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Muslims in Eastern Africa - Their Past and Present

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The earliest concrete evidence of Islam and Muslims in eastern Africa is a mosque foundation in Lamu where gold, silver and copper coins dated AD 830 were found during an excavation in 1984. The oldest intact building in eastern Africa is a functioning mosque at Kizimkazi in southern Zanzibar Island dated AD 1007. It appears that Islam was common in the Indian Ocean by AD 1300. When Ibn Batuta of Morocco visited the East African coastlands in 1332, all the way down to the present border between Mozambique and South Africa, most of the coastal settlements were Muslim, and Arabic was the common literary and commercial language spoken all over the Indian Ocean - Batuta worked as a Kadhi, Supreme Muslim Jurist, in the Maldive Islands for one year using Arabic as his working language. Islam thus seems to have arrived quite early to East Africa through traders. It certainly did not spread through conquest or settlement, but remained an urban and coastal phenomenon for quite long. Later it spread to the interior after 1729 when the Portuguise were pushed beyond the Ruvuma River that forms the present Tanzania-Mozambique border. It would be erroneous to consider Islamic practices in eastern Africa as Arabic practices, and associate Islam with Arabs, since Islam did not arabise East Africans; on the contrary, Arab immigrants, Islam and Islamic practices got africanised or swahilised, thereby developing Islam as an indigenous African religion! This is also linguistically evidenced by the fact that Arab immigrants became Swahili speaking, adopted the Swahili dress, food and eating habits and other cultural elments. Islam is therefore not a foreign but rather a local religion on the coast, and along the old trade/caravan routes. It is more of an urban religion also in the interior (as in Tabora, Morogoro, Moshi) and inland ports (Kigoma, Ujiji, Mwanza) of Tanzania and the rest of East Africa.
Nordic Journal of African Studies 3(1): 88–98 (1994)
Muslims in Eastern Africa -
Their Past and Present*
ABDULAZIZ Y. LODHI
Uppsala University, Sweden
1. EARLY HISTORY
The earliest concrete evidence of Islam and Muslims in eastern Africa is a mosque
foundation in Lamu where gold, silver and copper coins dated AD 830 were found
during an excavation in 1984. The oldest intact building in eastern Africa is a
functioning mosque at Kizimkazi in southern Zanzibar Island dated AD 1007. It
appears that Islam was common in the Indian Ocean by AD 1300. When Ibn
Batuta of Morocco visited the East African coastlands in 1332, all the way down
to the present border between Mozambique and South Africa, most of the coastal
settlements were Muslim, and Arabic was the common literary and commercial
language spoken all over the Indian Ocean - Batuta worked as a Kadhi, Supreme
Muslim Jurist, in the Maldive Islands for one year using Arabic as his working
language.
Islam thus seems to have arrived quite early to East Africa through traders. It
certainly did not spread through conquest or settlement, but remained an urban
and coastal phenomenon for quite long. Later it spread to the interior after 1729
when the Portuguise were pushed beyond the Ruvuma River that forms the
present Tanzania-Mozambique border.
It would be erroneous to consider Islamic practices in eastern Africa as Arabic
practices, and associate Islam with Arabs, since Islam did not arabise East
Africans; on the contrary, Arab immigrants, Islam and Islamic practices got
africanised or swahilised, thereby developing Islam as an indigenous African
religion! This is also linguistically evidenced by the fact that Arab immigrants
became Swahili speaking, adopted the Swahili dress, food and eating habits and
other cultural elments.
Islam is therefore not a foreign but rather a local religion on the coast, and
along the old trade/caravan routes. It is more of an urban religion also in the
interior (as in Tabora, Morogoro, Moshi) and inland ports (Kigoma, Ujiji,
Mwanza) of Tanzania and the rest of East Africa.
