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By Faisal Baatout, Agence France-Presse
DOHA: A bitter debate has broken out in the
tiny, oil-rich Gulf state of Qatar over construction of the Muslim
country’s first Christian church, set to open next month in time
for Easter.
Critics have branded the concept as
“repulsive” while supporters said building places of worship for
other religions is a right guaranteed by Islam.
One former minister insisted there should have
been a public referendum.
“The cross should not be raised in the sky of
Qatar, nor should bells toll in Doha,” wrote columnist Lahdan bin
Issa al-Muhanadi in the Doha daily Al-Arab—adding an apology in
case the concept upset any readers in this country of 900,000, of
whom only 200,000 are native Qataris.
The former dean of the sharia (Islamic law)
school at Qatar University, Abdul Hamid al-Ansari, disagreed, saying
having “places of worship for various religions is a fundamental
human right guaranteed by Islam.”
Ansari has written several newspaper articles
welcoming the Roman Catholic Church in Doha, which is called St.
Mary’s and will be inaugurated on March 15 by Vatican envoy
Cardinal Ivan Dias.
Four other Christian denominations are also
planning to build churches in Qatar, whose ruling family and most of
its small native population adhere to a strict rigorous doctrine of
Islam known as Wahhabism.
Once St. Mary’s opens, neighbour Saudi Arabia,
which also practices Wahhabism, will be the only Arab nation in the
Gulf that bans churches.
Gas-wealthy Qatar has opened up since current
ruler and staunch US ally Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani seized
control and ousted his father in a 1995 palace coup.
Qatar’s leaders have even hosted Jewish rabbis
and Christian clerics alongside Muslim religious scholars at annual
inter-faith forums.
But Ansari sees the old influence in the current
opposition. He attributes it to “a fanatic culture resulting from
religious teaching [stipulating] hatred for the other and from
social norms that denied non-Muslims their rights on the basis of
old political and security considerations that have become
obsolete.”
St. Mary’s parish priest, Father Tomasito
Veneracion, a Filipino, stressed in comments to the daily Al-Raya
that the church would be “merely a place for collective prayer.”
It would not have crosses outside the building
or serve as a platform for proselytising, he said, adding that it
would finally provide a place of worship for those who up to now
were forced to practice religious rituals at home.
It would be open in time for the solemn Easter
holy day, which this year falls on March 23.
For other Christians, construction of an
Anglican church will begin in May, according to Qatar’s Anglican
priest Canon William Schwarz. Building has already begun on a Greek
Orthodox Church and another for Copts.
The Vatican website estimates about 100,000
Qatar residents are Christian. Most are Indians, Filipinos, Lebanese
and Western nationals who, despite praying in private, have
celebrated Christmas publicly for about a decade.
The debate meanwhile has spilled into the
letters pages of Doha’s dailies.
Engineer Rashed al-Subaie, in a letter to Al-Watan,
agreed Christians should be allowed to practice their faith but
should do so “in line with public morals without being given
licenses to set up places of worship.”
Christians should “worship their God in their
homes,” not publicly, he wrote.
Lawyer and former justice minister Najib al-Nuaimi
also objected to building churches in Qatar on “legal and
social” grounds.
“Qatar is a Muslim—not secular—state, as
per its constitution. There should have been a referendum on the
building of these churches in order to ensure they are socially
accepted,” he told AFP.
But Ansari hit back at those citing Islamic
texts to justify their rejection, notably Muhanadi who has quoted
the Prophet Mohammed saying “no two religions will come together
in the Arabian peninsula”.
This does not mean that churches should be
banned in Qatar because (Islamic) religious scholars believe it
applies to Hijaz — specifically Mecca and Medina,” Islam’s two
holiest cities in Saudi Arabia, Ansari said.
“Let’s all welcome the presence of churches
in Qatar as a demonstration of Islamic tolerance and human
brotherhood,” he said.
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