Shia Islam in Saudi Arabia
Encyclopedia
Approximately 15 percent of citizens in Saudi Arabia are Shia Muslims, most of whom belong to the Baharna
Twelver Shia community living in the Eastern Province, with the largest concentrations in Qatif
, Al-Hasa
, and Dammam
(in addition to a small Twelver Shia minority in Medina
called the Nakhawila
). A large Isma'ili Shia concentration is found in Najran
along the border with Yemen
.
The modern Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, formed in 1932, is based on a strict interpretation of Sunni Islam founded by a scholar named Mohammed ibn Abd al-Wahhab (Encyclopedia Britannica). The majority of the 25 million Saudis follow this branch of Islam; however, a sizable Shia minority exists within the kingdom, and is focused primarily in the oil-rich Eastern Province of Al-Qatif. It is estimated that between 10 and 15 million Saudis adhere to the Shia Islamic faith, and those who do often face persecution and discrimination that begins in childhood.
, the Sunni rulers limit Shia political participation to a game of notables. These notables benefit from their ties to power and in turn, are expected to control their community. Saudi Shias are a minority comprising only about 10-15%, about 3.5 million, of the some 25 million Saudi population. Although some live in Medina
, Mecca
, and even Riyadh
, the majority are concentrated in the oases of al-Hasa and Qatif in the oil-rich areas of the Eastern Province. For years, they have faced religious and economic discrimination because they’re viewed as Iran
ian puppets. They have usually been denounced as heretics, traitors, and non-Muslims. Shias were accused of sabotage, most notably for bombing oil pipelines in 1988. A number of Shias were even executed. In response to Iran’s militancy, the Saudi government collectively punished the Shia community in Saudi Arabia
by placing restrictions on their freedoms and marginalizing them economically. Wahabi ulama were given the green light to sanction violence against the Shia. What followed were fatwas passed by the country’s leading cleric, Abdul-Aziz ibn Baz which denounced the Shias as apostates. Another by Adul-Rahman al-Jibrin, a member of the Higher Council of Ulama even sanctioned the killing of Shias. This call was reiterated in Wahabi religious literature as late as 2002.
Human Rights Watch
published a report condemning Saudi Arabia's policies towards its Shia citizens and called on Saudi authorities to treat the Shia minority as equal citizens.
Unlike Iraq
and Lebanon
which have sizable Shia wealthy elites, Saudi Arabia
has nothing resembling a Shia elite of any kind. There have been no Shia cabinet ministers. They are kept out of critical jobs in the armed forces and the security services. There are no Shia mayors or police chiefs, and not one of the three hundred Shia girls’ schools in the Eastern Province has a Shia principal.
The government has restricted the names that Shias can use for their children in an attempt to discourage them from showing their identity. Saudi textbooks, criticized for their anti-Semitism
, are equally hostile to Shiism often characterizing the faith as a form of heresy worse than Christianity
and Judaism
. Wahabi teachers frequently tell classrooms full of young Shia schoolchildren that they are heretics.
In the eastern city of Dammam, where three quarters of residents are Shia, Ashura
is banned, and there is no distinctly Shia call to prayer. There is no Shia cemetery for the 450,000 Shias that live there. There is only one mosque for the city's Shias. The Saudi government has often been viewed as an active oppressor of Shias because of the funding of the Wahabi ideology which denounces the Shia faith.
Mohammad Taqi has written that "the Saudi regime is also acutely aware that, in the final analysis, the Shiite grievances are not merely doctrinal issues but stem from socioeconomic deprivation, as a result of religious repression and political marginalization bordering on apartheid." Amir Taheri
quotes a Shi'ite businessman from Dhahran as saying "It is not normal that there are no Shi'ite army officers, ministers, governors, mayors and ambassadors in this kingdom. This form of religious apartheid is as intolerable as was apartheid based on race."
Testifying before the Congressional Human Rights Caucus, Ali Al-Ahmed
, Director of the Saudi Institute, stated "Saudi Arabia is a glaring example of religious apartheid. The religious institutions from government clerics to judges, to religious curriculums, and all religious instructions in media are restricted to the Wahhabi understanding of Islam, adhered to by less than 40% of the population. The Saudi government communized Islam, through its monopoly of both religious thoughts and practice. Wahhabi Islam is imposed and enforced on all Saudis regardless of their religious orientations. The Wahhabi sect does not tolerate other religious or ideological beliefs, Muslim or not. Religious symbols by Muslims, Christians, Jewish and other believers are all banned. The Saudi embassy in Washington is a living example of religious apartheid. In its 50 years, there has not been a single non-Sunni Muslim diplomat in the embassy. The branch of Imam Mohamed Bin Saud University in Fairfax, Virginia
instructs its students that Shia Islam is a Jewish conspiracy."
is a commemoration made by Shia Muslims to remember the martyrdom of Muhammad
's grandson, Husayn bin Ali. As one of the most important religious days, Shia Muslims remember the occasion with many somber events. However, the Wahhabi government has refused to allow Shia teachers and students exemption from school to partake in the activities. In 2009, during Ashura commencements, Shia religious and community leaders were arrested.
