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Rwanda’s
Muslim population is increasing daily
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RUHENGERI,
Rwanda, September 24 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) – Ever
since the state-sponsored Rwandan genocide started in 1994, in which
ethnic Hutu extremists killed 800,000 minority Tutsis and Hutu,
Rwandans have converted to Islam in huge numbers, a U.S. newspaper
reported Monday, September 23.
Muslims
now make up 14 percent of the 8.2 million people here in Africa’s
most Catholic nation, twice as many as before the killings began,
reported the Washington Post.
According
to the newspaper, many converts say they chose Islam because of the
role that some Catholic and Protestant leaders played in the genocide.
“Human
rights groups have documented several incidents in which Christian
clerics allowed Tutsis to seek refuge in churches, then surrendered
them to Hutu death squads, as well as instances of Hutu priests and
ministers encouraging their congregations to kill Tutsis. Today some
churches serve as memorials to the many people slaughtered among their
pews,” said the paper.
Four
clergymen are facing genocide charges at the U.N.-created
International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, and last year in Belgium,
the former colonial power, two Rwandan nuns were convicted of murder
for their roles in the massacre of 7,000 Tutsis who sought protection
at a Benedictine convent, it added.
During
the genocide, many Muslim leaders and families are being honored for
protecting and hiding those who were fleeing, reported the Post.
“I
know people in America think Muslims are terrorists, but for Rwandans
they were our freedom fighters during the genocide,” said Jean
Pierre Sagahutu, 37, a Tutsi who converted to Islam from Catholicism
after his father and nine other members of his family were
slaughtered, the paper reported.
“I
wanted to hide in a church, but that was the worst place to go.
Instead, a Muslim family took me. They saved my life.”
The
Post quoted Habimana, the chief mufti in Rwanda saying: “Islam fits
into the fabric of our society. It helps those who are in poverty. It
preaches against behaviors that create AIDS. It offers education in
the Koran and Arabic when there is not a lot of education being
offered. I think people can relate to Islam. They are converting as a
sign of appreciation to the Muslim community who sheltered them during
the genocide.”
Imams
across the country held meetings after September 11, 2001, to clarify
what it means to be a Muslim, the paper said. “I told everyone,
‘Islam means peace,’” said Imiyimana, recalling that the mosque
was packed that day. “Considering our track record, it wasn’t hard
to convince them.”
This
worries the Catholic church. Priests say they have asked for advice
from church leaders in Rome about how to react to the number of
converts to Islam, the Post added.
“The
Catholic church has a problem after genocide,” said the Rev. Jean
Bosco Ntagugire, who works at Kigali churches. “The trust has been
broken. We can’t say, ‘Christians come back.’ We have to hope
that happens when faith builds again.”
In
July 2000, the Organization of African Unity (OAU), said that Rwanda
should receive financial reparations from the international community
for the community’s failure to prevent the massacre of hundreds of
thousands of Tutsis in 1994.
The
OAU committee accused the United States, France, Belgium and the U.N.
Security Council of failing to take steps to stop the genocide when
they had the means to do so.
Security
Council “members could have prevented the genocide taking place.
They failed to do so,” said the committee in a 318-page report.
