Overview of Islam in Oman
Islam is the state-religion in Oman. The place
is 95% Muslim. [2] Both Sunni Islam and Ibadi Islam have a following of about 45%, while 5% identify as Shia Muslims. [2] Islam spread to Oman in the early years.
| Islam by country |
|---|
 |
 Islamportal |
Islam is the state-religion in Oman. The place
is 95% Muslim. [2] Both Sunni Islam and Ibadi Islam have a following of about 45%, while 5% identify as Shia Muslims. [2] Islam spread to Oman in the early years.
The Ibadi denomination established itself in the region after fleeing from Basra in modern-day Iraq. [3] [4]
Christians and Jews have historically been able to practice their own religions openly in Oman. The society is tolerant, though social hierarchies do exist. In Ibadi communities, the traditional Arab coffee is served to Muslims first, with Christians being served after the poor Muslims; in Sunni communities, Christian guests may actually be served even before the respected Muslim leaders and clerics. [3]
Many people[ who? ] believe that Ibadism is an outgrowth of the Kharijites movement, a variant form of Islam practiced by descendants of a sect that seceded from the principal Muslim body after the death of Muhammad in 632. Ibadies, however, deny this notion considering themselves an outgrowth [led by?] the follower (tabe'e) and assert that leadership of Islam should be designated by an imam elected by the community from candidates who possess the appropriate spiritual and personal qualities. Ibadhi leadership is vested in an imam, who is regarded as the sole legitimate leader and combines religious and political authority. The imam is elected by a council of prominent laymen or shaykhs. Adherence to Ibadism accounts in part for Oman's historical isolation. Ibadis were not inclined to integrate with their neighbours, as the majority of Sunni Muslims regard Ibadism as a heretical faith.
The austere, puritanical nature of Ibadism has affected the practice of Islam in the country. Omani mosques are very simple, with almost no decoration except around the windows and often lack the minarets common in other Muslim countries. [3] [5] Moroccan explorer Ibn Battuta described the cleanliness of Omani mosques, despite the fact that the entire community would congregate to eat inside, each person bringing their own food. [5] The denomination frowns upon singing and dancing. [3] [5]
The Shi'as live along Al Batinah and Muscat coasts. There are at least seven Twelver Shia mosques in Muscat. [6] In November, 2022 the largest Shia mosque in the country has been opened in Muscat. It has been built on a 30,000 square meter plot of land and with its building area measuring 12,820 square meters. The construction was ordered by the Ministry of Endowments and Religious Affairs (Oman) and inauguration was attended by Mohammed Saeed Al-Ma’amari, its minister. [7]
In the 1800s, the Jalan Bani Bu Ali tribe converted to Wahhabism. They sporadically fought Ibadi communities but otherwise did not affect the overall religious demographics of Oman. [5]
Imam is an Islamic leadership position. For Sunni Muslims, Imam is most commonly used as the title of a prayer leader of a mosque. In this context, imams may lead Islamic prayers, serve as community leaders, and provide religious guidance. Thus for Sunnis, anyone can study the basic Islamic sciences and become an Imam.
Demographics of the population of Oman include population density, ethnicity, education level, health of the populace, economic status, religious affiliations and other aspects.
Shia Islam is the second-largest branch of Islam. It holds that the Islamic prophet Muhammad designated ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib as his successor (khalīfa) and the Imam after him, most notably at the event of Ghadir Khumm, but was prevented from succeeding Muhammad as the leader of the Muslims as a result of the choice made by some of Muhammad's other companions (ṣaḥāba) at Saqifah. This view primarily contrasts with that of Sunnī Islam, whose adherents believe that Muhammad did not appoint a successor before his death and consider Abū Bakr, who was appointed caliph by a group of senior Muslims at Saqifah, to be the first rightful (rāshidūn) caliph after Muhammad. Adherents of Shia Islam are called Shia Muslims.
A madhhab, is a school of thought within Islamic jurisprudence.
The Ibadi movement or Ibadism is a branch of Islam. It has been called by some the third branch of Islam, along with Sunni Islam and Shia Islam. The followers of Ibadism are known as the Ibadis.
Islam is the official religion of the United Arab Emirates. Of the total population, 76.9% are Muslims as of a 2010 estimate by the Pew Research Center. Although no official statistics are available for the breakdown between Sunni and Shia Muslims among noncitizen residents, media estimates suggest less than 20 percent of the noncitizen Muslim population are Shia.
Al-Lawatia is a prominent merchant tribe mainly based in the province of Muscat, Oman who are the speakers of the Luwati language, which is a Sindhi based language. There are around 30,000 Luwatis in Oman.
