Talk about the pot calling the kettle black!
Islamic group on Zanzibar accuse tourists of polluting island culture
iht.com
ZANZIBAR, Tanzania Zanzibar's authorities said Friday they are investigating a radical Islamic group who accused tourists of "polluting the culture" of the tropical island.
Officials told The Associated Press that they were unaware the fundamentalist Hizb ut-Tahrir had gained a foothold on the Zanzibar archipelago, a popular holiday destination that attracts tens of thousands of visitors each year, and were concerned by their presence.
"They pose a threat to national unity, peace and stability if they start putting out inflammatory statements," said Wambi Hasan Wambi, a senior official within the government's security unit. "The government will keep eyes on them."
Last year some 500,000 tourists traveled to Zanzibar, bringing vital foreign currency to the Indian Ocean islands. This semiautonomous part of Tanzania is mostly Muslim.
But Abbas Hussein, leader of the hard-line group, said few locals had benefited.
"Tourism is the source of moral and religious decay in Zanzibar. Visitors are just coming here to pollute the culture and religion of Zanzibar." Hussein added: "We need to resume the Islamic way of life by establishing an Islamic state."
The newly emerged group has been on a massive recruitment drive in recent months and claims to have around 3,000 members on the archipelago.
Fadhil Soraga, spokesman for Zanzibar's Islamic leader, condemned the group and said they were preaching hate.
"Hizb ut-Tahrir preaches inflammatory views against Islam, other religions, and societies. Their ideology is different from us. It spread radical views in the name of Islam. It's wrong," Soraga said.
Islamic militancy appears to be on the rise in East Africa, where a large discontented Muslim population has made it ripe for Islamic fundamentalism.
Hizb ut-Tahrir was founded in Jordan in 1953 and has branches in several Arab and foreign countries with sizable Muslim communities. It is banned in more than 20 countries worldwide.
Earlier this month another radical Islamic group on the archipelago, Uamsho, forced organizers to abandon plans to mark the 60th birthday of late Queen frontman Freddie Mercury, saying he violated Islam with his openly gay lifestyle.
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