Muslims in Zimbabwe: origins, composition and current strength(2)

Institute of Muslim Minority Affairs. Joual

Muslims in Zimbabwe: origins, composition and current strength

Ephraim C. Mandivenga a

a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Religious Studies, Classics and Philosophy , University of Zimbabwe , Harare

Published online: 21 Mar 2007.

Indo-Pakistani Muslims

Apart from Malawian Muslims in Zimbabwe the largest single group of practicing Muslims comprises Indo-Pakistanis. The Indians came from the Gujarat cultural region of Weste India. They are Sunni Muslims who belong to the Hanafi school. There are no Shiites in Zimbabwe or, indeed, in Central Africa generally. Pakistanis are also Sunni, and their school is Hanafi.

Most Indo-Pakistanis started migrating to what was Southe Rhodesia from the tu of the century, especially after 1920. Many of them have direct ties of kinship, friendship or personal history with others in East or South Africa who encouraged and assisted them financially to migrate to this country.10

The links may be attributed to the fact that Indians settled in East and South Africa prior to their migrating to Central Africa. Like other Indians in Central Africa.Zimbabwean ones speak Gujarati and are fluent in English, especially the men. From the tu of this century, when they began to trickle into Zim- babwe, Indians in general tended to leave their motherland for other Britishheld territories in response to economic opportunities created by colonizing Europeans. The ones who came to Zimbabwe were really a branch of those who went to South Africa. They were encouraged to migrate by the British who wanted them to be a "buffer" between themselves and the Africans.

They played a part in trade early in the country's history. At present they are engaged mainly in the retail business. From the 1920s onwards they competed strongly with the Europeans for control of the growing economy and the threat they posed was acutely felt and vigorously resisted by the European settlers who were for the most part British. As early as 1901 there were 1,000 Asians, mainly Indians, and about 11,000 Europeans, largely British. Today there are at least 200,000 Europeans and about 20,000 Indians, half of whom are Muslims. The other fifty percent are Hindus.

Indo-Pakistani Muslims flourish in the main towns where they have established mosques and madrasas. At least two thirds of the Indians are in Harare and Bulawayo alone. They have played an important part in helping Malawian Muslims to establish their own mosques and madrasas. And, as we saw earlier, they are introducing the Varemba people to Islam with prodigious zeal. For instance, they recently established the Chinyika Islamic Centre in the Gutu District, which will serve as a prayer-hall and a madrasa. A Malawian Alim resident at the centre is responsible for teaching the Varemba the history and doctrine of Islam.

Since they are educationally and economically more advanced than the African Muslims, Indian Muslims constitute a religio-cultural aristocracy that leads the Ummah in Zimbabwe.

African Muslims of Malawian Extraction

Muslims of Malawian origin are the largest single group to migrate to Zimbabwe. From the beginning of the eighteenth century Swahili-speaking traders spread from Zanzibar and from Northe Mozambique to Malawi where they traded with local tribes. The Swahili-speaking merchants—African or Arab— gave Malawians cloth and beads in exchange for slaves and ivory. With the passage of time, particularly at the beginning of the twentieth century, Islam grew in Malawi where it is still very strong today, especially among the Lomwe, the Yao and the Chewa. Islam had come to Malawi peacefully through trade between Malawian tribesmen and the Muslim merchants from the East African coast.11

After 1900, following the colonisation of Zimbabwe by the British in 1890, scores of Malawian work-seekers started pouring into the country.

Some came to work for a limited period and subsequently retued to Malawi, others remained in Zimbabwe permanently, thereby making this country their new home. Those who came as indentured labourers could retu to Malawi at the termination of their one-year contracts, agreed upon by the two colonial govements. A number of Malawian tribesmen were simply forced to come and work on farms, plantations or in mines. The recruiting agency in this country — responsible for waylaying and capturing some of the Malawian work-seekers — was the Rhodesia Native Labour Bureau (R.N.L.B.).12

The Malawians who were Muslims when they immigrated into Zimbabwe remained Muslims and they brought up their children as Muslims. Malawian workers were in great demand because they could be easily intimidated into accepting a long contract, receiving the lowest wages, since they were desperate for work. Besides, those who were Muslims tended to be well-disciplined, industrious, and clean. By the middle of this century Malawian Muslims were far more than Indian Muslims, though their number was not known in official govement circles. Malawian Muslims are Sunni and they belong to the| Shafii school which is the dominant rite in Southe Arabia, Southe Egypt, the Indian Ocean and in East Africa. It will be very interesting to discover in the near future whether the new Varemba Muslims will adopt the Hanafi rite like the Indians who build Islamic centres for them or become Shafiites like the Malawians who play such an important part in teaching them Islamic traditions.

Muslim Population in Zimbabwe

The maximum number may be estimated at 61,000. Of this about 10,000 are Asians, mostly Indians; 30,000 are Malawians; 20,000 are Varemba; a maximum of 1,000 are black Mozambicans.

Apart from the Varemba people, Muslims in Zimbabwe are settlers or descendants of settlers from Malawi, Arabia, the Indo-Pakistan sub-continent and East Africa. With the achievement of sovereign independence in 1980 more Muslims began to trickle into Zimbabwe from other parts of Africa, such as West and North Africa. In this connection it is significant that a number of Islamic states have established embassies since 1980 — Libya, Algeria, Pakistan, Nigeria, Egypt, Iran are among them.

