Muslims in Eastern Africa: Their Past and Present

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Periodical article

Title:	Muslims in Eastern Africa: Their Past and Present
Author:	Lodhi, A.Y.
Year:	1994
Periodical:	Nordic Journal of African Studies
Volume:	3
Issue:	1
Pages:	88-99
Language:	English
Geographic terms:	East Africa Tanzania
Subjects:	Islamic history Peoples of Africa (Ethnic Groups) Religion and Witchcraft History and Exploration
External link:	http://www.njas.helsinki.fi/pdf-files/vol3num1/lodhi.pdf
Abstract:	The earliest evidence of Islam in eastern Africa is a mosque foundation in Lamu where coins dated AD 830 were found during an excavation in 1984. It appears that Islam was common in the Indian Ocean and the East African coastlands by AD 1300. Islam did not spread through conquest or settlement, but through trade, and it long remained an urban and coastal phenomenon. This article discusses the history of the Muslim presence in eastern Africa, paying attention to the relationship between Swahili culture and Islam, the precolonial and colonial periods, Islamic denominations in eastern Africa, Christian-Muslim relations in Tanzania, the importance of the Tanganyika-Zanzibar union, Muslims and Islam in the rest of eastern Africa, and the consequences of the spread of Islam in the area. Bibliogr., note.