Popular Islamic Practices of Spiritualism Among the Digo of Kenya

Abstract

The introduction and subsequent spread of foreign monotheistic beliefs in Africa, like Islam and Christianity, during the late 16th and early 17th centuries was undertaken on the presumption that African communities were basically animists. This assumption was a great error as it overlooked the existing religious frameworks and sought to impose alien practices hitherto unknown to the natives. However, in an attempt to find a compromising middle ground, syncretism (hybridization) emerged as a common feature of religious experiences by African communities that clamored for both their traditional and the foreign beliefs. This paper synthesizes the various aspects of the belief in spirits as experienced and practiced by the ethnic Digo of Southern Kenya in the midst of Islamization. The Digo are the largest single ethnic block to have embraced Islam among the Mijikenda. However, despite mass Islamization, the Digo have maintained a profound belief in traditional spirits against the teachings of Islam. To demonstrate that these popular Islamic practices are important marks in maintaining the cultural identity of the ethnic Digo group in the sea of ethnic Muslim ummah, we use Bourdieu theory of practice.