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Accurate religious demographics are difficult to obtain in Saudi Arabia, but there are approximately 2.1 million Christians in Saudi Arabia in 2020. [1] Christians in Saudi Arabia are reported to face widespread discrimination and harassment, including both foreign-born Christians and native Christians. [2]
Christians had formed churches in Arabia prior to the time of Muhammad in the 7th century. Ancient Arab traders had traveled to Jerusalem for trade purposes and heard the gospel from Saint Peter (Acts 2:11) and Paul the Apostle spent several years in Arabia (Galatians 1:17), later further strengthened by the ministry of Saint Thomas who went to Arabia, Mesopotamia, Persia and later to the Indian subcontinent.
One of the earliest church buildings ever, known as Jubail Church, is located in Saudi Arabia; it was built around the 4th century.
Some parts of modern Saudi Arabia (such as Najran) were predominantly Christian until the 7th to 10th century, when most Christians were expelled or converted to Islam or left the region via the Sea route to Asia, with which merchant trade already existed, others migrated north to Jordan and Syria and settled into those new places. Some Arab Christians who remained lived as crypto-Christians, or secret Christians. Some Arabian tribes, such as Banu Taghlib and Banu Tamim, followed Christianity.
Ancient Arabian Christianity has largely vanished from the region, due to conversion and migration.
On June 15, 1858, 21 Christian residents of Jeddah, then an Ottoman town of 5,000 predominantly Muslim inhabitants, were massacred, including the French and British consuls, by "some hundreds of Hadramites, inhabitants of Southern Arabia". Twenty-four others, mostly Greeks and Levantines, some "under British protection" plus the daughter of the French consul and the French interpreter, both badly wounded, escaped and took refuge, some by swimming to it, aboard the ship HMS Cyclops. [3] [4] [5] [6]
International Christian Concern (ICC) protested what it reported as the 2001 detention of 11 Christians in Saudi Arabia, for practicing their religion in their homes. [7] In June 2004, at least 46 Christians were arrested in what the ICC described as a "pogrom-like" action by Saudi police. The arrests took place shortly after the media reported that a Quran had been desecrated in the Guantanamo Bay detention camp. [8]
There are more than 0.5 million Catholics in Saudi Arabia. Most of them are expatriate Filipinos who work there, but are not Saudi Arabian citizens. [9] [10] As of 2008 [update] , the percentage of Christians of all denominations among the roughly 1.2 million Filipinos in Saudi Arabia was about 90%. [11] In the same year there were also Christians from Canada, the United States, New Zealand, Australia, Italy, Greece, South Korea, Ireland, the United Kingdom, India, China, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Ethiopia, Kenya, Lebanon, Syria, Egypt and as well a number of Christians from sub-Saharan countries who are working in the Saudi Kingdom. [11]
Saudi Arabia allows Christians to enter the country as foreign workers for work or tourism, but does not allow them to practice their faith openly. Saudi Arabia states that they are permitted to privately practice their religion, but this is not codified and raids on private practice by the Committee for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice do occur, though these have decreased since their powers were curtailed in 2016. [12] Bringing a Bible and other types of religious texts into the country is allowed as long as it is for personal use. [13]
Although textbooks in Saudi Arabia have moderated their extremist content since 2001, they still contain some content classified as "egregious" such as characterizing Christians and other non-Muslims as liars and are considered to promote religious hatred and intolerance towards non-Muslims, [2] while the NGO Human Rights Watch has also reported rising hate speech against Christians by Saudi leaders. [14]
The Saudi Arabian Mutaween (Arabic : مطوعين), or Committee for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice (i.e., the religious police) prohibits the public practice of any religion other than Islam. [15] Conversion of a Muslim to another religion is considered apostasy, [15] a crime punishable by death if the accused does not recant. There have been no confirmed reports of executions for either crime in modern times. [15] The government permits non-Muslim clergy to enter the country for the purpose of conducting religious services. [15] In spite of this, a 2015 study estimates that there are some 60,000 Christians with a Muslim background living in the country, though that does not mean that all of those are citizens of the country. [16]
Christians and other non-Muslims are prohibited from entering the city of Mecca and Prophet’s Mosque in Medina. [17]
There are also Christian communities on expatriate compounds, including Catholic services in the Aramco compound in Dhahran.
