By BROTHER MOHAMMED SAEED
Muslim Writer’s Organization
Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.
INTRODUCTION
Islam has
been in existence in East Africa since the eighth
century. With Islam, emerged the lingua franca,
Kiswahili, spoken throughout East and Central Africa
and the Swahili culture which is mostly associated
with Muslims. About two-thirds of East Africa’s
Muslims reside in Tanzania which is the most
populous of the East African countries i.e. Kenya,
Uganda and Tanzania.
According
to the 1957 population census, Muslims outnumbered
Christians at a ratio of three to two. This means
Tanzania is a leading Muslim nation in the region.
But the 1967 census the total figures for Tanzania
Mainland are 32% Christian, 30% Muslim and 37% local
belief.
This shows Pagans as a leading majority. The 1967
census has not been able to show the reasons for the
sudden decrease of Muslim population nor the growth
of Paganism. This was the last population census
showing religious distribution. It is widely
believed that the figures for the 1967 census were
doctored for political reasons to show Muslims were
trailing behind Christians in numerical strength.
This paper "lnsha Allah", will try to show the
reasons behind such a move and many others.
Christianity
is a relatively new religion in Tanzania having
introduced into the country during the 18th
Century by professional missionaries. Christianity
was resisted by Muslims right from the beginning. In
any uprising against the colonial state Muslims took
that opportunity to attack missionaries and
Christian establishments.2 Muslims
perceived both missionaries and the colonial state
as fellow collaborators and therefore enemies to
Islam. Islamic radicalism has therefore a long
history in the struggle against colonial rule and
Christianity. Christianity meanwhile became a
reactionary force siding with the colonial state. In
the Maji Maji War of 1905 some Christians fought
alongside the German army against the people to
safeguard Christianity.3 In this war some
Muslims were hanged particularly for killing
missionaries and for waging a war against German
rule.
The British
took over Tanganyika (as Tanzania was then known)
from the Germans after the First World War, by then
the Germans had done more than their fair share in
opening up Tanganyika for Christian influence
through various Christian establishments. Tanganyika
was divided among different Christian organizations
originating from various European countries. The
White Fathers were in Tabora, Karema, Kigoma, Mbeya,
Mwanza and Bukoba; Holy Ghost Fathers - Morogoro and
Kilimanjaro; Benedictine Fathers Peramiho and Ndanda;
Capuchin Fathers - Dar es Salaam; Consolata Fathers
- Iringa and Meru; Passionists Fathers - Dodoma;
Pallotine Fathers - Mbulu; Maryknoll Fathers Musoma;
and Rosmillian Fathers -lringa.4
When the
People started to organize themselves in political
entities during the British rule through various
associations, Muslims in Dar es Salaam formed the
African Association in 1929 and Jamiatul lslamiyya
fi Tanganyika in 1933. Missionaries sensing these
African organisations as organised African
resistance against the colonial state warned
Christians not to get themselves involved in any
movements that were challenging the government.5
The church and state provided education to African
Christians and denied it to majority Muslims. The
two worked hand in hand to mould loyal subjects out
of the educated Christians alienating them from the
main stream of the struggle against British rule.
Resistance against British colonialism was therefore
left to Muslims and the struggle for independence
and nationalist politics in Tan9anyika assumed
strong Muslim characteristics.
MUSLIMS AND
COLONIAL POLITICS:
THE POLITICS
OF CONFORMITY
The church
gradually managed to create a special relationship
between the colonial state and the educated African
Christians as beneficiaries of the colonial system.
Muslim suffered as a people whose faith was
antagonistic to the state religion
the
Church of England. Muslims suffered also as a
colonised subject singled out for discrimination by
being denied education curtailing any chances for
self-advancement. The survival of Muslims as a
people and Islam as a religion therefore lay in the
total overthrow of the colonial state.
The first
uprising against the British occurred in predominant
Muslim areas of Tanga and Dar es Salaam in 1939.
Strikes occurred in the ports of Tanga and Dar es
Salaam followed by a violent general strike a few
years later in Dar es Salaam port in 1947. Muslim
predominance in port employment to a large extent
helped to create the solidarity which ignited the
working class movement responsible for the strikes.
In the 1947 general strike Muslim symbols were used
effectively showing for the first time the influence
and extent of Islamic radicalism in resisting
colonial oppression. The strike was very successful
as it spread through Tanganyika lasting for almost a
month and paralysing the colonial economic
machinery.6 This strike created the
necessary conditions to force the colonial state to
pass appropriate legislation allowing the formation
and eventual registration of the Dock Workers Union.
It is interesting to note that the leader of this
movement Abdulwahid Sykes was the first ever general
secretary of a trade union in Tanganyika in 1948.
Abdulwahid was later to be elected secretary of
Jamiatul Islamiyya fi Tanganyika and went on to
found the Tanganyika African National Union (TANU) -
the
first open political party in colonial Tanganyika.
The British,
in their tactics of divide and rule, isolated
Muslims for oppression and elevated Christians to a
higher status by giving them educational
opportunities. In this way religion was used as a
colonial weapon to stratify the people, creating out
of African Christian a special class of colonised
subjects. The church meanwhile maintained the
doctrine: "Render unto Caesar the things which are
Caesar’s and unto God the things that are God’s."
(Mathew xxii:21). Muslims, however, were able to
distinguish between British Christian colonialism
which was the immediate enemy and the African
Christians an appendage of the colonial system.
When TANU
was formed out of the African Association in 1954 as
a nationalist party to prepare the people of
Tanganyika towards achieving independence, the
strategy adopted for the struggle right from the
start, was to form a united front of all
Tanganyikans irrespective of religious identity or
ethnic affiliations. Most scholars who have written
on Tanzania’s political history have focused on
Julius Nyerere as a founding leader of TANU. This is
a fallacy yet to be rectified. This approach
obscures a very important part of Islamic radicalism
and Muslim personalities who had, before Nyerere,
been working for the formation of the Party.
