Islam in Zanzibar to fight for the secession of Zanzibar from the Union of the United Republic of Tanzania. Islam in Zanzibar Islam is the most prominent religion on the island of Zanzibar. According to the CIA Factbook, more than 99% in the island are Muslim. The vast majority of Muslims in Zanzibar are Sunni of Shafi'i school of jurisprudence with minority Ibadi, Ismaili and Twelver Shia. Islam came to Zanzibar in the 8th century. There is also a presence of Ahmadi Muslims in Zanzibar. According to one source, "Islam in Zanzibar inspired anti-colonialism, political movements and nationalistic struggle for independence." Other Muslim
Sultanate of Zanzibar furthered the country's progress toward abolishing slavery. According to the 16th-century explorer Leo Africanus, the native inhabitants of the Zanzibar (Zanguebar) sultanate were for the most part pagans with curly hair and a black complexion. However, the denizens of the northernmost Zanzibar kingdom of Malindi were Muslims of an almost white complexion, with some pagan black inhabitants among them. Until 1884, the Sultans of Zanzibar controlled a substantial portion of the Swahili Coast, known as Zanj, and trading routes extending further into the continent, as far as Kindu on the Congo River. That year, however, the Society for German Colonization