The word and concept of a Mwari is foreign in Shona

“Mwari” has been presented in various Christian-influenced theological texts that it is the Shona name of the cosmic power or a deity assumed to be beyond nature and humanity, which is the source and sustainer of life. 

The word “Mwari/Musikavanhu” is not found in the primitive or early language, customs and traditions of the Shonas. 

These are the proverbs (“tsumo”), allegory (“madimikira”), riddles (“zvirahwe”), folk tales (“ngano”), ritual (“kuteura/kupira” and totemic (“mitupo”) language. 

The purported Shona word, Nyadenga, for a deity is very Christian as it is assumed that the deity lives in the sky. Midzimu of the Shona live in unspoiled or in disturbed nature: caves, mountains, bushes, deep waters of rivers, etc. 

Another purported word for a deity in Shona is “Mabweadziva.” This is a composite word for “mabwe emudziva” (rocks of the river). This was normally a mountainous area with caves by a deep river.

There is an all night ceremony of singing, dancing and clapping to summon the ancestors for guidance and protection through what is called bira from the verb kupira (supplicate, inform). It is done through a paternal lineage. 

Back to the word and concept. According to Oxford Islamic Studies, the word “Mawali” (sing. Mauda/Maula) refers to non-Arab Muslims and other client allies of the Muslim community - Persians, Africans, Azeris, Turks, Indians and Kurds. 

When the non-Arabs converted to Islam, initially they did not fit into the Arabic tribal society and this led to the creation of a contract of patronage (wala/wali) of an Arabic principal (mawla). 

The Mawali were “initially referred to those captured during the expansion of Islam throughout the Near East and parts of the Byzantine Empire who ultimately converted to Islam…Under the Umayyad dynasty (661 – 750 CE) mawali were not entitled to equal treatment with Arab Muslims, particularly with respect to taxes. Preferential treatment of Arab Muslims came to be a source of contention since it violated the Quranic declaration of equality of all believers. Under the subsequent Abbasid dynasty (750 – 1258 CE), distinctions between Arab and non-Arab Muslims were not stressed.”

http://www.oxfordislamicstudies.com/article/opr/t125/e1473

In both the Quran and Hadith, the word is in reference to lord, guardian, trustee, helper or friend. During the early Islamic era, it gained currency as a term to refer to non-Arab Muslims. (A.J. Wensinck, Encyclopedia of Islam, 2nd ed, Brill. "Mawlā", vol. 6, p. 874). 

Allah calls a human owner of a slave the 'mawla' - See 16:76. So 'mawla' is simply an attribute describing a charge, one who is a protector or master. Even the fire of hell is called 'mawla' of the disbelievers (57:15) i.e. their protector/refuge/master/friend. 

Therefore, different shades of meaning are clearly apparent in the Quran and the word is not used exclusively for Allah.

4:33 “To (benefit) everyone, we have appointed sharers and heirs [Mawla] to property left by parents and relatives. To those also to whom your right hand was pledged give their due portion: for truly Allah is Witness to all things.”

"To everyone, We have appointed heirs." (4.33) 'Mawali' means heirs. And regarding: "And those to whom your right hands have pledged," When the Emigrants came to Medina, an Emigrant used to be the heir of an Ansari with the exclusion of the latter's relatives, and that was because of the bond of brotherhood which the Prophet had established between them (i.e. the Emigrants and the Ansar). So when the Verse: "To everyone We have appointed heirs," was revealed, (the inheritance through bond of brotherhood) was cancelled. 

Ibn Abbas then said: "And those to whom your right hands have pledged," is concerned with the covenant of helping and advising each other. So allies are no longer to be the heir of each other, but they can bequeath each other some of their property by means of a will. - Sahih Al-Bukhari Hadith Hadith 6.104 Narrated by Ibn Abbas. 

According to an Arabic scholar, if you read Quran’s 22:13, 'mawla' is used with 'bisa' (to be evil) to say 'lab'isa mawla' which means 'surely an evil protector/friend'. So here the word 'mawla' simply means 'protector / friend' and is not used as an attribute of Allah. The meaning of 'mawla' does not only mean 'master' in the Quran. It admits different shades of meaning depending on context. When used as an attribute of Allah, it can also mean Protector as well as Master/Lord.

According to Daniel Pipes in an article, "Mawala: Freed slaves and converts in early Islam," (Slavery & Abolition Journal Vol. 1, Iss. 2, 1980) most Arabic words have four meanings - a basic one, its opposite, one related to sex and one referring to camels. This applies to the word, "mawla" which means lord, possessor, chief, benefactor, protector, lover, follower, charge, cousin, ally, contractor, slave, freedman, client."

