out of Mecca by non believers and he retreated to Medina. This marked the start of the Islamic era.

The six countries of the Arabian peninsula formed the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) in May 1981, which is a regional, intergovernmental, political, and economic union and military alliance headquartered in Riyadh. Yemen is excluded from the Gulf Cooperation Council. It is the poorest country on the peninsula and although it has oil that business has collapsed because of the war with Saudi Arabia.

The holy month of Ramadan began this year on February 17th. Muslims fast from sunrise to sunset thus ‘depriving your body to feed your soul’. In order to be respectful George had us shop for our lunches in the supermarkets. Hotels and restaurants understand that non Muslim tourists want to eat, so they hid us behind doors or screens so as not to offend the locals. In one of our hotels we were warned that there were penalties for eating or drinking in public during the day.

As we traveled between countries the leaders held different titles all of which come from Arabic, but they mean different things historically and politically.

👑 Sultan From Arabic “sulṭān” meaning authority or power. A sovereign ruler of a state. Traditionally implies strong central authority. Example: Oman is ruled by a Sultan. The current ruler is Haitham bin Tariq. Historically, sultans ruled large empires such as the Ottoman Empire. Think of “Sultan” as equivalent to king in many contexts.

🏛️ Emir (or Amir) From Arabic “amīr” meaning commander or prince. It can mean a ruler of a smaller state or a prince within a royal family or a military commander. Examples Kuwait and Qatar are ruled by an Emir. Think of “Emir” as closer to prince or ruler of a principality.

🐪 Sheikh (or Shaykh) Literally means elder or respected leader. It can refer to a tribal leader or a religious scholar or a member of a royal family. In the United Arab Emirates, each emirate is ruled by a Sheikh, and one of them serves as President of the UAE. “Sheikh” is more of an honorific title than a strict political rank.

And of course there is King, as in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the Kingdom of Bahrain.

We ended our tour in Oman, which is quite different from the other countries we visited in the Gulf, so I thought it would be a good place to start my comparison summary. Here’s how Oman compares with its Gulf neighbours:

Country	Population	Citizens	Expatriates	Leader
🇴🇲 Oman	4.6–4.8 million	58–60%	40–42%	Sultan
🇦🇪 United Arab Emirates	10 million	10–12%	88–90%	Sheikh
🇶🇦 Qatar	2.7–3 million	10–15%	85–90%	Emir
🇰🇼 Kuwait	4.2–4.5 million	30–35%	65–70%	Emir
🇧🇭 Bahrain	1.7 million	45–50%	50–55%	King
🇸🇦 Saudi Arabia	35–36 million	60–65%	35–40%	King

Oman has one of the highest citizen ratios in the Gulf outside Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia has the highest number of citizens overall and one of the strongest citizen majorities in the region. The UAE has one of the lowest citizen percentages in the world. Emiratis are a small minority of the population.

Qatar is similar to UAE in that it has very high reliance on foreign labour. Kuwait has more citizens proportionally than UAE/Qatar, but still a large foreign workforce.

All these States had small native populations historically because they were mostly desert countries with limited resources and they could only support small numbers of people because of the lack of water. When oil wealth surged in the 1960s–1980s UAE and Qatar both had very small local populations (tens of thousands). So when rapid development began, UAE and Qatar simply didn’t have enough citizens to build their countries. The result of which was massive labour importation. Oman had a much larger indigenous population historically.

UAE and Qatar pursued extremely rapid transformation: building skyscrapers, mega airports, global airlines, artificial islands, World Cup infrastructure (Qatar eight stadiums in Doha), etc. This required construction workers, engineers, financial experts, hospitality workers, domestic staff, etc. Therefore they imported labour on a huge scale.

Oman developed more gradually and conservatively — fewer mega-projects, slower urban growth and a Sultan directed limit on the height buildings could be built, hence no skyscrapers.

🇦🇪 UAE  Positioned itself as: global trade hub (Dubai), financial centre and tourism and aviation powerhouse. This model depends heavily on foreign expertise and labour. These are the names of the 6 Emirates in the UAE: Abu Dhabi, Ajman, Dubai, Fujairah, RAK, Sharjah.

🇶🇦 Qatar. Small population + massive gas wealth from the North Field. Huge per-capita income → ambitious infrastructure expansion → imported workforce.

🇴🇲 Oman. Less oil and gas wealth compared to UAE and Qatar. Therefore more limited fiscal capacity hence more cautious development approach. They have a strong emphasis on preserving social balance. Omanization policies (prioritizing Omani for education and employment began earlier and were more actively promoted in certain sectors. To date they claim 72% of jobs are held by Omanis.

Oman historically prioritized: social cohesion, tribal and regional balance and cultural continuity. The leadership under Sultan Qaboos bin Said emphasized gradual modernization without overwhelming demographic change. UAE and Qatar were more comfortable becoming global cities with minority citizen populations.

Oman has a long imperial and maritime history (sailing trading routes to East Africa and Zanzibar. A strong internal national identity and a more distributed population across towns and regions. UAE and Qatar were smaller coastal settlements that rapidly transformed into international hubs.

