The ban on religious services for Muslims and members of dozens of smaller religious groups in Angola caused an international uproar at the end of November. The international media came to see Angola as the first country in the world to ban Islam.

A total of 194 religious denominations, including the Islamic Community of Angola, plus various sects and religious associations that had applied to be granted legal standing, had their requests deferred by the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights. A statement issues by the ministry on 28 October said that for these denominations to continue religious activities would constitute the crime of disobedience on the part of all participants.

Since the Law on the Practice and Freedom of Conscience, of Faith and Religion came into force in 2004, the Angolan government has not granted recognition to any church or religious sect. The Angolan state requires that in order for a religious denomination to be recognised, it must present proof of a minimum of 100,000 adherents.

The last time the Justice Ministry granted recognition to new religious faiths was in 2000, through Executive Decree 74/00. The beneficiaries were the Igreja do Nazareno Internacional de Angola (International Nazarene Church of Angola), Igreja Messiânica Mundial (World Messianic Church), Centro de Devoção Rainha Santa Isabel de Luz (Centre of Devotion to Queen Saint Isabel de Luz) and the Igreja Evangélica Avivamento Bíblico (Evangelical Church for Biblical Revival).

Angola has a population of more than 18 million, while the number of Muslims in the country is not thought to exceed 50,000, most of them foreign nationals from West Africa. All of the 86 churches and sects recognised by the government are Christian. The Angolan state does not recognise Islam.

Muslims in various parts of the world expressed anger at the government’s measure that refused to recognise Islam as a religion that can be practised in Angola. The international community took up the issue through diplomatic contact with the Angolan government, which offered clarification. However, there is still very little concrete information available about the ban on Islam and other religious groups. Maka Angola has investigated the sequence of events that led up to the decision.

Islam as a threat

Maka Angola conducted a brief investigation into the debates with sovereign institutions concerning Islam, the presence of which was first officially recorded in Angola in 1978. The investigation also compiled a list of the various administrative decisions surrounding the authorization, closing and prohibition of worship and the demolition of mosques.

Because Islam in Angola is practised mostly by West Africans, it has escaped the control of political power. It has also been an easy target for negative stereotypes as a gateway for illegal immigration from elsewhere in Africa. References in the press and in public discourse link Islam to terrorism, slavery and other wrongs that “offend” a still undefined Angolan culture. These stereotypes have allowed the formation of a mutual understanding between the government, opposition, civil society and Christian churches regarding the need to keep out a supposed common ill.

These stereotypes have been nurtured in a society that notoriously lacks a culture of debate in the formation of public opinion. Such a culture would allow from the outset a basic public understanding of the necessity to separate faith from the acts of an individual.

Following the guarantee of religious freedom in the 1992 Constitution, the first attempts to use the law to limit or to prohibit the practice of worship by certain denominations or sects date from 1998, in the Culture Ministry’s Circular 4/98. This circular informed all provincial governments that they must prohibit the practice of religious activity by non-recognised churches.

In November 1999, the then Justice Minister and now Ombudsman, Paulo Tchipilica, sent a confidencial memorandum to the Council of Ministers with proposals for halting the spread of Islam in Angola. The weekly paper Angolense, revealed the content of the memorandum in which the minister reiterated that Islam was a religion that tended to fundamentalism and which was not recognised by the government. According to Angolense, the minister called upon the government to dissolve the institutions that were being used as a cover for Islamic practices, to make their officials criminally liable, and to demolish mosques. According to the newspaper, the working group of the Council of Ministers issued contrary instructions to prevent Tchipilica’s proposal from being implemented. Angolense wrote that “this group [of the Council of Ministers] refuses to consider the activities of Islam in Angola as being tainted by fundamentalism”.

https://www.makaangola.org/2014/04/why-islam-is-illegal-in-angola/

They need peace na. So as the country is peaceful, you dont like it?

Saudi Arabia doesn't allow christianity... Same with most gulf countries. Christian countries need to learn.

Very good for ANGOLA'S GROWTH...
Just watch and see how ANGOLA will grow to become a super power..

Nice!

The souther you go into Africa, the less popular Islam is.