HIVI NI KWELI WAISLAM NI ''MINORITY'' (WACHACHE) TANZANIA KAMA TAKWIMU ZA CIA ZINAVYODAI?

mubindi said: ↑

Kwani sida ni nini hapo. Mahali fulani imeandikwa waungwana huchunguza. Naona watu wanabisha halafu hawana hizo takwimu wanazozani ni sahihi. People are subjective instead of being objective. Una takwimu sahihi kutoka vyanzo vinavyojulikana tupia siyo mnaleta siasa. Otherwise Wikipedia stands and remains correct. Full stop..!

Mubindi,
Suala la takwimu nchi petu baina ya Waislam na Wakristo ni jambo nyeti
sana na kwa hakika Afrika yote hili ni jambo linaloleta ubishani mkubwa
sana.

Wakati naandika kitabu cha Abdul Sykes ilifika mahali lazima hili suala
nilizungumze.

Naweka hapo chini kile nilichosema:

''According to the 1957 population census, Muslims outnumbered Christians at a ratio of three to two. This, at that time, meant that Tanzania was a leading Muslim nation South of the Sahara. But in the first post-independence census of 1967 the total figures for Tanzania Mainland were 32% Christian, 30% Muslim and 37% local belief (August H. Nimtz Jr, Islam and Politics in East Africa, University of Minneapolis, 1980, p.11). These figures show Pagans as a leading majority in Tanzania. The 1967 census has not been able to show the reasons for the sudden decrease of Muslim population nor the growth of animists amidst believers in the span of the last ten years.

This was the last population census showing religious distribution.

Unfortunately power sharing in the political system in Tanzania is very much skewed against Muslims, although it is known that the stability of any nation depends on proper balancing of these facts. Different sources provide different Muslim -Christian religious distribution figures. These conflicting figures are as a result of sensitivity of the issue. Among African countries with sizable population of Muslims and Christians, like Tanzania and Nigeria,[1] the inquiry as to which faith commands a leading majority, is a source of potential conflict and controversy. Tanzania is of no exception. D.B. Barret[2]gives figures which show Muslims as a minority in Tanzania. The Muslim population is purported to be 26%, Christian 45%, local belief 28%. Tanzania National Demographic Survey figures for 1973 put Muslims in Tanzania slightly above Christians at 40%, Christians 38.9% and local belief 21.1%. But according to Africa South of The Sahara, [3] Muslims in Tanzania are a leading majority at 60%. This figure has remained constant in all its publications since 1982. Since research by Tanzanian Muslims on Islam is scant or almost non-existent, the issue of Muslim population has yet to be tackled from an Islamic point of view. [4]

Distribution of authority and power sharing is a factor which should not have been a cause of conflict in independent African countries. Ironically this has become a point of controversy only under indigenous governments.

It is a sensitive issue because ethnicity, religious identity and clanship is an important factor in independent African states. Power distribution and numerical strength has also to be reflected in the sharing of political power along those lines.

During colonial rule, distribution of power under ethnicity and religious bias in Africa by colonising powers were not perceived as so serious a breach of trust by subjects as to warrant civil upheavals.

Fortunately tribalism is not pronounced in Tanzania, but religion has been a factor of discrimination since colonial days.''

[1] Ali A. Mazrui, ‘African Islam and Competitive Religion: Between Revivalism and Expansion’, in Third World Quarterly Vol. 10. No. 2 April, 1988, pp. 499-518.
[2] D.B.Barret, Frontier Situations for Evangelisation in Africa ,Nairobi, 1976.
[3] Africa South of The Sahara, Europa Publication, London, No. 20, 1991, p. 1027.
[4]The only conclusive Muslim research is by Dar es Salaam University Muslim Trustee (DUMT), see 'The Position of Muslims and Islam in Tanzania', in Al Haq International (Karachi) September/October 1992.

Bahati mbaya nimeandika haya katika Kiingereza lakini tunaweza tukafanya mjadala kwa Kiswahili.

Katika hayo niliyoweka hapo juu nimefuta kipengele kimoja kinachosema kuwa takwimu za sensa ya mwisho iliyokuwa na kipengele cha dini ''zilichezewa.''

Nimekifuta makusudi kwa kuwa ingawa ipo ''citation,'' nina hakika kitasababisha mapambano makali hapa jamvini.

Sasa turudi latika hizi takwimu za CIA.

Nilikuwa nafanya mhadhara Chuo Kikuu Cha Iowa, Marekani kuhusu ''Uislam
na Siasa Tanzania Historia ya TANU na Uhuru wa Tanganyika.''

