According to several Angolan newspapers, Angola
has become the first country in the world to ban
Islam and Muslims, taking first measures by
destroying mosques in the country.
“The process of legalization of Islam has not been
approved by the Ministry of Justice and Human
Rights, their mosques would be closed until further
notice,” Rosa Cruz e Silva, the Angolan Minister of
Culture, was quoted by Agence Ecofin on Friday,
November 22.
Silva comments were given during her visit last
Tuesday to the 6th Commission of the National
Assembly.
She asserted that the decision was the latest is a
series of efforts to ban ‘illegal’ religious sects.
The minister added, in her answer to questions
raised by the MPs of the 6th Commission of
National Assembly, that the action will oblige the
revision of law 2/04 of May 21, related to freedom
of religious assembly, Angolan official news
agency, Agencia Angola Press, reported.
The Angolan government would also be obliged to
update the current national context as a way of
fighting the rise of new religious congregation
whose religious assemblies are contrary to “habits
and customs to Angolan culture,” Silva added.
Same as Islam, Silva announced that there are at
least 194 religious sects that were not authorized
to have their activities.
“All sects on the list published by the Ministry of
Justice and Human Rights in the Angolan
newspaper ‘Jornal de Angola’ are prohibited to
conduct worship, so they should keep their doors
closed," she was quoted by Cameroon Voice.
"In addition, we also have a long list of more than
a thousand legalization applications,” she added.
The anti-Islam comments were not the first by
Angolan officials.
“This is the final end of Islamic influence in our
country,” President José Eduardo dos Santos
was quoted by Osun Defender newspaper on
Sunday, November 24.
Last October, Muslims from the urban
municipality of Viana, Luanda, attended the
destruction of the minaret of their mosque
Zengo.
The provincial governor of Luanda, Bento
Bento, has also said on the airwaves of a local
radio that "radical Muslims are not welcome in
Angola and the Angolan government is not
ready for the legalization of mosques."
He added that Muslims were not welcome in
Angola and that the government would not
legalize the presence of mosques in the
country.
According to CIA Factbook, 47% of Angolans
practice indigenous beliefs, 38% Roman
Catholic and 15% Protestant.
Islam’s opinion about freedom of religion is
evident from the Qur’an, which says what
means:
*{Say, ‘The truth is from your Lord’: Let him
who will, believe, and let him who will, reject
[it]}* (An-Nisaa' 4:29)
Again, God says: *{Let there be no compulsion
in religion: Truth stands out clear from Error…}
* (Al-Baqarah 2:256)
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