William andrew kopwe the open university of tanzania

4.3.6 Factionalism within Muslim Community

The Muslim community is not a monolithic block internationally and locally. In the Tanzania mainland, Muslims are also divided as well. In the context of this study Factionalism within Muslim community ranges from the revivalist denominations, notably, Ansār Sunna Muslims, the youth revivalist within BAKWATA, Muslim activists-groups, which comprise of learned Muslims including theologians, other Muslim organizations outside BAKWATA to Ahamadiyya group.
Traditionally, BAKWATA has been recognized by the Government as the sole official Muslim umbrella. BAKWATA was created in 1968 after the dissolution of East African Muslim Welfare Society (EAMWS), which was condemned of being involved in politics. But Muslim activists were not contented with this state of affairs. For them, the Government’s decision of dissolving EAMWS in 1968 and replace it with BAKWATA was a Christian conspiracy that aimed at inhibiting Muslim’s development.¹¹¹ Such Muslims say BAKWATA has been manipulated by the Government as its watchdog for controlling Muslims in the Country. And it has never been of any help for the Muslim community in the Country.¹¹² Hence, for them there is no doubt that CCM had adopted |§∙ī Court agenda in its 2005 general election manifesto to help BAKWATA to continue to control Muslims in the Country. This was possible because some of the CCM executive Committee members are strong BAKWATA members as well. Therefore, denial of |§∙ī Court by Muslims outside BAKWATA is a denial of both CCM and BAKWATA.¹¹³
The Ansār Muslim, a revivalist group in the Country poses a big challenge to BAKWATA and the whole project of Sharī’a implementation in Country. For them the idea of the reintroduction of |§∙ī Court was BAKWATA’s covert agenda to create job opportunity for their Sheikhs. They argued that if BAKWATA was serious in demanding for the fulfillment of the law of Allāh they would have agitated for full Sharī’a implementation in the Country. God’s law does not deal only with personal cases in Muslims’ lives but also totality of Muslim life. To demand for |§∙ī Courts only, is to reduce Allāh law to personal issues only. |§∙ī Courts demand has been facilitated by the CCM Government, which is a Christian dominated Government whose aim is to inhibit development of Islam in the Country.¹¹⁴ This stance on the Sharī’a implementation opposes BAKWATA’s move of demanding Sharī’a in the name of |§∙ī Court which of course is the moderate form of Sharī’a.¹¹⁵
The same opinion of being controlled by BAKWATA is found among the Ahmadiyya group as well. Taking the idea of |§∙ī as an example, the Ahmadiyya group is categorically against it as a Court. They say that they are not for |§∙ī Court because other mainstream Muslims do not recognize them as real Muslims. It is only because of Government secularity and the Constitutional provision of the freedom of worship in the Country which sustains their presence in the Country. Therefore, they know that if the |§∙ī Court is instituted, most of the fatwa (Muslim official statements), which |§∙ī offers will be against them. Also, they fear that the |§∙ī Court will intensify the existing discrimination which they suffer from the mainstream Muslims.¹¹⁶
On the other hand, factions within BAKWATA itself are now a reality. There are people who oppose its administration and its philosophy of dealing with this issue. The youth and other intellectuals within BAKWATA are not satisfied by the way it deals with Muslim issues in the Country. Again, focusing on the issue of reintroduction of |§∙ī Court, the youth and other activists with BAKWATA considers it to have been too compromising with the Government because the issue does proceed at in the pace which it should. These groups of Muslims think that the only way to succeed is to transform BAKWATA into a more powerful Muslim organization and non-Government ally. Therefore, they decided to usurp BAKWATA’s leadership by replacing moderate traditionalist Muslims with the revivalist young generation.¹¹⁷ This did not succeed in some ways. However, the current Mufti is facing a lot challenges partly because of this and partly because of other internal strife.
Disloyalty also is the reason behind BAKWATA’s need of the Government’s backing in |§∙ī Court reintroduction. BAKWATA wants the Government to enforce the power and authority of the |§∙ī, and the Court at large over all Muslim denominations and factions. This is because the function of |§∙ī goes beyond adjudications of cases. He will be settling disputes among Muslims, so if he is put in place by the Government, he will have a mandate over all Muslims and not only those who are loyal to the organization.¹¹⁸

4.3.7 Modernity and Modernization

Sharī’a implementation in the Country is facing a lot of challenges from the changing life style of Muslims in particular the youth. Young people in the Country are influenced by modernism. In most cases, modernity in the Country is associated with influence of Western culture. Modernism has succeeded to capture the mind of most youth who have joined the high learning institutions in the Country. The most notable aspect of modernism is the costumes style, particularly girls. Most of Muslim and Christian girls put on their costumes in Western style, namely trousers and miniskirts. This is against Sharī’a especially in the whole hijab philosophy and mixing with men loosely.¹¹⁹
Group interview with Muslim women showed a clear demarcation between aged Muslim women and the young ones. The debate between the age groups was hot when aged women condemned the young Muslim girls of leaving their bodies uncovered by hijab. On contrary, the young Muslim women said they want their beauty to be seen by people. There is no point to spend money to go to the salon to make hair and hide it, they commented. They also said that their modern life forces them to mix with young men in colleges and other activities. There is no way they can distance themselves from men.¹²⁰
This discussion showed clearly a conflict of religious worldviews in some concepts such as beauty and integrity among the two generations of Muslim women. Several factors like ignorance of Sharī’a and less religiosity may contribute to this condition, but the underlying factor is the influence of the force of modernity. The responses from the group discussion are representations of many youngsters in the Country. The debate among conservative-traditional worldview against the modern-Western worldview of beauty and chastity is a microcosm of an internal challenge of Sharī’a among Muslims of different ages and worldviews due to modernity.
Following this antagonism, when the young Muslim girls are pressed further by circumstances like family or school regulations of wearing hijab and following Sharī’a rules, they tend to live with double life standards. There are girls who pretend to follow Sharī’a by vesting themselves with hijab, but they take their hijabs off and remain with their modern clothes the moment they go out of their home. Others wear hijabs at schools just as a school uniform, especially in the Muslim owned schools. But when they go back home, where parents and family members are liberal Muslims they stay without the hijabs and can go to other activities like markets without covering their bodies.¹²¹
The influence of modernity among young or liberal Muslims is further intensified by the freedom of choice in the Country guaranteed by the Constitution. Muslims are not compelled by law in Tanzania to follow Sharī’a. They are left to be compelled by their faith and religiosity in order to adhere to Sharī’a precepts. Sharī’a practice by Muslim is weakened by low Islamic knowledge among majority of the Muslims in the Country. This challenges the Muslim community in the combination of Western-school education and traditional Islamic-madrasa education. Many Muslims in the Country today are putting more emphasis on the former education because the world values this education in order for one to get a job. Hence, the children are more informed with the Western culture than Islamic culture.
Media liberalization in the Country which includes availability of internet and various television channels which propagate a lot of Western oriented culture contributes to the influence of modernity. With such a background, fundamentalist Muslims talk about ‘Westoxification’, a term which signifies that the world has been intoxicated by Western culture and ideas. Fundamentalist Muslims argue that Western culture should be replaced with Islamic ways of life. Islamists aim at restoring pristine Islam-that of the salafiyya (ancestors) which was practiced in the first century of Islam (Brown 2000). This to them is a panacea to the current corrupted life.¹²²