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Islam spread peacefully in many parts of the world due to its simple and rational teachings which develop physical, moral and spiritual conditions of a people. This is the main power of this great religion that attracts everybody, the rulers as also the ruled.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islam_in_Mauritius
Islam in Mauritius
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The 1968 constitution of Mauritius recognized four religious categories: Hindus, Muslims, Sino-Mauritians, and the general population. According to a 1989 estimate of a total population of 1,080,000, Muslims constituted about 16 percent (179,280).
Recent statistics are not available because questions on religious affiliations have been removed from the population census.
The Muslim population is approximately 95 percent Sunni and many are Urdu-speaking. Other languages include Bhojpuri, Gujarati, and Tamil. Sunnis adhere mostly to the Hanafi school of thought, reflecting their roots in the Indian subcontinent.
The biggest and second oldest place of worship is the Jummah Mosque in Port Louis, but there are many smaller mosques in the towns and villages. The highest concentration of Muslims is found in the capital Port Louis, predominantly in the Plaine Verte, Ward IV , Valle Pitot and Camp Yoloff neighborhood.
Among the Shi’a minority, some have their origins in different parts of India, others are adherents of the Agha Khan from East Africa.
iifs-mauritius.org/resources/index.php?aid=4&said=2
Mauritius, once known by the Arabic name ‘Dina Arobi’, is a small island economy comprising 720 square miles situated in the Indian Ocean about 500 miles east of Madagascar. While Arab and Malay sailors knew of Mauritius as early as the 10th century AD and Portuguese sailors first visited in the 16th century, the island was first colonised in 1638 by the Dutch.
The island was named in honour of Prince Maurice of Nassau who abandoned the colony in 1710. Uninhabited until the seventeenth century, it had no indigenous population, but became populated by waves of immigrants due to colonialism, plantation slavery, the indenture system, and French (1715-1810) and British (1810-1968) colonial mercantile interests, which shaped the socio- cultural environment of the island¹. Mauritius gained independence in 1968 and became a republic in 1992.
The Presence of Muslims in Mauritius can be traced back to the passage of Arab and Malay sailors in the twelve century, under the Dutch occupation (1638-1710), the French Administration (1715-1810) and the British rule (1810-1968). Islam took root in the island as from the French rule with the arrival of indigenous Indians as sailors hailing from Pondicherry and Bengal. They were Sunni and were referred to as “ les matelots Lascards” by the authorities and constituted a racially mixed group par excellence.
According to the French laws prevailing on the island, only the Catholic religion could be practised openly and Islam had to be an underground religion. The religious fervour of its few adherents was unabated and they were not only able to keep their faith alive in a hostile environment but even to make some converts.
In 1805, the French Governor of the island, Charles Decäen, granted the necessary land concession to the Lascards proprietors to build a “chapel” to practise their faith in an area of Port -Louis called Plaine Verte².This move to grant this concession is exceptional in the history of the Isle de France (Mauritius) where the only officially recognized religion was the Catholic Church. The first mosque of the island known as the Camp des Lascards Mosque was raised.
The next group of Muslims to arrive in the island were Indian political prisoners brought to construct roads, bridges and buildings. Contact was established between them and the local inhabitants and there are indications that many of these prisoners used to attend prayers, in particular the Jummah salaat at the Camp des Lascards Mosque. In 1835 with the introduction of the Indian Indentured system a new impetus in the spread of Islam in Mauritius was witnessed.
From 1835 to 1924 when that system ended, a total of some approximately 425,000 Indian labourers (Coolies) had been brought to toil in the sugar plantations following the dismantling of the Slavery System. They hailed mostly from the provinces of Uttar Pradesh, Orissa and Bihar and they boarded the ships at Calcutta, Bombay and Madras. They consisted mainly of Hindus and Muslims, the latter representing about 25% of the Coolie population.
Urdu became the cultural language of the Muslims and allowed the different groups of Muslims who used different dialects to communicate readily with each other. Urdu became thus the functional language through which the religious dogmas were enshrined and also the educational language of the Madrassah. Arabic was taught merely to teach the reading of the Holy Quran.
In the wake of the Indentured System, three other distinctive groups of Muslim immigrants originating from the Indian province of Gujerat settled in the island soon after 1835. The first group came to be known on the island as Maiman merchants, hailing mainly from the towns of Kutch. The second group came from Hallai in the Indian province of Kathiawar and were known as Hallaye merchants.
