ISLAMIC SECTS COME TOGETHER

On January 31 believers from different sects of the Muslim religion celebrated Idd el-Haj together peacefully. This was described in the Guardian as a rare landmark occasion in the Muslim experience in Tanzania.
In his remarks on the occasion of Idd prayers held at the Mnazi Mmoja grounds in Dar es Salaam, Sheikh Mussa Kileo, of the Union of Muslim Councils in Tanzania, said he hoped that Muslim believers would continue to celebrate the big day together. There was no reason to bring in differences. A popular Muslim cleric, Sheikh Issa Ponda, said that one Idd for all Muslims was a milestone for every believer in the country. “We are glad that our fellow believers in the National Muslim Council of Tanzania (BAKWATA) have decided to re-join the Muslim world”.
Speaking later at the Idd Baraza organised by BAKWATA, Acting Chief Sheikh for the Dar es Salaam Region, Ali Ngeruka, appealed to the Government to endorse the establishment of the Chief Kadhi’s Office in the country. Sheikh Ngeruka made the appeal before the Vice President, Dr Ali Mohamed Shein, who was the guest of honour. He said that Muslims in the country urgently needed the Office to help them solve their social problems.

RELIGION

Recent developments:

AN-NUUR reported that Khadija Saidi, a Muslim woman had died of injuries sustained when police confronted a group of rioting Muslims at Furahisha grounds in Mwanza on September 8th and had been added to the list of Tanzanian shaheeds (Muslim martyrs who had died for their religion in Tanzania).

In another story AN-NUUR reported that Muslims were organizing themselves on what to do when the day of voting eventually came sometime in 2005. The paper quoted Tanzania Labour Party (TLP) chairman Augustine Mrema as saying that Muslims should unite and face the Government squarely ias the Iraqis and Afghans were doing to the Americans.

It is also reported that Sheikh Ali Abubakar, the Imam of the Aqsaa Mosque in Arusha, was attacked and injured critically in mid-November by colleagues who opposed his leadership. Machete-wielding Muslims fought pitched battles at the mosque forcing women and children to seek refuge at the Majengo Road police station.

Majira reported that on September 9 Mwanza police had used tear gas to disperse Muslims and Pentecostal Christians fighting for several hours over the right to use the Furahisha preaching ground in the city. One policeman was critically injured and one Muslim preacher was arrested for resisting police orders to stop the fighting. According to the paper, many residents were blaming the Mwanza authorities for giving the Christians a permit to use the Furahisha grounds knowing that the Muslims had a permit to use them.

At a public debate in Dar es Salaam recently under the heading ‘Reflection of Attitudes, Perceptions and Practices on Corporal Punishment’, it was stated that under the National Education Corporal Punishment Regulations (Control and Administration of Corporal Punishment in Schools), Act No. 25 of 1978, only six strokes, currently reduced to four, are to be administered to a student as a last resort, after all other means to rectify him/her have failed. One of the participants, Sheikh Hassan Chizenga, Secretary of the Council of Clerics (Ulamaa), from the Supreme Council of Tanzania Muslims (BAKWATA), said that Christianity and Islam condoned strokes as a means of deterring the child or any person from committing evils in society. He said western countries were being ruined because they had banned corporal punishment in schools and at family level and granted children the leeway to do whatever they wanted. European countries and the United States were doomed because of moral decay among their teenage boys and girls. “They kill, steal, commit adultery and disobey their parents, yet the law protects them,” he said. He warned that the same trend could happen in Tanzania if remedial steps were not taken. The Sheikh advised parents not to be harsh but, at the same time, not to be too Lenient -Guardian.

The Anglican Church of Tanzania has condemned the consecration of Rev. Canon Gene Robinson, a gay bishop in the Episcopal Church of the United States, saying that homosexuality was against the Word of God. In a statement published in the Guardian, the Church said that it did not recognize the Rev. Canon Robinson to be a bishop, nor would it recognise any homosexual person who might be consecrated in the future ….. the Anglican Church remained obedient to the Word of God and homosexuality was a sin.

MUSLIMS AND CHRISTIANS

Former President Ali Hassan Mwinyi recently advised Muslims not to use the Koran as a pretext for causing trouble, which ended up endangering the country’s peace and harmony. Closing a symposium for Muslim leaders on peace, unity and development he called on Muslim youth to learn the true meaning of the verses of the Koran which would help them avert misunderstandings between them and followers of other religions. Mwinyi attributed turmoil in Muslim populated areas to the preaching of violence by some Muslim leaders -Nipashe.

