Is it safe to travel to Dubai if you're an atheist?
- By
- Aparna Patel
- |
- 27 Jul, 2023
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When I visited Dubai a couple years ago, they never asked about my religious views at all. It’s not on any form they give you, it’s not on my passport and travel documents, and they never verbally asked me. So getting through immigration won’t be a problem.
Also, Dubai is filled with non-Muslim workers, mostly Filipinos, Indians, Brits and Americans. The Arabs there prefer hiring non-Arabs for jobs they do not want to do themselves, or for specific expertise. If they had a problem with other religions, they’d have to dismiss most of their labor force, which are mostly Catholic, Protestant Christian, Buddhist or Hindu. (Many are probably secretly agnostic or secular and just say they are a particular religion just to blend into their religious culture.)
That being said, I would not recommend getting into religious discussions about atheism while there. While they allow guests in their country to be non-Muslim, they do not take kindly to someone trying to convert people to another religion (or convince people that there is no God). And posing a logical debate on the merits of atheism could be considered trying to convert someone, and possibly be interpreted as an insult to their God (i.e. Allah), since you would be openly denying He exists.
So basically, hold your tongue and you will probably be fine.
The United Arab Emirates (Dubai) does not care about your religion: it’s not even asked on your landing card, because there isn’t one! I’ve visited/passed through a dozen times and never been asked, and neither have I ever heard of anybody being asked.
The only country in the region that I’m aware of asking for your religion is Saudi Arabia, where you need to fill this out on the visa application form. I’ve heard advice that entering either of “Atheist” or “Jewish” will cause your application to get extra scrutiny, I’m again not aware of any rejections due to this — and how would you prove that it’s this that caused the rejection anyway?
Last but not least, it’s not atheism that’s a sin in Islam, but apostasy: the act of converting away from Islam to anything else, be it Christianity, atheism or Pastafarianism. If you were never a Muslim in the first place, as far as a true believer is concerned you may be an idolatrous heathen or a godless fool, but you’ve committed no sin.
Credit:stackoverflow.com‘
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