The first wave of Arab settlers reached the Lamu Archipelago around 700 AD. With its rich mangrove forests and welcoming port, the area offered a safe harbour for those fleeing conflict amongst various caliphates in the Arabian peninsula. The East African coast was already well known as a trading ground for ancient explorers. Led by chiefs, Suleiman and Said – both from Oman, these settlers saw the northern part of the Kenyan coast as an ideal location to seek political and physical safety from the anti-Shia Ummayad Dynasty. The group set dock at Pate Island where they founded the Ibadi State, making Lamu the state’s capital.
It wasn’t until the final wave of immigrants- the Shirazi immigrants, relocated from Iran to other coastal towns such as Mombasa, that greater Arabian development took place. The Shirazi docked at the Mombasa port in 975 AD, spread out and founded settlements along the coast. Known for their energetic and resourceful nature, this group established themselves in what we today know as Old Town Mombasa. By the early tenth century, the East African coast was flooded with Arab and Persian settlers who interacted, traded and intermarried the East African Bantu giving rise to the ‘Swahili’ people of the coast. In this way, Islam was cultured within the area.
Today
The cool tarmacked streets of old town Mombasa are a journey into the past. While the immigrants of then haven’t lived to tell us the story of the challenges they faced, there is evidence of their existence in the architecture of old town Mombasa.
In 1570, Kenya’s third recorded mosque was established in Old Town Mombasa. It has been approximately 450 years since this structure was erected yet it still stands thanks to maintenance, and is still in use for some of the members of the Muslim community in Mombasa.
Standing along one of the narrow streets forming alleys between taller buildings, the Mandhry Mosque is step back to a simpler time. Today it has a neat (fresh) coat of white paint, but its rectangular shape with a minaret on one end gives evidence of the ancient Swahili architecture that is synonymous with the coast.
Opposite the mosque, is a well built stone structure -The Mandhry Well as it is known. Although we aren’t certain of its link to the mosque, the name suggests something.
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Mandhry Mosque
Read more stories from our #KeHistoryOfFaith series here.