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Just under 25% of the world's population are Muslim making it the world's
second largest religion, although many declare it as the world's leading
religion as many Christians are only nominal, whilst most Muslims actively
practise their religion on a daily basis. The coastal area of North Africa was conquered by the Islamic army at
the end
of the seventh century forcing the indigenous Moors (or Berbers) down into the Maghreb desert area where they continued to resist Arab rule.
At this time the epi-centre of the Muslim world relocated from Mecca and Medina to present day
Iraq and by the eighth century the civil wars of the Muhammadan succession saw
the Meccan traditionalists forced into exile in the Maghreb where they
co-existed with the Moors converting them into traditional Islam hostile to Arab
rule along the north African coastline. This new group came to be known as the 'Ibadites' and they founded cities
deep in the Maghreb outside the influence and control of the Arabs on the coast.
Within 200 years the Ibadites had seized control of the Arab ruled lands and
forced them from North Africa replacing them with states ruled directly by
descendants of the Prophet through his daughter Fatima. The Moors went on to conquer Spain from its Arab rulers and for
600 years these Sunni Muslims went on to rule the countries now known as
Morocco, Algeria, Libya, Mauritania and Western Egypt before eventually falling
under Ottoman and then French colonial rule. Despite this colonial rule, like the Arab governors of a millennia before,
foreign influence and control was largely confined to the coastline and became
increasingly nominal further south into the Maghreb where a pure and highly
traditional form of Islam remains to this day.
Below shows the Muslim population in each country in Africa
| African Country: | Muslim Population | % of Population |
| Algeria | 34,780,000 | 98.2% |
| Angola | 195,000 | 1.0% |
| Benin | 2,259.000 | 24.5% |
| Botswana | 8,000 | 0.4% |
| Burkina Faso | 9,600,000 | 58.9% |
| Burundi | 184,000 | 2.2% |
| Cameroon | 3,598,000 | 18% |
| Cape Verde | < 1000 | 0.1% |
| Central African Republic | 403,000 | 8.9% |
| Chad | 6,404,000 | 55.7% |
| Comoros | 679,000 | 98.3% |
| Congo, Democratic Republic of (Congo-Kinshasa) | 969,000 | 1.4% |
| Congo, Republic of (Congo-Brazzaville) | 60,000 | 1.6% |
| Cote d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast) | 7,960,000 | 36.9% |
| Djibouti | 853,000 | 97% |
| Egypt | 80,024,000 | 94.7% |
| Equatorial Guinea | 28,000 | 4.1% |
| Eritrea | 1,909,000 | 36.5% |
| Ethiopia | 28,721,000 | 33.8% |
| Gabon | 145,000 | 9.7% |
| Gambia | 1,669,000 | 95.3% |
| Ghana | 3,906,000 | 16.1% |
| Guinea | 8,693,000 | 84.2% |
| Guinea-Bissau | 705,000 | 42.8% |
| Kenya | 2,868,000 | 7% |
| Lesotho | 1000 | < 0.1% |
| Liberia | 523,000 | 12.8% |
| Libya | 6,325,000 | 96.6% |
| Madagascar | 220,000 | 1.1% |
| Malawi | 2,011,000 | 12.8% |
| Mali | 12,316,000 | 92.4% |
| Mauritania | 3,338,000 | 99.2% |
| Mauritius | 216,000 | 16.6% |
| Morocco | 32,281,000 | 99.9% |
| Mozambique | 5,340,000 | 22.8% |
| Namibia | 9,000 | 0.4% |
| Niger | 15,627,000 | 98.3% |
| Nigeria | 75,728,000 | 47.9% |
| Rwanda | 188,000 | 1.8% |
| Sao Tome and Principe | < 1000 | < 0.1% |
| Senegal | 12,333,000 | 95.9% |
| Seychelles | < 1000 | 1.1% |
| Sierra Leone | 4,171,000 | 71.5% |
| Somalia | 9,231,000 | 98.6% |
| South Africa | 737,000 | 1.5% |
| South Sudan | Figures disputed | Figures disputed |
| Sudan (figures inc South Sudan at present) | 30,855,000 | 71.4% |
| Swaziland | 2000 | < 0.2% |
| Tanzania | 13,450,000 | 29.9% |
| Togo | 827,000 | 12.2% |
| Tunisia | 10,349,000 | 99.8% |
| Western Sahara | 528,000 | 98.6% |
| Uganda | 4,060,000 | 12% |
| Zambia | 59,000 | 0.4% |
| Zimbabwe | 109,000 | 0.9% |
Islam in Africa: What is Ramadan?
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Islam in Africa: Maghreb Profile
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