Day Five: "Islam in Algeria: A Religious Perspective; Part 2"

(Image source: "Muslim Women in Algeria". Public Domain. About.com. <http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://z.about.com/d/atheism/1/0/A/f/MuslimWomenAlgeria.jpg&imgrefurl=http://atheism.about.com/od/womeninislam/ig/Women-in-Islam--Buraqa--Chador/Muslim-Women-in-Algeria.htm&usg=__v8W55x7LkCiDKuZAicwlmKIX_nw=&h=500&w=369&sz=47&hl=en&start=5&sig2=NjgtXyzTlz5H-TxX-iN83A&um=1&tbnid=So2bheOwaSNamM:&tbnh=130&tbnw=96&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dislam%2Balgeria%26hl%3Den%26safe%3Doff%26client%3Dsafari%26rls%3Den-us%26sa%3DN%26um%3D1&ei=LaEbSvj3GqW8tAORvYTaCA>).

This post will serve as a continuation of Day Four's post.

Islam plays a large role in Algerian culture. Still today, it remains the most prominent religion practiced in Algeria (and the rest of the Middle East, for that matter).

According to the CIA Factbook, the religious profile is as follows:

• "99% Sunni Muslim (state religion)
• Christian and Jewish, 1%"

(Source: "The World Factbook: Algeria". Central Intelligence Authority. Updated 14 May 2009. <https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/ag.html#People>)

As stated in the post from Day Four, Islam became the national religion upon independence from French control in 1962. Yet Islam had been the religion prior to French control.

The U.S. Library of Congress lays out the historic exegesis of the religion in the following paragraph:

"During the seventh century, Muslim conquerors reached North Africa, and by the beginning of the eighth century the Berbers had been for the most part converted to Islam. Orthodox Sunni Islam, the larger of the two great branches of the faith, is the form practiced by the overwhelming majority of Muslims in Algeria. Shia Islam is not represented apart from a few members of the Ibadi sect, a Shia offshoot."

(Source: "Early History of Islam". The U.S. Library of Congress. <http://countrystudies.us/algeria/63.htm>)

As we can see, Islam came to Algeria in the seventh century by the Berbers (hence the existence of the Berber language in Algeria still today). This clause also notes the deficiency of Shia Islamists in Algeria, the only one's belonging to the Ibadi sect.