Shiites are often banned from building mosques and other religious centers, and sometimes perform Friday prayers in various homes (Al-Hassan). In the Eastern city of Al-Khobar, whose population is predominately Shia, mosques and prayer centers were closed, beginning in July 2008. Saudi Arabia's religious police mandate prayers and all those in public buildings during prayer time are required to stop what they are doing to pray. Because there are minor differences between the way that Shiites and Sunnis pray and between prayer times, Shiites are forced to either pray the Sunni way or face much discrimination.
One of the five pillars of Islam requires all able-bodied Muslims to visit the holy city of Mecca
and perform Hajj once in their lives. While this is supposed to be a time of immense spirituality, in 2009 when a group of Shiites went to perform their pilgrimage they were arrested by Sunni religious police. A fifteen-year-old pilgrim was shot in the chest and an unknown civilian stabbed a Shiite sheikh in the back, shouting “Kill the rejectionist [Shia]”.
Religious police even mandate the smallest things that the Shia community partakes in. Women were arrested in the Eastern Province for organizing classes for Quranic studies and those selling clothing for religious ceremonies were arrested as well.
Because this attitude is engrained from the beginning, it follows people from childhood to adulthood. This prejudice is found not only in textbooks, but also within the teachers in the classroom, who continue to pass down this idea from generation to generation (Al-Hassan). Teachers who proclaim that Shiites are atheists and deserve death face no repercussions for their actions, barely even receiving punishment (Al-Hassan). Even in the university setting, there is still ignorance and hatred against Shiites present. At a seminar about the internet, held in King Abdulaziz City of Science and Technology, professor Dr. Bader Hmood Albader explained how the internet was beneficial to society, but at the same time there were many Shia websites proclaiming to be Muslim websites, which needed to be stopped (Al-Hassan).
Baharna
The Bahrani are the indigenous Shi'a inhabitants of the archipelago of Bahrain and the oasis of Qatif on the Persian Gulf coast of Saudi Arabia . The term is sometimes also extended to the Shi'a inhabitants of the al-Hasa oasis. They are all Arabic speaking, and some claim descent from Arab tribes...
Twelver Shia community living in the Eastern Province, with the largest concentrations in Qatif
Qatif
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...
, Al-Hasa
Al-Hasa
Al-Ahsa is the largest governorate in Saudi Arabia's Eastern Province, named after Al-Ahsa oasis. The name Al-Ahsa is also given to the biggest city in the region, Hofuf. In classic Arabic, Ahsa means the sound of water underground. It has one of the largest oases in the world with Date Palms of...
, and Dammam
Dammam
Dammam is the capital of the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia, the most oil-rich region in the world. The judicial and administrative bodies of the province and several government departments are located in the city. Dammam is the largest city in the Eastern Province and third largest in Saudi...
(in addition to a small Twelver Shia minority in Medina
Medina
Medina , or ; also transliterated as Madinah, or madinat al-nabi "the city of the prophet") is a city in the Hejaz region of western Saudi Arabia, and serves as the capital of the Al Madinah Province. It is the second holiest city in Islam, and the burial place of the Islamic Prophet Muhammad, and...
called the Nakhawila
Nakhawila
The Nakhawila are a community of Arab Hijazi Shias who live in the city of Medina in Saudi Arabia. They are Twelver Shi'a ; a branch of Shia Islam that forms majority...
). A large Isma'ili Shia concentration is found in Najran
Najran
Najran , formerly known as Aba as Sa'ud, is a city in southwestern Saudi Arabia near the border with Yemen. It is the capital of Najran Province. Designated a New town, Najran is one of the fastest-growing cities in the kingdom; its population has risen from 47,500 in 1974 and 90,983 in 1992 to...
along the border with Yemen
Yemen
The Republic of Yemen , commonly known as Yemen , is a country located in the Middle East, occupying the southwestern to southern end of the Arabian Peninsula. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to the north, the Red Sea to the west, and Oman to the east....
