A Trip to a Majlis

This weekend I received an invite from a Qatari friend of mine to hang out with some of his friends at his majlis. A majlis is a sitting area (the verb "ajlis" means “to sit”) and in Qatar it commonly refers to an area at one’s home where men can gather, not unlike a living room or rec room. Because of the strict rules on gender segregation typically a majlis is separate from the house so that visiting men will not meet the women in the household but the term is flexible -- I have a one-bedroom apartment and I recall one of my Qatari friends referring to my living room as my majlis.

This is my second time in a Qatari majlis and unfortunately I don't have pictures of either. This article shows an example. Aside from the more Arabic-style furnishings it is essentially a living room.(actually it's an interesting article to read too)

So we went out to my friend's majlis in a rural area just north of Doha. Well, maybe about five years ago was in a rural area, Doha has grown so much now that it was really on the edge of the city. My friend told me that 15 years ago there was only one neighbor in the area. Anyway, the majlis was a large area, around 800 sq ft., with Arabic-style couches around a TV, a small table for playing card games, as well as a pool table, ping-pong table, foosball table, and a fridge, thus it was more akin to a rec room than a living room. It was myself and seven Qataris.

So what did we do? Played pool, ping-pong, card games (Brasilla and Hand), watched DVDs on the TV, and a few of us went for a swim in my friend's pool. Essentially, we did the same sort of thing that guys hanging out in the West would do, except there was no alcohol of course. We even ordered some take-away food for dinner (in this case Turkish food but there's no reason why it couldn't have been pizza or KFC). A good time was had by all.

So why am I telling you about this? Go back to the first couple of paragraphs, what were you thinking would happen when you read I was going to majlis? Did you think that it would be similar to visiting someone's rec room in North America? I doubt it.

Now you know. Arabs like doing the same things we do in the West. Chilling out and having a good time with your friends.

Well, except for having the occasional break for prayer and not drinking beer. :-)

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