Country Profile - Yemen

Assalaamu Alaykum,

It seems many people when they make a decision to make Hijrah look at Yemen at some point, some families go there and come back, others have gone and stayed.

So what is good and what is bad about Yemen, why do some people stay and others come back?

Here is my latest country profile, please as always bare in mind these are my personal impressions and if you know any better correct my errors.






1. How easy is it to practice the deen, and to what level, how practicing are the people there.

Relatively easy to practice the deen as long as you don’t speak out against the rulers too much (make your comments against the murtad rulers general, not specific).


Even then there is an active Islamist movement calling for Shariah, from hardcore Jihadis to democracy using Iqwanis and with the president trying to keep both sides happy and pleasing the Muslims sometimes by helping them such as helping the Jihad in Somalia and in other times pleasing the US and West by locking up and sometimes executing those who appose the aims of the West.

This picture is of Dammaj, one of the islamic teaching institutions in Yemen, though this one is one of the best and hardest to get into.


Sheikh Anwar has also now been released and is presently speaking out openly and there are committees to forbid vice and enjoin good in the major cities, making sure people observe the public aspects of Islam.

People are quite practicing compared to many nations, niqab and hijab normal, men tend to wear western clothes and mustaches but this is changing (for the better)!

But some parts of this are cultural, i.e one of my Yemeni friends said even the prostitutes where niqab and walk arround with little bells on their ankles.



2. Whether Autopsy is allowed or not, what are the circumstances Autopsies are carries out.

Autopsies seem rare if happen at all, except in criminal cases but even then relatively unknown due to lack of resources.


3. How easy is to move to that land and how easy or difficult is it to acquire citizenship.

Relatively easy to move there if you can afford the residency visas. Need to investigate how easy or difficult to get citizenship as cannot find anything on this.


4. What are the employment prospects for someone who is a non-native language speaker and doesn’t have a degree.

Not as good as some places due to lack of international business and large scale poverty and unemployment but possible for a determined English speaker to find work, especially teaching English as lots of little colleges and schools which wont pay well but don't advertise internationally either.


5. What are the medical facilities like for both residents and citizens.

Good private system but fully costed on the patient, if you cant afford it you don’t get treatment for some illnesses, but there are charitable hospitals but these tend to be poor and massively over used for use in emergencies.


6. What are the other benefits like for both residents and citizens.

Non Existent other benefits, if you have no money you rely on charity or starve.


7. What is the general culture like there.

General culture is friendly and open, but very poor. Wide gulf between relatively westernised middle and upper class and religiously practicing poor.

Crime rate is small, but some tribes do use kidnapping to publicise grievances with the government and they might not necessary no the difference between one fair skinned foreigner and another.


8. Environmental Factors

Rising temperatures likely to make farming more difficult in the short to medium term and sea level rises turn Adan, the main port into an Island, though the rest of the country is relatively unaffected by sea level rises even at 14m due to a high coastline.

In the long run however, the land should become much more fertile as temperatures rise, as predicted by environmental scientists and in the hadith from the prophet Muhammad (saws).

Yemen, alongside Oman is part of the fertile 'green' part of Arabia but still has water shortages due to Khat farmers illegally extracting water to make sure they have enough themselves, even if other farmers and poor villagers suffer in the long term.


9. General Stability

Have had civil wars in the past, but even though there are still tensions between Sunni and Shia, secular and Islamic, it doesn’t look like there is going to be any trouble soon and good relations and no border disputes with neighbours.

There is an active south Yemen independence movement, but doesn't seem to be getting anywhere at the moment, even though there is a genuine grievence with all the gas and oil reserves in the south and the richer north taking most of the money from these for patronage for the presidents supporters in the north.

Saying all that, there is always potential for trouble in place with slightly more Rifles than people (US readers take note)


Conclusion...

Though not perfect by a land shot, Yemen is much more islamic in character and culture than many other arab or muslim countries and would therefore seem to be a good choice for Hijrah as long as enough money is saved up first incase cannot get a job.

Assalaamu Alaykum,
Abu Abdillah