Qatar

Qatar
Location of Qatar
National Assembly		Qatar
Statistics:
Total Population
-	UN 2021	2,688,235
Bahá'í pop.
-	Bahá'í source
-	Non-Bahá'í source	2,809
History: Firsts
-	National Assembly	1978
Related media
Categories: Qatar • People

The State of Qatar is a nation on the Arabian Peninsula. Its official language is Arabic with Islam being the predominant religion.

The region has been inhabited since prehistory. Islam was established as the major religion in the area when a prominent ruler converted to the religion during the lifetime of Muhammad. It was part of the Ottoman Empire in the 18th century but became a protectorate of the British Empire after the First World War, deferring its defence and foreign affairs to the Empire while retaining internal autonomy. In 1971 it became entirely independent of Britain.

The Bahá’í Faith has had a small community in Qatar since the early 1950's. In recent years the Bahá’í community has faced increasing persecution within the country.

History

The Bahá’í Faith was established in Qatar in the 1940's, and in 1952 Shoghi Effendi noted that the Bahá’í Faith was being steadily established in the country. In 1953 he made consolidating the community of Qatar a goal of the Ten Year Crusade assigned to the National Spiritual Assembly of Iraq, and as of 1954 a Local Spiritual Assembly had been established which was named the Local Spiritual Assembly of Qatar having jurisdiction over the whole country.

In 1957 the National Spiritual Assembly of the Arabian Peninsula was established which had jurisdiction over the Bahá’ís of Qatar. In 1962 a wedding ceremony conducted by the Local Spiritual Assembly of Qatar was officially recognized by the Shari’ah Court of Kuwait representing an advance in recognition of the Faith in Arabia. As of 1963 the Local Spiritual Assembly had begun going by the name the Local Spiritual Assembly of Doha, and by 1968 a second Local Spiritual Assembly had been established and an additional Bahá’í group.

In 1978 an independent National Spiritual Assembly of Qatar was established, however as of the late 1970's restrictions on the Faith across Arabia limited the degree to which Bahá’í communities could undertake activities to promote the religion. While limited in activities within the country the Bahá’í community of Qatar was able to support Bahá’í activity abroad assisting with funding the acquisition of the National Ḥaẓíratu’l-Quds of Gabon in 1982. In 1985 Bahá’í youth from Qatar assisted with conducting vocational classes in Pakistan teaching practical skills like sewing, typewriting, welding, plumbing, and carpet-making. In January 1986 the Promise of World Peace message from the Universal House of Justice was indirectly sent to the Head of State of Qatar through the countries Mission in New York.

In the 1990's Bahá’í women graduating from university in Qatar were denied employment due to their religious beliefs and refusal to employ Bahá’ís on religious grounds has continued to take place in the country to the present day. The government of Qatar has also denied residency permits to Bahá’ís working in the country despite them being sponsored by their employers to live in the country and denied residency permits to the spouses of Bahá’í workers to pressure families to leave. In 2005 a Bahá’í was deported from Qatar despite having received a security clearance to work in the country a few weeks prior to the deportation. In 2009 a Bahá’í cemetery in Doha began to be destroyed on behalf of the local government although the Emir of Qatar ordered the demolition be ceased before it was completed and the remains were reinterred elsewhere.

In April 2021 the chairman of the National Spiritual Assembly of Qatar was charged with violating the law regulating charitable activities due to his involvement in managing Bahá’í funds in the country and sentenced to several months in prison and a large fine and in August the same year Continental Counselor Omid Seioshanseian was deported from the country. In March 2022 the Bahá’í International Community made a statement to the United Nations Human Rights Council raising concerns about the treatment of Bahá’ís in Qatar.