.
The modern Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, formed in 1932, is based on a strict interpretation of Sunni Islam founded by a scholar named Mohammed ibn Abd al-Wahhab (Encyclopedia Britannica). The majority of the 25 million Saudis follow this branch of Islam; however, a sizable Shia minority exists within the kingdom, and is focused primarily in the oil-rich Eastern Province of Al-Qatif. It is estimated that between 10 and 15 million Saudis adhere to the Shia Islamic faith, and those who do often face persecution and discrimination that begins in childhood.
Restrictions and persecutions
In modern day Saudi ArabiaSaudi Arabia
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia , commonly known in British English as Saudi Arabia and in Arabic as as-Sa‘ūdiyyah , is the largest state in Western Asia by land area, constituting the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and the second-largest in the Arab World...
, the Sunni rulers limit Shia political participation to a game of notables. These notables benefit from their ties to power and in turn, are expected to control their community. Saudi Shias are a minority comprising only about 10-15%, about 3.5 million, of the some 25 million Saudi population. Although some live in Medina
Medina
Medina , or ; also transliterated as Madinah, or madinat al-nabi "the city of the prophet") is a city in the Hejaz region of western Saudi Arabia, and serves as the capital of the Al Madinah Province. It is the second holiest city in Islam, and the burial place of the Islamic Prophet Muhammad, and...
, Mecca
Mecca
Mecca is a city in the Hijaz and the capital of Makkah province in Saudi Arabia. The city is located inland from Jeddah in a narrow valley at a height of above sea level...
, and even Riyadh
Riyadh
Riyadh is the capital and largest city of Saudi Arabia. It is also the capital of Riyadh Province, and belongs to the historical regions of Najd and Al-Yamama. It is situated in the center of the Arabian Peninsula on a large plateau, and is home to 5,254,560 people, and the urban center of a...
, the majority are concentrated in the oases of al-Hasa and Qatif in the oil-rich areas of the Eastern Province. For years, they have faced religious and economic discrimination because they’re viewed as Iran
Iran
Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...
ian puppets. They have usually been denounced as heretics, traitors, and non-Muslims. Shias were accused of sabotage, most notably for bombing oil pipelines in 1988. A number of Shias were even executed. In response to Iran’s militancy, the Saudi government collectively punished the Shia community in Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia , commonly known in British English as Saudi Arabia and in Arabic as as-Sa‘ūdiyyah , is the largest state in Western Asia by land area, constituting the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and the second-largest in the Arab World...
by placing restrictions on their freedoms and marginalizing them economically. Wahabi ulama were given the green light to sanction violence against the Shia. What followed were fatwas passed by the country’s leading cleric, Abdul-Aziz ibn Baz which denounced the Shias as apostates. Another by Adul-Rahman al-Jibrin, a member of the Higher Council of Ulama even sanctioned the killing of Shias. This call was reiterated in Wahabi religious literature as late as 2002.
Human Rights Watch
Human Rights Watch
Human Rights Watch is an international non-governmental organization that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. Its headquarters are in New York City and it has offices in Berlin, Beirut, Brussels, Chicago, Geneva, Johannesburg, London, Los Angeles, Moscow, Paris, San Francisco, Tokyo,...
published a report condemning Saudi Arabia's policies towards its Shia citizens and called on Saudi authorities to treat the Shia minority as equal citizens.
Unlike Iraq
Iraq
Iraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....
and Lebanon
Lebanon
Lebanon , officially the Republic of LebanonRepublic of Lebanon is the most common term used by Lebanese government agencies. The term Lebanese Republic, a literal translation of the official Arabic and French names that is not used in today's world. Arabic is the most common language spoken among...
which have sizable Shia wealthy elites, Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia , commonly known in British English as Saudi Arabia and in Arabic as as-Sa‘ūdiyyah , is the largest state in Western Asia by land area, constituting the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and the second-largest in the Arab World...
has nothing resembling a Shia elite of any kind. There have been no Shia cabinet ministers. They are kept out of critical jobs in the armed forces and the security services. There are no Shia mayors or police chiefs, and not one of the three hundred Shia girls’ schools in the Eastern Province has a Shia principal.
The government has restricted the names that Shias can use for their children in an attempt to discourage them from showing their identity. Saudi textbooks, criticized for their anti-Semitism
Anti-Semitism
Antisemitism is suspicion of, hatred toward, or discrimination against Jews for reasons connected to their Jewish heritage. According to a 2005 U.S...
