The Cross Versus the Crescent

Lawrence E. Y. Mbogoni’s study of the historical relationship between Christianity and Islam in Tanzania. When Julius Nyerere abolished schools for religious and racial communities and government support for the Muslim Council of Tanzania, the move was seen as a political manoeuvre designed to weaken specific communities while maintaining a political and economic status quo that was predominantly Christian in outlook. The emergence of militant fundamentalism in the 1990s on both sides inspired public rallies, including the 13 February 1998 Mwembechai Riots, in which two people were shot dead and there was considerable destruction of property. Dr Hamza Njozi suggested in Mwembechai Killings that the killings were a culmination of a long historical conspiracy between Church and Government. Dissatisfied with the limited historical context of Njozi’s argument, Mbogoni embarked on his own research to provide a broader historical context for understanding current relations between the two faiths in Tanzania. Mbogoni is Associate Professor of African History at William Paterson University of New Jersey.