Intangibility and necessity: Arabic and Kiswahili in East African Islam

Abstract

Arabic, vector of the Quranic revelation, imposed itself as the canonic language of Islam in Eastern Africa. For centuries, Arabic remained the attribute of the members of the Arabic-speaking elite, acting as traders in the Oceanic networks and as political leaders in the counter-cities. While Kiswahili emerged as an indigenous language, functioning as a trade and social lingua-franca before reaching the margins of Islam, Arabic remained for long the marker of the upper social classes. And it took a long time before the appearance of a Swahili literature. But the upheavals of the late 19th c. – colonial division, establishment of Christian Missions, and the intervention of the South Asian Muslims – led to the contestation of the predominance of Arabic, including at the religious level. In a reformist perspective, the use of Kiswahili tended to become a necessity, without challenging the sacredness of Arabic. The paper ends with a glance at how new media and recent political evolutions have an impact on sociolinguistic dynamics.