The Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan is a majority Muslim country with 96% of the population following Sunni Islam while a small minority follow Shiite branches. There are also about 20,000 to 32,000 Druze living mostly in the north of Jordan, even though most Druze no longer consider themselves Muslim. Many Jordanian Muslims practice Sufism. The 1952 Constitution grants freedom of religion while stipulating that the king and his successors must be Muslims and sons of Muslim parents. Religious minorities include Christians of various denominations (1%) and even fewer adherents of other faiths. Jordan is a religious and conservative country. Islam in Social Life pre-1980s Despite a strong identification with and loyalty to Islam, religious practices varied among segments of Jordan's population. This unevenness in practice did not necessarily correlate with a rural-urban division or differing levels of education. The religious observance of some Jordanians was marked by beliefs and practices that were sometimes antithetical to the teachings of Islam. Authorities attributed at least some of these elements to pre-Islamic beliefs and customs common to the area. In daily life, neither rural dwellers nor urbanites were overly fatalistic. They did not directly hold God responsible for all occurrences; rather, they placed events in a religious context that imbued them with meaning. The expression in shari'a Allah often accompanied statements of intention, and the term bismillah (in the name of Allah) accompanied the performance of most important actions. Such pronouncements did not indicate a ceding of control over one's life or events. Jordanian Muslims generally believed that in matters that they could control, God expected them to work diligently. Muslims have other ways of invoking God's presence in daily life. Despite Islam's unequivocal teaching that God is one and that no being resembles him in sanctity, some people accepted the notion that certain persons (saints) have baraka, a special quality of personal holiness and affinity to God. The intercession of these beings was believed to help in all manner of trouble, and shrines to such people could be found in some localities. Devotees often visited the shrine of their patron, especially seeking relief from illness or inability to have children. Numerous spiritual creatures were believed to inhabit the world. Evil spirits known as jinn — fiery, intelligent beings that are capable of appearing in human and other forms — could cause all sorts of malicious mischief. For protection, villagers carried in their