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Religion

Unlike other people of the Arabian Peninsula who have historically been nomads or semi-nomads, Yemenis are almost entirely sedentary and live in small villages and towns scattered throughout the highlands and coastal regions. Yemenis are divided into two principal Islamic religious groups: the Shia Zaidi sect, found in the north and northwest, and the Shafa'i school of Sunni Muslims, found in the south and southeast. Yemenis are mainly of Semitic origin, although African strains are present among inhabitants of the coastal region. Arabic is the official language, although English is increasingly understood in major cities. In the Mahra area (the extreme east), several non-Arabic languages are spoken. When the former states of north and south Yemen were established, most resident minority groups departed.

Virtually all citizens are Muslims, predominantly belonging to either the Zaydi order of Shi'a Islam or the Shafa'i order of Sunni Islam. While there are no available statistics, Zaydis make up an estimated 45 percent and Shafa'is 55 percent of the population. There are a few thousand Ismaili Muslims who reside mainly in the north. There are reportedly 150 Baha'is. Jews are the only indigenous non-Muslim religious minority. Nearly all of the once-sizable Jewish population has emigrated. Fewer than 250 Jews remain in Amran Governorate in the north of the country. The Government's inability to adequately protect this community from increased threats has led to the desire of much of the community to emigrate.

Neither the Constitution nor other laws protect or inhibit freedom of religion; however, government policies contributed to the generally free practice of religion. The Constitution declares that Islam is the state religion and that Shari'a is the source of all legislation. In practice, this means that the local interpretation of Shari'a is used as a basis for law. Followers of religious groups other than Islam are free to worship according to their beliefs and to wear religiously distinctive ornaments or dress. Shari'a forbids conversion and prohibits non-Muslims from proselytizing, however, and the Government enforces this prohibition. The Government requires permission for the construction of new places of worship. Elected officials, other than the president, may be non-Muslims.

Public schools provide instruction in Islam but not in other religions, although Muslim citizens are allowed to attend private schools that do not teach Islam. In an effort to curb ideological and religious extremism in schools, the government does not permit any courses outside of the officially approved curriculum to be taught in private and national schools. Because the government is concerned that unlicensed religious schools deviate from formal educational requirements and promote militant ideology, it has closed more than 4,500 of these institutions and deported foreign students studying there.

The free practice of religion has met with some government opposition. In 2004 the government used military force to quell an armed insurgency led by a Shia cleric in the northern governorate of Sadah. In March 2007, the government abolished the al-Haq political party, whose members are linked to this insurgency movement, citing the party’s failure to meet political party law requirements.

In early 2007, for the third year, the government banned the observance of a religious holiday that is celebrated there by some Shia Muslims and reportedly limited the hours that mosques were allowed to remain open, reassigned imams thought to espouse radical doctrine, and increased surveillance and detention of members of the insurgent group. According to the U.S. Department of State, Yemen’s government, in an effort to curb extremism and increase tolerance, monitors mosques for inflammatory sermons and threatening political statements and uses police and intelligence agencies to screen the activities of Islamic organizations tied to international organizations.

The law punishes public “ridicule” of any religion, and the maximum sentence is higher if the ridiculed religion is Islam. Denouncing Islam or converting from Islam to another religion is considered apostasy, which is a capital offense, although the government does not enforce the death penalty. The law allows those charged with apostasy three opportunities to repent, which absolves them from the death penalty. Family law prohibits marriage between a Muslim and an apostate. By law apostates have no parental or child-custody rights.

One of the deepest root causes of the conflict in Yemen is an ongoing battle of religious extremes between the violent Zaydism of the Shiite Houthi rebels native to the region and the radical Sunni Salafism that had crept down from Saudi Arabia since the early 1990s. Supported and encouraged by the government as a check on the influence of the historically powerful Zaydi population, the Salafis have moved into the northern governorates, both sparking and perpetuating the ongoing war in Sa'ada. Historically, Yemen's Zaydi Shiites and Shafi Sunnis had more in common with one another than with the extreme fringes of either sect - the Jafari Shiites of Iran, for example, or Saudi Arabia's Wahabbis. As the Salafis moved into the Zaydi stronghold of Sa'ada governorate, however, fundamental differences emerged between the Zaydis and their new Sunni neighbors. The main principle of Zaydism is rejecting injustice, including the overthrow of an unjust ruler. Salafism, on the other hand, preaches steadfast obedience to the ruler, with the potential to affect change through quiet counsel. These competing ideologies clashed in the complex Yemeni political arena, particularly in war-torn Sa'ada. After unification in 1990, there was an intense competition between Zaydis and Islah to spread ideology. Islah, the Islamist opposition party, is generally considered moderate, but contains radical members of the Salafi and Muslim Brotherhood factions.

President Saleh supported and encouraged the spread of Salafism as a politically expedient counterweight to domestic challenges such as southern secessionists and the Houthis. Fueled by money from the Gulf and a warm reception by the government, the Salafis swept into Yemen in the early 1990s, quickly establishing mosques, madrasas (Quranic schools) and charities across the country (reftel). Widely distributed Salafi propaganda portrays Zaydis as pawns of Iran in a global Shi'a conspiracy that seeks to divide the Muslim world.