2. THE SWAHILI PEOPLE AND CULTURE
Swahili culture has a long history going back to pre-Christian times when the
people of the East African coast belonged to the northern Indian Ocean
Muslims in Eastern Africa
civilization and they practised the Zoroastrian religion. The pre-Islamic Persian
New Year, Naw Roz, is even today celebrated in Zanzibar as Nairuzi. Biologically
the Swahili were and are a mixture of peoples from all around the Indian Ocean,
however, mostly of black African Bantu and Cushitic stock. The Swahili culture
was both urban, maritime and agricultural with fishing communities. Later, the
Swahili embraced Islam and became more oriented towards the Middle East and
India. Their material culture also, together with their art, architecture, music,
dress, cuisine etc., continues to resemble more the oriental and oceanic rather than
the continental African. For example, Ibn Batuta describes in detail the custom of
chewing the Indian Paan (betel leaf and betel nut with sweet spices) in East Africa
in the 1330s. Material cultural elements from the northern parts of the Indian
Ocean (in the form the north Indian female dress "kurta" and Indian films, the
long male white dress "kanzu" from the Emirates and Oman in the Gulf etc.),
continue to influence the East African Muslims, and non-muslims to an extent, up
to the present.
3. PRE-COLONIAL PERIOD
By the time of the arrival of the Portuguese (Vasco da Gama) in 1498, Islam was
firmly established all along the coastal belt. Almost all the Swahili ruling families
of the towns, islands and city states had Arab, Persian, Indian, or even Indonesian
blood ties because of their maritime contacts and political connections with the
northern and eastern parts of the Indian Ocean. Muslim or Arab colonisation or
conquest of non-Muslims, as in north and west Africa, did not exist in East Africa.
4. COLONIAL PERIOD
Within a short period after their arrival, the Portuguese brought almost all the
ports in the Indian Ocean under their control, with brutal violence and a very
mobile naval force.
After ousting the Portuguese from Oman, the Omani Arabs were invited in
1652 by the local rulers of East Africa to come and drive the Portuguise out. In
1729, the Portuguise were finally pushed to Mozambique, and the coasts of
Somalia, Kenya and Tanzania came under Omani/Arab influence. Oman
established its direct rule in East Africa begining in 1821, and it was replaced by
European rule in 1890.
During the Omani period, there was further growth and expansion of Islam in
East Africa, especially in the interior following the caravan routes; but in the
Portuguese areas, Islam was limited to the coast. After 1890, Muslim communities
lost political and economic control, but being urban, literate and having
administrative experience, they were employed by the Europeans at all junior
levels. Later their place was taken by the newly converted Christians from
settlements of freed slaves and tribal areas. Muslims thus became increasingly
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Nordic Journal of African Studies
alienated from administration and politics until World War II when political
agitation among Muslims in India and the anti-colonial teachings of Jamal ad-din
Al-Afghani spread to East Africa. (Some of Al-Afghani's treatises were translated
into Swahili in the 1920s by the Mombasa theologist Sheikh Al-Amin Al-Mazrui.)
Later in 1950s, Pakistani and north Indian preachers regularly visited eastern,
central and southern Africa to rejuvenate Islam and redevelop Muslim political
consciousness. This was a reaction to the alienation of Muslim communities by
the European colonial administrations, increased Christian missionary activity,
and improvement and expansion of educational and health facilities in the non-
Muslim or Christian dominated areas. In the Muslim areas, Arabic was removed
as a literary language, and was replaced by English; even the Swahili-Arabic
script was replaced by the Roman script in the 1920s. However, this resulted in
greater expansion and development of the Swahili language and literature.
This was not profound in the predominantly Muslim protectorate areas of the
state of Zanzibar and Mombasa (Kenya coast) where education and health
services were offered by the state and the various (Asian) Muslim and non-
Muslim communities, without racial segregation, and where Muslims and non-
Muslims were given equal status.
5. ISLAMIC DENOMINATIONS AND MUSLIMS IN EASTERN AFRICA
It is Sunni Islam of the Shafii school which is mostly practiced by the Swahili,
Somali and other African Muslims of eastern, central and southern Africa. Sunni
Asians follow mostly the Hanafi school.
