Saudi Islamic Leader: All Arabian Peninsula Churches 'Must Be Destroyed'

March 16, 2012

Saudi Arabia's grand mufti, the nation's highest Islamic authority, said no Christian churches should be allowed in the Arabian Peninsula -- which includes the nations of Yemen, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, Oman and the United Arab Emirates, CBN News reports. Sheikh Abdul Aziz bin Abdullah, responding to a question by a delegation from Kuwait asking about a Kuwaiti parliamentarian's call to remove all churches there, said it was "necessary to destroy all the churches in the region." Abdullah cited an Islamic hadith quoting the prophet Muhammad, who said on his deathbed, "There are not to be two religions in the [Arabian] Peninsula," meaning only Islam could exist there; Abdullah later added in clarification: "Kuwait [is] a part of the Arabian Peninsula and therefore it is necessary to destroy all churches in it." Christianity is forbidden in Saudi Arabia and there are no churches there.