Harman Patil (Editor)

Shia Islam in Sierra Leone

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Shi'a Islam in Sierra Leone represents a small portion of the country's Islamic population: more than 70% of Sierra Leone is Muslim, while only 5% or so of that number is Shia Muslim, influenced by the arrival of Shia Lebanese traders that arrived at the start of the 20th century.

Contents

Background

Islam is the most widely practiced religion in Sierra Leone — 71.3 to 77 percent of the country's population identify as Muslim. The faith was introduced to the country during the 18th century by small trading groups: Fulani and Mande-speaking tribesmen from the Fouta Djallon region of present-day Guinea converted many Temne of northern Sierra Leone to Islam, and grew in popularity over the next two centuries. Muslims predominate in all of the country's three provinces and the Western Area, though formerly they were concentrated in the north with the south being mainly Christian. Although most Muslims in Sierra Leone adherent to the Malikite school of Sunni Islam ; Shia is a large minority group in this country and it seems that in 1903, for the first time, Shia Muslim Lebanese (because of agricultural crunch in their own country) began to arrive from South Lebanon to Sierra Leone. For several years this group's activities were limited to economic field, but by the foundation and establishment of first school of Lebanese in Freetown in 1956, they started their activities in the cultural field too. Other Islamic customs were blended with local traditions to form new practices.

Population

Because of some limitations in Sierra Leone, population of Shia is not clearly known, but some international organizations like Pew Research Center have searched and reported some statistics but with great differences in their findings:

  • Imam Husayn ('a) Encyclopedia - 2000: Approximate Percentage of Muslim Population that is Shia: 5%
  • Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life – 2009: Shia Population: Less than 46.000; Approximate Percentage of Muslim Population that is Shia: Less than 1%.
  • Also "Sheikh Harun Bari," one of the local Shia clerics have claimed that many indigenous peoples after their familiarity and intimacy, gradually have converted to Shia Islam and have embraced it as their religion.

    References

    Shia Islam in Sierra Leone Wikipedia