A minority of the Muslims belong to the various Shia schools: the Ithna-
asheria, the Aga Khan Ismailia and the Bohra/Wohra, and they are mostly of
Asian origin; they are also the wealthiest of the Muslim communities. There is
documented evidence of Indian Shia settlements along the Kenya coast during the
1400s. (Vasco da Gama was in fact shown the way to India by an Indian Muslim
captain settled in Malindi, Kenya, and who had the Swahili/Indian Ocean title
Maalam/Mwalimu meaning Pilot.)
East Africans of Omani origin, almost all of them Swahili-speaking and
africanised, usually belong to the Ibadhi sekt, whereas those of Yemeni or
Hadhrami origin follow Maliki or Hambali schools of Sunni Islam.
Dozens of Muslim Brotherhoods and Sufi Orders exist in Tanzania and a few
in Kenya, but little is known about their organisation and work. However, they are
not politically or economically involved in any activity. They are rather loosely
organised and deal mostly with theological teaching and discourse in the mosques,
performing religious rites and rituals, and also practise healing and provide
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Muslims in Eastern Africa
therapy to individuals and families sufferring from psychic problems of various
kinds.1
6. CHRISTIAN-MUSLIM RELATIONS IN TANZANIA
Tanzania has the largest number and proportion of Muslims in eastern Africa.
Relations between Christians and Muslims had been very good until recently
when Muslim writers/researchers started claiming that between 50-60% of the
population of the country is Muslim, whereas Christian writers claim that
Muslims cannot be more than a third of the population of the country. (The British
administration in Tanganyika had estimated the proportions of Christians,
Muslims and followers of trational religions to be roughly one third each.) There
has been a lot of controversy over this issue. Similarly, in the other countries in
this region, no reliable figures are available as to the classification or breakdown
of population by religion (race or tribe) since no census has taken into account this
factor. Generally in the case of Tanzania, the population is given as one third
Muslim, one third Christian and one third tribalist i.e. following traditional
religions. However, according to official statements, more than two thirds of all
the government and party positions are held by Christians. (See the various
articles and letters in JIMMA which deal with Tanzania.)
In Tanzania, Muslims are represented, more than in the surrounding countries,
in government, politics and business, but not in proportion to their numbers in the
population, it is claimed by Muslim activists. Politically they have been mobilised
more than the Christians because of their traditional inherent opposition to the
Christian European colonialism; and many dissatisfied voices have been raised
demanding increased educational opportunities for Muslims and recruitment of
more Muslims to administrative and bureaucratic posts. Muslims have expressed
at many occasions that they have been discriminated in favour of Christians who
are claimed to dominate the country. The publicist Professor Walter Bgoya,
former head of Tanzania Publishing House, and now an active private publisher,
admits that "It is a fact that Muslims are generally unfairly treated educationally."
("Det är ett faktum att muslimerna i stort är missgynnade utbildningsmässigt."
Strömberg 1993) The same conclusion was drawn by the researcher Abdalla J.
Saffari at the Centre for Foreign Relations in Daressalaam during the middle of
the 80s. (Personal communication with Saffari during his visit to the Department
of Peace and Conflict Research in Uppsala.) Other grievances expressed by
Muslims are that proportionately fewer Muslim officers were promoted in the
defence forces after the war with Portugal in Mozambique in the 60s and early 70s
while aiding the Frelimo, and also after the war with Iddi Amin in the late 70s and
1 An enlightening paper on this subject was presented by an American social anthropologist at the
International Conference On The History And Culture Of Zanzibar in December 1992 in Zanzibar.
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Nordic Journal of African Studies
early 80s. Muslims claim that an unproportionately large number of Zanzibari
officers and soldiers fought at the fronts during these wars of liberation.
Muslim organisations in Tanzania are tightly controlled under the umbrella of
BAKWATA (Tanzania Muslim Council) which is closely related to the ruling
Revolutionary Party - Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM). A new Muslim organisation
called BALUKTA for the spread of Koranic knowledge has been founded, which
is competing with BAKWATA.