Since a friend of Allah is called “wali/mawali” in Arabic and this gave birth to the Shona word for a friend, “shamwari” as influenced by the contact with Muslim Arabs. 

In Swahili, a girl is "msichana" ("musikana" in Shona, derived from “musika vana” – the creator of children). Once she becomes a young woman of marriable age, she is called "mwari." On her marriage day, she is called "bibi harusi." 

“Mwari” is also a first name in areas where Swahili is a predominant language like Tanzania and Kenya. In Swahili, it means a “bride, daughter, girl, maiden, virgin, young woman” of marriable age. The equivalent in Shona is “mhandara.”

In Kenya, “mwari” is a reference to a girl, while in Chewa, "mwali" is a young woman reaching childbearing age. This can be noticed that its to do with young age of maternity, the life bearing ability and fertility. Deductively, this can be connected with “Mwari” in Shona because it’s a word you can’t find in primitive or early Shona. 

In Malawi (Mang'anja, Chewa, Lomwe and Yao of Malawi) and Zambia (Chokwe, Ila, Luchazi, Mbunda, Luvale and Chewa), there is a initiation rite called “chinamwali” (‘domba’ in Venda). The girl or maiden is called ‘mwali’ (plural 'anamwali'). 

The initiation rite is for the coming of age for girls and a ceremony held in a secret place. This is where girls are helped to get through their transition to mature womanhood and the sexual and maternal responsibilities that come with it.

The pre-marital initiation of girls is more than just a sexual role. It is about them in future to be the actualisation of the Feminine Principle - conceiving, nurturing and caring through their motherhood. Sexual education of the young women is given by means of symbols, riddles, songs and simulated action. They are also taught about responsibilities of marriage, observances associated with pregnancy and childbirth and parenthood. 

From this narrative, it can be deduced that the word “Mwari” is used to be representative of the female life bearing ability and fertility. In Shona, it is "Mwari ndiMusiki" or "Mwari Musiki." "Kusika" is a Shona term for the procreative role and the organs of creation are "nhengo dzesika rudzi."

We are all creatures of our parentage procreative role. Without our parental union, we won't have come into existence!

The Swahili word for teacher is ‘mwalimu’ (‘mwali-mu’), a role ordinarily associated with motherhood as the mother and a teacher.

In the Venda cultural people of Zimbabwe and South Africa, the assumed cosmic power that is the source of life is called 'Nwali,’ while the Shonas of Zimbabwe say ‘Mwari.’

This shows “Mwari” has to be defined in the context of the life bearing ability and fertility in human beings. That creative power is the conjunction of the masculine and feminine energies and bodies.

Why is there a relationship between the creative agency and the fertility, conceiving, nurturing and caring role of women? The attributes often associated with femininity and even motherhood are affection, conceiving, nurturing and caring. This feminine and motherly aspect of the life was and is still suppressed in organised religions of Judaism, Christianity and Islam whose deity the Abrahamic God is aggressive, capricious, vile, monstrous and of toxic masculinity. This deity is narcissistic and craves for human validation, attention, supplication and submission.

The human agency that is sexually balanced with a harmony and complementarity of opposites (Severity/Strength and Mercy/Kindness) was destroyed by the misogynistic Christian missionaries and in its place the masculine disposition of harshness, war, hatred, ego, vengeance, death and destruction was advanced. 

The masculine Hebraic deity (El) was “strictly conformist, legalistic, tightly structured and exclusionist.”

Katharine M. Rogers in ‘The Troublesome Helpmate’ advances an argument that Pauline Christianity (based on Saul/Paul’s teachings) is misogynistic just like the conservative and literalist versions of Judaism and Islam. She listed what she says as specific examples from the Greek Scriptures letters of Saul/Paul of Tarsus. 

She argues that the legacy of Christian misogyny was consolidated by the so-called "Fathers" of the Church, like Augustine and Tertullian, who thought a woman was not only "the gateway of the devil" but also "a temple built over a sewer." 

Rogers also said, "The foundations of early Christian misogyny - its guilt about sex, its insistence on female subjection, its dread of female seduction - are all in St. Paul's epistles." 

Passages from Hegel's ‘Elements of the Philosophy of Right’ are frequently used to illustrate Hegel's supposed misogyny: "Women are capable of education, but they are not made for activities which demand a universal faculty such as the more advanced sciences, philosophy and certain forms of artistic production... Women regulate their actions not by the demands universality, but by arbitrary inclinations and opinions." - G.W.F Hegel, ‘Elements of the Philosophy of Right,’ quoted in Lilli Alanen and Charlotte Witt, ‘Feminist reflections on the history of philosophy.’

