A teoria do “encerramento do Ijtihad” no direito islâmico

O postulado da jurisprudência islâmica clássica sobre o “encerramento dos portões do ijtihad”, ou a teoria da abdicação da aplicação do raciocínio humano para a extrapolação da lei a partir das escrituras sagradas, foi indicado por orientalistas como uma das razões da alegada incapacidade das sociedades islâmicas de acompanhar o desenvolvimento moderno, do qual o Ocidente desfrutava. O fecho do ijtihad pareceu ser a causa plausível da aparente estagnação e da falta de criatividade da jurisprudência muçulmana. Apesar de juristas pré-modernos islâmicos e os orientalistas concordarem sobre o encerramento do ijtihad, este, nos dias que correm, tem sido objecto de estudos mais aprofundados e de discussões acesas entre académicos, sendo opinião comum que nem o exercício nem a teoria da lei islâmica manifestaram alguma vez a ausência do ijtihad ou da criatividade jurídica.The postulate of classic Islamic jurisprudence of the ‘closing of the doors of ijtihad’, or the theory of abdicating from applying human reasoning to the extrapolation of law from sacred scripture, was posited by Orientalists as one of the reasons for the alleged inability of Islamic societies to stay abreast of the modern development which the West enjoyed. The closing of the doors of ijtihad appeared to be the credible cause for the seeming stagnation and lack of creativity of Muslim jurisprudence. Although pre-modern Islamic legal scholars and Orientalists agreed on the closing of the doors of ijtihad, the latter, in our time, has been the object of more acute study and of heated debate among academics. It is a commonly held view that neither the exercise nor the theory of Islamic law ever evinced the absence of ijtihad or of juridical creativity.Le postulat de la jurisprudence islamique classique sur la “fermeture des portes du Ijtihad”, ou la théorie de l’abdication de l’application du raisonnement humain dans l’extrapolation de la loi à partir des écritures sacrées, a été interprété par les orientalistes comme une des raisons de la soi-disant incapacité des sociétés islamiques d’accompagner le développement moderne, dont l’Occident bénéficiait. La fermeture du Ijtihad a semblé être la cause plausible de l’apparente stagnation et du manque de créativité dans le domaine de la jurisprudence islamique. Quoique les juristes pré-modernes islamiques et les orientalistes s’entendent bien sur la fermeture du Ijtihad, celui-ci, à nos jours, a été l’objet des études les plus approfondies et de discussions enflammées entre les académiques, l’opinion commune admettant que ni l’exercice ni la théorie de la loi islamique n’ont jamais témoigné de l’absence du Ijtihad ni de la créativité juridique

The use of the Arabic script in northern Mozambique

Northern Mozambican Muslim population has been using the Arabic script for writing in KiSwahili and local African languages for centuries. Even today, many people continue using this script in private correspondence. Despite the abundance of the documents in this script that are housed at the Mozambique Historical Archives as well as in private hands, these documents have never been addressed or researched either from linguistic, historical, cultural or religious vantage points. For the last seven years, the Archives have been trying to draw attention of the scholars and obtain funds for the preservation and research of the documents. In this article two short letters from the collection of the Mozambique Historical Archives are transcribed and translated with the help of a local shaykh who was educated within the regional historical Islamic literacy tradition. Then, the content and the protagonists of the letters were identified and analyzed with the reference to the historical context and the events of the time. Besides serving as the evidence for historical occurrences, the letters also provide a general public with a unique opportunity of “hearing the voices” of the authors and in their own words (in first person)

