It’s Sunday,around noon, and over 5,000 people are packed in the main auditorium of the Kigali Convention Centre for a continental gathering bringing together Muslim believers from across Africa.

They are here for the 8h edition of the Rwanda International Competition of the Holy Quran, which is organized annually by the Rwanda Muslim Community.

It is an amiable and cheerful mood, as both male and female believers cheer for the 51 contestants from their respective countries; which are Tanzania, Sudan, Kenya, Chad and the hosts Rwanda.

Muslims from different African countries during the Quran reciting competition. Courtesy.

The contestants are taking part in the competition by way of reciting some of the verses in the Quran, the most coveted book for those who believe in Islam.

To any casual onlooker, this like any other day, since this is an annual event that is taking place for the 8th consecutive time.

But for the faithful, especially those who have lived in the country beyond the past 25 years, such a gathering evokes a sense of freedom that they have enjoyed from the country’s liberation in 1994. 

Addressing the gathering on the final day of the competition held on June 16, the Mufti of Rwanda, Sheikh Salim Hitimana said that such gathering could not have happened under the successive governments prior to the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi.

"Occasions like this evoke a sense of pride for the Muslims in Rwanda in particular, and Rwandans in general. It reaffirms the good leadership we have in our country which guarantees freedom of religion without discrimination or exclusion of any kind,” he observed.

According to Hitimana, invoking colonial laws, the regime of Juvenal Habyarimana and the ones that preceded it, made sure that Muslims have no say in society and that they were or years banished to what became to be known as Swahili Camps, or Camps Swahili as they were known in French.

It was not by default, Hitimana said, but rather by design, that in different towns of the country, you would find neighbourhoods that are exclusively for Muslims and with names like Mu Giswahili or Mu Cyarabu.

"These were effectively concentration camps where Muslims lived exclusively and were not allowed to mix with other communities of different religious beliefs,” he said.

These places include Biryogo suburb, which is located within a kilometre or so from the Central Business District and to get more answers The New Times visited the neighbourhood that is ever bustling with economic activity.

This is where we find 73-year old Assouman Butera, a resident, who lived through this decades-long discrimination.

Presently, the suburb, which is among the most highly populated neighbourhoods in the city, is inhabited by a cross-section of Rwandans of different religious beliefs.

However, according to Butera, who says he converted to Islam in 1963, this was not the case 25 years ago.

"We were despised and derogatively named Waswahili. Muslims from everywhere in the country would pray in hiding for fear of public rebuke; in fact the name Waswahili later developed a negative connotation in society that everyone who was dishonest was called Muswahili,” he said.

The Mufti traces their pre-1994 suffering to a decree that was issued by the Belgian colonialists in 1924 to banish all the believers in these camps.

"The aim was to extrapolate and exclude all Muslims from participating in any national activity,” he said.

Speaking to The New Times, Sheikh Abdoul Kareem Harelimana, who served in different capacities in the post-Genocide government including as a minister, said that the colonial decree also prohibited Muslims from moving or residing in rural communities or even carrying out trade in local marketplaces.

Harelimana, who is currently a member of Rwanda Elders Advisory Forum is also among the founding members of Rwanda Patriotic Front (RPF-Inkotanyi), which spearheaded the liberation struggle.

He listed some of the townships to which Muslims were banished including Biryogo in Nyarugenge District, Mugandamure in Nyanza District, Buragarama Cité and Kamembe Cité in Rusizi District, Kiramuruzi in Gatsibo District, and Uswahilini in Rwamagana District.

Others were Karenge in Ngoma District and Nzega in Nyamagabe District, among others.

"Only Muslims settled there, and there were particular conditions under which they lived. They had no free movement in the country because for them to leave those sites to meet or socialise with other people, which was prohibited,” said Harelimana.

Origin of Uswahili

Indeed, because Islam penetrated Rwanda from the Eastern Coast of Africa from Swahili speaking countries such as Tanzania, Sheikh Harelimana said that people who introduced it into Rwanda spoke mainly Swahili.

"Hence in its original meaning, being Mswahili was not a problem as it implied anyone who speaks Swahili, but, it was given negative connotations in Rwanda, like being associated to dishonesty among others,” Harelimana remarked.

This was a deliberate effort to alienate Muslims from other members of society, he said.

Harelimana said that any person who converted to Islam would be forced to leave their family to go and settle in these camps and would be effectively disenfranchised from other members of the family.

Education for John not Hussein

According to Butera, while the pre-liberation government had a discriminative education policy across board, it was probably worse for those who believed in Islam.

"To be able to pursue studies from beyond Primary Four, one had to get baptized or at least change a name and adopt one that was Christian,” he said.

It even became worse if one was to join university, for the very few who were able to complete high school, he said.

"For you to have a chance, you had to have someone high up in government and that person would only help if you changed names from say John, instead of Hussein. That’s when you could manage to study," he said.

No right to broadcast Islamic programmes

According to Mufti Hitimana, in 1969, the Muslim community requested leaders of government media, specifically Radio Rwanda, to give them an opportunity to broadcast an Islamic talk-show as was the case for other religious denominations.

"But the Minister of communication and tourism then, François Minani, replied to the Muslim clergy in a letter dated January 11, 1969, telling them that they should not use the pretext of other religions having such to demand for this right,” Mufti Hitimana said.

It should be noted that Christianity, most especially the Catholic Church was deeply embedded in state affairs in the post-independence governments to a point that a former Archbishop of Kigali, sat on the Central Executive Committee of former President Juvenal Habyarimana’s ruling party, MRND.

Fruits of liberation

According to Mufti Hitimana, the liberation ushered in a lot of freedoms across communities, including that of Muslims whom he said had for long been treated as second-class citizens.

Sheikh Harelimana agrees and says that thanks to liberation, Muslims are free to live in any part of the country.

"They live in harmony with other Rwandans and are actively contributing to the development of their country. They enjoy their rights to education and many have graduated and are serving in various capacities in government, while others are freely engaged in businesses in the private sector," he said.

Muslims are credited to have made an effort to save Tutsis during the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi.

Speaking toThe New Times,Prof. Anastase Shayaka, the Minister of Local Government, said that the philosophy of the Government of National Unity is built on inclusivity of all Rwandans, irrespective of their religion or any other socio-economic belonging.

"Exclusion and decimation have become history both for Muslims and other social groups. Our country wants to be a nation of Rwandans bound by unity, striving for peace, and having a common vision for a prosperous country,” he said.

History

According to Hitimana, the first Muslims arrived in Rwanda in 1895, but the religion’s actual existence dates in 1913 when the first mosque was set up in the current Kigali City’s Central Business District.

However, he said, the religion was only accredited by a ministerial decree of May 13, 1964.