“Any Muslim would prefer to pray five times at the mosque, in a group, and to break the daily fast in a large community,” said Goma resident Djaffar Al Kantanty.” That wasn’t possible this year.
Centres of worship were closed across Congo under the country’s state of emergency imposed to contain transmission of the coronavirus. Still, Al Haj Hassim Moussa, head of the Haji Wawa mosque in Goma, said some people still came to pray together despite guidelines on social distancing.
![Goma, DRC May 2020. Imam Al Haj Hassim Moussa, head of the Haji Wawa mosque in Goma. [4] 2020. A man reads the Koran in his eyeglasses shop in Goma during Ramadan © Ley Uwera for Fondation Carmignac](https://congoinconversation.fondationcarmignac.com/media/pages/reportages/ramadan-confine-a-goma-ley-uwera/d23b8bf977-1666087202/ramadan-lockdown-goma-ley-uwera-carmignac-4-2000x.jpg)
Less than two per cent of Congo’s population of over 84 million people are Muslim. Islam made its way into eastern Congo during the 18th Century as East African Arab ivory traders travelled inland to hunt elephant tusks. Most Congolese Muslims identify as Sunni (90%) with the rest identifying as Shia.
Nearly 95% of Congolese citizens are Christian, 56% of them Catholics, 16% Pentecostal, 12% Protestant. Local traditional religions, including animist and shamanist beliefs are also common. Roman Catholicism in Congo is largely a product of the colonial era, with Belgium subsidizing missions to establish schools and hospitals throughout the country.
Ley Uwera