A Prospect of Secularization? Muslims and Political Power in Mozambique Today

Abstract

This article look at Islam and politics in Mozambique. Islam has
experienced there an exemplary turnabout since the late 1980s.
It has been transformed from a marginalised, and at time
oppressed, religion into a socially and publicly important faith.
What have been the consequences of this transformation? How
did Muslims make use of their progress? And what was the
reaction of those in political power? Did Muslims integrate into
the elite in power, and can one consequently identify a
reconfiguration of the national hegemonic bloc? The article
demonstrates that while Muslims were integrated in various
political institutions after 1994, the party in power evicted all
militant religious men from its party and from political positions
after the year 2000. It only retained secular Muslims in its ranks.
The text evaluates the impact of this change and raises the
hypothesis of a consequent secularization of politics.

Journal for Islamic Studies Vol. 27 2007: pp. 240-275