, are equally hostile to Shiism often characterizing the faith as a form of heresy worse than Christianity
Christianity
Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in canonical gospels and other New Testament writings...
and Judaism
Judaism
Judaism ) is the "religion, philosophy, and way of life" of the Jewish people...
. Wahabi teachers frequently tell classrooms full of young Shia schoolchildren that they are heretics.
In the eastern city of Dammam, where three quarters of residents are Shia, Ashura
Day of Ashura
The Day of Ashura is on the 10th day of Muharram in the Islamic calendar and marks the climax of the Remembrance of Muharram.It is commemorated by Shia Muslims as a day of mourning for the martyrdom of Husayn ibn Ali, the grandson of the Islamic Prophet Muhammad at the Battle of Karbala on 10...
is banned, and there is no distinctly Shia call to prayer. There is no Shia cemetery for the 450,000 Shias that live there. There is only one mosque for the city's Shias. The Saudi government has often been viewed as an active oppressor of Shias because of the funding of the Wahabi ideology which denounces the Shia faith.
Mohammad Taqi has written that "the Saudi regime is also acutely aware that, in the final analysis, the Shiite grievances are not merely doctrinal issues but stem from socioeconomic deprivation, as a result of religious repression and political marginalization bordering on apartheid." Amir Taheri
Amir Taheri
Amir Taheri is an Iranian-born conservative author based in Europe. His writings focus on the Middle East affairs and topics related to Islamist terrorism. He gained international fame as the man behind the 2006 Iranian sumptuary law controversy.-Career:Taheri's biography at Benador Associates...
quotes a Shi'ite businessman from Dhahran as saying "It is not normal that there are no Shi'ite army officers, ministers, governors, mayors and ambassadors in this kingdom. This form of religious apartheid is as intolerable as was apartheid based on race."
Testifying before the Congressional Human Rights Caucus, Ali Al-Ahmed
Ali Al-Ahmed
Ali Al-Ahmed is a Saudi scholar and expert on Saudi political affairs including: terrorism, Islamic movements, Wahhabi Islam, Saudi political history, Saudi-American relations, and the history of the Al-Saud family. He is the founder and director of the Institute for Gulf Affairs , an independent...
, Director of the Saudi Institute, stated "Saudi Arabia is a glaring example of religious apartheid. The religious institutions from government clerics to judges, to religious curriculums, and all religious instructions in media are restricted to the Wahhabi understanding of Islam, adhered to by less than 40% of the population. The Saudi government communized Islam, through its monopoly of both religious thoughts and practice. Wahhabi Islam is imposed and enforced on all Saudis regardless of their religious orientations. The Wahhabi sect does not tolerate other religious or ideological beliefs, Muslim or not. Religious symbols by Muslims, Christians, Jewish and other believers are all banned. The Saudi embassy in Washington is a living example of religious apartheid. In its 50 years, there has not been a single non-Sunni Muslim diplomat in the embassy. The branch of Imam Mohamed Bin Saud University in Fairfax, Virginia
Fairfax, Virginia
The City of Fairfax is an independent city forming an enclave within the confines of Fairfax County, in the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. Although politically independent of the surrounding county, the City is nevertheless the county seat....
instructs its students that Shia Islam is a Jewish conspiracy."
Religious Discrimination
The Day of AshuraDay of Ashura
The Day of Ashura is on the 10th day of Muharram in the Islamic calendar and marks the climax of the Remembrance of Muharram.It is commemorated by Shia Muslims as a day of mourning for the martyrdom of Husayn ibn Ali, the grandson of the Islamic Prophet Muhammad at the Battle of Karbala on 10...
is a commemoration made by Shia Muslims to remember the martyrdom of Muhammad
Muhammad
Muhammad |ligature]] at U+FDF4 ;Arabic pronunciation varies regionally; the first vowel ranges from ~~; the second and the last vowel: ~~~. There are dialects which have no stress. In Egypt, it is pronounced not in religious contexts...
's grandson, Husayn bin Ali. As one of the most important religious days, Shia Muslims remember the occasion with many somber events. However, the Wahhabi government has refused to allow Shia teachers and students exemption from school to partake in the activities. In 2009, during Ashura commencements, Shia religious and community leaders were arrested.
Shiites are often banned from building mosques and other religious centers, and sometimes perform Friday prayers in various homes (Al-Hassan). In the Eastern city of Al-Khobar, whose population is predominately Shia, mosques and prayer centers were closed, beginning in July 2008. Saudi Arabia's religious police mandate prayers and all those in public buildings during prayer time are required to stop what they are doing to pray. Because there are minor differences between the way that Shiites and Sunnis pray and between prayer times, Shiites are forced to either pray the Sunni way or face much discrimination.
