Islam in Madagascar

Ethnicity of Madagascan Muslims (2021 estimate)[1] Islam in Madagascar is a minority religion, with most Malagasy people adhering to Christianity.

[1] Due to the secular nature of Madagascar's constitution, Muslims are free to proselytize and build places of worship in the country.

[2][3][4][5] The vast majority of Muslims in Madagascar practice Sunni Islam of the Shafi school of jurisprudence,[1] with sizeable Shia communities.

[3][4][5] In 2011, scholar Sigvard von Sicard estimated that between 5 and 7 percent of the population was Muslim while indicating that the number might be higher due to the social fluidity of the area.

The Malagasy names for seasons, months, days, and coins are Islamic in origin, as is the practice of circumcision, the communal grain pool, and different forms of salutation.

[8] Some Malagasy Muslims have also reported difficulty in obtaining official or governmental documents at public administration offices due to their non-Malagasy sounding names.