Wealthy Muslim families and associations, mostly of Asian origin, such as the
Karimjee family and the Aga Khan community and Foundation, have donated
enormous funds for building hospitals and schools all over the country. Asian
Muslims have been instrumental in establishing various industries. For example in
August 1966, half a year before the Arusha Declaration which turned Tanzania
into an ideologically socialist country, the Aga Khan Industrial Promotion
Services (IPS) and the Ismaili Holding Companies accounted for investments for
almost $ 5 millions. Christian Tanzanian individuals, families or associations have
not been involved in such activities which on their part have been initiated and
funded by Western missions and international charity organisations, since
Christian Tanzanians historically and traditionally lacked economic structures for
large scale commercial activities and capital accumulation.
7. IMPORTANCE OF THE TANGANYIKA-ZANZIBAR UNION
In the context of Tanzania which is a union of Tanganyika and Zanzibar, the
special religious situation in Zanzibar needs particular attention. The autonomous
state of Zanzibar is almost 98% Muslim and it does exercise certain Islamic
influence in eastern Africa which it has done since the begining of the last
century. All Muslim holidays are celebrated as national holidays in Tanzania, just
as all Christian (international) holidays; but in Zanzibar, the fasting month of
Ramadhan is also officially recognised as a holy month which means that all
restaurants and caffeterias are closed upto late afternoon; smoking, eating and
drinking in the street are taboo, and a heavy fine is charged for being drunk.
However, because of increased tourism and an ever-increasing presence of
Westerners in the past few years, such Muslim practices are not rigorously
enforced.
Zanzibar had joined the Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC), a move
which was vehemently opposed by Christian leaders and writers who claimed that
it was unconstitutional for Zanzibar to do so since Tanzania is a secular state. The
Zanzibar government likened its membership of OIC to the Tanzanian union
government recognising the Vatican State and sending an Ambassador there.
After much hesitation, to avoid a major constitutional crisis, the government of
Zanzibar opted to leave the OIC in August 1993.
Muslim-Christian relations are somewhat strained in Tanzania, and small
groups of fundamentalists on both sides have been involved in skirmishes and
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Muslims in Eastern Africa
violent confrontations which have received much coverage in the media.
Recently, in April 1993, a small group of angry Muslims (described by the Prime
Minister John Malecela as "thick headed idiots") attacked three pork butcheries in
the Kinondoni area of Daressalaam and destroyed them. About 30 individuals
were arrested and are undergoing trial at the time of writing (December 1993).
Kinondoni is a mixed residential area where rearing of pigs and selling of pork
was unheard of according to an unwritten taboo in respect of citizens following
different faiths. Also due to mutual respect, neither were pigs reared nor pork
served in public schools, hospitals, army etc. Today, pigs are reared and they
move around freely in several mixed residential areas, and at least one case has
been reported where a dead pig was found in a mosque in Ubungo Kisiwani area
of Daressalaam in September 1985. Such incidents have brought to the surface the
religious questions in Tanzania.
Recent political developments towards the establishment of a multi-party
system in Tanzania and greater freedom of press and speech has brought to light
the hidden discontent growing among different groups of Tanzanians against the
ruling party Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM), its control over BAKWATA and the
advantage the Union gives to the CCM (which through the Union government
rules the Mainland of Tanzania with the full participation of Zanzibari MPs and
Ministers), while Zanzibar continues to enjoy great autonomy. This has been
interpreted by Reverend Mtikila, a Catholic leader of the Democratic Party (DP),
as a Muslim conspiracy. He is therefore opposing both the CCM, the Union, all
the Muslim organisations, and all Tanzanians of "non-indigenous origin",
including those of Somali origin! Christian Tanzanians also criticize financial aid
from the Arab countries to renovate and build new mosques and clinics in the
country. The debate seems to be more sentimental and prejudiced rather than
scientific since, for example, aid from the Middle East is considered islamization
and arabisation whereas no questions are paused to draw attention to the
widespread Western Christian missionary activities and aid projects. About a
hundred years ago, there were only about a dozen Christian churches in Tanzania.