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Currently there are no official churches in Saudi Arabia. [15] According to the Society of Architectural Heritage Protection Jeddah and the Municipality of Jeddah, a long-abandoned house in Al-Baghdadiyya district has never been an Anglican church, contrary to the "'myth' that had spread on the Internet". However, in 1930 there was a non-Muslim cemetery in Jeddah. [18]
Discovered in 1986, the church ruins at Jubail originally belonged to the Church of the East, a branch of Eastern Christianity in the Middle East. The government has placed a fence around the church to prevent potential tourists from entering. However, the fences have not stopped locals from coming in to vandalise and damage the building. [19] [20] [21] [22] [23]
In 2018, Saudi Arabia had its first public Divine Liturgy celebrated by clergy of the Coptic church. [24] [25] In 2022, the taboo around Christmas trees lightened, allowing for open sales and decorations. [26]
According to Pew Research Center, the percentage of Christians in Saudi Arabia in 2018 constituted 4.4% of the country’s population. [27] However, the percentage of Saudi Arabian citizens who are Christians is zero de jure, [28] as Saudi Arabia forbids religious conversion from Islam and punishes it by death. [11] [29]
In 2022, the number of Christians living in Saudi Arabia was estimated at 2.1 million; however, it was unknown how many are Protestants, Catholics or Orthodox [15] Other estimates put this at over 2 million. [30]
In 2023, the Open Doors World Watch List ranked Saudi Arabia as the 13th most difficult country to be a Christian or any type of non-muslim. [31]
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is an Islamic absolute monarchy in which Sunni Islam is the official state religion based on firm Sharia law. Non-Muslims must practice their religion in private and are vulnerable to discrimination and arrest. While no law requires all citizens to be Muslim, non-Muslim foreigners attempting to acquire Saudi Arabian nationality must convert to Islam. Children born to Muslim fathers are by law deemed Muslim, and conversion from Islam to another religion is considered apostasy and punishable by death. Blasphemy against Sunni Islam is also punishable by death, but the more common penalty is a long prison sentence; there have been 'no confirmed reports of executions for either apostasy or blasphemy' in the 21st century.
The Eastern Province, also known as the Eastern Region, is the easternmost of the 13 provinces of Saudi Arabia. It is the nation's largest province by area and the third most populous after the Riyadh and Mecca provinces. In 2017, the population was 4,900,325. Of these, 3,140,362 were Saudi citizens and 1,759,963 were foreign nationals The province accounts for 15.05% of the entire population of Saudi Arabia and is named for its geographical location relative to the rest of the kingdom.
Islam is the official religion of the United Arab Emirates. Of the total population, 76.9% are Muslims as of a 2010 estimate by the Pew Research Center. Although no official statistics are available for the breakdown between Sunni and Shia Muslims among noncitizen residents, media estimates suggest less than 20 percent of the noncitizen Muslim population are Shia.
Qatif or Al-Qatif is a governorate and urban area located in Eastern Province, Saudi Arabia. It extends from Ras Tanura and Jubail in the north to Dammam in the south, and from the Persian Gulf in the east to King Fahd International Airport in the west. This region has its own municipality and includes the Qatif downtown, Safwa, Saihat, Tarout Island, and many other smaller cities and towns.
Ṣīr Banī Yās is a natural island located 170 km (110 mi) southwest of Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates. It lies 9 km (5.6 mi) offshore from Jebel Dhanna, which serves as a crossing point to other islands such as Dalma. Sir Bani Yas is 17.5 km (10.9 mi) from north to south and 9 km (5.6 mi) from east to west, making it the largest natural island in the United Arab Emirates. Located just off the shore of the western region of Abu Dhabi, Sir Bani Yas was originally home to Arabia's largest wildlife reserve. Spanning over 87 km2 (34 sq mi), the reserve was established in 1977 by Sheikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan. Due to decades of conservation work and ecological investment, it is now home to thousands of large free-roaming animals and several million trees and plants. A bird sanctuary as well as a wildlife reserve, Sir Bani Yas showcases nature through activities such as adventure safaris, kayaking, mountain biking, archery, hiking and snorkeling.
Christians reached the shores of the Persian Gulf by the beginning of the fourth century. According to the Chronicle of Seert, Bishop David of Perat d'Maishan was present at the Council of Seleucia-Ctesiphon, around 325, and sailed as far as India. Gregory Bar Hebraeus, Chron. Eccles, 2.10 indicates that David had earlier ordained one of the other bishops present at the Council. The monk Jonah is said to have established a monastery in the Persian Gulf "on the shores of the black island" in the middle of the fourth century. A Church of the East bishopric was established at Reishahr, nearly opposite Kharg Island in the northern Persian Gulf, before the Council of Dadisho in AD 424.
