Qatar

Qatar and Saudi Arabia are the only countries in the world where Wahhabi Islam predominates and the only two countries to follow to follow the Hanbali school of Islamic law (madhab).

Qatar Citizens potentially face being sentenced to death if they are discovered to be Christians.

Qatar is a deeply conservative Islamic society which for centuries has lived according to shari’a and tribal customs which include the killing of those perceived to have brought dishonour on the family or wider society. It is likely that most Qatari Christians who are killed for their faith die at the hands of their own families. It is impossible to know how many Christians are killed in such ‘honour killings’ as shari’a gives impunity to those carrying out such acts. Additionally, as a family member who became a Christian is regarded as having brought shame on the whole family, attempts are likely to be made to explain the person’s disappearance in other ways.

In common with a number of other Gulf States, treaties made with the British from the nineteenth century onwards prohibited the slave trade, although because the enslavement of non-Muslims was permitted by shari’a, in practice it continued until the 1950s.

“Treaties from the nineteenth-century prohibited the slave trade in the Gulf, but rulers long refused to end slavery…Anxious not to introduce religiously improper innovations, the Shakyh of Bahrayn introduced a proclamation in 1937, ‘reminding the public that owning slaves was forbidden’. The Trucial Council in what is today the United Arab Emirates, copied this subterfuge in 1963, stating that ‘slavery, like the slave trade, had long been forbidden in their territories’. The Shakyh of Kuwayt declared slavery unrecognised in law in 1952, and promised to free anyone on application. The Emir of Qatar took the plunge the same year, explaining that slavery was ‘forbidden in all civilised countries’ and ‘contrary to the principles of human dignity and social justice’, but mentioning no Islamic principles.”^[1]

Religious activities are controlled by the Ministry of Endowments and Islamic Affairs, while the Ministry of Education tightly controls what schools are allowed to teach.

There are no places of worship allowed to exist for Qatari Christians and Qatari Christians are not allowed to attend the small number of expatriate churches, with access to these churches tightly controlled.

Prior to the Covid pandemic there were a significant number of churches for expatriates which informally met in houses whose existence the government in practice acquiesced to. However, these were all closed during the pandemic and have been forbidden from re-opening.

The Christians who do reside in Qatar are officially all foreigners. In 1980, Qatar had a population of only 0.2 million. It then began to bring increasingly large numbers of migrant skilled workers predominantly from India, Pakistan, Nepal, Iran, the Philippines, Egypt and Sri Lanka.^[2] It now has a population of around 2.5 million, around 88 percent of whom are migrant workers. This includes around 300,000 Christians. The Kafala labour system which required migrant workers to obtain their employer’s permission to change jobs or leave the country was officially abolished in 2016, although the treatment of Asian migrant workers has been subject to continuing international criticism, with Amnesty International describing it as at times amounting to forced labour.^[3]

Qatar has been ruled since 1825 by the al-Thani dynasty. Both the Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamid al-Thani (2013-) and his father Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani (1995-2013) slowly sought to introduce some Western reforms. These included a Western style constitution in 2003, which included a clause promising freedom of religious worship; international conferences between scholars of the three monotheistic religions of Islam, Christianity and Judaism; and the establishment of the Doha International Centre for Interfaith Dialogue in 2010.

In 2008 Qatar allowed what was probably the first new church building to be constructed since the seventh century Islamic invasion, on a site at Mesaymeer just outside of Doha, which was leased from the Emir for a nominal rent. This was exclusively for foreign workers with access tightly controlled to prevent any Qataris attending. There are eight government registered denominations which are allowed to use the site.^[4] Even expatriate Christians are not allowed to worship publicly outside the Mesaymeer complex. At the time, the first church building was opened on this site a prominent Islamic scholar Abdul Hamid al-Ansari, former dean of the sharia school at Qatar University, publicly argued in the Qatari press that it was wrong to claim that allowing this church to be built contradicted the Hadith which says there should only be one religion in the Arabian peninsula. He argued “This does not mean that churches should be banned in Qatar because religious scholars believe it applies to the Hijaz – specifically Mecca and Medina.”^[5]

The Qatari government requires foreign nationals to obtain permits for private worship. Unregistered faith groups can face severe financial restrictions which alter their organizational ability. The government prohibits these groups from opening bank accounts, legally hiring staff, and soliciting funds. The Christian Churches Steering Committee (CCSC) reports overcrowding and limited resources to accommodate worshipers because of the restricted worship within the compound. However, using residential spaces for worship puts worshipers in a precarious situation. Because unrecognized faith groups lack legal protection, the government may punish unauthorized religious gatherings by terminating visas and work contracts, detaining worshipers, or subjecting them to fines or deportations[6]. Non-Qatari converts often face deportation and loss of employment. Non-Qatari Christian residents enjoy comparatively greater latitude to practice their faith privately, but the government closely monitors worship activities.[7]

In early 2025, the Evangelical Churches Alliance in Qatar (ECAQ) together with the World Evangelical Alliance (WEA) announced their plan to build a worship centre for Evangelical Christians expats in the country. Estimated at around 50 million USD, both organizations are seeking support to raise enough fund for the project to come alive.[8]

