Overview:

• State religion is Islam.

• Recognition and registration are differentiated; a system of partial recognition is in effect whereby all non-Islamic groups are offered only a semblance of recognition through legal registration; there are no opportunities for non-Islamic groups to attain the same degree of recognition as Islam itself.

• Informational and other types of requirements remain undeclared or ambiguous which restricts the overall process.

• Rare use of the sponsorship restriction tool.

• Restrictions are imposed in the area of preregistration, namely a multi-step process for groups to become eligible for registration.

• The rule of mandatory registration violates the Bielefeldt provision.

Positive elements:

• Nil.

Recommendations:

• Dismantlement of the present apparatus that misuses recognition as a means to censor religion.

• Repeal restrictive laws that seek to censor all forms of religious activity, both Islamic and non-Islamic.

• To become receptive, the Omani government would need to establish a recognition system inclusive of all belief systems with the capacity to bestow both existential recognition and legal registration simultaneously; the disestablishment of Islam would have to take place to ensure the recognition system was enshrined with equality if the government could not prove in practice that it would not treat Islam any different from other belief systems.