'Raise Your Voices and Kill Your Animals': Islamic Discourses on the Idd El-Hajj and Sacrifices in Tanga (Tanzania)

585 Pages·2007·4.379 MB·English

by  Gerard Cornelis Bruinhorst

‘
KR
IA
L
I
LS
YE
O Y
UO
RU
R
A

NV
‘ R A I S E YO U R V O I C E S A N D K I L L YO U R A N I M A L S’ IO
M
I
C
In Tanzania, the Idd el-Hajj is the local celebration of the Islamic Sacrificial Feast, A
E
L
marking the end of the annual pilgrimage to Mecca (hajj). Although its three most S
S
important elements (prayer, sermon and sacrifice) identify the ritual as a text- ’ A
based phenomenon, this study shows how, despite its conformity to authoritative N
texts, the Idd is shaped by a dialectic of global and local events. Within these vari- D
ous influences, Muslim groups use the Idd el-Hajj as a tool to symbolically express
their sense of belonging to the global Islamic community as well as to more local
groups such as the Tanzanian nation-state and various urban mosques. Through
discussions and performances of the Idd, they assume a position within an imagi-
nary spatial and historical continuum that sometimes emphasises elements of the
shared Muslim legacy, while at other times it stresses their need to differentiate
themselves from other groups.
G E R A R D C . VA N D E B R U I N H O R S T
‘RAISE YOUR VOICES AND
Gerard van de Bruinhorst (1973) received his M.A. in Cultural Anthropology and

Arabic from Utrecht University and an Advanced Masters degree (with distinction)

G
from the research school CNWS, Leiden. He conducted research on Islamic rituals E KILL YOUR ANIMALS’
R
SS
in Northern Ghana and Tanzania. A
R NN
D
C OO ISLAMIC DISCOURSES ON
ISBN 978 90 5356 946 7 . V II
A
N TT
D AA THE IDD ELHAJJ AND SACRIFICES
E
TT
B
R RR
U
IN TANGA TANZ ANIA
IN EE
H SS
O
R SS
S
T II
DD Gerard C. van de Bruinhorst

I MM
S
I II
M
SS
II
OOmmssllaagg BBrruuiinnhhoorrsstt -- CCSS22 -- rreevviissii11 11 2266--77--22000077 1177::4411::0088
‘RAISE YOUR VOICES AND
KILL YOUR ANIMALS’
ISLAMIC DISCOURSES ON THE
IDD ELHAJJ AND SACRIFICES
IN TANGA TANZ ANIA
Authoritative Texts,
Ritual Practices and
Social Identities
Gerard C. van de Bruinhorst
BBrruuiinnhhoorrsstt -- CCSS22 -- rreevviissiiee..iinndddd 11 2266--77--22000077 1177::2277::0077
Cover illustration: Idd el-Hajj animal sacrifice, Tanga 2002; photo by the author
Cover design and lay-out: De Kreeft, Amsterdam
ISBN 978 90 5356 946 7
NUR 741 / 717
© ISIM / Amsterdam University Press, 2007
All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this
book may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any
form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise) without the
written permission of both the copyright owner and the author of the book.
BBrruuiinnhhoorrsstt -- CCSS22 -- rreevviissiiee..iinndddd 22 2266--77--22000077 1177::2277::0077
‘Raise your voices and
kill your animals’
Islamic Discourses on the Idd el-Hajj and
Sacrifices in Tanga (Tanzania)
Authoritative Texts, Ritual Practices
and Social Identities
“Verheft uw stemmen en doodt uw dieren”
Islamitische vertogen over de Idd el-Hajj en offers in Tanga (Tanzania)
Gezaghebbende teksten, rituele praktijken en sociale identiteiten
(met een samenvatting in het Nederlands)
P R O E F S C H R I F T
ter verkrijging van de graad van doctor aan de Universiteit Utrecht
op gezag van de rector magnificus, prof. dr. W.H. Gispen,
ingevolge het besluit van het college voor promoties
in het openbaar te verdedigen op donderdag 6 september 2007
des middags te 12.45 uur
door
Gerard Cornelis van de Bruinhorst
geboren op 14 december 1973
te Apeldoorn
BBrruuiinnhhoorrsstt -- CCSS22 -- rreevviissiiee..iinndddd 33 2266--77--22000077 1177::2277::0077
Promotor:
Prof. Dr. L.P.H.M. Buskens
Co-promotor:
Dr. G.L.A.M. Mommersteeg
Dit proefschrift werd mede mogelijk gemaakt met financiële steun
van het International Institute for the Study of Islam in the Modern
World (ISIM)
BBrruuiinnhhoorrsstt -- CCSS22 -- rreevviissiiee..iinndddd 44 2266--77--22000077 1177::2277::0088
Summary contents
Glossary and Abbreviations 15
Acknowledgements 21
Some stylistic idiosyncracies 23
I INTRODUCTIONS
1 Introduction 29
2 Introduction to the Literature 59
3 Local Contexts: an introduction to the field 87
4 Local Texts: production, dissemination and consumption 105
5 Local Rituals 131
II TIME
6 The Idd el-Hajj and the Contest of the Calendars 165
7 Time and Texts 195
8 Time and Identity:
the construction of temporally-specific imagined communities 221
III PLACE
9 Preparations and Performance of the Pilgrimage 253
10 Meaning of the hajj 283
11 Sacred Sites and Sacrifice 297
IV CHRONOTOPES
12 Praying, preaching and playing: the moral community defined 325
13 The Idd el-Hajj sacrifice in Tanga: places and persons 359
14 Sacrificial animals and social meals 393
15 Texts, Rituals and Identities 419
Appendices
I Questionnaire Kuchinja wanyama na sadaka mjini Tanga 441
II Number of public holidays for Muslim feasts in the period 1961-1994 451
III Farewell sermon by the prophet Muhammad, Arafa 9 Dhulhija 10 H./632 453
IV Idd el-Hajj sermon by Salim Barahiyan, Tanga 10 Dhulhija 1417 H./1997 456
Notes 473
Bibliography 544
Samenvatting in het Nederlands 577
Curriculum Vitae 583
BBrruuiinnhhoorrsstt -- CCSS22 -- rreevviissiiee..iinndddd 55 2266--77--22000077 1177::2277::0088
BBrruuiinnhhoorrsstt -- CCSS22 -- rreevviissiiee..iinndddd 66 2266--77--22000077 1177::2277::0088
Detailed contents

