Kuwait
(2000)
Islam is the state religion; although the Constitution
provides for freedom of religion, the Government places some limits on this
right.
There was no significant change in the status of respect
for religious freedom during the period covered by this report.
There are generally amicable relations among the
different religions in society. There were no new reports of vandalism or
other actions against the country's Christian churches. One violent
incident in April 2000 against a Muslim citizen was attributed to Sunni
Muslim extremists and was criticized harshly by the Government and society
at large. Complaints by the Shi'a community about continued difficulties in
obtaining approval for the construction of new mosques attracted national
attention when approval for the construction of a mosque in the Al-Qurain
area was denied by the municipality of Kuwait after it had been pending for
9 years. In May 2000, there were indications that the national Government
would reverse this decision.
The U. S. Government discusses religious freedom issues
with the Government in the context of its overall dialog and policy of
promoting human rights.
Section I. Government Policies on Freedom of Religion
Legal/Policy Framework
Islam is the state religion; although the Constitution
provides for freedom of religion, the Government places some limits on this
right. The Constitution also provides that the State protect the freedom to
practice religion in accordance with established customs, "provided
that it does not conflict with public policy or morals." The
Constitution states that Shari'a (Islamic law) is "a main source of
legislation."
The procedures for registration and licensing of
religious groups are unclear. The Ministry of Awqaf and Islamic Affairs has
official responsibility for overseeing religious groups. Nevertheless, in
reality officially recognized churches must deal with a variety of
government entities, including the Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor
(for visas and residence permits for pastors and other staff) and the
Kuwaiti Municipality (for building permits). While there reportedly is no
official government "list" of recognized churches, seven
Christian churches have at least some sort of official recognition that
enables them to operate openly. These seven churches have open
"files" at the Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor, allowing
them to bring in the pastors and staff necessary to run their churches.
Further, by tradition three of the country's churches are widely recognized
as enjoying "full recognition" by the Government and are allowed
to operate compounds officially designated as churches: the Catholic Church
(which includes two separate churches), the Anglican Church, and the
National Evangelical Church of Kuwait (Protestant). The other four churches
reportedly are allowed to operate openly, hire employees, invite religious
speakers, etc., all without interference from the Government, but their
compounds are, according to government records, registered only as private
homes. The churches themselves appear uncertain about the guidelines or
procedures for recognition. Some have argued that these procedures are
purposely kept vague by the Government so as to maintain the status quo.
All other churches and religions have no legal status but are allowed to
operate in private homes.
The procedures for registration and licensing of
religious groups also appear to be connected with government restrictions
on nongovernmental organizations (NGO's), religious or otherwise. In 1993
all unlicensed organizations were ordered by the Council of Ministers to
cease their activities. This order has never been enforced; however, since
that time all but three applications by NGO's have been frozen. There were
reports that in the last few years at least two groups have applied for
permission to build their own churches, but the Government has not yet
responded to their requests.
Religious Demography
Among a total population of 2.2 million, approximately
1.5 million persons are Muslim, including the vast majority of the 750,000
citizens. The remainder of the overall population consists of the large
foreign labor force and over 100,000 stateless persons, most of whom are
Muslim. The ruling family and many prominent families belong to the Sunni
branch of Islam. The total Sunni Muslim population is approximately 1
million, 500,000 of whom are citizens. The remaining 30 to 40 percent of
Muslim residents (approximately 500,000) are Shi'a, 250,000 of whom are
citizens. Estimates of the nominal Christian population range from 250,000
to 500,000 (including approximately 200 citizens, most of whom belong to 12
large families).
The Christian community consists of the Roman Catholic
Diocese, with 2 churches and an estimated 75,000 members (Maronite
Christians also worship at the Catholic cathedral in Kuwait city); the
Anglican (Episcopalian) Church, with 115 members (several thousand other
Christians use the Anglican Church for worship services); the National
Evangelical Church (Protestant), with 3 main congregations (Arabic,
English, and "Malayalee") and 15,000 members (several other
Christian denominations also worship at the National Evangelical Church
Compound); the Greek Orthodox Church (referred to locally as the
"Roman Orthodox" Church), with 3,500 members; the Armenian
Orthodox Church, with 4,000 members; the Coptic Orthodox Church, with
60,000 members; and the Greek Catholic (Eastern Rite) Church, whose
membership totals are unavailable.
