#23 Sukuma and Folk Islam
The Sukuma people of Tanzania represent a unique example of a folk religion. Their religious practices, distinct from Islam or folk Islam, are entirely dependent on their cultural context and location, making them fascinating subjects for further exploration.
There are many subsets of Islam, folk Islam being one of them, and there are many more subsets within folk Islam. Because folk Islam is a religion of the people, it depends entirely on cultural context, location, and beliefs outside of religion. Folk Islam is a lot like the Sukuma religion in this regard. However, it places a significant focus on Islam, Allah, and the Quran rather than only focusing on what is relevant to them. Folk Islam has representatives from every branch of Orthodox Islam, including the Sunnis, Shiites, and Sufis. Some folk Islamists focus more on orthodoxy than others, but they all are more mystical and focus on everyday life as opposed to their orthodox counterparts. In this regard, they are a lot like the Sukuma people, who focus on their current physical situation influenced by the spiritual.
The Sukuma people are also different from folk Islamists. They have a pantheon of gods as opposed to Islam, having only Allah. However, they have a chief god that rules over all things and is made visible through the sun. The gods of the Sukuma people are extremely close in location to their people. They live and dwell in the spirit realm but evidence themselves through landmarks of Sukumaland. In Islam, Allah is generally accepted to be far off and only evidences himself through the Quran. The Sukuma’s physical location also makes them different from folk Islamists. Folk Islam is a collection of beliefs from around the world, while the Sukuma religion is centralized only in Tanzania. Of course, many native religions are similar to that in Sukumaland. However, they differ in detail from the standard practices of folk religion: the focus on the here-and-now, incorporation of multiple religions or beliefs, mysticism, witchcraft, and many other characteristics.
