Islam in Jordan: history and Muslim population data

History of Islam in Jordan

The Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan has an area of 89,342 sq km and itsmap is presented in Figure 2.3.3. It was taken by the British from theOttomans in 1920, gained its independence from the UK in 1946, andchanged its name from Transjordan in 1950.

Prophet Mohammed (PBUH) has sent his companion Harith bnuUmair al Azdi to the leader of Bosra (currently ruins south of Syria nearthe borders with Jordan) as an envoy inviting him and his people toIslam. So, the governor of al-Balqa (now in Jordan) Shurahbil bnu Amral-Ghassani, who was representative of the Caesar in this region,captured him and killed him in the city of Mota (in south Jordan) beforereaching his destination. This was the only messenger of the Prophet thatwas killed and was interpreted as a declaration of war.

The Prophet summoned 3,000 of his companions to answer theGhassanids action. They in turn met the Muslim troops by 200,000soldiers collected from neighboring regions, half of which was suppliedby Heraclius, the Byzantine leader. The troops met in the city of Mota in8H or 629AD, and the Battle of Mota started. Muslims lost a dozenpeople including three consecutive leaders of the Muslim troops, thenKhalid bnul Walid took over and managed to retreat back to Medina.The casualties in the other side were in the thousands.

The second attempt was the Troops of Usama that the Prophetprepared and consisted of 700 of his companions led by Usama bnu Zaidbnu Haritha. The Prophet died before the troops continue their journeyto now Jordan and Palestine (the lands of Balqa and Daroom). When thefirst Caliph took over, he went with the wish of the Prophet, and thetroops went and came back in 11H, or 632AD. The conquest of Jordanwas completed by the decisive battle of Yarmook in north Jordan by theSyrian border. The Muslim troops were led by the Prophet’s companionKhalid bnul Walid al-Makhzomi in 13H or 634AD. During this battle,Caliph Abu Bakr passed away and Caliph Omar took over.

According to the 1914 Ottoman census, the Muslim population in thisarea was 0.12 million or 78.4% of the total population. Estimates of the Muslim population increased from 0.23 million or 88.5% in 1929, to 0.41million or 91.1% in 1949. The first post-independence census wasconducted in 1961. The census data indicate that the Muslim populationincreased from 1.6 million or 93.6% in 1961, to 2.0 million or 95.5% in1979.

According to Demographic Health Survey (DHS), the percentage ofMuslims was 97.10% in 1997. Later World Values Survey (WVS) put thepercentage at 95.3% in 2001, then 97.7% in 2007, then 96.92% in 2014 and98.3% in 2018. Thus, assuming that the percentage of Muslims remains at99%; then the Muslim population will increase to fourteen million by2050 and 17 million by 2100.

Historical Muslim population dataset for Jordan

The figures below are from the CoMPS historical dataset. Population values are expressed in thousands; 2100 is a modelled projection, not a present-day count.

For the full time series and visualisation, use the interactive map above.