Islam in Jamaica

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The statistics for Islam in Jamaica estimate a total Muslim population of 17,463, representing 0.8 percent of the population^{[citation needed]}. There are several Islamic organizations and mosques in Jamaica, including the Islamic Council of Jamaica and the Islamic Education and Dawah Center, both located in Kingston and offering classes in Islamic studies and daily prayers in congregation. Outside of Kingston, organizations include Masjid Al Haq in Mandeville, Masjid Al-Ihsan in Negril, Masjid-e-Hikmah in Ocho Rios, and the Port Maria Islamic Center in Saint Mary.

The first Muslims in Jamaica were slaves brought from West Africa.^{[citation needed]} Over time most of them lost their Islamic identity due to forced conversions to Christianity. Mu’minun of African descent belonging to the Islamic nations of Mandinka, Fula, Susu, Ashanti and Hausa ceaselessly tried to maintain their Islamic practices in secrecy, while working as slaves on the plantations in Jamaica.{(Afroz, S. (2001)}

About 16 percent of the 37,000 indentured Indian immigrants who arrived to Jamaica between 1845 and 1917 were Muslims^{[citation needed]}. Muhammad Khan, who came to Jamaica in 1915 at the age of 15, built Masjid Ar-Rahman in Spanish Town in 1957, while Westmoreland's Masjid Hussein was built by Muhammad Golaub, who immigrated with his father at the age of 7. The indentured Muslims laid the foundation of the eight other masjids established in Jamaica since the 1960s^{[citation needed]}, with the advent of an indigenous Jamaican Muslim community that now forms the majority of the Muslim populace on the island.

[edit] References

• Islamic Horizons Sept/Oct 2001
• Afroz, S. (2001) 'The Jihad of 1831–1832: The Misunderstood

Baptist Rebellion in Jamaica' [Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs, Vol. 21, No. 2, 2001]

v • d • e Islam in North America Sovereign states Antigua and Barbuda · Bahamas · Barbados · Belize · Canada · Costa Rica · Cuba · Dominica · Dominican Republic · El Salvador · Grenada · Guatemala · Haiti · Honduras · Jamaica · Mexico · Nicaragua · Panama1 · Saint Kitts and Nevis · Saint Lucia · St. Vincent and the Grenadines · Trinidad and Tobago1 · United States Dependencies and other territories American Samoa2 · Anguilla · Aruba1 · Bermuda · British Virgin Islands · Cayman Islands · Greenland · Guadeloupe · Guam2 · Martinique · Montserrat · Navassa Island · Netherlands Antilles · Northern Mariana Islands2 · Puerto Rico · St. Barthélemy · St. Martin · St. Pierre and Miquelon · Turks and Caicos Islands · United States Virgin Islands 1 Territories also in or commonly reckoned elsewhere in the Americas (South America). 2 Territories also in or commonly reckoned to be in the Pacific basin.