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By Root 625 0

India, and southeast Asia, in turn. There has been considerable public interest in the date of the first conversions, and the beginnings of an Islamic presence in East Africa. The record shows very clearly that there were trading contacts from the Arab world to East Africa before the beginnings of Islam. For the first century of the Christian era the Periplus mentioned quite extensive contacts between East Africa and Yemen, and also noted that there was extensive intercourse and intermarriage between these Arab traders and the locals. Pre-Islamic ceramics from the Middle East have been found in both Somalia and Mozambique. These are mostly Persian of the Sassanian period.49 As these traders converted, they kept on trading, to East Africa among many other places. The very earliest mosques, dating back perhaps to the mid or even early eighth century, were constructed to service these itinerants, some of whom may even have settled. They were very small, and made of non-durable materials: wood or wattle and daub.

The earliest Muslim accounts of East Africa reflect very clearly that the locals had not converted. The tenth century 'Wonders of India', a collection of Arab stories, describes 'Zanj' as a strange uncouth place, with sorcerers, cannibals, strange birds and fishes.50 Al-Biruni, in the early eleventh century, still finds East Africa a wild and largely un-Islamic place.51 It was from the later eleventh century that the locals were converted, and we can talk for the first time of a Swahili civilisation, that is if we follow Middleton and see a defining characteristic of the Swahili being that they are Muslims.52 In this century earlier wooden mosques at Kilwa were enlarged and constructed in stone. By around 1300 the main mosque at Kilwa was some 12 metres by 30 metres, implying a very large Muslim resident population.53 Wright has pointed out that all the larger communities seem to have accepted Islam at roughly the same time, that is primarily in the twelfth century and a few years on either side of this.54

Conversion, even if 'partial', served to further distinguish the shore dwellers, the Swahili, from their inland neighbours. This coastal society, because of its location, was much more open to wider influences from across the Indian Ocean than were people in the interior; their acceptance of Islam is part of this greater exposure. Yet their new religion was heavily impregnated with pre-Islamic indigenous beliefs, as we will see presently.

Arabs had long traded with the Indian coast, and Indians with the Arab world. When the Arabs became Muslims they continued to trade, and conversions in littoral India occurred very early, long before Muslims ruled large areas of the inland subcontinent. An early Portuguese account of the process of conversion stresses that rigid Hindu caste divisions in Malabar led to many conversions among the lowest groups. Correia's account describes both the mix of trade and religion which proved so successful, and the way the Islamic stress on the equality of all believers fostered conversions, producing the indigenous Muslim Mapillah community. He described the dominance of the Nairs in this area, and the degraded position of the lower castes. Muslims, presumably from the Red Sea area given that this was the major trading area for Malabar, pointed out to the (Hindu) rulers that the low caste porters were unable to move about freely in the area, because if they ran into Nairs they would be killed. But if these low caste Malabaris converted to Islam 'they would be able to go freely where they wished, because once they became Muslims they were immediately outside of the law of the Malabaris, and their customs, and they would be able to travel on the roads and mingle with all sorts of people.' This argument, plus a few bribes, convinced the rulers, who gave their consent. The actual conversion of these much-oppressed people was easy, for they could then live where they pleased and eat what they wanted. They also received clothing from the Muslims. The result was a great success for this