The Muslim organisation BAKWATA has complained about the rapidly mushrooming bars, alcohol selling outlets and brothels in Dar Es Salaam and has advised its leader, Chief Sheikh Mufti Issa Shaaban bin Simba, to ask the Government to deal with the situation. -Mwananchi.

Muslim activists staged a demonstration in Dar Es Salaam in late June and marched through the streets demanding that the US ‘leaves Tanzania alone and not make it its colony’. The activists failed to breach security force barriers on their way to the US embassy. They were protesting against the detention by security agents of certain Muslim leaders and carried placards conveying messages such as ‘Murder, robbery and deception is the American way’, ‘Afghanistan, Iraq and now Tanzania’ ‘Are terrorists Muslims only?’ and ‘The President of Tanzania is like Bush’ -Mwananchi.

Muslims in Morogoro are showing signs of division. There are said to be two groups -a moderate group led by the Regional Bakwata Imam, Omar Bafadhil and a radical group led by the Morogoro District Imam, Sheikh Mohamed Kairo, who favours anti-Government preaching in mosques. Sheikh Bafadhil is reported to be irritated by a group of radicals turning the mosque into a political platform with radical imams from Dar Es Salaam preaching anti-Government sentiments and advocating violence against non­Moslems -An Nuur.

In Zanzibar the Government is said to be looking into the possibility of removing all alcohol selling centres and bars from residential areas -An Nuur.

Beauty contests are under fire again in Tanzanian religious circles. The Observer (August 10) interviewed several people: “The government, being the custodian of peace, tranquillity and integrity of the country, has a moral responsibility to safeguard the cultural and religious sentiments of her people, who mandated it to power, otherwise it is betraying them,” said Abdulrahman Kungo, an outspoken Muslim. He pointed out that beauty contests destroyed the moral integrity of teenage boys and girls …… ” Beauty contests are tantamount to rebuking God’s creation. No human being can say a particular girl is better or more beautiful than another.” Mary Kessy, of the Tanzania Women Lawyers Association (TAWLA), said that beauty contests should be stopped; the Government should first ban dresses worn nowadays by most teenage girls which exposed their bodies, contrary to the norms and traditions of the nation. …. Beauty contests exposed the behaviour, nakedness and body structure of a particular lady, which is a shameful act to all of us, she said. The Auxiliary Bishop of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Dar es Salaam, Methodius Kilaini, said that the Church was studying carefully the bad effects of beauty contests and to what extent these activities were destroying the behaviour of teenagers in the country and going against religious ethics.

In his response, the Executive Secretary of the National Arts Council, Eliewaha Challi, dissociated himself from beauty contest organisers for putting the profession into disrepute when they allowed prostitution to be committed by aspirants. He said “All beauty contests sanctioned by the National Arts Council are regulated and do not allow aspirants to show their nakedness; anybody found flouting these regulations is rebuked, and or suspended.”

Muslims in Dar Es Salaam erected a fence around the Karume cemetery in a bid to bar Ilala Municipal Council workers from digging up the graves and relocating them to Segerea, 15 kms from the city. The Muslims claimed that it was against their faith to dig up graves for unimportant reasons. A 100­man squad was then left guarding the cemetery to keep at bay any Ilala municipal workers who might wish to continue with the relocation of the graves. Speaking to journalists at the site, the Secretary of a Muslim Rights committee, Sheikh Ponda Issa Ponda, who was quoted in Mtanzania said the Ilala Municipality was not certain on what exactly was to be built at the other area which made the move a farce. He said there were many areas in the city that could be used to erect whatever the municipality wanted to build instead of disturbing eternally resting Muslims. On August 15 Ilala District Commissioner Captain Seif Mpembenwe said that Muslim activists camped at Karume cemetery would be removed by force because they had failed to heed a court order by the Ilala District court requiring them to do so. In a related story the activists warned against anyone setting foot on the cemetery saying stern measures would be taken against them. In yet another related story Dar Es Salaam residents of Manyema descent from Kigoma and the Congo have come forward to claim the cemetery as theirs and criticised the Government for acting without consulting them.

