Islam is the third largest religion in
NamibiaNamibia, officially the Republic of Namibia , is a country in Southern Africa whose western border is the Atlantic Ocean. It shares borders with Angola and Zambia to the north, Botswana and Zimbabwe to the east, and South Africa to the south and east...
after
ChristianityChristianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as presented by the revelations in the New Testament....
and indigenous beliefs.
The national government puts the number of
Muslim:A Muslim , , is an adherent of the religion of Islam. The feminine form is Muslimah . Literally, the word means "one who submits ". Muslim is the participle of the same verb of which Islam is the infinitive. Muslims believe that there is only one God, translated in Arabic as Allah...
s in Namibia at about 70,000 or about 3% of the national population. Adherents.com estimates that Muslims are 5% of the population of Namibia, though with a disclaimer that the statistical methodology used is unreliable.
Most of Namibia's Muslim community are members of the
NamaquaNama are an African ethnic group of South Africa, Namibia and Botswana. They speak the Nama language of the Khoe-Kwadi language family. The Nama are the largest group of the Khoikhoi people, most of whom have largely disappeared as a group, except for the Namas...
ethnic group.
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Islam is the third largest religion in
NamibiaNamibia, officially the Republic of Namibia , is a country in Southern Africa whose western border is the Atlantic Ocean. It shares borders with Angola and Zambia to the north, Botswana and Zimbabwe to the east, and South Africa to the south and east...
after
ChristianityChristianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as presented by the revelations in the New Testament....
and indigenous beliefs.
Number of Muslims
The national government puts the number of
Muslim:A Muslim , , is an adherent of the religion of Islam. The feminine form is Muslimah . Literally, the word means "one who submits ". Muslim is the participle of the same verb of which Islam is the infinitive. Muslims believe that there is only one God, translated in Arabic as Allah...
s in Namibia at about 70,000 or about 3% of the national population. Adherents.com estimates that Muslims are 5% of the population of Namibia, though with a disclaimer that the statistical methodology used is unreliable.
Growth of Namibia's Muslim Community
Most of Namibia's Muslim community are members of the
NamaquaNama are an African ethnic group of South Africa, Namibia and Botswana. They speak the Nama language of the Khoe-Kwadi language family. The Nama are the largest group of the Khoikhoi people, most of whom have largely disappeared as a group, except for the Namas...
ethnic group. It is believed that this is mostly as a result of the efforts of a prominent politician among the Nama, Jacobs Salmaan Dhameer, the country’s incumbent Electoral Commissioner, who converted to
IslamIslam Islam Islam ( al-’islām,
[There are ten pronunciations of Islam in English, differing in whether the first or second syllable has the stress, whether the s is or , and whether the a is pronounced as in father, as in cat, or (when the stress is on the i) as in the a of sofa...]
in 1980. The first
mosqueA mosque is a place of worship for followers of Islam. Muslims often refer to the mosque by its Arabic name, masjid, —...
in the country was built in
KatuturaKatutura is a township of Windhoek, Khomas Region, Namibia. Katutura was created in 1961 following the forced removal of Windhoek's black population from the Old Location, which afterwards was developed into the suburb Hochland Park. Sam Nujoma Stadium, built in 2005, is located within Katutura...
. Today, there are seven mosques in the country. Twenty-four Namibians are currently studying in
Saudi ArabiaSaudi Arabia , is an Arab country and the largest country of the Arabian Peninsula. It is bordered by Jordan on the northwest, Iraq on the north and northeast, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain, and the United Arab Emirates on the east, Oman on the southeast, and Yemen on the south...
while have been sent for long term Islamic training in institutions in
South AfricaThe Republic of South Africa is a country located at the southern tip of Africa, with a coastline on the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. To the north lie Namibia, Botswana and Zimbabwe, to the east are Mozambique and Swaziland, while Lesotho is an independent country surrounded by South Africa.Modern...
.