ZANZIBAR’s WASENGE

 

<<Although I was too young/naive to understand the issue, I learnt that there was a group of gay men [known to us] in Zanzibar when I was at school. So it has been going on for a long time and suddenly the government is banning it!

 You've raised an intriguing issue. You are right. Why this sensitization now when all along the environment had been polluted by such miscreants? 

Zanzibar has been notorious and characters like Karama and Marwaga openly indulged in it, and fell into disrepute to such an extent that even today they are given mention. This is no mud slinging but the situation as it was then. The drama never ceased unfolding and certain British colonialists and elites also got dragged into this absurdity. It is not that i'm sounding off my own opinion but they are well known facts to Zanzibaris. The old timers know much more and have some amusing stories to relate. Baqirbhai, speak up. Mkunazini, Sokomohogo and Vuga too were notorious and nothing less sensational than Malindi. This is a light hearted discussion; please shed some light on it. 

.<<Abdulrazak, it is worth bearing in mind that some people on this list may have similar sexual orientations!!!! Please be careful. As someone who had similar views to yours about gays some 25 years ago, I have also learnt that they deserve and have the right to coexist with us, the so called " normal" people.>> 

May be i'm misinterpreting her post in a different context. I should have clarified that the target in those days were mostly children. There was tendency to tempt them deceitfully and molest them. Even your media denounces such people and terms them (petfile ?). Why the fuss over Michael Jackson's adventures? 

Who says they don't have the right to coexist? Certainly they as well as those with similar sexual orientation on this list have the right to coexist but they should keep their personal matters to themselves. Nobody is pointing out to anybody. 

Anyhow, Islam prohibits homosexuality, which is any form of sex between man and man. As a Muslim I abhor this practice. Zanzibar or for that matter any Islamic country objects to gay liberation movement. 

<<Islam may prohibit homo-sexuality and you may abhor that 'practice' but that doesn't mean that Islam doesn't have gay Muslims. Pedophiles are not necessarily all gay people. Pedophiles could be male or females, straight or gay.>> 

Islam prohibits homo sexuality. That does not mean that there are no Muslim gays, they are in abundance. But also having Muslim gays does not mean that Islam permits homo sexuality. 

Anyhow, thanks for defining to me the meaning of 'pedophile', the main cause of this misunderstanding. They were regarded with detestation in Zanzibar and i was trying to point up that. This was to substantiate her remark that there was a group of gay men (pedophile) in those days. They were termed as 'basha' and 'khanisi'. Now what surprises me is that how 'some people on this list' come into the picture. Isn't somebody up to some mischief?