Denigration of Muslims

Terrified, Muslims took refuge everywhere in neighboring countries of Rwanda. It is necessary to say that these tragic events had a political connotation but one can also wonder if there would not have been a direct or indirect hidden hand of the church in it because we notice a strong influence of the Church in the political situations which marked the contemporary history of Rwanda.

3.12.5 Denigration of Muslims

In Rwanda there is some false thinking and there are also propagandas that denigrate Islam and Muslims:

 Muslims were the first to be circumcised in Rwanda. That small surgery of circumcision is called in Kinyarwanda “gusiramura” it can translated as “to become Muslim.” That is an unusual act in the Rwandan culture, that causes many people to consider a Muslim as not normal human being because it says that every man in Islam is castrated.

 It is said that Muslims are not clean because they use water instead of toilet paper. “The Islamic faith has particular rules regarding personal hygiene when going to the toilet. In

786 It is a city where Muslims where located. There was a cemetery. The local administratives localized Muslim cities in cemeteries in Nyanza, in Gacurabwenge. Ismahil Mukurarinda in interview he reveled to me that in 1957 priests from Kabgayi put a head of pig on the fountain of Gashavu near Nyabisindu where Muslims were getting clean water.

787 Interview with Sudi Munyentwali on 01st October 2010.

some regions, people use their left hand and a little water to wipe. This is why in Islamic and Arab lands; it is offensive to greet someone with the left hand.”⁷⁸⁸

 Before burial, Muslims remove the intestines from the dead body⁷⁸⁹. “It was reported in 2009 in Nyamirambo, a Muslim township in Kigali, that one Muslim member of a Christian family died. The Christian family put the body in the coffin. The Muslim community went at night to exhume the body and to apply the Muslim funeral rites which are:

- Washing the body,

- Covering the body with 3 white sheets called isanda, - Praying for the body,

- Buring the body.”⁷⁹⁰

 Another form of denigration is to say that the meat of pork is forbidden in Islam because they ate Muhammad body.

In Islam, abstinence from the consumption of pork meat is a measure to preserve health. But the pig itself and its meat are the most prohibited (haraam) in Islam. It is like eating anything including human excreta. It is the cradle of harmful germs and parasites. Its meat is a carrier of disease to man, thus making it unfit for human consumption.⁷⁹¹

Consumption of pork is forbidden in Islam, Judaism and certain Christian denominations, such as Seventh-day Adventists. This prohibition is set out in the holy texts of the religions concerned, Qur'an 16:115 Leviticus 11:7-8 and Deuteronomy 14:8. Pigs were also taboo in at least three other cultures of the ancient Middle East: the Phoenicians, Egyptians and Babylonians. In some instances, the taboo extended beyond eating pork, and it was also taboo to touch or even look at pigs.⁷⁹²

788 Why don‟t Muslims use toilet paper? <http://www.fluther.com/7406/why-dont-muslims-use-toilet- paper/>, 23rd January 2013.

789 For Muslims, the washing of a deceased body is a necessary ritual including to press the stomach gently and clean whatever comes out. See < http://www.islamicity.com/mosque/Janazah.htm> , 23rd January 2013.

790 Interview with Sudi Munyantwali on 01st October 2010.

791 Haram meat, http://www.wikiislam.net/wiki/Haram_Meat, 23rd November 2013.

792 World Heritage Encyclopedia, Food and Drink Prohibition,

 Muslims are not serious, they are thieves, not educated, they can only repair and drive cars. Because Muslims were not allowed to attend Christian schools, most of them were involved in trading and different small professional activities.

 In many parts of the country, local administrations created Muslim cities in cemeteries, for example the city of Nyabisindu in Muhanga, Gacurabwenge in Kamonyi District, Kavumu in Nyanza District (Muslims moved from there to Mugandamure sector), and in

“Nyamirambo, which is not a good name, it refers to the dead bodies. The place was also a cemetery for residents of Kigali.”⁷⁹³

 When a Muslim reads the Qur‟an to you, you die or you become crazy. It is a widespread belief among most all coastal people that the Qur‟an teachers and Sheikhs are people not only to be revered but also feared. That is because these people possess supernatural powers and are also keeping jinn. Therefore they can not only help but also harm people in some cases⁷⁹⁴

These examples show that there is a need of mutual discovery to know each other. Some Rwandans official will not enter a Mufti‟s office or shake his hand, through physical contact, because they have fear of Islam and some still think they can become crazy.⁷⁹⁵ The former Mufti of Rwanda, Sheikh Habimana Saleh, he said in an interview: I‟m afraid to live again the same history of oppression like in the past; that is why I‟m involved in interreligious dialogue in Rwanda.⁷⁹⁶ For being healed from the traumatisms of what happened in the past. Dialogue is necessary for restoring honest relations between Christians and Muslims.

<http://nationalpubliclibrary.info/article/whebn0002401051/taboo%20food%20and%20drink>, 08th September 2016.

793 Daniel Dushimimana, The social and religious impact of the Christian-Muslim relations program in Rwanda, Master thesis at St Paul‟s University of Limuru, 2012, p.69.

794 William Andrew Kopwe, Mrima Christians out of their Depth, A study of how coastal Christians in Tanzania Adapt and practice some Islamic beliefs, Master Thesis, St Paul‟s University of Limuru, 2006, p.26.

795 Interview with Sheikh Habimana Saleh on 08th October 2010.

796 Ibid.