The population is mostly Muslim and includes both the Sunni and Shia sects. Bahrain also has the largest Christian minority within the Arab states of the Arabian Gulf. Thousand Christians hold Bahraini citizenship, with the next closest GCC country, Kuwait, only having approximately 400 Christian citizens. Arabic is the official language of Bahrain, however, English is widely used as a lingua franca. The Ajami dialect of Persian is widely spoken by Persian Bahraini citizens "Ajam". Many Bahrainis have a working knowledge not only of English but Hindi and Urdu as well.