The extent to which these cautious reforms have introduced the concept of tolerance of Christians and Jews to the deeply conservative Islamic society of Qatar was illustrated by a debate in the Qatari Press in 2018 as to whether visible celebrations of Christmas by expatriates should be permitted in Qatar.^[9] In this respect, whilst Qatar’s movement towards freedom of religion has been limited and cautious, it has nonetheless, almost uniquely moved in the opposite direction to the wider trend in the Islamic world, with countries such as Somalia and Brunei having banned such celebrations in recent years. Qatar’s official textbooks promotes and endorses discriminatory claims about Christians, Jews, Shi’a Muslims, and nonbelievers, and also misstate basic factual information about Judaism to portray it in a negative light (i.e., a claim that the Talmud occupies a more important place in Judaism than the Torah). Furthermore, history textbooks discussing Adolph Hitler’s ideology omit antisemitism and references to the Holocaust.[10]

Legal situation

Article 1 of Qatar’s constitution states that “Its religion is Islam and Shari'a law shall be a main source of its legislation.” 

Article 50 of the constitution states that “Freedom to practice religious rites shall be guaranteed to all persons in accordance with the law and the requirements of the maintenance of public order and morality.” Similar articles guarantee freedom of assembly (Article 44), association (Article 45) expression of opinion (Article 47) and of the press (Article 48) “in accordance with the law”. However, what the law actually allows is extremely limited.

The constitution explicitly requires the Emir to be a Muslim and his heir apparent to be both a Muslim and the son of a Qatari Muslim mother. In practice, all political and legal posts are only held by Muslims.

The Penal Code begins by listing hudud offences (i.e. those for which it is obligatory for the punishment specified in the Qur’an or Hadith to be imposed) as including apostasy – for which the Hanbali madhab (school of shari’a) understands the penalty to be execution for both men and women.

The rest of the Penal Code deals with ta’zir offences (i.e. those for which shari’a allows rulers and judges to decide on the punishment). It provides a set of laws which amount to an extremely comprehensive set of restrictions of almost all aspects of freedom of religion.

Article 256 is in effect a wide-ranging Islamic blasphemy law. This encompasses not just insulting Allah, but also offending or misinterpreting the Qur’an and a catch all offence of “offending the Islamic religion or any of its rites and dictates.” The latter implies that even criticising aspects of shari’a such as the apostasy law, would be a criminal offence. Although the maximum penalty for this offence is 7 years imprisonment, rather than being a capital offence, as in some Islamic countries.

Article 259 effectively criminalises anyone who even enquires about Christianity by imposing a maximum five year prison sentence on anyone who “doubts any of the basics or tenets of Islam” as well as anyone who “calls upon, or favours or promotes another religion”.

Articles 257, 260 and 265 effectively prohibits organising any form of Christian meeting unless the government explicitly gives it permission, as well as a catch all offence of “favouring or promoting another religion; cult or concept” – which carries a maximum 10 year prison sentence. While Article 258 criminalises any involvement at all in a church or Christian gathering by imposing a 5 year prison sentence for anyone who “joins, participates or contributes in any way” to any such group. 

Article 264 encourages anyone under suspicion to report other members of the group by exempting them from these penalties if the information they provide leads to the arrest of others.

Article 261 imposes a prison sentence of up to two years for anyone who “possesses” any printed or audio material favouring another religion with the intention of showing them to others. As the offence relates merely to possession of the material and intention, rather than the actual act of sharing them with others, it is far from clear whether in practice it is actually legal to own an Arabic Bible.

Article 263 makes mere possession of “anything...that may offend the Islamic religion” liable to up to a year’s imprisonment.

Article 267 makes fasting during Ramadan compulsory by imposing a sentence of up to 3 months imprisonment and a fine for anyone who fails to do so.

Articles 47 and 48 state that “nothing is an offence” when done by a citizen or public servant if it is doing something justified by Islamic shari’a. The implication is that the honour killing of anyone who converts to Christianity is exempt from punishment.

In practice, the extent to which these punishments are actually enforced is held back by the Emir, who as an absolute monarch appoints all judges and exerts a significant degree of control over the judiciary.^[11] While Article 67(6) of the Constitution gives a general authority to the Emir to grant pardons or commute the penalty for offences.

According to the US Department of State 2023 report on religious freedom in Qatar, “The law restricts public worship for non-Islamic faiths. It prohibits non-Muslim religious groups from displaying religious symbols, which includes banning Christian congregations from advertising religious services or placing crosses outdoors where they are visible to the public….Public bookstores are not allowed to sell Bibles.”[12]

Ideologies linked to persecution

Classical Islam which is taught in madrassas, is largely based on the interpretations of the Qur’an agreed in medieval times and the shari’a derived from them. The Islamic concept of dhimmitude which is found in the shari’a textbooks of Classical Islam is a particularly significant aspects of this. This is largely based on The Pact of Umar reputedly made by Umar, the second Caliph (634-644CE) i.e. successor of Muhammad, with the Christians of Syria. This placed significant restrictions on non-Muslims including specifically forbidding them from building or even repairing churches, only allowed them to worship in private behind closed doors and forbade them from having crosses or Christian books where Muslims could see them, as well as requiring Christians to show total subservience to Muslims.^[13] The restrictions which were placed on the church buildings for expatriates at the Mesaymeer site – no crosses or bells, explicitly reflect the restrictions on Christians in the Pact of Umar and illustrate the depth of this influence on popular opinion in Qatar.

