Haya mnaanza tena badala ya kunijibu maswali yangu unaanza kunishambulia nimekosea wapi? Nani mwenye uwezo finyu wa kufikiri mimi au wewe? CCM inahusika vp wakati tulikuwa na chama kimoja kabla ya mwaka 1995? Sasa nani mwenye uwezo finyu wa kufikiri? Kuna mambo nyerere amewafanyia waislamu hawatamsahau ngoja nikudondolee kuna article kaitafute imeandikwa na bwana mmoja anaitwa Issa Ziddy (PhD) kuhusu maisha ya Sheikh Hassan bin Ameir Al-Shirazy. Katika page hii muandishi amesema hivi:-
"
However, Shaykh ˘asan b. fiAmayr was not only active
with respect to the development of Muslim organizations in
Tanganyika, but also worked for the establishment of an
Islamic university in Tanganyika. In 1964, he was, thus,
among the Muslim scholars of the EAMWS who visited
Islamic countries such as Egypt, Iraq, Lebanon and Syria, in
order to ask for support in educational matters.
On 20 May
1964, they returned home with the good news that the
Egyptian government would donate 55 million Egyptian
pounds to build an Islamic university in Dar es-Salaam. But
the political situation had changed, and because of that,
‘Shaykh ˘asan was convinced by his friend and closest
student, Shaykh Mzee b. fiAlı, a Comorian living in Kariakoo
in Dar es-Salaam, to change the content and method of
delivering his khu†bas [sermons] and darsas by not touching
political issues any more'.12
Now, many sources, even Muslim texts, magazines,
newspapers, audio and videocassettes as well as books
written by missionaries claim that Shaykh ˘asan b. fiAmayr
was a politician. Also his name and pictures appeared more
then once in the documents of the Tanganyika archives on
the activities and struggles lead by the first political party of
Tanganyika, the Tanganyika African Association (TAA) as
well as the Tanganyika African National Union (TANU) as
Mohamed Said was able to show.13 Said also maintains in
this context that
the cause of Shaykh ˘asan b. fiAmayr's
deportation to Zanzibar in 1968 was political. However,
some students and murıdün (followers) of Shaykh ˘asan
12 Conversation with Bi Bahia bt. fiAbd al-Ra˛mn, October 2002.
13 See Mohamed Said, The Life and Times of Abdulwahid Sykes (1924-
1968), London 1998.
8 ISSA ZIDDY
such as Shaykh Amür b. ˘asan b. fiAlı and Shaykh
Mu˛ammad b. Kombo reject this interpretation of a strong
political inclination of Shaykh ˘asan b. fiAmayr. They rather
claim that he was not a politician and that his aim was the
struggle for Muslim education, Muslim rights and unity. He
is said to have always refused to become a minister or even a
local sheha (chief): ‘Shaykh ˘asan did not involve himself
in politics, but some of his students were politicians. They
invited him sometimes to say the Fti˛a at the end of their
political meetings. Also some of them sought his advices, as
in the context of the TAA memorandum [with respect to
Tanganyika's independence]'.14
According to Said, Muslim unity in Tanganyika started
to collapse after independence.15 Thus, a well known student
of Shaykh ˘asan b. fiAmayr, Shaykh fiAbdallh Chaurembo,
who used to teach Shaykh ˘asan b. fiAmayr's students
during his visits to his other centres, started a conflict with
Shaykh ˘asan b. fiAmayr on account of political questions.
Due to these internal conflicts among Tanganyika's Muslims,
the plans to start an Islamic university came to nothing
and the EAMWS came to an end as well, although Shaykh
˘asan b. fiAmayr tried to support this umbrella organization
of Tanzania's Muslims.
In this period of time, they were
essentially divided into two different groups: one that
supported government ideas without questioning whether
these ideas were ˛all or ˛arm according to Islamic points
of view; and one that supported government policies only
when they were ˛all. On account of these political problems,
many shaykhs were imprisoned under the ‘Preventive
Detention Act of 1962', while Shaykh ˘asan b. fiAmayr was
deported to Zanzibar in 1968.16
It is clear that Shaykh ˘asan b. fiAmayr was very influential
in Tanganyika politics, although his primary concerns
14 Conversation with fiAlı Mzee, 2002.
15 Said, Life and Times of Abdulwahid Sykes, 368.
16 Said, Life and Times of Abdulwahid Sykes, 368 & 370.
˘ASAN B. ‘AMAYR AL-SHIR◊Zˆ 9
were education and development for all Muslims of East
Africa. His thought also concentrated on the question how to
strengthen the unity of Muslims. Thus, his students came
from different madhhib (Islamic legal schools) and he did
not discriminate between Shıfia, Sunni, Ib∂ı or other groups
such as Sufis or Ansr as-Sunna (Wahhbı-oriented
Muslims), but rather accepted all students. On account of
this principle, he was also an active member of al-Jmifia al-
Islmiyya and al-Dafiwa al-Islmiyya as well as the East
African Muslims Welfare Society (EAMWS). By joining
and supporting these societies, Shaykh ˘asan was able to
visit many countries and to practice dafiwa for Muslims as
well as non-Muslims. A student of Shaykh ˘asan b. fiAmayr,
Shaykh Rama∂n b. Jafifar, thus told me that Shaykh ˘asan
had actually converted 7 million (sic) people to Islam.17 This
insistence on the importance of education was to continue,
according to his students, until his very death.
