Islam in South Africa
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Islam in South Africa probably predates the colonial period, and consisted of isolated contact with Arab and East African traders. Many South African Muslims are described as Coloureds, notably in the Western Cape, including those whose ancestors came as slaves from the Indonesian archipelago (the Cape Malays). Others are described as Indians, notably in Kwazulu-Natal, including those whose ancestors came as traders from South Asia; they have been joined by others from other parts of Africa as well as white or black South African converts. However, the current Muslim tradition in the country dates from the arrival of Sheikh Abdurahman Matebe Shah, a Malay sheikh from Sumatra, in 1668. [3]
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[edit] History
Sheikh Abdurahman Matebe Shah was exiled to Constantia, Cape Town in the Cape by the Dutch East India Company (VOC) following his resistance to the Dutch occupation of the East Indies. The sheikh used his exile to consolidate the teaching of Islam among slaves in the Cape, many of whom came from Muslim backgrounds in Malaysia and Bengal. [4]
[edit] The VOC period
During the late seventeenth and early eighteenth century the Dutch continued to exile Muslim leaders from Batavia to the Cape: they included Sheikh Yusuf of Bantam, who lived at Faure in Cape Town. Probably the first imam to live in Cape Town was Said Alochie of Mocha in Yemen, who was sentenced to work on Robben Island for ten years in 1747. Said Alochie later moved to Cape Town where he worked as a police constable - an occupation which gave him ample opportunities for visiting slave quarters at night to teach. In 1767 Prince Abdullah Kadi Abu Salaam of Tidore was exiled to the Cape. He wrote a copy of the Koran from memory, and the volume is still preserved in Cape Town; Abdullah assumed leadership of the community in Cape Town and became known as "Tuan Guru".
In 1799 the growth of the community encouraged Cape Town's Muslims to petition the VOC for permission to build a mosque. Islam was a popular religion among the slaves - its tradition of teaching enabled literate slaves to gain better positions in their masters' households, and the religion taught its followers to treat their own slaves well. [5]
[edit] Islam in South Africa after apartheid
Since South Africa became a democracy in 1994, there has been a growing number of Muslim migrants from South Asia and North Africa; however, their numbers are fairly low. Most of the Muslims are urban dwellers and thus live in or near Cape Town, Durban, Port Elizabeth, East London, Kimberley, Pretoria or Johannesburg.
[edit] 1994 elections
When the first democratic elections took place in April 1994 two Muslim parties emerged; namely the Africa Muslim Party (AMP) and the Islamic Party. The outcome of the 1994 elections resulted in AMP having received 47,690 votes, which was less than 1 percent of the total vote of the nationwide elections. Many Muslims voted for the National Party and for the African National Congress.
[edit] 2004 elections
In the 2004 election the Africa Muslim Party tried again to attract voters but only succeeded in obtaining 34,446 votes, which is around 0.20 percent of the total vote count. By then the Islamic Party was non-existent and some of it ardent members decided to join the Peace and Justice Party, a predominantly Muslim party, which failed to gain a substantial amount of votes. Their failure could be due to the fact that Muslim theologians that were members of the Jamiat ul-Ulama (Association of Muslim Theologians) and the Muslim Judicial Council supported the idea of voting for the African National Congress.
[edit] Prominent South African Muslims
Following the 2004 elections, two Muslims were appointed to the Cabinet - Ms. Naledi Pandor, the Minister of Education and her deputy, Mr. Enver Surty. It might also be argued that the Minister without portfolio in the President's office, namely Dr. Essop Pahad, as well as his brother, Aziz Pahad - the deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, thus bring the total to 4 and not 2 cabinet ministers as mentioned earlier; however, this is because they have been viewed as secularist who have not fully identified themselves with Islam and the Muslims. Kader Asmal, former minister of education takes the tally from 4 to 5 muslim cabinet ministers. Apart from these individuals, there is also a fair number of Muslim Parliamentarians and a sizeable number of councillors in the respective provinces. The only province that has a Muslim premier is the Western Cape, namely Mr. Ebrahim Rasool. Perhaps it is also appropriate to mention that when Nelson Mandela became president of the democratic state in 1994, he appointed Mr. Dullah Omar as his Minister of Justice and when Thabo Mbeki took over as president he became the Minister of Transport until his death in early 2004. Their appointments demonstrated in a concrete way that Muslims have been active within the socio-political arena.
