Islam in Togo

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Muslims in Togo represent between 13.7 and 55% of the national population. Islam came to Togo about the same time as it did much of West Africa.

[edit] History

Islam was first introduced into West Africa south of the Sahara, across the salt and gold trade routes. Islamicized Berber and Tuareg merchants traveled the trans-Saharan trade routes. As time passed, Muslim clerics and scholars — teaching their beliefs and setting up places of worship along the routes — accompanied traders on their journeys. The Hausa and the Fulani, a traditionally nomadic group, traveled all over West Africa, taking their Muslim beliefs to places such as present-day Guinea, Sierra Leone, and Liberia.

[edit] Demographics

Estimates on the number of Muslims in Togo tend to vary considerably depending on the source. For example, according to Wikipedia's Islam in Africa page, Togo is approximately 13.7% Muslim, while the CIA Factbook the figure is 20%. According to islamic web muslims are 55% of the population around 2,513,792 out of 4,570,530 this was estimated by the year 1998.

[edit] External links

• Islamic web listing of Muslims by country
• CIA factbook entry for Togo