Islam
There are more Sunni than Shiite Muslims among the residents. The country has Shariah and other courts. Waqfa, Eid al-Adha, the Islamic New Year, Mawlid, Lailat al Miraj, and Eid al-Fitr are national holidays. Maliki Shariah applies in cases of divorce. Polygamy is legal (up to four wives are allowed per man). Conversion from Islam to another religion is not permitted.
Read more about this topic: Religion In The United Arab Emirates
Famous quotes containing the word islam:
“Awareness of the stars and their light pervades the Koran, which reflects the brightness of the heavenly bodies in many verses. The blossoming of mathematics and astronomy was a natural consequence of this awareness. Understanding the cosmos and the movements of the stars means understanding the marvels created by Allah. There would be no persecuted Galileo in Islam, because Islam, unlike Christianity, did not force people to believe in a “fixed” heaven.”
—Fatima Mernissi, Moroccan sociologist. Islam and Democracy, ch. 9, Addison-Wesley Publishing Co. (Trans. 1992)
“The exact objectives of Islam Inc. are obscure. Needless to say everyone involved has a different angle, and they all intend to cross each other up somewhere along the line.”
—William Burroughs (b. 1914)
“Sooner or later we must absorb Islam if our own culture is not to die of anemia.”
—Basil Bunting (1900–1985)