There are many different sects of Islam, but the four we learned a bit about are the Sunnis, Shi'ite's, Wahhabis and Ibadi Muslims. One of our less than politically correct local guides called the Wahhabis ‘pigs’ which is a real insult to Muslims as they don’t eat them as they are considered unclean. They were one of first radical Muslim factions that practised terrorism and jihad. Ibadism is the third, largely moderate branch of Islam (after Sunni and Shia), with around 3 million adherents, primarily in Oman where 45% are Sunni 45% are Ibadi and 5 % are Shia. Ibadi emerged in the 7th century and emphasizes justice, consultation, and moral leadership. The Ibadi principle of consultation and community harmony extends outward: Oman tries to prevent conflict rather than escalate it. Because Ibadi Islam is pragmatic and long-term thinking. Ibadi culture values stability and moral legitimacy over short-term gain. This influences Omani foreign policy: Oman rarely joins military coalitions unless absolutely necessary. Its diplomacy prioritizes trade, maritime security, and peaceful coexistence. Even during U.S.–Iran tensions, Oman maintains open communication with both sides. Oman has historically mediated between the U.S. and Iran — hosting secret talks over nuclear and regional issues. It maintained diplomatic relations with countries like Iran, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE, even when those countries are in tension with each other.

Unlike some Sunni-majority Gulf states, Oman’s Ibadi identity encourages non-sectarian diplomacy: It does not frame foreign policy around Sunni-Shia divides. Oman often acts as a neutral broker in conflicts that might otherwise draw in sectarian loyalties (Yemen, Iran, Iraq). This neutrality has earned Oman trust in the region and internationally.

Oman’s approach is often described as soft power diplomacy: Using its geographic location at the Strait of Hormuz to ensure safe passage for international shipping. Acting as a safe venue for negotiations and dialogue. Maintaining regional alliances without aggressive posturing. The Ibadi emphasis on justice, wisdom, and moral integrity translates into a foreign policy that’s careful, quiet, and respected. You could even say Ibadi Islam gives Oman a “philosophical compass” for international relations — guiding the country to avoid extremes and act as a stabilizing force.

The Gulf states’ currencies—like the Omani rial, Bahraini dinar, Kuwaiti dinar, Qatari riyal, Saudi riyal, and Emirati dirham—are considered “strong” relative to currencies like the US dollar or Canadian dollar for several interlinked reasons:

1. Oil and Gas Wealth The Gulf states control a large share of the world’s oil and gas reserves. This generates massive export revenue in USD, creating a strong demand for their currencies. For example, every time they sell oil, they receive dollars but often keep or convert part into local currency, maintaining high value.

2. Currency Peg to the US Dollar Most Gulf currencies are pegged to the USD at a fixed rate. Example: Saudi riyal ≈ 0.266 USD. Pegging prevents the currency from depreciating and stabilizes it against the dollar, giving it an appearance of being “strong” versus other floating currencies.

3.  Small Population & High Reserves These countries have relatively small populations compared to their wealth. High reserves of foreign currency and gold per capita allow them to maintain high currency value with low inflation.

4. Low Inflation and Strong Fiscal Policy Strong government control over spending, combined with massive oil revenue, keeps inflation low. Low inflation supports a strong currency because the purchasing power of the currency stays high.

5. Limited Currency in Circulation Some Gulf states tightly control money supply, so there’s not too much currency floating in the market. Less supply relative to demand helps maintain a strong exchange rate.

6. Global Perception and Stability Investors view Gulf currencies as safe and stable, partly due to their huge sovereign wealth funds. Stability and trust lead to higher demand for the currency, which supports a strong rate.

💡 In short: Gulf currencies are “strong” mostly because they are backed by huge oil wealth, pegged to the USD, managed to avoid inflation, and have limited circulation. Their strength is less about the economy’s size or productivity and more about resource wealth and monetary policy.

Sharia law is the religious, moral, and legal code of Islam derived from the Quran, Sunnah, and Hadith, guiding all aspects of a Muslim's life, including prayer, fasting, family, and business. It acts as a comprehensive ethical framework—categorizing actions as obligatory, forbidden, or permissible.

What is Sharia Law 

• Definition: Sharia ("the path") regulates a Muslim's relationship with God, the state, and society, covering both personal rituals (ʿibādāt) and interpersonal dealings (muʿāmalāt).
• Sources: Primarily based on the Quran (holy book) and the Sunnah (practices and sayings of the Prophet Muhammad, often found in Hadith).
• Core Categories of Action: Islamic law categorizes human acts into five types: Fard (obligatory), Mustahabb (recommended), Mubah (allowed), Makruh (discouraged), and Haram (forbidden).
• Scope: It includes personal daily routines, ethical standards, and, in some contexts, family law (marriage, divorce, inheritance) and criminal law. 

Application and Misconceptions 

• Interpretation: Sharia is subject to interpretation, known as ijtihad, and there is no single, universally accepted, or codified body of law, leading to different schools of thought.
• Usage: About half of the world's Muslim-majority countries use Sharia as a basis for personal status laws (family matters), while only about a dozen apply it to criminal law.
• Misconceptions: While Western perceptions often focus on harsh, corporal, or capital punishments, these represent a very small portion of the overall, all-encompassing system.
• Global Context: In many Muslim-majority nations, it is applied in personal matters, but in some, it forms the legal foundation of the state. 

One last thought: I was talking to an expat who asked what nationalities were in our tour group, and I answered ‘Canadians and Americans’, to which he replied ‘Oh, how is that going?’.