Islam In Burkina Faso

Islam in Burkina Faso ( Upper Volta) has a long and varied history. According to the 2010 census, the population of the country is 63.2% Muslim.

Although the vast majority of Muslims are Sunni Muslims who follow Maliki school of thought, Shia Islam and Ahmadiyya movement also have some following. A 2009 Pew Forum report estimates that less than 1% of Muslims in Burkina Faso are Shia. The Ahlu Bayt Portal cites several studies ranging from under 1% of the Muslim population, to a 2000 cite from the ''Imam Husayn Encyclopedia'' which claims that 9.38% of Burkinese Muslims are Shi'a.Shia Population in: Burkina Faso
. ahlulbaytportal.com. 2010 Jan 11.

History

Until the end of the 19th century, the Upper Volta was dominated by the Mossi Kingdoms, who are believed to have come from central or eastern Africa sometime in the 11th century. The Mossi initially defended their religious beliefs and social structure against Islamic influences from Muslims from the northwest. In the 15th century the Upper Volta region attracted Muslim merchants and settlements by the opening of the Akan gold fields, and the opportunity to trade in gold, kola nuts, and salt. Some of these merchants were Soninke-speaking peoples from Timbuktu and Djenné who later adopted Malinke dialect and became known as Dyula. They settled in the towns of Bobo-Dyulasso, Kong, Bunduku, and other places leading to the goldfields. Other traders came from Kanem, Bornu, and the Hausa city-states and moved into Gonja, Dagomba, and other parts of the Volta region. Muslims married local women and raised families, which were tied to the Muslim community through the father and to the local pagan community through the mother. The offspring of these marriages often inherited chieftainships and brought about the conversion of local peoples. They organized festivals, offered prayers and divination at local courts, distributed talismans, and participated in anti-witchcraft rituals. As a result, Muslims in the region were not a distinct language group but regarded themselves as part of the Mossi kingdom.

Throughout the region, the Dyula communities maintained a high standard of Muslim education. A Dyula family enterprise based on the ''lu'', a working unit consisting of a father, his sons, and other attached males, could afford to give some of its younger men a Muslim education. Thus there emerged an ulema class known as ''karamokos'', who were educated in Qur'an, tafsir, hadith, and the life of Muhammad. A student read these works with a single teacher over a period varying from five to thirty years, and earned his living as a part-time farmer working on the lands of his teacher. Having completed his studies, a ''karamoko'' obtained a turban and an ijazah, his license to teach, and set forth in search of further instruction or to start his own school in a remote village. Certain families provided scholars generation after generation. During the great Senegambian jihad led by Ma Ba (1809–1867) Islam spread in the stateless region of the Upper Volta, the Ivory Coast and Guinea.

French colonial rule was imposed on Upper Volta in 1919, but it was divided among the Ivory Coast, Niger

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