The attack on the Greek Orthodox Church of St. George in Hamoud raises questions about the spread of fundamentalist violence and the future of a society in which Christians and Muslims have share history, culture and a sense of national belonging for centuries
Last update: 2026-11-12 16:26:45
Jordan’s Christian community has deep historical roots, dating back to the earliest centuries of Christianity. The region holds particular significance in Christian tradition as the site of Jesus Christ’s baptism in the Jordan River by John the Baptist. Christianity also spread among various Arab groups between the first and sixth centuries, including the Banu Ghassan (Ghassanids), who founded their kingdom in what is now Jordan. The Ghassanids maintained their Christian identity throughout Islamic rule, and to this day, some Jordanian Christian families trace their origins back to them. Today, Jordan is home to a diverse range of Christian denominations and churches, whose ecclesiastical authorities are based outside the country, mainly in Jerusalem and Damascus.
Under Hashemite rule, Jordanians from different religious communities have shared neighbourhoods, schools, workplaces, social relationships and family ties. This experience challenges the Western perception of Middle Eastern Christians as merely a vulnerable minority within a Muslim-majority society. Although relatively few in number, Jordan’s Christians refuse to be considered a minority; they have deep historical roots and a sense of belonging to the country that transcends their demographic size. They have contributed to the development of education, healthcare, public administration, business and culture. Arabic, the common mother tongue, also provides a shared linguistic and cultural foundation. These different identities (linguistic, national and religious) support harmonious coexistence while allowing communities to preserve their identity and seek common ground. An Arab Jordanian Christian is Christian by religion, Arab by ethnicity, language and culture, and Jordanian by citizenship.
The massacre on 23 October 2026 at the Greek Orthodox Church of St. George in Hamoud, Karak Governorate, during a funeral shocked people across Jordan. Although it directly targeted Christian Arab mourners, it should not be interpreted simply as an instance of anti-Christian persecution or as a reflection of relations between Muslims and Christians in Jordan. The solidarity shown by Muslim neighbours in Hamoud reminds us that the perpetrators’ ideology does not represent the wider society. Nevertheless, the attack raises difficult questions about preventing radicalization and protecting Jordan’s pluralistic character.
Historically, Karak was governed by predominantly Muslim Arab tribes alongside Christian tribes. Relations were generally cordial despite occasional disputes. The mostly Greek Orthodox community maintained its presence through St. George Church. In 1875, some tribes converted to Catholicism, and the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem founded churches there. Karak is historically identified with ancient Moab and is locally known as the land of “al-Hayyeh”. The name commemorates the 1910 revolt against Ottoman rule, when Muslim and Christian tribes stood together against oppression, heavy taxation and forced conscription. Even today, for the local inhabitants, that episode reflects the courage, dignity and unwavering spirit of Karak’s people.
Jordanians’ reaction to the events in Hamoud brought the reality of their shared life into sharp focus. Muslim neighbours, religious representatives and political figures, including King Abdullah II and members of the royal family, visited the wounded and victims’ families to express solidarity. The Kingdom recognized all the victims as martyrs and three days of national mourning were declared. This does not mean coexistence should be idealised or that challenges do not exist. The question is how these relationships can be preserved and strengthened, particularly among younger generations.
The attack raised many questions about the spread of takfiri ideologies within Jordanian society, based on the practice of declaring anyone who professes a different religion or does not share a particular interpretation of Islam an unbeliever. Targeting a Christian funeral gives the attack an unmistakable religious dimension, reflecting an ideology that rejects pluralism and regards the presence of others as something to be opposed rather than accepted. Yet the roots of radicalisation cannot be explained by religious identity alone. They require an examination of ideological indoctrination, extremist narratives, social conditions and the processes through which individuals become detached from their communities’ values. The Jordanian authorities have attributed the crime to three terrorists, members of the same family (tribe), known to everyone in Karak as their neighbours. The challenge, therefore, is not only to apprehend those responsible, but also to understand and confront how extremism develops.
Many Jordanians have observed shifts in how some sectors of society interpret and practise Islam in everyday life. These include questioning whether Christians should be greeted at Christmas and Easter, and using language that they may find offensive: describing Christians as a minority in need of protection, calling them “infidels” and insulting their religion, or reviving concepts such as dhimmi and jizya, referring respectively to the legal status historically assigned to non-Muslims, particularly Christians and Jews, as protected subjects subordinate to Muslim authority, and to the personal tax they were required to pay in return for that protection.
Such hate speech appears mainly on social media. The use of AI and the increasing popularity of religious programmes and preachers favouring figures such as Ibn Taymiyya over other voices within the Islamic tradition, especially among young people, have also attracted attention. Some Jordanian experts have examined how extremism takes root amid regional wars, conflicts and injustices, especially in Palestine. Extremists exploit societal vulnerabilities, including youth unemployment, poverty and limited opportunities. Some advocate more inclusive school curricula; others call for changes to religious discourse in certain mosques. Crucially, extremist ideology must not be confused with the beliefs or actions of Jordan’s wider Muslim population.
Political analysts and intellectuals have also raised geopolitical concerns. They see the attack as a possible attempt to undermine Jordan’s security and the Hashemite monarchy’s role, especially its custodianship of holy places, including Christian sites. They link it to the 2016 ISIS attack on the city, which aimed to destabilise the country. Such attacks seek to frighten Christian communities and evoke the massacres in Iraq and Syria, which caused persecution and displacement. This violence could provoke sectarian tensions in a society where Christian and Muslim Arabs have shared everyday life for centuries and both profess loyalty to the Hashemite monarchy.
Economically, such attacks harm tourism by damaging Jordan’s reputation as a safe destination. They also compound the challenges facing a country already grappling with drug and arms smuggling across its border with Syria, as well as the repercussions of attacks linked to the Israeli-Iranian war. Other intellectuals, concerned about the future of Christians in Jordan and the region and alarmed by the scale of migration and the widespread desire to move to the West, warn of a wider ideological project aimed at emptying the Levant of its indigenous Christian Arab component. In their view, this would reduce the region’s conflicts to an exclusively religious dimension and attribute responsibility for them to Islam, portrayed as a “violent” religion.
These pressures affect Jordanian society as a whole, especially smaller communities whose continuity depends on maintaining a viable local presence. Yet Jordanians remain determined to preserve their understanding of history, citizenship and society. A Jordan in which Christians continue to be an integral part of society, participating fully in national life and passing on their cultural and religious heritage; a Jordan in which diversity is recognised as a defining element of national identity and the constitutional principle of equality for all citizens is fully upheld in practice.