Consequently a most important part of colonial
history which laid the formation for resistance
against colonial history which laid the formation
for resistance against the British is eroded.7
It is beyond the scope of this paper to trace the
origins of party system in Tanzania, but for the
purpose of setting the record straight it should be
noted that the desire to initiate a political
movement can be traced from the African Association,
but it was the Political Sub-Committee formed in
1905 within the Tanganyika African Association which
actually formed TANU. Members of the TAA Political
Sub-Committee were: Sheikh Hassan bin Amir,
Abdulwahid Sykes, Hamza Kibwana Mwapachu, Said
Chaurembo, Vedast Kyaruzi, John Rupia and Stephen
Mhando. It is also interesting to note that a group
of Muslim TAA members in Tabora had passed a
resolution in 1953 to transform the association into
an open political party. Suffice to state that two
members of the Political Sub-Committee, Sheikh
Hassan bin Amir and Abdulwahid Sykes were executive
members of Da'wat AI-Islamia and Jamiatul lslamiyya
respectively providing the link between the new
party and Islam.
Roman
Catholic Julius Nyerere was elected TANU president.
A faction within the Party against Christian
leadership emerged. Because of their superior
education the few Christians who dared to venture
into TANU were immediately offered leadership
positions8. The main reason advanced for
this opposition was the history of the Church as a
guardian of the African Christians. Some Muslims in
the Party had no confidence in the mission-educated
Christians. Christians were perceived as too close
to the colonial state to take up a leading role in
the struggle against the colonial state. This
Islamic ideology did not get support of Muslims
although Muslims enjoyed preponderance over
Christians in the Party. Muslims wanted to build in
TANU a party of national unity national aspirations
overrode immediate Muslim interests.
In 1955 TANU
still in the formative stage called a meeting to
clarify the status of Christianity in the Party and
to establish a nationalist-secularist ideology as a
way of preserving national unity.9 Where
as the colonial state, had over the years of its
rule used religion to stratify the people and create
divisions among them, the Muslims leadership In TANU
through the Elders Council suppressed the long
standing Islamic radicalism to forge unity between
the people. Christians however, for seasons already
stated, did not play any significant role in the
early years of TANU until 1958 when TANU contested
its first election. This period is important in the
political history of colonial Tanganyika because the
outcome of TANU's decision to contest the election
on those conditions came to adversely affect the
future role of Islamic radicalism in the post
independence politics.
This was the
first election in which TANU took part since its
formation in 1954. The colonial government of
Governor Edward Twining had put very discriminatory
conditions to the African electorate which required
each constituency to vote for a European, an Asian
and an African. Other conditions of eligibility for
voting required the prospective voter to have an
annual income of £200, Standard XII education and be
employed in a specific post. These were stiff
conditions for TANU to accept. Muslims who were
active in politics could not meet those
conditions and could not therefore vote nor could
they stand as candidates. The British, in alliance
with missionaries, had denied Muslims education -
the very condition which it put to deny them
participation in shaping the future of the country.
TANU had, therefore, to look outside its own rank
and file for qualified Christian candidates to
contest the election. This was to be the beginning
of a Christians hegemony over the Party leadership.
Some Muslims
within the Party rose to challenge this new
development. Sheikh Suleiman Takadir, Chairman of
TANU Elders Council, and all Muslim body wanted the
Party to discuss this problem. There were fears that
the emerging Christian leadership in TANU which
would obviously go into the Legislative Council
would also go on to form the first independence
government. It was feared that these would use
Church influence to suppress Islam as a political
force. This conflict threatened to split the Party.
1958 was very crucial time for TANU. For over thirty
years Africans had been working towards having
democratic principles established in Tanganyika.
TANU in 1958 was on the verge of knocking the doors
of the Legislative Council but for the problem of
Christianity which was again cropping up for the
second time in the Party. The majority of Muslims in
TANU did not see the African Christians as posing
any threat to Islam in free Tanganyika. Many saw the
Christian influx into the Party’s leadership
positions as a catalyst for accelerating the thrust
of the struggle - a consolidation of its own
strength vis-a-vis the conspiracies of the colonial
state. No one saw this rapid changing pattern of
Party leadership as a neutralising agent against
Muslim influence in TANU. The Takadir faction which
was calling for equal representation between Muslims
and Christians in the party leadership and in the
independence government was seen as a divisive
element. Sheikh Takadir was relieved of his post in
TANU, suspended and later expelled from the Party
for raising the sensitive issue, which it was
feared, would divide the party along religious lines
and consequently slow down the tempo of the
struggle.10 TANU, therefore, selected the
following to contest the 1958 election: Julius
Nyerere, John Keto, Nesmo Eliufoo, John Mwakangale
and Chief Abdallah Said Fundikira.11
Failing to
pursue Islam as a mobilizational ideology in TAN U,
a group of Muslims crossed over from the Party and
formed the All Muslim National Union of Tanganyika
(AMNUT). AMNUT could not also get support from the
Muslim majority in Tanganyika. No political party
had emerged in Tanganyika on the basis of religious
or ethnic rivalry. Having dominated the political
Muslims were already de-tribalised by Islam. This
diminished the chances of ethnicity over~1ing
religious identity while at the same time
consolidating Islam as an ideology of resistance and
a unifying force of all Tanganyikans. The TANU
Elders Council initiated a campaign against AMNUT.
43 prominent Muslim scholars in Dar es Salaam
together with 80 of their counterparts in Tanga
signed a declaration opposing AMNUT and what it
stood for and reaffirming their loyalty and support
to TANU.12 Many believed AMNUT was a
reactionary party which had to be fought and
eliminated for the sake of national unity. It was
believed that after independence there would be
appropriate forums to discuss such
issues of national importance.
MUSLIMS AND POST-COLONIAL POLITICS:
THE POLITICS OF ANTAGONISM
After
independence had been achieved in 1961 Muslims
looked forward to the future with confidence. In
1962 a pan-territorial congress of all Muslim
organisations was called in Dar es Salaam to discuss
the future role of Islam in then free Tanganyika.
The following organizations attended the East
African Muslims Welfare Society, Da' wat Al Islamia
Jamiatul lslamiyya fi Tanganyika, Jamiatil lslamiyya
fi Tanganyika "A" and the Muslim Education Union.
