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Revision as of 21:46, 26 March 2007 editMezzoMezzo (talk | contribs)Autopatrolled, Extended confirmed users, Pending changes reviewers, Rollbackers19,113 edits Reformatted the sections and removed irrelevent text in regard to Islam in general (the article is about Islam in Tanzania).← Previous edit Latest revision as of 17:40, 20 November 2024 edit undo2401:ba80:aa11:a3f6:307e:ecc:3e21:5c64 (talk) grammarTags: Mobile edit Mobile web edit 
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{{Short description|none}} <!-- "none" is preferred when the title is sufficiently descriptive; see ] -->
⚫ {{islam by country}}
{{ infobox religious group
Today, Islam is the largest religion in ] with 35% of the population being muslim.
| group = Tanzanian Muslims
| image =
| image_caption = ] in ]
| population = approx. 21 million (34.1%)<ref name="globalreligiousfutures.org">{{cite web|url=http://www.globalreligiousfutures.org/countries/tanzania#/?affiliations_religion_id=0&affiliations_year=2020&region_name=All+Countries&restrictions_year=2016|title=Religions in Tanzania &#124; PEW-GRF|website=www.globalreligiousfutures.org}}</ref>

| regions = Eastern (coastal) part of the country
| tablehdr =

| region1 =
| pop1 =
| ref1 =

| religions = predominantly ] with ] and ] minorities
| notes =
}}
⚫ {{Islam by country}}

] is a ] majority nation, with '''Islam''' being the largest minority faith in the country.<ref>{{cite web|title=Tanzania|url=https://www.state.gov/reports/2020-report-on-international-religious-freedom/tanzania/|access-date=2021-07-17|website=United States Department of State|language=en-US}}</ref> According to a 2020 estimate by ], Muslims represent 34.1% of the total population.<ref name="globalreligiousfutures.org">{{cite web|url=http://www.globalreligiousfutures.org/countries/tanzania#/?affiliations_religion_id=0&affiliations_year=2020&region_name=All+Countries&restrictions_year=2016|title=Religions in Tanzania &#124; PEW-GRF|website=www.globalreligiousfutures.org}}</ref> The faith was introduced by merchants visiting the ], as it became connected to a larger maritime trade network dominated by Muslims. This would lead to local conversions and assimilations of foreign Muslims, ultimately causing the eventual formation of several officially ] political entities in the region.<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{cite journal |last=Mandivenga |first=Ephraim |date=1990-07-01 |title=Islam in Tanzania: a general survey |url=https://doi.org/10.1080/02666959008716174 |journal=Institute of Muslim Minority Affairs Journal |volume=11 |issue=2 |pages=311–320 |doi=10.1080/02666959008716174 |issn=0266-6952}}</ref> According to the ] (ARDA), 55.3% of the population is ], 31.5% is ], 11.3% practices traditional faiths, while 1.9% of the population is ] or adheres to other faiths as of 2020.<ref name=":2">{{cite web | url=https://www.thearda.com/world-religion/national-profiles?u=219c#S_2 |title=National Profiles}}</ref> The ARDA estimates that most Tanzanian Muslims are Sunni, with a small Shia minority, as of 2020.<ref name=":0" />

On the mainland, Muslim communities are concentrated in coastal areas, with some large Muslim majorities also in inland urban areas especially and along the former caravan routes. More than 99% of the population of the ] ] is ]. The largest group of ]s in ] are ], with significant ] and ] minorities. According to the Pew Research Center research conducted in 2008 and 2009, 40% of the Muslim population of Tanzania identifies as ], 20% as ], and 15% as ],<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.pewforum.org/uploadedFiles/Topics/Religious_Affiliation/Muslim/the-worlds-muslims-full-report.pdf|title=The World's Muslims: Unity and Diversity | access-date=18 June 2021|date=9 August 2012|publisher=Pew Forum on Religious & Public life|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120811014001/https://www.pewforum.org/uploadedFiles/Topics/Religious_Affiliation/Muslim/the-worlds-muslims-full-report.pdf|archivedate=11 August 2012|page=128}}</ref> besides a smaller subset of ] practitioners as well as non-denominational Muslims.<ref>Wortmann, Kimberly T. Omani Religious Networks in Contemporary Tanzania and Beyond. Diss. 2018.</ref> Most Shias in Tanzania are of Asian/Indian descent. <ref> https://2001-2009.state.gov/g/drl/rls/irf/2007/90124.htm </ref> Some Ahmadis are also of ] descent. <ref> https://fa.wikishia.net/view/تانزانیا#اقوام_و_مذاهب </ref>


==History== ==History==
] is one of the earliest surviving mosques in the ].]]
The earliest concrete evidence of Moslem presence in East Africa is the foundation of a mosque in Shanga on Pate Island where gold, silver and copper coins dated AD 830 were found during an excavation in the 1980's. The oldest intact building in East Africa is the ] in southern Zanzibar dated AD 1007. It appears that Islam was widespread in the Indian Ocean area by the 14th century. When Ibn Battuta from Maghreb visited the East African littoral in 1332 he reported that he felt at home because of Islam in the area. The coastal population was largely Moslem, and Arabic was the language of literature and trade. The whole of the Indian Ocean seemed to be a "Moslem sea". Moslems controlled the trade and established coastal settlements in South East Asia, India and East Africa.


