I met Abdulkhaleq Abdulla in a café in one of Dubai’s gleaming new air-conditioned shopping malls. This being the middle east, I had taken the trouble to dress modestly, although I didn’t wear a headscarf or mantoux. Abdulla, a professor of political science at Emirates University, was clad in an immaculate dish-dasha; but all around, girls wandered past with their heads uncovered, wearing crop-tops and skintight jeans. Then Abdulla took me by surprise by shaking my hand—many Muslim men shy away from such contact with female non-relatives.
“I am mighty proud of Dubai. It is a trendsetter for the region. But that is both positive and negative,” Abdulla declared, pausing to sip his latte. “There has been an almost complete rupture with the past. Dubai 2007 in no way resembles the Dubai of 30 years ago. This is a city making history.”
Dubai is in the middle east, but it could be almost anywhere. Just about the only thing connecting the place to the past is the traditional dress still worn by many locals. The buildings are, by and large, cartoonishly modern. Culturally, it’s a chill-out zone compared to the austere traditionalism over the border in Saudi Arabia or across the Persian gulf in Iran.
If you are a subscriber, please log in »
This article is available to subscribers only
Subscribing to Prospect is the most reliable and convenient way to receive the magazine every month, and offers the best value.Subscription Types:
Online
An online subscription offers you complete and unlimited access to the entire website, including our searchable archive of every back issue of Prospect, and a PDF edition of each new issue: all this for just £20 per year. Purchase an online subscription »Renewal
Renew an existing subscription »Institutional access
If you are a library, business organisation or any other large institution that needs a multi-user licence, you can obtain institutional access.
Share
Subscribe to post comments
Print
