Islam in Kenya
Kenya has a Christian majority, with Islam being the second largest faith representing 11% of the Kenyan population, or approximately 5.2 million people as of the 2019 census.
The faith was introduced by merchants visiting the Swahili coast, which led to local conversions and foreign Muslims becoming assimilated.
[6] As for the orthodox Twelver Shia presence in Kenya, twentieth-century Pakistani scholar Khwaja Muhammad Latif Ansari played an important role in proselytisation for the resident Khoja community.
[2][3] The tension following the death of Mohammad, the prophet of Islam, and the already established trade links between the Persian Gulf and the Swahili Coast were some of the factors leading to this development.
[11] Primarily, Islam spread through the interactions of individuals, with the Arab Muslims who had settled in small groups maintaining their culture, and religious practices.
The resistance was because conversion was an individual act, leading to detribalisation and integration into the Muslim community going against the socially acceptable communal life.
[16] In addition, the embracing of Islam by large portions of coastal tribes in the nineteenth century aided in its spread.
[17] The coming of the second wave of Europeans, in the nineteenth century, brought mixed fortunes to the coastal Muslims, their strong sense of pride and belonging was greatly diminished, with efforts being redirected to self adjustments.
[18] Nonetheless, Muslim agents deployed by Europeans as subordinate labourers to assist in the establishment of colonial administration centres, were advantageously placed throughout the country, bringing the Islamic influence to the interior.
Although coastal rulers did not send missionaries to the interior, local Africans embraced Islam freely through attraction to the religious life of the Muslims.
Close integration with the local population helped to foster good relations resulting in Islam gaining a few converts, based on individual efforts.
Reaching Nairobi at the close of the nineteenth century, he led a group of other Muslims and enthusiastic missionaries from the coast to establish a ‘Swahili village’ in the present-day Pumwani.
[21] One example of Shia missionary efforts in Kenya is the work of twentieth-century Pakistani scholar Khwaja Muhammad Latif Ansari.
Ansari left South Asia for Kenya in the 1950s, fulfilling his dream of preaching to distant, foreign Shi'i communities.
[8][22] He was already a reputed cleric by that time, but nevertheless joined a number of scholars coming from South Asia into the relatively unheard of Shia community of Kenya.
The Influence and the new trends in Islamic outreach Although the struggle for independence in Kenya was a very crucial time for all Kenyans, very little is documented on Muslim's participation.
John Esposito sees the goal for the revivalisms as transformation of the society through Islamic formation of individuals at the grass roots (1999:20).
Whereas the Qur’ān and Hadith are fundamental, in responding to the demands and challenges of modernity, revival movements are crucial in spreading and restoring true Islam.
Joseph M. Mutei, St. Paul's University, Kenya Shi'a Islam in Kenya is represented primarily by a number of sects, who are largely the descendants of or influenced by Muslim traders from the Middle East and India who came to the East African coast for the either as indentured labourers or for the purposes of trade.
Most of the Shia of Indian origin arrived in East Africa in the nineteenth century, primarily to landing in Zanzibar and Lamu.
Today they are a vibrant part of the Kenyan economy in telecoms, information technology, manufacturing industry, logistics, import and export.
