salahdin
Junior Member
بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ
Kigali - Long a marginalised tiny minority, Rwanda's
Muslims have grown considerably in number and stature
in the 10 years since the genocide of 1994.
Like many of his compatriots, Isaac, a lanky young
stonemason, converted after the bloody events of that
year, when he was a soldier in the Rwandan Patriotic
Front, a Tutsi-led rebellion that is now the dominant
force in government.
"I converted after my unit came into Kigali and I saw
how many of my fellow Tutsis has been hidden, and
therefore saved, by Muslims," he told a correspondent
in the populous Nyamirambo district of the capital.
According to the current government, up to a million
people were killed over 100 days in 1994 during an
orchestrated campaign by the Hutu government to rid
the country of its Tutsi minority.
At the time, about 1.2 percent of the population were
of the Islamic faith, which was introduced to Rwanda
in around 1900 by Arab traders and translators working
with the German military.
One of those to swell this proportion to the current
estimate of 10 percent is former Roman Catholic
Jean-Pierre Sagahutu, who now works as a taxi driver.
"I was hiding in a septic tank behind the house of a
Muslim called Idrissa. Only he knew where I was. If he
had betrayed me I would have been killed," he said.
Many Rwandans can tell similar stories. Generally,
those who sought refuge in mosques were protected from
the government soldiers and militias who sought out
and killed Tutsis.
The Catholic church, by contrast, has a sorrier
record. There are many examples of mass killings
inside consecrated churches and even of collusion
between the clergy and the killers.
The UN court in Tanzania trying leading genocide
planners and perpetrators has charged several
Christian clergymen.
In February, the court convicted an Adventist pastor
and his son of genocide and crimes against humanity.
In 2001, a court in Belgium, Rwanda's former colonial
power, sentenced two nuns to 15 and 12 years in jail
for their roles in the genocide.
The spokesperson for Rwanda's Muslims, Saleh Habimana,
recalls a big rush to convert to Islam immediately
after the 1994 genocide, sometimes for dubious
reasons.
He says some Hutus thought conversion would spare them
from suspicion of complicity while some Tutsis saw it
as a way of protecting themselves in the event of
another genocide.
Habimana believes Islam maintains its independence in
Rwanda because it is largely self-financing. The tiny
mosques whose green and white minarets dot the Rwandan
countryside are all built and financed by local
communities.
"Rwandan people, poor as we are, we are mentally
free... We know that any funding which comes from
abroad comes with conditions," he said, conceding that
Rwandan Muslims do receive small contributions from
Libya and Saudi Arabia.
Rwandan Muslims, themselves extremely tolerant of
other religious beliefs, are well perceived by other
religions, and, since the coming to power of President
Paul Kagame, himself a Protestant, almost 10 years
ago, are well-represented in the administration.
www.news24.com
Kigali - Long a marginalised tiny minority, Rwanda's
Muslims have grown considerably in number and stature
in the 10 years since the genocide of 1994.
Like many of his compatriots, Isaac, a lanky young
stonemason, converted after the bloody events of that
year, when he was a soldier in the Rwandan Patriotic
Front, a Tutsi-led rebellion that is now the dominant
force in government.
"I converted after my unit came into Kigali and I saw
how many of my fellow Tutsis has been hidden, and
therefore saved, by Muslims," he told a correspondent
in the populous Nyamirambo district of the capital.
According to the current government, up to a million
people were killed over 100 days in 1994 during an
orchestrated campaign by the Hutu government to rid
the country of its Tutsi minority.
At the time, about 1.2 percent of the population were
of the Islamic faith, which was introduced to Rwanda
in around 1900 by Arab traders and translators working
with the German military.
One of those to swell this proportion to the current
estimate of 10 percent is former Roman Catholic
Jean-Pierre Sagahutu, who now works as a taxi driver.
"I was hiding in a septic tank behind the house of a
Muslim called Idrissa. Only he knew where I was. If he
had betrayed me I would have been killed," he said.
Many Rwandans can tell similar stories. Generally,
those who sought refuge in mosques were protected from
the government soldiers and militias who sought out
and killed Tutsis.
The Catholic church, by contrast, has a sorrier
record. There are many examples of mass killings
inside consecrated churches and even of collusion
between the clergy and the killers.
The UN court in Tanzania trying leading genocide
planners and perpetrators has charged several
Christian clergymen.
In February, the court convicted an Adventist pastor
and his son of genocide and crimes against humanity.
In 2001, a court in Belgium, Rwanda's former colonial
power, sentenced two nuns to 15 and 12 years in jail
for their roles in the genocide.
The spokesperson for Rwanda's Muslims, Saleh Habimana,
recalls a big rush to convert to Islam immediately
after the 1994 genocide, sometimes for dubious
reasons.
He says some Hutus thought conversion would spare them
from suspicion of complicity while some Tutsis saw it
as a way of protecting themselves in the event of
another genocide.
Habimana believes Islam maintains its independence in
Rwanda because it is largely self-financing. The tiny
mosques whose green and white minarets dot the Rwandan
countryside are all built and financed by local
communities.
"Rwandan people, poor as we are, we are mentally
free... We know that any funding which comes from
abroad comes with conditions," he said, conceding that
Rwandan Muslims do receive small contributions from
Libya and Saudi Arabia.
Rwandan Muslims, themselves extremely tolerant of
other religious beliefs, are well perceived by other
religions, and, since the coming to power of President
Paul Kagame, himself a Protestant, almost 10 years
ago, are well-represented in the administration.
www.news24.com