Religion in Mauritania

It was trade with Muslim merchants that brought Islam into the region, in the 8th century.{{cite book|author=John L. Esposito|title=The Oxford Dictionary of Islam|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6VeCWQfVNjkC&pg=PA196|access-date=1 August 2012|date=21 October 2004|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-512559-7|page=196}}

The Almoravid dynasty rose to power in the western Maghreb during the 11th century, and proselytized Islam throughout the region. Members of the Gadala Berbers brought back the theologian Abdallah ibn Yasin from Mecca in 1035, where they travelled for the hajj, to expunge the paganism still prevalent in Mauritania. Although Islam had existed in the region prior to the Almoravids, Almoravid rule accelerated the spread of Islam and removed animist influences on local Islamic practices.{{cite web|title=A Country Study: Mauritania|url=http://lcweb2.loc.gov/frd/cs/mrtoc.html|work=Country Studies|publisher=Library of Congress|access-date=6 August 2012}} Ibn Yasin's strict interpretation of Islam alienated many of the Berbers, and the theologian was expelled. Undaunted, he accumulated a devoted following of loyal believers and an army, the foundation of the Almoravid dynasty. Ibn Yasin's military expansion converted tribe members of the Gadala, Lemtuna, and Messufa Berbers of the region to Islam. The capture of Sijilmasa and Aoudaghost, important cities in the Trans-Saharan trade, allowed them to dominate the trade routes of the Sahara. The Almoravids converted the Berbers inhabiting modern-day Mauritania to the Maliki school of Sunni Islam, which remains dominant in Mauritania to this day.{{cite book|last=Pazzanita|first=Anthony G. |title=Historical Dictionary of Mauritania|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-KU_9MfXKKYC&pg=PA60|access-date=1 August 2012|year=2008|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield|isbn=978-0-8108-5596-0|pages=58-60}}

Ibn Yasin was succeeded by Abu Bakr ibn Umar, a chieftain of the Lemtuna Berbers. Fighting between the Lemtuna and Messufa led ibn Umar to declare a holy war against the Ghana Empire to unify the tribes against a common enemy. The war, which lasted for fourteen years, spread Islam to the members of the Soninke people, founders of Ghana. The political influence of the Almoravids waned as the dynasty declined, but Islamic adherence was firmly cemented in the country.

The political influence of the Kunta tribe between the 16th and 18th centuries bolstered the popularity of Qadiri Sufism in the region.{{cite book|author=Ira M. Lapidus|title=A History of Islamic Societies|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=I3mVUEzm8xMC&pg=PA416|access-date=1 August 2012|date=22 August 2002|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-77933-3|pages=409-410}} Between the 16th and 18th centuries, declaration of jihads by Muslim theologians pushed for the establishment of Islamic governance in West Africa. In the 17th century, Nasir al-Din led a jihad in Mauritania, drawing support from Berbers frustrated with the corruption of the region's Arab rulers.

The French colonial empire expanded into Mauritania by the early 20th century. The West African jihads were brought to an end, following crackdowns by British and French colonists. In an effort to thwart militarism and threats of rebellion, French colonial administrators encouraged the influence of zawiya, the religious tribes of Mauritania, over hassan, Mauritania's warrior tribes.{{sfn|Pazzanita|2008| pp=277-278}}

The country declared its independence in 1960 and established itself as an Islamic Republic. Independence brought Moktar Ould Daddah into power, who promoted Islam during his rule. A military coup d'état ousted Daddah in 1978.{{cite web|last=Thurston|first=Alex|title=Mauritania's Islamists|url=http://carnegieendowment.org/2012/03/01/mauritania-s-islamists|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140219022251/http://carnegieendowment.org/2012/03/01/mauritania-s-islamists|url-status=dead|archive-date=February 19, 2014|work=Carnegie Paper|publisher=Carnegie Endowment|access-date=8 August 2012}} Colonel Mohamed Khouna Ould Haidalla, one of the participants of the coup, became Head of the government in 1980, and implemented Sharia law. President Maaouya Ould Sid'Ahmed Taya, successor of Ould Haidalla, reversed some of these changes, but was ousted in a military coup in 2005.

