Oral Historiography and the Shirazi of the East African Coast

Abstract

“Settlements of foreign, predominantly Semitic, peoples”Strandes' gambit concerning ‘Muslim Civilization’ of the east coast of Africa is a familiar one to many Africanists. Persians and Arabs, so the stories go, settled coastal sites as part of the Islamic diaspora; they vanquished less virile African societies; they built cities which were reflections of Middle Eastern prototypes; they imposed their religion; and, they ‘founded’ coastal civilization, a civilization, therefore, which was characteristically Middle Eastern. Nineteenth- and early twentieth-century historians cannot be entirely blamed for holding such simplistic views. After all, the traditions themselves at least imply some of these things. And, given the literalist and diffusionist nature of past anthropological and historical theory, simple and biased interpretations of these traditions are not surprising.What is perhaps remarkable, given the developments in anthropological theory since the 1940s, is the persistence of such views in some quarters. Examples include portions of two recently published papers by Saad and Wilkinson. Both deal wholly or in part with the most intriguing of the coastal origin traditions, the stories which tell how many coastal towns were originally settled by immigrants who came from Shiraz or Persia (see appendix). Their interpretations are so literal as to link the Shirazi name not merely with a particular dynasty, but with a specific family or kin group which ruled in pre-fourteenth-century Kilwa.

Muslim Modernities: Interdisciplinary Insights Across Time and Space1

“…At this point, Britain also began to introduce concepts of boundary-making in its relationship with Siam, using different methods from its position in Malaya than those it used in Burma. 24 Between 1824 and 1826, Britain captured large tracts of territory in a war fought against Burma, where, unlike in Malaya, it considered territorial reticence to be 20 In the 1870s, Britain adopted a change of policy. In the decade preceding this change, Britain had grown concerned by the state of unrest in the peninsular polities, despite having signed treaties with many of them, designed to "immobilise each state within its boundaries as much as possible".…”

“…Islam emphasizing law over deviant, mystical practices such as invisibility, martial arts, 24 Mahmood Mamdani, Good Muslim, and control over weapons could help defuse holy war. 30 Thus, while Hurgonje recognized reticence towards the Dutch, he also noted that Acehnese religion did not automatically translate into anti-colonial militancy.…”

“…In his book on the intellectual roots of American policy toward Islamic "terrorists," Good Muslim, Bad Muslim, Mahmood Mamdani distills the persistent dichotomy in Euro-American thought with the formulation that "good Muslims are modern, secular, and Westernized, but bad Muslims are doctrinal, anti-modern, and virulent." 24 Those who embraced the enlightened tutelage of the "West" could aspire to become "good Muslims." By contrast, Mamdani notes, those who could not cast off the yoke of religion, the "bad Muslims," would be subject to colonial wars where "the laws of nature were said to apply.…”

“…23 A sum of money was paid for the letter-patent, and this practice led to a certain arbitrariness in appointments. acknowledged that religious practice in the region was diverse, and possessed very distinct localized forms and coloring, 24 as was evident in the numerous colonial digests and loose collections of local laws known as undang-undang which included both Islamic law and local customary laws known as adat.…”

“…In addition, one's children will be brought up in this land and thus they may acquire their morals or imitate them in their worship and faith practices. 24 Implementing the notion of al-walāa wa-al-barāa limits social engagement to the minimum. According to Ibn Bāz and Ibn bUthaymīn, it is prohibited for a Muslim to join or celebrate the festivals of non-Muslims-be they religious such as Christmas or cultural such as Valentine's Day-because this implies one's support for the mischief nonMuslims are committing.…”