Animist Mozambique

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17.8% Muslim

Ancestral worship is much in the mix while mosques multiply across the landscape.

In Cabo Delgado, northern Mozambique, a young man who we’ll call Bakar, was secretly listening to Christian broadcasting. He accepted Christ and began to visit an evangelical church in the city of Pemba. When Bakar’s parents learned about it they harassed the young man and he could not continue going to the church. His parents said that as long as he was under their wings it would not be possible.

Goals of Islam

The influence of Islam is growing rapidly in the country. One of the goals of Islam in Mozambique is to establish a mosque in each major city. This is happening so subtly but surely. In the heart of Maputo, the capital, there are three main mosques in very strategic areas of the city and several mosques in outlying neighbourhoods. The North of Mozambique is strongly influenced by Islam with the Angoche district as one of the pinnacles of their work. (The Koti peoples are strongly Muslim in Angoche.) There is also a strong presence of Muslims in Niassa province - very few evangelical churches have had much success in this province.

Animism expected

According to the Religious Freedom Report, the new census being conducted in 2007 is expected to show that much of the population practice traditional beliefs or animism. The countries leading mosques and Roman Catholic Church leaders say they are trying to eliminate indigenous practices. But in reality, rituals such as travel to ancestors’ graves to say special prayers for rain are common. According to the report, Christians and Muslims consult curandeiros, traditional healers or spiritualists, some of whom themselves claim to be Christian or Muslim, in search of good luck, healing, and solutions to problems.

While Mozambique posted some of the world’s largest economic growth rates in the late 1990s, it has suffered enormous setbacks because of natural disaster, such as the terrible damage caused by severe flooding in the winters of 2000 and 2001.

Pray together in faith for Mozambique

* Our prayer is that Bakar somehow might continue listening to Christian radio for his spiritual nourishment since he is not allowed to go to church. Pray for people like him.

* Pray for the churches in Mozambique to take courage and define strategies to reach our Muslim people. As pointed out above, the majority of Muslims are in the north, but we have Muslims in the South of Mozambique as well - but not much is being done to reach them.

* Pray that the Lord will, through the testimony of his people, present the message that makes them see the need for salvation. AIDS is rampant and life expectancy is just 39.82 years

* In recent years, Islamic primary and secondary schools were established in several cities, many with financing from the African Muslim Agency or from prominent local Muslims. Pray that Christian schools could also be built.

Interesting facts about Mozambique:

* The majority of Mozambique’s farmers are women.

* The Brazilian Universal Church of the Kingdom of God, established in Mozambique in 1993, has continued to make significant inroads.

* The world’s fastest woman over 800 metres is Maria Mutola, from Mozambique.

* Mozambique’s civil war was one of the most brutal conflicts ever waged in Africa. By the time it ended after sixteen years, close to one million people had lost their lives through violence, hunger and disease. Around four million people were forced to flee their homes to different parts of the country. Nearly two million escaped to neighbouring countries. Schools and hospitals were burned out. Industry was left in ruins. Land mines continue to take many lives in Mozambique.

History of Mozambique

Almost five centuries as a Portuguese colony came to a close with independence in 1975. Large-scale emigration by whites, economic dependence on South Africa, a severe drought, and a prolonged civil war hindered the country’s development. The ruling Front for the Liberation of Mozambique (FRELIMO) party formally abandoned Marxism in 1989, and a new constitution the following year provided for multiparty elections and a free market economy.

Economy of Mozambique

At independence in 1975, Mozambique was one of the world’s poorest countries. In 1987, the government embarked on a series of macroeconomic reforms designed to stabilize the economy. Mozambique remains dependent upon foreign assistance for much of its annual budget, and the majority of the population remains below the poverty line. Subsistence agriculture continues to employ the vast majority of the country’s work force. A substantial trade imbalance persists although the opening of the Mozal aluminum smelter, the country’s largest foreign investment project to date, has increased export earnings.

Statistics on Mozambique

Population: 21,284,701 (July 2008 est.) (see note below)

Life expectancy at birth: 41.4 years

Ethnic groups: indigenous tribal groups 99.66% (Makhuwa, Tsonga, Lomwe, Sena, and others), Europeans 0.06%, Euro-Africans 0.2%, Indians 0.08%

Religions: Catholic 23.8%, Muslim 17.8%, Zionist Christian 17.5%, other 17.8%, none 23.1%

Languages: Emakhuwa 26.1%, Xichangana 11.3%, Portuguese 8.8% (official; spoken by 27% of population as a second language), Elomwe 7.6%, Cisena 6.8%, Echuwabo 5.8%, other Mozambican languages 32%, other foreign languages 0.3%, unspecified 1.3%

Literacy: 47.8% — 63.5% male ; 32.7% female

Note: estimates for this country explicitly take into account the effects of excess mortality due to AIDS; this can result in lower life expectancy, higher infant mortality and death rates, lower population and growth rates, and changes in the distribution of population by age and sex than would otherwise be expected; the 1997 Mozambican census reported a population of 16,099,246.