Sierra Leone, officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, informally Salone, is a country on the southwest coast of West Africa. It is bordered by Liberia to the southeast and Guinea to the northeast. Sierra Leone has a tropical climate with a diverse environment ranging from savanna to rainforests, a total area of 71,740 km2 (27,699 sq mi) and a population of 7,092,113 as of the 2015 census. The capital and largest city is Freetown. The country is divided into five administrative regions which are subdivided into sixteen districts. Sierra Leone is a constitutional republic with a unicameral parliament and a directly elected president. Sierra Leone is a Muslim-majority country at approximately 78%, though with an influential Christian minority at about 21%. Muslims and Christians in Sierra Leone are extremely tolerant of each other, and all the major Muslim and Christian holidays are officially national holidays in the country.
Fourah Bay is a neighbourhood in Freetown, Sierra Leone. It is located in the East end of Freetown.
Alhaji Minkailu Mansaray is a Sierra Leonean politician, businessman, who was former Sierra Leone minister of mines and mineral resources. He is also the deputy leader of the All People's Congress (APC) party.
The Preston Mosque, officially the Umar bin Al-Khattab Mosque, is a Sunni Islam mosque located in Preston, a suburb of Melbourne, in Victoria, Australia.
Ansarul Islamic Boys Secondary School also known as"A School," is a government sponsored public secondary school located in Tankoro Chiefdom, Koidutown, Kono District, Sierra Leone. The school was founded on Islamic Principle in 1974 by two illustrious Fula businessmen, Alhaji Sajalieu Bah, and Alhaji Chewtor Jalloh. The school is an affiliate of the Sierra Leone Ansarul Islamic Mission. The school's motto is "Service To Mankind." The school is the first and only boys secondary school in Koidutown. The school is regarded as one of the most prominent Secondary schools in the region. The school's alumni includes medical doctors, theologists, diplomats, politicians, paramount chief, military officers, lawyers, educators, athletes, and business entrepreneurs. Although the school has an Islamic tradition, students from all religious background are accepted, and the staff is made up of teachers from different religious background.
Edward Wilmot Blyden III was a diplomat, political scientist and educator born in Freetown Sierra Leone Protectorate. He distinguished himself as an educator and contributor to post-colonial discourse on African self-government, and Third World non-alignment. He was the grandson of Edward Wilmot Blyden.
Alhaji Alpha Sahid Bakar Kanu is a Sierra Leonean politician and the current Sierra Leone minister of Presidential and Public Affairs. He is also the official spokesman of the All People's Congress (APC) political party, a position he has held even before the APC came to power. In January 2012, Kanu was chosen by Sierra Leone president Ernest Bai Koroma to serve as Minister of Information and Communication in Koroma's new second term cabinet.
Alhaji Alpha Osman Timbo is a Sierra Leonean politician, educationist, lecturer and trade unionist. He was Sierra Leone Minister of Labour and Industrial Relations from 2001-2002 under president Ahmad Tejan Kabbah.
Jāmi’ah al-Ahmadīyyah is an International Islamic seminary and educational institute with campuses in Pakistan, United Kingdom, India, Ghana, Canada, Germany, Nigeria, Indonesia, Bangladesh, Malaysia, Tanzania, Sri Lanka, Sierra Leone, and Kenya. In addition, there are affiliated Mu'alameen centers in Pakistan and Madagascar. Founded in 1906 as a Section in Madrassa Talim ul Islam by Mirza Ghulam Ahmad of Qadian, the founder of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, it is the main centre of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community for Islamic learning.
Sierra Leone is officially a secular state, although Islam and Christianity are the two main and dominant religions in the country. The constitution of Sierra Leone provides for freedom of religion and the Sierra Leone Government generally protects it. The Sierra Leone Government is constitutionally forbidden from establishing a state religion, though Muslim and Christian prayers are usually held in the country at the beginning of major political occasions, including presidential inauguration.
