The World Cup in Qatar has been wallowing in controversy since it was first awarded twelve years ago. And the wallowing continues. But not in beer. Budweiser’s massive patronage counted for nothing when, two days before the first game started, all grounds were declared dry by government decree. Recouping $75 million dollars in sponsorship selling non-alcoholic beer to thirsty fans in a desert state in the Middle East? Good luck with that.
And you can’t drink outside either. Carrying a cold stubbie in the street in Doha could get you a fine of $1,200. Even wearing stubbies could also land you in trouble – the strict public dress code forbids shorts for men and women (unless you happen to be playing football, of course).
Qatari law also forbids public displays of affection. A kiss or a hug could land you both in prison. And that’s just between men and women.
Gay people should not let their sexual preference be known, and keep any practice discreet. The Qatari government announced there would be no discrimination, and ‘everyone is welcome in Qatar, but we are a conservative country and any public display of affection, regardless of orientation, is frowned upon’.
An American visitor in 1998 received more than frowns. His homosexual activity earned him six months in prison and 90 lashes. He got off lightly. The sharia-mandated death penalty for gays, legislated in Qatar and 10 other countries, only applies to Muslims. The first Qatari to come out publicly as gay did so in May this year – but he lives in America. Football fans have reported rainbow flags and hats being confiscated by officials, and players wearing rainbow armbands were threatened with yellow cards.
Other crimes are not taken as seriously. Terrorism, hate speech, and money laundering, for example. Fugitive Islamic preacher Zakir Naik has been accused of these, and he fled to Malaysia six years ago where he was granted Malaysian citizenship. Extradition requests to face trial for the said crimes have been made by his native country India. His wildly-popular Peace TV network is not that peaceful. Asked about Islamic terrorism, he blithely replied: ‘Every Muslim should be a terrorist.’ Some took him literally: the perpetrators of attacks in Dhaka in 2016 and the Easter church bombings in Colombo in 2019 claimed Naik as their inspiration. As a consequence Peace TV was banned in the UK, Canada, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, and India.
Naik has been declared persona non grata in many other countries when he has applied for visas. A planned visit to Australia in 2013 was cancelled following adverse media publicity. But not in Qatar. The Qatari government has sponsored him as a public speaker to give lectures on Islam during the World Cup. Religious lectures and football? What could they have in common?
The International Union of Muslim Scholars (IUMS) proposed that Qatar should be encouraged to ‘use the hosting of the World Cup as an opportunity to present Islamic culture and highlight the humane and civilized part of the Islamic religion’. The IUMS is a Qatari-government-funded branch of the radical Muslim Brotherhood. Its founder was an Egyptian, Yusuf al-Qaradawi, who also had some legal issues. In 2014, Interpol issued a ‘red notice’, its highest alert level, calling for the arrest of al-Qaradawi for crimes including ‘incitement and assistance to commit intentional murder’. But Qatar gave him sanctuary and he was eventually removed from the red list. Back in 2009, al-Qaradawi spoke of his dying wish: ‘My only hope is as my life approaches its end, that Allah will give me an opportunity to go the land of jihad and resistance (i.e. Palestine), even if in a wheelchair, I will shoot Allah’s enemies, the Jews.’ He died in September this year, aged 96, with his desire unfulfilled. His organisation, the IUMS, has some serious clout with the Qatari government, and the Qataris had been organising their Islamic dawa or proselytising.
Every hotel guest in Qatar will find a QR code on the wall encouraging them to ‘Explore Our Civilisation’. The resulting download is a 132-page booklet called ‘Understanding Islam’. It is an outline of the Muslim religion, outlining its key beliefs in a way designed to appeal to non-Muslims. The booklet is full of misrepresentations, half-truths, and outright lies. It claims, for example, that Islam introduced the mathematical concept of zero to the world. In fact, zero was used in Mesopotamia 1,000 years before Islam arrived on the world scene. The claim is also made: ‘While Europe believed the world was flat, Muslims were using globes to study geography.’ The Greek mathematician Pythagoras had proposed a spherical earth 1,200 years before Islam appeared. Nor was ‘the first hospital built in Damascus in 707’. By that time Christian public hospitals had existed for centuries.
Using its deceptive booklet, over 2,000 volunteers are on the streets, inviting non-Muslims to convert to Islam. Women are approached and asked to try on a hijab. Large billboards project supposed sayings of the prophet Muhammad. Government-funded centres continue the message.
Some Arab visitors are not impressed. An Egyptian blogger writes: ‘[Qatar] brought a person who is accused of terrorism and money laundering cases and is barred from entering half of the world’s countries … This is not Football World Cup 22. This has become a World Cup of Islamic lectures and introducing Islam to non-Muslims.’
Now that their team has been knocked out of the football competition, Qatar might be looking for a new goal to support.
