Page 46 - SoMJ Vol 74 - No 1, 2021

36 The Society of Malaŵi Journal

would be reworded, urging people to read the Qur’an but without reference to the
Bible, and that the Christian group should withdraw its statement about Malawi
being a Christian country. Following this affair and that of the schoolgirls’
headscarves, the PAC set up a taskforce to advance peaceful coexistence between
religious groups.
Though in the many ways already described Malawi’s Muslim
communities are distinctive, this should not cloud the overall picture. Religious
differences are by no means the most divisive in Malawian society. Ethnic and
regional rivalries and the gap between the privileged and the poor are all much
more so. All Malawians together face the same challenges of poverty, corruption,
donor dependency, pandemics, health and education services under strain,
overpopulation, land degradation and lack of food security. They also share efforts
to develop the country’s human and natural resources with the hope that the nation
can be peaceful, equitable and prosperous. The evidence is overwhelmingly that
Malawi’s Muslims are playing a full part in trying to bring this about.

GLOSSARY OF ARABIC TERMS
Eid festival
Fatwa binding Islamic declaration
Hijab modest Muslim covering; term popularly applied to women’s
head covering.
Madrassa Quranic school
Maulid ul Nabi birthday of the Prophet
Qadiriyya one of the Islamic Brotherhoods
Sharia lit. way; Islamic law
Zakat obligatory charitable giving
Ziyara lit. visit; term used to describe celebration of Prophet’s
birthday.