From the observations made above, one can conclude that “Mwari” is a “new” word in Shona. 

It can thus be considered a Shona figurative term for the human sexual energy in the creation of a new life and collective power of four human aspects: 

1) metaphysical (sub-consciousness and consciousness), 

2) psychological (masculine and feminine energies), 

3) physiological (male and female), and 

4) social (the functioning of human society). 

A balanced relationship of these four aspects allows for healthy creative, innovative and causative actions. 

These four aspects are respectively related to the academic disciplines of: 

1. Mind (Psychological and Behavioural Sciences), 

2. Life (Evolutionary and Biological Sciences),

3. Matter (Physical Sciences) and

4. human collaboration and cooperation (Social Sciences). 

A human being is a bearer of sovereign agency and causative power. These are found within and around every human being. 

It has been established that:

1. the word and of concept of Mwari can be traced back to Islamic Arab. 
2. the word Mwari is related to Mwali in Swahili, Chewa and Nyanja, and 
3. in the absence of literal records, we are able to get into folklore, rituals, traditions, rites of passage customs, proverbs, idioms and poetry to determine the cosmology of a Shona. Christian missionaries and anthropologists wrote many books to fit Shona customs and traditions into a Christian framing.

Zimbabwe is a good constitutional place for both the religious and non-religious

The citizens of Zimbabwe constitute both the religious (traditionalists, Christians, Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, Jews, etc) and non-religious (humanists and atheists). All these people are protected by the constitution as follows:

1. Humanity - in Zimbabwe, no one can be constitutionally denied his/her humanity because of religious affinity and affiliation or lack of it. The recognition of the inherent human dignity and worth of each and every human being is sections 3(f), 48 and 51.

2. Citizenship - in Zimbabwe, no one can be constitutionally denied citizenship because of religious affinity and affiliation or lack of it. Section 35(2), affirms that “all Zimbabwean citizens are equally entitled to the rights, privileges and benefits of citizenship and are equally subject to the duties and obligations of citizenship.”

Section 35(3)(a) further declares that all Zimbabwean citizens are entitled to the rights and benefits, in addition to any others granted to them by law to the protection of the State wherever they may be.

3. Basic rights - in Zimbabwe, no one can be constitutionally denied the right to privacy, association and expression because of being a religious affinity and affiliation or lack of it. The recognition of inalienable or fundamental human rights and freedoms is in sections 3(c) and 49.

According to section 86(1) of the constitution, fundamental rights and freedoms as set out in Chapter 4 (sections 44-87) can be limited so that they are exercised reasonably and with due regard for the rights and freedoms of other persons.  Such fundamental rights and freedoms may be limited only in terms of a law of general application and to the extent that the limitation is fair, reasonable, necessary and justifiable in a democratic society based on openness, justice, human dignity, equality and freedom, taking into account all relevant factors, including:
i. the purpose of the limitation, in particular whether it is necessary in the interests of defence, public safety, public order, public morality, public health, regional or town planning or the general public interest – section 86(2)(b);
ii. the need to ensure that the enjoyment of rights and freedoms by any person does not prejudice the rights and freedoms of others – section 86(2)(d);
iii. the relationship between the limitation and its purpose, in particular whether it imposes greater restrictions on the right or freedom concerned than are necessary to achieve its purpose – section 86(2)(e); and
iv. whether there are any less restrictive means of achieving the purpose of the limitation – section 86(2)(f).

Based on section 86(3), there are inviolable or absolute rights which for which no law may limit or any person violate the following rights enshrined in Chapter 4 of the constitution
i.     the right to life, except to the extent specified in section 48;
ii.    the right to human dignity;
iii.  the right not to be tortured or subjected to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment;
iv.   the right not to be placed in slavery or servitude;
v.    the right to a fair trial;
vi.   the right to obtain an order of habeas corpus as provided in section 50(7)(a).

While the Constitution of Zimbabwe states “the Almighty God” in the preamble, the mention does not supersede the bill of rights and all the constitutionally guaranteed freedoms and rights and therefore it is of no legal consequence to those who don’t recognise any God.

4. Consenting relationships - in Zimbabwe, when two consenting adults enter into a relationship and their union is a private matter and the constitution doesn’t empower the police or fellow citizens to be peeping Toms. Section 57 guarantees the right to privacy to everyone, and this includes the right not to have:
* their home, premises or property entered without their permission;
* their person, home, premises or property searched;
* their possessions seized;
* the privacy of their communications infringed; or
* their health condition disclosed.