Muslim Institutions in Zimbabwe

The Council of Imams

The Council of Imaams (Majlisul-Ulama) is not only the highest court of appeal, it is also the highest judicial organ with authority to arbitrate on all issues relating to Islamic law and custom in Zimbabwe. Smaller locally-based Islamic organisations regard the Majlisul-Ulama as being the custodian of Islamic law and custom in Zimbabwe. All disputes conceing marriage, divorce, inheritance, Shariah law and other issues are settled by the Council of Imams.

The Council of Imams was first formed in 1975, with a membership of twenty-five. Since 1975 new Imams and other mosque functionaries have joined the Council, raising its numerical strength to fifty. The Council comprises Indian Muslims and Malawian Muslims. Apart from ordinary Islamic workers members of the Council are either Alims, Sheikhs or Imams. The meetings are held annually, the venue being changed from one city to another from year to year.

Members of the Council represent different Islamic communities throughout the country. For example, Harare, Kwekwe, Bulawayo, Gweru, Kadoma have at least two representatives on the Council.

The Council of Imams was established in order to promote Islamic education, particularly among all Zimbabwean Muslims. To achieve this goal the Council recommends and encourages the establishment of Islamic cultural institutions where Muslim children can receive Islamic education in the afteoon.13

The Zimbabwe Islamic Mission

This organisation is headed by Sheikh Adam Moosa Makda whose initiative it was to have it formed.'14' The mission has its headquarters in Kwekwe where its founder lives. It was established to cater for the needs of underprivileged Muslims in Zimbabwe, especially minors. The chief aim of the Mission is to provide religious and secular education for Muslim children whose parents are too poor to meet such needs.

Despite the fact that the local Muslim communities throughout the country provide the educational needs of their children, underprivileged children in certain areas sorely need essential Islamic facilities. Muslim children in communal areas, on farms, in mining compounds and in other poor residential areas are particularly disadvantaged. At Mbizo (Kwekwe), Seke National (Harare), Karoi and Shangani mine there are preparations to build prayer-cumveacular class halls for the local primary-school-age Muslim children.

The Mission, which is funded from within Zimbabwe and from Saudi Arabia is organised and administered by seven members, three of whom are Ulema. The other four officials are prominent Asian businessmen. The seven active members are based in different parts of the country.

Places of Worship

Islam requires that where there are at least forty adult Muslims a mosque be erected. The mosque is the ideal place in which to hold the Friday communal prayer. Although daily prayers can be conducted at any clean place, within or outside buildings, they are also held in the mosque. Realising the importance of a mosque, Muslims in Zimbabwe have spent fortunes on building mosques wherever members of one community have to pray together.

There are forty mosques and twenty prayer-halls throughout Zimbabwe. Each of the two largest cities — Bulawayo and Harare — has at least six mosques, and foundations of new ones are being laid from time to time. Moreover, in every town there is usually a mosque or a prayer-hall. In major mining and farming areas mosques or prayer-halls are either built by local companies or farmers or by Indian Muslim traders resident in the area. In every urban centre mosques or prayer-halls are built and run by Muslim businessmen of Asian origin. But the Imam and other mosque officials are funded by the local congregation.

All mosques are built on freehold land, that is, land bought and permanently owned by Muslims. The building of mosques is funded through donations from Muslim businessmen. Besides, local Islamic organisations in urban centres often possess properties from which regular income for meeting recurrent costs is derived. Some capital and running costs are met by a number of Islamic organisations or countries outside Zimbabwe, such as Saudi Arabia where Sheikh Adam was trained and educated.

Islam and Zimbabwean Society

There is freedom of worship in Zimbabwe. Though Muslims are a small minor-ity they have flourished since the tu of the century without interference, opposition or persecution.

Until recently there were no Islamic broadcasts on television or Islamic radio programmes. However, Muslim youth have done much to draw public attention to Islam. Moreover, material and moral support from Islamic countries (e.g. Libya and Pakistan) during the armed struggle for independence greatly enhanced the importance of Islam in Zimbabwe. Unlike Christian missionaries the Muslims were not accused of helping the colonialists — so they are popular among the Zimbabwean nationalists.

In Zimbabwe Muslim youth face problems of communication and organisation. The leaders are straining every nerve to assist, unite and motivate the youth. They are being organised into an effective social unit to protect them against undesirable influences. The exercise promotes the welfare of Islam and Muslims and spearheads the thrust towards the spreading of the message of Allah to fellow Zimbabweans.

The activities of Muslim youth, public lectures by Muslim leaders, the building of new mosques and the campaign to re-Islamise whole tribes of the Varemba people have contributed significantly towards promoting public interest in Islam.

Notes

11. For a more detailed account of the penetration of Islam into what was then Nyasaland, see

D.S. Bone, "Islam in Malawi", Joual of Religion in Africa, Vol. XVIII, 2(1982) pp. 126ff, and also I.A.G. Panjwani, "Muslims in Malawi", Joual Institute of Muslim Minority Affairs, Vol. 1, No. 2 and Vol. II, No. 1,1979 and 1980.

12. A corresponding organisation which recruited for forced labour (Chibharo) in South African mines was designated the Witwatersrand Native Labour Association (W.I.N.L.A.), see C.V. Onselen, Chibaro, London: Pluto Press, 1976.

13. In the moings Muslim children are required to attend govement secular schools with non-Muslim children.

14. Sheikh Adam Moosa Makda studied Islam and was trained as a Minister of the Islamic faith in Saudi Arabia for seven years.

برچسبها: Muslims, Zimbabwe shiafrica...