Similarities and Differences between the Doctrines Of Faith in Islam and Christianity

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St. Andrew’s Collegiate Church, Stonebridge Road, Tottenham, London, N.15, England

© by Jean de la Paix Nkurunziza & International Faith Theological Seminary

University College, 2004

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Jean de la Paix Nkurunziza

The Similarities and the Differences in the

Doctrines of Faith Between Islam and

Christianity

Ph.D. Thesis in Comparative Religion

Directed and Supervised by Prof. Dr. Dr. Muhammad Schmidt

Submitted in 2005

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INTRODUCTION

Any thing concerning doctrine is about Religion. Thus in order to understand doctrine one must be aware and know that there is no doctrine without Religion.

Indeed it is said that the main purpose of doctrine is to divide! But to divide what? Religions and their believers. So what is Religion? From the Amerriam Webster's dictionary religion means the service and worship of God or the supernatural or just commitment or devotion to the religious faith or observance. In other words the Religion is the Human Belief about God.

From the beginning the man has sensed that there is a supernatural being who is the creator of every thing including man himself. The writer of Psalm (19:1)s said that the heavens declare the glory of God and the Skies proclaim the work of his hands. In 19th Century Abraham Lincoln (1809 - 1865) said that he could not conceive how a man could look up, in to heavens and say there is no God. All these show how a man is convinced that God is there and that she worth to be worshipped though the way people approach or worship her has been so different from the beginning. And this difference between the way people or group or community worship God from other is what the doctrine is about. Around the world there are a good number of religions (Islam, Christianity, Hinduism, Buddhism, Atheism, Sikhs, Jews, Shamanism, Confucianism, Bahaism, Shintoism e.t.c.)

Among these Islam and Christianity are the biggest religions under the sun which also claim to be monotheism and have the revelation from God. Quran for Islam and Bible for Christianity are viewed as sacred books of God in which God revealed himself to the human kind. 1

In the world view of monotheism, all supernatural phenomena are manifestations of or are under the control of a single external, omniscient, omnipotent, and omnipresent super being.

To turn to the right track the doctrine means simply teaching or instruction. Since this thesis is about the different in doctrine between Islam and Christianity

I will be talking about teachings of Islam and Christianity. According to Conrad

Phillip Kottak, Islam is found in 172 countries around the world and it makes up 924, 611 500 adherents which is equal to 17,8% of the whale population of the world. 2

1 Lilian Eichler-Watson:“Light From Many Lamps“, Simon and Cobuster, 1951:35 2 In Cultural Anthropology, p.252.

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Christianity is in 251 countries with 171,189 7000 adherents which is equal to 32.9% of the whale population of the world.

To date Islam is one of the Christianity strongest competitors and indeed also one of its strongest opponents.

After the death of Muhammad and Jesus the founders of the two religions, the disciples of each founder assumed responsibility and leadership. For Islam four disciples of Muhammad known as Caliphs (Abu Bakar, Umar, Uthman, and Ali) led the religion one after another. The four are known as collectively as the Rashidun or Right guided. The four knew Muhammad personally and worked with him in building Islam. Their leadership spanned from 632 the date of the death of Muhammad to 661 AD.

There is a story which said to hold in Heaven between Jesus and Angel Michael after Jesus' ascension: 3

Michael: Lord where have you been?

Jesus: I have been in the world for a mission of saving the humankind. Michael: So how was your mission there?

Jesus: It was perfect and I am happy of what I achieved.

Michael: But people there killed you. So how can you say that it was perfect? Jesus: My mission was to die for the world and that is what I did. Michael: Did you reached everywhere so that everyone knows about you? Jesus: No, instead I chosen my disciples whose their responsibility is to reach my good news to all corners of the world.

Michael: Suppose your disciples return to their former jobs and abandon the task what do you think will happen?

Jesus: As a matter of fact they can not. However to ensure that they do whatever

I commanded them to do we have sent the Holy Spirit to be with them every

time and everywhere, to remind them whatever I told them, to reveal, encourage and to comfort them.

