Born to a Qatari father and a British mother, raised in Bahrain, Al Haaron, 38, faced ignorance about his country directly at the British university where he studied law, which he later never practiced.
“I went to the internet to look for information and it was old and scarce, or there was simply none. So I decided to create a page to show people the country,” he explains to AFP from his studio in the capital Doha.
To get a visa, to say hello or thank you in colloquial language, to wear traditional men’s clothing (the ‘dishdasha’), what traditional dishes to eat… Mr Q, who as a child dreamed of being the emirate’s first actor in Hollywood , conceives his videos as “the digital extension of hospitality” of his own.
The ‘influencer’ with almost 99,000 subscribers on Instagram and 115,000 on YouTube addresses all issues in his videos, titled with “#QTip” (which can be translated as ‘Qatar advice’), including the rights of migrant workers employed as domestics in the country.
His pseudonym does not mean ‘Mr Qatar’ in English, as one might suppose, ‘Mr Q’ means ‘Mister Question’. And Al Haroon is willing to “answer them all”.
Asked about the criticism that the country has received since the 2022 World Cup was attributed to it, whether for the treatment of migrant workers, LGBT+ people or about the air conditioning of the stadiums; the self-appointed representative of the Qataris does not evade any issue.
“There is a difference between negative and false news. When it is negative, I see an opportunity to improve. The ‘fake news’ I think that everyone understands that it is not true. The only thing I can do is show through the videos and photos as we really are because you can have confidence in what your own eyes see,” he explains.
This is why he is “impatient” for the World Cup to start on November 20. “People will be able to come here, have the experience for themselves and make their own judgment,” said the businessman, whose activities range from video games to events, including being a director of the National Football Federation.
Ambassador of a country in the spotlight and not always perceived in the best way, the ‘influencer’ feels “a lot of pressure”, even before the World Cup was approaching.
“I have met many people who have told me that they decided to settle in Qatar after watching my videos. And with the World Cup coming up, more people are following my page (iloveqatar.net) and my YouTube channel (Mr. Q – iLoveQatar. net),” he comments.
Some fans worry about the atmosphere they will find in the conservative Muslim emirate, and Mr. Q tries hard to reassure them.
“There will be some social norms to be respected (especially regarding the consumption of alcohol in public) and we simply ask that the country be respected. And of course, the country will respect everyone who comes,” he explains.
“Some people could make mistakes because they don’t know all the rules, that’s not serious, it’s our culture and in our religion everything is a matter of intentions. If you have good intentions, you have nothing to fear,” he concludes.
Source: Ambito
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