Islam in Djibouti has a long history, first appearing in the Horn of Africa during the lifetime of Muhammad. Today, 98% of Djibouti's 490,000 inhabitants are Muslims. According to Pew, 77% follow the denomination of Sunnism, whilst 8% are non-denominational Muslim, and the remaining 13% follow other sects such as Quranism, Shia, Ibadism etc.. After independence, the nascent republic constructed a legal system based in part on Islamic law.
The history of Islam in Iraq goes back almost 1,400 years to the lifetime of Muhammad. Iraq's 98% majority Muslims follow two distinct traditions: Shia Islam and Sunni Islam.
Religion in Iraq dates back to Ancient Mesopotamia, particularly Sumer, Akkad, Assyria and Babylonia between circa 3500 BC and 400 AD, after which they largely gave way to Syriac Christianity and later to Islam.
Eswatini is an overwhelmingly Christian majority country, with adherents of Islam being a minuscule minority. Due to secular nature of the Eswatini's constitution, Muslims are free to proselytize and build places of worship in the country.
Religion in Ethiopia consists of a number of faiths. Among these mainly Abrahamic religions, the most numerous is Christianity totaling at 67.3%, followed by Islam at 31.3%. There is also a longstanding but small Ethiopian Jewish community. Some adherents of the Baháʼí Faith likewise exist in a number of urban and rural areas. Additionally, there is also a substantial population of the adherents of traditional faiths.
Tanzania is a Christian majority nation, with Islam being the largest minority faith in the country. According to a 2020 estimate by Pew research center, Muslims represent 34.1% of the total population. The faith was introduced by merchants visiting the Swahili coast, as it became connected to a larger maritime trade network dominated by Muslims. This would lead to local conversions and assimilations of foreign Muslims, ultimately causing the eventual formation of several officially Muslim political entities in the region. However, according to the Association of Religion Data Archives (ARDA), 55.3% of the population is Christian, 31.5% is Muslim, 11.3% practices traditional faiths, while 1.9% of the population is non-religious or adheres to other faiths as of 2020. The ARDA estimates that most Tanzanian Muslims are Sunni, with a small Shia minority, as of 2020.
Islam is historically divided into two major sects, Sunni and Shia Islam, each with its own sub-sects. Large numbers of Shia Arab Muslims live in some Arab countries including Lebanon, Yemen, Bahrain, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Oman, the UAE, and Qatar.
The Basic Law, in accordance with tradition, declares that Islam is the state religion and that Shari'a is the source of legislation. It also prohibits discrimination based on religion and provides for the freedom to practice religious rites as long as doing so does not disrupt public order. The government generally respected this right, but within defined parameters that placed limitations on the right in practice. While the government continued to protect the free practice of religion in general, it formalized previously unwritten prohibitions on religious gatherings in locations other than government-approved houses of worship, and on non-Islamic institutions issuing publications within their communities, without prior approval from the Ministry of Endowments and Religious Affairs (MERA). There were no reports of societal abuses or discrimination based on religious belief or practice.
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.
Islam in Lebanon has a long and continuous history. According to an estimate by the CIA, it is followed by 63% of the country's total population. Sunnis make up 31.9%, Twelver Shia make up 31.2%, next to smaller percentages of other Shia branches, such as Alawites and Ismailis. The Druze community is designated as one of the five Lebanese Muslim communities, even though most Druze do not identify as Muslims, and they do not accept the five pillars of Islam.
Abu al-Sha'tha Jabir ibn Zayd al-Zahrani al-Azdi was a Muslim theologian and one of the founding figures of the Ibadis, the third major denomination of Islam. He was from the Tabi‘un, or second generation of Islam, and took leadership of the denomination after the death of Abd-Allah ibn Ibadh.
Adherents of Islam constitute the world's second largest religious group. A projection by the PEW suggests that Muslims numbered approximately 1.9 billion followers in 2020. Studies in the 21st century suggest that, in terms of percentage and worldwide spread, Islam is the fastest-growing major religion in the world, mostly because Muslims have more children than other major religious groups. Most Muslims are either of two denominations: Sunni or Shia. Islam is the majority religion in several subregions: Central Asia, Western Asia, North Africa, West Africa, the Sahel, and the Middle East. The diverse Asia-Pacific region contains the highest number of Muslims in the world, surpassing the combined Middle East and North Africa.
Even though the government of Oman does not keep statistics on religious affiliation, statistics from the CIA World Factbook state that adherents of Islam are in the majority at 95%, with Christianity, Hinduism, Buddhism, and Judaism less than 5%. Other religious affiliations have a proportion of 1% and the unaffiliated only 0.2%.
This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain . Country Studies. Federal Research Division.
Media related to Islam in Oman at Wikimedia Commons| Religions | ||
|---|---|---|
| Ethnic groups | ||
| Foreign nationals | ||
