POPULATION
6,508,887 (July 2012 est.)
GDP PER CAPITA
$6,000 (2011 est.)
RELIGIONS
Sunni Muslim 92% (official), Christian 6% (majority Greek Orthodox, but some Greek and Roman Catholics, Syrian Orthodox, Coptic Orthodox, Armenian Orthodox, and Protestant denominations), other 2% (several small Shia Muslim and Druze populations) (2001 est.)
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ALSO IN MIDDLE EAST, NORTH AFRICA, AND THE CAUCASUS
Algeria
Armenia
Bahrain
Egypt
Iran
Iraq
Israel
Lebanon
Libya
Saudi Arabia
Syria
Tunisia
Turkey
Yemen
Jordan
Jordan has played an integral role in Christian, Jewish, and Islamic history. Islam has been a powerful force in Jordanian politics and society since the arrival of the Arabs in the 7th century CE, and Jordan remained under the purview of the caliphate through the First World War (1914-18). A constitutional monarchy controlled by the Hashemite family since 1920, Jordan has retained its strong Muslim and Arab identities, and Sunni Islam remains the official state religion. Jordan’s indigenous Christian community enjoys a greater degree of political and religious freedom than is perhaps typical for the region, although decades of Christian emigration has reduced Jordan’s religious diversity. Jordan plays an important role in the ongoing Arab-Israeli conflict as one of only two Arab states that have normalized relations with Israel; estimates suggest that as much as 70% of Jordan’s population is comprised of Palestinian refugees and their descendants.
ESSAYS ON JORDAN
From the Arrival of Islam to the fall of the Ottomans
Arab armies carried Islam into Jordan in 633, the year after the Prophet Muhammad’s death. At the time, the relationship between religious and secular powers was being developed by the four Rightly Guided Caliphs that succeeded Muhammad. Jordan remained under the control of Islamic empires until the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire after the First World War, and throughout the centuries of the Medina, Umayyad, Abbasid, and Ottoman Caliphates, state and religious power was conflated in theory but largely separate in practice. In general, military leaders ruled the state and the ulema ruled the religious sphere. State rulers depended on the ulema to legitimize their rule, but by and large the latter did not share political power. Under Ottoman control, the territory of modern Jordan was split between the Syrian Province and the Hejaz Province, and the Bedouin tribes that constituted the majority of Jordan’s population operated with substantial freedom from Ottoman oversight. Its society was organized around the millet, a system of autonomous religious communities. Although they were required to pay additional taxes to the government, Abrahamic non-Muslims were permitted to govern themselves according to their own religious laws, allowing each religious community to maintain a large degree of autonomy without interference from the government. Christian, Jewish, and Druze minorities were allowed to regulate all matters regarding birth, marriage, and inheritance, while all other religious groups were required to adhere to Islamic jurisprudence.
From WWI to the Six Day War
Following the conclusion of the First World War and the dismantlement of the Ottoman Empire, the United Kingdom received a League of Nations mandate to govern much of the Middle East, including Jordan. In April 1921, the British carved out the territory east of the Jordan River to establish Transjordan, which was separated from Palestine and given semi-autonomous status. Britain recognized Transjordan as a state in 1923, and control over financial, military, and foreign policy matters were gradually transferred to the Hashemite Emir Abdullah I (1921-1951). During this period, the Muslim Brotherhood established a branch in the country, which cooperated with the monarchy and rapidly grew in influence. In 1946, the Treaty of London granted Transjordan independence from Britain, but the new state soon found itself at war with the newly founded state of Israel from 1948-1949. The Armistice of 1949 left Transjordan in control of the West Bank and East Jerusalem, which the country—officially renamed the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan in 1949—promptly annexed. Though Israel and the Arab League did not recognize the annexation, Jordan granted Jordanian citizenship to all Palestinians residing in the West Bank. However, it did not extend the rights of citizenship to Jews living in the West Bank or East Jerusalem, and Jordanian forces expelled all Jews from the annexed territory. Additionally, many Jewish synagogues were either destroyed or converted for other purposes. Jordan controlled the West Bank and East Jerusalem until 1967, when it lost the territory during the 1967 Six-Day War.
