The UAE Constitution provides for freedom of religion in accordance with established customs, but this right is not always respected in practice. Religion in the UAE is not separated from the state and, according to the constitution, Islam is the official religion in the country.
Content
Demographics of Religion
The area of the country is 82.880 square kilometers, the population is 9.5 million people (according to data for 2018). Only 20% of the population are UAE citizens. [1] According to the 2005 census, 100% of UAE citizens are Muslims; 85 percent of them are Sunnis , 15 percent are Shiites . [2] According to the UAE government, 76 percent of the population (including foreigners) are Muslims, 9 percent are Christians , and 15 percent practice other religions. Unofficial sources claim that 15 percent practice Hinduism , 5 percent practice Buddhism , and 5 percent practice other religions (mainly Bahai and Sikhs ) [3]
Religious Discrimination
In recent years, about four thousand Shiite expatriates have been deported from the UAE. [4] [5] [6] These are mainly Lebanese citizens accused of supporting the Hezbollah group. [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] . [13] [14]
Exit from Islam
Exiting Islam is considered a crime in the United Arab Emirates. [15] In 1978, the process of Islamization of the country's legislation began in the UAE, after the Council of Ministers voted to create a committee authorized to check the laws for compliance with Sharia . Among other things, the Hadd was included in the criminal code, including the punishment for apostasy. [16] According to the criminal code, the death penalty may be imposed for exiting Islam. [17] [18]
Christians and representatives of other religions are free to practice their religions, but can not engage in missionary activities among Muslims. [nineteen]
See also
- Human Rights in the United Arab Emirates
Notes
- ↑ US department of state - background note: United Arab Emirates .
- ↑ Pike, John United Arab Emirates-Religion . www.globalsecurity.org . Date of treatment November 11, 2016.
- ↑ United Arab Emirates: International Religious Freedom Report 2007 . United States Department of State : Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor (September 14, 2007). Date of treatment May 2, 2008.
- ↑ Shiites deported from Gulf lament injustice . Daily Star (July 4, 2013).
- ↑ Concern over deportations from Gulf Arab states . rte.ie (July 5, 2013).
- ↑ UAE urged to allow appeal on deportations . Financial Times (July 2013).
- ↑ UAE deportations raise questions in Lebanon . Global Post (July 2013).
- ↑ Lebanese Shiites Ousted from Gulf over Hizbullah Ties . naharnet.com (July 2013).
- ↑ Lebanese Living in UAE Fear Deportation (link not available) . Al Monitor (2013). Date of treatment February 12, 2019. Archived October 16, 2014.
- ↑ UAE Deports 125 Lebanese Citizens (inaccessible link) . Al Monitor (2013). Date of treatment February 12, 2019. Archived December 25, 2014.
- ↑ UAE / Lebanon: Allow Lebanese / Palestinian Deportees to Appeal . Human Rights Watch (2010).
- ↑ Lebanese Families in UAE Face Deportations on Short Notice (link not available) . Al Monitor (2012). Date of treatment February 12, 2019. Archived November 17, 2015.
- ↑ Ana Maria Luca. Hezbollah and the Gulf (June 5, 2013).
- ↑ UAE said to deport dozens of Lebanese, mostly Shiite Muslims , Beirut : Yahoo! News (March 13, 2015). Date of appeal September 16, 2015.
- ↑ UAE - Laws Criminalizing Apostasy Library of Congress (May 2014)
- ↑ Butti Sultan Butti Ali Al-Muhairi (1996), The Islamization of Laws in the UAE: The Case of the Penal Code , Arab Law Quarterly, Vol. 11, No. 4 (1996), pp. 350-371
- ↑ Articles of Law 3 of 1987 , al Jarida al Rasmiyya, vol. 182, December 8, 1987
- ↑ Al-Muhairi (1997), Conclusion to the Series of Articles on the UAE Penal Law. Arab Law Quarterly, Vol. 12, No. four
- ↑ https://www.thenational.ae/uae/uae-creates-federal-public-prosecution-for-information-technology-crimes-1.41675
- [1] US department of state - background note: United Arab Emirates
- [2] International Religious Freedom Report 2007 - UAE
- United States Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor. United Arab Emirates: International Religious Freedom Report 2007 .