In a dusty neighborhood on the outskirts of Qatar’s capital, guards stand obligation at a gated compound ringed with razor wire, rigorously checking passports and permits earlier than permitting anybody inside. But this isn’t a jail or a high-security space related to the continuing World Cup.
It’s the liquor retailer.
Rigid limits on alcohol are a truth of life on this conservative Muslim nation on the Arabian Peninsula, which follows the identical strict Wahhabi interpretation of Islam as its neighbor Saudi Arabia. Soccer followers coming to Qatar for the World Cup acquired a style of that simply earlier than the match as authorities cancelled beer gross sales at stadiums.
Yet corks proceed to be popped in luxurious packing containers at video games. Fans are filling pints from beer towers at dozens of lodge bars, lounges and nightclubs with liquor licenses. Sales of $14 Budweisers at Doha’s FIFA Fan Zone proceed unabated.
“Not to say that you need alcohol to fuel your life, but it’s a good time,” stated Ed Ball, an American who created a web-based map for imbibers in Doha to seek out bars. “The idea being passed around that you can’t drink in Qatar is wrong. There are places.”
In addition to the bars, there’s the liquor retailer the place non-Muslim residents and guests can store after making use of for a government-issued license. Located subsequent to an Indian college in Doha’s dusty Abu Hamour neighborhood, it’s run by the Qatar Distribution Co., a state-owned enterprise below the umbrella of Qatar Airways, which holds unique rights to distribute alcohol and pork within the nation.
The retailer — at present the one one promoting liquor in Qatar — operates on an appointment system, harkening again to the strict coronavirus laws that ruled this nation prior to simply earlier than the World Cup.
On a current go to, guards twice checked an Associated Press reporter’s identifications and appointments. Razor wire tops the compound’s excessive partitions, which bar the general public from a peek inside. Signs warn that any abuse aimed on the guards may end up in an alcohol license being revoked. Empty silver-colored beer kegs are piled up within the car parking zone.
At the top of a chlorine-scented walkway, clients attain the doorway to the shop. Inside, the cabinets and stands are stocked with bottles of wine largely working from $12.50 as much as $45. A liter of Absolut vodka goes for $42, whereas a liter of Jack Daniels whiskey units a client again $70. A 24-pack of ordinary Budweiser cans prices practically $52.
A small part of the shop gives frozen pork pepperoni pizzas, slabs of bacon, Spam and cans of pork and beans.
Customers stuffed their carts or carried bottles and cans of their palms, checking in opposition to procuring lists or texting relations to double verify what was wanted. Several wore FIFA passes for the match round their necks.
Outside the store, a 31-year-old British lady who works as a faculty instructor in Qatar, stuffed the trunk of her automobile. She declined to supply her title, given the connotations ingesting can carry in Qatari society, however dismissed criticism surrounding ingesting and the match.
“It’s really not that big of a deal,” she stated of the licensing system in Qatar. “It’s like going to the supermarket — for alcohol.”
She added that she thought the restrictions on gross sales for the matches additionally made sense. “I’m British. I know what it’s like to to be around drunk people all the time.”
Across the broader Persian Gulf, alcohol stays banned in Iran, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and the sheikhdom of Sharjah within the United Arab Emirates. Drinking alcohol is taken into account haram, or forbidden, in Islam. Imams level to a verse within the Quran calling wine “the work of Satan.”
But the area as a complete has an extended historical past with alcohol, itself an Arabic phrase. The eighth century poet Abu Nawas even was recognized for his “khamriyyat,” or “wine poems.”
Both alcohol and pork face a 100% import obligation. Qatar says it makes use of the tax income to enhance well being care, infrastructure, schooling and different public providers.
Visitors aren’t allowed to deliver alcohol into the nation. Many accommodations are dry and prohibit friends from bringing alcohol to their rooms.
Even with these restrictions, Qatar bought 23.2 million liters of alcoholic drinks in 2021, in response to knowledge from Euromonitor International. Though dwarfed by the United Arab Emirates’ 115 million liters bought in the identical interval, Qatar’s numbers present a 14.6% progress because the pandemic waned.
Meanwhile, Ball’s on-line map of bars in Qatar has been seen over 875,000 occasions. An accompanying Twitter account exhibits him downing two pints of beer in 10 seconds.
“For me, drinking is just like eating. It just goes along with the culture,” Ball instructed the AP after returning dwelling to Seattle, the place he works for Boeing Co. “I know it’s not part of Qatar … but it’s also part of the World Cup. One of the biggest sponsors is Budweiser so it just goes to show you it kind of goes hand in hand.”
Bars in Qatar usually scan IDs of these heading in, with many engaged on a voucher system in the course of the match to verify followers spend no less than certain quantity.
On Saturday evening, a gaggle of Russians screamed expletives on the U.S. workforce throughout its match with the Netherlands as they downed photographs and posed for pictures with servers at Doha’s Irish Harp.
Dermot O’Callaghan, a 66-year-old soccer fan from Dublin, Ireland, loved a a lot calmer pint on the bar, swaying alongside to the Cuban band Chicas Melao.
“It’s very enjoyable, you can get a drink here if you want in the evenings,” O’Callaghan stated. “You do have a cohort of fans roaming around, looking for a drink.”
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AP World Cup protection: https://apnews.com/hub/world-cup and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports
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Follow Jon Gambrell on Twitter at www.twitter.com/jongambrellAP.
Source: www.bostonherald.com”