The Zanzibar Riots, the Union, & Religious Tolerance

By Prof Sheriff


NOBODY in his right mind would condone the torching of churches and shops in Zanzibar last weekend. But it is a great shame that so many, including some of the top leaders in the country have made these symptoms of a socio-political malaise in the country the central issue for discussion rather than looking at the disease itself. 
It seems to have been a bonanza for most of the newspapers on the mainland who have used this to launch for what I can only call Islam and Zanzibar bashing spree for more than a week. As a Zanzibari I am proud to say we have had more than 170 years of history of Muslim-Christian interaction in our islands, and before 1987 we never had anything but cordial relations between all religions in our country.
Anybody who disagrees with this can produce the evidence.The highest denomination of Zanzibar’s independence stamps carried the theme of religious tolerance, designed by our revered art teacher Mr Abdalla Farhan, showing the Catholic and Anglican cathedrals, a Sunni and a Shia mosque, and even a Hindu temple. Nobody should try to teach lessons about religious tolerance. 
The modern history of Muslim-Christian interaction in Zanzibar goes back to 1840 when the German Christian missionary Dr. Johanne Krapf visited Zanzibar to ask for permission to build a church at Mombasa which was then part of Zanzibar’s territory. 
According to the  missionary’s own testimony, the Muslim Sultan of Zanzibar, Seyyid Said bin Sultan, wrote to his governor in Mombasa in which he said: ‘I am sending you Dr Krapf. He is a man of God who wants to spread the word of God. Do everything in your power to facilitate his work.’ This was not because Seyyid Said was a uniquely tolerant ruler, but because this was the tradition of religious tolerance in the Indian Ocean before the coming of the colonialists.


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