Islam in Mauritania

Caravan trade routes passed through the territory of Mauritania , through which Muslim traders and preachers began to enter the country. Islam began to spread in Mauritania in the VIII century . In the middle of the XI century, the territory of Mauritania became one of the centers of the formation of the Almoravid state , which conquered the Maghreb and Muslim Spain in the north. After the fall of the Almoravids in the middle of the XII century, the tribes of Mauritania became virtually independent ^[4] . Mauritania in the Middle Ages became known as one of the main areas of the spread of Islam in the Maghreb. The Dervish order enjoyed particular influence in Mauritania; in the 16th century, Sheikh Sidi Ahmed Bekkai played an important role in their dissemination. By the 19th century, the most influential were the orders of Tidjania and Qadiriya ; in the late XIX - mid XX centuries - Hamalia and Fadilia. In the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, the rulers of Morocco made attempts to establish their influence in Mauritania, but they could not gain a foothold for a long time. At the beginning of the 15th century, the penetration of Europeans into Mauritania began: Portuguese , Dutch , French . The penetration of the French intensified after they founded in 1659 at the mouth of the Senegal River Fort St. Louis.

Imam Nasir al-Din, created in the middle of the XVII century in the valley of the Senegal river theocratic state. In the 2nd half of the 17th century, the emirates of Trarza and Brakn formed on the territory of Mauritania. In the middle of the 18th century , the emirates of Adrar and Tagant arose in central Mauritania. In the 1850s, as a result of several wars, the French forced the emirates to conclude unprofitable treaties that led to the consolidation of French influence in the region. Resistance to the colonialists in the late XIX - early XX centuries was organized by Sufi brotherhoods, proclaiming a holy war ( jihad ). At the turn of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, the holy struggle against the French of many tribes of the Western Sahara region was led by Sheikh Ma al-Ainin. In 1901-1904 , France declared Mauritania its protectorate as a result of the mission of the French colonial figure Xavier Coppolani, who secured the support of the country's authoritative spiritual leaders. By 1912, the territory of Mauritania was completely controlled by the French. The French administration enjoyed the support of the country's spiritual leaders - the Marabouts and Sheikhs . After gaining independence in 1960, Mauritania was proclaimed an Islamic republic. The 1985 Constitution declared Islam the state religion and established Sharia in Mauritania.

3,338,000 Mauritians, representing 99.0% of the population of this country, practice Islam. Most of them are Sunnis of the Malikite Mashab ^[2] . There are also representatives of Sufi orders , as well as Ahmadites ^[5] .

8,000 mosques were built in Mauritania ^[6] . The oldest mosque is the Shingetti Cathedral Mosque built in the 14th century ^[7] . The most beautiful is the Saudi mosque built in 2004 with funds from Saudi Arabia.

• The number of Muslims by country
• History of Mauritania