On March 12, the religious head of Saudi Arabia, Sheikh Abdul Aziz bin Abdullah, declared that all churches on the Arabian Peninsula must be destroyed. The statement has caused anger and dismay among Christians across the Middle East and has been heavily criticized by Christian leaders as an unacceptable violation of human rights for the millions of guest workers residing in the Persian Gulf region.<\/p>\n
The Grand Mufti's controversial statement came in response to a question from a delegation from a Kuwaiti NGO. In February, a Kuwaiti politician had proposed a ban on the construction of new churches, but the proposal was not passed. So the NGO contacted the Grand Mufti and asked him to explain what Islamic law says about the issue.<\/p>\n
The Grand Mufti issued his ruling with a quote from Muhammad, who said on his deathbed: \"There must not be two religions in the Arabian Peninsula\". This quote has long been used to justify religious intolerance in the country.<\/p>\n
In Saudi Arabia, all religions other than Islam are banned and Christians are forced to risk arrest for praying in private homes. Until recently, it was not possible for Jews to enter the country at all.<\/p>\n
Source: CSW Hong Kong<\/em><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"gamle_kategorier":[],"land":[493],"class_list":["post-1805","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ikke-kategoriseret","land-saudi-arabien","infinite-scroll-item","generate-columns","tablet-grid-50","mobile-grid-100","grid-parent","grid-33"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n