The earliest evidence of a ] presence in the ] is the foundation of a mosque in ] on ], where gold, silver and copper coins dating from 830 were found during an excavation in the 1980s. The oldest functioning mosque is the ] which dates back to the 11th or early 12th century.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|last1=Westerlund|first1=David|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1DH9wZky30EC|title=Islam Outside the Arab World|last2=Svanberg|first2=Ingvar|date=1999|publisher=Psychology Press|isbn=978-0-7007-1124-6|pages=97–99|language=en|chapter=Tanzania}}</ref>
Islam was spread mainly through trade activities along the East African coast, not through conquest and territorial expansion as was partly the case in West Africa, but remained an urban littoral phenomenon for a long time. When the violent Portuguese intrusions in the coastal areas occurred in the 16th century, Islam was already well established there and almost all the ruling families had ties of kinship with Arabia, Persia, India and even South East Asia owing to their maritime contacts and political connections with the northern and eastern parts of the Indian Ocean. In the end of the 17th and beginning of the 18th centuries the coastal Moslems managed to oust the Portuguese with the help of Omani Arabs. These Arabs gradually increased their political influence until the end of the 19th century when European conquerors arrived at the coast of East Africa.


The political history of Islam in the country can be traced to the establishment of the ] in the 10th century by ],<ref>شاكر مصطفى, ''موسوعة دوال العالم الأسلامي ورجالها الجزء الثالث'', (دار العلم للملايين: 1993), p.1360</ref> a ] prince of ].<ref>James Hastings, ''Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics Part 24'', (Kessinger Publishing: 2003), p.847</ref> Islam was mainly spread through trade activity along the East African coast and by the 16th century, Islam was firmly established in the region.<ref name=":0" />
During the time when the Omanis dominated the coast politically, the spread of Islam intensified also in the interior of East Africa. Trade contacts with peoples in the interior, especially the Nyamwezi, gained importance and places like Tabora in Nyamwezi territory and Ujiji at Lake Tanganyika became important entrep"ts in the ever-increasing trade in slaves and ivory. Many chiefs, even in parts of Uganda, converted to Islam and cooperated with the coastal Moslems. Trade served to spread not only Islam, but also the language and culture we call Swahili. Before the establishment of German East Africa in the 1880's the influence of the Swahilis or coastal people was mainly limited to the areas along the caravan routes and around their destinations.


Around the 19th century, trading routes between the Tanzanian interior and the Swahili coast intensified the influence of Swahili culture and religion. Despite the importance of trade, the spread of Islam in the interior was mainly facilitated by Sufi missionaries, converted locals returning from the coast, and Muslim chiefs during the colonial period.<ref name=":1">{{cite web|last=Becker|first=Felicitas|date=2018-06-25|title=The History of Islam in East Africa|url=https://oxfordre.com/africanhistory/view/10.1093/acrefore/9780190277734.001.0001/acrefore-9780190277734-e-151|access-date=2021-12-02|website=Oxford Research Encyclopedia of African History|language=en|doi=10.1093/acrefore/9780190277734.013.151|isbn=978-0-19-027773-4}}</ref><ref name=":0" />
The great expansion of Islam in the interior of Tanganyika began during the German colonial era. After having conquered the coastal area the Germans started hiring Swahilis as civil servants thus creating a cadre of literate Swahilis who accompanied the Germans into the interior. These subordinate administrators, akida, and Moslem soldiers are an important part of the explanation of why Islam spread so much faster in the areas controlled by the Germans than in territories occupied by the British (Kenya and Uganda). The Germans established a government school system along the coast with Swahili as the language of instruction, in contrast to the missionary schools in the interior which used the vernaculars.


Sufi orders like the ] and ]yya propagated throughout the 19th and early 20th centuries, further consolidating Islam in the interior. During the struggle for Tanzanian independence in the mid-20th century, the Muslims of the nation supported the movement.<ref name=":1" />
Even if many Moslems cooperated with the Germans, there were also large groups who were not benefitted by colonial rule and who were more or less openly oppositional. These groups were primarily found in the poorer sections of the rural population and were attracted to the activities of the Sufi orders. Several orders were active during and after the German era, the most important being the Qadiriyya and Shadhiliyya. Many Sufis played an important role in the Maji Maji uprising (1905-07) against the Germans. The name Maji Maji refers to powerful water (Sw. maji = water) which was thought to give protection against the German weapons. The traditional African ideas of Kinjikitile, the leader of the uprising, were to an extent intertwined with Sufi ideas.


