Religion in Saudi Arabia
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
(Difference between revisions)
| Revision as of 16:32, 4 March 2024 Jahsonic (Talk | contribs) (Islam in Saudi Arabia moved to Religion in Saudi Arabia) ← Previous diff |
Revision as of 16:34, 4 March 2024 Jahsonic (Talk | contribs) Next diff → |
||
| Line 1: | Line 1: | ||
| {{Template}} | {{Template}} | ||
| + | [[Islam]] is the [[state religion]] of [[Saudi Arabia]]. | ||
| - | '''Islam''' is the [[state religion]] of '''[[Saudi Arabia]]'''. The connection between Islam and Saudi Arabia (or at least the western [[Hejaz]] region of the country) is uniquely strong. The kingdom, which sometimes is called the "home of Islam", is the location of the cities of [[Mecca]] and [[Medina]], where [[Muhammad]], the messenger of the Islamic faith, lived and died, and attracts millions of Muslim [[Hajj]] pilgrims annually, and thousands of clerics and students who come from across the [[Muslim world]] to study. The official title of the [[King of Saudi Arabia]] is "[[Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques]]"—the two being [[Al-Masjid al-Haram]] in Mecca and [[Al-Masjid al-Nabawi]] in Medina—which are considered the holiest in Islam. | + | The government of Saudi Arabia has been criticized for [[Freedom of religion in Saudi Arabia|its restrictions on religious freedom]]. |
| - | In the 18th century, a pact between Islamic preacher [[Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab]] and a regional emir, [[Muhammad bin Saud]], brought a fiercely puritanical strain of [[Sunni Islam]] first to the [[Najd]] region and then to the [[Arabian Peninsula]]. Referred to by supporters as "[[Salafism]]" and by others as "[[Wahhabism]]", this interpretation of Islam became the state religion and interpretation of Islam espoused by Muhammad bin Saud and his successors (the [[House of Saud|Al Saud]] family), who eventually created the modern kingdom of Saudi Arabia in 1932. The Saudi government has spent tens of billions of dollars of its [[petroleum]] export revenue throughout the Islamic world and elsewhere on building mosques, publishing books, giving scholarships and fellowships, hosting international Islamic organisations, and promoting its form of Islam, sometimes referred to as "[[petro-Islam]]". | + | Approximately two-thirds of the country's residents are Muslim and the [[Basic Law of Saudi Arabia|Basic Law]] states that it is the duty of every citizen to defend Islam; most non-Muslim foreigners attempting to acquire Saudi Arabian nationality must convert to Islam. [[Hanbali]] is the official version of [[Sunni Islam]] and it is used in the [[Legal system of Saudi Arabia|legal]] and [[Education in Saudi Arabia|education]] systems. |
| - | Whether Salafis/Wahhabis are a majority in Saudi Arabia is disputed, with one estimate putting their number at only 22.9% of the native population (concentrated in Najd). The Wahhabi mission has been dominant in [[Najd]] for two hundred years, but in most other parts of the country—Hejaz, the [[Eastern Province, Saudi Arabia|Eastern Province]], [[Najran]]—it has dominated only since 1913-1925. Most of the 15 to 20 million Saudi citizens are Sunni Muslims, while the eastern regions are populated mostly by Twelver [[Shia]], and there are [[Zaydi]] Shia in the southern regions. According to a number of sources, only a minority of Saudis consider themselves Wahhabis, although according to other sources, the Wahhabi affiliation is up to 40%, making it a very dominant minority, at the very least using a native population of 17 million based on "2008-9 estimates". In addition, the next largest affiliation is with Salafism, which encompasses all of the central principles of Wahhabism, with a number of minor additional accepted principles differentiating the two. | + | In 2022, the law bans the promotion of atheism, as well as any proselytizing by non-Muslims. |
| - | Proselytizing by non-Muslims in Saudi Arabia, including the distribution of non-Muslim religious materials (such as the [[Bible]]), is illegal. | ||
| ==See also== | ==See also== | ||
| - | * [[International propagation of Salafism and Wahhabism]] | + | *[[International propagation of Salafism and Wahhabism]] |
| - | * [[Islam by country]] | + | |
| - | * [[List of mosques in Saudi Arabia]] | + | |
| - | * [[Religion in Saudi Arabia]] | + | |
| - | * [[Salafism]] | + | |
| - | * [[Wahhabism]] | + | |
| {{GFDL}} | {{GFDL}} | ||
Revision as of 16:34, 4 March 2024
|
Related e |
|
Featured: |
Islam is the state religion of Saudi Arabia.
The government of Saudi Arabia has been criticized for its restrictions on religious freedom.
Approximately two-thirds of the country's residents are Muslim and the Basic Law states that it is the duty of every citizen to defend Islam; most non-Muslim foreigners attempting to acquire Saudi Arabian nationality must convert to Islam. Hanbali is the official version of Sunni Islam and it is used in the legal and education systems.
In 2022, the law bans the promotion of atheism, as well as any proselytizing by non-Muslims.
See also
Unless indicated otherwise, the text in this article is either based on Wikipedia article "Religion in Saudi Arabia" or another language Wikipedia page thereof used under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License; or on research by Jahsonic and friends. See Art and Popular Culture's copyright notice.