The Catholic Church in Qatar is part of the worldwide Catholic Church, under the spiritual leadership of the Pope in Rome.
The Bani Kaab is an Arab tribe in Oman and the United Arab Emirates, also evident in other Gulf countries.
Eastern Arabia (Bahrain), is a region stretched from Basra to Khasab along the Persian Gulf coast and included parts of modern-day Bahrain, Kuwait, Iraq, Eastern Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Oman. The entire coastal strip of Eastern Arabia was known as "Bahrain" for a millennium.
Banu Yam is an Arabian tribe that belongs to the Qahtanite branch of Arabian tribes, specifically the group known as Banu Hamdan, and are, therefore, native to southwestern Arabia.
The Christian community in Qatar is a diverse mix of European, North and South American, Asian, Middle Eastern and African expatriates. In 2023, they form around 15.4% of the total population. Many of them are from the Philippines, Europe, and India. Most Christians in Qatar are not Arab Christians.
According to the 2005 census, Christians accounted for 9 percent of the total population of the United Arab Emirates; estimates in 2010 suggested a figure of 12.6%.
Protestantism is a minority religion in the United Arab Emirates.
Islam is the state religion of Saudi Arabia.
Jubail Church is a church building near Jubail, a city in the Eastern province on the Gulf coast of Saudi Arabia. It is one of the oldest churches in the world. It contains two still visible crosses that have been carved into the wall on either side of the middle inner doorway leading from the nave towards the sanctuary.
Islam is both the majority and official religion in the United Arab Emirates, professed by approximately 76% of the population.The Al Nahyan and Al Maktoum ruling families adhere to Sunni Islam of Maliki school of jurisprudence. Many followers Hanbali school of Sunni Islam are found in Sharjah, Umm al-Quwain, Ras al-Khaimah and Ajman. Their followers include the Al Qasimi ruling family. Other religions represented in the country including Christianity, Hinduism, Buddhism, Zoroastrians, Druze, Baha'i, Judaism, and Sikhism are practiced by non-nationals.
Saudis or Saudi Arabians are the citizens and nationals of Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. They are mainly composed of Arabs and live in the five historical Regions: Najd, Hejaz, Asir, Tihamah and Al-Ahsa; the regions which the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia was founded on or what was formerly known as the Kingdom of Hejaz and Nejd in the Arabian Peninsula. Saudis speak one of the dialects of Peninsular Arabic, including the Hejazi, Najdi, Gulf and Southern Arabic dialects, as a mother tongue.
Ahmadiyya is a persecuted branch of Islam in Saudi Arabia. Although there are many foreign workers and Saudi citizens belonging to the Ahmadiyya movement in Saudi Arabia, Ahmadis are officially banned from entering the country and from performing the pilgrimage to Mecca and Medina. This has led to criticisms from multiple human rights organizations.
Christianity was one of the prominent monotheistic religions of pre-Islamic Arabia. The spread of Christianity into Arabia has historically been understood through the lenses of Christian literary texts and Byzantine historiography which typically describe the conversion of Arabs to Christianity in the context of interactions with monks and other holy men, followed by renunciations of polytheism and idols. Many of these events are described as having been followed up with the construction of a church. Such descriptions appear in narratives of the bishop Ahudemmeh, the abbot Euthymius the Great, the ascetic Simeon Stylites, and the shrine of St. Sergius at Rusafa patronized by Al-Mundhir III, leader of the Christian Arab Ghassanid tribe. Behind the literary nature of these accounts, which are overwhelmingly Syriac and Iraq in origins, Christianization emerged as a real phenomena in the Arabian peninsula and sites of Christian organization such as churches, martyria and monasteries were built and formed points of contact with Byzantine Christianity as well as allowed local Christian leaders to display their benefaction, communicate with the local population, and meet with various officials. At present, it is believed that Christianity had attained a significant presence in Arabia by the fifth century at the latest, that its largest presence was in Southern Arabia (Yemen) prominently including the city of Najran, and that the Eastern Arab Christian community communicated with the Christianity of the Levant region through Syriac.
The Church of the East monastery on Sir Bani Yas is an archaeological site in the United Arab Emirates discovered in 1992. The site is significant as evidence of the presence of Christianity in the UAE in the pre-Islamic period. Believed to be Nestorian, the Christian community continued for at least a century after the arrival of Islam.
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