This imaginary story illustrates how the disciples of Jesus were and played an indispensable role in building the Christianity or the Church of Christ the- kingdom of God. Jesus had twelve disciples and all except one (Judas Iscariot) starting on the day of Pentecost and led by Simon Peter surrendered their life for the cause of Gospel of Jesus to the level of which most of them were martyred for proclaiming the Good news about Jesus. The eleven knew Jesus personally. Apart from those eleven apostles who worked and travelled with Jesus in his ministry which spanned the period of three years, there was another who was

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Richard C. Martin: “Islam Studies“, Prentice Hall 996:48-53.

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p[personally called by Jesus himself after ascension(Acts 9:4-5, 1cor 9:1,15:) This was apostle Paul who was a key player in proclaiming the Good News about Jesus in the apostolic time.

Though Islam and Christianity claim to be monotheism, they are not monolithic.The divisions in each religion have been and continue to be unavoidable. In Islam, the divisions were inevitable due to the absence of a central doctrinal authority and the absorption by Islam of non-Arab cultures slept in different philosophical and of the social tradition. 4 But Christianity from the beginning the divisions were and continue to be based on doctrine .For example at the end of the second century AD the followers of Gnosticism were convicted that matter is evil and that emancipation comes through gnosis while in the beginning of the fourth century Arius (d 336AD) a Greek theologian states that the son (Jesus) is not the same as the father but was created as an agent for creating the world.

There are two main groups in Islam community: Sunnites and Shiites. The largest one is Sunni which is about 85% of the whale population of Islam.

In Christianity there are a good number of groups or denominations. The main denominations are: Roman Catholics, Protestants, Orthodox, and Anglicans. The largest of these is Roman Catholic which makes up to 971702000 adherents which is equal to almost 60% of the whale population of Christianity's world. 5

In Kenya we have about 7% of Muslims of the whale population. Most of them are Sunnites. Muslims in Kenya are located in three main areas: Eastleigh one of the biggest estate in the Nairobi city, Garrisa, and Mombasa.

Christianity in Kenya is about 74 % of the whole population and they are found in all corners of the country.

A. ISLAM

(a) Definition: From American Webster's Dictionary, Islam is the Religion of Muslims and including belief in Allah as the sole deity and Mohammad as his prophet. The adherents of Islam religion are called Muslims to mean those who surrender or submit to Allah.

(b) Founder: Islam was founded by the prophet Mohammed. He is called the holy prophet in the Quran (the holy book of Islam)

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According to Thomas W. Lippman in: “Understanding Islam”, p.136.

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According to Conrad Phillip Kottak in: Cultural Anthropology, p.252.

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(c) Mohammed: Mohammed was born around 570 A.D in Mecca. His father was Abdullah who died a few months before Mohammed was born. His mother was Amina who also died when he was six years old. Thus he had no plan from his early age. He was illiterate. What he learned of the cosmopolitan culture streaming in and out of Mecca had been enhanced by the travelling with caravans to Syria. At age of twenty five Mohammed married Khadija, a widow of forty, who entrusted to him the management of her family's caravan business. This motivated his move from the protection of his uncle Abu Talib to a position of some limited Social recognition as the Quraysh tribe of Mecca. At age of 40 Mohammed felt himself called to go forth and preach a religion of one absolute God, creator protentate and Judge of the world. After his vocation he carried out his mission twenty-two years till his death in the city of Medina around 632 AD.

(d) Mohammed's marriage(s):

A part from the wealth and old woman that the holy prophet married at his age

of 25, Mohammed had other different spouses. 6 In addition to his twelve wives Mohammed had female captives, the most beauty and youngest in eleven after the death of Khadija was Aisha who claimed to make vain by her beauty and proud by Mohammed's special affection for her. Aisha who is clearly stated by Mohammed to be superior to his other wives was six when Mohammed took her and when Mohammed died she was eighteen years old. Many hadiths mention the name of Aisha as the loved wife of Mohammed but the second to Khadija.

