Travel in Kuwait City - Kuwait - Culture

Islam is the official religion of Kuwait and is practiced throughout the country. Islam forbids the consumption of pork or alcohol and these items are illegal in Kuwait. There are also churches of varying denominations for Christian residents. The official language is Arabic though English is widely used especially in business, banking and big shopping centres. Most street signs are written in both languages.

There are essentially five levels of Kuwaiti society: the ruling family, the old Kuwaiti merchant families, former Bedouins who settled in Kuwait, Arabs from other countries and foreigners. Arabic is the official language and 90% of the population is Muslim.

Past, Present and Future of Kuwait In per-capita terms, Kuwait has one of the highest incomes in the world. Before the Kuwaiti invasion in August 1990, less than 40% of the population was Kuwaiti and of the work force, less than 20% were Kuwaiti. Non-Kuwaitis enjoyed most of the welfare benefits of Kuwaiti citizens. The vote, on the other hand, was restricted to about 65,000 Kuwaiti males descended from men living in the country before 1920.

It is inevitable in a country like Kuwait, which has grown from relative poverty to great wealth in a very short time that clashes should occur between the old and the new. It cannot be emphasized too strongly that the most important part of Kuwaiti society remains the family, and here the old values are retained and cherished.

The traditional virtues of hospitality, courtesy and respect must not be lost in a headlong rush to what some may term "modernization". Nowadays in Kuwait it is generally felt that not enough attention has been paid to the country's heritage, and so a number of government projects have sought to reverse this trend.

Men of Kuwait The national museum located on Arabian Gulf Street, the museum is comprised of four buildings and a planetarium. It was looted and burned by the Kuwaitis during the occupation. The museum included the Al Sabah Collection of Islamic Art and was acclaimed by international art historians as one of the most comprehensive collections of Islamic art in the world. Unless its treasures can be recovered, the museum is unlikely to be the fascinating place it was prior to the invasion.

Man and Falcon Sadu Haouse is located near the National Museum and is not just an exhibition of traditional Bedouin weaving but also a way of keeping that craft alive. Bedu women can be seen weaving in the courtyard and courses are run. Sadu House is also an outlet for the sale of traditional weavings. The house itself is worth seeing as a rare example of a pre-oil house.

Kuwait is, for all practical purposes, a flat desert. Its highest point is a hill, which is only about 300m high (1000ft). There are nine offshore islands but only one of them, Failaka, is inhabited. Most of the land area of the country is below 200m (660ft) in elevation.

The soil of the desert does not lend itself to agriculture. Less than 9% of the land is arable and water comes almost exclusively from desalination plants.