Guinea Religion Areas

Roughly 85 percent of Guinea’s population is Muslim, primarily of the Sunni school. Muslims constitute a majority in all four geographic regions. Christians, mostly Roman Catholic, comprise an 8 percent minority and are situated primarily in Conakry and eastern parts of the Forest Region.Other Christian denominations include Anglicans, Baptists, Jehovah's Witnesses, Seventh-Day Adventists, and various evangelical subgroups. Approximately 7 percent of inhabitants, located principally in the Forest Region, adhere exclusively to indigenous religious beliefs. Islam was introduced in Guinea in the 17th century in what is now the country’s northeast. Starting in the late 1720s, the Fulani ethnic group established a theocratic Muslim state in the mountainous Fouta Djallon region. The Fulani created an ethnoreligious social hierarchy which relegated non-Muslims to the lowest rungs of the social ladder. Though the state was ultimately assimilated into Guinea-proper, the Fulani have remained the country’s most ardent Muslim population, ahead of the Mandinka subgroup of the Mandé people. The non-Muslim Soso people were gradually pushed out of the Fouta Djallon due to Fulani oppression. The majority migrated to coastal parts of Lower Guinea between the 17th and 20thcenturies; an area comprised of the prefectures Boke, Boffa, Conakry, Coyah, Dubreka, Fria, Forecariah, Kindia, and Telimele. Roman Catholic missionaries made inroads into Soso communities following their (the Soso’s) establishment of trade ties with Europe. Many Guinean children, particularly in the Fouta Djallon region attend Islamic schools, which combine the government’s secular curriculum with Quranic studies. More devout Muslims student may enroll at a madrassah, or mosque school, which typically forego French for Arabic as the language of instruction, and adhere exclusively to a religious studies curriculum. Though Guinea’s constitution guarantees religious freedom, Islam enjoys demographic, social, and cultural dominance. In the past some Guineans have claimed the government favors Muslims in its policies, citing the cancellation of classes at publicly funded universities in accommodation of Friday prayers. Despite these and other reports of social discrimination against non-Muslims, religious freedoms are generally respected in the country.