(e) The prophet hood of Mohammed:

It was fifteen years after marriage to Khadija, when he was forty that Mohammed first experienced in a traumatic was the voicing of the message for which he has been remembered. The night between the twenty-six and twenty- seventh days of the ninth month on the Muslim calendar, Ramadhan. On this occasion Mohammed is said to have first experienced his call to prophet hood. This happened when he was in retreat to the hills of near the Mecca where he was brooding and meditating on the spiritual message of meccans. On that occasion at the age of forty, he was moved by a strange experience. A bright, blinding Light appeared on the horizon it was a manifestation of the Angel Gabriel. In that night of power, Mohammed was filled with fear and felt reluctant to go out and face the powerful Quraysh tribe of Mecca with Allah's message of Judgment. Thus after the night of power, Mohammed assumed the role of prophet / Warner. After the death of his uncle and is wife Khadija in 619, in 622 upon invitation of the town fathers, Mohammed and his followers made the fateful Hijra (emigration) to yathrib (medina). This moment is reckoned as the beginning of the year 1 (AH1) in the calendar used in the Islamic world. Between his 40-52years he went on to receive visions and preaching of

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According to Phil Parshall in Inside the community p.182, 184.

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monotheism and future judgment and denunciation of Idolatry but won only slight success either in Mecca or in the neighbouring city, Taif. After his vocation, he carried out his mission 22 years till his death in the city of Medina around 632 AD.

(f) Muhammad's Mission:

On the night of the power (between twenty sixth and twenty seventh), Muhammad was filled with fear and awe, reluctant to go out and face the powerful Quaryish tribe of Mecca with Allah's message of Judgment. This let us know that at first Muhammad was called to his tribe men, who were involved in the worship of the Idolatry (Quaryish controlled by the pagan shrines around Mecca, including the Ka'aba) Thus Muhammad started his Mission in Mecca; he migrated to Medina from where his message was proclaimed all over Arabian and beyond. After receiving his revelation (Quaran) he was commanded to receive the words of the Quaran to be repeated by the hearers and eventually be written down. 7

Mohammed received his call to the prophet hood at the age of 40 years around 610AD. The span of his ministry extended from 610 to 632 AD. During that period, he led a life singularly crowded with events, more especially in the 10 years after migration to Medina. It was also outstanding brimful of achievement in every sphere. No other human being has left an impress so deep and so permanent on the pattern of human life, as it has developed since, and indeed, on the course of human history since his day , as has Muhammad the servant, most prominent of Allah and his messenger per excellent, “on whom be peace and the choicest blessings of Allah” (as normally Muslims would say).

B. CHRISTIANITY

(a) Definition:

Christianity is the believe that Jesus of Nazareth is the son of God, the Christ or messiah, and the lord.

It is the conviction that the highest revelation of the love and the will of God is the found in him. The adherents to Christianity are called Christians means that they know Christ and became like him until Christ is formed and lives in them (Phil 3:10, Gal 2: 20, 4:19) Christian is one who lives by faith in the son of God (Gal 2:20)

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Muhammad Zafrullah Khan: “Wisdom of the Holy Prophet”, Islam International Publications, 1981:3.

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(b) Founder of Christianity:

When you judge the Christianity you find that Jesus Christ is the founder and the Author of the Christian religion. 8

(c) Jesus Christ:

Jesus is believed to be born between the end of 5BC and the start of 4BC. This was the time when Herod (73? - 4) was the great roman king of Judea (37 - 4), (Math 2:1). It was also during the time Augustus OCTAVIAN (63BC - 14 AD) was reining as the Roman Empire (27BC - 14AD), (Luke 2:1). Jesus did not have the human father, his father was God and even Jesus Christ was god. His mother was Mary, the wife of Joseph. Biblical, Joseph was the protector or guider but sometimes the world in which Jesus Christ lived or, was born used to call Joseph his father by saying that Jesus was the son of carpenter. Jesus was born in the place called Bethlehem, the David's town (Luke 2:4) the birth of Jesus Christ was seen to be self-revelation of God himself in the human being. God miraculously created the infants Jesus in the womb of Mary through the power of the Holly Spirit (Math 1:20, Luke 1:35). In this way Jesus had a human mother but God was his father (Galatians 4:4, Rom 1:3 & Luke 1:35). And in Christianity this is what is called the 'Virgin Birth' of Christ'. The term most often used to describe this whole process is incarnation 'The embodiment’ of a deity or a spirit in some earthly form. 9 But in this purpose it means the union of divinity with humanity of Jesus Christ. Thus this term means that the son of god become a human being. The incarnation of God or the birth of Jesus Christ was predicted by the prophets of the Old Testament. For example, his divine Isaiah 9:6, his nationality Gen 22:18, his place of birth Micah 5:2, his tribe Gen 49:10, his family origin Isaiah 11:1, the period of which he was expected Dan 9:25.

