Islam and Politics in East Africa: The Sufi Order in by August H. Nimtz Jr.

By August H. Nimtz Jr.

Islam and Politics in East Africa used to be first released in 1980. Minnesota Archive versions makes use of electronic expertise to make long-unavailable books once more available, and are released unaltered from the unique college of Minnesota Press editions.

Focusing at the interaction of faith, society, and politics, August Nimtz examines the position of sufi tariqas (brotherhoods) in Tanzania, the place he saw an African Muslim society at the start hand. Nimtz opens this e-book with a old account of Islam in East Africa, and in next chapters analyzes the position of tariqas in Tanzania and, extra particularly, within the coastal urban of Bagamoyo. utilizing a conceptual framework derived from modern political theories on social cleavages and person pursuits. Nimtz explains why the tariqa is necessary within the means of political change.

The primary cleavage in Muslim East Africa, he notes, is that of "whites" as opposed to blacks. Nimtz contends that the tariqus, in serving the curiosity of blacks (that is, Africans), turned in flip cars for the mass mobilization of African Muslims in the course of the anti-colonial fight. In Bagamoyo he reveals an identical strategy and, furthermore, unearths that the tariqas have served African pursuits towards these of "whites" due to the person merits they supply. even as, Nimtz concludes, the social constitution of East African Muslim society has ensured that Africans will be really interested in those advantages. This paintings will curiosity either observers of African political improvement and experts within the Islamic studies.

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As was the case during the precolonial period, a disproportionately high number of 'ulama were of Hadrami Arab background after the institution of European rule. For instance, of the eleven individuals discussed, ten were Arabs and one was a Shirazi. Of the ten Arabs, seven were either of direct or indirect Hadrami descent while the other three were of Omani background. This should not suggest that anyone of Hadrami origin could enter the scholarly community; this 24 Religious Authority in East African Islam Sayyid Ahmad b.

Frequently, a scholar would be asked to give an advisory opinion on matters that might arise in locales throughout East Africa; in giving an opinion (fatwa), he was acting in the capacity of a mufti. 8 Many of these same individuals not only held posts in the most important mosques in Zanzibar and elsewhere in East Africa, they were often instrumental in the construction and supervision of them (for example, Shaykh Muhyi al-Din al-Qahtani with the Friday mosque at Malindi in Zanzibar). B. G. Martin observed that, as a group of individuals who were engaged in numerous and diverse activities, the nineteenth-century 'ulama class of East Africa was indeed an influential community.

The largest and most prosperous plantations were owned by Arabs, especially those related to the ruling Busa'id family, who by 1850 had consolidated their position in East Africa. Arab rule, from this period until its demise at the hands of the European powers, became virtually synonymous with slavery and slave ownership. 40 Cleavages and Conflicts The few Shirazi families who had managed to maintain their fortunes, plantations, and slaves were never able to match the wealth of their new overlords.

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