Some notes on religious dissent in nineteenth-century East Africa

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Periodical article

Title:	Some notes on religious dissent in nineteenth-century East Africa
Author:	Amiji, Hatim M.
Year:	1971
Periodical:	African Historical Studies
Volume:	4
Issue:	3
Pages:	603-616
Language:	English
Geographic term:	Zanzibar
Subjects:	Muslim brotherhoods history 1800-1899
External link:	https://www.jstor.org/stable/216531
Abstract:	Islam has always regarded itself as a single unified umma held together and guided by the Shari'a, but in practice Islam has suffered from separate tendencies. Both the Sunni and Shi'a Muslim communities in East Africa have on numerous occasions had secessions from their ranks. This study is a preliminary survey of the religious and social organization of the Khoja community and the movements of dissent during the 19th century which led to the emergence of the two rival sects, Khoja Shi'a Ithana 'Ashari and the Khoja Shi'a Imami Isma'ili. It is based on polemic literature from both sides, court reports from Zanzibar and Bombay, consular dispatches, records of American merchants at Zanzibar, and unstructured interviews conducted by the author between 1968 and 1969. Notes, appendix: a selected list of the Imams of the Ithna 'Asharis and Isma'ilis.