Meanwhile, Muftī of the Republic Shaykh 'Alī Jum'ah said Islam guarantees that non-Muslims may practice their rituals and the principles of their faiths freely.

"The amendment of Article 2 of the constitution is needless because after all no one can encroach on the principles of the sharī'ah, a ceiling that has always been there since the 1923 constitution," said Jum'ah during an interview with the Dubai-based news channel al-'Arabīyah. [Dīyā' Abū al-Safā, al-Akhbār, Jan. 16, p. 3]