Kuwait Removes Shopping Mall Christmas Tree After Muslims Complain

The operators of Kuwait’s largest shopping center removed a Christmas tree display from the mall this week after receiving a number of complaints from citizens who said Christian religious symbols should not be displayed in the country, which officially recognizes Sunni Islam as its state religion, the Jordanian news site Al Bawaba reported Thursday.

A Christmas-themed exhibit featuring a decorated tree surrounded by festively wrapped presents was displayed at the Avenues Mall in Kuwait’s capital, Kuwait City, in recent days before Kuwaiti government authorities ordered the shopping center to take down the artistic display.

إزالة مجسم شبيه بشجرة الكريسماس من «الأفنيوز» بعد شكاوى عدد من المواطنين | #أول_نيوز pic.twitter.com/mVFCloa8Fo

— #أوّل نيوز (@Awwalkwt) December 16, 2021

“The Kuwaiti authorities’ decision to remove the Christmas tree … came after complaints from town residents,” Al Bawaba reported on December 16.

“According to local media, residents have complained about the Christmas tree placed in The Avenues mall; saying that it is against the Islamic belief and the country’s tradition [sic],” the news site relayed.

The constitution of Kuwait declares Islam the nation’s official religion, though it also guarantees “absolute” freedom of belief for people in the country. Kuwait is home to a native, minority Christian population, which Al Bawaba estimated at 650,000 to 750,000 in 2021. Kuwait is the only member state of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) besides Bahrain that grants citizenship to its native Christian population.

“Most of the Christian families in Kuwait and Bahrain have their roots from southeastern Turkey while some came from either Iraq or Palestine,” Kuwait’s first Christian pastor, Amanuel Benjamin Ghareeb, told Al Arabiya in May 2020.

“The numbers decreased since there was a change in Kuwait’s citizenship law in 1982 after they excluded Christians from naturalization,” he recalled.

“Most of the Kuwaiti population embraces Islam,” according to the Kuwaiti government’s official website, which adds that the “majority of the Kuwaiti Muslims are Sunnis and the rest are Shia’a.”

“Adherents of other religions are given the complete freedom to practice their own rituals provided that no prejudice may occur against Islam,” the Kuwaiti government stipulates.

“Christian families practice their own religious rituals with complete freedom in the churches found in Kuwait,” according to the state-run website. “This freedom is endorsed by the Kuwaiti government, a matter which enhances the coherence and interdependence of the nation.”

“Defamation of the three Abrahamic faiths (Islam, Judaism, and Christianity), publication or broadcast of material the government deems offensive to religious groups, and practices the government finds inconsistent with Islamic law are prohibited by law [in Kuwait],” according to the U.S. State Department.