Page 42 - SoMJ Vol 74 - No 1, 2021

32 The Society of Malaŵi Journal

States on the suspicion, later proved baseless, that they had links to the al-Qaeda
movement. Despite court injunctions served in Malawi the five were illegally
extradited to Zimbabwe, the President seemingly unable to prevent it. The reaction
of sections of the Muslim community, especially from among the Qadiriyya,
atypically, involved a certain amount of violence with stoning and burning of
some Christian churches, but also with buildings of the UDF and the Muslim
Association of Malawi as targets of protest. For many non-Muslims these
disturbances were taken as evidence for what they were ready to believe was the
inherently violent nature of the followers of Islam. For many Muslims, on the
other hand, it was perceived as evidence of the hostility of the United States and
the Western World to Islam and Muslims everywhere.
While Malawi’s Muslims were justifiably proud of their nation having a
Muslim president, their reactions to it were generally cautious. There were
occasionally complaints from some of them that the President did too much to
court favour with the Christian Churches to the neglect of Muslim communities.
They were conscious of the limits of the President’s power, as witnessed by the
outcome of the incidents of the new Religious and Moral Education syllabus and
the al-Qaeda suspects. The President did not always enjoy the undivided support
of the Muslim communities. As the 1998 fatwa and the attacks following the 1999
election illustrate, many Muslims felt vulnerable in the face of the hostility of
some sections of Malawian society, and their readiness to politicise anything that
might look like Muslims trying to ‘Islamise’ the country. They were also aware
that there would come a time when there was no longer a Muslim President.

Muslims in Malawi since 2004
Despite attempts by his party to change the constitution to allow him a
third term of office, Bakili Muluzi’s presidency ended in 2004. His hand-picked
successor was a Christian who had a Muslim as his Vice-President and claimed to
have more Muslims in his cabinet than had his predecessor. Indeed, since that
time, though there has not been another Muslim president, the four successors to
this office, from three different political parties, Bingu wa Mutarika, Joyce Banda,
Peter wa Mutarika and Elias Chakwera, have all been careful not to alienate, but
rather to try to attract Muslim voters. They have done this either by having
Muslims as running mates or by having significant numbers of Muslims in their
cabinets. They have all made it their practice to send greetings to Malawi’s
Muslims on the Eids and on the birthday of the Prophet, and to attend, sometimes
in Muslim attire, or be represented, at the festival celebrations.
In return, the leadership of Muslim organisations make it very clear that
they support the government of the day, whatever the party, and aim to work with
it to promote the peace, development and wellbeing of the nation. Though
individual Muslims can, and sometimes do, come out in support of one party or
another, the leadership are generally careful to stress that the organisations that
they represent are strictly non-partisan. Though it has not completely disappeared,