Sheikh Abd Ul Aziz Rimo (1949-2015) and the Ansari muslim community: A study of Islamic reform in South Coast of Kenya

Abstract

Globally the challenge of reforming Islamic practise in a social world characterized by differing worldviews creates a crisis for reformers. The concern of this thesis is an investigation of the reform activities championed by Sheikh Abdul Aziz Rimo (1949-2015) and the development of the Ansari Muslim community. The general purpose of this research is to investigate the indigenous Muslim scholars’ contribution to Islamic reform in Kenya with particular reference to the Digo Muslim community in South Coast. In addition, the study was guided by the following specific objectives, namely to: examine the rise of the Ansari Muslim community and their doctrinal views that border on reform, assess the transnational links between the Ansari Muslim community and other revivalist groups in Africa and the rest of the Muslim world; explore the methods adopted by the Ansari in disseminating their teachings; and investigate the impact of the Ansari on the religious, social and political landscape among the Digo of Kwale county. Sheikh Rimo and the Ansari represent an interpretation of socio-religious and political events which they consider to be at variance with the ‘Islamic norm’ and as a result the Conflict Theory was seen as relevant and appropriate in this study. Particularly, features of the Conflict Theory underpinning this study are deprivation, conflict and group boundaries as defining the framework of analysis of the reform activities of the Ansari Muslim community. As qualitative research, a descriptive approach was employed involving the historical-biographical and field survey methods research design to collect the primary data for the study. This data resulted from interviews with key members of the Ansari group, contemporaries of Sheikh Rimo, close relatives and his students. Through purposive sampling, sixteen (16) respondents identified as key informants were sampled. Oral interviews, which were based on a set of questions from a schedule, were conducted on the life, education and reform schemata of the founder of the Ansari. A review of documentary data including newspaper articles, court records and archival materials was also used to supplement primary data. The collected data was manually analysed using qualitative analysis tools such as inductive exploration of the data to identify recurring themes, patterns and ideas and then ascribing meaning and interpretations relevant to the study objectives. The main findings of the study is that the present atmosphere of religious reform activities at the South Coast of Kenya reflects the fusion of a global puritanical (Salafiyya) voice of reform within the local Islamic observance of indigenous Muslims. The study concludes that the Ansari community is an attempt to localize Islamic reform discourse in Kenya, albeit with a potential of polarization of the religious and political landscape. Therefore, it is recommended that there is need to investigate the changes initiated by reformist scholars exposed to formal institutions of higher learning in Muslim countries abroad especially with the view of arresting radical and extremist tendencies that may stand in the way of fragmenting the unity of the ummah (Muslim community).