Glossary and Abbreviations 15
Acknowledgements 21
Some stylistic idiosyncracies 23

PART I: INTRODUCTIONS
1. Introduction 29
1. The social relevance of Idd el-Hajj 29
2. A general overview of the Idd el-Hajj in Tanga 31
3. Islam, authoritative texts, ritual practices and social identities 33
a. Local and global Islamic discourses 33
b. Text and ritual 38
c. Ritual and social identities 43
d. A working definition of ritual 46
4. Research, questions and methodology 49
5. The organisation of the book 53
2. Introduction to the Literature 59
1. The Idd el-Hajj, the hajj, and sacrifice in the Qur’an and Sunna 59
a. The Qur’an and the Idd el-Hajj 59
b. The Qur’an and the hajj 61
c. The Qur’an and Ibrahim’s sacrifice 63
d. The Idd el-Hajj and the Prophet Muhammad 64
2. Theories on Islamic sacrifice 68
a. Kafara: expiation, redemption, atonement and purification 69
b. Sadaka: gift, homage, communion and exchange 70
c. Fidya: substitution 71
d. Bismillah: consecration 73
e. Questioning the “thing” of sacrifice 74
3. Ethnographies of Islamic sacrific 76
a. The Great Feast in Morocco 76
b. The Sacrificial Feast in Egypt 80
c. The Sheep Festival in France 81
d. Summary: text, ritual and identity 83
BBrruuiinnhhoorrsstt -- CCSS22 -- rreevviissiiee..iinndddd 77 2266--77--22000077 1177::2277::0088
‘RAISE YOUR VOICES AND KILL YOUR ANIMALS’
3. Local Contexts: an introduction to the field 87
1. Tanzania 87
a. Socio-economic situation 87
b. Modern political history 89
2. Tanga 91
3. Islam in Tanzania 93
a. General 93
b. ‘Pure Islam’: the Ansaar Muslim Youth Centre (AMYC) 96
c. ‘Marginal Islam’: Ahmadiyya 97
d. ‘Political Islam’: the Islamic Propagation Centre (IPC) 98
4. The memory of oppression: Muslim grievances 100
4. Local Texts: production, dissemination and consumption 105
1. Venues of textual transmission 106
a. The madrasa 106
b. The mosque 110
c. The state school 112
2. Published texts 115
a. Madrasa literature 115
i. jurisprudence from the Shafi’i school of law (fiqh) 115
ii. prophetical traditions (hadith) 118
iii. other schools and other subjects 119
b. Non-madrasa literature 121
i. books 121
ii. newspapers 123
3. Language of transmission 125
a. Arabic and Swahili 125
b. Orality and Literacy 128
5. Local Rituals 131
1. Local descriptions of the Idd el-Hajj 131
a. The day of the Idd el-Hajj 131
b. The rituals of the Idd el-Hajj 133
2. Siku ya mwaka: New Year’s Day or crisis ritual 137
a. The performance 137
i. Tanga 138
ii. Lamu 140
iii. Mombasa 141
iv. Zanzibar 142
v. Kilwa Kivinje 144
vi. Mayotte 144
b. Text, ritual and identity in the siku ya mwaka 145
BBrruuiinnhhoorrsstt -- CCSS22 -- rreevviissiiee..iinndddd 88 2266--77--22000077 1177::2277::0088
CONTENTS
3. Akika: child birth or funeral ritual 150
a. The performance 150
b. Text, ritual and identity in the akika ritual 152
c. Summary 160
PART II: TIME
6. The Idd el-Hajj and the Contest of the Calendars 165
1. Introduction 165
2. The Idd el-Hajj and Islamic Calendars 166
a. Three Islamic calendars 166
b. Three Idds: great or small? 170
c The mawlid 174
d. Other Islamic festivals 177
3. The Idd el-Hajj and the national calendar 178
a. Religion and national identity 178
b. Inequality and calendars 182
4. The Idd el-Hajj and the sacred calendar 186
a. Time and ritual 186
b. Time-bound rituals 189
5. Conclusion 192
7. Time and Texts 195
1. Introduction 195
2. The questions 196
a. How to determine the start of the new lunar month? 196
i. sighting 197
ii. counting 199
iii. astronomical calculation 200
b. Whether crescent-sighting at one place has consequence for other places?
202
c. Whose sighting is valid? 203
3. The answers 205
a. The Qur’an 205
b. Hadith 207
c. Ijtihad 211
4. The moral (comm)unity endangered 215
5. Conclusion 219
BBrruuiinnhhoorrsstt -- CCSS22 -- rreevviissiiee..iinndddd 99 2266--77--22000077 1177::2277::0088