Tanzania

The United Republic of Tanzania, located south of Kenya in East Africa, has existed within its current boundaries only since 1964. At that time, the former, largely Christian, British colony of Tanganyika merged with the Muslim island nation of Zanzibar, combining the two names into a new one, Tanzania. Tanzania continues to be a [Page 1265]Christian and Muslim nation, and its shoreline has been a part of religious exchanges in the western Indian Ocean for centuries. Christian missions have been active on the mainland since the late 19th century. In recent decades, Tanzania has, like many African countries, become a laboratory for trans-regional religious movements, both Muslim and Christian. Concurrently, indigenous religious practices persist.

While most Tanzanians—approximately 38 million in 2007—profess either Islam or Christianity, the exact proportion of Muslims to Christians is poorly known but estimated around 40:60; however, the government has not held a census since 1967, to avoid politicization of religious loyalties. Among Christians, Catholics reportedly form the largest group, and Anglicans, Lutherans, Methodists, and other Protestant denominations have substantial congregations. Most Muslims are Sunnī (of the Shafii School) with South Asian Shi'a and Bohra minorities.

Among Christians, globally connected religiosity tends to take the form of born-again/Pentecostal churches. Present since at least the 1940s, Pentecostals remained relatively weak until the 1980s, due partly to the relative scarcity of nondenominational missions. Subsequently, increased funding from U.S. Pentecostals combined with the social upheaval created by national development policies (“villagization”) aided their growth. Presently, among the most influential Tanzanian Pentecostal congregations, the Full Gospel Bible Fellowship Church, led by Zachary Kakobe, counts several thousand members. Tanzanian Pentecostals appear less interested in the prosperity gospel than west African Pentecostals and more so in healing, partly reflecting the pervasiveness of AIDS in this country. Tanzania's Catholic Church has recently been threatened by schism over the “charismatic” activities of one of its bishops in Dar es Salaam.

Trans-regional networks among Muslims take two distinct, temporally subsequent, forms. Two Sufi brotherhoods, the Qadiriyya (imported from the Somali coast) and the Shadhiliyya-Yashrutiyya (imported from Lebanon via the Comoro Islands), gained followers between 1880 and 1960 and became instrumental in the spread of Islam beyond its coastal urban nuclei. Focused on ritual performances, they continue to operate but have lost patronage and membership due to economic depression in their coastal bases. Politically, they are quiescent and marginal.

In contrast, loosely affiliated Islamic youth movements have emerged since the late 1970s that oppose Sufi rituals as “innovation.” Often known collectively under the term Ansar Sunna (also pronounced Ansuari or Ansuaru), they are influenced by Saudi Arabian Wahhabism. Besides Saudi sponsorship, the Ansar are also in contact with Islamists in Sudan and Somalia and attentive to the rhetoric of the “War on Terror.” They propose a literal interpretation of the Qur'an and accuse the Tanzanian state of discrimination against Muslims, especially in education. There have been occasional clashes between the Ansar and both Christian groups and security forces. The Tanzanian state is trying to manage these tensions and the international connections of Muslim groups, with partial success.

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