Islam in Niger
Encyclopedia
Islam
Islam . The most common are and . : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...
in Niger
Niger
Niger , officially named the Republic of Niger, is a landlocked country in Western Africa, named after the Niger River. It borders Nigeria and Benin to the south, Burkina Faso and Mali to the west, Algeria and Libya to the north and Chad to the east...
accounts for the vast majority of the nation's religious adherents. The faith is practiced by more than 90% of the population, although this figure varies by source and percentage of population who are classified as Animist. Many of the communities who continue to practice elements of traditional religions do so within a framework of syncretic Islamic belief, making agreed statistics difficult. Islam in Niger, although dating back more than a millennium, gained dominance over traditional religions only in the 19th and early 20th centuries, and has been marked by influences from neighboring societies. Sufi
Sufism
Sufism or ' is defined by its adherents as the inner, mystical dimension of Islam. A practitioner of this tradition is generally known as a '...
brotherhoods
Tariqah
A tariqa is an Islamic religious order. In Sufism one starts with Islamic law, the exoteric or mundane practice of Islam and then is initiated onto the mystical path of a tariqa. Through spiritual practices and guidance of a tariqa the aspirant seeks ḥaqīqah - ultimate truth.-Meaning:A tariqa is a...
have become the dominant Muslim organisation, like much of West Africa. Despite this, a variety of interpretations of Islam coexist—largely in peace—with one another as well as with minorities of other faiths. The government of Niger is secular in law while recognising the importance of Islam to the vast majority of its citizens.
Demographics
Approximately 95% of Muslims are Sunni with a majority of those being linked to the Tijaniya SufiSufism
Sufism or ' is defined by its adherents as the inner, mystical dimension of Islam. A practitioner of this tradition is generally known as a '...
brotherhoods
Tariqah
A tariqa is an Islamic religious order. In Sufism one starts with Islamic law, the exoteric or mundane practice of Islam and then is initiated onto the mystical path of a tariqa. Through spiritual practices and guidance of a tariqa the aspirant seeks ḥaqīqah - ultimate truth.-Meaning:A tariqa is a...
; 5% are Shi'a. Hammallism and Sanusiya sects have had historic influence in the far west and far northeast of the county in the colonial period, while sections of Nyassist Sufi orders and Arab Wahhabite followers have appeared in the last thirty years. The Ahmadiyya Muslim Community
Ahmadiyya Muslim Community
The Ahmadiyya Muslim Community is the larger of two communities that arose from the Ahmadiyya movement founded in 1889 in India by Mirza Ghulam Ahmad of Qadian . The original movement split into two factions soon after the death of the founder...
is also present, established in the country in 1956.
History
Islam was spread into what is now Niger beginning in the 15th century, by both the expansion of the Songhai EmpireSonghai Empire
The Songhai Empire, also known as the Songhay Empire, was a state located in western Africa. From the early 15th to the late 16th century, Songhai was one of the largest Islamic empires in history. This empire bore the same name as its leading ethnic group, the Songhai. Its capital was the city...
in the west, and the influence of the Trans-Saharan trade
Trans-Saharan trade
Trans-Saharan trade requires travel across the Sahara to reach sub-Saharan Africa. While existing from prehistoric times, the peak of trade extended from the 8th century until the late 16th century.- Increasing desertification and economic incentive :...
traveling from the Maghreb
Maghreb
The Maghreb is the region of Northwest Africa, west of Egypt. It includes five countries: Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, and Mauritania and the disputed territory of Western Sahara...
and Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
. Tuareg expansion from the north, culminating in their seizure of the far eastern oases from the Kanem-Bornu Empire
Bornu Empire
The Bornu Empire was an African state of Nigeria from 1396 to 1893. It was a continuation of the great Kanem Empire founded centuries earlier by the Sayfawa Dynasty...
in the 17th centuries, spread distinctively Berber
Berber mythology
The traditional Berber mythology is the ancient and native set of beliefs and deities developed by the Berber people in their historical land of North Africa...
practices. Both Zarma and Hausa
Hausa people
The Hausa are one of the largest ethnic groups in West Africa. They are a Sahelian people chiefly located in northern Nigeria and southeastern Niger, but having significant numbers living in regions of Cameroon, Ghana, Cote d'Ivoire, Chad and Sudan...
areas were greatly influenced by the 18th and 19th century Fula led
Fula jihads
The Fula or Fulani jihads, were a series of independent but loosely connected events across West Africa between the late 17th century and European colonization, in which Muslim Fulas took control of various parts of the region...
