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Abstract African Muslim societies were characterised, in the 20th century, by the emergence of reformist movements that have gained, since the 1970s, major social, religious and political influence in a number of countries, including Northern Nigeria, Senegal, Zanzibar and Sudan. These movements of reform are, however, not recent phenomena. Rather, they look back to a history of several generations of reformist endeavour and thought that may have been influenced, to a certain extent, by external sources of inspiration. This contribution shows how the biographies of major reformist personalities such as Cheikh Touré in Senegal, Abubakar Gumi in Northern Nigeria and 'Abdallâh Sâlih al-Farsy in East Africa reflect a number of common features of Islamic reform in Africa, while their programmes of reform were shaped, at the same time, by local frame conditions.

The role of Iranian merchants in the maritime trade of the Indian Ocean basin from antiquity up to the 16th century is often underestimated. From scholarly histories to popular culture the “Muslim sailor” is typically portrayed as being an Arab. In fact, from pre-Islamic times the principal actors in Indian Ocean trade were predominantly Persian, as attested by the archaeological data, local written records, and the names of places and individuals.

Abstract The idea of comprehensiveness, which I call 'facing-both-ways' in matters of faith, is unknown, at least for now, in the Global South Anglicanism where the Anglican Church is used to preaching the Gospel plainly and unmistakably. The story of homosexuality in the Anglican Communion came to the spotlight at the 1998 Lambeth Conference, at which the Anglican bishops of the Global South of the Anglican Communion emerged as the most prominent opponents of any form of approval of homosexual practice by the Anglican Church. By asking the hard question as Bishop Frank Weston of Zanzibar did in 1913: Anglican Communion: For What Should She Stand? Anglican bishops of the Global South of the Anglican Communion drew the Communion's attention to the place and role of Global South Anglicanism in the Communion and World Christianity.

Hadrami scholars have long been recognized as well as been influential teachers of East African Islam, especially in the late 18th and early 19th century. is article traces the role of Hadrami teachers and scholars on Islamic education in Zanzibar between c. 1870 and 1930. The article analyses different levels of Islamic education and traces the texts and teachers who came to influence generations of Muslims in the British-Bū Saīdī protectorate.

Like elsewhere in Africa, local forms of Islam are being challenged by a number of new reformist and revivalist forms of Islam, influenced to some degree by a global Islamic revival but shaped by particular local histories and politics. This has caused some friction, especially as the regime in place seeks to manipulate these tensions for political benefit. Central to this struggle are the young men who have studied Islam abroad and who challenge the established truths of the traditional religious authorities; these authorities in turn accuse 'the youth' of bringing foreign, 'Arab' ideas and politics to Zanzibar. However, the kind of Islamic revival taking place in Zanzibar is far from radical or violent, and it is not appropriate to pose the present situation in terms of global Salafism versus local Sufism. In fact, Islamic revivalists often coin their critique of the state in terms of human rights and good governance and provide an alternative modernity that simultaneously challenges and articulates secular, liberal forms of modernity. Islamic revival critiques what is perceived as society's moral disorder and the state's inability to deal with new global challenges. Hence the present paper explores how global trends in Islam—but also global discourses on human rights and good governance—influence the current modes of Islamic revival in Zanzibar. With a heavily restricted political field, Islam can be a means of critiquing society without getting involved in politics. However, the government and the traditional religious authorities perceive this revivalism as a threat to the status quo and attempt therefore to politicise the struggle, accusing Islamic movements of fundamentalism and terrorism. It is within this political environment that Islamic revival must navigate.

Omani and British reforms of Zanzibar’s judiciary date back to the 1820s, when the abolition of the slave trade justified Western control of the sultanate’s political economy. The sultan enacted the abolition of slavery as a legal status in 1897, seven years after Zanzibar had become a British protectorate. Through the lens of a 1948 inheritance case, I analyze how colonial judicial reforms shaped the negotiation of grievances and the judges’ interpretations of social equality. As members of the colonial elite, both Muslim and British judges were embedded in a racialized social hierarchy. Their reasoning not only exposes the continuous marginalization of former slaves but also attests to ex-slaves’ ability to assert material power. While a Muslim and a British judge used different hermeneutics, both validated the marriage of a Hadrami water carrier to a former slave, thereby affirming his entitlement to a share of his wife’s estate.

Abstract While every year the people of the United Republic of Tanzania witness the new anniversary of the Union between the former Republic of Tanganyika and Zanzibar, this paper intends to examine how strong its legal foundation stands. The union was established by the two leaders; Nyerere for Tanganyika and Karume for Zanzibar. After their signatures, the agreement was required for ratification at Zanzibar and Tanganyika legislative bodies. Only Tanganyika ratified. Surprisingly, even though Zanzibar did not ratify, the union was made. On this background foundation, the union legality has been repeatedly criticized. While those who question the legality of the union stick on the point of ratification, those who consider its legitimacy, assert that the question of validity has waned due to the period the union has survived. The findings in this article argue otherwise, in fact, the issue has grown to such extent that it haunts everyone in Tanzania.

Abstract Judicial khuluu (<Ar. khulʿ ) in Zanzibar differs from judicial khulʿ in Arab countries that have recently introduced it through legislative reform. In Zanzibar’s Islamic courts, khuluu is used primarily as a judicial mechanism for ending a marriage when a judge determines a wife to be responsible for the breakdown of the marriage. Zanzibari women rarely file for khuluu because it is expensive and is associated with a woman’s failure in her marriage. Herein, I explain why judges in Zanzibar regard khuluu as a punitive measure that can be used to end a marriage when a woman is determined to be responsible for the marital discord, or when there are no grounds for judicial dissolution through fasikhi (<Ar. faskh , annulment). I also show that judges view khuluu as a right that a woman can exercise to extricate herself from marriage, a right that judges sometimes encourage in court.

Starting from the nineteenth century descriptive literatures on Zanzibar by authors such as Sir Richard Burton and Charles Guillain, and Salima bint Said-Ruete's autobiography, we can draw a rather detailed picture of the relationship between the different social layers, cultures and genders on Zanzibar. Describing and differentiating the complexity of Zanzibar society in the nineteenth century is the main aim of this paper. The focus is on clothing in order to sketch the social organization of the society and to highlight the cultural relations between the different groups in Zanzibar. The evidence obtained from the description of clothing is used as an eye-opener for the Zanzibar society and this evidence is supported by nineteenth century literature and photography on Zanzibar.