[edit] South African schools of Islam
Most South African Muslims are members of the Sunni branch of Islam; there are however a small number of individuals who had converted to the Shi'a school. Although they were vocal in the late 1980s and early 1990s, they seemed to have become part of the silent Muslim minority at the turn of the 21st century. This could be attributed to the fact that South Africa's large Sunni oriented community have not adopted a favourable and accommodating attitude towards the Shi'is and that Iran's influence had dwindled in the 1990s. Organizations such as the Jamiat ul-Ulama of the Transvaal (est. 1923), The Muslim Judicial Council (est. 1945) and Muslim Youth Movement of South Africa (est. 1970) enjoyed a fair amount of moral and financial support from the Muslim community for their social welfare activities. The once strong Muslim Student Association of South Africa (est. 1974), which had branches on many tertiary campuses, became less vocal and thus lost its grip on student activities; the MSA was thus replaced by Islamic societies that were either independent or affiliates of other Muslim organizations outside these institutions. The MSA has recently been very active once again. The first National MSA Conference (first in the last 10 years) was held in Durban in January 2004. MSA representatives from all over the country met here. This was hoped to be a new future of student work in the country.
[edit] The South African Muslim community
The South African Muslims have generally been responsible for building a healthy infrastructure that has contributed towards the well being of South African society as a whole. For example, there is the Mustadafin Foundation in the Cape, which has been active in welfare work in most of the lower income communities, and there is the Gift of the Givers - known by its Arabic name Waqf al-Waqifin - that has been praised by the South African government for its sterling social welfare work not only in South Africa but also in other part of Africa such as Somalia and Mozambique. There are, however, a plethora of Muslim organizations in different parts of the country that have been doing welfare work. They have moreover been supported by the Muslim diplomatic community that has political ties with South Africa.
This community as well as visitors from their countries; for example, Iranians, Pakistanis, Malaysians, Indonesians, Kuwaytis and Saudi Arabians - to name but a few - have been making their financial contributions towards the South African society at large and the South African Muslim community in particular. The governments of Iran, Saudi Arabia, and Kuwait have contributed to the building of mosques and other efforts to promote Islam. Quite a few Arab states such as the United Arab Emirates have ploughed in a substantial amount of funds into the coffers of Ahmed Deedat's Islamic Propagation Centre International.
[edit] New Rise in Conversions
According to the Christian Science Monitor, the biggest reason for the dramatic rise in Islam is that the religion is a refuge from sex, AIDS, alcoholism, and domestic violence that is rampant in the black townships, where the greatest rates of conversions are seen. It is estimated that Islam is the largest religion of conversion in South Africa.[1] Islam grew by six fold in thirteen years, during the time from 1991 to 2004. [2]Even though organizations such as IPCI, the Islamic Dawah Movement of South Africa, and the Africa Muslim Agency have been eager to proselytize in the region, there have been other civic organizations such as the MYMSA and the Call of Islam who considered other approaches to weave Islam into the social fabric of South Africa as a more significant way of making the Muslims' presence conspicuous.
According Michael Mumisa, a researcher and writer on African Islam, there has been an increase in the number of black South Africans converting to Islam particularly among the women and the youth. He believes that for some of the youth and women who were schooled in the politics of South African resistance and confrontation with the security forces of the former Apartheid state, the acceptance of Islam has become part of a radical rejection of a society based on Christian principles which are seen as having been responsible for establishing and promoting the Apartheid doctrine through the Dutch Reformed Church in South Africa. The influence of the radical ideas espoused by Malcolm X is very evident among South African Muslims of all races. Branches of the Nation of Islam are already established in South Africa. Louis Farrakhan paid a visit to South Africa and was received by President Mandela and African Muslim communities.
[edit] Theology
The historical context of the region of Southern Africa has given birth to a new group of Muslim theologians and thinkers who have been advocating a radical reinterpretation of Islam. This has led to serious and in some cases violent conflict between the traditionalist or ultra conservative Muslims and the young scholars branded as "modernists". The term "modernist" is used in South African Islamic discourse by the traditional Muslim establishment against anyone calling for the re-interpretation of Islam. The influences of Latin American Liberation theology, Pluralism, Postmodernism, and Postcolonial theory are clearly evident in the writings and theories of this new group of Muslim theorists. The following African scholars are among the leading theorists on contemporary South African Islam: Professor Ebrahim Moosa at Duke University, Professor Abdulkader Tayob of the University of Cape Town, Professor Farid Esack, visiting professor at the Harvard Divinity School, the late Islamic feminist activist Shamima Shaikh, Na'eem Jeenah, affiliated with a number of South African Muslim organisations as well as the University of the Witwatersrand, Dr Sa'diyyah Shaikh and Dr Shamil Jeppie, both lecturers at the University of Cape Town, and Dr Abdul Rashied Omar of the University of Notre Dame.
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
[edit] References
- This article contains material from the Library of Congress Country Studies, which are United States government publications in the public domain.
- Giliomee, H., 1979. The Shaping of South African Society 1652-1820, Longman. ISBN 0-582-64687-1
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