Islam in Kenya: the Khoja Ismilis
INSTITUTE OF CURRENT VJORLD AFFAIRS DER- 31 & 32 November 26, 1954 Islam in Kenya c/o Barclays Bank Introduction Queeusway Nairobi, Kenya Mr. Walter S. Rogers (Delayed fr revl sl Institute of Current World Affairs 522 Fifth Avenue New York 36, New York Dear Mr. Roers: All over the continent of Africa, from Morocco and Egypt to Zanzibar, Cape Town and Nigeria, millions of eople respond each day to a ringing cry heard across half the world for 1300 years. La i.l.aha illa-'llah: Muhmmadun rasulm,'llh, There is no God but Allah and Muhammad is his Prophet By these words, Muslims declare their faith in the teachings of the Arabian Prophet. The religion was born in Arabia and the words of its declaration of faith are in Arabic, but Islam has been accepted by many peoples of various races, natioual- i tie s and religious back- grounds, includiu a diverse number iu Kenya. Iu this colony there are African, Indian, Arab, Somali, Comoriau and other Muslims---even a few Euglishmeu---aud they meet each Frlday for formal worship in mosques iu Nairobi, Mombasa, Lamu and Kisumu, in the African Resewves and across the arid wastes of the northern frontier desert. Considerable attention has been given to the role of Christianity in Kenya and elsewhere iu East Africa, Jamia (Sunni) Mosque, and rightly so. But it Nairobl is sometimes overlooked that another great mouo- theistic religiou is at work as well. Islam arose later iu history than Christianity, but it was firmly planted lu Kenya centuries before the first Christian missionaries stepped ashore at Mombasa.
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