According to some Muslim sources, today churches outnumber mosques, and
none of the churches have been built by local Tanzanian finance. Ironically,
educational and health facilities started and/or supported by Christian or Muslim
effort are all open to citizens and residents of all religions!
Expression of Muslim discontent in Tanzania may be traced to the 1950s
when during the struggle for Independence, the All Muslim National Union of
Tanganyika (AMNUT) called for religious representation since it claimed
Muslims lagged behind Christians as far as modern education was concerned and
thus Muslims would be politically dominated by Christians.
Dr. G.A. Malekela, Professor of Education at the University of Daressalaam,
found in his investigation in 1970 that 75% of the MPs in Tanzania were
Christian, and that 75% of them were Catholics. Similarly in 1983, it was
officially reported that 78% of the intake in the secondary schools was Christian,
mostly Catholic, and only 22% was non-Christian.
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Nordic Journal of African Studies
According to the non-governmental association Daressalaam University
Muslim Trusteeship (DUMT), during 1986-90, out of a total of 4 191 students
only 582 were Muslim i.e. 13% of the student body. And may be by coincidence,
during President Nyerere's long rule of 24 years, the Minister of Education was
never a Muslim. These are the figures and arguments presented by the Muslims in
the current debate and conflict that is going on between the Muslims and Christian
(especially Catholics) in Tanzania.
Today, during the reign of the Muslim President Ali Hassan Mwinyi who is a
Zanzibari, 16 out of the 24 Cabinet Ministers in the Union Government are
Christian, 20 out of the 24 Principal Secretaries are Christian, 15 out of the 20
Regional Commissioners are Christian, and 105 out of the 113 District
Commissioners are Christian. (Mfanyakazi 20/2-93)
8. MUSLIMS AND ISLAM IN THE REST OF EASTERN AFRICA
In the context of Islam and Muslims in eastern Africa, Tanzania takes a central
role, not only because Tanzania is geographically situated in the middle of eastern
Africa, but also because many Muslim leaders and theologists in the neighbouring
countries are in fact educated in Tanzania. Many Muslim priests working in
Malawi, Mozambique, Rwanda, Burundi, Zaire and Uganda are even recruited
from Tanzania; and Swahili is in practice the language of the mosques in the
region.
In Kenya, an estimated 25% of the population is Muslim, a few thousand of
them are organised in the unregistered Islamic Party of Kenya (IPK) which has
two supporters in Parliament after the first multi-party election in December 1992.
However, there are 25 other Muslim MPs in Kenya representing the ruling party
Kenya African National Union (KANU). Since 1991 Muslim youth led by the
IPK and its fiery leader Khalid Balala have staged violent demonstrations in
Kenya demanding more educational facilities and employment opportunities in
the predominantly Muslim areas, primarily the coast - it is argued by the IPK
supporters that of the 6 universities and dozens of colleges in Kenya, none is
situated at the coast, urban unemployment rate is highest on the coast, while the
Coast Region brings in the bulk of the foreign exchange earnings through tourism.
There are about 120 Islamic societies in Kenya dealing with mosques, schools etc.
The best known among them is the Kenya Muslim Welfare Society started in
1973 and the recently established Kenya Islamic Foundation which plans to start
Muslim nursery, primary and secondary schools and even a university in the
future. There are also a number of housing schemes run by the various Shia
communities, as it is in Tanzania. Much Islamic literature is produced and
distributed by the Bilal Islamic Mission in Kenya and Tanzania. Recently, some
KANU party officials have gone to the offensive against IPK with racist
propaganda where they try to divide Muslim Kenyans and their leaders into those
of 'African' origin and those of 'foreign' origin.