Fears of a split in the Catholic Church in Tanzania have grown amid reports that a fundamentalist group preaching contrary to the beliefs of many has defied Cardinal Polycarp Pengo’s orders to stop such preaching. The rebellious group calling itself Karismatiki is said to preach contrary to the beliefs of the Catholic Church that Mary is the Mother of God and that the Holy Ghost really exists. Cardinal Pengo repeated his orders for the group to stop the unholy preaching that turned it into fundamentalism -Majira.

TENSIONS AMONGST RELIGIOUS COMMUNITIES

Most observers of the religious scene in Tanzania agree that relations between Muslims and followers of other religions are generally good. But, perhaps reflecting conflicts with a religious element in other parts of the world, Tanzanian Muslims are showing increasing signs of unhappiness both within their own ranks and against Christians in the belief that Christians are better treated in Tanzania.

There have been several minor incidents during recent weeks: On February 26 the Chief Sheikh of the Parley of Clerics of Zanzibar blamed the Zanzibar government and in particular the newly-created Office of the Mufti for denying Muslims their constitutional right of freedom of worship. The Chief Sheikh said that the two recent incidents in which the police had used force against Muslims peacefully marching, one during the Eid el Hajj and the other on February 21, provided proof beyond doubt that the Government had created the Mufti’s office to intimidate Muslims. “We can’t see any point in having this Mufti office” he said. The constitution gave people the right to gather and preach.

Meanwhile Zanzibar Attorney-General Hassan Iddi Pandu Hassan reminded people that The Mufti (Constitution and Powers) Act of 2001, which was enacted to control foreign religious groups intending to disrupt peace and tranquility, must be followed to the letter. He said that members of religious groups from Pakistan and Afghanistan had been to Zanzibar and were sleeping in mosques. This could adversely affect the security of the nation.

The Guardian reported on February 18 that some people had been injured after being shot by members of the Field Force unit in Zanzibar; several people had broken into bars and wine shops and burnt government vehicles. 20 people later appeared in court over the disturbances and the loss of property.

On March 14 the Guardian reported that the Court of Appeal had quashed the conviction and set aside a sentence of 18 months’ imprisonment on Hamis Dibagula for uttering words with the intent to wound religious feelings at a religious meeting. In a 25­page judgment, the judges pointed out that the prosecution had to prove that the appellant had a deliberate intention to wound the religious feelings of those within hearing range. When the appellant told his audience that ‘Jesus Christ was not the Son of God’ he was doing no more than preaching his religion. They quoted several Surahs (Chapters) from the Koran, one of which said that ‘Christ the Son of Mary’ was no more than a messenger. The question was a purely religious one and therefore could not fall for determination by a court of law. The judges concluded by saying that religious intolerance had launched many wars and caused endless streams of blood. Religious intolerance was a device which must not be permitted to find a place in the hearts of our people.

HOMOSEXUALS
On March 15 some hundreds of Muslims demonstrated in Dar es Salaam against the proposed visit to Tanzanian tourist centres and game parks by a group of 100 American homosexuals. The Muslims chanted insults at the Government, BAKWATA and the ruling CCM party and threatened violence against motorists and bystanders.

At a symposium shortly afterwards to commemorate the Moslem New Year 1424 Al Hijiriyyah in Dar es Salaam, Moslem scholars, teachers, students and Imams began to make plans on the best way to combat homosexuality in Tanzania.

According to An-Nuur, a new Swahili newspaper in Zanzibar, tourist hotels in Arusha had been warned not to accommodate the gays from America.

The Sunday Observer (March 2) quoted a prominent Tanzanian clergyman as announcing that he also would organise a protest march over this planned visit. The paper’s editorial stated that homosexuality was a taboo practice in Tanzania and that whoever regarded homosexuality as un-Tanzanian could do so without fear of contradiction. ‘It is disturbing however’, the article went on ‘that no concerted battle is being waged against homosexuals.’ The Zanzibar Government, but not the Union Government, outlawed the proposed tour, which was cancelled before it began. Zanzibar Industries, Commerce and Tourism Minister Mohamed Aboud told Majira that the Government would not allow the gays to tour Zanzibar because they were not ‘normal’ people.

Nipashe quoted the Full Gospel Bible Fellowship Bishop Zakaria Kakobe as threatening to organise a massive demonstration against the proposed tour.
Pope John Paul’s representative in Tanzania, Michae1 Fitzgera1d, has called upon people not to regard every Muslim as a terrorist and instead to take steps to harmonise relations between Muslims and Christians. He was talking to the head of the Muslim Council, BAKWATA, Chief Sheikh Issa bin Shabaan Simba.