The congress agreed among other things of importance
to establish a department of education under the
auspices of the EAMWS. Muslims did not wait for the
independence government to start fulfilling its
pre-independence promise of redressing educational
disparity between them and Christians. Muslims
initiated their own plans to compliment government
efforts. Plans were put on drawing board to build
schools throughout Tanganyika and eventually build
the first Islamic University in East Africa. The
congress elected Tewa Said Tewa a Cabinet Minister,
a veteran politician of the TAA and TANU founder
member as Chairman of Territorial Council of the
EAMWS. This was to be the beginning of antagonism
between Muslims and the Christian dominated central
government. Politics of conformity practiced during
the struggle for independence now started to give
way to politics of antagonism as Muslims started to
initiate plans to change the colonial status quo.
The
predominantly Christian government and the Christian
establishment felt threatened by these nation wide
Muslim mobilisation efforts for development. The
EAMWS leadership and its executive committee was now
in the hands of Muslim party bureaucrats. The
government saw this mobilization as Muslims bracing
up for a second struggle to take over the country
from Christian leadership. Without warning the state
found itself in direct confrontation with a strong
Muslim organisation in which every Muslim of
Tanganyika was virtually a member and within its
ranks were opponents of TANU as well as committed
party members. At the same time the all-Muslim TANU
Elders Council in its advisory role to the Party
started to exert pressure to the government which
the government perceived as smacking of Islamism.
The Elders Council had overtime transformed itself
from a vanguard committee to a Muslims pressure
group within the Party.
Events
started to move in rapid succession. In January 1963
some trade unionists were detained along with
prominent Muslim Sheikhs. Rumours making the rounds
in Dar es Salaam was that the Sheikhs were planning
a coup against the government. Soon after, a
prominent Muslim scholar Sherif Hussein Badawiy and
his young brother Mwinyibaba who had established in
Dar es Salaam a well patronised madras were declared
prohibited immigrants and had to leave the country.
In March, the TANU National Executive voted to
dissolve the eleven-men working committee of Dar es
Salaam Elders Council now under the Chairmanship of
Mzee Iddi Tulio. The reason given by the Party for
this action was that the Elders Council was mixing
politics with religion13. This was to be
the beginning of a campaign of de-Islamisation of
TANU and its history and the end of Muslim
predominance in the post colonial party politics.
Since achieving independence the Muslim card which
was played against the British was seen by the
government in power as a card which had outlived its
usefulness. The dissolution of the Elders Council
was the last hold of Muslim influence in the Party.
The Church which had kept its distance during the
struggle now surfaced to challenge Muslims
leadership in TANU. In an unprecedented move by the
Church, the Roman Catholic Church in Bukoba
supported its own Christian candidates against
Muslim candidates put forward by TANU in the local
government elections. The church argued that it
preferred its own candidates to TANU’s because the
Party’s candidates were of very limited educational
background.14 A similar campaign by the
Church against Muslim candidates was also effected
in Kigoma.15 There are no records
existing which show that the government or the Party
took any action against the Church for mixing
religion with politics.
When the
Second Muslim Congress was convened in Dar es Salaam
later that year these serious issues were put
forward for discussion. The Congress established
beyond any reasonable doubt that there was a silent
purge going on in the Party against Muslims and that
there was nationwide anti Muslims campaign against
leaders of the EAMWS. President Nyerere was invited
to the closing ceremony and the congress registered
its regrets to him. Nyerere talked at length on the
problem and somehow managed to cool the situation.
But there was no doubt in the minds of the EAMWS
leadership that there was organised Church
resistance against Islam and Muslims using the
Christian leadership in the Party and government to
effect its influence and decisions. The Christian
leadership in state institutions was now using state
power against Islam to have the Church control the
government in independent Tanganyika.
In
January1964 an army mutiny occurred in the
Tanganyika Rifles. The government took this
opportunity to detain trade unionists and some
Muslims who were prominent in the post independence
Muslims politics agitating against the government.
When the case went on trial at the High Court there
was no evidence tendered which showed that the
mutiny was Muslims inspired or had any connection
whatsoever with any Muslim organisation. In April a
strong delegation of the EAMWS comprising of Sheikh
Hassan bin Amir, Sheikh Said Omar Abdallah, Tewa
Said Tewa, EAMWS Secretary Aziz Khaki and a TANU
elder Sheikh Mwinjuma Mwinyikambi, left for a tour
of Islamic countries to solicit financial support
for the proposed Islamic University and to establish
relations with the Muslim world. The government of
the United Arab Republic of Egypt responded
positively to the proposed Islamic University. An
agreement was signed in Cairo between Tewa Said on
behalf of the EAMWS and Vice President Sharbasy on
behalf of the Egyptian government. The government of
Egypt promised to build and Islamic University for
the Muslims of Tanganyika to be owned and managed by
the EAMWS. Capital expenditure of the project was
estimated at 55 million sterling pounds to be
contributed by the United Arab Republic of Egypt.
From Egypt the delegation visited Jordan, Kuwait,
Iraq and Lebanon. This was a significant step in the
history of Islam in Tanganyika. Tanganyika has been
open only to European countries and their various
missionary organisations. For the first time in 1964
the country was being opened up for contact with
other Islamic countries.
Soon after
the delegation had returned from the Islamic
countries, President Nyerere made a cabinet
reshuffle. Tewa Said Tewa, Chairman of Territorial
Council of the EAMWS was dropped from the government
and appointed ambassador to the People’s Republic of
China. This it was believed was not unconnected with
Tewa’s efforts of mobilising Muslims and his efforts
to unite them under one organization.
Bibi Titi
Mohammed was elected Vice President to run the
Organisation in the absence of the President Mr.
Tewa Said Tewa. This was in January, 1965.
It is from
this point that we can now start tracing and
analysing how the government finally moved to
subvert Muslim unity through a campaign of intrigue,
sabortage, bribery and misinformation against the
EAMWS leadership which it perceived as a threat to
its own political domination over Muslim majority.
The government was now literally in Christian hands.
Apart from Zanzibaris in the union government: A.M.
