In 2007, Saudi authorities detained the Egyptian doctor Mamdouh Farid (a Christian) who worked as a surgeon specialist, accusing him of possessing a religious book and proselytizing Christianity in the kingdom, in addition to charges of alcohol consumption and harassment of women. He was suspended from work and sentenced to 20 lashes.
The detention of the Egyptian doctor became a public issue due to reports from human rights organizations and others related to the emigrant Copts (organizations concerned with issues of Egyptian Christians abroad). Riyadh faced intense pressure, in which Fawzi al-Ashmawi – Egypt’s ambassador to Riyadh at the time – played a key role in securing the release of the Egyptian doctor. Nevertheless, Saudi Arabia at that time threatened to deport up to five thousand Egyptian Christian workers if protests gathered outside Saudi embassies abroad. The case concluded with the Egyptian doctor returning to Cairo after being released without the sentence being carried out.
Since then, the incident has caused Egyptian Christians to fear showing any religious ceremony, especially during work. Mahmoud Khalil (a pseudonym for an Egyptian residing in Saudi Arabia who refused to disclose his identity for fear of deportation) told Zawia3, “I lived with an Egyptian Christian colleague, but I never heard him speak about religious matters at all or display any symbols or religious ceremonies; he only prayed silently. I learned that another colleague preferred to change his religion before coming to the Kingdom so he could work here, yet I see him watching Christian television programs and praying.” “Khalil” here indicates the extent of religious repression faced by Christians and their necessity to hide their identities and religious rituals to avoid security persecution or deportation from the Kingdom.
Roots of the Crisis
Until recently, Saudi authorities refused to allow collective religious rites for non-Muslims in the kingdom. In 2008, the Vatican attempted to allow foreign Christians working there to practice their religious rites by building a church for them, but these attempts were categorically rejected by Saudi Islamic scholars. The head of the World Islamic Forum for Dialogue, Hamed al-Rifaie, stated that Riyadh informed the Vatican that building churches within the Kingdom is not permissible. This view was echoed by senior scholars and scientists who argued that Saudi citizens are exclusively Muslim, leading to the prevention of church construction for workers and expatriates who ultimately return to their countries.
The Vatican’s ambassador to the Gulf, Monjid al-Hashem, claimed in 2008 that the number of Christians in the Kingdom may have reached around four million. However, Saudi authorities denied this, affirming that all Saudi citizens are Muslims, with the majority of expatriate workers being Muslim. There might be some Christians, but the number did not reach millions.
According to a Reuters report in 2010, Saudi Arabia hosted the largest Christian gathering in the Gulf Cooperation Council countries. However, accurately determining the religious population composition in Saudi Arabia is challenging; all citizens are considered Muslims by the state, and it is believed that at least one and a half million Christians live in the country.
According to the report of the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (observing religious freedoms in the Kingdom in 2020), Saudi Arabia is home to about 35 million people, mostly Sunnis. The indigenous Shia population represents approximately 10-15% of the population, and there are no Saudi nationals who hold religions other than Islam. However, expatriate residents account for about 37% of the population, including at least two million Christians, Hindus, Buddhists, Sikhs, and followers of folk religions, in addition to non-religious individuals.
Looking back at Saudi Arabia’s history and its relationship with Christianity before cultural openness, we find that the emergence of extremist calls to demolish churches in the Arabian Peninsula began in early 2012, following a fatwa issued by Abdulaziz bin Abdullah Al al-Sheikh – the Grand Mufti of Saudi Arabia at the time – calling for the removal of all non-Muslim places of worship from the Arabian Peninsula. This contradicted what the Kingdom had adopted in 1990 when it sponsored the Taif Agreement in Lebanon among political factions for dialogue and disarmament. This prompted European parliamentarians to pose a crucial question to Saudi Justice Minister Mohammed Al-Issa in 2013 about allowing the establishment of worship places for non-Muslims within the Kingdom. The parliamentarians received a response that Saudi Arabia would not permit this as it is the holy land of Islam, leading to widespread criticism of the Riyadh government for not allowing freedom of belief.
Christians Embracing Islam for Employment During Hajj Season
The Hajj season in the Kingdom requires an increase in workers to serve pilgrims, and it’s known that wages for workers during such seasons in Saudi Arabia rise significantly. How can a Christian or non-Muslim worker benefit from this increase within the Kingdom?
Ayoub Yunis (an Egyptian Christian living in Riyadh – pseudonym) provides insights into religious conversion for work purposes. He says, “Christians used to enter Mecca and Medina disguised behind forged documents symbolically converting from Christianity to Islam, and I witnessed this firsthand.”
Yunis specifically recalls the Hajj season of 2018 when an electricity company operating in the holy sites needed an emergency unit engineer. At that time, there were limited engineers in the company, and no Muslim engineer was suitable for the role. He adds, “The company sent a Christian Filipino engineer whose religion was changed symbolically just in the work documents, while his actual religion remained unchanged in his passport.”
