Editing Niger (section)

=== Religion ===
{{Main|Religion in Niger}}
{{bar box
|title=Religion in Niger (2001 Census)<ref name="census"/>
|titlebar=#ddd
|left1=religion
|right1=percent
|float=right
|bars=
{{bar percent|Islam|darkgreen|99.3}}
{{bar percent|Christianity|purple|0.3}}
{{bar percent|Animism|blue|0.2}}
{{bar percent|Irreligious|black|0.1}}
}}
Niger is a [[secular country]] and [[separation of state and religion]] is guaranteed by Articles 3 and 175 of the 2010 Constitution, which dictate that future amendments or revisions may not modify the secular nature of the republic of Niger. [[Religious freedom]] is protected by Article 30 of the same constitution. [[Islam]], widespread in the region since the 10th century, has greatly shaped the culture and mores of the people of Niger. Islam is the most dominant religion, practiced by 99.3% of the population according to the 2012 census.<ref name="census">{{cite web | url = http://www.stat-niger.org/statistique/file/RGPH2012/ETAT_STRUCTURE_POPULATION.pdf | title = Recensement général de la population et de l'habitat 2012 | last = Institut national de la statistique | date = November 2015 | access-date = 12 July 2018 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20180713042241/http://www.stat-niger.org/statistique/file/RGPH2012/ETAT_STRUCTURE_POPULATION.pdf | archive-date = 13 July 2018 | url-status = live}}</ref>

The other two main religions of Niger are [[Christianity]], practiced by 0.3% of the population, and Animism ([[African traditional religion|traditional indigenous religious beliefs]]), practiced by 0.2% of the population.<ref name="census"/> Christianity was established earlier in the country by missionaries during the French colonial years. Other urban Christian [[expatriate]] communities from Europe and West Africa are also present. [[Religious persecution]] has flared in recent years in Niger; Christian charity Open Doors now lists Niger as the 37th-most difficult country in which to be a Christian on their [[World Watch List]], 'reflecting how pressure is increasing on Christians in this [...] nation.'<ref>{{Cite web |title=Niger is number 33 on the World Watch List |url=https://www.opendoorsuk.org/persecution/world-watch-list/niger/ |access-date=2022-06-06 |website=opendoorsuk.org |language=en |archive-date=6 June 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220606201822/https://www.opendoorsuk.org/persecution/world-watch-list/niger/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Relations between Muslims and Christians have generally been cordial, according to the respective representatives of Christian and Muslim groups in Niger.<ref name=":2">{{Cite web |date=22 June 2022 |title=2021 Report on International Religious Freedom: Niger |url=https://www.state.gov/reports/2021-report-on-international-religious-freedom/niger/ |access-date=2022-09-18 |website=United States Department of State |language=en-US |archive-date=21 September 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220921012612/https://www.state.gov/reports/2021-report-on-international-religious-freedom/niger/ |url-status=live }}</ref>
[[File:Niger, Kiota (06), people leaving mosque after prayers.jpg|thumb|Worshipers leaving the grand mosque of [[Kiota]] after [[Friday prayer]]s]]
The numbers of Animist practitioners are a point of contention. As recently as the late 19th century, much of the south center of the nation was unreached by Islam, and the conversion of some rural areas has been only partial. There are still areas where animist based festivals and traditions (such as the [[Bori (religion)|Bori religion]]) are practiced by [[syncretic]] Muslim communities (in some Hausa areas as well as among some [[Toubou]] and [[Wodaabe]] pastoralists), as opposed to several small communities who maintain their pre-Islamic religion. These include the Hausa-speaking [[Maouri people|Maouri]] (or ''Azna'', the Hausa word for "pagan") community in [[Dogondoutci]] in the south-south-west and the [[Kanuri language|Kanuri]]-speaking Manga near [[Zinder]], both of whom practice variations of the pre-Islamic Hausa [[Maguzawa]] religion. There are also some tiny Boudouma and Songhay animist communities in the south-west.<ref name=Decalo79/> Over the past decade, syncretic practices have become less common among Muslim Nigerien communities.<ref name=":2"/>

