N’djamena, Rabi Thani 3/June 24 (IINA) - Dr. Haqqar Muhammad Ahmed, President of the Islamic Daawa and Relief Organization in Chad has said that Muslims constitute 85 percent of Chad’s population, more so after the Daawa activities that had taken place in the south of the country, and resulted in 37 bishops declaring their choice of Islam, followed by 800,000 others following in their footsteps. He said Christians make up five percent of the population, the rest being animists, most of them living in the south of the country, according to the 1962 statistics.

Dr. Haqqar said that there are a number of Islamic organizations that are active in his country, such as the organization that he heads, the Islamic Daawa and Relief Organization, and the Federation of Muslim Youth of Chad, the Ansar Muhammadiya Sunna Society, the Association of Youth Solidarity and several others. He said this in addition to the international Islamic organizations that are active in the country, such as the Jeddah-based International Islamic Relief Organization (IIRO), the Riyadh-based World Assembly of Muslim Youth (WAMY), the Direct Aid Society (Africa Muslim Committee), and others.

Dr. Haqqar said the main requirements for Daawa work in Chad is the sponsorship of Daawa activists in the outlying areas outside the capital, and the sponsorship of religious teachers and heads of Islamic schools, particularly those in the remote areas of the country.

He said other need is for new Muslims to be granted opportunities to pursue further studies in the Arab world, building mosques, sinking wells, building medical clinics and supplying them with medicines, and printing Islamic books in the French language.

Dr. Haqqar said Islam came to Chad in 666 AD, via Yemen, and those who brought it established an Islamic State that became known as the Kanim Islamic Kingdom, which ruled Chad for 800 until colonialism came in 1902.

He said there are now in Chad 286 Christian missionary organizations, of which 107 are local, in addition to the various entities that are affiliated to the Vatican, all of them busy trying to Christianize the Muslims, in compliance with the resolution of the 1993 Rome Congress.

HI/OB/IINA