Fourteen Sheikhs, Imams and religious teachers underwent voluntary HIV testing early in the year. They were praised by health officials for ‘leading by example’. The leaders said that they had taken the tests in the hope that their followers would follow suit. However, they added that they would never condone the use of condoms.

A NEW CHIEF MUFTI

Muslim agitation against what many believers consider to be government bias against Muslims has been relatively subdued in recent months as politically active believers concentrated on the election of a new Chief Mufti (Chief Sheikh) of Tanzania on October 13. Eventually, at a National Conference of the Muslim Council (BAKWATA), Sheikh Issa Shabaan Simba, who was Deputy Mufti, was elected Chief Mufti. Of the 150 ballots cast he got 71, defeating 11 rivals. The atmosphere was tense and the conference hall surrounded by security officials and riot police on the day of the election which was marred by accusations and counter accusations. There was an anonymous document alleging that Simba was not qualified because he had mismanaged BAKWATA funds. The election of the Mufti had been unsuccessfully challenged in the High Court by the Islamic Club, the Mosque Council (BAMITA) and the Muslim Associations who all said that he had no constitutional right to represent Muslims.

The Muslim activist Sheikh Ponda, Chairman of the ‘Committee of Imams’ and seven of his colleagues who were facing murder charges were released on 19th August according to Nipashe. The Director of Public Prosecutions dropped the charges. The Sheikh had been arrested a day after riots that took place in Dar es Salaam on February 13, 2002, leaving a civilian and a constable dead. Sheikh Ponda later stated that he was going to sue the Government for the pain he had suffered while in detention for more than six months. Seven Muslim organisations promised to support his case -Mwananchi

HARMONY
British High Commissioner Richard Clarke has commended the religious harmony that prevails among Muslim and Christian communities in both Britain and Tanzania. He was speaking after handing over a newly constructed laboratory, library and computer rooms donated by ‘Muslim Aid of the UK’ to the Twayibat Islamiya Secondary school in Temeke District. The school was described in the Guardian as a co-educational Muslim seminary. It was inaugurated in 1995 by former President Mwinyi as a Madrasa.

MUSLIM MILITANCY ON THE INCREASE

Following fighting between two rival Muslim factions at the Mwembechai mosque in Dar es Salaam on 14th February, riot police used tear gas canisters and live bullets to disperse groups of youths who were hurling stones at them in streets around the mosque. One policeman and one civilian were killed and 53 persons were arrested. Prime Frederick Sumaye had his car stoned. Many recent incidents are understood to be caused by power struggles between young radicals and older conservative elements to control the mosques. In Zanzibar a number of small explosions have been directed at bars and guest houses selling alcohol. The police banned a march planned for April 11 by a new, unregistered, splinter group, the ‘Islamic Union Institution’ which was aimed at freeing those arrested for the killing of the policeman.

Mwananchi reported that the High Court had warned Muslims against marching to demand release of leaders charged with murder. The Registrar of the High Court said that such demonstrations contravened section 107 A (1) of the constitution. He said a murder case was not bailable and so there should be no outside pressure.

In an attempt to restore calm the Mosques Council of Tanzania (BAMITA) has called on Muslims in each mosque to elect autonomous committees of believers, so as to reduce conflicts and invasion by non-believers. The Council underscored the importance of the office of Chief Kadh which was designed to assist in providing the government with Islamic legal advice as well as to protect the rights of people.

Meanwhile, President Karume has assented to a Bill allowing for the establishment of a Mufti’s office in Zanzibar. The duties of the Mufti will be to promote Islam and remove misunderstandings said to be existing in the Muslim community. He will have the power to impose fines or prison sentences on Muslims who go against his directives and also the power to issue permits and sanction religious seminars as well as keeping the records of the mosques.

THE FIVE-YEAR OLD TANZANIAN 'MESSIAH'

Hailed as a ‘Gift from God’ a five-year old Tanzanian boy, Sheikh Sharifu, who was described in the London ‘Sunday Times’ (quoting the Tanzanian Swahili newspaper Majira) as having ‘a cherubic face, a falsetto voice and an uncanny ability to recite religious verse’ has been visiting West Africa. Describing his appearance in mid-May before 60,000 people at the National Stadium in Dakar under the heading ‘Paroles de grand, gestes de petit’ the Senegalese newspaper ‘Le Soleil’ wrote about this ‘young protege, from far away Tanzania’, about his ‘assurance deconcertante’ and how the vast crowd had left the gathering ‘visibly convinced’. He was said to have been dressed in a ‘basin mauve surmonter d’une djellaba noire, la tete couverte par une cheche rouge et d ‘un turban rouge et blanc’. His arrival at the stadium was heralded by sirens and loud salvoes of Allahou Akbar. So that he could be better seen by the vast crowd the boy stood on a gold-leafed throne.

