©
David Debrincat
Jordan Travel Guide
©
David Debrincat
You will notice during your trip to Jordan that even though the country is still very traditional, the religion practised there is however very open.
During your trip to Jordan you will only find two big religions present.
The first, the most represented, by far the majority religion if not to say almost the only one is of course Islam. It's even considered the religion of the state. According to the last census and the latest statistics, 96% of the population is Muslim in Jordan. The great majority of these are Sunni Muslims.
Christians are the remaining 4%. Amongst them it's possible to distinguish several branches, but essentially there are Orthodox Christians, Greek, Armenian or Roman Catholics,
Walking in front of a mosque on a Friday at the time for prayer, you'll be impressed to see the crowd of people gathered for this act of faith. Once the mosque is full, people will even stand in the street. At that moment, the whole country stops. Generally speaking, the Islam practised in Jordan is more open. It has nothing to do with the stricter type which is practised elsewhere in the region like for example in Saudi Arabia, Iraq or Yemen.
It's undeniable that Jordan is a very traditional country. Despite that, the official discourse from those at the top in Jordan is a tolerant discourse turned towards openness. So Queen Rania of Jordan has herself taken a public position in this regard by declaring in 2006 that imposing the veil on a woman was in opposition with the principles of Islam. Were the female population really discernible in this discourse? It's still that case that in Jordan, especially in the capital Amman, women wear the veil less and less and play a more and more important role in society. It's less true in the rest of the country where wearing the veil is still something done by the majority of Jordanian women. For some, more than an obligation it represents above all the freedom to not be seen.