Political Islam, or Islamism, was introduced in the region during the 1970s. The instability that followed the coup that deposed Daddah invited elements of the Muslim Brotherhood, Wahabbism, and Tablighi Jamaat. The Islamists united as a political party in the 1980s, but were politically repressed starting in 1994.{{cite book|author1=Benjamin F. Soares|author2=René Otayek|title=Islam and Muslim Politics in Africa|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hMpf-gyCrRAC&pg=PA29|access-date=1 August 2012|date=15 September 2007|publisher=Macmillan|isbn=978-1-4039-7964-3|pages=28–34}} Government pressure on Islamist organizations continued throughout the 2000s. Funding by Saudi Arabia and other Gulf monarchies supported the establishment of Islamic schools, centers, and charities around the country, but were largely shut down by the government in 2003. In 2005, Islamists were arrested and accused of terrorism. Of the original eighty arrested, eighteen remained in prison by 2006.{{cite web|title=Mauritania|url=https://2009-2017.state.gov/j/drl/rls/irf/2006/71313.htm|work=International Religious Freedom Report 2006|publisher=U.S. Department of State|access-date=8 August 2012}}

Islam is by far the largest and most influential religion in the country, and has been since the 10th century. According to government census, at the start of the 21st century, 100% of the country's citizens were Muslim. Like much of North Africa, Mauritanians follow the Maliki school of Islam.

Sharia is used as the basis of judicial decisions;[https://www.state.gov/reports/2022-report-on-international-religious-freedom/mauritania US State Dept 2022 report] the court system uses a combination of secular and Islamic laws.

{{main|Christianity in Mauritania}}

In 2020, the number of Christians in Mauritania was estimated at 10,000 (expatriates or foreigners);{{cite book|title=Encyclopedia of Christianity in the Global South|first=Mark |last=A. Lamport|year= 2021| isbn=9781442271579| page =497|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield Publishers|quote= Influences - Christian influences in Mauritanian society are limited to the approximately 10,000 foreign nationals living in the country}} approximately 4,000 of these were Roman Catholics.[https://www.catholicsandcultures.org/mauritania Catholics And Culture website, retrieved 2023-08-08] There were also a small number of adherents of Judaism in the country.[https://www.state.gov/reports/2022-report-on-international-religious-freedom/mauritania US State Dept 2022 report]

In Mauritania, religious and secular NGOs are granted tax exemption.{{cite book|title=Annual Report on International Religious Freedom, 2004|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=04dlwzB2SvcC&pg=PA75|access-date=1 August 2012|date=4 August 2005|publisher=Government Printing Office|isbn=978-0-16-072552-4|pages=75-77}} Based on the sharia stance on apostasy, the government forbids converting Muslims to competing religions.[https://www.state.gov/reports/2021-report-on-international-religious-freedom/mauritania/ US State Dept 2021 report, Retrieved 2023-4-25] The publication of religious materials that are not Islamic is restricted. Religious education is not considered mandatory.[https://www.state.gov/reports/2022-report-on-international-religious-freedom/mauritania US State Dept 2022 report]

In 2022, Freedom House rated Mauritania religious freedom as 2 out of 4,[https://www.freedomhouse.org/country/mauritania/freedom-world/2022 Freedom House 2022 report, Retrieved 2023-04-25] noting that while apostasy is a crime punishable by death, to date, no one has been executed for the crime. However, in April 2018, Parliament passed a new law that strengthens the existing death penalty punishment for certain blasphemy offenses.

• Muriel Devey, « Terre d'islam », in La Mauritanie, Éd. Karthala, Paris, 2005, {{p.|45-55}} {{ISBN|2-8458-6583-X}}
• Sakho Mamadou Dickall, La littérature religieuse mauritanienne, s. l., 1986, 127 p.
• Paul Marty, Études sur l'Islam maure, E. Leroux, Paris, 1916, 252 p.

{{reflist}}

• Islam in Mauritania
• Roman Catholicism in Mauritania
• Freedom of religion in Mauritania

{{Religion in Africa}}

Category:Culture of Mauritania

Category:Society of Mauritania