However, after the Arusha Declaration in 1967, the
EAMWS started to split. Some Muslims such as Shaykh
Adam Nasibu of the Bukoba district office of the EAMWS
even said that socialism as proclaimed in the Arusha Declaration
was equivalent to the teachings of the Qur√n.
The
nationalist newspaper, Uhuru, as well as the governmentcontrolled
Radio Tanzania/Dar es Salam praised this group
of Muslims for their progressive minds.18 Yet, other
Muslims rejected this interpretation. As a result, conflicts
between Muslims spread and although Shaykh ˘asan b.
fiAmayr tried to preserve the union and the work of unification
as achieved by him and other scholars, he became
older and was not able any more to influence these changes
in society, that had been introduced after independence.
In 1968, the Muslims in Dar es-Salaam became even
more divided. Thus, instead of having one centre for mawlid
celebrations (for the birthday of the Prophet Mu˛ammad), as
17 Conversation with Shaykh Rama∂n b. Jafifar, 2002.
18 Said, Life and Times of Abdulwahid Sykes, 328.
10 ISSA ZIDDY
in the colonial times, they now held mawlid celebrations in
two different places, namely Mnazi Mmoja and Ilala. This
dispute gave their enemies the chance to exploit their divisions.
In the course of 1968, the EAMWS disintegrated even
further, when the leaders of the Bukoba district of the
EAMWS left the organization to be followed by the Tanga
and Iringa regions.
The EAMWS headquarters tried to fight
this escalation, but the promises the government made to the
opponents of the EAMWS made these efforts with respect to
the unity of the EAMWS futile. The EAMWS dissidents
who left the organization with government support, thus said
that if the EAMWS was to be re-structured it should be done
under their own conditions. These conditions were not only
difficult to meet but also quite controversial as they violated
against basic principles of Islam as well as against Shaykh
˘asan b. fiAmayr's ideas. Some of these conditions were:
1. The EAMWS was to be reserved for Tanzanians only
and should exclude other East Africans.
2. The Aga Khan was to be regarded as a foreigner, and
thus not acceptable as a patron of the EAMWS.
3. The Secretary General of EAMWS should be a black
African and not an Indian (as this position was held, at
that time, by an Ismfiılı Indian, fiAbd al-fiAzız Khaki).
4. The sources of funds and expenditure of the EAMWS
should be clearly shown.
5. The leaders of the EAMWS should be supporters of
TANU's political objectives and ideologies.
These conditions were sent to the EAMWS headquarters by
Shaykh Adam Nasibu, Mu˛ammad Zharia and Khamıs
Kayamba19 and an emergency meeting of the EAMWS was
held on 14 November 1968 to discuss the situation, whilst at
that time three Tanganyika regions had already left the organization.
Great efforts were made to save the situation and to
19 Said, Life and Times of Abdulwahid Sykes, 330-5.
˘ASAN B. ‘AMAYR AL-SHIR◊Zˆ 11
maintain the unity of the society, but the opposition was too
strong and the work of a committee of investigation that had
been formed to stop the disintegration of the EAMWS did
not get the opportunity to complete its work. Also, the
efforts of two prominent Muslims, namely Bibi Titi and
Tewa Said Tewa, who were members of the TANU, to save
the society, came to naught. Finally, Shaykh ˘asan b.
fiAmayr undertook some last efforts to secure public solidarity
for the unity of the EAMWS by advising its members
not to break with EAMWS on account of its benefits for
Muslims, for their country as well as future generations, and
maintained that preserving unity was as important as
worship.
Yet, in early December 1968, a special committee under
the chairmanship of a well known student of Shaykh ˘asan
b. fiAmayr, Shaykh fiAbdallh Chaurembo, was formed, with
Shaykh Adam Nasibu as the secretary general, in order to
obstruct the work of the EAMWS. By 3 December 1968, it
was obvious that the union of the Muslims in East Africa
was defunct. The group that had separated from EAMWS
was ready to take over the high Islamic leadership of
Tanganyika by any means. The only thing that prevented
them from doing so was the presence of Shaykh ˘asan b.
fiAmayr in Dar es-Salaam as the Muslims in the whole of
East Africa respected Shaykh ˘asan b. fiAmayr as their
spiritual leader. Thus, the time had come for the Tanzanian
government to use its power to complete the task of destroying
the EAMWS, by forcefully deporting Shaykh ˘asan b.
fiAmayr to Zanzibar.
Shaykh ˘asan had, thus, lived outside Zanzibar for
more than 24 years. In 1968, the government of Tanzania
returned him against his will to Zanzibar, where he now
continued to work in the court of reconciliation in Raha
Leo/Ng'ambo.20 In Zanzibar, Shaykh ˘asan b. fiAmayr
20 Hafidh, Shaykh Hassan bin Ameir, 5. For further information on the
reasons of Shaykh ˘asan b. fiAmayr's deportation see Said, Life and
12 ISSA ZIDDY
continued to live for more than ten years in the circle of his
family, his students as well as other famous scholars, till the
end of his life. He died on a Monday, 8 October 1979, in
Michenzani/Zanzibar, block number 8, house number 40,
and was subsequently buried in his home village of Makunduchi.
His funeral was attended by the largest crowd ever
seen in Makunduchi, among them some prominent people
from Tanzania and other parts of Africa and the rest of the
world. Thus, Shaykh ˘asan b. fiAmayr may have died, but
his ideas, writings and books are alive.
Kwa anayependa kujisomea zaidi anaweza kuclick link hii hapa chini.
http://www.smi.uib.no/sa/16/16Ziddy.pdf
