Ethiopian and Libyand Religion
Ethiopia |
Libya |
There are two main religions in Ethiopia, islam and orthodox christianity. Islam spread to Ethiopia by missionaries and immigrants from northern africa and the middle east (bbc religions). Over 25 million people (34%) in Ethiopia identify with islam (wikipedia). The Ethiopian city of Harar the fourth holiest muslim city, with 82 mosques and 102 shrines (wikipedia). The prophet Muhammed and his wife actually visited Ethiopia in 615 AD (ethiopiantreasures.co.uk). Christianity in Ethiopia took a strong foothold when it was declared a state religion in 330 AD. Ethiopia was the only region of Africa to survive the expansion of Islam as a Christian state. Religion is a dividing factor in Ethiopia and the country is split between islam and christianity.
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The dominant religion in Libya is islam and 97% of the population are sunni muslim (muslimpopulation.com). With the influx of refugees and migrants, there are also small christian communites composed of all foreigners. During the seventh century, Muslim conquerors reached Libya, and by the eighth century most of the resistance mounted by the indigenous Berbers had ended, and the country became islamic. An interesting fact is that 0.3% of Libyans are buddhist, and Libya has the largest proportion of Buddhists of any North African country (wikipedia).
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