False claims that Angola has become the first African Country to ban Islam and has been demolishing mosques illegally built across the country have been surfacing on social media since almost a decade.
Recently also, multiple posts claiming that Angola banned Islam and is destroying mosques are being circulated on social media.
You can see some of the social media claims below:
One of the facebook posts mentions, “Angola became the first African country to outlaw Islam. More than 60 mosques have already been demolished for being built without permission. Who knew Africa would be ahead of the world in this regard!”
However, the Fact Crescendo’s findings show that the social media claims of Angola banning Islam are false and an old image of a destroyed mosque taken from Gaza in 2009 has been shared along with the false claims.
Fact Check
The reports and claims that African country Angola has banned Islam and is destroying mosques first appeared a decade ago in 2013. One of the media reports had quoted then Culture minister Rosa Cruz E Silva saying that Islam was “contrary to the customs of Angolan culture” and announcing the closure of mosques “until further notice”. Soon the Angolan officials denied such reports that African nation had banned Islam and begun demolishing mosques.
Morever, Aljazeera published an article on 27 November 2013 citing that Angolan government denied it has banned Islam. Further the article cited National Institute for Religious Affairs that “There is no war in Angola against Islam or any other religion.”
Further, a BBC News article published on 18 October 2016 also debunked the claims of Islam being banned in Angola.
Another news article published in January 2019 mentioned that Angola’s Musloim long to be legally recognised as Since 2004, the law has determined that for a religion to be recognized by the state, it must have more than 100,000 members and a presence in over two-thirds of the nation’s territory.
A 2022 Report on International Religious Freedom: Angola published by the US department of State mentions that The constitution defines the state as secular, prohibits religious discrimination, and provides for freedom of conscience, religion, and worship. The constitution requires the state to protect churches and religious groups as long as they comply with the law.
State.gov/reports Archived Link
We further applied Google reverse image search on the image of the destroyed mosque being shared by social media users along with the claims. The image was not taken in Angola. The image showing a destroyed mosque was published by a website named Wikimedia Commons and according to the caption, it shows the wreckage of a refugee shelter, school and a mosque that were destroyed in the Rafah area of Gaza strip in 2009.
Another Website Getty Images also published same image from different angle. The captions sways that the image shows “the rubble of the al-Fadilah mosque after it was destroyed by an Israeli air strike in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, on Sunday, Jan. 11, 2009.”
Conclusion
From the above investigation, it is clear that the social media claims that Angola has become the first country to ban Islam are false and an old image of a destroyed Mosque taken in Gaza in 2009 has been shared with false claims. Islam is not banned, and there is no destruction of mosques in Angola.
