Washington, DC — The month-long fast with which Muslims mark Ramadan, the ninth month of the Islamic year, began over the weekend. For the entire month, calculated by the lunar calendar, those observing Ramadan take no food or drink during daylight hours, and the period is one of spiritual contemplation.

A substantial percentage of Muslims around the world are African. The U.S.-based Middle East Policy Council estimates that 20% of the world's one billion Muslims are in sub-Saharan Africa. Add the populations of northern Africa and the total is nearly 33%. Pretoria University's Hussein Solomon calculates that African Muslims number 380 million several times the size of the Islamic population of the Arab Middle East and 38% of the global total.

A sweeping arc of countries across the top third of the continent have 89-100% Muslim populations. They include the north African countries of Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, Tunisia and Western Sahara, as well as Djibouti, Gambia, Guinea, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Senegal and Somalia. Although census figures are inexact in most of Africa, IslamicWeb estimates that Muslims account for over half the populations of as many as 28 African countries, including Nigeria, Africa's most populous nation.