Both were experts in the supply of cereals, mainly rice and dholl. The third group came to be known as Surtees and hailed mainly from the town of Surat and the surrounding towns of Rander, Bharuch etc. and were experts in the supply of textile products to the island.Whilst the Maimans remained basically an urban group centered on Port-Louis, the Surtees, in view of their greater number found themselves to branch out into retail trade, did much to spread Islam in the rural countryside of the island.
continued in the next post
Islam spread peacefully in many parts of the world due to its simple and rational teachings which develop physical, moral and spiritual conditions of a people. This is the main power of this great religion that attracts everybody, the rulers as also the ruled.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islam_in_Mauritius
Islam in Mauritius
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The 1968 constitution of Mauritius recognized four religious categories: Hindus, Muslims, Sino-Mauritians, and the general population. According to a 1989 estimate of a total population of 1,080,000, Muslims constituted about 16 percent (179,280).
Recent statistics are not available because questions on religious affiliations have been removed from the population census.
The Muslim population is approximately 95 percent Sunni and many are Urdu-speaking. Other languages include Bhojpuri, Gujarati, and Tamil. Sunnis adhere mostly to the Hanafi school of thought, reflecting their roots in the Indian subcontinent.
The biggest and second oldest place of worship is the Jummah Mosque in Port Louis, but there are many smaller mosques in the towns and villages. The highest concentration of Muslims is found in the capital Port Louis, predominantly in the Plaine Verte, Ward IV , Valle Pitot and Camp Yoloff neighborhood.
Among the Shi’a minority, some have their origins in different parts of India, others are adherents of the Agha Khan from East Africa.
iifs-mauritius.org/resources/index.php?aid=4&said=2
Mauritius, once known by the Arabic name ‘Dina Arobi’, is a small island economy comprising 720 square miles situated in the Indian Ocean about 500 miles east of Madagascar. While Arab and Malay sailors knew of Mauritius as early as the 10th century AD and Portuguese sailors first visited in the 16th century, the island was first colonised in 1638 by the Dutch.
The island was named in honour of Prince Maurice of Nassau who abandoned the colony in 1710. Uninhabited until the seventeenth century, it had no indigenous population, but became populated by waves of immigrants due to colonialism, plantation slavery, the indenture system, and French (1715-1810) and British (1810-1968) colonial mercantile interests, which shaped the socio- cultural environment of the island¹. Mauritius gained independence in 1968 and became a republic in 1992.
The Presence of Muslims in Mauritius can be traced back to the passage of Arab and Malay sailors in the twelve century, under the Dutch occupation (1638-1710), the French Administration (1715-1810) and the British rule (1810-1968). Islam took root in the island as from the French rule with the arrival of indigenous Indians as sailors hailing from Pondicherry and Bengal. They were Sunni and were referred to as “ les matelots Lascards” by the authorities and constituted a racially mixed group par excellence.
According to the French laws prevailing on the island, only the Catholic religion could be practised openly and Islam had to be an underground religion. The religious fervour of its few adherents was unabated and they were not only able to keep their faith alive in a hostile environment but even to make some converts.
In 1805, the French Governor of the island, Charles Decäen, granted the necessary land concession to the Lascards proprietors to build a “chapel” to practise their faith in an area of Port -Louis called Plaine Verte².This move to grant this concession is exceptional in the history of the Isle de France (Mauritius) where the only officially recognized religion was the Catholic Church. The first mosque of the island known as the Camp des Lascards Mosque was raised.
The next group of Muslims to arrive in the island were Indian political prisoners brought to construct roads, bridges and buildings. Contact was established between them and the local inhabitants and there are indications that many of these prisoners used to attend prayers, in particular the Jummah salaat at the Camp des Lascards Mosque. In 1835 with the introduction of the Indian Indentured system a new impetus in the spread of Islam in Mauritius was witnessed.
From 1835 to 1924 when that system ended, a total of some approximately 425,000 Indian labourers (Coolies) had been brought to toil in the sugar plantations following the dismantling of the Slavery System. They hailed mostly from the provinces of Uttar Pradesh, Orissa and Bihar and they boarded the ships at Calcutta, Bombay and Madras. They consisted mainly of Hindus and Muslims, the latter representing about 25% of the Coolie population.
Urdu became the cultural language of the Muslims and allowed the different groups of Muslims who used different dialects to communicate readily with each other. Urdu became thus the functional language through which the religious dogmas were enshrined and also the educational language of the Madrassah. Arabic was taught merely to teach the reading of the Holy Quran.
In the wake of the Indentured System, three other distinctive groups of Muslim immigrants originating from the Indian province of Gujerat settled in the island soon after 1835. The first group came to be known on the island as Maiman merchants, hailing mainly from the towns of Kutch. The second group came from Hallai in the Indian province of Kathiawar and were known as Hallaye merchants.
Both were experts in the supply of cereals, mainly rice and dholl. The third group came to be known as Surtees and hailed mainly from the town of Surat and the surrounding towns of Rander, Bharuch etc. and were experts in the supply of textile products to the island.Whilst the Maimans remained basically an urban group centered on Port-Louis, the Surtees, in view of their greater number found themselves to branch out into retail trade, did much to spread Islam in the rural countryside of the island.
continued in the next post