Islam in Yemen

Al-Muhdhar Mosque
Great Mosque of Sanaa
Queen Arwa Mosque in Jibla
Cemetery in Sa'dah

Islam in Yemen dates back to about 630 AD, when it was introduced by Ali who finalized the conquest of it when Muhammad was still alive. It was during this period that the mosques in Janad (near Ta'izz) and the Great Mosque of Sana'a were built. Yemenis are divided into two principal Islamic religious groups: 65% Sunni and 35% Shia.[1][2][3] Others put the numbers of Shias at 30%.[4][5][6] The denominations are as follows: 65% primarily of the Shafi'i and other orders of Sunni Islam. 33% of the Zaidi order of Shia Islam, 2% of the Ja'fari and Tayyibi Ismaili orders of Shia Islam. Yemen is home to the Sulaymani Bohra community, a subdivision of Tayyibi Mustali Ismailism.[7] The Sunnis are predominantly in the south and southeast. The Zaidis are predominantly in the north and northwest whilst the Jafaris are in the main centres of the North such as Sana'a and Ma'rib. There are mixed communities in the larger cities.

According to WIN/Gallup International polls, Yemen has the most religious population among Arab countries and it has one of the most religious populations world-wide.[8]

  1. ^ Yemen Embassy in Canada Archived 2007-01-27 at the Wayback Machine
  2. ^ "Yemen". atlapedia.com. Retrieved 16 November 2015.
  3. ^ "Yemen- Middle East". The World Fact Book. Archived from the original on 9 May 2021.
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference cp was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ Merrick, Jane; Sengupta, Kim (20 September 2009). "Yemen: The land with more guns than people". The Independent. London. Retrieved 21 March 2010.
  6. ^ Sharma, Hriday (30 June 2011). "The Arab Spring: The Initiating Event for a New Arab World Order". E-international Relations. Archived from the original on 29 August 2020. In Yemen, Zaidists, a Shiite offshoot, constitute 30% of the total population
  7. ^ Momen, Moojan (2015-11-05). Shi'i Islam: A Beginner's Guide. Simon and Schuster. ISBN 978-1-78074-788-0.
  8. ^ Smith, Oliver (15 April 2017). "Mapped: The world's most (and least) religious countries". The Telegraph. Retrieved 2020-02-21.