Roots of Diversity in Mozambican Islam

This paper explores historical roots for the existing diversity of the conceptions of Islam among African Sunni Muslims of Mozambique. This diversity is frequently expressed by internal Muslim debates and competitions centred on the nature of Islamic authority and on the definition of ‘orthodoxy.’ After identifying roughly three divergent conceptions of Islamic authority and ritual among Mozambican Muslims, the author analyses specific historical contexts within which each of these conceptions of Islam emerged and confronted one another. In particular, the paper focuses on changes with respect to religious authority and ritual. One of the central arguments of this paper is that on the emergence of each new conception, local Muslims set upon redefining what constituted the centre and the margin of Islam in Mozambique, but despite the attempts to the contrary, the old conceptions have persisted and continuously posed challenges to the newly-established centre.Este artigo explora as razões históricas para a existência das diversas concepções do Islão entre os muçulmanos sunnitas africanos de Moçambique. A diversidade de concepções é expressa através de debates e competições internos entre os muçulmanos em torno de natureza da autoridade islâmica e da definição de “ortodoxia” islâmica. Após ter identificado três concepções divergentes, a autora analisa contextos históricos específicos nos quais cada uma destas emergiu e confrontou as outras concepções. O artigo foca em particular as mudanças da autoridade religiosa e dos ritos. Um dos argumentos centrais de artigo é que com a emergência de cada uma das novas concepções, os muçulmanos locais se envolverem na definição do centro e da margem do Islão. No entanto, apesar de esforços de elimina-los, as concepções anteriores não desapareceram e continuaram desafiando os novos centros do Islão a partir de margens a que foram supostamente relegados.Cet article explore les racines historiques de la diversité existant actuellement dans les conceptions de l’Islam parmi les musulmans sunnites africains du Mozambique. Cette diversité s’exprime souvent par des discussions et des rivalités musulmanes internes, centrées sur la nature de l’autorité islamique et sur la définition de l’« orthodoxie ». Après avoir identifié en gros trois conceptions divergentes de l’autorité et du rituel islamique parmi les Musulmans du Mozambique, l’auteur analyse les contextes historiques spécifiques au sein desquels chacune de ces conceptions de l’Islam a émergé et fait face aux autres. Plus particulièrement, l’article se concentre sur les changements concernant l’autorité religieuse et le rituel. L’un des arguments principaux de cet article est que, face à l’émergence de chaque nouvelle conception, les Musulmans locaux ont entrepris de redéfinir ce qui constituait le centre et la marge de l’Islam au Mozambique, mais malgré les tentatives dans l’autre sens, les anciennes conceptions ont persisté et représenté des défis continuels pour le centre nouvellement établi

Traditions and transitions : Islam and chiefship in Northern Mozambique, ca. 1850-1974

Includes bibliographical references (leaves 262-289).This thesis is based on the archival and fieldwork research, and sheds light on the area which has been little studied or reflected in scholarly literature: Islam in Northern Mozambique. Its particular focus is on African Muslim leadership in Northern Mozambique, which has historically incorporated Islamic authority and chiefship. The link between Islam and the chiefly clans existed since the eight century when Islam made inroads into the northern Mozambican coast and became associated with the Shirazi ruling elites. With the involvement of the region in the international slave trade during the nineteenth century, the Shirazi clans secured alliances with the most powerful mainland chiefs through conquest and kinship relations in order to access supplies of slaves from the mainland. This process was accompanied by a massive expansion of Islam from the coast into the hinterland. The alliances between the Shirazi at the coast and the chiefdoms further into the interior resulted in a network of paramount chiefs and their subordinates making up the bulk of Muslim slave-raiders, who established the limits between themselves (the Maca, Muslims and 'civilized') and those to be enslaved (the Makua and Lomwe, derogatory terms, meaning savagery, i.e., 'non-Muslims' and 'uncivilized'

Islam in Northern Mozambique: A Historical Overview

This article is a historical overview of two issues: first, that of the dynamics of Islamic religious transformations from pre-Portuguese era up until the 2000s among Muslims of the contemporary Cabo Delgado, Nampula, and to a certain extent, Niassa provinces. The article argues that historical and geographical proximity of these regions to East African coast, the Comoros and northern Madagascar meant that all these regions shared a common Islamic religious tradition. Accordingly, shifts with regard to religious discourses and practices went in parallel. This situation began changing in the last decade of the colonial era and has continued well into the 2000s, when the so-called Wahhabis, Sunni Muslims educated in the Islamic universities of the Arab world brought religious outlook that differed significantly from the historical local and regional conceptions of Islam. The second question addressed in this article is about relationships between northern Mozambican Muslims and the state. The article argues that after initial confrontations with Muslims in the sixteenth century and up until the last decade of the colonial era, the Portuguese rule pursued no concerted effort in interfering in the internal Muslim religious affairs. Besides, although they occupied and destroyed some of the Swahili settlements, in particular in southern and central Mozambique, other Swahili continued to thrive in northern Mozambique and maintained certain independence from the Portuguese up until the twentieth century. Islam there remained under the control of the ruling Shirazi clans with close political, economic, kinship and religious ties to the Swahili world. By establishing kinship and politico-economic ties with the ruling elites of the mainland in the nineteenth century, these families were also instrumental in expanding Islam into the hinterland. Only at the beginning of the twentieth century, the Portuguese rule took full control of the region as a result of military conquest

The Ascendance of Angoche. The Politics of Kinship and Territory in Nineteenth Century Northern Mozambique

