about
Saudi Arabia
In the birthplace of Islam and the home of the two most holy places of Islam, Mecca and Medina, the entire populations is regarded as being Muslim. No legal protection is provided for freedom of religion, neither does this protection exist in practice. The legal system is based in Islamic law (Shariah). Apostasy (conversion to another religion) is punishable by death. The practice of any religion other than Islam is not allowed. The majority of Christians are guest workers from countries such as Indai and the Philippines. They aren’t allowed to meet in public to pray or read the Bible. But thanks to better communications, such as radio, satellite t.v. and the web, there are increasing numbers of Christian converts in the country, they are secret underground Christians.
The Saudi regime has declared the entire Arabian peninsula ‘haram,’ forbidden to all other religions. Saudi law states that no churches may be built north of Yemen and south of Jordan. It is impossible for foreigners to visit Saudi Arabia as tourists. You can only enter the kingdom on business visa (i.e. on the invitation of a company already active in the country), or as a Muslim pilgrim. The Saudi religious police (Mutawwa’in) are practically everywhere in Saudi Arabia. Their power is almost limitless. The Mutawwa’in have special prisons where they torture their victims. Their behaviour is often ruthless. Their aim is to make sure that all citizens (and expats – foreign workers) follow strict Islamic law.
The religious police see it as their main task to track down believers of other religions and of preventing gatherings of these believers. For this reason they have constructed a wide network on informers. Meetings of Christians have to take place in secrect.
Meetings of Christians can only take place informally in people’s homes or at embassy compounds. These secret gatherings are hunted down with increasing diligence and the leaders subjected to humiliating beatings, imprisonment and expulsion from the country. This is particularly so for the Asian Christians who have been the most effective witnesses for Jesus. Few expatriates have meaningful contacts with Saudis under these circumstances.
Expatriate Christians live under strict surveillance. They can show no outward signs of being a Christian. They must be very careful especially with Christmas holidays when the Mutawwa’in further step up their already tight surveillance.
On daily life
The Mutawwa’in control every aspect of daily life. They patrol the streets in their cars, check in shops if women are dressed according to Islamic dress codes, see that all shops are closed during prayer times, watch that no signs of other religions are visible, etc.
The Mutawwa’in have the authority to detain people for no more than 24 hours for violation of behaviour standards. However, they sometimes exceed this limit before delivering prisoners to the regular police. Current procedures require a police officer to accompany the Mutawwa’in before the latter makes an arrest, although this is often ignored. A number of long-term foreign residents have said that the Mutawwa’in are much more active in harassing individuals than a decade ago, and have become increasingly active since the Gulf War.
On the eve of the new year, Mutawwa’in raided a private party and arrested dozens of young Saudis and foreigners, including minors, for associating with unrelated persons of the opposite sex, and for suspicion of possessing alcohol. One prisoner was chained to a chair after arrest and struck by several Mutawwa’in. He was later forced to stand with his arms outstretched; whenever his arms lowered from exhaustion a uniformed policeman would ignite a cigarette lighter under his outstretched arms and fingers. Other persons attending the party were also physically abused during and after their arrest.
The Church
The number of expatriate Christians in Saudi Arabia is high. The number of (nominal) Christians is several hundreds of thousands, but the number of practising Christians is only a fraction of that. All expatriate Christians are under surveillance of the Mutawwa’in. When they suspect a person, the Mutawwa’in will not hesitate to bug telephones, perform house searches, or to follow people.
There are three ‘layers’ of churches in Saudi Arabia:
the ‘tolerated fellowships’ on compounds and in embassies;
the underground evangelical house groups meeting in private homes;
and the secret believers who do not meet in larger groups.
National mind-set of Saudis World view based on religion
Islam was founded in Saudi Arabia more than 1300 years ago. For Muslims the Arabian peninsula became the centre of the world. The two holiest mosques of Islam are located in Saudi Arabia, and today more than one billion Muslims turn five times per day towards Mecca in prayer (or rather they should do so if they are faithful Muslims). It has also resulted in at least two million Muslims coming to Saudi Arabia for the annual Hajj pilgrimage.
What this means for the world view of Muslims is also clear. Muslims define the world into two separate realms: the Dar el Islam (the world where Islam rules), and the Dar el Harb (literally: the house of war). This is the part of the world still to be conquered by Islam. Since Islam is the superior religion, all non-Muslims are seen as potential converts.