His incarnation is a proof that he was there before he was born, (Heb 7:3, John 5:58, 1:1, 17:5, 1st Peter 1:20).

Since Jesus Christ was to be both God and Man at the same time, he came into the world by means of a unique birth with a human mother and heavenly father. The mission of Jesus Christ on the earth was to buy back or to redeem the human kind. Though he showed the special power in him in his early age (Luke 2:46-49). Jesus started his mission towards the fulfillment of his mission at the age of 30 and he carried out his mission for 3 years. Jesus died on Friday, April the 3rd Ad 33.

After the three days Jesus resurrected and after he went into heaven where he is now (Luke 23: 1-8)

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According to Joel Stephen William in What is Christianity , p.68.

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A.W. Hastings: “Dictionary of the Bible”, Charles Scribener’s Sons, pp.441 – 464.

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(d) Jesus' Call or Prophethood:

According to the bible, Jesus was not called but he was sent from heaven into the world by his father. When he came, he was everything. He was God, lord, messiah, High priest, Prophet, Church, prince, king, mediator, lamb, savior, son of man, son of god, the life, servant of God, way, the bread of Life, etc.

Jesus was not like other prophet or servant of God who was found at a given time and be given a message or tasks. Jesus was there from the beginning (John 1:1) and when he came in the world, he came with his message of redemption from heaven. As God, lord the son of God, The savior, Messiah, Jesus had all things in himself and used everything to convey his message.

(e) the Jesus Mission and Ministry:

The mission of Jesus Christ on earth was to redeem or buy back the human kind who was in the captivity of sin. His mission was to save sinners who were unable to save themselves and needed the grace of God. The ministry of Jesus started when he was 30 years old (Luke 3:23). After his baptism Jesus was filled by the holy spirit and led by the spirit in desert where for 40 days he was tempted by the devil (luke4:1-2) after this 40 days Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the spirit where he started his ministry by teaching in the Synagogue in which every one praised him (luke4:14-15) from Galilee Jesus went Nazareth where he had been brought up and taught there. In these years when he was 30 years it is referred to as the years of inauguration of his ministry. He taught, warned, made miracles and chosen his disciples. In the second year of his ministry known as the year of popularity Jesus made tours to Nazareth , Jerusalem, Bethsaida, Genezareth etc. teaching and performing miracles. The third year of his ministry was the year of opposition. However he went on teaching and performing miracles and wherever he went in his mission he went together with his disciples. His life as human being ended at the place called Golgotha. Jesus was charged by the mob backed by the teachers of the law and the religious leaders that he said himself to be the king and that he made the blasphemy the name of God by calling himself the God or the son of God. After the cruxification Jesus resurrected on third day and before he return to heaven he was able to meet and encourage his disciples. Jesus appeared the duration of forty days after Passover and then Jesus Ascended to heaven in the presence of his disciples at the vicinity of Bethany (Luke 24:50, Acts1:2-9).

The choosing of disciples of Jesus was to make sure that his mission will be reached to all corners of the world. The message of Jesus was simple like this: repent because the kingdom of God is at hand. The master's words had been very clear just before he ascended. His disciples were to tell the stories of his life and teaching of his crucifixion and resurrection every where- in Jerusalem, in all Judea, in neighboring territories, in the entire world. This is what Peter, James

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and John did after the new impetus from the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost. At that day Jews had gathered in Jerusalem from all over the Roman Empire as far away as Mesopotamia, Egypt, Rome (Act2: 38-40). During the mission of Jesus Christ, he did not go further than the area of Judea but after his ascension within 2 decades of Jesus death, the Christianity was remarked in the regions that we call Palestine, Syria, Cyprus, Italy, Egypt, Ethiopia, Greece, Turkey, Balkans and some claimed India.