A ascendência de Angoche. Políticas de parentesco e terra no Norte de Moçambique no século XIX. O presente artigo visa reconstruir a história da ascendência de Angoche ao estatuto do poder regional ao longo do século dezanove no território da actual provinda nortenha de Nampula, em Moçambique, a qual ocupa um espaço desde a costa até ao alto interior do Lago de Nyassa. A autora sugere que o sucesso de Angoche estava relacionado não somente com a sua situação geográfica, com o seu envolvimento no comércio internacional de escravos e com a sua relativa independência ao controlo dos abolicionistas, mas deveu-se sobretudo a capacidade de Angoche em criar redes de aliados entre os chefes do interior o que facilitou a aquisição de escravos e o controlo das rotas do comércio de caravanas. Ao contrário de muitos relatórios coloniais portugueses e da opinião dos historiadores contemporâneos, a autora argumenta que os Koti de Angoche e os Makwa do interior partilhavam referências culturais, políticas e históricas comuns, nomeadamente usavam o mesmo idioma político centrado num princípio duplo de território (terra) e de parentesco. O uso hábil destes princípios culturais comuns por parte dos Koti, permitiu-lhes ganhar aliados entre os chefes do interior e garantir o seu sucesso político ao nível regional.This paper attempts to reconstruct the history of the ascendance of the Angoche archipelago during the nineteenth century to the status of regional power in the territory of the modern northern Mozambican province of Nampula, which stretches from the coast up to the Lake Nyassa in the mainland interior. The author argues that the success of Angoche was not only related to its geographical position, its involvement in the international slave trade and its relative independence from the control of the abolitionists. Their success was above all based on the ability of the Angoche rulers to create a network of allies among the chiefs of the interior who facilitated an accrual of slaves and control over the caravan routes. Contrary to the Portuguese colonial reports and views held by many contemporary historians, the author argues that the Koti of Angoche and the hinterland Makwa shared common cultural, political and historical references, in particular they employed the same political idiom centred on the dual principle of land (territory) and kinship. A skilful use of these shared cultural understandings enabled the Koti to win allies among the hinterland chiefs and it guaranteed their success.L'essor d'Angoche. Politiques de parenté et de terre dans le nord du Mozambique au XIXe siècle. Cet article tente de reconstruire l'histoire de la montée en puissance de l'archipel d'Angoche au XIXe siècle jusqu'à son émergence comme pôle régional sur le territoire de l'actuelle province de Nampula, territoire qui s'étendait le long des côtes mozambicaines jusqu'au lac Niassa. L'auteure avance l'hypothèse que le succès d'Angoche ne provenait pas tant de sa position géographique, de son implication dans le commerce international d'esclaves et de sa relative indépendance en relation au contrôle des abolitionnistes, mais était plutôt basé sur la capacité de ses dirigeants de créer des réseaux d'alliés parmi les chefs de l'intérieur du pays, ce qui facilitaient l'essor du trafic des esclaves et le contrôle des caravanes. En opposition avec les rapports et considérations coloniaux qui sont reprises par beaucoup d'auteurs contemporains, l'auteure affirme que les Koti d'Angoche et de l'intérieur Makwa partageaient des références culturelles, politiques et historiques. En particulier, ils utilisaient les même idiomes politiques basés sur le double principe de la terre (territoire) et de la parenté. Un usage judicieux de ces compréhensions culturelles partagées permit aux Koti de gagner des alliés parmi les chefs de l'intérieur et leur garantit le succès dans leur entreprise de politique régionale.Bonate Liazzat J.K. The Ascendance of Angoche. The Politics of Kinship and Territory in Nineteenth Century Northern Mozambique. In: Lusotopie, n°10, 2003. Violences et contrôle de la violence au Brésil, en Afrique et à Goa, sous la direction de Camille Goirand . pp. 115-140

A teoria do “encerramento do Ijtihad” no direito islâmico

The postulate of classic Islamic jurisprudence of the ‘closing of the doors of ijtihad’, or the theory of abdicating from applying human reasoning to the extrapolation of law from sacred scripture, was posited by Orientalists as one of the reasons for the alleged inability of Islamic societies to stay abreast of the modern development which the West enjoyed. The closing of the doors of ijtihad appeared to be the credible cause for the seeming stagnation and lack of creativity of Muslim jurisprudence. Although pre-modern Islamic legal scholars and Orientalists agreed on the closing of the doors of ijtihad, the latter, in our time, has been the object of more acute study and of heated debate among academics. It is a commonly held view that neither the exercise nor the theory of Islamic law ever evinced the absence of ijtihad or of juridical creativity

Muslim memories of the liberation war in Cabo Delgado

The transition from socialism to the neo-liberal model after the end of the civil war in Mozambique prompted a public debate about the meaning and memories of the liberation struggle. While the Frelimo party has been re-assessing and reaffirming its 'ownership' over the collective memory of the nation-state, whose foundational myth is based on the independence struggle, the professional historians, veterans and disenfranchised groups have been attempting to insert their own insights and memories into that debate. This article addresses memories of the liberation war by the ordinary Muslims, including male and female guerrilla fighters and political prisoners interviewed in the Paquitequete neighbourhood of Pemba City, Cabo Delgado province, which was one of the pivotal regions of the war. Through their stories the article attempts to give voice to marginalized groups and bring the agency of the forgotten into the public and ongoing contemporary debate in order to re-inscribe them into the national narratives of the independence struggl