One of the five pillars of Islam requires all able-bodied Muslims to visit the holy city of Mecca
Mecca
Mecca is a city in the Hijaz and the capital of Makkah province in Saudi Arabia. The city is located inland from Jeddah in a narrow valley at a height of above sea level...
and perform Hajj once in their lives. While this is supposed to be a time of immense spirituality, in 2009 when a group of Shiites went to perform their pilgrimage they were arrested by Sunni religious police. A fifteen-year-old pilgrim was shot in the chest and an unknown civilian stabbed a Shiite sheikh in the back, shouting “Kill the rejectionist [Shia]”.
Religious police even mandate the smallest things that the Shia community partakes in. Women were arrested in the Eastern Province for organizing classes for Quranic studies and those selling clothing for religious ceremonies were arrested as well.
Discrimination in Schools
Education in Saudi Arabia forms much of its base from religious material based on Wahhabi teachings. From a very young age, students are taught that Shiites are not Muslims and that Shiism is a conspiracy from the Jews, and so Shiites are worthy of death (Al-Hassan). This hatred towards Shiites runs so deep that government scholars, such as Abdulqader Shaibat Alhamd, went on public radio proclaiming that Sunni Muslims should not “eat their [Shia] food, marry from them, or bury their dead in Muslims' graveyards” (Al-Hassan). Furthermore, scholars proclaim that there is no hope for any kind of harmony amongst Shiites and Sunnis, because they are heretics and deviants. Another religious scholar, Abdulla Ibn Jareen called for Jihad against Shiites, to prevent them from spreading or practicing their polytheist faith (Al-Hassan).Because this attitude is engrained from the beginning, it follows people from childhood to adulthood. This prejudice is found not only in textbooks, but also within the teachers in the classroom, who continue to pass down this idea from generation to generation (Al-Hassan). Teachers who proclaim that Shiites are atheists and deserve death face no repercussions for their actions, barely even receiving punishment (Al-Hassan). Even in the university setting, there is still ignorance and hatred against Shiites present. At a seminar about the internet, held in King Abdulaziz City of Science and Technology, professor Dr. Bader Hmood Albader explained how the internet was beneficial to society, but at the same time there were many Shia websites proclaiming to be Muslim websites, which needed to be stopped (Al-Hassan).
Discrimination in the Workforce
In addition to the discrimination found in schools, much discrimination occurs in the workforce as well. Shiites are prohibited from becoming teachers of religious subjects, which constitute for about half of the courses in secondary education (Al-Hassan). Furthermore, Shiites are discriminated against further in schools, and cannot even become principles (Al-Hassan). Shiite professors in universities often face harassment from students and faculty alike, simply because of their faith (Al-Hassan). Shiites are disqualified as witnesses in court, cannot serve as judges in ordinary court, and are banned from high-ranking government or security posts, including becoming pilots in Saudi Airlines (Business Week). Shiites are also banned from gaining admission to military academies (Human Rights Watch).Recent Protests
The 2011 Arab Spring brought much concern to many states within the Arab world, including Saudi Arabia. The neighboring Kingdom of Bahrain presented the most challenge. Separated by only 25 kilometers (Samirad), Saudi Arabia faced much fear when protests broke out in Bahrain. Protests began on 14 February, with the Shia majority calling out for equal rights from the Sunni King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa. However, when rights were not given, the protests turned violent. Saudi Arabia sent troops to help silence the protestors, which angered much of the Shiite population, leading to protests in the Eastern region of Saudi Arabia. Protestors were not only showing solidarity with their Bahraini brothers and sisters, but also calling for the release of Shia political prisoners (BBC). During protests, police open-fired at protestors, with various injuries being reported (BBC).Conclusion
Shiites today face much discrimination both in schools and in the workforce. Human Rights Watch reports that Shiites want to be treated as equals and desire to be free from discrimination (Human Rights Watch). King Abdullah has attempted to bring Sunnis and Shiites together and advance towards religious tolerance. However, the country as whole has not moved forward and the Shia minority is still marginalized on a large scale (Human Rights Watch).External links
- Write-up by Dr. Mohamed J. Al-Hassan (King Saud UniversityKing Saud UniversityKing Saud University is a public university located in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. It was founded in 1957 by King Saud bin Abdul Aziz as Riyadh University, as the first university in the kingdom not dedicated to religious subjects. The university was created to meet the shortage of skilled workers in...
)