Young Sheikh Sharifu has also been taking other parts of the African continent by storm. In the Sunday Times article it was said that he had been preaching to enthralled Muslims in 14 African countries altogether and to have been received by Colonel Gadaffi and the heads of state of Senegal, the Gambia and Benin. The head of a Senegalese Islamic Foundation that sponsored the visit said that “he wasn’t a prophet in the traditional sense but his arrival in Senegal offered us a different face of Islam: the face of an angel who comforts our faith”. In Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire, according to the Sunday Times, he was presented with a new BMW car.

But a few days after these events, it was noted that he made several mistakes in reciting the Koran and gave the impression of having learnt the verse by rote rather than through divine inspiration as his uncle Wazir, with whom he was travelling, claimed. As he was leaving for New York, where he was scheduled to preach at the Malcolm X Mosque in Manhattan, he and his uncle seem to have disappeared. The boy is suspected of having become what the Sunday Times described as ‘the possible victim of a tawdry millennial scam that has embarrassed several high ranking Imams and left: countless African believers mourning the death of a dream’. In Dakar there were calls for the Chief Imam and the Director of National Television to resign. There was talk of Senegalese being ‘taken for a ride’ by an unscrupulous Tanzanian. (Thank you Liz Fennell in London and Badou Diop in Dakar for sending this information -Editor).

THIRTY YEARS – TWELVE SERMONS – FIVE YEARS

It was thirty years since I had been a priest in the Diocese of Zanzibar in the twilight years of missionary direction. They had not been fruitful years for me; nobody had worked out what to do with the last of the new missionaries in the parishes, and I was glad to be moved to a theological college where I knew, and everyone else knew what I was supposed to be doing.

I went back last year to research a book; I was there for five weeks during which I preached twelve times, at first haltingly, then more easily as the language came back. It was hot, it was tiring, it was disorienting. I learned to avoid the people who wanted to answer my questions, and to listen to those who did not. And I reached conclusions which I checked with others, and with the literature, and discovered I was in agreement with the experts. Which was reassuring, for five weeks is not a long time.

So, what did I discover? After my first day I remarked that there was more sense of order. I was inclined to say that people were more intelligent, but mental alertness may be the best way to put it. Which I should have expected; in my day only 14%of children had any schooling at all and this had risen to eighty-five percent.

HOP SCOTCH
The second astonishing discovery was to see children playing games. Complicated games. Sometimes with complicated home-made toys, the boys particularly delighting in handmade toy cars which could be steered with long sticks. And the girls playing hop-scotch. Are hop-scotch squares the key to everything? (No, I am sorry, hop-scotch is not Scotland’s contribution to world progress; ‘scotch’ is a form of ‘scratch’). It was only after my return that I discovered that children’s games scarcely existed in Britain before the industrial revolution. Children helped their parents; they did not play with one another. But once they played with one another, they learned the ways of the whole world, and their own worlds widened.

WOMEN WEARING GLASSES
And the third discovery came a few days after my arrival when I started to preach to a packed church, a vast and untypical stone building dating from German colonial days, which I remembered as having been three-quarters empty. What was different? And it dawned on me; women wearing glasses. These used to be rare enough amongst men but the idea of glasses for women! I had already noted that people were better dressed, and better fed, and of course there were many more of them, but it took longer for me to realise that women had made more strides than had men. In all fields of life.

QUIET PRIDE
As I listened, I began to get some idea of how people regarded themselves and the world. First, there was a good deal of quiet pride in what had been done since independence. Tanzania was a ‘haven of peace’, and the name of the capital, Dar-es-Salaam, means just that. There had been political stability, and a degree of democracy – imperfect democracy, but government generally responsive to popular will. Compared with the neighbouring countries – Zaire, Uganda, Rwanda, they have been fortunate. And they also consider themselves more fortunate than people in Britain. There is a religious view that the west is largely lost to Christ and lost to decency, and this has, surprisingly, been accepted by many Africans. I was forced to argue that churches in Europe were not in as bad shape as we supposed. I had great difficulty in conveying my conviction that young people were good-natured, open to spiritual influences, and with a strong moral sense, even if not quite that of the church. And I began to wonder if my hosts did not regard, and want to regard, Africa as the Christian heartland, replacing a Europe and an America which had fallen by the wayside.

