Mosques in Mombasa

Composed Sunday evening in Mombasa, posted Monday evening in Tanga, Tanzania:

Hello friends,

Mombasa, being a city of nearly a million people - of whom 70% are Muslim - has a lot of Mosques. It has tiCny ancient Mosques, such as the one in Old Town constructed of coral bricks with walls many feet thick. It has enormous modern Mosques, like the one across from my hotel, which has stacks of offices, and minarets rising more than a hundred feet into the air. It has elaborately adorned Mosques, such as the one across from the bus stop where we first arrived, and simple, minimalist Mosques hidden in sleepy alleys and streets. It has Mosques every hundred yards in any direction, in all styles for people of all walks of life. Thus, it was only a matter of time until our wanderings around the city (visiting temples and churches all along the way) finally led Carrington and I to approach one and nervously ask the Emam (Muslim religious leader) if we could gaze inside.

So we did, and the Emam said no. But he was delighted to bring us around the side to his office and answer any and all questions we might have. Accepting this as the next best thing, we took him up on his offer. Because he speaks only a tiny bit of English (on par with Carrington's grasp of Swahili), I served as a translator. Unfortunately, my years at Princeton and month or two on the ground hadn't quite prepared me for a theological discussion. After about 30 minutes of circumlocution and inefficient (although still interesting) conversation, the Emam called upon a youth who knows both Swahili and English. Unfortunately, his English was only about as good as my Swahili, so we still had a lot of trouble. But between the two of us, and with the help of two Korans (one printed in Arabic and English, one in Arabic and Swahili), we managed to have a pretty decent hour or two of conversation and education.

The Emam began with a simple explanation that Islam is a peaceful religion and that it a good Muslim lives his life according to the laws of the Koran. He pointed out that many of the stories of the Old and New testaments are in the Koran, including the familiar stories of Adam, Moses, and Jesus. He was careful to point out a passage that very simply explains that Allah (the same god as in the Judaic and Christian traditions, but with a different name) was not "begot," and cannot "beget." The Emam explained that the Koran makes it clear that Jesus was born of the Virgin Mary by God's will, but that it would be impossible for Jesus to be the actual son of God. He said that this was the first of many differences between these compatible but very different religions.

He also explained that the Koran is believed to be the word of Allah direct from the prophet Mohammad, as transcribed by his own hand. He said that there has never been any translation or reinterpretation of the Koran, and so it has not been altered. He argued that because the New Testament was composed by Jesus' followers many years or centuries after his life, it cannot be trusted as closely as the words of the Koran.

His last major theme was a discussion of the pillars and laws of Islam. There were many important ideas here, but the one perhaps most relevant today was the idea of Jihad. The Koran clearly states that it is forbidden to start wars or conflicts for almost any reason. The only exception is to defend the religion if someone challenges it or attempts to destroy it. He explained that this is the idea that has led some people to follow Osama Bin Laden and other Terrorist leaders, as they feel that the West is attacking Islam through it's culture and the American military and economic presence in Islamic nations. He was careful to say that he didn't necessarily feel that this was justified. He was also very insistent that even if Osama were correct in his assertion that the west is attacking Islam, that there is absolutely no justification for suicide bombs or terrorist attacks anywhere within the Koran. He repeatedly said that the World Trade Center may or may not have contained
several people who were working against Islam, but that even if it did, there was no possible way to excuse the murder of the thousands of others killed that day.

His biggest fear seemed to be that the west's misunderstanding of the true peaceful nature of Islam and it's ability to coexist with other religions would lead to them to perpetrate real attacks on Islam, which he believed would force more Muslims to take up the cause of Jihad. He emphasized the importance of understanding that most Muslims cannot and would not harm anyone. He also said that insistence of leaders such as Bush that Islam is a dangerous and fanatical religion could actually lead to this being true. It is a very unsettling idea, for both the Emam and myself.

I'm heading back to my room to hide from the heat, and tomorrow at 8:30 we board a bus to cross the border into Tanzania and spend the afternoon and night in the small town of Tanga, Tz. We'll see if I can find an Internet cafe there to keep you posted on the going's ons.

Talk to you soon,
Chris