Islam in Sierra Leone

Part of a series on Islam by continent

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Sierra Leone last conducted a census in 2008 and estimates there are 4,059,000 Muslims in Sierra Leone . This suggests 71% of the country's total population is muslim. There are 18 ethnic groups in the country, the two largest being the Temne and Mende. The Temnes are the main tribe in the north and are predominantly Muslim. At least nine of Sierra Leone's sixteen ethnic groups are predominantly Muslim.

In the early 18th century Fulani and Mande-speaking tribesmen from the Fouta Djallon region of present-day Guinea converted many Temne of northern Sierra Leone to Islam. During the period of British colonization, attempts to spread Christianity were mostly ineffective. Moslems in Sierras Leone had worked in peace and operated widespread trading networks for the region. The Europeans broke down the traditional structures of society, introduced new educational and social ideas, introduced Sierra Leone to slavery and 'opened' the country to exploitation, attracting migrant Africans to growing cities. As the moslem traditions of an 'open' society provided a form of authority and an expression of cohesion among displaced peoples through common places of prayer and a common prayer book, the KORAN. Islam also continued to spread after independence in 1961; in 1960 the Muslim population was 35 percent and grew to 60 percent by 2000. It is difficult for people from Sierra Leone to travel to Mecca for the Hajj, the fifth pillar of Islam, due to the distance between the two places and the cost of getting there. Recent turbulences in Sierra Leone relate mostly to efforts to bring 'global' ideologies to Sierra Leone in dogmatic efforts to align the country and its people to the 'super power' agenda ( whose side are you 'on' argument ). The side's are of course represented in the UN Security Council ((China , France , Russia , UK and the US )(rest-of-the-world)) . The people of Sierra Leone have long sought to find a voice within the non-aligned movement.