
About 85,000,000 Nigerians are Muslims. That is about half of the people of Nigeria. Most of the other people are Christian. Muslims in Nigeria are mostly Sunni in the Maliki school, which is also the Sharia law in the government. However, there is a important Shia minority, mostly in Sokoto State (see Shia in Nigeria). A smaller number of people follow the Ahmadiyya Islam, a reformatory sect that started in India in the 19th century. Pew Forum on religious diversity says that 12% are Shia Muslims while 3% are Ahmadi Muslims.