Before getting into a deeper discussion of the usage of the media technology (especially radio) by mainstream religions in Tanzania a brief historical account of the advancement of Islam and Christianity in the country demands some attention. A number of scholars document Islam to have come to Tanzania within the first century after the foundation of Islam (Welbourn 1965; Were and Wilson 1970; Sekamwa 1976; Palmer 1987; Pouwels 2000;
Mbogoni 2004). According to Pouwels (2000) archaeological excavation confirmed the presence of Islam in East African Coast evidenced by remnants of an ancient mosque and Muslim burial sites dated between 780 and 850 C.E. at Shanga in Lamu. Thus, it is agreed that Islam is the second oldest religion in Tanzania, the oldest being African religions.
Originally (before the advance of media technology), Islam spread through a number of ways. First, through the commercial link between the Far East and the East African Coast, later in the interior of the mainland pioneered by Arab, Persian and Indian migrants (Welbourn 1965; Mbogoni 2004). Second, following political upheavals in Persia and Arabia a number of political refugees of Islamic faith sought asylum on the East African coast. In the
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course of integration the new settlers spread their faith to the local population. Third, some preachers arrived from Islamic countries with the express purpose of spreading the faith (Rukya 2007). Fourth, in the process of establishing and consolidating colonial rule in the interior, the German utilized the educated coastal Muslims to replace the hitherto local systems. After assuming tasks such as clerical, tax collection, military and as chiefs the coastal Muslims simultaneously preached Islam (Sperling 2000).
Important to stress is that Islamization in Tanzania can be summed-up into three stages (Levtzion and Pouwels 2000; Ndaluka 2012). The first stage involved the acceptance and adaptation of Islamic culture and practices such as dressing style and the use of Islamic religious concepts. The second stage was the formal conversion to Islam. The final stage included the “recognition and adherence to the principles of Islamic law and acceptance of the five pillars of Islam.”19 To avoid over-simplification it is important to point out that Muslims in Tanzania cannot be grouped as one cluster. “Available evidences shows that there are two main Muslim denominations in Tanzania, namely Sunni and Shiite. Three quarters of Tanzania’s Muslims are said to be Sunni...The Shiites are a minority group, mainly of Asian origin.”20 There is a Muslim group within Sunni called Ansar as-Sunna. This is a puritanical Islamic movement inspired by al-Wahhab (A.D.1703-92) of Saudi Arabia. Available documents show that “Muhammed ibn Abd al-Wahhab is its founding warrior.”21 The Ansar as-Sunna group of Muslims lays emphasis on strict observance of all the precepts as presented by the grand sources of Islam (Chande 2000). It accepts only the authority of Qur’an and Sunnah; it became dominant in Saudi Arabia. Sometimes Ansar as-Sunna group of Muslims state that what they require is the strict implementation of Shari’a. However, from their sermons and behavior one can easily deduce their zeal for public and private Shari’a implementation (Lodhi&Westerlund 1999).
19 Ndaluka 2012:5.
20 Lodhi and Westerlund 1999:100.
21Katel 2007: 11.
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For the other part, a definitive historical account of the advance of Christianity in Tanzania is less coherent. For a start, the spread of Christianity included a multiplicity of different pious emissaries and missionary groups of different denomination--Catholics and Protestants--and from several European countries. For their part Wijsen and Mfumbusa (2004) locate two periods of the advancement of Christianity in Tanzania. They recount a brief presence of Christianity under Portuguese rule in the early 16th century. In this period the Augustinian missionaries had come along with the renowned Portuguese explorer Vasco Da Gama.
However, following the defeat of the Portuguese by the Arabs from Somalia down to Mozambique the Augustinian missionaries fled the country (Sahlberg1987; Ndaluka 2012).
Secondly, Wijsen and Mfumbusa (2004) argue that there has been a more profound evangelization since the second half of the 19th century by Protestant and Catholic missionaries from a number of European countries.
Missionaries who evangelized Tanganyika (Tanzania mainland) included the Holy Ghost congregation which established ransoming centers in Bagamoyo and Zanzibar for freeing slaves who were then made Christians to avoid making converts among Muslims (Welbourn 1965; Smith 1993); the Benedictines who evangelized in the southern highlands of Tanzania and Songea (Welbourn 1965), German Moravians and Lutherans who established missionary stations in south-west Tanzania (Welbourn 1965) and the White Fathers in north-west Tanzania, Tabora and in the southern shore of Lake Victoria (Nolan 1978; Kittler 1957).
A number of historians document that Christianity in Tanzania was spread through the freeing of slaves and provision of education and health services (Welbourn 1965; Versteijnen 1991;
Spears and Kimambo 1999). It can be claimed that the fundamentalist movements and Pentecostal revivalism in the USA in the 20th century have influenced Christianity in Africa and Tanzania as well. The new approach has been given different names, such as crusades, open air evangelistic meetings, gospel rallies and gospel festivals (Chesworth 2007). Rukya (2007) estimates about 150 Christian denominations in Tanzania. The presence of different
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groups in the two proselytizing religions poses challenges in the practices of religions and the general relations among followers. This phenomenon sets the ground for a brief account of Muslim-Christians interface in Tanzania.