From the Time of Ignorance to the Afterlife: Gendered Chronotopes and Religious Nostalgia in Swahili-Language Islamic Marital Booklets

Abstract This study examines Swahili-language Islamic marital booklets ( vijitabu ) written between 1932 and 2020, focusing on their gendered chronotopes and nostalgic elements. These booklets, written by and for Muslim men, offer advice on marriage, sexuality, and related topics, reflecting societal changes and the influence of reformist Islam in East Africa. The analysis identifies four prominent chronotopic formulations: the contemporary East African context, the time and place of the Prophet Muhammad, the pre-Islamic world ( jahiliya ), and the modern West. A potential fifth chronotope, the afterlife ( akhera ), is contingent on adherence to the first four. The booklets valorize the Prophet Muhammad’s era while criticizing other temporal and spatial contexts, advocating for a return to early Islamic gender norms and marital practices to achieve happiness in the afterlife. This study highlights the booklets’ role in shaping gender norms and religiopolitical ideologies, revealing the interplay between nostalgia, religious authority, and sociopolitical context in East African Muslim communities.