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THE SPREADING OF ISLAM IN EAST AFRICA

Arabia which is the motherland of Islam is separated from East Africa by the Red Sea. The Coastal areas of East Africa and adjoining Islands were visited by Muslim traders and these merchants brought Islam to East Africa. In the life time of the holy prophet some Muslims oppressed by the Quraish of Mekkah sought refugee in East African in the court of Abyssinia (Ethopia). The East African coast became a frequent sanctuary for the oppressed Muslims. The follower Sayyid, great grand son of Ali, found refugee in the coastal region of East Africa. In the course history the Muslims from Shinaz Oman and elsewhere migrated to East Africa and adjoining Islands.

The Muslim refugees from Al Ghisa founded the form of Mogadishu. By the mid- twentieth century most of the people in Zanzibar adjoining Islands were converted to Islam. The Muslims set up a number of settlements in the region, out of these settlements the settlements set up in the Islands of Kiluubi rose to importance under the Muslims, Kilwa became an important trading centre. The greater Muslim traveller and lawyer, Ibn Batuta visited the Kilwa in 1331 CE and he was very surprised of the great town of Kilwa made up by Muslims at that time the ruler of Kilwa was Al Hasan B. Sulaiman. He was surnamed (Abul Marahib) the giver of gifts because of his great generosity. Al Hasan went on pilgrimage and he remained in the holy cities of Hezar for two years to start Islam. By this time an important state of Zanjis grew in East Africa, the Zanjis were pagans. The ruler of Kilwa conducted campaigns against the Zanjis and Conquered some part of Zanjis Dominions. During the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries Kilwa enjoyed great importance. During the days of its prosperity Kilwa was a big city and hold three hundred mosques.

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Africa as a whole was a targeted continent by Muslim from the beginning between the year of AD 628 and 630 Muhammad sent envoys to the rulers of Yemen, Egypt, Abyssinia, Persia and the Byzantine Empire to convince them to accept Islam. Abyssinia, the modern Ethiopia is one of the Sub-Sahara countries and in the time of Mohammed it was a big kingdom which could be taken to represent Africa (EAST

AFRICA & HORN OF AFRICA).

However, many Historians say that Islam first came to Africa by way of Egypt around 640 AD. Contrary to this idea, Lippman indicates that in East Africa, the first Muslim arrived in the time of Mohammed. 1 Of course there is a long history of exchange between Africa and Arabia across the red sea and this indicates the way Islam emerged in Africa in its early ages.

Contrary to the other area where the spread of Islam involved the more violence Islam was spread less by violence and more by traders in East Africa. A fact that most of Historians do not compromise is that Islam spread along the East Africa coast and across the Sahara through commerce and Trade.

The role of Trade in the spread of Islam in East African coast may be linked to the prophet Mohammed who was also a successful businessman (he is perhaps the only founder of a major religion who was once a merchant).

The people of Arabia were either herdsmen or traders. Since there were no trucks or railroads at the time all overland transport was done on the backs of camels. One of the main trade route from Africa to Europe and Asia went through Arabia. Traders bought goods from Africa and sold them elsewhere and also brought other goods back to Africa.

Thus, the idea of Lippman may suggest that the first Muslim who reached in the East Africa in the time of Mohammed was a Muslim trader.

1 In “Understanding Islam” on p. 133.

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Arabs sailors at first who were trading with Somalia, Kenya and Tanzania took there new faith far down the East African coast. They converted some of the Coastal people or at only rate some of the coastal rulers. Muslims came with ships down settled on many of the islands (Daresalaam, Zanzibar, Comoros and also Ibo, and others, Islands of Mozambique) from which they influenced the coastal regions.

In East Africa, Muslims have for a very long time enjoyed considerable prestige. Most influential Muslim communities there are the Indians and the Arabs Swahili. The true Swahili people of the coast are the descendants of Arabs merchants who married African women.

Many of these families trace their origins back to southern Arabia and the coastal regions of the Persian Gulf and many of them maintain contact with their paternal homeland.

A part from the Indian and the true Swahili communities, the Muslim population of

East Africa consists of many tribal Africans living in the villages on the mainland of the India and Arab Swahili communities near and along the coast.