Sufi brotherhoods, most notably the Sokoto Caliphate (in today's Nigeria).
The region around Say
Say, Niger
Say is a town in southwest Niger, situated on the Niger River. It is the capital of the Say Department in the Tillabéri Region. The municipality has 12,000 inhabitants, and its economy is dominated by agriculture, herding and small trade.-Overview:...
, on the Niger River
Niger River
The Niger River is the principal river of western Africa, extending about . Its drainage basin is in area. Its source is in the Guinea Highlands in southeastern Guinea...
was a center of Sufi religious instruction and Maliki
Maliki
The ' madhhab is one of the schools of Fiqh or religious law within Sunni Islam. It is the second-largest of the four schools, followed by approximately 25% of Muslims, mostly in North Africa, West Africa, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, and in some parts of Saudi Arabia...
legal interpretation, imported by Fulani
Fula people
Fula people or Fulani or Fulbe are an ethnic group spread over many countries, predominantly in West Africa, but found also in Central Africa and Sudanese North Africa...
clerics in the 1800s. While the Qadiriyyah Sufi orders were dominant in Northern and eastern Niger in the 19th century, as well as those areas under the sway of the Sokoto Caliphate, the first two decades of 20th century saw the rise of the Tijaniya, especially in the west of the country. Militantly anti-colonial Hammallism spread from Mali
Mali
Mali , officially the Republic of Mali , is a landlocked country in Western Africa. Mali borders Algeria on the north, Niger on the east, Burkina Faso and the Côte d'Ivoire on the south, Guinea on the south-west, and Senegal and Mauritania on the west. Its size is just over 1,240,000 km² with...
in the northwest in the 1920s, while much of the Kaocen Revolt
Kaocen Revolt
The Kaocen Revolt was a Tuareg rebellion against French colonial rule of the area around the Aïr Mountains of northern Niger during 1916-17.-1916 rising:Ag Mohammed Wau Teguidda Kaocen was the Tuareg leader of the rising against the French...
of Tuareg groups was inspired by Sanusiya sects in what is today Libya
Libya
Libya is an African country in the Maghreb region of North Africa bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to the east, Sudan to the southeast, Chad and Niger to the south, and Algeria and Tunisia to the west....
. More recently, Senegalese Nyassist Sufi teachers, especially in the Dosso
Dosso
Dosso might refer to either:*Dosso in Niger:**Dosso Region, a region in Niger**Dosso , a département in Niger**Dosso, Niger, a town, capital of the Dosso département**Dosso Kingdom, the pre-colonial and modern ceremonial power in Dosso....
area have gained converts, while some small Arab Wahhabite teaching is funded in Niger—as in much of Africa—through Saudi Arabian missionary groups.
Government support
The government does not directly fund religion and is legally separated from religious practice, but has funded several Muslim-oriented programs, such as a Muslim radio ministry and given USD$18.5 Million in 1982 towards the establishment of the Islamic University of NigerIslamic University of Niger
The Islamic University of Niger is an Islamic university based in Say, Niger.-History:...
in Say
Say, Niger
Say is a town in southwest Niger, situated on the Niger River. It is the capital of the Say Department in the Tillabéri Region. The municipality has 12,000 inhabitants, and its economy is dominated by agriculture, herding and small trade.-Overview:...
, itself founded and partially funded through donations from the Arab world.
The government has made three Muslim feasts national holidays, as well as two Christian holidays.
