The New Ulemas. The re-composition of the Muslim authorities in the north of Mozambique.

What was the internal re-composition process of the Muslim authorities in the north of Mozambique during the late period of colonialism (1961-1974)? The author calls into question the argument whereby there was a conspiracy or a Wahhabite invasion in Mozambique. The term Wahhabism has become a category of diffuse and ambiguous accusation against certain Muslims in Mozambique and is most often used as a synonym of fundamentalism. Being a Wahhabite generally means opposing the – Sufi – brotherhoods that came from Zanzibar and the Comoros in the late 19th century and settled on the island of Moçambique. The global tension between brotherhoods and Wahhabism has to be put into perspective, identifying the ambiguities conveyed by specific agents. In this respect, it has become necessary to understand the "endogenous" conflicts of the Muslim communities in order to understand the type of relationship that each of their spokespeople has attempted to construct with the independent Mozambican state. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]