Total population | |
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1,513 [1] | |
Religions | |
Islam (Sunni, Shia, Ahmadiyya) | |
Languages | |
Main Languages spoken are English, Jamaican Patois, Jamaican Hindustani, Arabic, Urdu, Sindhi, Punjabi |
Islam by country |
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Islamportal |
Jamaica is a predominantly Christian country, with Islam being a minority religion. Due to the secular nature of Jamaica's constitution, Muslims are free to proselytize and build places of worship in the country.
The first Muslims arrived in Jamaica as enslaved people. Islam was one of the main religions of Africans brought to the Caribbean and Americas. Other Muslim groups came through the indentureship program from the Indian subcontinent, and today (in a 2011 census) make up a population of about 1,513 [3] with several mosques and festivals.
The first Muslims in Jamaica were West African Moors captured in the Reconquista sold as slaves to traders, and brought to Jamaica on ships. [4] Bryan Edwards and Richard Robert Madden in their works written in the late 18th and early 19th century often wrote about the Muslim slaves of Jamaica and their situation. They wrote that many were able to memorize the Quran, declare the shahada, fasted, prayed, and some were even able to write in Arabic. [5]
Over time most of them lost their Islamic identity due to forced mixing of ethnic groups. Mu’minun of African descent belonging to the Islamic nations of Mandinka, Fula, Susu, Ashanti and Hausa ceaselessly tried to maintain their Islamic practices in secrecy, while working as slaves on the plantations in Jamaica. By the time the slaves were liberated, much of the Muslim faith of the past had faded, and the freed slaves picked up the faith of their former slave masters. Some Muslim slaves returned to Africa or traveled to other parts of Latin America while others remained in Jamaica and practiced their faith in secret. These factors led to the virtual disappearance of Islam in Jamaica outside of the Indian community. [5]
About 16 percent of the 37,000 indentured Indian immigrants who arrived to Jamaica between 1845 and 1917 were Muslims[ citation needed ]. Muhammad Khan, who came to Jamaica in 1915 at the age of 15, built Masjid Ar-Rahman in Spanish Town in 1957, while Westmoreland's Masjid Hussein was built by Muhammad Golaub, who immigrated with his father at the age of 7. The indentured Muslims laid the foundation of the eight other masjids established in Jamaica since the 1960s[ citation needed ], with the advent of an indigenous Jamaican Muslim community that now forms the majority of the Muslim populace on the island.
The statistics for Islam in Jamaica estimate a total Muslim population of about 1,513. [6] There are several Islamic organizations and mosques in Jamaica, including the Islamic Council of Jamaica which was founded in 1981 and the Islamic Education and Dawah Center, both located in Kingston and offering classes in Islamic studies and daily prayers in congregation. Outside Kingston organizations include Masjid Al Haq in Mandeville, Masjid Al-Ihsan in Negril, Masjid-Al-Hikmah in Ocho Rios, the Port Maria Islamic Center in Saint Mary and the Mahdi Mosque in Old Harbour.
These are the main Islamic Festivals practiced by Jamaican Muslims:
A mosque, also called a masjid, is a place of worship for Muslims. The term usually refers to a covered building, but can be any place where Islamic prayers are performed, such as an outdoor courtyard.
Eid al-Fitr is the earlier of the two official holidays celebrated within Islam. Eid al-Fitr is celebrated by Muslims worldwide because it marks the end of the month-long dawn-to-dusk fasting of Ramadan. Eid al-Fitr falls on the first day of Shawwal in the Islamic calendar; this does not always fall on the same Gregorian day, as the start of any lunar Hijri month varies based on when the new moon is sighted by local religious authorities. The holiday is known under various other names in different languages and countries around the world. The day is also known as the First Eid or as the Lesser Eid by some Muslim communities.
Indo–Trinidadians and Tobagonians or Trinidadian and Tobagonian Indians are people of Indian origin who are nationals of Trinidad and Tobago, whose ancestors came from India and the wider subcontinent beginning in 1845 during the period of colonization.
South Africa is a Christian majority nation with Islam being a minority religion, practised by roughly 1.6% of the total population. Islam in South Africa has grown in three different phases. The first phase brought the earliest Muslims as part of the involuntary migration of slaves, artisans, political prisoners, and political exiles from the Dutch East Indies to the Cape Colony from 1652 to 1800. The second phase was the arrival of indentured labourers from British India to work in the sugar-cane fields in Natal from 1860 to 1911. Of the approximately 176,000 Indians of all faiths who were transported to the Natal province, almost 7–10% of the first shipment were Muslims.
Islam is the third largest religion in Guyana, after Christianity and Hinduism, respectively. According to the 2012 census, 7% of the country’s population is Muslim. However, a Pew Research survey from 2010 estimates that 6.4% of the country is Muslim. Islam was first introduced to Guyana via enslaved people from West Africa, but was suppressed on plantations until Muslims from British India were brought to the country as indentured labour. The current President of Guyana, Mohamed Irfaan Ali is the first Muslim president.
