Crush on a guy at my Gym, how should i act?

[Reality Warper]

i have a crush on this guy at my gym, but i am not sure if he's gay or straight. last time i tried to talk to him i barely said hi while passing him by when we accidentally looked each other in the eye (this rhymes!) . I have been bumping into him for the past year like at work (we work in the same building) and everyday at the gym. I want to talk to him, just talk that's it, but i can't seem to be able to do it. we are both expats from the same country working in Qatar, where it is illegal to be gay, if he's straight and he gets offended by my crush he can call the cops and they can have me deported or even worse, lashed and prisoned. how on earth could i strike a conversation with him, two days ago i saw him from a distance and he was looking at me and i looked straight at him and he just kept staring at me but for some reason i couldn't even say hi.
i know i am pathetic, any words of wisdom?