Maalim Minister of Commerce and Industry, Aboud
Jumbe Minister of State, A.M. Babu Minister of
Lands, Settlement and Water development and Hasnu
Makame Minister of Information and Tourism, the only
Muslim minister from the Mainland in the 15 men
cabinet was Said Ali Maswanya, Minister of Home
Affairs.
The main
objective of the EAMWS was according to its1957
constitution was "to propagate Islam in East
Africa".16 The society was multi-racial
in membership and leadership composition. During its
21 years of existence it abstained from partisan
politics. The society strictly confined itself to
protecting and promoting Islam in East Africa. Since
the mass detention of Muslims in 1964 after the army
mutiny the EAMWS seemed to have lost its zeal and
purpose. Some of its offices in the regions were
closed out of fear of silent government hostility
and for lack of strong leadership. Many Muslims
hesitated to man those offices as they were of the
opinion that such offices would be taken as centres
of Muslim opposition against the government. For
more than three years since the congress of 1963,
the EAMWS did not meet. When at last it held its
annual conference at Arusha in 1966 a separatist
group emerged from Tanzania calling for the split of
the society into three different autonomous
entities. The separatist element from Tanzania also
called for the "indigenization" of the constitution
of the EAMWS.17 This meant constitutional
changes had to be effected by the leadership to
enable Tanzania become an independent body within
the EAMWS. Independent minded delegates from
Tanzania and the entire conference delegation from
Kenya and Uganda were against such changes arguing
that, such a move would isolate Tanzanian Muslims
from the rest of the East African "umma". This, it
was observed, would weaken not only Tanzania
Muslims, but the Muslim community in East Africa.
Kenya and Uganda delegates were aware of the fact
that there was pressure from the Tanzanian
government to split the society, and that the
Tanzania delegation was working under heavy
political pressure. It was an open secret that some
Muslim leadership of EAMWS in Tanzania was facing
silent intimidation from the government. But the
conference did not address itself to these issues
because such issues were taken as internal matter of
the country concerned. However in the spirit of
Islam delegates showed their sympathy privately to
the situation which Tanzanian Muslims were facing.
As delegates left for their respective countries it
was clear enough that the state was encroaching into
the affairs of the EAMWS making it extremely
difficult to organise Muslims and to pass important
decisions. To make matters worse and to drive the
point home, Tanzanian State intelligence officers
were very much in evidence during the whole period
of the conference in Arusha.
It soon
became clear that the government was working towards
disbanding the EAMWS using few hand picked Muslims,
the end result which was to form a new body which
the state could have some control over its
activities. This was to be done in order to contain
Muslims as a political force. It is now from this
point that we can start analysing the so-called
‘crisis’ of the EAMWS which characterised the last
three months of 1968. In order to understand the
whole episode it is important to trace out the
nature of the ‘crisis’ and the integrity of the
characters who played major roles in that ‘crisis’.
Lastly, it is important to analyse the role of the
government, the party and state institutions in the
‘crisis’ in order to see if it is true that there
was an actual ‘crisis’ in the EAMWS, or if the
‘crisis’ was fomented by some Interested parties
within the party and government and within the very
Muslim fabric in order to weaken Muslims as a
potential political force.
In 1967
Mwalimu Julius Nyerere announced the Arusha
Declaration embarking Tanzania on a socialist path.
The new economic policy was met with mass
enthusiasm. An unknown Muslim school teacher by the
name of Adam Nasibu who was the EAMWS Regional
Secretary in Bukoba seized the occasion and
participated in a mass demonstration to TANU
Regional headquarters in support of Mwalimu
Nyerere’s new economic policy. Adam Nasibu was also
quoted to have said that socialism was compatible to
the teachings of the Holy Quran. Adam Nasibu
went further and issued "guidelines to all Islamic
religious leaders in Bukoba providing for a basic
explanation on the Arusha Decleration".18
Non-Muslims saw Adam Nasibu as very progressive
Muslim, and he being an executive of the EAMWS his
support to the new political development was
perceived as an official recognition by the society
to the Arusha Declaration. But before this incident,
no one knew the schoolteacher as a politician, let
alone being an intellectual. Under normal
political climates, the EAMWS leadership at the
headquarters in Dar es Salaam would have frown at
such an open demonstration of partisanship. But
there are no records which show that the EAMWS
leadership at the headquarters did warn its Bukoba
Secretary of such seemingly unbecoming behaviour.
Probably the headquarters thought to do that would
have been unpatriotic taking into consideration the
enthusiasm shown by the people in the Arusha
Declaration. After all Muslims have always provided
the lead in the politics of the country. The
headquarters of the EAMWS thought better of it and
let the incident pass.
Adam Nasibu
received some publicity in the news media because of
that behaviour, particularly on his statement that
socialism was compatible to the teachings of the
Holy Quran. Some Muslims by observing the
contemporary political climate as it affected
Muslims which was at that moment not conducive to
any Islamic influence to the politics for the
country, saw in Adam Nasibu a person seeking cheap
publicity by courting the government. All this
notwithstanding the action by the Bukoba Secretary
had very adverse effect on the entire society and
its leadership. Adam Nasibu was seen as the champion
of the people and a progressive Muslim leader who
the government could depend upon. The leadership at
the headquarters was seen as probably standing
aloof, not being in touch with sufferings of the
people and out of touch with the government policy.
But still EAMWS as a religious organisation could
not have come forward and support the Arusha
Declaration because to do so would have been
incompatible with the government policy. But still
EAMWS as a religious organisation could not have
come forward and support the Arusha Declaration
because to do so would have been incompatible with
the government hitherto unwritten law of not mixing
religion and politics. Remaining uncommitted to the
Arusha Declaration also was perceived as unpatriotic
giving an indication that the society was
unconcerned with the welfare and development of the
people of Tanzania. To complicate the issue further
the president of EAMWS, Tewa Saidi and his
vice-president Bibi Titi Mohamed were former cabinet
ministers who had lost power in previous general
elections. It was therefore perceived by the
government and party that being at the top hierarchy
of the EAMWS the two were trying to build a new
political base out of Muslims. Adam Nasibu had
managed a coup against the president of the EAMWS,
he had by his open overzealous patriotism proved to
the government that he could be a better servant to
the state than the seemingly decadent leadership at
the Dare Salaam headquarters.