Katika mhadhara ule nilieleza sababu za Waislam katika takriban miaka 20
iliyopita kuwa na maandamano na mapambano ya mara kwa mara na serikali.

Nikaeleza sababu kuu ni kuwa Waislam wamekuwa pembeni katika elimu na
hivyo kuwa pembeni katika kugawana madaraka ya kuendesha nchi.

Waislam walitaka hili liangaliwe na serikali kwani ipo harufu ya hujuma.

Katika kipindi cha maswali na majibu na ilipobaki kama dakika tatu hivi nihitimishe,
ndipo likaja swali hili lililokuwa na takwimu za CIA na muulizaji alikuwa profesa wa
historia akasema kuwa wakipatacho Waislam wa Tanzania hiyo ndiyo haki yao kwa
kuwa wao ni wachache, yaani ni ''minority.''

Hili swali naamini liliwekwa hadi mwisho kwa kuwa katika mazungumzo yale walitaabika sana ni historia ya uhuru niliyokuwa nawafunulia, historia ya wazalendo Waislam katika kupambana na ukoloni, historia ambayo kwao wao ilikuwa ngeni.

Wao walizoea mihadhara ya kuja na historia rasmi iliyomtaja Mwalimu Nyerere 
peke yake kuwa ndiyo aliyoikomboa Tanganyika kutoka kwa Waingereza.

Hawakutaka nitoke pale kichwa juu kifua mbele walitaka wanifedheheshe kwa hizi
takwimu za CIA zinazonyesha kuwa Tanzania ina Waislam wachache na mambo
yote ni shwari ila kwa vurugu hizi za, ''Waislam wa siasa kali.''

Historia yangu ilikuwa imewahuzunisha.

Katika hadhira ile alikuwapo Prof. James Giblin aliyafanya utafiti na kuandika kitabu
kuhusu Vita Vya Maji Maji.

Alikuwapo pia Prof. Michael Lofchie aliyeandika kitabu kuhusu Mapinduzi ya Zanzibar, ''Revolution in Zanzibar,'' na hawa wote wameishi Tanzania na wanaijua vyema.


Prof. Michael Lofchie


Prof. James Giblin

Jibu langu kwao halikuwa kwangu mimi kugonganisha takwimu zangu kama zilivyo
katika kitabu cha Abdul Sykes, na takwimu zao za CIA, la hasha.

Mimi nilijibu swali lao kwa kuwauliza wao swali.

Niliwaambia kuwa naomba wanionyeshe nchi yoyote duniani katika historia yao
wananchi walio pungufu yaani, ''minority,'' walionyanyuka na silaha mikononi
kupambana na taifa lililoingia katika nchi yao kwa nia ya kuwatawala.

Nikawarejesha katika hitoria ya Vita Vya Maji Maji na kuwaambia wafanye rejea
na waangalie ni nani waliunda majeshi ya kupambana na Wajerumani.

Nikawakumbusha kisa cha Sultani Abdulrauf Songea Mbano wa Wangoni
alivyonyongwa na Wajerumani kwa kuongoza vita dhidi yao.

Nikawaambia wafanye tena rejea waangalie harakati za siasa za uhuru zilipoanza
baada ya Vita Vya Pili Vya Dunia (1938 - 1945) ni nani walikuwa mstari wa mbele
katika, ''nationalist politics,'' Tanganyika?

Kweli inawezekana adui aingie katika nchi bila ya ridhaa ya wenye nchi na ikawa
walionyanyuka kupinga uvamizi huu wakawa ni wale, ''minority?''

''Majority,'' ya wenye nchi wako wako wapi hadi mapambano ya kuikomboa nchi iwe
mikononi kwa ''minority,'' na katika Tanganyika iwe Waislamu?

Ukumbi wote ulikuwa kimya.

Maprofesa wa historia ya Afrika walikuwa wanajaribu bila shaka kutafuta mfano
utakaoweza kupambana na hoja yangu.

Hawakuweza kuupata.

Nchi zote duniani mapambano ya ukombozi huongozwa na wale waliokuwa, ''majority.''

Nikamaliza kwa kusema kuwa sina ugomvi na takwimu za CIA lakini Waislam wa
Tanzania wanaujua ukweli.

Palepale Jonathon Glassman bingwa wa African History kutoka Northwestern University,
Evanston Chicago akaniomba niende chuoni kwake tukafanye madahalo kama ule
tuliofanya pale Universty of Iowa.

Glassman amekaa sana Pangani na Tanga mjini wakati anafanya utafiti wake na
kaandika kitabu ''Feats and Riots,'' anaijua vizuri Tanzania.

Nilikubali mwaliko na nilizungumza Northwestern University, Ukumbi wa Eduardo
Mondlane.

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