© koninklijke brill nv, leiden, 2015 | doi 10. 1163/ 21540993- 00701001 islamic africa 7 ( 2016 ) 19 - 43 brill.com/iafr Islamic Africa 1 ‘What should be done: change leaders or change the system?’, Shaaban Mwalimu, Hizbut- Tahrir East Africa, 27 Dec. 2012, http://www.hizb-eastafrica.com/en/index.php?option=com _content&view=article&id=554:what-should-be-done-change-leaders-or-the-system &catid=31&Itemid=128, viewed on 12 Nov, 2013. Islam and Democracy: Debating Electoral Involvement on the Kenya Coast Hassan Mwakimako Pwani University, Kenya h.mwakimako@pu.ac.ke Justin Willis Durham University, uk justin.willis@durham.ac.uk In the Kenyan coastal town of Kilifi, an unobtrusive green sign is nailed to a telegraph pole in the market place. Painted on it, in neat white letters, are the words Demokrasi ni ukafiri: ‘Democracy is unbelief ’. It is a brief statement of one view in a complex debate amongst Muslims in Kenya, about the nature of their collective relationship with the secular state and its elected bodies. In the run- up to Kenya’s 2013 election, graffiti appeared across the poorer parts of Mombasa Island, especially in the King’orani area: Kura ni haramu, ‘voting is forbidden’, was a common message. A rash of posters appeared, plastered up next to, or over, the campaign posters of various candidates: Siasa ya vyama vingi ni siasa ya matumbo mengi, read one: ‘the politics of multi-partyism is the politics of many bellies’. More obliquely, a black banner draped above the entrance to the market on Mombasa’s main street read Quran ni suluhisho: ‘the Qur’an is the answer’, in itself an implicit critique of multi-partyism and secularism. This questioning of democracy was apparent in other forums, too. Sporadic ‘press releases’ on the web site of the East African branch of the radical inter- national Islamic movement Hizbut-Tahrir, offered a vigorous denunciation of the ballot: ‘Democratic elections are intended to hijack the public … elections are to legitimize oppression... Do not plunge into democratic kufr.’1 Equally vivid in tone was the discussion in some mosques at the coast, where speakers