Islam is the state religion in Bahrain. Due to an influx of immigrants and guest workers from India, the Philippines and Sri Lanka, the overall percentage of Muslims has declined since the late 20th century. Bahrain's 2010 census indicated that 90.2% of the population was Muslim. The last official census (1941) to include sectarian identification reported 55% as Shia and 45 per cent as Sunni of the Muslim population.
Muslims constitute 5.6 percent of the population of Trinidad and Tobago. The majority live in Trinidad but there are a handful in Tobago as well.
Islam in the Dominican Republic is a minority religion. Accurate statistics of religious affiliation are difficult to calculate and there is a wide variation concerning the actual numerical amount. Although the majority of the population is Christian, Muslim community is leaded by the Círculo Islámico de República Dominicana. Currently, the Círculo Islámico has an estimation that Muslims number in Dominican Republic is about 3,000 to 4,000, including of a good number of dominicans.
Panama is a predominantly Christian country, with Islam being a minority religion. Due to the secular nature of Panama's constitution, Muslims are free to proselytize and build places of worship in the country.
Barbados is an overwhelmingly Christian majority country, with Islam being a minority religion. Due to secular nature of the country's constitution, Muslims are free to proselytize and build places of worship in the country. Statistics for Islam in Barbados estimate a Muslim population of over 4000, most of whom are immigrants or descendants of immigrants from the Indian state of Gujarat. A few immigrants from Guyana, Trinidad, South Asia, and the Middle East, as well as about 200 native-born persons, constitute the rest of the growing Muslim community, representing 1.50 percent of the population Close to 90 percent of all Barbadians are of African descent (Afro-Bajans), mostly descendants of the slave labourers on the sugar plantations. The remainder of the population includes groups of Europeans (Euro-Bajans), Asians, Bajan Hindus and Muslims, and an influential Middle Eastern (Arab-Bajans) group mainly of Syrian and Lebanese descent.
Qatar is a Muslim-majority country with Islam as the state religion. Salafi version of Islam is the state sponsored brand of Sunni Islam in the country, making Qatar one of the many Salafi states in the Muslim world, along with Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Syria, Pakistan, Sudan, Indonesia and Palestine.
Eidgah or Idgah, also Eid Gah or Id Gah is a term used in South Asian Islamic culture for the open-air enclosure usually outside the city reserved for Eid prayers offered in the morning of Eid al-Fitr and Eid al-Adha. It is usually a public place that is not used for prayers at other times of the year. On the day of Eid, the first thing Muslims do in the morning is gather usually at a large open ground and offer special prayers, in accordance with the Sunnah. Although the usage of the term Eidgah is of Indian origin, it may be used for the musalla, the open space outside a mosque, or other open grounds where Eid prayers are performed, due to the lack of a specific Islamic term for a site of Eid observance. The Eidgah is mentioned in the famous Bengali poem by Kazi Nazrul Islam, O Mon Romzaner Oi Rozar Sheshe.
Christianity is the largest religion in Tanzania, with a substantial Muslim minority. Smaller populations of Animists, practitioners of other faiths, and religiously unaffiliated people are also present.
Latin American Muslims are Muslims from countries in Latin America. A survey conducted by the Pew Research Center in 2010 found that Muslims make up 0.1% of all of Latin America's population.
Religion in the United States Virgin Islands is varied, though most U.S. Virgin Islanders are Christian. The U.S. Virgin Islands has a history of Judaism and Christianity, with Jews first settling on the islands in 1655. It is estimated that only 5-6% of the population is non-Christian.
Mauritius is a religiously diverse nation, with Hinduism being the most widely professed faith. According to the 2022 census conducted by Statistics Mauritius, 47.87% of the Mauritian population follows Hinduism, followed by Christianity (32.29%), out of which 24.94% are Catholic, Islam (18.24%) out of which 1.21% are Bangladeshi nationals and other religions (0.86%). 0.63% reported themselves as non-religious and 0.11% did not answer.
The Islamic Society of Greater Houston (ISGH) is a system of mosques in Greater Houston. It is headquartered at the Eastside Main Center in Upper Kirby in Houston.
There is a notable population of American Muslims in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. Dallas-Fort Worth is home to sixty-two Sunni mosques and five Shia mosques. According to Abdel Rahman Murphy, a Chicago-born, Irving-based Islamic teacher and Muslim community leader, other U.S.-based Muslims now refer to Dallas as the "Medina of America". Not only is Dallas Masjid Al Islam the oldest Muslim community in the DFW area, it established the first mosque in the city of Dallas and established the first Muslim school in the DFW area. As of 2021, many major Muslim organizations and charities have headquarters or operations in DFW, mostly located in Richardson, Texas such as: ICNA Dallas, Muslim American Society, Muslim Legal Fund of America, Helping Hands for Relief & Development, Sabrina Memorial Foundation, Islamic Relief USA, CAIR-Texas, and MA’RUF. There are also several institutions of research and higher education such as: Qalam Institute (Carrollton), ISRA Foundation (Plano), Bayyina Academy (Euless), and The Islamic Seminary of America (Richardson). -
Islam is a minority religion in the Netherlands Antilles. There are about 2,500 Muslims in the Islands, 1000 of which are in the Caribbean Netherlands, or 0.31% of the population. Most Muslims are emigrants from Lebanon, Syria and Suriname.