CHRISTIANS AND MUSLIMS
And now the church. It was not as different from early days as I expected. Except that things worked better. There was less inertia, more drive, as there was in the country generally. And there were more people in church. The national population was four times what it had been thirty years earlier, but Christian growth in Africa far outstrips population growth. It is estimated that these Christians have multiplied from 25 to 100 million from 1950 to 1975, and may well number 200 million today. But in a mainly Islamic area such as coastal Tanzania there were not the mass movements seen elsewhere. There are some converts from Islam, and whole villages have turned from Islam, but Islam is still a strong force. And many Christians are very worried about Islam and ask if there is not a central plan by Muslims to take over the world. I tried to suggest that Muslims the world over are aware that Muslim states are generally not very successful, and they tend to get over-sensitive because they feel that Christians, for their part, are more united than they seem to be and want to take over the world, and that this leads to extremist movements and statements. But Muslims and Christians generally try to get on in Tanzania.

WORSHIP
The worship differs from early days, just as it does here. The old Zanzibar liturgy has given way to a ‘Provincial’ liturgy~ this is like shifting from English Missal to 1982 Blue Book, though propers from the old are sometimes inserted into the new, and the old is still used for requiems. Of course some bemoan the changes, and some think they came too late, but that is much as it is here. But there are also , revival’ meetings, and gospel songs inserted into the more formal worship – some being translations from the English which completely disregard the rules of Swahili grammar. All this is attributed to invasions by American groups, mostly Pentecostal twenty years ago. They swept up what are described as the ‘nominal Christians’ (did anyone ask what the Anglican church lacked which made them nominal?) so the Anglicans responded by putting on revival services and songs in order to win these back, which, on the whole, succeeded.

When I went to Africa in 1959 the consecration of Africans to the episcopate was consigned to the remote future. Then came independence, and virtually all bishops were African. Since then there must have been a good thousand – Roman, Anglican, Lutheran, other. About 100 have been removed from office for various offences or have just failed to prove up to the job – this is about the same proportion as missionary bishops from Europe and about the same as bishops anywhere else. Looking back, Africans could have, and should have, been permitted to take control much earlier. That they were not so permitted was due to more than just race; it is within living memory that British bishops were still sought for dioceses in some of the white dominions.

A SORT OF BOTTLED JOHN THE BAPTIST
Finally, the trappings of Americanism are everywhere. Soft drinks, of all things. abound in a subsistence economy. But Coca-Cola, which nobody needs, is a symbol of a way of life which everybody wants. And if it precedes Christianity, it becomes a sort of bottled John the Baptist. which will trouble some people who think Africans should be Africans, and that means no Coca-Cola, no electric altar candles, no American music. But the ‘ old’ Africa was based on imported seeds – maize and cassava – and Africa received from other continents as it gave to other continents. And with the coming of transistor radios and the sight of the Echo Sounding Balloon in the night sky (as startling to an agricultural people as the Star of Bethlehem and leading in the same direction), the move to westernisation was accelerated. Of course there will be an African style in all this, but Africans are very much a part of world society. And they are more like other peoples in the world than is generally realised.
The Rev’d Gavin White

(from an article in the Scottish Episcopal Church Review – Winter-Spring 1995)

RELIGION

The latest developments in the religious differences reported in Bulletin No 45 are as follows:

– followers of the Mount Meru Lutheran Diocese in Arusha have finally agreed with the Government’s decision to disband the rebel Diocese in order to sustain peace in the area;

– the trial of 16 Muslim fundamentalists allegedly involved in the destruction of pork shops (Bulletin 45) continues.

– addressing crowds at the unveiling of a cross to commemorate the 125 years since the first Roman Catholic missionaries stepped ashore at Bagamoyo, Home Affairs Minister Augustine Mrema said he gave ‘religious divisive elements’ (Muslim fundamentalists) seven days to stop or the police would deal with them.

– ‘Africa Events’ protested (June 1993) that such government actions sidestepped the underlying issue. Muslims claimed that they had been marginalised. A 1983 study had stated that 78% of secondary school students were Christians. At the University another study indicated that from 1986 to 1990 only 13% of students had been Muslims compared with 86% Christians. The present Cabinet had only 8 Muslim Ministers out of 24. The article did not mention that the head of state is a Muslim. It went on to point out that twenty out of 24 Principal Secretaries were Christians.

