page_title: Religion in Macau
section_title: Islam
hierarchical_section_title: Religion in Macau / Other religions / Islam
caption_attribution_description: English: Macau Mosque, Ramal Dos Moros, Our Lady of Fatima Parish, Macau, China 中文: 中国澳門伊斯蘭清真寺 Português: Mesquita de Macau
context_page_description: Religion in Macau is represented predominantly by Chinese folk religions and Buddhism. During the period in which the city was under Portuguese rule the Catholic Church became one of the dominant faiths, but nowadays it has greatly declined.
  The Government Information Bureau reports that nearly 80% of the population practices Buddhism. According to the 1991 census, the latest to collect religious data, 16.8% of the people of Macau identified as Buddhists, 6.7% as Catholics, and 61% followed other religions or none of them. According to another survey released in 1999, 49% of the population followed folk worship, 11% were Buddhists, and only 3% Christians. Meanwhile, more than two-thirds of the population went to temples occasionally. Another survey conducted between 2005, 2007 and 2009 has found that 30% of the population follows folk faiths, 10% are adherents of Buddhism or Taoism, 5% are Christians, and the remaining part do not declare religious adherence.
  The Pew Research Center has reported the following statistics for the year 2011: 58.9% folk religions, 17.3% Buddhism, 15.4% non religious, 7.2% Christianity, 0.2% Islam and 1% other beliefs.
context_section_description: Islam has been present in Macau since before the Ming Dynasty.  Although the exact period and manner of its introduction is disputed, it is traditionally held that it was brought to the area by Arab and Persian traders.  During World War II, a large number of ethnic Hui Muslims fled to Macau to escape the devastation in the rest of the country.
  In 2007, Macau had one mosque and Muslim cemetery, the Macau Mosque and Cemetery, to serve the city's more than four hundred Muslims that associate under the name of "The Macau Islamic Society". This mosque was under renovation in the late months of 2007 and planned to double in size in order to provide a more modern mosque in the heart of Macau. Both Muslims and Roman Catholics sometimes choose to name one of their children Fatima, Omar or Soraya.
caption: Macau Mosque
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