Islam in the Comoros

Islam is the largest religion in the Comoros. According to the 2025 estimate by the CIA World Factbook, roughly 98% of the population in the Comoros is Muslim. A strong majority of Muslims in the Comoros are Sunni belonging to Shafi'i school of jurisprudence.

History

Introduction of Islam

Local legend claims Islam was brought to the islands during Muhammad’s lifetime, brought by two Comorian nobles, Fey Bedja Mwamba and Mtswa Mwandze, who visited Mecca. However, the earliest known evidence of human occupation of the Comoro Islands dates to the 8th century CE.

Muslim merchants likely had a presence in the area as far back as the 9th or 10th century, due to the Comoros being actively involved in the Indian Ocean trade. A small proportion of native Comorians may have converted to Islam during that time, especially among the local elite. Large-scale conversion of the islanders in this era is improbable, in part because the local elite needed slaves for labor and trade, and Islam prohibits the enslavement of fellow Muslims.

Later developments

As Islam became the established religion of the islands, ruling families stressed their Arab and Islamic identities to maintain or expand their prestige and political legitimacy. They learned Arabic, performed Hajj, and adopted the title of "Sultan" in the style of Egyptian and Ottoman rulers. They also maintained ties with other Muslim communities, such as Hadramawt, Kilwa, and Zanzibar. These ties, part of the Indian Ocean trade networks, were not only economic, but also religious and cultural.

Several Sufi religious orders () are active in the Comoros, including the , the , and the . Al-Habib Omar b. Ahmed Bin Sumeit (d. 1976) studied in Arab countries before serving as teacher and qadi in Madagascar, Zanzibar, and, after 1967, the Comoros.

Further Islamization of the state was undertaken after Mohamed Taki Abdoulkarim's election as President in 1996, including a ban on alcohol and encouraging religious leaders' participation in politics. In the mid-1990s, 86% of the population was Muslim, with 14% Roman Catholic. This is in part due to the country's religious discrimination, perhaps the harshest of any Muslim-majority country in Sub-Saharan Africa. There are three churches in the country, but they are only open to non-citizens. Christian literature and non-Islamic religious symbols are banned. Christians can also be arrested for "anti-Islamic activity".

In the past decade, anti-Shia discrimination has also risen. In 2008, the national assembly passed a law making Sunni Islam the official faith of the Comoros, though then-president Ahmed Abdallah Sambi never implemented it. His successor, Ikililou Dhoinine, did implement it, leading to the arrest of a Comorian Shi'ite leader and part of his congregation. The Comorian Constitutional Court eventually ruled that private practice of any religion is legal, though in 2016, president Azali Assoumani issued a new ban on Shia practices even in private. A 2018 constitutional amendment pushed by Azali established Sunni Islam as the country's official religion, possibly motivated by internal and external political conflicts: a rival politician was Shia, and it also may have tied to the Iran–Saudi Arabia proxy war.

Mosques and schools

thumb|A mosque in the Comoros

Mosques appeared slowly in the islands; since Islam was originally only the religion of the elite traders, there was no need for a dedicated religious meeting place. The earliest signs of a mosque in the Comoros date to the late ninth century CE, and the Shirazi mosques were built a few centuries later. Large-scale mosque construction would occur with the arrival of the Hadrami, such as a 1538 CE mosque built by the Hadrami sultan of Mayotte. Suspected al-Qaeda member Fazul Abdullah Mohammed was born in Moroni in the Comoros.

Islam in the Comoros

History

Introduction of Islam

Later developments

Mosques and schools

See also

Notes

References

Further reading