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Muslims in Eastern Africa
In Uganda, the Muslim population is estimated by various writers to be
between 20-45%. Uganda is a member of the Organisation of Islamic Conference
(OIC) since 1970. During the dictatorial rule of Iddi Amin, tens of thousands of
Ugandans converted to Islam and enjoyed certain privileges such as maintaining
their high offices in the military and government. After Amin's fall there was a
small exodus of Muslims from Uganda to Kenya and Tanzania.
In Mozambique, with an estimated Muslim population of 40%, the situation is
somewhat similar to that in Tanzania - Muslims in the north of the country were
mobilised in the freedom struggle led by FRELIMO, but it is complained by the
Muslims that the country is dominated by mission-educated and Tanzania-trained
Christian/Catholic leadership. Swahili is generally used in the mosques. There is
no Muslim minister in the government, and only one ambassador who is Muslim.
In Malawi, a fifth of the population is reported to be Muslim having several
Muslim organisations, and is spread all over the country. There are a few
thousand Asians and the Muslim clergy mostly comes from Tanzania, hence
Swahili is frequently the mosque language. Muslim grievances here are also
similar to those in Tanzania, Kenya and Mozambique. It was reported that two
Christian bishops (one Catholic and one Protestant) were invited at the
discussions held in February 1993 by the government on the question of going
over to multi-partism, but no Muslim Malawian leader was invited. Such reports,
true or false, increase the tensions between Malawians (and East Africans)
following different faiths.
In Burundi, Rwanda and Zaire, there are about 5% Muslim minorities
concentrated in the capitals of Bujumbura, Kigali and the copper mining areas of
Shaba Province in eastern Zaire where Swahili is spoken as a first or second
language. The Muslims are usually of mixed Afro-Arab, Afro-Asian or slave
descent. They are usually shopkeepers, traders and transporters. After the civil
war in 1960, there was an exodus of Muslims from these countries to Uganda and
Tanzania, but lately the Muslim population has been slowly increasing, partly
through immigration.
In the (Islamic Federal) Republic of Comoro, the population is almost 100%
Muslim. (Less than 3000 of the total population of 335 000 is Christian/Catholic.)
Since August 1993, after 14 years as Observer in the Arab League, the Republic is
now a full member of that organisation, having declared Arabic as its official
language, whereas in Mayotte/Maore, the fourth island in the Comorian
archipelago still under French administration, 98% of the population is Muslim,
the rest are Roman Catholics.
In Madagascar there is a dwindling Muslim minority of a few percent in the
north-west of the country. There has been no increase at all in the number of
Muslims who are usually of mixed African, Arab, Malagasi and Indian descent.
Quite a few of the Muslims in the towns of Madagascar are of Asian origin
following different denominations and they are French citizens. The Arabic script
is no longer used by the Malagasi since the begining of this century when the
French missions replaced it with the Latin script. However, many malagasi
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Nordic Journal of African Studies
language documents in the Arabic script survive and are preserved in various
archives in the West.
9. ROLE OF ISLAM AND MUSLIMS IN EASTERN AFRICA
The Muslims opened up the hinterland of eastern Africa, particularly Tanzania;
and through their activities, slavery and slave trade, which were originally African
phenomena, were expanded with quite devastating effects on some districts,
especially in Tanzania. Through the commercial activities of the Muslims, eastern
Africa was brought in closer contact with the rest of the world, which finally
made European colonization easy and fast, though delayed up to the end of the
last century. Islam also brought literacy and literature and gave the Muslims of
diverse origins a common uniting language - Swahili - which has also been a
blessing to non-Muslims. In the wake of Muslims came urbanisation and modern
innovations such as electricity, telegraph and telephone. Consequently, political
mobilization and opposition to European colonial rule was easily realised in
Tanzania and Kenya as was the case in Nigeria.
One of the few negative consequences of the spread of Islam in eastern Africa
was to some extent the development of feudalism which changed the concepts of
land ownership and tilling rights among the Bantu-speaking people. Women in
many Muslim agrarian societies lost some of their traditional rights of tilling or
ownership of land. However, Islam gave them among other rights the right of
inheritance which did not exist earlier.
