Qataris have discovered two mysterious and intricate tattoos in their desert, Arabic markings with symbols.
Mysterious symbols found in Qatar are starting to spread fear across the Middle East.
Ghassan Shafia, a journalist for Al-Sharq Al-Awsat, said that while initially he was “baffled” by the mysterious markings, “I have started to see the symptoms and signs of a conflict in our country” because of the tattoos.
Shafia was interviewing an army reservist who had been in the reserves for two months when he saw two ancient tattoos found near Zahirla, a town in the southern Arabian Peninsula, according to Al-Sharq Al-Awsat. The pictures show a male and female figure covered in symbols with an Egyptian-style waist scarf.
The men who belong to the Mozi tribe have begun to run scared due to the scratches on their body, the newspaper wrote. The tribe is angered by the tattoos of the Mozi men because they believe they are not true, despite the fact that the tattoos are embedded on the men’s bodies. This might be because the figures are painted on the skin with paint, which affects the motivation of those who tattooed the figures in the first place. They claim that the drawings are of the gentry, which contradict the claim made by the Mozi tribe that the figures are usually seen on the inner bodies of the women.
“It is unclear who made the drawings,” Al-Sharq Al-Awsat wrote. “All the tribes that are included in the Al-Qatar do not acknowledge it as a community in its own right. The Indians do not know about it and it is not recognized by the Iraqis. All of them claim that it is not a tribal thing. In the days of Mozi and al-Qatar, it was considered taboo for tribal men to refer to the tribal women. So the tribe members thought that if they used a gendered term, the women will interpret it as a curse.”
From the photos in the Arabic paper, it appears that the drawings are more like Greek style figures, even though these illustrations depict an Egyptian theme, whose central theme is covered by the waistscarf. The figures do not show any markings. Some of the men who were interviewed claimed that the drawings were carefully carved in ancient rocks.
“The painting appears to be ancient,” Shafia told Al-Sharq Al-Awsat. “And the structure on the men’s bodies can be easily identified and measured.”
In November, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi took note of what he deemed a blasphemy over the tribal tattoos, Al-Sharq Al-Awsat reported. However, on Jan. 18 the Egyptian Culture Ministry said that it cannot identify the date of the tattoo in photos.
More people in Doha are expressing fear that the drawing will affect their rights, the paper said.
Abdulaziz al-Marri, deputy speaker of the Doha branch of the Association of the Guardians of the Faith, also told Al-Sharq Al-Awsat that the tribe wanted to fight back at the tribes that had painted the drawings on the men.
“When there are signs of violence, people should all unite against it in a united way,” Al-Marri said. “I do not want to see future generations who become involved in violence against one another because of an illegal individual.”