The Christians...
The Christians, the Hindus and the Ismailis published their views in the newspapers. I approached Bakwata for this purpose; they flatly refused to interfere in the Govt.'s plan. I had no alternative but to write on behalf of the Shi'a Ithna-’Asharis only. The comments were frank and probably the last paragraph was a bit harsh. I sent the draft to Mr. Anverali M. Rajpar, then President of the Khoja Shi’a Ithna-’Ashari Territorial Council of Tanzania.
He told me to go ahead and get it published in the Standard on behalf of the Tanzania Council. It appeared in the Standard (Dar-es-Salaam) on 8th December, 1969 (Monday) and later its extracts were printed in the Light of December, 1969. This appears as the third Memorandum in this booklet.
When months later, the Supreme Council sent to me the two reports of the Kenya Commission, I was amused to see that most of the proposals of the Tanzanian White Paper were lifted from the Kenya Commission's recommendations. While drafting the Law of Marriage Act, 1971, in the light of the White Paper and the comments received, Mr. Bashir Rahim, then the Chief Parliamentary Draftsman, tried his best to accommodate the provisions of the Islamic Laws.
Before finalizing the draft, it was shown to the scholars of every religion and sect, and some changes were made based on their suggestions. Present Situation The Tanzania government now wishes to enact Law of Succession, which would give to women shares equal to that of men.
When the Muslim scholars (not Bakwata) raised their voices against it, the then President His Excellency Al-Haj Ali Hassan Mwinyi, assured them that the idea was not to change the Muslims' law, but to bestow right of inheritance on those women who have no such rights at all—rather they themselves are treated as items of inheritance. Meanwhile in 1990, various Muslim associations (other than Bakwata) began a campaign for the Muslim girls to be allowed to use hij’ab in schools.
Their representatives met several times, and based on their discussions, I wrote a Memorandum on Hij'ab and succession, which was ultimately presented to the President Al-Haj Ali Hassan Mwinyi. It is included in this booklet as the 4th Memorandum.