<P> According to a 2012 WIN - Gallup International' Religiosity and Atheism Index', atheists are a small minority in the Middle East with only 2% of those surveyed in the Arab World identifying themselves as "committed atheists". Dar al - Ifta al - Misriyyah, the branch of the Egyptian government that issues fatawa (religious edicts), gives lower (if less reliable) numbers, stating that there are 866 atheists in Egypt--"roughly 0.001% of the population"--325 in Morocco, and 32 in Yemen (defined as not only unbelievers, but secularists and "Muslims who convert to other religions"). </P> <P> Some countries (Iraq, Tunisia) surveyed had 0% of respondents identifying as atheists . Other countries indicated low percentages (Palestinian Territories 4%, Turkey, Uzbekistan 2%). However 18% of those surveyed in the Arab world identified themselves as "not a religious person" (Iraq 9%, Uzbekistan 16%, Saudi Arabia 19%, West Bank and Gaza 29%, Tunisia 22%, Turkey 73%), a higher percentage than in Africa, Latin America, or South Asia . </P> <P> According to unbelievers in the Arab world their numbers are growing but they suffer from persecution . Author and historian Faisal Devji notes that despite the fact that Saudi Arabia punishes unbelief with death, 5% of those surveyed identified themselves as atheists (a slightly higher percent than did in the United States) and 19 percent did not consider themselves religious . Devji states there is "a new movement of atheists in countries such as Saudi Arabia...which takes the form of secret societies", meeting "in internet chat rooms and unnamed physical locations, like the mystics of old". </P> <P> In Egypt, Al Jazeera reported a clandestine atheist group of over 100 in Alexandria in 2013 . The group complained of mistreatment of atheists by society and government . A Pew survey found 63% of Egyptian Muslims favored the death penalty for those who leave the religion of Islam . The Egyptian penal code punishes "contempt of heavenly religions", and as of 2013 Egyptians had been arrested and / or imprisoned for activities such as setting up a Facebook page calling for atheism, writing a book entitled Where is God?, and "defamation of religion". </P>

Religion and culture in the middle east sussex