The Ahmadiyya Muslim Community is the second-largest sect of Islam in Sierra Leone, behind only Sunni Islam. The earliest history of the Community in Sierra Leone dates back to the early period of the Second Caliphate, when at least six people are said to have conveyed their adherence to the faith. The sect attained rapid growth in the country after the 1937 arrival of Nazir Ahmad Ali, the first permanent Ahmadi missionary in Sierra Leone. Recent estimates by Ahmadi community suggest that there are approximately 560,000 Ahmadi Muslims in Sierra Leone, which is about 9% of the country's total population. Sierra Leone has the largest percentage of Ahmadi Muslims by share of total population in the world.
History
Establishment
The earliest history of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community in Sierra Leone can be traced to the year of 1916, during the early period of the Second Caliphate. In that year at least six people are said to have conveyed their adherence to the Ahmadiyya faith, after being influenced by the circulation of Ahmadiyya literature in Sierra Leone from neighbouring West African nations. However, it was not until almost half a decade later, in February 1921, that the first missionary of the Community, Abdur Raheem Nayyar, would set foot on the territory. Nayyar stayed temporarily in the capital Freetown, whilst he was on his route towards Saltpond, in modern-day Ghana, and Lagos, in Nigeria for his missionary activities. At the request of the chief Imam of the city, he gave a lecture at a mosque in Fourah Bay, a town in the east end of Freetown. A year later, in 1922, another missionary of the Community, Fadl-ul-Rahman Hakim paid a short visit to the country. Like Nayyar, Hakim was on his way to Lagos, Nigeria. Nevertheless, there are no recorded conversions from either of the visits.
After an interval of 15 years, Nazir Ahmad Ali arrived in 1937 as a permanent missionary to Sierra Leone. Ali had spent a year at the Gold Coast, modern-day Ghana, after his arrival from India. Upon the year of his arrival, Ali settled in Freetown, and established the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community of Sierra Leone. Before long, he gave a lecture at the Wilberforce Memorial Hall, the principal public meeting place of the city, addressing the Muslim and Christian populations of the country. In this early address, he introduced the Community and the coming of Mirza Ghulam Ahmad as the Imam Mahdi for the Muslims, and the second coming of Jesus for the Christians. At another event, he solely addressed Muslims at the Islamia School adjacent to a Mandinka mosque. Such addresses directed at the Muslim populations often gave rise to hostilities from Muslim communities. Perhaps for his safety, Ali moved into the house of Kande Bure, chief of the Temne people of Freetown, and a Cabinet minister.
However, having been rejected by the majority of Muslim groups in Freetown, Ali decided to move to a coastal town, Mange Bure, in the Port Loko District. Kande Bure himself was born in Mange Bure, where his father was an influential political figure. Having achieved little success in his preaching efforts, Ali moved; this time in the same district to the small port-town of Rokupr. Here Ali had reasonable success, where he managed to establish a small community of Ahmadi Muslims, among them a number of local influential figures. Rokupr was also the site of the first school established by the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community of Sierra Leone.