==== Islam ====
{{Main|Islam in Niger}}
The majority of Muslims in Niger are [[Sunni]], 7% are [[Shi'a]], 5% are [[Ahmadiyya]] and 20% [[non-denominational]].<ref name="pew">{{cite web |url=http://www.pewforum.org/uploadedFiles/Topics/Religious_Affiliation/Muslim/the-worlds-muslims-full-report.pdf |title=The World's Muslims: Unity and Diversity |access-date=2 June 2014 |date=9 August 2012 |publisher=Pew Forum on Religious & Public life |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121024125551/http://www.pewforum.org/uploadedFiles/Topics/Religious_Affiliation/Muslim/the-worlds-muslims-full-report.pdf |archive-date=24 October 2012 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref name=report>[https://2001-2009.state.gov/g/drl/rls/irf/2007/90113.htm International Religious Freedom Report 2007: Niger] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191216213927/https://2001-2009.state.gov/g/drl/rls/irf/2007/90113.htm |date=16 December 2019 }}. United States [[Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor]] (14 September 2007). ''This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the [[public domain]].''</ref> Islam was spread into what is now Niger beginning in the 15th century, by both the expansion of the [[Songhai Empire]] in the west, and the influence of the [[Trans-Saharan trade]] traveling from the [[Maghreb]] and [[Egypt]]. [[Tuareg people|Tuareg]] expansion from the north, culminating in their seizure of the far eastern oases from the [[Bornu Empire|Kanem–Bornu Empire]] in the 17th centuries, spread distinctively [[Berber mythology|Berber]] practices.{{citation needed|date=July 2023}}

[[File:Niger, Filingué (25), street scene with mosque.jpg|thumb|Small mosque in [[Filingue|Filingué]] ]]
Both [[Zarma people|Zarma]] and [[Hausa people|Hausa]] areas were greatly influenced by the 18th- and 19th-century [[Fula jihads|Fula-led]] [[Sufi]] brotherhoods, most notably the [[Sokoto Caliphate]] (in today's Nigeria). Modern Muslim practice in Niger is often tied to the [[Tijaniya]] [[Sufism|Sufi]] [[Tariqah|brotherhoods]], although there are small minority groups tied to [[Hammallism]] and [[Nyassist]] Sufi orders in the west, and the [[Sanusiya]] in the far north-east.<ref name=Decalo79>Decalo, James. ''Historical Dictionary of Niger''. Scarecrow Press, Metuchen, New Jersey&nbsp;– London, 1979. {{ISBN|0-8108-1229-0}}. pp. 156–7, 193–4.</ref>

A small center of followers of [[Salafi]] movement within Sunni Islam have appeared in the last thirty years, in the capital and in [[Maradi, Niger|Maradi]].<ref>Decalo (1997) p. 261–2, 158, 230.</ref> These small groups, linked to similar groups in [[Jos]], Nigeria, came to public prominence in the 1990s during a series of religious riots.<ref>Ben Amara, Ramzi. [http://www.sharia-in-africa.net/pages/staff/amara.php "The Development of the Izala Movement in Nigeria: Its Split, Relationship to Sufis and Perception of Sharia Implementation"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161228012116/http://www.sharia-in-africa.net/pages/staff/amara.php |date=28 December 2016 }}. Research Summary (n.d.)</ref><ref>[http://www.conflict-prevention.net/page.php?id=40&formid=73&action=show&surveyid=1 Summary for Shedrack Best's ''Nigeria, The Islamist Challenge, the Nigerian 'Shiite' Movement'', 1999] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090113202500/http://www.conflict-prevention.net/page.php?id=40&formid=73&action=show&surveyid=1 |date=13 January 2009 }}; conflict-prevention.net.</ref>

Despite this, Niger maintains a tradition as a [[secular state]], protected by law.<ref>[https://2001-2009.state.gov/g/drl/rls/irf/2001/5684.htm International Religious Freedom Report 2001: Niger] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200804183525/https://2001-2009.state.gov/g/drl/rls/irf/2001/5684.htm |date=4 August 2020 }}. United States [[Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor]], 26 October 2001.</ref> Interfaith relations are deemed very good, and the forms of Islam traditionally practiced in most of the country are marked by tolerance of other faiths and lack of restrictions on personal freedom.<ref>t'Sas, Vincent. [http://www.iol.ie/~afifi/BICNews/Islam/islam19.htm "Islam is thriving in impoverished Niger"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161228011857/http://www.iol.ie/~afifi/BICNews/Islam/islam19.htm |date=28 December 2016 }}, Reuters, 6 December 1997.</ref> Alcohol, such as the locally produced Bière Niger, is sold openly in most of the country.