Libya

Independent kingdom (1951) then republic.

☾ The Coming of Islam

The Arab conquest of Barqa and Tripolitania

Muslim armies reached Cyrenaica (Barqa) and Tripolitania around 643, in the decades after the conquest of Egypt; the country's Arab-Islamic character deepened markedly with the westward migration of the Banū Hilāl and Banū Sulaym in the 11th century.

☾ Religious Composition

An overwhelmingly Sunni-Mālikī society

Libyans are overwhelmingly Sunni Muslims, following mainly the Mālikī school; the Sanūsī Sufi order was historically a central religious and political force in Cyrenaica and gave Libya its first post-independence monarchy.

Demographic shares are approximate.

At a glance