Between 1845 and 1917, around 37,000 indentured laborers arrived in Jamaica from India to work the island's plantations after the end of slavery, and roughly 16 percent of them were Muslim. Their descendants would go on to build some of Jamaica's oldest mosques: Muhammad Khan constructed Masjid Ar-Rahman in Spanish Town in 1957, and Muhammad Golaub built Masjid Hussein in Westmoreland, both still standing generations later as anchors of the communities that grew around them.
The Islamic Council of Jamaica, founded in Kingston in 1981, now coordinates a small but geographically spread-out network of mosques — in Mandeville, Negril, Ocho Rios and Old Harbour, where the Ahmadiyya community maintains the Mahdi Mosque. The 2011 census counted just 1,513 Muslims nationwide, though community organizations put the real figure closer to 5,000, still comfortably under 1% of Jamaica's population.
Jamaica's Islamic Council developed its calendar of religious timings in dialogue with North American Muslim organizations, making the Islamic Society of North America's angles the natural standard here, and at Kingston's latitude of roughly 18°N they produce a Fajr twilight that stays clearly separated from sunrise across the whole year.
Through indentured Indian laborers who arrived between 1845 and 1917 to work on plantations after slavery ended — roughly 16 percent of the 37,000 who came were Muslim, and their descendants later built the island's first mosques.
The 2011 census recorded 1,513 Muslims nationwide, though Islamic community organizations estimate the true figure at closer to 5,000 — either way, still under 1% of the island's population.
Masjid Ar-Rahman in Spanish Town, built in 1957 by Muhammad Khan, and Masjid Hussein in Westmoreland, built by Muhammad Golaub, are among the earliest mosques founded by descendants of the island's Indian Muslim indentured laborers.
Yes — the Ahmadiyya community maintains the Mahdi Mosque in Old Harbour, one of several smaller congregations spread across the island alongside the larger Sunni communities coordinated by the Islamic Council of Jamaica.