CULTURE
Most Emiratis
are Sunni Muslims subscribing to the Maliki or Hanbali schools
of Islamic law. Many of the latter are Wahhabis, though UAE Wahhabis
are not nearly as strict and puritanical as the Saudi variety;
the UAE is probably the most liberal country in the Gulf but it
is still very conservative by Western standards. There are also
smaller communities of Ibadi and Shiite muslims. The oddest thing
about the UAE's population is that only 500,000 of the 2 million
people living in the country are UAE citizens; the rest are expatriates
from other Gulf countries, and from Pakistan, Iran and India.
Arabic
is the official language but English is widely understood. In
Dubai, you can also get by practicing your Farsi, the Persian
language spoken in Iran. Urdu is spoken by the large number of
Pakistani expatriates living in Abu Dhabi and Dubai.
