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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