The Muslim community in Angola has denied reports about being victimized following reports about a claimed Islam ban and mosque closures, asserting feelings of isolation for living a country that does not recognize Islam as an official religion.

“I perform all my five daily prayers at the central mosque in Luanda. The mosque is open and there are no security personnel blocking worshippers from accessing the mosque,” Mohammed Hajji, a Somali national residing in Luanda, told OnIslam.net.

He said the small migrant Muslim community in the country has been living peacefully with their non-Muslim hosts for many years.

“I came here about five years ago and I have never faced any problem because of my religion or nationality,” the businessman said in a telephone interview.

Hajji also confirmed that the majority of Muslims in Angola were migrants, mainly from West Africa and Lebanon.

“Most Muslims in Angola are involved in trade and Alhamdulillah (Thanks be to God) we are doing very well,” he added.

Reports about Angola Islam ban emerged on Sunday after African and Angolan agencies and newspapers published an article  quoting the Angolan minister of culture, Rosa Cruz, reportedly saying  “the process of legalization of Islam has not been approved by the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights, their mosques would be closed until further notice.”

The minister reportedly said the decision was the latest in a series of efforts to ban “illegal” religious sects.

OnIslam.net took an action to report this story based on locally-based Angolan news sources.

According to the minister, the action was necessary to fight against the emergence of congregations whose worship is in contradiction with the customs of Angolan culture.

The reports sparked huge reactions from several Muslim organizations including Al-Azhar, the highest seat of learning in the Sunni Muslim world, who asked for dispatching a fact finding team to Angola to investigate the conditions of the Muslim minority.

The International Union for Muslim Scholars (IUMS) has also called on Angola to withdraw its decision, urging moves at the UN, African Union to condemn the unprecedented decision.

The reports were denied later by the Angolan government.

“There is no war in Angola against Islam or any other religion,” Manuel Fernando, director of the National Institute for Religious Affairs, which is part of the ministry of culture, told Agence France Presse (AFP).

“There is no official position that targets the destruction or closure of places of worship, whichever they are,” he added.

Isolation

Regardless of the good treatment by government many Muslims also believe that they are being isolated for the reason that their religion is not officially legalized in the country.

“It’s very painful that Islam has not yet been officially recognized in Angola, yet we have many mosques across the country,” a Gambian businessman living in the capital Luanda told OnIslam.net, on condition of anonymity.

“I think the Angolan government should conduct a census of Muslim believers in this country, because I have a feeling we could be more than 90,000, because many Muslims have been immigrating to this country of recent,” he added.

The Angola government reportedly only recognizes religions with followers numbering up to 100,000 but Muslims are reported to be only 90,000 in total.

Last week a mosque was closed in Huambo the country’s second largest city.

According to the ministry of culture, these closures were related to a lack of necessary land titles, building licenses or other official documents

Asked if he felt scared living in Angola after earlier media reports had claimed Islam was under attack in the country.

“Yes, when I read the reports, I asked myself, what next. Will they come and arrest us. What would happen to my family and business?” he revealed.

He believes the negative publicity on Islam might attract more to the religion.

Angola is a majority-Christian country of about 16 million people, of whom an estimated 55 percent are Catholic, 25 percent belong to African Christian denominations, 10 percent follow major Protestant traditions, and 5 percent belong to Brazilian Evangelical churches.

According to official numbers, cited in the US State Department 2012 International Religious Rights Report, Islam in Angola is a minority religion with 80,000-90,000 adherents.

Muslim Angolans are represented by the Supreme Council of Angolan Muslims of Luanda.

http://www.onislam.net/english/news/africa/466383-we-are-safe-angolan-muslims.html

https://islamstory.com/en/artical/16210/muslims-safe-in-angola