The Gambia is one of the most densely Muslim countries in West Africa, close to 96 per cent Sunni with a small Ahmadi community, set against a Christian minority of roughly four per cent who are mostly Roman Catholic, the two communities sharing family ties across religious lines closely enough that intermarriage and mixed households are unremarkable. The constitution protects freedom of religious choice so long as it does not infringe the rights of others or the national interest, and it explicitly bars the establishment of a state religion and the formation of political parties organized around religious affiliation, a secular guarantee the country has tested directly: in December 2015 President Yahya Jammeh declared the Gambia an Islamic republic by decree, and the declaration was formally reversed after Jammeh's 2017 removal from office, restoring the secular constitutional order intact. The Supreme Islamic Council and the Gambia Christian Council maintain a standing interfaith relationship that both government officials and outside diplomats have leaned on directly to defuse local tensions, most visibly during a period of friction between Muslim and Christian residents in the Bakau and Tallinding areas.
Facts
Law and State
Establishment StatusDeclared Not Established 1 State Funding MechanismSourced to the subject's own accountThe government provides substantial funding to the Supreme Islamic Council, the independent body that advises the government on religious issues, although the government is not represented on the council itself. 3 Apostasy or Blasphemy LawThe criminal code outlaws insult to religion, disturbing religious assemblies, and uttering words with intent to wound religious feelings, including destroying, damaging or defiling a place of worship or a sacred object with intent to insult a religion. Conviction carries a fine, imprisonment of up to two years, or both. The law is rarely invoked and has produced no high-profile prosecution in recent years. 1 Registration or Recognition RegimeSourced to the subject's own accountThe government does not require religious groups as such to register, though faith-based nongovernmental organizations must meet the same registration and licensing requirements as other NGOs. 3 Status
Legal StatusThe constitution protects freedom of religious choice so long as it does not infringe the rights of others or the national interest, bars the establishment of a state religion, and prohibits political parties organized around religious affiliation; President Yahya Jammeh declared the Gambia an Islamic republic by decree in December 2015, a declaration formally reversed after his removal from office in 2017, restoring the secular constitutional order. 1 Government type (class) Demographics
Religious CompositionAbout 96 per cent Muslim, mostly Sunni with a small Ahmadi community, and about 4 per cent Christian, mostly Roman Catholic (US Department of State, International Religious Freedom Report). 1 Government
Government Type Sovereignty StatusSovereign UN member state 2 Established Year Classification
State Funding of ReligionState Neutrality Among Religions 4 Location
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Religion and History in the Gambia
This article records tradition as it has been passed down and reported. Its sources are not yet part of the atlas's verified catalogue.
The Gambia is one of the most densely Muslim countries in West Africa, close to 96 per cent Sunni with a small Ahmadi community, set against a Christian minority of roughly four per cent who are mostly Roman Catholic. The two communities share family ties across religious lines closely enough that intermarriage and mixed households are unremarkable, a closeness that has helped keep interfaith relations comparatively calm in a country whose religious demographics might otherwise suggest more friction than exists in practice.
The Supreme Islamic Council and the Gambia Christian Council maintain a standing interfaith relationship that both government officials and outside diplomats have leaned on directly to defuse local tensions, most visibly during a period of friction between Muslim and Christian residents in the Bakau and Tallinding areas. That institutionalized cooperation between the country's two main religious bodies gives the Gambia a model of interfaith coordination that goes beyond the ordinary constitutional guarantee of religious freedom into active, standing dialogue.
The Gambia's Reversed Islamic Republic Declaration
This article records tradition as it has been passed down and reported. Its sources are not yet part of the atlas's verified catalogue.
The Gambia's constitution protects freedom of religious choice so long as it does not infringe the rights of others or the national interest, and it explicitly bars the establishment of a state religion and the formation of political parties organized around religious affiliation. That secular guarantee was tested directly in December 2015, when President Yahya Jammeh declared the Gambia an Islamic republic by decree, overriding the constitutional bar on establishment by executive action rather than through any amendment process.
The declaration was formally reversed after Jammeh's 2017 removal from office, restoring the secular constitutional order intact rather than leaving Jammeh's decree as a lasting change to the country's legal architecture. The episode stands as a clear case of the gap between a constitution's text and a government's practice: the bar on establishing a state religion held on paper throughout Jammeh's declaration, and it was the political transition, not any court ruling, that ultimately restored it in fact.
Gambia
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Connections
Ancient and Historical Regions
Source United Nations Statistics Division: UN M49 Standard country or area codes for statistical use: geographic regions
Associated With
This source names Gambia directly: "of the Crime of Genocide (The Gambia v."
Source Application of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (The Gambia v. Myanmar), Order on provisional measuresInternational Court of Justice
Sources
1. International Religious Freedom Report
United States Department of State, Office of International Religious Freedom, US Department of State, 2023View the Source 2. The World Factbook (Central Intelligence Agency)
Central Intelligence Agency, Central Intelligence AgencyGovernment, government type: GambiaView the Source 3. Freedom of Religion in Africa by Country (Wikipedia)
The Gambia section, NGO registration sentence, Freedom of religion in Africa by country
The government does not require religious groups to register. Faith-based nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) must meet the same registration and licensing requirements as other NGOs.
The Gambia section, Supreme Islamic Council funding sentence, Freedom of religion in Africa by country
Although not represented on the council, the government provides the council with substantial funding.
View the Source4. The Oxford English Dictionary, 3rd edition
Oxford University Press, Oxford University Press- demonym / adjectival form
Entity description, state-funding
it explicitly bars the establishment of a state religion and the formation of political parties organized around religious affiliation
View the Source United Nations Statistics Division: UN M49 Standard country or area codes for statistical use: geographic regions
United Nations Statistics DivisionAncient and Historical Regions: West Africa, Geographic regions table, Western AfricaQuote, Ancient and Historical Regions: West Africa, Geographic regions table, Western Africa
Western Africa 011 Benin 204 BEN LDC Burkina Faso 854 BFA LDC LLDC Cabo Verde 132 CPV SIDS Côte d’Ivoire 384 CIV Gambia 270 GMB LDC Ghana 288 GHA Guinea 324 GIN LDC Guinea-Bissau 624 GNB LDC SIDS Liberia 430 LBR LDC Mali 466 MLI LDC LLDC Mauritania 478 MRT LDC Niger 562 NER LDC LLDC Nigeria 566 NGA Saint Helena 654 SHN Senegal 686 SEN LDC Sierra Leone 694 SLE LDC Togo 768 TGO LDC
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