Wahhabism. An Islamic reform movement begun in the Arabian Peninsula by Muhammad Abd al Wuhab (1703-92) who was joined by a tribal chief, Muhammad ibn Saud (s.1765) which sought to purify Islam and regarded all Muslims who resisted as unbelievers to be fought. Qatar and Saudi Arabia are the only predominantly Wahabbi countries in the Islamic world.

Tribalism. Tribal leaders taking pride in reporting anyone suspected of converting to Christianity to the government.

Authoritariansim. The government is an autocratic monarchy, which does not tolerate any form of dissent which could pose a political threat to its hold on power.

Islamism: the major difference between Classical Islam and Islamism is that the former largely follows the interpretations of the Qur’an and Hadith which were fixed in medieval times, whereas Islamism bypasses these medieval interpretations and reopens the door of ijtihad (Interpretation).

Qatar has a highly complex relationship with Islamism. Its foreign policy has actively supported Islamist movements in other countries including during the Arab Spring, which led to a major falling out with Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries, whose governments opposed those movements, seeing them as a threat to their own position. It has also provided both a base for radical groups such as Hamas and the Taliban. Qatar also hosts al-Jazeera television which gives favourable coverage to Islamist groups in other countries.^[14]  However, while Qatar appears to see Islamism as part of the likely future mosaic of the Islamic world and even the West that it wishes to engage with, it does not encourage Islamism within Qatar itself.^[15]

However, the statements made relating to the Hadith prohibiting non-Islamic worship on the Arabian Peninsula not applying to Qatar when the Mesaymeer church complex was begun suggest that there is an attempt to re-interpret Islam for a modern era. However, the trajectory of previous attempts to do so in the Arab world whilst having produced both modern Islamism and liberal interpretations of Islam, have more commonly resulted in the former.

Future risks

The cautious and limited steps towards freedom of religion for Christians in Qatar which have been taken are wholly dependent on the Emir and his ability to command support for them in an extremely conservative Islamic society. For both the Emir and his father, these appear to have been seen as an important aspect of developing Qatar’s economic relationship with the West, which they perceived to be predominantly Christian. However, the 2022 World Cup tournament hosted by Qatar led to a public clash of worldviews between a very strident form of Western secular liberalism and a very conservative Islamic society. Some Western teams and supporters engaged in protests which showed little understanding for central aspects of Arab culture, such as the importance of honour and face and appropriate behaviour by guests. The clash provoked a strong anti-Western backlash in the Qatari press and on social media, which at times has threatened to undermine the position of the Emir himself.[16] At the same time, in an interview on Qatari’s al-Rayyan TV a Qatari professor of Islamic Studies reiterated the teaching of Classical Islam that Christians should embrace Islam, if they refuse they should be subjected to dhimmitude symbolised by the payment of jizya, if they refuse this jihad should be declared against them.[17]

There is therefore a significant risk that the limited advances that have been made to freedom of religion for Christians in Qatar may at best stall for the next few years as a consequence.

Church History

Although we do not know exactly when Christianity reached Qatar, the Biblical record of Jews from nearby Elam at the head of the Persian Gulf being present – and possibly among the 3,000 converted on the Day of Pentecost (Acts 2:5-9,41) -  suggests it may have been in the first decades of Christianity. The records of synod attendance and various pieces of church correspondence show that it had its own bishop from at least 225 AD.^[18] The conquest by the Islamic armies seems to have occurred by 642 AD. However, in 651 AD the Patriarch of the East Ishu’-Yab wrote a letter to monks at Qatar praising Christians such as themselves for their steadfastness in the faith.^[19] This was at a time when many Christians in nearby Oman appear to have apostasised after they were  ordered to covert to Islam or surrender half of their worldly goods.^[20] An early Islamic source claims that the same terms were offered to the people of Bahrain.^[21] As this was then part of Qatar, it would suggest that the Christians of Qatar paid a significant price in refusing to convert to Islam. In the decades which followed the Islamic conquest, Qatar in fact, appears to have become a major centre of church administration, becoming an archdiocese with its own Metropolitan.^[22] Whilst the Christian presence did slowly decline under Islamic rule, a bishopric of Qatar appears to have still existed in 1350 AD.^[23] At some point in the middle ages the initial Qatari church appears to have died out. However, a small Qatari church emerged during the latter part of the twentieth century. In the 1990s reports began to emerge of Qatari Christians suffering for their faith, most of whom appear to have converted while in other countries and subsequently returned.

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