Transmission of Muslim practices and women's agency in Ibo Island and Pemba (Mozambique)

Abstract

Ibo and the entire group of the Querimbas Islands have been among the crucial natural harboring areas of the Mozambican northern coast. The main islands have been meeting points for people and traders from many countries within the Indian Ocean and a place where Islam has flourished since at least the 16th century. Nowadays in Ibo, quranic school education is also offered by women teachers who, as well as men, perform Muslim celebrations typical of the locally present brotherhoods. This paper will analyze the present trend in Muslim practices on Ibo Island and Pemba town and the relevant role women played and are playing.

Keywords:

• Muslim celebrations
• Muslim women
• Mozambique
• Islam
• Sufi brotherhoods
• agency

Acknowledgements

This paper is based on data gathered during repeated fieldwork carried out in Northern Mozambique between 2007 and 2010 under the framework of the Ethnological Mission in Malawi and Mozambique co-financed by the Direzione Generale per la Cooperazione Culturale (DGCC) of the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs with grants dedicated to Archeological and Ethnologic Missions for the years 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010 and by the annual Research Funds granted to researchers by the University of Urbino. The project is based at the Dipartamento di Studi Internazionali of the University of Urbino in partnership with the Universidade Eduardo Mondlane (UEM) in Maputo and ARO Moçambique, Pemba Section. The topic for this paper stemmed from the context of an anthropological and historical study addressing memories of slavery and matriliny in Northern Mozambique. The study was geographically focused on Ibo Island, Pemba and Metuge in the region of Cabo Delgado and Lichinga, Metangula, and Cobué in the Nyasa Region. Under this framework, research questions related to matriliny and the practice of Islam in these areas were raised and a few interviews were addressed directly to women khalifa in Ibo, women khalifa in Pemba, as well as shaykhs in Pemba and Ibo mosques. The interviews on this subject were made at different stages in Ibo Island (August 2007, August 2008 and September 2009), Quissanga (September 2009), Pemba (August–September 2009 and August 2010) and Metuge (August 2008). I wish to thank Letizia Tomassone for fruitful discussions; and Pat Caplan, Sophie Blanchy, Sophie Bouffard, Farouk Topan, Kjersti Larsen and other participants at the 8th Swahili Workshop held in Oxford, 21–23 September 2010, where this paper was first presented, for insightful comments.

Notes

1. Bang, Sufi and Scholars of the Sea; Penrad, “Shâdhiliyya-Yashrûtiyya en Afrique Orientale.”

2. Among the existing studies, see Brito Jõao, Abdul Kamal; Lopes Bento, As Ilhas de Querimba; and Bonate, “Traditions and Transitions.”

3. Schulz, “Renewal and Enlightenment,” 93.

4. Bonate, “Traditions and Transitions,” 111–112.

5. The ijaza in Pemba has been described to me as a sort of holy water made through washing words of the Koran written on wood.

6. Bonate, “Islam in Northern Mozambique,” 584, was able to take a picture of one such silsila in Pemba.

7. For Zanzibar, see Issa, “Legacy of the Qâdirî Scholars,” 353–354, 356; for the Island of Mozambique, see Arnfred, “Tufo Dancing,” 45; and Bonate, “Traditions and Transitions,” 99–101; for Malawi, see Alpers, “East Central Africa,” 313; and for Somalia, see Declich, “Sufi Experience in Rural Somalia”; and Declich, “Sources on Islam Composed.”

8. For Mozambique, see Bonate, “Traditions and Transitions,” 73–74; for Somalia, see Declich, “Poesia religiosa femminile”; Declich, “Sufi Experience in Rural Somalia”; and Declich, “Sources on Islam Composed”; and for Zanzibar, see Noutio, “Dance that is Not Danced,” 199.

9. Bonate, “Islam in Northern Mozambique,” 583–584.

10. Brito Jõao, Abdul Kamal, 52 (translated from the French by the author).

11. Interview with Abdul Latifu Incacha, Pemba, August 14, 2010.

12. Bonate, “Traditions and Transitions,” 85.

13. Brito Jõao, Abdul Kamal, 57; Bonate, “Traditions and Transitions,” 85.

14. The wadhifa is reported in Bonate, “Traditions and Transitions,” xi, as “recommendations of principals of tariqa.” In Pemba this was mentioned as an introduction of the zikiri. In Arabic udhifa refers also to the call to prayer by a muezzin.

