THE OBSERVANCE OF RAMADAN IN SWAHILI-LAND* (WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO MOMBASA)

BY

PJ.L. FRANKL in consultation with YAHYA ALI OMAR

In the Islamic calendar Ramadan is the month of the year during which Muslims throughout the world observe strict fasting between dawn and sunset; this is the fourth of the five pillars of Islam. 'The fast of the month of Ramadan is obligatory [Ar. fard or MM/!7']for every believer provided he [or she] be of sound mind, an adult, and able to support it' (al-Nawawi 1914: 99). With regard to Ramadan the entire Islamic world follows the same religious practices in all essentials; where non-essentials are concerned there is variety in local usage. The account which follows is mainly concerned with the observance of Ramadan in I Swahili-land, with special reference to Mombasa.' At the end of the nineteenth century the population of Mombasa was small and almost entirely Muslim;' today, towards the end of the twentieth century, the population and size of the town have increased enormously, largely because, since the 1960s especially, many inhabi- tants from the interior have settled and been settled in central Swahili- land with varying degrees of permanence. As a consequence about half of the population resident within the boundaries of Mombasa Municipality is now, perhaps, Muslim, although the proportion is approximately ninety-five per cent in Mombasa's Old Town. The autocthonous Swahili are the largest single group of Muslims in Mombasa, but there are other African Muslims too, as well as Omanis, Hadramis, Comorians, Baluchis and Indians; during Ramadan all are especially conscious of Islamic bonding.

The year solar and lunar

In the past the Swahili people of the East African coast observed both their own solar year and an Islamic lunar year. The Swahili solar 417

year was agricultural and nautical, but during the second half of this century it has fallen into desuetude, having been more or less replaced by the Gregorian year (Frankl & Yahya Ali Omar 1993). The Islamic year 'consists of twelve lunar months or 354 days, leav- ing a discrepancy of eleven days between it and the solar year. As this is never rectified by the introduction of intercalary months, there is no correspondence between the Islamic calendar and the seasons, and we find the fast of Ramadan, for instance, occurring at all times of the year, as it works its way round' (Burt 1910: 147). Consequently over a period of thirty years a Muslim will experience the full range of weather conditions during Ramadan. The Swahili people have divided the Islamic lunar year into two unequal parts:

i mala-mtana, the eleven months during which it is lawful for Muslims to eat during the day (although, for example, many pious Muslims fast on Mondays and Thursdays throughout mala-mtana), and ii Ramadan.

Ramadan is the ninth month of the Islamic year, but for the Swahili it is, in practice, the last (see Appendix). 'Most [African Muslims] have adopted the Arabic names for months; however when a month has a special significance it invariably acquires a local descriptive name which is the one commonly used. Thus in Swahili Shawwal, which follows Ramadan and opens with the breakfast festival ('id al-fitr), is called mfungo mosi, "the first releasing,"' the next month "the second releasing," and so on up to the ninth' (Trimingham 1980: 65).

Fasting

An outline of the legal regulations which apply to fasting in general and Ramadan in particular as applicable to Muslims of the Shafti i school, the legal school to which the Swahili people belong, may be found elsewhere (Juynboll 1910: 113 sqq; al-Nawawi 1914: 95-103). The other three Sunni law schools differ only in detail from the Shafi`i. kula mfungo:4 activities before the fast

The phrase kula mfungo has been defined as 'the feasting and amuse- ment which is kept up for three days before the commencement of Ramadan' (Krapf 1882: 223). Another Swahili phrase with a similar meaning is kuaunda jungu 'to receive food from a relative or friend to