Palestine has three notable religions and they are Islam, Christianity, and Druze. However, Islam is the most practiced religion do to the fact that seventy-five percent of Palestinians are Muslim. Islam has a few common denominations like Sunni Islam, Shia Islam, Alawi Islam, Wahabi Islam, and Sufi Islam. However, majority of muslims practice Sunni or Shia Islam, but in Palestine the majority of muslims practice Sunni Islam. Seventeen percent of Palestinians are Christiand and the remaining eight percent of the population is Druze.
The Palestinian Basic Law states that all, “Palestinians are equal before the law and the judiciary, without distinction based upon race, sex, color, religion, political views or disability" and that, “ Freedom of belief, worship and the performance of religious functions are guaranteed." Though the Palestinian Basic Law implies that Palestine is pretty accepting of their citizens practicing religion, this is not necessarily true. If one wants to change their religion from Muslim to Christianity or vice versay, they must go through court proceedings until the court issues a document from a competent authority that allows the civilian to change their religion. This process requires the citizen to finish an application and have to witnessess to testify how the citizen wants to change their religion in front of the Sharh court. Once the application is finalized and approved by the Sharh court, the document will be ran through all of the governmental departments. This is due to the fact that changing religion has effects on the citizen legally in family law. Afterwards, the local newspapers will inform the locals of the new legal situation of that specific person.
Once someone changes religions their rights and privelages in family law changes. This is because Muslims have certain guidelines in family law based on their religion and Christians follow rules layed out by their churches. To be specific, changing religions negatively effects a person with custody, marriage, inheritance, and they must change their personal identification. I will provide a few examples as to how changing religion specifically effects Palestinians. Once one changes their religion, they must change their ID so that it is consistent with their new found religion. Also, they will almost always have to change their name. For both Muslim and Christian families, if someone converts to another religion then that person loses all of their interitance rights. Christians and Muslims both do not allow a marriage between two people who do not share the same religion. Therefore, people will convert their religion to be able to marry someone. If a spouse converts their religion, then the marriage they are in is seen as invalid. Changing religion is a common reason as to why women are killed, so that they do not dishonor their family.
For the most part, Palestinians live in peace with one another even with their diffrences of religion. In fact, Palesitne has holy sites that are visited by Muslims and Christians regularly from all over the world like the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.
Sources:
http://jurist.org/dateline/2013/05/ibrahim-fare-religious-freedom.php
http://www.everyculture.com/wc/Germany-to-Jamaica/Palestinians.html#b
Sources:
http://jurist.org/dateline/2013/05/ibrahim-fare-religious-freedom.php
http://www.everyculture.com/wc/Germany-to-Jamaica/Palestinians.html#b
I think it is a common trend among Middle Eastern countries for the religious tolerance that’s outlined in the constitution to not quite line up with the tolerance at the status quo. That being said, I think it is really interesting that Palestinians have to register their religion and apply for a change in court. The idea of a person being required to register his or her religion is unheard of here in the U.S. I was not under the impression that Palestine had Islamic Law, but perhaps part of their constitution is founded in Islamic Law? I know that the idea of testimony and witnesses is central to the idea of Islamic Law. I think that it is pretty amazing that the Palestinian Basic Law promises there will be no discrimination on a religious basis, and yet changing religions can have all the negative effects you listed like custody issues and inheritance. I know that in Islam, other religions are to be respected; however, to convert from Islam to another religion is very much a taboo. I wonder if the fact that Palestinians have to register their religion and go through to many legal hoops to chance their religion is really the choice of the Palestinian government. In Palestine, the people are required to carry all sorts of documentation, and have great difficulty travelling and even obtaining essentials like medical care because of the occupation and oppression of the Palestinian people by the Israeli government. I would like to know if the required religious documentation is the choice of the Palestinian government or a requirement of the Israeli government. Also, do you know if this policy is consistent for both West Bank and Gaza? I wonder if Hamas and Fatah would have different views on this issue.
ReplyDeleteHi Taylor,
ReplyDeleteLeila's question about whether these rules about changing religion stem from the Palestinian or Israeli governments is a really good one - if you can research a little more and find out that would be very beneficial. Also, I wonder if you came across anything about ease/difficulty for a man of one religion to change versus a woman? I know in Lebanon, and in many other places as well, it is possible for a man to change his religion but much harder for a woman - and nearly impossible for a Muslim woman to change (particularly for marriage). It would not surprise me if this holds for Palestine as well.