Islam in Tanzania

[1] The faith was introduced by merchants visiting the Swahili coast, as it became connected to a larger maritime trade network dominated by Muslims.

[9] The earliest evidence of a Muslim presence in the African Great Lakes is the foundation of a mosque in Shanga on Pate Island, where gold, silver and copper coins dating from 830 were found during an excavation in the 1980s.

[3] The political history of Islam in the country can be traced to the establishment of the Kilwa Sultanate in the 10th century by Ali ibn al-Hassan Shirazi,[10] a Persian prince of Shiraz.

Despite the importance of trade, the spread of Islam in the interior was mainly facilitated by Sufi missionaries, converted locals returning from the coast, and Muslim chiefs during the colonial period.

[12][3] Sufi orders like the Qadiriyya and Shadhiliyya propagated throughout the 19th and early 20th centuries, further consolidating Islam in the interior.