On 17th
October 1968 Adam Nasibu was again on the limelight
but this time he was no longer a stranger to the
people. People now knew him as the partisan Bukoba
EAMWS Secretary who had supported the Arusha
Declaration and issued directives to other Muslim
leaders explaining the salient features of the
document. Adam Nasibu made an announcement through
the state radio and the party press that his region
was splitting from the EAMWS.19 Overnight
Adam Nasibu became a household name as the
mass-media of the party and government started to
build up his image and publicized what came to be
known as the Muslim’ crisis’. The Party dailies had
a field day:
"The state
radio and the Party press gave very wide publicity
to the defection. News headlines and front page
photographs depicting Mr. Nasibu busy with Pressmen
donned the Party dailies". 20
It was after
this announcement and the publicity by the
mass-media that Muslims in Tanzania came to realise
for the first time that they had a Muslim national
"crisis" in their hands. Five days later on 22nd
October, Sheikh Juma Jambia member of the Central
Committee of the EAMWS Tanga Region made a similar
announcement of withdrawing from the society.21
Soon after, Iringa also announced its withdrawal
from the EAMWS leadership at the headquarters in Dar
es Salaam. The leadership of the EAMWS at the
headquarters reacted immediately to these
withdrawals by calling a meeting of the executive to
discuss the new development in the society. The
mass-media facilities which were at the disposal of
the separatist group i.e., the Party newspapers and
the state-controlled radio were denied to the EAMWS
leadership. It was therefore clear from outset that
the government was taking sides on the "crisis" and
the state radio and Party newspapers were being used
by the government to subvert Muslims and the EAMWS.
Having known what opposition was against them the
EAMWS leadership at the headquarters became engulfed
with the atmosphere of insecurity and uncertainty,
the EAMWS executive turned to Muslims for support.
The
dissident group gave many reasons necessitating the
split from the EAMWS but the main ones were as
follows:
(i) The
constitution of the society snot fit compared with
the country’s leadership
(ii) The constitution should be Tanzanian
(iii) The Aga Khan should not be a patron
(iv) The Secretary General of the society should be
an African Muslim
(v) No one knows the money given as aid from outside
countries for the advancement of Muslims, not even
the sources.22
Islam has
own basic principles and laws which guides Muslims
in their every day life. The grievances given by the
dissident group could never constitute a crisis of
that magnitude, because some of those grievances
could be solved through sheer common sense and
goodwill. Others were undebatable because the basic
teachings of Islam had provided guidelines. The
issue of the constitution and aid were issues which
could be discussed and resolved in the appropriate
meetings. But questioning the multi-racial
composition of Muslim organisation was to deny the
universal message of Islam which cut across
nationalities. This is against the teachings of the
Holy Quran.
It was clear
that the splinter group being learned Muslims were
all aware of these teachings, and since they were
persisting on splitting from the society it was
obvious the over-zealous patriotism had a special
mission with the backing of the government to
fragment the unity of Muslims and hence weaken them
politically. However on 14th November
1968 the Tanzania Council of the EAMWS called a
conference in Dar es Salaam to discuss the "crisis".
The conference formed a seven-men commission of
inquiry to probe into the "crisis"
and come out
with a report. Mussa Kwikima, a lawyer by
profession, was elected secretary to the commission.
By then nine regions had withdrawn from the EAMWS
and the Party dailies had elevated the "crisis" into
a nation-wide public debate. The Party dailies were
diverging and publishing information of the society
with impunity inflaming an already volatile
situation.
In order for
the commission to work without prejudice it was
necessary to ask the government to stop immediately
the state controlled radio and the Party dailies
from being used by the dissident group as its
propaganda forum. The commission met the Minister of
Information and Broadcasting to discuss the issue in
his office on 20th November, 1968.23
This did not help matters. The propaganda machinery
against the EAMWS leadership 6everabated. The
dissident group with Adam Nasibu as the main
spokesman continued on ironically, transcending the
political ideals, of the the government and the
party by exerting political demands at times banking
on racism insisting on breaking the EAMWS. Adam
Nasibu was quoted by the Party daily "The
Nationalist" to have said that:
"Muslims
must know why the East African Muslims Welfare
Society should have a constitution which was in line
with the country’s policy. We do not know the role
of the Aga Khan in our society and that is why we
reject him."24
But most
suprising was the government unprecedented silence
on statements by the splinter group that it wanted
Muslims to align themselves with politics of the
country since it was clear and open to every
Tanzanian that politics should be divorced from
religion. All this notwithstanding what was unique
and unprecedented was the introduction of racism
into Tanzanian’s polity. It was strange that the
Party dailies were quoting and giving publicity to a
group of Muslim dissidents blaming Ismailis for not
being Africans. A decade ago the people of
Tanganyika, the very Muslims who formed the core of
TANU had fought tooth and nail against racist
policies of African National Congress of Zuberi
Mtemvu. Mtemvu was defeated and the end result was
that the independence government of Tanganyika was a
multi-racial government governing over a
multi-racial society free from any racial tension.
These new developments were not consistent with the
government policy.
At this
juncture the President of the EAMWS Tewa Saidi Tewa
and his Vice President Titi Mohamed decided to put
the problem before Mwalimu Julius Nyerere the
President of Tanzania and the Chairman of the ruling
party. Kiwanuka has described this meeting very
well:
"…the two
Islamic leaders told Mwalimu how unhappy they were
about the manner in which the state radio and the
Party Press had publicised the Islamic crisis. They
argued that TANU was mixing politics with religion.
Alerting him to this so-called press were no people
other than Mr. Tewa and Bibi Titi, old and reliable
comrades. Reliable in the sense that were it not
Bibi Titi, and who stood for Mwalimu during the
early TANU days, when Suleiman Takadir
- one
of the first TANU days, elders insinuated that TANU
was Christians as Mwalimu and Rupia, President and
Vice-President respectively then were Christians.
Herself, a devout Muslim, successfully won the day
by proving that Tanzania, or Tanganyika as it then
was, came first and Islam later. And now, there she
was
-
talking about the fuss she had ably thwarted in the
195s."
