Abu Dhalouf () is a town on the north coast of

Qatar Qatar, officially the State of Qatar, is a country in West Asia. It occupies the Geography of Qatar, Qatar Peninsula on the northeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in the Middle East; it shares Qatar–Saudi Arabia border, its sole land b ...

, in the

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality' ...

Al Shamal Al Shamal () is a municipality in Qatar. Its seat is Madinat ash Shamal and it is considered to be one of the major cities in Qatar, although its population is barely over 7,000. The seat's name translates to "city of the north". Ras Rakan, t ...

. It was demarcated in 1988 and is bounded by

Madinat ash Shamal Madinat ash Shamal () is the capital city of the municipality of Al Shamal in Qatar. Located more than north of Qatar's capital Doha, the city was founded in the 1970s, shortly after the country gained independence. It was delimited in 1988 and ...

to the immediate east, with

Ar-Ruʼays Ar-Ruays (), also spelled Al Ruwais, is a port town in the Qatari municipality of Qatar, municipality of Al Shamal. It is located on the northern tip of Qatar, approximately north of the capital Doha. Before the country's economic landscape was ...

to the immediate east of Madinat ash Shamal.

Etymology

Arabic Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...

, 'abu' means 'father' and in this context is used to describe an area with a distinct feature. 'Dhalouf' is derived from the Arabic term 'dhalfa', which is the name for the curved ends of saddles used for camel riding. It was said to be so named because of a prominent hill that resembled the end of a saddle. Alternative transliterations of the name are Abu Dhaluf, Abū Ḑalūf, Abu Dhuluf, and Abū Z̧ulūf.

History

In the 1820s, George Barnes Brucks was tasked with preparing the first British survey of the

Persian Gulf The Persian Gulf, sometimes called the Arabian Gulf, is a Mediterranean seas, mediterranean sea in West Asia. The body of water is an extension of the Arabian Sea and the larger Indian Ocean located between Iran and the Arabian Peninsula.Un ...

. He wrote down the following notes about Abu Dhalouf, which he referred to as ''Boodeshoof'': Map of Qatar Peninsula in 1824 - Abu Dhalouf.jpg, Abu Dhalouf as ''Boodeshoof'' in an 1824 map of the Qatar Peninsula based upon Brucks' research. Captain Francis Prideaux, who was the British political resident in Bahrain, remarked in 1906 that, although

Al Bidda Al Bidda () is a neighborhood of Doha, Qatar. In the 19th century It was the largest town in Qatar, before Doha, an offshoot of Al Bidda, grew in prominence. Al Bidda was incorporated as a district in the Doha municipality in the late 20th centur ...

was firmly under

Al Thani The House of Thani () is the ruling family of Qatar, with origins tracing back to the Adnanites, Adnanite Banu Tamim tribe. Today Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani and his mother Moza bint Nasser, Moza bint Nassir lead the house. History and structure ...

-rule, the tribes of northern settlements, including Abu Dhalouf, did not pay tribute to the sheikh

Jassim bin Mohammed Al Thani Jassim bin Mohammed Al Thani (; – 17 July 1913), also known as "The Founder", was the founder of the State of Qatar. He had a total of 56 children, 19 sons and 37 daughters. Early life Jassim bin Mohammed Al Thani was born around 1825. ...

, nor did they consider themselves subjects of his. After investigating an act of piracy that took place off Abu Dhalouf, Prideaux learned the tribespeople of the village pledged their allegiance to the sheikh of Bahrain instead, as stated 80 years earlier by Brucks. J. G. Lorimer's ''

Gazetteer of the Persian Gulf The ''Gazetteer of the Persian Gulf, Oman and Central Arabia'' (nicknamed ''Lorimer'') is a two-volume encyclopedia compiled by John Gordon Lorimer. The ''Gazetteer'' was published in secret by the British government in India in 1908 and 1915 a ...

'' gives an account of Abu Dhalouf in 1908: Reiterating details present in G. B. Brucks' earlier report, Lorimer also stated that prior to 1856, the village was inhabited by about 50 men of the Bu Kuwara (Kuwari) tribe. During anthropological fieldwork conducted in 1950, an estimated 200 tents belonging to the Al Mannai tribe were recorded in the area.

Geography

Abu Dhalouf is on the western side of Qatar's northern coast. The line connecting Abu Dhalouf and Al Mafjar serves as a demarcation between the

coastal plain A coastal plain (also coastal plains, coastal lowland, coastal lowlands) is an area of flat, low-lying land adjacent to a sea coast. A fall line commonly marks the border between a coastal plain and an upland area. Formation Coastal plains can f ...

areas to the north and the

interior plain The Interior Plains is a vast physiographic region that spreads across the Laurentian craton of central North America, extending along the east flank of the Rocky Mountains from the Gulf Coast region to the Arctic Beaufort Sea. In Canada, it e ...

s to the south, the latter area being characterized by a gradual widening to the south of this line.

Landmarks

Many historic mosques exist in the town. Among them is Bahar Mosque, which was opened in 1940 and has since been restored by

Qatar Museums Qatar Museums (formerly the Qatar Museums Authority) was founded in 2005 and is a Qatari government entity that oversees the Museum of Islamic Art (MIA), Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art, MIA Park, QM Gallery at the Katara Cultural Village, A ...

. One of the most popular attractions in the town is Abu Dhalouf Park. It is situated along the Abu Dhalouf Beach, providing a vantage point of the

, and is also near the town center. The park draws thousands of visitors every year from elsewhere in the north and from

Doha Doha ( ) is the capital city and main financial hub of Qatar. Located on the Persian Gulf coast in the east of the country, north of Al Wakrah and south of Al Khor (city), Al Khor and Lusail, it is home to most of the country's population. It ...

. In 2016, it was reported that several locals had lodged complaints stating that the park had fallen into disrepair. They claimed that the landscaping and children's playground equipment were deteriorating, and that the park lacked suitable lighting at night. Thus, in April 2016, the Ministry of Municipality and Environment began a QR 12.5 million renovation that spanned the park's area.

Education

The settlement's first formal school was opened in 1957.

References

{{Authority control Populated places in Al Shamal Populated coastal places in Qatar