Because of the religious origin of the word, some prefer to capitalize it and others not. The word sharia means  the path  or  the path to wate r. Sharia as a source of law, is, by definition, arbitrary and discretionary-some would prefer to describe it as flexible.
COUNTRY OVERVIEW. LOCATION AND SIZE. Qatar is a tiny peninsula jutting into the Persian Gulf and bordering only Saudi Arabia. With an area of 11,437 square kilometers (4,416 square miles) and a short coastline of 563 kilometers (345 miles), Qatar is slightly smaller than the state of Connecticut.
Population size. Early on, Qatar's expansion was fast - it's population grew at a rate of 10.2% between 1980 and 1985. That rate slowed from 1990 to 1995 but leapt again in 2005 when Qatar's numbers climbed by 15.3% over the space of five years.