There are many other unrecognized Christian
denominations in the country, with tens of thousands of members. These
denominations include Seventh-Day Adventists, the Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-Day Saints (Mormons), Marthoma, and the Indian Orthodox Syrian
Church.
There are also members of religions not sanctioned in
the Koran, such as Hindus (100,000 members), Sikhs (10,000), Baha'is (400),
and Buddhists (no statistics available).
Governmental Restrictions on Religious Freedom
Shi'a are free to conduct their traditional forms of
worship without government interference; however, members of the Shi'a
community have complained about the scarcity of Shi'a mosques due to the
Government's slowness or failure to grant approval for the construction of
new Shi'a mosques as well as the repair of existing mosques. The community
was particularly critical in May 2000 when the municipality rejected a
9-year-old petition for construction of a Shi'a mosque in the Al-Qurain
area. Although the municipality apparently relented due to direct
government intervention, there are still complaints about the lack of
sufficient Shi'a mosques. There are approximately 30 Shi'a mosques compared
with the 1,300 Sunni mosques in the country. However, Shi'a have noted some
improvement in recent years in that a small number of approvals have been
granted for the construction of Shi'a mosques.
Shi'a leaders also have complained that Shi'a who aspire
to serve as imams are forced to seek appropriate training and education
abroad due to the lack of Shi'a jurisprudence courses at Kuwait
University's College of Islamic Law. They also have expressed concern that
certain pending proposed legislation within the National Assembly does not
take beliefs specific to the Shi'a into account.
The Roman Catholic, Anglican, National Evangelical,
Greek Orthodox, Armenian Orthodox, Coptic Orthodox, and Greek Catholic
Churches are able to operate freely on their compounds, holding worship
services without government interference. These leaders also state that the
Government generally has been supportive of their presence, even providing
police security and traffic direction as needed. Other Christian
denominations (including Mormons, Seventh-Day Adventists, Marthoma, and
Indian Orthodox), while not recognized legally, are allowed to operate in
private homes or in the facilities of recognized churches. Members of these
congregations have reported that they are able to worship without
government interference, provided that they do not disturb their neighbors
and do not violate laws regarding assembly and proselytizing.
Members of religions not sanctioned in the Koran, such
as Hindus and Buddhists, may not build places of worship, but are allowed
to worship privately in their homes without interference from the
Government.
The Government prohibits missionaries from proselytizing
to Muslims; however, they may serve non-Muslim congregations. The law
prohibits organized religious education for religions other than Islam,
although this law is not enforced rigidly. Informal religious instruction
occurs inside private homes and on church compounds without government
interference. However, there were reports that government
"inspectors" periodically visit public and private schools
outside of church compounds to ensure that no religious teaching other than
Islam takes place.
The Government does not permit the establishment of
non-Islamic publishing companies or training institutions for clergy.
Nevertheless, several churches do publish religious materials for use
solely by their congregations. Further, some churches, in the privacy of
their compounds, provide informal instruction to individuals interested in
joining the clergy.
A private company, the Book House Company Ltd., is
permitted to import significant amounts of Bibles and other Christian
religious material--including, as of early 2000, videotapes and compact
discs--for use solely among the congregations of the country's recognized
churches. The Book House Company is the only bookstore that has an import
license to bring in such materials, which also must be approved by
government censors. There have been reports of private citizens having
non-Islamic religious materials confiscated by customs officials upon
arrival at the airport.
Although there is a small community of Christian
citizens, a law passed in 1980 prohibits the naturalization of non-Muslims.
However, citizens who were Christians before 1980 (and children born to
families of such citizens since that date), are allowed to transmit their
citizenship to their children.
According to the law, a non-Muslim male must convert to
Islam when he marries a Muslim woman if the wedding is to be legal in
Kuwait. A non-Muslim female does not have to convert to Islam to marry a
Muslim male, but it is to her advantage to do so. Failure to convert may
mean that, should the couple later divorce, the Muslim father would be
granted custody of any children.
