Friday prayers at the mosque of the Qatar Faculty of Islamic Studies in Doha.CreditTomas Munita for The New York Times

Openness, to a Point
In downtown Doha, behind the imposing palace where the emir holds court twice a week, lies a discreet new museum that tells an ugly story with bracing honesty.

Through a series of polished exhibits, the museum, the Bin Jelmood House, delves into Qatar’s ignominious history of slavery, which was not abolished here until 1952. An evocative video recreates the suffering of the African slaves shipped from Zanzibar to dive for pearls, the mainstay of Qatar’s economy until the mid-20th century. A price list outlines the trade’s heartless calculations: 1,200 rupees, then about $550, for a driver in 1926; 1,500 rupees for a cook in 1909.

The museum, in its willingness to openly address the sins of the past, mirrors the image the Thanis seek to project for their country — open and enlightened, less dour than archconservative Saudi Arabia, more restrained than freewheeling Dubai in the United Arab Emirates.

While Saudi women will finally be allowed to drive in June, Qatari women have been driving for decades. In Qatar, there are cinemas, bars and even female race jockeys. Christians can worship openly. Although Qataris share the puritanical Wahhabi strand of Islam with Saudi Arabia, there are no public beheadings or other spectacles that offend the modern conscience.

The W Hotel in Doha. Qatari women have long had more freedoms, including the right to drive, than Saudi women. CreditTomas Munita for The New York Times

Human rights groups have accused Qatar of abusing foreign workers in the construction industry. Foreign workers make up 90 percent of Qatar’s residents but have few rights. CreditTomas Munita for The New York Times

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