15. Interview with Abdul Latifu Incacha, August 2010.

16. Interview with Abdul Latifu Incacha, August 2010.

17. Moallima Xica Athumani Momadi, Ibo, September 25, 2009.

18. Minga Buanachaque, Pemba, September 22, 2009.

19. The names are here written as the interviewed pronounced them in Mozambique. Concerning the names I found quoted, I have used the simplest English transcription and have used the Arab form of a name or the Swahili form depending on the possible origins of the individuals mentioned.

20. Mocimboa da Praia is a coastal town of Northern Mozambique; and Nampula is the capital of Cabo Delgado. They are some 800 km apart; mentioning both of them indicates that shaykhs came from very distant areas, thus confirming the ziara as a very important occasion. Also, Arnfred, “Tufo Dancing,” reports these kinds of ceremonies as events where new khalifas were announced to the public.

21. I owe this insight to Farouk Topan; Topan, “Swahili as a Religious Language.”

22. Kresse, “Debating maulidi,” 209.

23. Chanfi in Mafia island reports the wahhabites pointed at as “watu wa bidaa”; Chanfi, “Pèlerinage maritime de disciples,” 411.

24. According to Sophie Bouffard and Sophie Blanchy's assertions at the 8th Swahili Workshop in Oxford, in the Comoros these kinds of performance are commonly shown in television as sufi practices.

25. I mention Ibo and Pemba because these are the two places where I was able to discuss these issues. Similar tensions are likely to be crucial also in other coastal areas.

26. This discussion appears to resemble a debate held in Zanzibar in 1949 between Abdallah Salih al-Farsi and Sh Mahmud b. Kombo of Makunduchi who discussed whether the zikiri should be considered a form of prayer; Issa, “Legacy of the Qâdirî Scholars,” 359.

27. Arnfred, “Tufo Dancing.”

28. Becker, “Commoners in the Process of Islamization,” 202–203; Issa, “Legacy of the Qâdirî Scholars.”

29. Monteiro, “Sobre a actuação da corrente ‘Wahhabita’,” 90–91.

30. Alpers, “East Central Africa,” 312, 313.

31. Monteiro, “Sobre a actuação da corrente ‘Wahhabita’”,” 90–91; Bonate, “Matriliny, Islam and Gender,” 145.

32. Alpers, “East Central Africa,” 312, 313.

33. A similar opposition to drum-playing was also an issue for the qadiriyya and ahmediyya brotherhood followers in southern Somalia; Declich, “Identity, Dance and Islam”; Declich, “Poesia religiosa femminile”; Declich, “Sufi Experience in Rural Somalia.”

34. Interview in Meparara, Ribáuè district, August 2010.

35. Reform here refers to “attempts to purge Islam from local traditions and to change the way Islam is practiced locally, very often by drawing inspiration from intellectual trends in the Arab and Middle East”; Janson and Schultz, “Introduction: Piety, Responsibility, Subjectivity,” 3.

36. For this policy in Northern Mozambique, see Brito Jõao, Abdul Kamal, 71.

37. Alpers, “Islam in the Service of Colonialism?” 168; Brito Jõao, Abdul Kamal, 72–73.

38. Brito Jõao, Abdul Kamal, 72.

39. Brito Jõao, Abdul Kamal, 73

40. Brito Jõao, Abdul Kamal, 73

41. Monteiro, “Sobre a actuação da corrente,” 98–99.

42. Monteiro, “Sobre a actuação da corrente,”, 90; Alpers, “Islam in the Service of Colonialism?” 170.

43. Alpers, “Islam in the Service of Colonialism?” 177.

44. Alpers, “Islam in the Service of Colonialism?”, 173–174.

45. Alpers, “East Central Africa,” 318.

46. Alpers, “East Central Africa,” 318.

47. Bonate, “Islam in Northern Mozambique,” 586.

48. Alpers, “East Central Africa,” 318–319.

49. Alpers, “East Central Africa,”, 319.

50. Bonate, “Islam in Northern Mozambique,” 586; Monteiro, “Sobre a actuação da corrente ‘Wahhabita’,” 91–92.

51. Alpers, “East Central Africa,” 319.

52. Bonate, “Islam in Northern Mozambique ‘Wahhabita’” 587.

53. Radio Haq (verdade). See http://www.ionline.pt/dinheiro/jornalistas-encerram-radio-islamica-mocambique-melhores-salarios/.

