Overview:

• Islam is the state religion.

• Any non-Muslim group is referred to as foreign or as comprised of expatriates even if this is not the case.

• A system of partial recognition is in effect because even though eight Christian denominations are recognised by the government, this recognition does not equate to the recognition received by Islam itself.

• Recognition and registration are

• Conversion from Islam is criminalised as apostasy; although no retributions have been reported under this law does not reduce or otherwise disregard its censoriality.

• The involvement of the emir in decision-making processes for religious registration and the internal affairs of religious organisations and denominations is demonstrative of the deeply entrenched politicisation of religion in the country.

• The rule of mandatory registration violates the Bielefeldt provision.

• The state has a particular definition and conception of what Islam is and what it consists of which places undue control and pressure of Islamic organisations and individual clerics as well as lay Muslims in conforming to this state-sanctioned form of Islam.

Positive elements:

• Nil.

Recommendations:

• Complete dismantlement of the present apparatus that censoriously restricts religious activity.

• Repeal the series of laws that censor non-Islamic religion and belief.

• Revoke the rule of mandatory registration for non-Islamic groups.

• To become receptive, establish a recognition system that is inclusive of at least all established or traditional belief systems and be able to bestow existential recognition and legal registration simultaneously and at different levels of activity; to become dynamic, this system would need to also be inclusive of NRMs or non-traditional belief systems.