Religion in Libya
religion in the country
Islam is the dominant religion in Libya.
Other than the vast majority of Sunni Muslims, there are also small Christian communities, composed exclusively of immigrants. Coptic Orthodox Christianity, which is the Christian Church of Egypt, is the largest and most historical Christian denomination in Libya.
In 2016, there were over 60,000 Egyptian Copts in Libya, as they comprise over 1% of the population alone. There were an estimated 40,000 Roman Catholics in Libya who are served by two Bishops, one in Tripoli (serving the Italian community) and one in Benghazi (serving the Maltese community). There was also a small Anglican community, made up mostly of African immigrant workers in Tripoli; it is part of the Anglican Diocese of Egypt.
Libya was until recent times the home of one of the oldest Jewish communities in the world, dating back to at least 300 BC. A series of pogroms beginning in November 1945 lasted for almost three years, drastically reducing Libya's Jewish population.
Religious freedom
Religious liberties
The Libyan constitution states that Islam is the state religion and that Sharia is the primary source of legislation. However, under sharia law, freedom of religion is guaranteed to Christians and Jews (including the right to govern familial matters such as divorce and inheritance) and discrimination on the basis of religion is prohibited. Religious minorities other than Christians and Jews are not granted the same religious freedom under Libyan law.
“Religion in Libya” enters the record as religion in the country. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Religion, Libya and religion can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated May 28, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q2983204. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 2016 and 1945.
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This entry incorporates text from “Religion in Libya” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.