Islamic fundamentalism does not exist in the countries of eastern Africa.
However, there are several very small groups of Muslim activists especially in
Tanzania and Kenya, similar to the Christian fundamentalists in the region. No
fundamentalism, but rather Islamic revivalism is the case, especially through Shia
influences to rejuvenate the Muslim societies which are emphasising their
Islamicity.
* This is a revised version of the paper ISLAM IN EAST AFRICA - ITS PAST
AND PRESENT, presented on 30 October 1991, at one of the Seminars in the
series ISLAM IN AFRICA, Scandinavian Institute of African Studies, Uppsala,
Sweden. A shorter version of this in Swedish written together with David
Westerlund entitled AFRIKANSK ISLAM I TANZANIA is forthcoming as a
chapter in the Swedish book MAJORITETENS ISLAM, edited by David
Westerlund and Ingvar Svanberg, Centre for Multiethnic Research, Uppsala
University, 1994.)
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... arrived at the coast of East Africa in the year 1498 and found coast towns already Islamic trading cities (Lodhi, 1994;Posnansky, 1978). Kilwa controlled the trade from eastern to southern Africa and much more on the coast of East Africa (Chami et al., 2002). ...
... Translation of religious texts in Swahili started many years following the contact with the external world. Presence of oldest building in 1300 AD at Kizimkazi in Zanzibar functioning as mosque, implies that Islamic practices existed for many years back among the coastal people (Lodhi, 1994 in the year 1923 whose intention was to shed missionaries and Christians of East Africa with 1, February 2022, e-ISSN: 2442-482x, p-ISSN: 2089-3345 ...
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This paper aims at giving an overview of the historical development of Swahili translation in Tanzania. Currently, the available books and other publications have little information on the history of Swahili translation. The data of this study was drawn through a documentary review where books related to translation in Tanzania, dissertations, and journal articles were thoroughly analysed. The findings demonstrate that translation works were practiced informally translation works were practiced and focused on one-time communication purposes. During the post-colonial period, translations by many writers occupied a significant portion of the Tanzanian literary polysystem. In the 21st century, translations have focused on the country's economic, political, and social, cultural development. The current trend in publications shows that Swahili translation has increased, and many scholars are attracted to the field. The study recommends further studies to be carried out in the thematic area of Swahili translations in pre-colonialism, during colonialism and post-colonialism.
... It was built in 1107 A.D (500 AH) by Shiraz settlers from Iran under the order of Sheikh Said bin Abi Amran Mfaume al Hassan bin Muhammad in the month of Dhul Qi'da. 10 Kizimkazi Mosque is famous for its inscription of 1107 AD (500 AH) designed in floriated Kufic script and inserted on the north wall of the mosque, with another inscription informing of a major rebuilding of the mosque in 1772-1773. Although much of the coral detailing and column shafts date from the original construction in the twelfth century, most of the current structure is from the rebuild in the eighteenth century. ...
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The management of religious heritage sites that are still in use provides challenges to site managers and to the Antiquities Division in Tanzania. By using the case study of Kizimkazi Mosque on Zanzibar Island, this paper examines methods used in management and conservation, community involvement and challenges facing management of Kizimkazi Mosque as a Living Religious Heritage. Data were collected through interviews while the sample size included the local community and Antiquities' Officers in Dimbani (Kizimkazi) Village. The findings show that the local community had different methods and strategies such as the ethics of Muslims and a conservation committee to ensure management and conservation of the mosque. Also, different challenges facing the management of the mosque, such as tourism and the effects of climate, were revealed. This paper recommends the need to develop a management plan which will take into account all the complexities in the use and the management of Kizimkazi Mosque. That plan will enable the communities to continue using the mosque as the crucial part of their religious life without any conflict or interference.
