Paper long abstract:

This essay seeks to explore how contemporary globalizing conceptions of Islam compete, interact and contrast with those more fully-indigenized ones in reshaping the meanings of kinship categories and their social uses in northern Mozambique, in particular with respect to Islamic religious authority.

The paper shares the assumption that Islam has given rise to a variety of cultural forms. In particular, it stresses that northern Mozambique was historically sited within the Swahili cultural domain, and that similar to other Swahili, local Islamic identity and authority were kinship-based and centered on clans claiming a Shirazi lineage/descent. However, in contrast to other Swahili, northern Mozambican Muslims have followed matriliny.

Further on, the essay focuses on the advent of the 'new 'ulama since the late twentieth century, who challenged local historically and culturally rooted conceptions of Islam. The 'new 'ulama view Islam as a 'modernizing' and globalizing force, alternative to 'Westernization'. They emphasize universal character of Islam, and seek uniformization and homogenization of Islamic identity. As these new 'ulama legitimize themselves as bearers of 'true' Islam embedded in the Qur'an and the 'traditions' of the Prophet Muhammad (Hadith)and his Companions (Sahaba), they represent themselves as 'traditionalists'. In fact, they have re-invented Islamic 'tradition' for a globalizing era and their identities are marked by modern cultural elements and modern epistemological outlook. Striving to establish a universal ummah (Muslim community), and to construct a religious identity that transcends local cultures, the new 'ulama found the very notion of African kinship-based Islamic identity, especially the one encompassing matriliny, to be absolutely abhorrent to their understanding of the message of Islam.