The reply
the two got from Mwalimu was thrilling. My informant
told me that it was straightforward. "You decided to
wage a war against me, so be prepared". 25
Here was
Mwalimu Nyerere himself telling Tewa Saidi and Bibi
Titi straight on their face to be prepared for what
was obvious, a crusade against Muslim unity. Sheikh
Suleiman Takadir had contemplated such a situation
and had proposed to TANU way back in 1958 to have
assurance that the Christian leadership that was
being brought into power at the expense of Muslims
would not act as a deterrent force against Muslims
in their efforts to share power with Christians in
post-independence Tanganyika. Tewa Saidi, a former
executive member of TANU, a founding member of TANU,
a minister in the first independence cabinet, a
former member of parliament, a former ambassador to
the People’s Republic of China and the President of
the Muslim Council of Tanzania EAMWS, together with
Bibi Titi Mohammed, the woman who mobilized all
women of Tanganyika behind Mwalimu Nyerere and TANU,
were being scolded by him like naughty school
children simply because they had come to ask the
President of a serious breach of principle which
required his urgent attention and immediate
decision.
In October,
the crisis took a dramatic turn when the
Vice-President of Tanzania Abeid Amani Karume
attacked the EAMWS as an organisation of
exploitation.26 From here Karume made a
series of attacks and allegations on the society, at
time attempting to analyse the relationship between
the EAMWS and Muslim community from a Marxian
philosophy arguing that the society "was an
instrument of the big bourgeoisie which was being
controlled by the capitalists who are exploiting he
common people.27 As the "crisis"
escalated the attacks shifted from the EAMWS to the
basic teachings of the Holy Quran. In a public rally
in Zanzibar Karume challenged any Muslim to come out
openly and fearlessly to oppose his two statements
that:
"There is no
difference between Islam and Christianity", and
"Fasting in Islam is not obligatory."28
1968 was a very trying period for Muslims.
By the first
week of December with 9 out of 17 regions out of the
EAMWS, the splinter group formed a committee and in
collaboration with the Maulid Committee of Dar es
Salaam which was under the chairmanship of Sheikh
Abdallah Chaurembo, convened a meeting of all
Muslims at the Arnautoglo Hall on 3rd
December 1968. Sheikh Abdallah Chaurembo was once a
student of Sheikh Hassan bin Amir and was under his
tutorial until 1961 when there arose a conflict
between the Sheikh and Sheikh Chaurembo on issues of
politics of Tanganyika. Because of that conflict
Sheikh Abdallah Chaurembo cut short his studies
under Sheikh Hassan bin Amir and became very much
involved in TANU politics to the extent that he was
consequently elected to the TANU National Executive
Committee. As long as Sheikh Hassan bin Amir was in
Dar es Salaam it was not possible for anyone to
assume national Muslim leadership in Tanzania less
so Sheikh Chaurembo. Sheikh Hassan bin Amir was
therefore arrested and deported to Zanzibar to pave
way for pro-government Muslim leadership. The
splinter group committee was a fusion of the
government backed Adam Nasibu (who was the secretary
of the committee) and party bureaucrats like Sheikh
Abdallah Chaurembo and Juma Suedi from Bukoba TANU
Branch and others who although not in the committee
were highly influenced by the anti Muslim politics
of the state. This committee announced a conference
which was to be known as Islamic National
Conference. The conference was o be held in Iringa
from l2th-lSth December 1968. The main agenda of the
conference was to discuss a constitution for a new
Muslim organisation.
Meanwhile
Muslim bureaucrats in the government completely
refused to assist the Kwikima Commission in any way
arguing that to do so was mixing religion and
politics. The splinter group also refused to meet
with Commission. Muslim scholars who could have
intervened in the crisis could not do so because
most of them were convinced that the splinter group
had a backing of the government and were under
instructions to wreck the EAMWS. The splinter group,
it turned out, was not interested in any compromise
short of forming another pro-government
organisation.29 More over there were
rumours also that "anyone who would take part in the
activities of society would be detained".30
Members of the Commission and other Muslims could
not easily ignore such threats.
The
Commission of Inquiry knew that the dissident group
on its own did not have the power nor the mandate to
break the EAMWS. Following the announcement by the
splinter committee of the Iringa conference, the
Commission made public its report on 11th
December
- a
day before the Iringa Conference was scheduled to
begin. The report addressed to all Muslims of
Tanzania called for a general conference of the
EAMWS in February the following year to discuss and
make a final ruling on the "crisis".31.
The meeting was later re-scheduled for January due
to the urgency of the "crisis" at hand. The Party
English daily "The Nationalist" after studying the
report of the commission decided to pick on the
financial report of the EAMWS and label it as
"incorrect".32 This was a calculated move
meant to portray the Muslim leadership of the
society as dishonesty. That very same week the Aga
Kahn who had been a point of attack by the splinter
group resigned his post in Paris as patron of the
society.33
While the
Commission was waiting for the response of its
report from the Muslim community the dissident group
now with open backing of the government and party
assembled in Iringa for the Islamic National
Conference on 13th December, 1968. The
government working behind the scene went out of its
way to make the conference a success. It financed
the conference, gave it publicity and provided
security for the delegates. The conference was
attended by Muslim Party and government bureaucrats,
Muslim Area and Regional Commissioners and Muslim
Areas and Party Chairmen. All Muslim notables were
invited including Party Chairmen. All Muslim
notables were invited including Party National
Executive Committee members and some delegates from
Zanzibar. It was literally a conference of Muslim
politicians. The most significant thing about the
conference was that first it was dominated by very
controversial Muslim personalities. Under normal
circumstances such an important congregation of
Muslims from Zanzibar and Mainland would have seen
in its midst renowned Muslims scholars who have a
history of commitment, sincerity and devotion to
Islam. None of these personalities was there with
the exception of Sheikh Mohamed Ramiya of Bagamoyo.
The conference was opened and closed by the First
Vice-President Karume and Second Vice President
Kawawa respectively. The conference passed a new
constitution which was a replica of the constitution
of the ruling party TANU, and a new Muslim
organisation
- the
National Muslim Council of Tanzania (BAKWATA) was
formed.