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Kenya is a multi-cultural state with three races and over forty-two African ethnic groups. The races are European, Asian/Arab and African. Asians and Arabs are perceived as foreigners in Kenya who control large commercial enterprises. The Asians and Arabs regard themselves as minorities in Kenya. Yet historical evidence indicates that they migrated into Kenya much earlier than some of the predominant African ethnic groups such as the Gikuyu, Luo, and Luhyia, to name a few. Asians and Arabs interacted with Africans on the Kenya coast as early as the period prior to the birth of Christianity. The arrival and settlement of Asians and Arabs in Kenya span over the last two millennia; however, it was in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries AD that massive penetration and settlement of Asians and Arabs in Kenya was realized. In the existing historical literature on Asians, there has been adoption of different terminologies such as south Asians and Indians. In this chapter, we will adopt Asians in general to refer to immigrants from the Indian subcontinent into Kenya and Arabs to refer to immigrants from the Arabian Peninsula.
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THE JUST CITY © Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung Kenya Office, 2020 All rights reserved. No part of this publication should be reproduced without written permission from the publisher except for brief quotations in books or critical reviews. For information and permission, write to Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung Kenya Office. Opinion expressed are the responsibility of the individual authors and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung Kenya Office.
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Christian and Muslim schools have become important target points in families and pupils' quests for new study opportunities and securing a 'good life' in Tanzania. These schools combine secular education with the moral (self-)formation of young people, triggering new realignments of the fields of education with interreligious co-existence and class formation in the country's urban centres. Hansjörg Dilger explores the emerging entanglements of faith, morality, and the educational market in Dar es Salaam, thereby shedding light on processes of religious institutionalisation and their individual and collective embodiment. By contextualising these dynamics through analysis of the politics of Christian-Muslim relations in postcolonial Tanzania, this book shows how the field of education has shaped the positions of these highly diverse religious communities in diverging ways. In doing so, Dilger suggests that students and teachers' religious experience and practice in faith-oriented schools are shaped by the search for socio-moral belonging as well as by the power relations and inequalities of an interconnected world.
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THE JUST CITY © Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung Kenya Office, 2020 All rights reserved. No part of this publication should be reproduced without written permission from the publisher except for brief quotations in books or critical reviews. For information and permission, write to Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung Kenya Office. Opinion expressed are the responsibility of the individual authors and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung Kenya Office.
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Post-independent Tanzania has achieved its national peace and political stability unlike other countries in sub-Saharan Africa. The peaceful coexistence of Christians and Muslims in Tanzania has been noticeable in the midst of clashes between the West and Islamic world as well as destructive Christian-Muslim relations in many parts of the globe. The goal of this study is to examine the characteristics of Christian-Muslim relations in Tanzania and to investigate if the good relationship with Muslims influences understanding and practice of the biblical teachings for Christians. Peace and unity were the legacy of the nation’s founders. Integration of the nation was pursued as one of the primary tasks while ethnic and religious identities were yielded to the national identity. Meanwhile, radical Muslims emerged as a threat to national unity. Muslims lagged behind Christians in education and advancement in government positions, and these conditions became fertile ground for Muslim struggles against the government. Muslim struggles culminated in the late 1980s, and they manifested as violent attacks against Christians in the 1990s. Tanzanian Christians are related to Muslims through various relationships in their daily lives. Christians and Muslims recognize one another as ndugu (comrades or brothers), and this ndugu relationship enables Christians to enter intimate relationships with Muslims such as friendships and even family bonds. Inter-religious marriages between Christians and Muslims are popular among Tanzanian people. The intimate relationships are the foundation of Christian-Muslim relations in Tanzania, and this research posits that they are the primary reason for stable and peaceful relations even during the years of violent conflicts since the 1990s. However, this amicable relationship with Muslims influenced the attitudes of Christians toward Muslim evangelism in a negative way. In these circumstances, more attention to strategical Muslim evangelism without damaging peace and unity between Christians and Muslims is required by the church.