Folk Islam in Contemporary East Africa

Abstract

The Swahili Coast of East Africa is an area where Islamisation progressed soon after the emergence of Islam because of its historical connection with the Arabian Peninsula through maritime trade. Although Muslim society in this area once was underestimated compared with the imaginary ‘orthodox’ Islamic society, religious lives and values unique to the coast recently have attracted attention from scholars of Islamic studies. In this paper, I would like to discuss these religious lives and values from the perspective of Folk Islam. Studies on Folk Islam arose from debates that recognised this religion’s universality and diversity. However, attempts to define universal Islam have sparked continuing debate, while a matter of concern now is the description of the actual Muslim state. The mainstream of Islamic studies depicts the modern Muslim world as being in the middle of a paradigm shift toward forefathers’ traditions. In this framework, Folk Islam is considered to be in decline, branded as bid‘a (i.e., ‘deviation’). This case study focuses on mawlid, which are celebrations of the Prophet’s birthday in Zanzibar, an island of Tanzania. I also examine the characteristics of Folk Islam in East Africa, as well as previous studies’ claims. The present study’s results suggest that the Islamic-revival phenomenon, which tended to be described monolithically as a movement aiming for a return to early Islam, occurred as Folk Islam in this region, and that Folk Islam itself comprises contradictory factors.