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Angola Becomes ‘First Country to Ban Islam’

Arutz Sheva:

Southern African nation reportedly bans Islam and orders the demolition of mosques in the country.

The African nation of Angola has reportedly become the first country to ban Islam and Muslims, reports On Islam. Concerning the ban, Angolan President Jose Eduardo dos Santos said Sunday “this is the final end of Islamic influence in our country.”


Angola’s ban was first announced last Friday, when Angolan Minister of Culture, Rosa Cruz e Silva said “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.”

India Today reports Silva’s statement was made at the 6th Commission of the Angolan National Assembly, and that the ban includes orders to demolish mosques in the country.
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Categories: Africa, Anti-Islam Campaign, Arab World, Indonesia, Israel, Uncategorized

3 replies ›

  1. The wisdom of the reminder in the Quran is validated once again:

    “— And if Allah did not repel some men by means of others, there would surely have been pulled down cloisters and churches and synagogues and mosques, wherein the name of Allah is oft commemorated.”

    [The Holy Quran : Chapter 22: Al-Hajj الحَجّ , a part of the Verse 41]

    Reply

  2. Clarifying the false claim
    that Angola has ‘banned
    Islam’
    Some of you may have
    read in the last few days
    that Angola has outright
    banned Islam and that it
    is now illegal to be a
    Muslim in the Southern
    African nation. This
    however is not true. The
    news that has been
    spreading like wildfire is
    simply a case of people
    believing anything that
    they hear and then
    repeating it because it
    sounds unbelievable. The
    problem is that people
    seem to care little about
    fact-checking or
    confirming news from
    proper sources.
    The story was first
    printed 4 days ago by a
    Moroccan newspaper
    called ‘La Nouvelle
    Tribune’ which is run by
    the son of a Communist
    Moroccan politician. The
    newspaper stated that
    the governor of Luanda
    had spoken against
    radical Muslims and
    stated that they are not
    welcome in Angola. It
    then quoted Angolan
    politician Roza Cruz as
    stating that Islam has not
    yet been approved by the
    Angolan Ministry of
    Justice and Human
    Rights, and that mosques
    would therefore be
    closed until further
    notice.
    The first thing to note
    about this article is that
    the politician’s name that
    was quoted is actually
    Roza Cruz e Silva, not
    Roza Cruz which the
    newspaper got wrong.
    Second is that no other
    official is named, and
    that the statement about
    Islam not being
    recognised is not
    something new but has
    always been the case.
    What ‘recognised’ means
    is that the government of
    Angola does not officially
    recognise Islam as a
    religion, which may
    sound odd but is not
    that odd considering that
    Italy, France and many
    others countries also do
    not recognise Islam at an
    official level. It simply
    means that the
    government does not
    interfere nor officiate on
    any matters in the
    religion. It does not
    mean that the religion is
    illegal or that it is
    banned.
    As for the claim that
    mosques are closed, this
    is not true and can be
    confirmed by Muslims in
    Angola. It seems that
    Roza Cruz e Silva was
    either referring to a
    specific mosque/s or that
    she never said this at all
    and the newspaper made
    it up. Until now the
    newspaper is the only
    source of the quote, and
    considering that they
    managed to misspell her
    name I would not put
    much faith in them. The
    article then lastly claimed
    that the minaret of a
    mosque was dismantled
    last year and that a
    mosque (possibly the
    same one) was
    destroyed. It does not
    say why it was destroyed,
    however it must be
    noted that it happened
    LAST YEAR.
    What happened after the
    initial story however is
    where we see the
    dangers of spreading
    unverified information.
    The few pieces of
    information in the article
    were mixed up and
    exaggerated, until the
    story had took an
    entirely new direction.
    Stories were claiming
    that Islam had been
    banned in Angola, and
    that mosques were
    ordered to be destroyed,
    and that being a Muslim
    was now illegal. Photos
    were shown of mosques
    being destroyed,
    however all the photos
    were from Palestine and
    not from Angola.
    Eventually a fake quote
    attributed to the
    President and before
    long the story spread like
    wildfire.
    After doing some fact-
    checking it was made
    clear that Roza Cruz de
    Silva was only speaking
    about a few Muslim
    groups who were on the
    list of proscribed
    religious groups that
    would not be allowed to
    operate mosques, some
    of which were built
    without permits. The list
    contains 194 groups
    from all religions, yet
    only a few are Muslims.
    So it was not true that all
    mosques would be
    closed, nor were there
    orders to destroy any
    mosques, nor is Islam
    ‘illegal’ in Angola.
    Please everybody, stop
    sharing this story as it is
    not only not true, but
    suggests that we are not
    dedicated to checking
    facts and repeating
    sensationalised claims. If
    you have shared the
    story delete it and clarify
    that you had not checked
    the veracity of the story
    to try and ensure that
    others do not repeat

    Reply

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