'These young men show no respect for local customs': globalisation, youth and Islamic revival in Zanzibar

In recent years there has been a revival of Islam in Zanzibar, with heated debates about the nature of Islam and its role in society. This paper explores the nature of Islamic revival in Zanzibar, its emergence and some of the consequences that this has had on society.

The paper explores how global trends in Islam – helped along by information technology and high-speed travel – have played a role in changes in society and have reconfigured the relationship between generations, between state and citizens and between religion and politics. The paper also looks at the ways in which the political and religious authorities react to these changes and how the young men in turn manoeuvre in this space, trying to avoid the label ‘fundamentalist’. While the focus of the paper is on local transformations, it is equally important to place these processes in the light of global trends in Islam that have strongly influenced the debate in Zanzibar and gained a local flavour.

Key findings include:

• politics in Zanzibar have always been marked by tension between an African and an Arab identity - after independence, the role of religion in public life was seriously restricted, not only due to socialist secularism, but also because Islam in the Zanzibar context was linked to the ‘Arab’ population that was depicted as alien, imperialist and capitalist
• while liberalisation has opened a space and a possibility to engage with Islam, it has also brought about changes in society that are perceived to be morally wrong - a boom in tourism, and scantily clad tourists are seen all around Stone Town, challenging local concepts of pious behaviour
• Zanzibar's Muslims are not simply interested in returning to the good old days before socialism, neither are they completely comfortable with the present signs of economic liberalisation and globalisation
• Islam is inevitably changing – linking up with global revivalism but also adapting to local conditions and at the same time subtly changing these conditions.