Islam in Sierra Leone Mauvi Sadeeur Rahman. In the early 18th century Fulani and Mande-speaking tribesmen from the Fouta Djallon region of present-day Guinea converted many Temne of northern Sierra Leone to Islam. During the period of British colonization, attempts to spread Christianity were mostly ineffective. Islam continued to spread after independence in 1961; in 1960 the Muslim population was 35 percent and grew to 60 percent by 2000, and then to 71% in 2008. It is difficult for people from Sierra Leone to travel to Mecca for the Hajj, the fifth pillar of Islam, due to the distance between the two places and
Lhasa Zhol Pillar Lhasa Zhol Pillar The graceful stone pillar, the Lhasa Zhöl "rdo-rings" or Lhasa Zhol Pillar, also known as the Doring Chima, stood in the village of Shöl or Zhöl below the Potala Palace, in Lhasa, Tibet, China, dates as far back as circa 764 CE, "or only a little later," and is inscribed with what may be the oldest known example of Tibetan writing. The creation of the Tibetan script is traditionally attributed to Thonmi Sambhota who is said to have been sent to India early in the reign of Songsten Gampo where he devised an alphabet suitable for the