54 Corradi, “Emerging Challenge for Justice Sector Aid,” 303.

55 Chanfi, “Networks of Islamic NGOs,” 427.

56 Chanfi, “Networks of Islamic NGOs,”, 428.

57 Chanfi, “Networks of Islamic NGOs,”, 428–429.

58 As from web sources (see http://www.africamuslimsagency.co.za/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=73&Itemid=42 as of September 2, 2010) the South Africa Office has projects for: 132 Ibadat mosques for Mozambique (out of 221 Ibadat mosques divided within Malawi, South Africa and Mozambique); 52 mosques for Mozambique (out of 101 spread in Malawi and Mozambique); and 1157 water wells in Mozambique (out of 1882 projects in Malawi and Mozambique). The agency raises funds among Muslims who want to support this sort of project in Africa.

59 Creating a pool of young people educated out of the country who will foster a new wave of Muslim practices has been also a strategy of several agencies in the Comoros; Blanchy, “Texts Islamiques protecteurs aux Comores,” 268.

60 He is a representative supporter of the brotherhood in the Congreso Islâmico, though also a nephew of Dulla Mohamed who is partisan of the AMA.

61 I have videoclips available of both these performances. Both were performed under my request.

62 I refer to the nabi amaan performed by Sufi women all over Somalia in praise of feminine personalities of the ancient Koranic tradition; Declich, “Poesia religiosa femminile”; Declich, “Sufi Experience in Rural Somalia”; Kapteijns and Ali, “Sittaat: Somali Women's Songs.”

63 In the Somali town of Brava, famous poetess Dada Masiti wrote renowned religious poetries; Declich, “Sources on Islam Composed.”

64 According to Chanfi, this book of hymns is the main maulid text used by shaf‘i Muslims, but not only by them; Chanfi, “Passion pour le prophète,” 66. Versions of this text had already been published with commentaries by different authors at the beginning of the 20th century; Becker, “Materials for the Understanding of Islam,” 51. The author of the maulidi barzanji in Pemba is remembered simply as Saidi Na Jafar.

65 A performance called maulidi barzanji is common in Zanzibar and is often performed at marriages. This is different from the one witnessed in Pemba: boys and girls rise up and undulate gently almost as if dancing, and tambourines marking the rhythm are part of the celebration.

66 This book of hymns was written by Dja‘far b. Hassan b. Abdulkarim al-Barzandji al-Madani (m. 1179/1765).

67 Chanfi, “Passion pour le prophète.”

68 Chanfi, “Passion pour le prophète.”, 69.

69 Issa, “Legacy of the Qâdirî Scholars”; Noutio, “Dance that is Not Danced.”

70 Arnfred, Sexuality and Gender Politics, 3.

71 Also Arnfred, “Tufo Dancing: Muslim Women's,” 200, 47.

72 Arnfred, Sexuality and Gender Politics, 28–29.

73 Arnfred, “Tufo Dancing: Muslim Women's,” 200, 45.

74 The Queen of Samanga Sadique of the regulado Mazeze in Pemba Metuje, interviewed September 22, 2009, has been appointed according to these criteria.

75 Harrison, “Traditional Power and its Absence,” 116.

76 Wadud, Inside the Gender Jihad, 8.

77 Declich, “Poesia religiosa femminile.”

78 At the 8th Swahili Workshop in Oxford (2010) Pat Caplan referred to have found similarly that in Mafia Island, unlike girls, young boys have been sent to study abroad through Islamic groups.

79 To protect her privacy, this is not the real name of my friend.

80 Schulz, “Renewal and Enlightenment,” 111.

81 Mahmood, “Subject of Freedom,” 29.

82 Janson, “Guidelines for the Ideal”; Mahmood, “Feminist Theory, Embodiment”; Mahmood, “Subject of Freedom”; Schulz, “Renewal and Enlightenment”; Schulz “Dis/Embodying Authority.”

83 Mahmood, “Feminist Theory, Embodiment,” 207.

84 Janson, “Guidelines for the Ideal,” 164–165.

85 Schulz, “Renewal and Enlightenment,” 111.

86 Women's individual relationship with divinity is envisaged in the Quran; Wadud, Qur'an and Woman, 34–35.

87 Mahmood, “Feminist Theory, Embodiment,” 203.

88 Schulz, “Renewal and Enlightenment,” 117.

89 Schulz, “Renewal and Enlightenment,”, 118.