Little is known of Qatar's early history although Qatar was respectively inhabited by stone age people, the Kingdom of Dilmun, probably visited by the Greeks and Romans and periodically by travelling nomads.
Qatar, a nation rich in oil and gas natural reserves, is located in the Middle East and is neighboured by Saudi Arabia and Bahrain. With a land area of 4,184 square miles, the population was estimated to be 825,000 at the start of 2008.
Ashurra, is celebrated by Sunni Muslims (Qatar is mostly Sunni, although there are a number of Shiite expats living and working here) as the day Noah's ark found ground, the day Abraham was born and the day the Kabaah*, the holiest place in Islam, was built.