The new
Muslim organisation elected Salehe Masasi as the
National Chairman, Sheikh Abdallah Chaurembo -
Deputy National Chairman and Adam Nasibu - Secretary
General. All the top executive of the National
Muslim Council expected came from the dissident
group. This leadership asked the government, TANU
and Afro Shiraz Party "to keep a keen eye and make
serious investigation on all territorial leaders of
EAMWS especially the President, his Vice President,
their Secretary and some Regional and District
leaders who bore ill will to the new body".34
The leadership of the new Muslims organisation at
their hour of triumph did not extend a hand of
conciliation to fellow Muslims in the EAMWS
according to Islamic spirit, instead it asked the
Party and the government to persecute them,
particularly the top leadership. After the formation
of the National Muslim Council, in order to clear
the air and instill confidence to the Muslim
community the secretary of the commission Mussa
Kwikima issued a statement saying: "no one could
threaten the existence of the EAMWS except its
members, the law and the government, but not
individuals even if all 17 regions would not
automatically mean that the society was legally dead
since its existence was not determined by the number
of regions affiliated to it but by the number of its
members, the Muslims."35 At this point
the new organisation was not yet registered by the
Registrar of Societies, and on a legal point there
was no way that the dissident group could form a new
organization when it had objectives similar to those
of another society in existence. For about three
days the two Muslim organisations existed together
side by side. For a time it seemed as if the EAMWS
was going to wither the storm. Then on 19th
December, 1968 the government as if jolted by
Kwikima’s statement issued a Certificafe of
Exemption to the new organisation and banned the
EAMWS.36 The government issued a short
statement:
"The
Minister for Home Affairs has by command of the
President declared the Tanzania Branch of the East
African Muslim Welfare Society and Tanzania Council
of the East African Muslim Welfare Society to be
unlawful societies under the provisions of section
6(1) of the Societies Ordinance ".37
Muslims were
by that declaration of the President of Tanzania
denied the chance to discuss and make a final ruling
on the crisis which so to speak was a conflict among
Muslims. To ensure that Muslims complied with the
ban order the government put armed policemen outside
the offices of the society. It was in that manner
that the curtain of the EAMWS saga was lowered. A
saga which began with a simple school teacher
marching in a mass demonstration in the streets of
Bukoba in support of Mwalimu Julius Nyerere's Arusha
Declaration and ended with him holding a responsible
post in a weak and controversial Muslim
organisation. The school teacher now General
Secretary of the newly formed National Council of
Tanzania started his new job in style. In a
statement he made to the press on 19th
December, 1968 he said his organisation was similar
to the Christian Council of Tanzania.38
Since Muslims did not hold their meeting to
deliberate on the "crisis" we can only speculate the
outcome of that meeting had it been allowed to
convene. The Muslims of Bukoba who were reported to
have demonstrated behind the school teacher in
support of Arusha Declaration did not voice support
nor did they organise a mass demonstration in
support of the new organization. In Dar es Salaam
and in many places in Tanzania, the National Muslim
Council widely know by its Swahili acronym Bakwata
(Baraza Kuu Ia Waislamu Tanzania) is a word of
insult. To refer to a Muslim as a Bakwata member is
like calling a Christian
- a
disciple of Judas Iscariot who sold Jesus for 30
pieces of silver.
Of the
Commission of Inquiry one member of that Commission
deserve special mention - Mussa Kwikima. Mussa was a
young judge appointed by the President. He was to
very large extent because of his expertise the force
behind the commission. When he offered his services
to the EAMWS he was warned of the risk exposing to
himself and his career. Mussa Kwikima replied that
the threat facing Muslim unity was above his
personal interest. After the formation of Bakwata
and hence the end of the "crisis" Kwikima was
transferred from Dar es Salaam to Mwanza as a Senior
Resident Magistrate and his name was dropped from
the list of Judges appointed by the President.39
What
remained after the demise of the EAMWS was to try to
establish Bakwata in the regions as an organisation
representative of all Muslims of Tanzania Mainland.
The most part of 1969 Adam Nasibu and his four-men
committee toured the regions campaigning for
Bakwata’s acceptance by Muslims. The committee
offered personal financial assistance to any
Regional Secretary of the now defunct EAMWS who
would cooperate with the Bakwata headquarters in
establishing the new organisation in his region.
Muslim did not show any enthusiasm towards Bakwata.
In Tabora a region which did not withdraw from the
EAMWS, the committee was permitted by the government
to hold a public meeting. But before Adam Nasibu
could speak Maulidi Kivuruga
- a
veteran of the African Association, a founder member
of TANU in Tabora and now a respectable elder
politician took the floor and on behalf of the
Muslims of Tabora put up a condition that Muslims
were not ready to listen to the dissident group
unless Waikela, one of the members of the Commission
of Inquiry from Tabora was also allowed to address
the meeting. This was unacceptable condition to the
committee.
Few days
later Waikela was summoned by the Director of
Criminal Investigation for interrogation about his
political activities and about his opposition to
Bakwata. In a room at Tabora Hotel, Sawaya, the
Director of C.I.D. interrogated Waikela as to why he
was not ready to cooperate with the government in
establishing Bakwata in Tabora, at times threatening
him. Waikela was drilled for four hours and asked to
sign some papers which he did. Waikela was never to
hear from the government again. Despite the silent
resistance Bakwata has been established in Tabora
and in all regions of Tanzania.
Kiwanuka’s
thesis since published in 1987 has stood as a
conclusive authority to the Muslim "crisis".
Kiwanuka is of the opinion that the government was
right to do what it did to protect national unity.
Kiwanuka supports the government stand that religion
and politics should not be mixed. The two should be
separated. Like many works on political history of
Tanganyika the thesis fails to link the role of
Muslims in forging national unity in the struggle
for independence and hence fail to show the
pre-independence aspirations of Muslims of
Tanganyika. The work does not analyse how the
present Christian leadership rose to power and from
what background did it build its political base.
Kiwanuka simply introduces Muslims in confrontation
with the government and does not clearly show the
role of the state on the whole confrontation. If he
had researched on the political history of
Tanganyika he would have found the reasons for the
confrontation between Muslims and the Christian
dominated government of independent Tanganyika.
