Christians of the Emirate: The Citizenship Process, Confessionalisation and Minoritisation

The present chapter anal- yses the impact of the foundation of the Mandate-era Hashemite state on Christians’ presence in Transjordan. Particular attention will be paid to the configuration of their community spaces and citizen status as the main religious minority in the country. With the foundation of the Hashemite Emirate, Christians’ presence was reconfigured according to the concept of religious minority, despite the fact that they had not been strictly defined as a national minority in the Emirate’s founding charter (the 1928 Organic Law). Rather, Christians were recognised as equal citizens along with Muslims, both Arab and Circassian. At the same time, their distinctive religious identity was guaranteed by introducing intothe Emirate system all institutions dedicated to the recognition, protec- tion and representation of religious minorities. Such an operation was implemented through the confessionalisation and minoritisation of the Christian community and political dimension.