Rural Islamism during the ‘war on terror’: A Tanzanian case study

In the Tanzanian country town of Rwangwa, a bitter confrontation has developed between Sufi Muslims and Islamist reformers. The Islamists draw on Middle Eastern inspiration, but the conflict arises equally from local, regional and national context, and is cultural as well as religious and political. Situated in an economically and educationally disadvantaged region, access to land and trade forms the focus of conflicts between the young (Islamists) and the older (Sufis). Islamists criticize the closeness of Sufis to government, which they accuse of discrimination against Muslims. The main objects of debate, though, are ritual and scripture. The Islamists reject Sufi burial rites and appeal to their superior knowledge of the Quran to justify their stance, reinforcing and profiting from the on-going transition from orality to literacy. While mainstream Muslim observers condemn the Islamists’ aggressive posturing and opposition to authority, they accept their claim to superior learning and to possession of an Islamic alternative to western notions of progress.