Reinventing
BAKWATA
Part Two
When these
findings were made public and distributed to Muslims throughout the country and
to the general public it came as a shock to both Muslims and the government.
For the first time it was revealed that there was a system in the Ministry of
Education supported by Christian functionaries which was discriminatory to
Muslim youths, purposely barring them from institutions of higher learning. The
government was flouting the cherished creed of religious tolerance and
non-discrimination of its citizens on religion.
Such accusations
and disclosure, and particularly coming from Muslims, threatened national
unity. The government did not want to find out whether those findings on education
were correct or not. Its interests were to know the brains behind Warsha
isolate them from Muslims and then persecute them. The government was
unprepared for such revelations and was worried by the direction, which BAKWATA
was taking. BAKWATA was now serving the
cause of Islam. This was not what
President Nyerere had bargained for when he subverted the EAMWS and helped to
found BAKWATA. Sheikh Mohamed Ali as
secretary of BAKWATA was taken to task for allowing the organisations to be
hijacked by ‘’hot headed youths.’’ Warsha were accused of being
anti-government and perpetrating animosity between Muslims and Christians
through their writings. Nyerere ordered Aboud Jumbe to close all Muslim
seminaries.
A meeting between
Aboud Jumbe and BAKWATA was held at Jumbe’s official residence at Laibon Road.
In attendance were Rashid Mfaume Kawawa, Adam Nasibu, Sheikh Mohamed Ali and
Sheikh Abbas Makbul, a representative of Darul Iftar. The stand of
Sheikh Mohamed Ali was that if those Muslim seminaries have to be closed then
the decision to take that step should be laid upon the government. This was a
difficult step to be taken by the government; as such an act would provoke
Muslims. The meeting left the decision to close the seminaries upon BAKWATA. [1] BAKWATA took a
unilateral decision and reverted the schools back to its original state. Warsha
not endorsing BAKWATA’s decision called a meeting of all Muslims to discuss the
problem. The Christian lobby used its powers and a crisis was fomented. The
government issued a directive to reinstate the schools taken over by Warsha
to their former secular status, that is, any Tanzania irrespective of faith
should have access to them. The government accused Warsha of trying to
divide the society along religious lines. The Christian lobby through the
state-radio issued a warning that the meeting was illegal. Anyone attending
that meeting would be arrested. This announcement was read by the Director of
Radio Tanzania, [2] David Wakati. A
crack squad from Oyster Bay police was sent to the school to stop the meeting
and intimidate Muslim parents who had assembled to discuss the future of the
school. Leading the squad was a Muslim officer one, Msafiri Himba. This is how
the Christian lobby operates. It sets Muslims upon Muslims.
The government saw the two Muslim seminaries,
which were established less than a year as divisive but turned a blind eye to
19 Christian seminaries, which were in existence for almost a hundred years.
Adam Nasibu
meanwhile in connive with of the government travelled to Moshi and the reason
he gave to BAKWATA headquarters was that he was going to Kilimanjaro Christian
Medical Centre (KCMC) for treatment. But that was not the reason. Once in Moshi
with the help of Sheikh Senare the BAKWATA chairman in Kilimanjaro and the late
Sheikh Jambeni [3] from Tanga and
other few hand picked BAKWATA members he called a secret meeting the agenda
being how to oust Sheikh Mohamed Ali from leadership. It was decided by
conspirators that a special meeting should be called in Dar es Salaam
immediately to discuss what had transpired in BAKWATA since the banning of
Muslim seminaries. The government put at
its disposal its manpower and sources to make the meeting a success. Members of
the BAKWATA Central Committee were sent invitations through police message. A
vast country like Tanzania communication is not easy. The government for urgent
messages because of its efficiency usually uses this type of transmission. But
this kind of message has another use in third world countries were
authoritarian regimes are the order of the day; a police message is no ordinary
message it frightens the receiver.
Sheikh Mohamed Ali
was accused of flouting the BAKWATA constitution, conducting elections under an
invalid constitution and in collaboration with Warsha, for "mixing
religion with politics." Sheikh
Mohamed Ali was therefore expelled from BAKWATA and Warsha banned. But
it was not possible to ban Warsha because the organisation was not in
the first place registered. It was not therefore possible to ban an entity,
which did not exist because Warsha was not officially registered with
the Registrar of Societies. The statement that Warsha is a prohibited by
the government from indulging in anything, which has to do with Muslims of
Tanzania, did not affect its activities in any way.
The government
gave the transfer of power in BAKWATA special significance by publishing the
changes in its daily paper. [4] Warsha's
mentor, Dr. Malik was declared a prohibited immigrant by the government and was
required to leave the country within twenty-four hours. His students advised
him to go to Zanzibar to wait and plan his next move. Dr. Malik was received on
Aboud Jumbe's orders while his students sorted out certain issues for him, and
packed his belongings in the mainland. Arrangements were made and Dr. Malik
went to Nairobi where Islamic Foundation employed him. But before he left Dr.
Malik told his students that BAKWATA were late in asking the government to
deport him, he had alhamdulilah already accomplished his work. Indeed
Dr. Malik had accomplished his work. The Muslims were aware of machinations
against them and the struggle against Christian hegemony in Tanzania had passed
to a different flock of Muslims. In the coming years students of Prof. Malik
formed other powerful organisations, which exists up to the present time.
During Maulid
celebrations of 1982 in Tabora, Adam
Nasib in the presence of the Vice-President, Rashid Kawawa through the state
radio warned the government of enemies who had invaded the country, meaning Dr.
Malik, Sheikh Mohamed Ali and Warsha. The government and BAKWATA to try
to diffuse the situation by issuing statements condemning Warsha and white
washing the government used the Maulid celebrations. Warsha had overtime
managed to establish centres in certain areas of the country, Tabora being one
of them. Warsha distributed statements from Tabora giving the Muslim position
on the issue of Muslim seminaries.
Muslims were
sympathetic to Warsha and took Warsha's struggle as their own
struggle. Muslims helped Warsha to establish a school, Masjid Quba
and Islamic Centre which was owned and managed by them. In retaliation to
these effort the government refused to register the school. The government as a
centre of “Muslim fundamentalism” perceived the school. The government went
further to subvert the school by warning Muslim parents that students
completing their education at Masjid Quba would not be recognised by it and would
not be considered for further education or for employment. Warsha was
not to be deterred they decided to run the school and educate Muslim children
even without government registration. The school being perceived as a centre of
Muslim militancy remained blacklisted by the government until 1988 when Prof.
Malima as the first Muslim Minister of Education registered it. Members of Warsha
used to say that they have their consent from Allah, they don’t need any
permission from anyone. This was Warsha's motto.
End
End
[1] See article by Burhani Mtengwa, ‘Mikutano ya
BAKWATA ni Njama za Kuhujumu Uislam” in Mizani 18-31 Januari, 1991.
[2] In the EAMWS crisis of 1968 the state owned radio
was used very effectively as a propaganda tool against Muslims.
[3] Sheikh Jambeni as secretary of EAMWS Tanga was
among those who supported the government in the banning of the society in 1968.
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