Further still he would have known the reasons why
the government wanted in earnest to have a Muslim
organisation which it could control just as it was
controlling other mass organisations like the trade
unions. If Muslims did not desire the unity of the
country they would have supported Sheikh Takadir in
1958 and AMNUT in 1959. What Muslims had asked after
independence was equal representation in government
coupled with equal educational opportunities, this
is not mixing religion and politics.
Christian
teachers supported by the Roman Catholic Church
challenged TANU Muslim candidates in local
government election in Bukoba in 1963 and the Muslim
candidates were defeated. No records exist which
show that the government took any action against the
Church as an institution or against individual
Christian candidates. But Muslims were detained
obviously for resisting Christian hegemony over the
Party. The Party National Executive Committee purged
the Muslim dominated Dar es Salaam Elders Council
from TANU for mixing religion with politics.
The Roman
Catholic Church in Bukoba lacked tactics and exposed
itself. The new forces against Islam used subtle
means and were able to subvert the EAMWS and imposed
its own organisation on Muslims. How can one explain
the fact that a government which had always been
against racial discrimination and worked for
national unity allow a group of not more than five
people to use the state mass media to propagate
disunity and racism. How can one explain the fact
that such an important body like the National
Muslims Council could be formed by and its top
leadership be in the hands of people considered
controversial in the Muslim Community. How possible
can Muslims initiate a body to propagate Islam
without having the support of Muslims themselves or
without having a single respectable Muslim scholar
on its entire leadership. Bakwata was not formed
with the interest of Muslims in mind. Bakwata was
imposed upon Muslims to subdue them as a political
force. The new leadership in the party and
government feared to face the future with Muslims
organising themselves independent of the central
authority.
As the
independence government showed no intention of
giving equal opportunity to Muslims on education
persisting to maintain the colonial status quo, it
was obvious that a second struggle would be launched
against the Christian dominated government as
Muslims did against the British Christian
administration. And there were indications that
Muslims were bracing themselves for the second
struggle and that struggle was not through TANU
because already a purge against them was underway.
The second struggle was to be through the unity of
all Muslims. This created a state of fear and the
government kept itself on perpetual guard against
such eventuality. Out of fear the government pounced
on any Muslim which it felt was a threat to its
authority. It is out of fear that even the history
of the country Is being erased. This is one of the
ways the government thinks it could stop evoking
past Muslim sentiments.
At the time
when the splinter group with state backing was
rejecting the Aga Khan from the EAMWS for being an
Ismaili Muslim no one pointed a finger to the
Christian establishments and administration in
Tanzania which are dominated and financed by
different foreign powers. No one pointed an accusing
finger to the Roman Catholic Church which has
diplomatic accreditation of the Pope in the country.
If the Aga Khan was a threat to the security of the
state then there was no serious threat than the
threat posed by all the Christian establishments in
the country. The Catholic Church demands total
allegiance from all its adherents, the Church moving
its members in important positions in the Cabinet,
the Party and in the Civil Service, could have posed
and caused government instability. By weakening
Muslims through the divide and rule tactics
Christians were being made stronger.
By 1970 the
furore of the Muslim "crisis" had died down. In that
year Mwalimu Nyerere attended a seminar for
religions and organised political leaders in Tabora
conveniently organised by the Tanzania Episcopal
Conference. In that seminar for the first time
Mwalimu publicly addressed himself to the issue of
TAN U’s religious identity. Mwalimu said: "Our
Party, the TANU, has no religion. It is just a
political party and there are no arrangements or
agreements with a particular religion".40
This statement can only mean one thing that is, TANU
had over the years lost its Muslim identity; because
TANU since 1954 had an identity and the political
history of the Party testifies to this. If in 1970
the party had lost its Muslim identity it means that
the Muslim influence and identity has been
successfully wiped out. This fact is confirmed by
Mwalimu’s own statement when he said:
"I have
established in TANU a department of political
education and I have put a Lutheran Minister in
charge. He was not a great politician, but I
selected him because of his balance, his gentleness
and his strong solid faith..."41 Mwalimu
has proved that it is one’s faith which determines
politics in Tanzania and TANU could not be a party
with no religion. Religious sentiments and
convictions are important since they determine
thoughts and actions which go a long way in the
administration of a country. Muslims have to wake up
to these realities and recapture their lost
political power.
THE AFTERMATH
The Party is
weak, it no longer commands respect, dignity and
enthusiasm it did in the days of yore. The Party has
alienated itself from its founders. The de-Islamisation
of the Party has gone full circle and its Muslim
history has been erased. Bakwata has sided with the
government thus failing to uphold Muslim values and
principles. As a reaction to this Muslims have
started to organise themselves independent of the
central authority. Tanzania Mainland has more than
100 Muslim youth organisations scattered throughout
the country. Few of these are registered with the
Registrar of Societies as required by law, a
majority operate without registration. Few of them
operate underground for effectiveness. The
government is reluctant to register Muslims
organisations because to do so is to erode the power
of Bakwata.
We cannot
talk of any Muslim development because the colonial
status quo still persists. The ratio of Muslim
joining higher institutions of learning trails
behind Christians 1:10. In desperation Muslims have
opened up their own schools but all of them are
poorly organised and equipped. The state look at
these school as centres of Muslim militancy and
agitation against the established system and are
therefore frustrated in many ways to discourage
their opening. Muslim organisations from outside the
country who want to help Muslims in Tanzania are met
with all kinds of hostility from other state
institutions to drive home to them that their
presence in the country is undesirable. These anti
Muslim campaigns have of late become so pronounced
to the extent that even the most liberal among
Muslims have become radicalised, so to speak and are
joining the movements. Muslim issues which few years
were unheard are now being discussed in camera in
the Party and state institutions. These are fruits
of underground movements which have conscientised
the few Muslims in positions of power and authority.
National salvation lies in justice to be done to
all. What has happened in other countries can easily
happen in Tanzania. There is still time to avoid
such a situation. All is well that ends well.
Source :
http://www.igs.net/~kassim/nyaraka/islam_and_politics_in_tz.html |