Burkina Faso

Islam, Christianity, and traditional ancestral religion make up the religious landscape of Burkina Faso, a small country on the Atlantic coast of North Africa. Muslims represent some 50% of the population, with the majority belonging to the Sunnī branch. Many Sunnī Muslims adhere to the Tijaniyah Sufi or Salafi traditions. A smaller number of Muslims identify with the Shi'a branch. Christians constitute about 20% of the population, with 15% Catholics and 5% Protestants. About 30% Burkinabe openly practice the traditional ancestral religion.

Small neighborhoods in the cities build small mosques as their daily worship places. However, worshippers in such places join larger mosques on Friday for the Big Prayer. Many people combine traditionalist funerary rites and Catholic ones, though often secretly. Because traditionalist practices are mostly ...