1990s conflict
In the 1990s there surfaced agitation for a move to the institutionalization of a ShariaSharia
Sharia law, is the moral code and religious law of Islam. Sharia is derived from two primary sources of Islamic law: the precepts set forth in the Quran, and the example set by the Islamic prophet Muhammad in the Sunnah. Fiqh jurisprudence interprets and extends the application of sharia to...
legal system or even an Islamic Republic
Islamic republic
Islamic republic is the name given to several states in the Muslim world including the Islamic Republics of Pakistan, Iran, Afghanistan, and Mauritania. Pakistan adopted the title under the constitution of 1956. Mauritania adopted it on 28 November 1958. Iran adopted it after the 1979 Iranian...
, attributed to elements of the Hausa based Islamist movements across the border in Nigeria
Nigeria
Nigeria , officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a federal constitutional republic comprising 36 states and its Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. The country is located in West Africa and shares land borders with the Republic of Benin in the west, Chad and Cameroon in the east, and Niger in...
. The Maradi based Movement for Suppressing Innovations and Restoring Sunnah - IZALA, allegedly funded by clerics from Jos, Nigeria pushed for greater adherence to their interpretation of Muslim law, and the conversion of those practicing other religions or holding Muslim interpretations inconsistent with these clerics. Tensions between these groups rose during the political instability marking the end of the Third Republic (1993–1996), attributed also to population movements of rural syncretic Muslims because of food shortages and political involvement of Nigerian groups and of the Niger military government who seized power between 1996-1999. Tensions culminated in a series of November 2000 riots surrounding a French run Niamey based fashion show which they deemed immoral. Violence in Niamey and Maradi, the center for most fundamentalist groups, spread to attacks on government, western, and Christian missionaries. The Nigerien government under both the Third Republic and (current) Fifth Republic has been swift and harsh in crackdowns on groups suspected of promoting religious intolerance, banning a number of religious groups and imprisoning leaders. Niger maintains its status as a secular state
Secular state
A secular state is a concept of secularism, whereby a state or country purports to be officially neutral in matters of religion, supporting neither religion nor irreligion. A secular state also claims to treat all its citizens equally regardless of religion, and claims to avoid preferential...
enshrined in the constitution of the Fifth Republic.
Tolerance
These events were seen then and now as more exception than rule, with interfaith relations deemed very good, and the forms of Islam traditionally practiced in most of the country marked by tolerance of other faiths and lack of restrictions on personal freedom. DivorceDivorce
Divorce is the final termination of a marital union, canceling the legal duties and responsibilities of marriage and dissolving the bonds of matrimony between the parties...
and Polygyny
Polygyny
Polygyny is a form of marriage in which a man has two or more wives at the same time. In countries where the practice is illegal, the man is referred to as a bigamist or a polygamist...
are unremarkable, women are not secluded, and headcoverings are not mandatory—they are often a rarity in urban areas. Alcohol, such as the locally produced Bière Niger, is sold openly in most of the country.
Sycretic beliefs
Despite a long history in what is today Niger, Islam did not become the dominant faith of many rural areas until the 20th century. The continuation of some elements of traditional beliefs continue both is small isolated pockets, and in practices of larger groups of nominal Muslim Nigeriens. Communities who continue to practice elements of traditional religions are often marked out as ethnic sub groups of the Songhay, the Kanouri (the Manga sub group), or HausaHausa people
The Hausa are one of the largest ethnic groups in West Africa. They are a Sahelian people chiefly located in northern Nigeria and southeastern Niger, but having significant numbers living in regions of Cameroon, Ghana, Cote d'Ivoire, Chad and Sudan...
(the Maouri/Azna
Azna
Azna is a city in and capital of Azna County, Lorestan Province, Iran. At the 2006 census, its population was 37,645, in 9,178 families.Azna is located in the Zagros Mountains.It currently serves as a refuge camp for the Faili Kurds....
/Mawri). The distinction between these groups and their Muslim neighbors is often a gradient. As well, elements of some Muslim communities continue to practice traditional spirit possession cults, active in the late 19th century. These include the "holey" cults of the Djerma and the Bori
Bori (religion)
Bori is a traditional animistic religion of the Hausa people of West Africa which involves spiritual possession.-Terminology:Bòòríí is a Hausa noun, meaning the spiritual force which resides in physical things, and is related to the word for local distilled alcohol as well the practice of medicine...
cult of the Hausa.