Although Dubai in particular is only Muslim in the same rather secular way UK is Christian, Islam has shaped the culture over the centuries. Fatalism is ever present and a vague background reverence to God is always there. There are fervent Muslims here of course, just as there are fervent Christian in UK. But it does not dominate every aspect of daily life as in say KSA or Sharjah where I lived for some time.
After a couple of years I left Habtoor – you can only sit on your arse doing nothing for so long. And I have attempted to become self employed again. I moved out of the company apartment to the neighbouring Emirate of Sharjah.
This is less well known in Europe and has a terrible reputation here. Dubai traffic is horrible but it’s a walk in the park compared to Sharjah where the roads are smaller and the drivers even more badly behaved. But that aside it is in reality a modern developing city and economy more similar to Dubai than most locals will admit.
It’s a fairly strict Muslim country though. This is most obvious in the conservative dress code, no alcohol and the many more mosques, which are well attended. But it doesn’t hurt the quality of life in any way whatever people in Dubai believe.
None of my friends have visited here – we always go to them. It’s like a barrier. Yet we live in an equally multi-cultural friendly society. I have a 22nd floor modern two bed apartment – fully serviced – on the Buhairah Corniche and the Qanat al Qasba which costs me less than an unfurnished, unserviced one bed apartment in a very ordinary location in Dubai – and if it were in the Marina or Business Bay…well I’d have to get a mortage to pay the rent! I have a pool and a gym and unlike Dubai I am a two minute drive (well maybe an hour in the busy periods) from a vast public beach and the bath warm of the Arabian Gulf. For free – which you can’t really do in Dubai any more. On the Qanat are cafés and restaurants galore with free or cheap internet connections. I can spend ½ a day there working with coffee and baklava to hand and then go back in the evening for dinner.
There is no self employed culture here in UAE because labour is so cheap and the laws protecting it are lax. It’s generally cheaper and easier to hire someone for a job and simply get rid of them when it’s over. But this is changing as are the laws governing how a foreigner like me can work. Now I can very cheaply incorporate a Free Zone Company which will give me both a residents visa and a work permit. Having left my employer I had no visa so for the last 2 years I’ve been working round the region for British companies who pay me from UK. And as a British passport holder I can have an endlessly renewable 30- day visit visa.
This has produced some restrictions – I lost my local credit cards for example and I’ve not been able to rent a long term apartment. On the plus side I’ve been paid in sterling and the rates have been very favourable of late (the local currency is pegged to the dollar and that of course has been in the toilet).
We plan to stay for the long haul. Under UAE rules you have to leave the country on retirement. You can’t have a residence visa unless you are working or own a property. So we’ll be buying a property which will allow us to stay indefinitely – albeit renewing our visa every so often.
That’s why earlier I said that 80% of the population is expats. There are no real immigrants because you can’t stay and you can’t get citizenship. I don’t think this is sustainable permanently. There is no commitment to the country from 80% of the populace and it is damaging both society and the economy.
So in the end we are a different kind of expat than most. We would be immigrants if we could. And we’ll stay as long as we can. But one day they may force us to decamp and that will be sad. But it will be to somewhere like Lebanon or Syria or Iraq which by then insha’allah will be more peaceful
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