The rearing of pigs and selling of pork in residential areas was unheard of in the past. Nowadays pigs moved about freely in mixed residential areas. Why had the Government not taken to court persons involved in the Mount Meru Lutheran religious crisis where people had been killed? The Government was wrong to use the big stick of witch-hunting, court actions, restrictions on (Muslim) clerics I freedom of speech …… (The above information comes form a variety of media sources and individuals in Tanzania and Britain Editor).

RELIGION

Recent newspaper headlines about religious issues

As in the case of so many troublesome things in Tanzania these days it all began in Zanzibar. Tension between Christians and Muslims is nothing new in Tanzania. It had been building up for some time but Zanzibar’s unilateral act in joining the ‘organisation of Islamic Conference’ (OIC) without prior consultation with the mainland part of the united Republic created a storm, soon fanned by the very free Tanzanian press, a number of Christian leaders, the Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly, many angry Members of Parliament, and, according to one rumour, at least one Western embassy.

Zanzibar’s membership of the OIC was said to have breached the Tanzanian constitution because, firstly, the country is a secular state and should not be part of an international organisation based on religion and, secondly, because it was done unilaterally in what was described as a secretive way.

THE MARMO COMMITTEE
Members of Parliament demanded an enquiry into the matter and a ‘Parliamentary Constitutional and Legal Affairs Committee’ was set up under the Chairmanship of Philip Marmo MP to examine whether the constitution had been breached by Zanzibar’s membership of the OIC and also by President Mwinyi who may have connived in it or at least failed to prevent it. Fire was added to the flames when the 12-person Committee came out with a forceful report, described by some, as one of the most direct results of Tanzania’s new policy of openness and frankness.

The report stated that Zanzibar’s membership of the IOC violated articles of the Union constitution and that Zanzibar should be directed to withdraw immediately from the OIC and those responsible for the move (assumed to be the President of Zanzibar and the Chief Minister) should be asked to resign; two other Zanzibar ministers, who had refused to appear before the Committee, should be punished. The report of the Committee said that Zanzibar had been admitted to the OIC only after receiving written assurances from the Tanzanian Embassy in Saudi Arabia but that the assurances given had not been authorised by Dar es Salaam. President Mwinyi, himself a Zanzibari, was not mentioned by name but appeared to be so by implication as he had earlier defended Zanzibar’s action by arguing that the OIC was not an organisation of Islamic states; many of its African members had Christian Presidents (e.g.: Uganda, Cameroon, Guinea, Burkina Faso) and some even had Christian majorities in the population. But the Marmo report said that the issue was not ambiguous – foreign affairs was under the jurisdiction of the union Government.

PARLIAMENT’S DECISION
After what was described in the Daily News as a heated and at times emotional debate in Parliament a motion from the Attorney General was passed by 186 votes against 23. It stated, inter alia, that ‘This House:

– congratulates the Parliamentary Committee for the good job it did in a very short time;
– agrees that Zanzibar joined the DIC, which is an international institution dealing, among other things, with economic and social development issues and that it did so as stipulated in the Zanzibar constitution of 1984 …;
– accepts that some sections of the constitutions of the united Republic (1977) and Zanzibar (1984) conflict with each other;
– advises that the Union Government in collaboration with the Revolutionary Government of Zanzibar should resolve the issue by reviewing the two constitutions with the objective of removing the conflicts between them … and that the work should be completed in not less than twelve months;
– where it has been established that some leaders … misbehaved then the government should look into the issue and take the necessary legal steps … ‘

In the meantime, the Supreme Council of Tanzania Muslims, ‘Baraza Kuu la Waislamu Tanzania’ (BAKWATA) filed a petition with the National Assembly requesting the MP’s also to investigate the long standing diplomatic relations between Tanzania and the Vatican.

SEDITIOUS PREACHINGS
The Family Mirror then quoted the Daily News as having said that in Dar es Salaam seditious preachings, masterminded by Muslim fundamentalists, were urging Muslims to prepare for ‘Jihad’ (religious war) and were advising Muslims to burn CCM (the ruling Party) membership cards and to vote for a Muslim President in the 1995 general elections. Cassettes criticising Christians were said to be circulating in Dar es Salaam.