The earliest concrete evidence of Muslims presence in EAST Africa is the foundation of mosque in Shanga on Pate Island where gold, silver and copper coins dated AD 830 were found during an excavation in the 1980’s. The oldest intact building in East Africa is a functioning mosque at kizim kazin southern Zanzibar dated AD 1007. Islam was widespread in Indian Ocean area by the 14 th century. When Ibin Battuta from Maghrib visited the East Africa littoral in 1332 he reported that he felt at home because of Islam in the area. The coastal population was largely Muslims and Arabic was the language of literature and trade. The whole of the Indian Ocean seemed to

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be a Muslim sea. Muslims controlled the trade and established coastal settlements in south East Asia, Indian and East Africa.

Thus, Islam was spread mainly through trade activities along the East African coast, not through conquest and territorial expansions as was partly the case in West Africa but remained an urban littoral phenomenon for along time. Many Swahili cities on the coast of East Africa, such as Kilwa, Mogadishu, mafia, Mombasa, Zanzibar had growth rich for trading with both India and china. By the 13 th century, Kilwa and Zanzibar and probably Mogadishu on the Somali coast had acquired ments of their own kings struck copper coins in fair quantity, usefully inscribing their names. Long after they had travelled through East African Kilwa the Moroccan (Maghreb) scholars Ibin Battuta could still remember it as one of the most beautiful and the best constructed towns in the world.

When the violent Portuguese intrusions in the coastal areas occurred in the 16 th century Islam was already well established there and almost all the ruling families had ties of kinship with Arabia Persia, India and even south Asia owing to their main time contracts and political connections with the northern and Eastern parts of the Indian Ocean.

Conclusion

Islam went intercontinental for the first time when it crossed the Red Sea and set foot in Eastern Africa. Eastern Africa was the first stage in the globalization of Islam. It happened while the Prophet Muhammad was still alive.

The first Muslims in pre-Islamic Arabia faced persecution from the old religious and political establishment of polytheistic Mecca. The Prophet Muhammad encouraged some of his endangered followers to seek asylum across the Red Sea in Christian Abyssinia. The stage was being set for the future Islamization of large parts of Ethiopia, Somalia and surrounding parts of the Horn of Africa. It was the beginning of the intercontinentalization of Islam.

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The Blue Nile originated in Ethiopia, joined forces in Sudan with the White Nile from Uganda, and rushed downstream towards the Mediterranean. While the Nile linked East African countries from the equator northwards to the Mediterranean, Islam was destined to link those same lands from the Mediterranean southwards to the equator. The arrival of Islam into Africa was indeed initially in Ethiopia, but the spread of Islam was triggered off more by what happened further north. While in Abyssinia Islam had arrived as a refugee, in Egypt it arrived a couple of decades later as a conqueror. This northern conquest initiated the first stage of the globalization of the Arabic language, alongside the globalization of the Islamic religion. The phenomenon of Afrabia was in the process of being born. Over the centuries North Africans became not just followers of the Prophet but his fellow Arabs in identity. Egyptians were Arabized, as well as Islamized. The eastern seaboard of Africa was thus the first frontier of the globalization of Islam.

The arrival of Islam into Africa from the Indian subcontinent and South-East Asia came later. Malay Muslims were imported into Southern Africa, while British India exported both Hindus and Muslims to South-East Africa.

But the Swahili Coast has remained the supreme melting pot of cultures in eastern Africa. Islam is a culture not just of denominational diversity of religion but also of dialectical diversity of language.

There are some elements which are considered to be the roots of spreading of Islam in the coat of East Africa

(1) TRADE

(2) INTERMARRIEGES

(3) ACCEPTANCE OF SOME AFRICANS TRADITIONS (4) GIVING GIFT

(5) OIL WEALTH

(6) KISWAHILI

(7) EDUCATION

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TRADE

W e have seen that, the Arab took their faith far down the East Coastal people. Islam

was spread mainly through trade activities, the Muslims (Arab) who came with their ships down the coast of East Africa and settled on many of the Islands from which they influenced the coast regions were traders.

