1.  Aboutreika Inspires Congolese to Islam
[ By  Mustafa El-Ga'fary, IslamOnline(IOL )Correspondent ]By Mustafa El-Ga'fary, IOL Corresponden

TRIPOLI — Egypt's soccer legend Mohamed Aboutreika, also admired for his piety and good manners, has never imagined that his match against Congo in the 2010 World Cup qualifiers would draw many Congolese to the fold of Islam.

"Many Congolese were curious to know why Aboutreika prostrated after he scored," Sheikh Abdulla Mingala Lwaba, the mufti of Congo, told IslamOnline.net in an exclusive interview.

Aboutreika, nominated for the CAF African Footballer of the Year award in 2006 and running for the title this year, scored the winner goal in Egypt's clash with Congo in the World Cup qualifier last September.

2.  DRC: Snippet on Islam and Muslims
[ By International Islamic News Agency(IINA) ]Kinshasa, Sha’aban 3, 1422/Oct 19, 2001 (IINA) - Muslims in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) make up 15 million of the country’s 60 million population, but they are largely illiterate and unemployed, according to Haj Modelo Maliba, chairman of the National Islamic Council. He said the reason for that is that most of them did not go to school, since there were Islamic schools at the time of the Belgian colonial rule over the country. The only schools that existed then were Christian one.

Maliba said that the result is that now over 90 percent of government jobs are in the hands of Christians, the majority of whom still remain illiterate.

He appealed to Islamic organizations and countries to do everything possible to help their Muslim brethren in the DRC, particularly in the field of providing scholarships for students and training courses within or outside the country. 

3.  Islam in the Republic of the Congo
[ By WIKIPEDIA ]
Islam spread to the Republic of the Congo from North Africa in the mid-19th century. [1] There is a growing Muslim community in the country, estimated at 2 percent of the population. In 2005 a large new mosque was constructed in Brazzaville. Most workers in the urban centers were immigrants from West Africa and Lebanon, with some also from North Africa. The West African immigrants arrived mostly from Mali, Benin, Togo, Mauritania, and Senegal. The Lebanese were primarily Sunni Muslims. There was also a large Chadian Muslim population.

Muslim holy days are not nationally observed; however, they are respected. Employers grant leave for those who wish to observe holy days not on the national calendar.

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