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Inter Faith Relations in Tanzania
By The Revd Canon John Simalenga
The Arabs settled along the East African Coast Way back in 13th century. When the Portuguese reached East Africa in the 15th and 16th centuries on their way to the Far East, they saw Arab settlements at Kilwa and Mombasa.
Between 17th and 18th centuries Arabs and Portuguese together engaged in slave trading, which was abolished in the 19th century by the British Government. The coming together of Arabs, Portuguese and Bantu resulted in the making of Swahili language and culture along the East African Coast.
For many years, Christianity, Islam and Indigenous religions have co-existed peacefully. This was evidenced through intermarriages and sharing of communal festivals such as weddings, burials, etc.
From 1980s, East Africa began to experience the emergence of fundamentalist groups funded by Iran, Libya and Sudan. These groups began to wage war against Christians and declared 'jihad' to spread the Muslim faith. Coupled with using Muslim political leaders, Christian methods of evangelisation were used such as open-air crusades, building of schools, hospitals etc. Muslim men were also engaged to marry Christian girls and start small businesses. I the political and economic areas there was a strong move for African states to join the Organisation of Islamic Countries.
The climax of these fundamentalist activities was the al Qaeda bombings of US embassies in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam in 1998 when hundreds of people were killed.
Today fundamentalist activists are still active but largely checked.
From 2000 an Interfaith Council of Religious Leaders was formed in Tanzania and its main task is to dialogue on poverty eradication, the HIV/Aids pandemic and goof governance. Tanzania has a population of 38 million - 45% Christian, 30% Muslim, 20% Indigenous and 5% other faiths.
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