5. Private voluntary association of the religious and non-religious - in Zimbabwe, this is constitutionally guaranteed and protected. Religious and non-religious organizations are private and voluntary associations recognised in terms of section 58 for the freedom of assembly and association. The freedom to associate necessarily includes the freedom to disassociate. Likewise the freedom to assemble includes the freedom not to be part of any group. Zimbabweans are not forced therefore to be members of any religious or secular organization.

Section 60 of the Constitution guarantees the freedom of thought and conscience and the profession of religious views or lack of them.

Every person has the right to choose freely his/her position toward religion, has the right to profess a desired religious view or not to profess any religious view, to engage in religious activities and ceremonies individually or collectively with other citizens. The validity of other religious persuasions and the non-religious is therefore constitutionally recognised and protected. Nobody should be apologetic about it nor seek any favour or validation from anybody.

The right of freedom of thought and conscience is subject only to such restrictions which are necessary to ensure the following: 1) public law and order, 2) public health, and 3) the defense of the reciprocal rights and freedoms of other citizens – sections 60(1)(5) and 86(2)(b) and (d). This means that all citizens are on the level in respect of rights and responsibilities arising out of the constitutionally guaranteed freedom of conscience. Where there is a conflict between one’s (non)religious convictions and the Constitution and law, the (non)religious person and religious organisation shall abide by the Constitution and law.

The accurate representation is that Zimbabwe is a secular republic and a constitutional democracy that recognizes the multiplicity and diversity of the religious and non-religious of its citizens.  

6. Freedom of expression  - in section 61, the constitution guarantees that every person has the right to freedom of expression, which includes:
i. freedom to seek, receive and communicate ideas and other information;
ii. freedom of artistic expression and scientific research and creativity; and
iii. academic freedom.

7. Relationship between the State and citizens - there is a clear demarcation and separation between the pluralistic and diverse public sphere and the private and voluntary religious space to protect religion from State interference and protect the individuals who otherwise will not want unwarranted or coercive religious influence unless voluntarily subscribed or affiliated to.

This provides a recognition of the independence of the Public Sphere for the state from religion and of the religious sphere from the state’s involvement. It is an acknowledgement of a religiously and culturally pluralist and diverse Zimbabwe:
1)  To disallow any attempt to use State power and public resources or Public Sphere to advance, promote or impose a favoured or authorised version of a religious view and convictions and practices over others;
2)  To disagree on the notion of what is absolute about religious views and convictions and cultural practices and to promote the validity of religious and non-religious living together harmoniously;
3)  To allow each other to freely promote and express own religious and non-religious views and convictions and practices in the privacy of families and private and voluntary associations; and
4)  Not to give specific authority, priority or preference to religious figures and views, as they should be treated just like any other citizen on matters of public interest and common good like any other social community.  
                                                                                                                 
This means public officers, institutions and resources, constitutionally:
1)  Should not compel any citizen to adhere to a religious view nor prescribe or impose any favoured and preferred religious views on citizens.
2)  Should not register, regulate nor interfere nor get involved in the activities and internal affairs of any religious organization as long as they operate in accordance with the Constitution of Zimbabwe and the generally applicable laws.
3)  Should not impose any public power on any religious organization except in the general enforcement and application of the law.
4)  Should not finance or promote activities of religious organizations and their interests.
5)  Should ensure that religious education in public schools is not biased towards one kind of religious persuasion but be based on fair comparative religious studies inclusive of non-religious studies of ethical humanism. All public schools and institutions should be religiously neutral so that the State and its agents do not engage in religious proselytizing in respect of a favoured or preferred religion or religious view.
   
The 2013 constitution of Zimbabwe is secular and very progressive as it robustly protects the voluntary, private and personal sphere for which any religious affinity, affiliation and practices or lack of are part of.

Those who are religious and non-religious (humanists and atheists) have nothing to fear and get worried about their own individuality and exercise of human rights, freedoms and liberties.

As a word of caution, the people of Zimbabwe need to ensure there is robust and sustainable awareness to the legal and practices for secularism as explicitly required by the constitution because Zimbabwe is a secular republic [section 1] and a constitutional democracy [section 3(a)].

The author is a humanist member of the Humanist Society of Zimbabwe and for feedback email, shingaindoro@gmail.com or Twitter, @shingaiRndoro. A gallery of previous articles, www.sundaymail.co.zw/author/shingairukwata