Chapter II. Historical Perspectives on the Encounter between Traditional Religion,
2.3. Slavery in East Africa and in Rwanda
2.3.4. The indescribable pain of slaves
After a long walk of four to six months between 1500 and 2000 km, from Congo, Burundi, Rwanda, Ujiji, Tabora, to Bagamoyo, black slaves sang this song:
My heart is bleeding; bleed my heart!
On the fields at home we worked, joking and singing.
Cruel men surrounded us, caught us like animal;
Chaining us, one to one, like animals My heart is bleeding; bleed my heart.
My heart is bleeding; bleed my heart.
Where are you, my father, my mother?
Where are you, my brothers, my sisters?
Are you caught like me? I am so lonely!
My heart is bleeding, bleed, my heart!
My heart is bleeding; bleed my heart!
They forced us to march, miles and miles.
Not knowing, where they take us!
No hope anymore in my life!
My heart is bleeding, bleed my heart!
My heart is shivering; shiver, my heart!
I see water which I never saw!
Water, water, up to the horizon!
They push us into the water, on the Dhows!
I crush down my heart- no hope anymore243
Azumah urges that, the hard and painful historical facts and contemporary realities made an integral part of interreligious dialogue.244But some argue that Arab-Muslim enslavement of blacks is past history and as such it is not an important contemporary issue.245 It is true that societies cannot afford to become prisoners of the history but they need to look ahead if they are to progress meaningfully into the future. However, it is equally true that we cannot afford to look meaningfully into the future without full knowledge of the past. Hence both the past and future are two sides of the coin of life-journey. We cannot afford to focus entirely on one to neglect of the other. Moreover, contemporary relations between communities are rooted in the historical past.246
Azumah‟s book asserts that, “history is very much the mistress of our lives. We must take history very seriously if we are to look to the future.”247There is no doubt that the issue of Muslim slavery, for instance, constitutes one of the sharp, if not the sharpest, cutting edge issues in any discussion of the encounters between Islam and Africa, it left extreme bitterness against the Arabs.248 It became a taboo history; it seems that; politicians don‟t want to come back to that pain full history. On the other side, academicians avoid writing and talking about the issue of slave trade, because it can lead to the French Historian Olivier Pétré-Grenouilleau called “the sacrifice your carrier.”249
“The same feeling of bitterness, scornfulness and resentment towards Islam in general and Arabs in particular is apparent in the Sudan and other parts of sub-Saharan Africa as direct result
243 Johannes Henschel, 19th century, Humans as Merchandise, Ibid, pp.7-8. quoted Song in the Bagamoyo-Musical about the slave girl Siwena.
244 John A. Azumah, Ibid, p. 171.
245 Ibid, p.172, quoted Ali Abu Sinn, Comments, in Haseeb (ed.), The Arabs and Africa, p.51 246 Ibid.
247 Ibid, quoted Joseph Hajjar, comments at a Christian-Muslim conference, Chambézy, cited in Christian Mission and Islamic Da‟wah, p.97.
248 Ibid, p. 173.
249 Antoine Baecque, Il s’est fait traiter, article of “Liberation 15th March 2006”,
<http://www.liberation.fr/portrait/2006/03/15/il-s-est-fait-traiter_33167>, 18th March 2016.
of Arab-Muslim enslavement.”250 “Equally, on the Muslim side any mention of slavery is generally met with knee-jerk responses. When, in 1992, Kenyan President Daniel Arap Moi, publicly made references to Muslim involvement in slavery in East Africa, immediately Kenyan Muslims were incensed, interpreting it as an affront to Islam.”251
It is not uncommon to hear Muslims in general and Arab Muslims in particular dismiss any mention of Muslim slavery as part of western anti-Islamic propaganda. These reactions only demonstrate how the difficult and sensitive issue of Muslim slavery has contributed to near imposition of taboos on this rather important historical part of Muslim and non-Muslim history.252Slavery is the stories and life experiences of slavers and their history. Muslim sensitivities alone, important as they may be, cannot and should not be allowed to impose taboos on the subject.253 So history and faith have become fused in Islam to the extent that criticism of the Islamic past and its inherited traditions by non-Muslims is seen as an attack on Islam.
Muslims who take a critical view of the historical past are viewed as traitors.254
Because of “the solemnity and cruelty of this Arab-Muslim trade in East Africa, it is time to talk and to have a close look on this genocide and to pour it in debate”.255 In the more than 200 years since slavery ended, it stills no commemoration. The Slave Route from Ujiji- Tabora- Bagamoyo is protected by UNESCO. Thousands of Africans died and crossed this route from Congo, Rwanda, Burundi. The route is for remembering and facing “the consequences of this odious traffic which are still present in our societies today.”256
250 Ibid, p.174
251 Ibid. p.174, quoted KNCC Newsletter, JPR News Analysis and Reports, 30 June, 1993, p.3.
252 Ibid, 253 Ibid, p.175.
254 Ibid,p.177.
255 Bernard Lugan quoted Ndiaye, 2008 :1, Ibid, p. 374.
256 History in dialogue on memories of the slave trade and slavery, <http://www.unesco.org/new/en/media- services/single-view/news/history_in_dialogue_on_memories_of_the_slave_trade_and_slavery/>, 11th October 2011.