page_title: Religion in Saudi Arabia
section_title: Freedom of religion
hierarchical_section_title: Religion in Saudi Arabia / Freedom of religion
caption_attribution_description: English: Self-reported Muslim affiliation by region
context_page_description: Islam is the state religion of Saudi Arabia. No law requires residents to be Muslim, however, public worship by adherents of religions other than Islam is forbidden. Any non-Muslim attempting to acquire Saudi Arabian nationality must convert to Islam. Furthermore, Salafism is official version of Sunni Islam and adherence to other strands even within Sunnism is restricted. Saudi Arabia has been criticized for its implementation of Islamic law and its human rights record. According to Gallup, atheists account for 5% of the population among Saudi Arabian citizens.
context_section_description: Saudi Arabia is an Islamic theocracy. Religious minorities do not have the right to practice their religion. Non-Muslim propagation is banned, and conversion from Islam to another religion is punishable by death as apostasy. Proselytizing by non-Muslims, including the distribution of non-Muslim religious materials such as Bibles, Bhagavad Gita, Ahmedi Books are illegal. In late 2014 a law was promulgated calling for the death penalty for anyone bringing into the country "publications that have a prejudice to any other religious beliefs other than Islam" (thought to include non-Muslim religious books).
  The annual report of the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) tagged Saudi Arabia along with 15 other nations as “countries of particular concern” for engaging in or tolerating “systematic, ongoing, egregious violations”.
caption: Saudi Arabia mostly colored in light blue (Sunni hanbali).
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