There followed responses from Christian groups. Reacting to a statement from the Catholic Church (supported by the Evangelical Lutheran Church) whose bishops had complained about government inaction when certain groups were ‘openly moving around preaching contempt and blasphemy against the Christian faith’, President Mwinyi summoned Christian bishops to State House for consultations. He promised to react to their concerns. The Tanzania Episcopal Conference had also earlier criticised the government for its silence in the face of ‘continued scandalisation of the Christian faith’.

Meanwhile, the long standing dispute between the splinter group (Bulletin No 42 of May 1992) Mount Meru Diocese of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Tanzania (claiming 84,000 followers) was declaring that its adversary, the Meru Diocese (which it claimed had only 2,500 followers) was ‘an ice block which would melt in the sun’ according to the Family Mirror (January 1993 Issue). The Lutheran bishops have been opposing strongly the establishment of the breakaway Mount Meru Diocese and strenuous efforts have been made to bring about reconciliation. The government felt it necessary to intervene: Minister of Home Affairs and (now) Deputy Prime Minister Augustine Mrema held meetings throughout Meru and said that everyone wanted to have only one diocese. Unless the people of Meru made it clear that they wanted more than one, the government would enforce an agreement which had been reached between the 19 Lutheran parishes in Meru. An indication that the problem had not been resolved, however, was the reported arrest of 18 people, two of whom had been been convicted in connection with violence related to the issue.

A similar religious dispute has been reported from Kyela where 22 persons have been arrested on a charge of attempted murder related to a religious conflict in the Moravian Church. The accused are alleged to have set fire to nine houses as part of their demand for a diocese separate from the Rungwe headquarters of the church.

Adding to the religious ferment in Dar es Salaam has been the visit of the German Pentecostal Evangelist Reinhardt Bonnke who, according to the BBC, which intends to present a television documentary about him later this year, attracted a crowd of 100,000 people during his Dar es Salaam crusade.

RECONCILIATION
In February the Business Times reported that representatives of various faiths – Hindu, Muslim, Christian, Bahai (which sponsored the gathering) and Zoroastrian had come together in Dar es Salaam and proposed the setting up of an ‘Inter-Religious Association (IRA) to promote fellowship amongst different religions. After all they, agreed, ‘all people worship and believe in God as the universal creator; all believe in the brotherhood of man: every religion teaches a code of ethics and moral values’.

BUTCHERS SHOPS ATTACKED
However, angry religious expression amongst a small group in Dar es Salaam continued. The next event was on April 9th when a group of Muslim fundamentalists stoned and demolished three pork butcheries in Dar es Salaam. Thirteen people were subsequently arrested and Deputy Prime Minister Mrema said that the attacks had been the work of a group of externally financed persons. Another 13 people were arrested during a protest march about the arrest of their colleagues. The protesters were carrying a red and white flag with the slogan ‘Muslims are ready to die in defence of their fellow Muslims. Help us God’.

A few days later Sheikh Yahya Hussein, leader of the extremist Koran Reading Development Council (BALUKTA), who had admitted that the people who had destroyed the butcheries were his followers, was also detained.

Chief Sheikh Hemed bin Juma bin Hemed and the Muslim Council of Tanzania (BAKWATA) gave their full support to the government’s action saying that Tanzania was a secular state: they advised Muslims to maintain peace and stability. Tension increased further on April 22nd when police used tear gas to disperse about 100 people trying to make their way to the courtroom where now 36 Muslims were being charged with illegal demonstration and destruction of property. They were refused bail.

BALUKTA STRUCK OFF LIST

As this Bulletin goes to press the Daily News (April 29 1993) reported that the Government had struck BALUKTA off the Register of Religious Societies for engaging in activities other than those for which it was registered. Minister of Home Affairs Augustine Mrema, addressing a meeting of religious leaders at the Diamond Jubilee Hall, said that since 1988 BALUKTA had been undertaking activities such as marriages which were the responsibility of BAKWATA. Mr Mrema called on BAKWATA to set up its own Koran reading section to replace that of BALUKTA. He also said that anyone in possession of seditious tapes recorded by BALUKTA should surrender them or face prosecution. In future, the Minister said, any religious sect wanting to be registered would have to have the blessing of BAKWATA for Muslims and the Christian Council of Tanzania (CCT) for Christians. The meeting ended with religious leaders present shaking hands. However, several Muslim fundamentalists refused outright to shake hands with anyone including their fellow Muslims.