In April 2000, the Government formed a joint
interministerial committee to study ways to control extremist groups (see
Section II).
The law requires jail terms for journalists who ridicule
religion. In the period covered by this report, Islamists used this law to
threaten writers with prosecution for publishing opinions deemed
insufficiently observant of Islamic norms. In January 2000, the Kuwaiti
Court of Misdemeanors found two female Kuwaiti authors, Alia Shuaib and
Leila Al-Othman, guilty of writing books that were blasphemous and obscene.
Shuaib and Al-Othman were sentenced to 2 months in prison which could be
suspended upon payment of a $160 (50 Kuwaiti dinars) fine. On March 26, a
Kuwaiti appeals court acquitted Shuaib of the charges of blasphemy and
publishing works that ridicule religion. Al-Othman's conviction of using
indecent language was upheld. The court's judgments represented the latest
in a series of cases brought by Islamists against secular authors. The
court did not provide explanations for its rulings.
In early 2000, a Vatican representative arrived in the
country to establish a permanent mission. The mission, which currently is
headed by a charge d'affaires who temporarily resides at the Roman Catholic
Church, also is to represent Vatican interests in the smaller Gulf States
and Yemen. The Church views the Government's acquiescence to establish
relations with the Vatican as significant in terms of government tolerance
of Christianity.
There was no significant change in the status of respect
for religious freedom during the period covered by this report.
There were no reports of religious detainees or
prisoners.
Forced Religious Conversion of Minor U.S. Citizens
There were no reports of the forced religious
conversions of minor U.S. citizens who had been abducted or illegally
removed from the United States, or of the Government's refusal to allow
such citizens to be returned to the United States. There have been cases in
which U.S. citizen children have been abducted from the United States and
not allowed to return (under the law, the father receives custody in such
cases, and his permission is required for the children to leave the
country); however, there were no reports that such children were forced to
convert to Islam, or that forced conversion was the reason that they were
not allowed to return.
Section II. Societal Attitudes
In general, there are amicable relations among the
different religions, and citizens generally are open and tolerant of other
religions. While there is a small minority of ultraconservatives opposed to
the presence of non-Muslim groups, there were no new reports of vandalism
or other actions against the country's Christian churches during the period
covered by this report. There was one reported incident in April 2000 of
vigilante justice by extremists against a female Muslim university student,
who allegedly was beaten by three men for un-Islamic behavior. Subsequent
reports claimed that up to seven members of the extremist group Takfir Wa
Hijra (Brand Infidels and Expel Them) were involved in the assault and had
been involved in similar incidents in recent years. The accused were
arrested within days and the Government formed a joint ministerial
committee to study ways to control such groups. However, the evidence
supporting the student's charges did not hold up in court and on June 12,
Kuwait's criminal court acquitted the accused suspects. While reactions to
this incident varied, in general, most citizens were critical of the
extremists' actions.
During the same month, unidentified gunmen fired shots
at a "husseiniya" (religious meeting place for Shi'a). Although
the identities of the assailants were never determined, the incident
contributed to a perception by some that extremists (the presumed
attackers) are becoming increasingly disruptive to society.
While some discrimination based on religion reportedly
occurs on a personal level, most observers agree that it is not widespread.
There is a perception among some domestic employees and other members of
the unskilled labor force, particularly nationals from Southeast Asian
countries, that they would receive better treatment from employers as well
as society as a whole if they converted to Islam. However, others do not
see conversion to Islam as a factor in this regard.
The conversion of Muslims to other religions is a very
sensitive matter. While it is reported that such conversions have occurred,
they have been done quietly and discreetly. Muslim conversions that become
public are likely to trigger hostility within society, as demonstrated by a
1996 case in which the convert received death threats.
Section III. U.S. Government Policy
The Embassy discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government in the overall context of the promotion of human rights.
U.S. Embassy officials frequently meet with
representatives from Sunni, Shi'a, and various Christian groups. Intensive
monitoring of religious issues has long been an embassy priority. Embassy
officers have met with most of the leaders of the country's recognized
Christian churches, along with representatives of various unrecognized
faiths. Such meetings have afforded embassy officials the opportunity to
learn the status and concerns of these groups.
Sources: U.S. State Department - Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor |