Kuwait

Gulf emirate independent from Britain in 1961; an almost wholly Muslim society under the Āl Ṣabāḥ, with a Sunni majority and a Shīʿa community of roughly a third whose relations sources describe as a source of political tension since 1979.

☾ The Coming of Islam

Early Islam on the north-eastern Arabian coast

The coast of modern Kuwait lay within the early Islamic caliphates governing eastern Arabia and the Baṣra hinterland; the town of Kuwait itself grew in the 18th century under the Āl Ṣabāḥ as a Gulf trading port.

☾ Religious Composition

A Sunni majority with a substantial Shīʿa community

Kuwaiti citizens are almost entirely Muslim (citizenship is limited by law to Muslims); the majority are Sunni and roughly a third are Shīʿa. Sources describe relations between the two communities as a source of political tension, heightened after the 1979 Iranian revolution.

That the Sunnis form the majority and the Shīʿa about a third, and that this has been a source of tension, is widely reported; framings differ by source.

At a glance