From 1967 to the Present
Of the one million Palestinians – mostly Muslim, though many Christian – living in East Jerusalem and the West Bank when Israel gained control of these areas in the Six-Day War, 300,000 fled to Jordan as refugees. This migration, and the subsequent presence of the Palestinian Liberation Organization in Jordan, led to a period of internal conflict and severe repression. During this time, the Muslim Brotherhood cooperated with the monarchy and emerged one of the few significant, independent associations in the country, a position that allowed it to wield significant influence in society and politics. When electoral politics resumed in 1989, Brotherhood-affiliated independents emerged as the most significant non-regime group. The Brotherhood’s political engagement was institutionalized in 1993, when it sponsored the formation of the Islamic Action Front. In 1994, Jordan signed a peace agreement with Israel despite the vociferous protest of much of the Jordanian opposition. The agreement cemented a permanent role for Jordan in further peace negotiation processes. The Jordan-Israel Peace Treaty established Jordan as only the second Arab country to normalize relations with Israel, and it remains a source of internal conflict. Although Jordan has an indigenous Greek Orthodox Catholic community, with Christians accounting for 20 to 30 percent of the Jordanian population in 1950, the second half of the 20th century witnessed the mass emigration of Christians from Jordan. Today, Christians make up only 3 percent of its population.
Contemporary Affairs
Following his father’s death in 1999, King Abdullah II assumed the throne and has since instituted programs to increase interreligious dialogue. The Royal Institute for Inter-Faith Studies, a government sponsored program, has organized several conferences and seminars dedicated to creating a forum in the Arab world for the interdisciplinary study and discussion of religious issues. However, Jordan continues to regulate religion, and some aspects of its family laws are biased against non-Muslims. The balance between Jordan’s secular and religious identity remains a contentious issue. In January 2006, two Jordanian journalists were arrested for printing controversial cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad. Jordan’s relations with Israel and Palestinians are also sources of political contention, with non-Palestinian Jordanians seeking to curb the influence of Palestinian Jordanians in order to avoid involvement in that conflict. The Muslim Brotherhood’s Islamic Action Front (IAF) remains the most powerful organized political opposition, and Salafi movements pose a smaller but more intransigent challenge. In 2009, the Jordanian cabinet recognized the Council of Church Leaders as the official organizational representative to coordinate Jordanian Christians’ civil affairs with the government. Opposition to the regime has also increased as part of the broader Arab Spring, and the IAF, among others, led a series of popular protests in 2011 calling for democratic reforms. These protests, fueled in large part by economic woes, led the king to twice replace the country’s prime minister. Though the opposition continued to enjoy heightened popular support and political influence into 2012, large-scale protests fizzled by December 2011.
Religious Freedom in Jordan
Approximately 95 percent of the Jordanian population is Sunni Muslim. Although official statistics report that 6 percent of the population is Christian, unofficial estimates place the number closer to 1.5 to 3 percent. The remainder is comprised of small Shi’a, Baha’i, and Druze contingents that experience the greatest degree of religious discrimination from the government. Official statistics claim that no Jews live in Jordan, and Jordan is the only country in the region without an indigenous Jewish population. Matters of personal status, including religion, marriage, divorce, child custody, and inheritance, are exclusively within the purview of religious law in Jordan. Christians generally face few government restrictions, though certain denominations are not recognized as religious institutions by the government. The government does not recognize the Baha’i faith, and as a result Baha’is lack rights and privileges afforded to other religious groups. Druze are classified as Muslims, including on government identification cards, which forces Druze to adhere to the Sunni Muslim court system within Jordan. Druze are allowed to run for public office as part of the Muslim quota in parliament. Although neither the constitution nor civil legislation bans apostasy, Jordan’s Islamic courts, which hold primacy for Muslim citizens, ban conversion from Islam for all Jordanian Muslims. Because the Islamic legal system in Jordan does not recognize the conversions of Jordanians from Islam, those who convert remain subject to Sharia law. In many cases, members of unrecognized religions and non-religious individuals must choose an existing religious court to hear their case, especially on issues pertaining to personal status.
Religion in the Jordanian Constitution
The Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan is a Muslim constitutional monarchy. Article 2 of the Jordanian Constitution stipulates that the state religion is Islam, and Article 28(e) states that the King must be Muslim. Despite the fact that Islam is the country's official religion, Article 6 declares that citizens of all religions must be treated equally before the law. Additionally, Article 14 states, "The State shall safeguard the free exercise of all forms of worship and religious rites in accordance with the customs observed in the Kingdom, unless such exercise is inconsistent with public order or morality." The judicial system is comprised of three courts: civil, religious, and special as described in Article 99. Article 105 stipulates that Sharia courts comprise the majority of religious courts and they are responsible for matters pertaining to the personal status of Muslims. However, non-Muslim religious communities that have been recognized by the government are entitled to separate religious tribunals to handle issues of personal status as articulated in Article 109.