==See also== ==See also==
] * ]
* ]

==References==
<references/>

==External links==
{{commons category}}
*


{{Africa in topic|Islam in}} {{Africa in topic|Islam in}}
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] ]
] ]

]

Latest revision as of 17:40, 20 November 2024

Tanzanian Muslims
Total population
approx. 21 million (34.1%)
Regions with significant populations
Eastern (coastal) part of the country
Religions
predominantly Sunni Islam with Shia and Ahmadiyya minorities
Islam by country
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Tanzania is a Christian majority nation, with Islam being the largest minority faith in the country. According to a 2020 estimate by Pew research center, Muslims represent 34.1% of the total population. The faith was introduced by merchants visiting the Swahili coast, as it became connected to a larger maritime trade network dominated by Muslims. This would lead to local conversions and assimilations of foreign Muslims, ultimately causing the eventual formation of several officially Muslim political entities in the region. According to the Association of Religion Data Archives (ARDA), 55.3% of the population is Christian, 31.5% is Muslim, 11.3% practices traditional faiths, while 1.9% of the population is non-religious or adheres to other faiths as of 2020. The ARDA estimates that most Tanzanian Muslims are Sunni, with a small Shia minority, as of 2020.

On the mainland, Muslim communities are concentrated in coastal areas, with some large Muslim majorities also in inland urban areas especially and along the former caravan routes. More than 99% of the population of the Zanzibar archipelago is Muslim. The largest group of Muslims in Tanzania are Sunni Muslim, with significant Shia and Ahmadi minorities. According to the Pew Research Center research conducted in 2008 and 2009, 40% of the Muslim population of Tanzania identifies as Sunni, 20% as Shia, and 15% as Ahmadi, besides a smaller subset of Ibadism practitioners as well as non-denominational Muslims. Most Shias in Tanzania are of Asian/Indian descent. Some Ahmadis are also of South Asian descent.

History

The Great Mosque of Kilwa is one of the earliest surviving mosques in the African Great Lakes.

The earliest evidence of a Muslim presence in the African Great Lakes is the foundation of a mosque in Shanga on Pate Island, where gold, silver and copper coins dating from 830 were found during an excavation in the 1980s. The oldest functioning mosque is the Kizimkazi mosque which dates back to the 11th or early 12th century.

The political history of Islam in the country can be traced to the establishment of the Kilwa Sultanate in the 10th century by Ali ibn al-Hassan Shirazi, a Persian prince of Shiraz. Islam was mainly spread through trade activity along the East African coast and by the 16th century, Islam was firmly established in the region.

Around the 19th century, trading routes between the Tanzanian interior and the Swahili coast intensified the influence of Swahili culture and religion. Despite the importance of trade, the spread of Islam in the interior was mainly facilitated by Sufi missionaries, converted locals returning from the coast, and Muslim chiefs during the colonial period.

Sufi orders like the Qadiriyya and Shadhiliyya propagated throughout the 19th and early 20th centuries, further consolidating Islam in the interior. During the struggle for Tanzanian independence in the mid-20th century, the Muslims of the nation supported the movement.

See also

References

  1. ^ "Religions in Tanzania | PEW-GRF". www.globalreligiousfutures.org.
  2. "Tanzania". United States Department of State. Retrieved 2021-07-17.
  3. ^ Westerlund, David; Svanberg, Ingvar (1999). "Tanzania". Islam Outside the Arab World. Psychology Press. pp. 97–99. ISBN 978-0-7007-1124-6.
  4. Mandivenga, Ephraim (1990-07-01). "Islam in Tanzania: a general survey". Institute of Muslim Minority Affairs Journal. 11 (2): 311–320. doi:10.1080/02666959008716174. ISSN 0266-6952.
  5. "National Profiles".
  6. "The World's Muslims: Unity and Diversity" (PDF). Pew Forum on Religious & Public life. 9 August 2012. p. 128. Archived from the original (PDF) on 11 August 2012. Retrieved 18 June 2021.
  7. Wortmann, Kimberly T. Omani Religious Networks in Contemporary Tanzania and Beyond. Diss. 2018.
  8. https://2001-2009.state.gov/g/drl/rls/irf/2007/90124.htm
  9. https://fa.wikishia.net/view/تانزانیا#اقوام_و_مذاهب
  10. شاكر مصطفى, موسوعة دوال العالم الأسلامي ورجالها الجزء الثالث, (دار العلم للملايين: 1993), p.1360
  11. James Hastings, Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics Part 24, (Kessinger Publishing: 2003), p.847
  12. ^ Becker, Felicitas (2018-06-25). "The History of Islam in East Africa". Oxford Research Encyclopedia of African History. doi:10.1093/acrefore/9780190277734.013.151. ISBN 978-0-19-027773-4. Retrieved 2021-12-02.

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