"Never will the Jews or the Christians
be satisfied with you (Muslims) unless you (should) follow their form of
religion...." (Qur'an; 2:120).
The study of Islam in East Africa has
attracted much attention of contemporary scholars but most of them neglect
the Crusades against Islam in Zanzibar. The Crusades seem to belong to
the Middle East despite the fact that it is an ecumenical imperative in
any Muslim country, including Zanzibar.
Therefore, we specifically focus
on the CATHOLIC CRUSADES MOVEMENT (CCM) against Islam in Zanzibar from
Prince Henry (1394-1460), the Navigator of Portugal to former President
Julius Kambarage Nyerere (b. 1922), a devout Catholic of Tanganyika and
the founder of the ruling hegemony of CHAMA CHA MAPINDUZI (CCM), literally
the PARTY OF REVOLUTION in Zanzibar and Tanganyika in the name of TANZANIA.
The Catholic Church, which has a
very strong influence in the Tanzanian Government, has well established
strategies for CHRISTIANIZATION OF ZANZIBAR after the next millennium.
This is the continuation of what was left by Prince Henry after being cemented
by the Anglo-Dutch Colonial Crusaders. Nyerere emerged to be an indispensable
agent in carrying out the wishes of his church. Among the strategies used
in Zanzibar are annihilation (1964), assimilation (1977) and secularization
(1978). Similar strategies were successfully used by the Catholics against
the Muslims in the Mindanao islands. |