Equatorial Guinea is a Christian majority country, with Islam being a minority religion. Due to the secular nature of the country's constitution, Muslims are free to proselytize and build places of worship in the country.[1]
In the 2021 Aid to the Church in Need religious freedom report it was estimated that 4.1% of the population were Muslims.[1] Previous estimates by the official press agency of Equatorial Guinea in 2015 reported that 3.5% of the population were Muslim[2] and the U.S. State Department International Religious Freedom Report 2006 found that practitioners of Islam comprised less than 1 percent of the population.[3]
Malabo Mosque was opened in 2015 and can accommodate two thousand people.[2] On 2 May 2022, over 500 Muslims gathered on the Malabo promenade to pray and celebrate the end of Ramadan known as Eid al-Fitr after not being able to perform these prayers at the end of the fasting month in 2020 and 2021 due to COVID-19 restrictions.[4] Equatorial Guinea's imam Pedro Benigno Matute Tang said that the main message for 2022 was that Muslims must love one another and educate their children because a "well-educated child, with discipline, cannot adhere to vandalism groups".[5]
References
edit- ^ a b "Equatorial Guinea" (PDF). Aid to the Church in Need. 2021. Archived from the original (PDF) on 28 September 2022. Retrieved 26 September 2022.
- ^ a b Obama, Javier Nsue Nchama (23 July 2015). "Inaugurada la nueva Mezquita de Malabo". Guinea Ecuatorial Press (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 25 September 2022. Retrieved 25 September 2022.
- ^ "Equatorial Guinea". U.S. Department of State. 2006. Archived from the original on 26 September 2022.
- ^ "Dos años después los musulmanes de Guinea Ecuatorial vuelven a festejar de forma solemne el fin del Ramadán". Revista Real Equatorial Guinea (in Spanish). 2 May 2022. Archived from the original on 24 September 2022. Retrieved 24 September 2022.
- ^ Acaba, Bélgica Nvó (2 May 2022). "La comunidad musulmana de Guinea Ecuatorial celebra el fin del Ramadán". AhoraEG (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 24 September 2022. Retrieved 24 September 2022.
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