These traders brought and bought goods in Africa. Some of the goods brought to Africa were cloths and species (salt, pepper) oil etc.

The most goods that were bought from Africa were ivories, gold and slaves; there are evidences that in tenth century there were markets of importance as far as Mozambique in which Ivory and gold bought. The Arab Muslims traded with all the peripheral countries and Indian oceans exporting metals, ivory tortoise shell, slaves and buying cotton and luxury goods from a field as china. The discovery of 240 Chinese coins in East African ranging from the T’ang Emperors (618-906) to much later this of the Seng period (960-1279) reveal the existence of this trade.

Trade contracts with peoples in the interior especially the Nyamwezi gained importance and places like Tabora in Nyamwezi territory and Ujiji at Lake Tanganyika became important entrepots in the ever increasing trade in slaves and Ivory. Many chiefs, even in parts of Uganda, converted to Islam and cooperated with the coastal Muslims in order to gain from their mervel which were unknown elsewhere in Bantu of East Africa.

Arabs trained the Arabic language to some of natives who in turn would interpret them while buying and selling to the Africans. Most of those who trained in Arabic, due to the benefits from these traders turned to be Muslims for life.

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These traders whose some of them settled in the coast of East Africa had brought with them the art of writing, a mervel unknown elsewhere in Bantu of East Africa. They had brought with them too their traditional love of the Arts of the poet and the bard and all of these are still remarked in all cities, which have a rich background in Arabian traditional and arts. This early civilization was thoroughly Muslim and thus motivated the Bantu of coast of East Africa to embrace and appreciate the new religion.

INTERMARRIAGE

As Arabs Muslim converted some of the coastal people and as they settled in some coastal regions, they also intermarried with local women. In Kenya the intermarriage of Arabs with Bantu tribes of coast of the East Africa involved Digo, Dumma, Giriama, Taita, etc.

In Tanzania Sukuma 2 , Ukerewe, Wahaya, Wanyamwezi also had been affected with this intermarriages with Arabs.

The children born through this intermarriage spoke Kiswahili. Kiswahili was delivered from the words ‘’ Lugha ya Kiswahili’’ which means – the language of this Coast.

This shows a point that intermarriage of Arabs with Bantu women were at the Coast and Islands. Thus Kiswahili is a language of Bantu of the Coast of East Africa with a large number of Arabic loan words. (The traditional speakers of Kiswahili have been influenced linguistically and culturally by Persians and Indians). However all Bantu of the mainland and even farther to the great lakes ( Rwanda, Burundi, Congo, Uganda)find similarity between their mother tongues words and Kiswahili words.

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Sukuma is with Yao one of those local Bantu language son the territory of present-day Tanzania that is closest

to Swahili (Note inserted by Muhammad Schmidt).

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While it is obvious that the children born through intermarriages of Arabs with Bantu women of East African coast became Muslims, other Bantu of mainland felt at easy to embrace a religion (Islam) of the people who spoke the language which was similar to theirs. However the nilotics of Somali and the people of Djibouti embraced Islam through long history of exchanges between Africa and Arabia across the Red sea. Lippman indicates that the spiritual traffic of them is with Arabian Peninsula, Just across the strait of Bal el – Mandeb, at the mouth of the Red Sea. 3

ACCEPTING SOME OF THE AFRICAN TRADITIONS

The most of African traditions which were integrated in Islam Religion were polygamy and undermining a woman in society.

Muslims attitude of marrying as many women as four was embraced by Africans without problem because in many African tribes to marry many women was considered as being hero. One was to marry many wives so that to have many children and this was a sign of rich and protection. Cows, sheep were given as dowry while to have many sons were needed to fight in tribe wars so to have many daughters was a sign of richness while boys were a sign of protection.

Someone who had many wives felt warm in Islam community. In Islam the rights of women are undermined a fact that was appreciated and matched with place that women were given in African society.

The husband alone unilaterally could terminate the marriage by repudiation of his wife.

But what the Qur’an, the Sacred Book of Islam says on the subject of polygamy? But if you fear that you can not do justice between orphans, then marry what seems good to you of women by twos or threes or fours and if you fear that you cannot be

3 Ibid.

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