Islam penetrated in Chad 10 centuries ago; Christianity has only been there 65 years. The tribes of North Chad are entirely Muslim. The tribes of South Chad are not. They welcomed the Christian missionaries. Perhaps today Muslims cover 50% of the population; baptized Catholics 7 or 8%; protestants 7 or 8%; others follow traditional African religion but turn more and more towards the Christian faith. Religious differences tend in some way to strengthen tribal differences: one belongs to a certain religion because one belongs to a certain tribe. Chad appears to double: a Muslim Chad of the North confronted with a Christian Chad of the South.

Islam of Chad is an Arab speaking Islam: Chad Arabic tends to be the local language in all the regions of the Country. One can meet several types of Muslims in Chad. there are: 1) "traditional" Muslims, essentially of the Tidjane confraternity. They are tolerant and belong to a majority; 2) Muslims educated in French and Arabic: they belong to the ruling class. They are also tolerant; 3) Muslims who come from neighbouring Sudan and Arab Countries: they have had further education compared to the Tidjanese elite. They promote a real re-islamization at the base. Very often they ignored the French language. They have different trends and sometimes confront themselves violently. Some of them are militant Islamics. It is they who speak and act; it is they who have money. They are bringing a new project for society which could be characterized as follows: replacing the French language by the Arab language, rejecting laity of the Republic, adopting the Sharia.

In this confrontation one can experience among the people of Chad a very strong movement of conversion towards Christianity. Conversion for many seems to give them extra-dignity, identity and cohesion. These motivations must be purified for us. The catechumenate of four years makes this possible.

Many Catholics are worried and disturbed. They think of what is happening in Sudan, our neighbour. Some dream of seeing the Church adopt a hard sectarian attitude towards the image they think they see in the Muslims. In such a difficult context, we hope that all we do in the field of education, health, development and aid must be continued for the citizens of the Country regardless of their religion. And even more, wherever possible, we do it together with the Muslims: its our way of pursuing the "dialogue of life". We also hope that formation courses are multiplied on the knowledge of Islam so that Christians may abandon their prejudices, overcome their inferiority complex, discover the world of the Christian faith and be proud of this. We also wish that the Basic Ecclesial Communities are the most appropriate answer for the difficulties we can forecast for the future.

Original text in French

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