Similarly, at the Prophet’s Mosque in Medina, non-Muslims are prohibited from entering the mosque’s premises or vicinity. This is evident through road signs leading to the holy places. However, since 2016, the signs have been changed, removing the phrase “Muslims only” previously indicated (defining the religious identity of those permitted to enter the city route and access the Prophet’s Mosque) and replacing it with signs bearing the phrase “To the limits of the sanctuary” or “Sanctuary limit,” the road leading to the Prophet’s Mosque.
Furthermore, signs previously placed around the Grand Mosque in Mecca have been removed. Saudi authorities did not issue any official statements regarding the new directional signs, which drew considerable interest from Saudis first, welcoming them as an important step in promoting religious tolerance.
In the past, these places were entirely off-limits to non-Muslims, and Christians who wanted to enter needed intervention from a senior official. Tamer Fathi (a pseudonym for an Egyptian engineer residing in Saudi Arabia) tells Zawia3, “My British friend told me that he entered the sanctuary without difficulty because he worked with a senior Saudi official and wanted to do him a favor in his own way, so he took him into the Mecca sanctuary during the ban on non-Muslim entry.”
The Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice
(CPVPV) caused the deportation of 12 Ethiopian Christian workers in 2014 after they were caught using a house to conduct a Christian ritual in the Dammam area. In 2018, a warning letter was sent to the English preacher Joel Richardson after he met with 25 American Christians west of the Kingdom at Mount Luz, reading texts from the Bible to them. This prompted the US government, represented by Nina Shea – the US Commissioner for International Religious Freedom – to request the lifting of the ban on churches and allowing the construction of churches for Christians to practice their religious rites, but these requests were consistently rejected.
Under the administration of former US President Donald Trump, the president’s religious advisor met with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, accompanied by a group of evangelicals who came to improve the conditions of Christians working in Saudi Arabia, including prominent evangelical Joel Rosenberg. According to what he told the American Fox News network, this event was exceptional as evangelical Christians had not been allowed to enter the Saudi royal court for three centuries.
However, has this situation continued, or have there been changes in the agenda of Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030?
First Christian Mass in Saudi Arabia
Since its founding, Saudi Arabia had never witnessed collective non-Islamic prayers or a Christian mass until December 2018, when the first Christian mass was held in Riyadh, presided over by Bishop Markus – the bishop of the Egyptian Orthodox Church in Shubra al-Khaimah and its surroundings.
Bishop Markus carried with him from Cairo the holy tablet for prayer, altar vessels, and other items specific to the mass. It was reported that the mass took place at the residence of an Egyptian Christian citizen residing in Saudi Arabia, while some mentioned that it was held in a rented hall. This historic Christian mass in Saudi Arabia, coordinated between the Egyptian government and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, received significant media coverage as it represented a dream realized.
The first Egyptian Christian mass in the Kingdom opened doors of hope for resident Christians who wished to practice their prayers without fear or caution. Emad, an Egyptian accountant forced by economic circumstances to work in Saudi Arabia, expressed cautiousness in openly practicing any religious rituals. He added in conversation with us, “Through social media, I managed to discover a secret prayer house, which was a sad experience for me, but I adapted to the situation so as not to lose my job.”
“Yes, the time is approaching for the construction of the first church for Christians in Saudi Arabia, outside Mecca and Medina,” according to Father Abdel Maseeh Basit, the pastor of the Egyptian Virgin Church in Mashtard, during a phone interview with BBC. Since then, Saudi Arabia has not taken any official steps towards building a church, despite a previous agreement in 2014 during a meeting between the Saudi ambassador to Egypt, Ahmed Qattan, and Pope Tawadros II of the Coptic Orthodox Church in Alexandria.
In commentary, Yasser Saad, a legal advocate, in conversation with Zawia3, refers to international agreements, especially the International Covenant, which protects the freedom of belief and its practice. He adds, “There are always social issues related to religious practices for Christians, explaining the Egyptian state’s failure to protect the rights of its citizens working abroad, especially in Gulf countries.”
Saad emphasizes the necessity of enacting a legal text stipulating penalties for violating the right to practice and exercise religious beliefs, especially given the anti-discrimination provisions in the Egyptian constitution. He clarifies that no measures have been taken to activate the constitutionally mandated work of the commission to exercise its legislative powers, and the Egyptian government has not proposed any laws regarding its work; thus, it remains merely a disabled constitutional provision. He affirms, “There has been a significant regression in protecting Egyptians in general, meaning that the lack of protection for minorities and their rights is to be expected.”
As of now, important questions remain regarding whether Saudi Arabia will allow workers and resident foreigners, including Egyptian Christians, the freedom to practice various religious rites on its soil. Additionally, it raises questions about whether the announcement since 2021 of building the first church in the Kingdom will actually be implemented or if reforms within the Kingdom remain largely symbolic.