The Ahmadiyya Muslim Community is the second-largest sect of Islam in Sierra Leone, behind only Sunni Islam. The earliest history of the Community in Sierra Leone dates back to the early period of the Second Caliphate, when at least six people are said to have conveyed their adherence to the faith. The sect attained rapid growth in the country after the 1937 arrival of Nazir Ahmad Ali, the first permanent Ahmadi missionary in Sierra Leone. Recent estimates by Ahmadi community suggest that there are approximately 560,000 Ahmadi Muslims in Sierra Leone, which is about 9% of the country's total population. Sierra Leone has the largest percentage of Ahmadi Muslims by share of total population in the world.
Freetown Central Mosque is one of the two largest mosque in Sierra Leone. It is located in the capital Freetown. The chief imam of the Freetown central mosque is Sheikh Ahmad Tejan Sillah, who is also the spiritual leader of the United Council of Imams in Sierra Leone. The mosque also hosts various Islamic cultural events.
Mandingo Central Mosque is a large mosque located in Freetown, Sierra Leone. It is one of the largest mosque in Sierra Leone and is located in the neighborhood of Magazine Court in the East End of Freetown. The chief Imam of the Mandingo Central Mosque is Sheikh Alhaji Abubakarr Swarray.
Ahmad Tejan Sillah is a Sierra Leonean Shia Muslim scholar and Islamic preacher. He is the chief imam of the Freetown Central Mosque, one of the largest mosque in Sierra Leone. He is also one of the leaders of the Sierra Leone United Council of Imams, an Islamic organisation that is made up of imams across Sierra Leone. Sillah is one of the most prominent Islamic scholars in Sierra Leone. Sillah is a Shia Muslim of the Twelver branch of Shia Islam
Osmanu Nuhu Sharubutu is a Ghanaian Islamic cleric who currently serves as the Chief Imam of Ghana, as well as a member of the National Peace Council. He was first appointed as the Deputy Regional Chief Imam in 1974 after a lengthy discussions among tribal chiefs, academics, Islamic scholars, and religious personalities. During this period he deputized his cousin, Sheikh Imam Muhammed Mukhtar Abbas, who succeeded his father. He is also the founder of the Dr. Sheikh Osmanu Nuhu Sharubutu Education Trust Fund and the Islamic Peace and Security Council of Ghana (IPASEC).
The Oku people or the Aku Marabout or Aku Mohammedans are an ethnic group in Sierra Leone and the Gambia primarily the descendants of educated, liberated Yoruba Muslims from Southwest Nigeria, who were released from slave ships and resettled in Sierra Leone as Liberated Africans or came as settlers in the mid-19th century. Some Oku historically have intermarried since then with the ethnic Creole people. The Creole were primarily descendants of African-American former slaves, as well as some from Jamaica, and slaves liberated from illegal slave trading in the 19th century. The Oku people primarily reside in the communities of Fourah Bay, Fula Town, and Aberdeen and the official cemetery primarily used by the Oku people is the Aku Mohammedan Cemetery.
Gibril Sesay was a Sierra Leonean diplomat and Muslim cleric.
Chief Mohammed Shitta-Bey, alias Olowo Pupa, was the first titled Seriki Musulumi of Lagos. He was a prominent Nigerian Muslim businessman, aristocrat and philanthropist who was involved in commerce across Lagos and the Niger-Delta region. He was also a patron of the Shitta-Bey Mosque in Lagos, and served as a leader in the Lagos Muslim community until his death.
Al-Hajj Abdul Rahim Nayyar was a companion of Mirza Ghulam Ahmad and a missionary of the Ahmadiyya Islamic movement in West Africa. He pledged allegiance to Ghulam Ahmad, formally joining the Ahmadiyya movement, in 1901. Travelling to the Gold Coast in 1921 upon invitation from Muslims in Saltpond, Nayyar was instrumental in consolidating Ahmadiyya missions in several West African countries.
Sheikh Alhaji Mohamed Sanusi Tejan was a revered Sierra Leonean Oku Sunni Muslim preacher, Islamic scholar, Islamic theologist, architect, and the former Chief Imam of the Jamiatul Atiq Masjid.
