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Mazrui, Ali A. "African Islam and Islam in Africa." American Journal of Islam and Society 26, no. 3 (2009): i—xi. http://dx.doi.org/10.35632/ajis.v26i3.1380.
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Sub-Saharan Africa is often regarded as part of the periphery, rather thanpart of the center, of the Muslim world. In the Abrahamic world, Africa isoften marginalized. But is there anything special about Islam’s relationshipwith Africa? Are there unique aspects of African Islam? Islam has exerted anenormous influence upon Africa and its peoples; but has Africa had anyimpact upon Islam? While the impressive range of articles presented in thisspecial issue do not directly address such questions, my short editorialattempts to put those articles within the context of Africa’s uniqueness in theannals of Islam. One note: Although these articles concentrate on sub-Saharan Africa (“Black Africa”), our definition of Africa encompasses thecontinent as a whole – from South Africa to Egypt, Angola to Algeria, andMozambique to Mauritania ...
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Sonn, Tamara. "Islamic Studies in South Africa." American Journal of Islam and Society 11, no. 2 (1994): 274–81. http://dx.doi.org/10.35632/ajis.v11i2.2436.
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Background of South African IslamIn 1994, South Africans will celebrate three centuries of Islam inSouth Africa. Credit for establishing Islam in South Africa is usuallygiven to Sheikh Yusuf, a Macasser prince who was exiled to South Africafor leading the resistance against the Dutch colonization of Malaysia. Thefitst Muslims in South Africa, however, were actually slaves who hadbeen imported, beginning in 1677, mainly from India, the Indonesianarchipelago, Malaysia, and Sri Lanka, by the Dutch colonists living in theCape. The Cape Muslim community, popularly but inaccurately knownas "Malays" and known under apattheid as "Coloreds," is the oldest Muslimcommunity in South Africa. The other major Muslim community wasestablished over a century later by indentured laborers and tradespeoplefrom northern India, a minority of whom weae Muslims. The majority ofSouth African Indian Muslims, classified as "Asians" or "Asiatics," nowlive in Natal and Tramvaal. The third ethnically identifiable group, classifiedas "Aftican" or "Black," consists mainly of converts or theirdescendants. Of the entire South African Muslim population, roughly 49percent are "Coloreds," nearly 47 pement are "Asians," and, although statisticsregarding "Africans" ate generally unreliable, it is estimated thatthey are less than 4 percent. Less than 1 percent is "White."Contributions to South African SocietyAlthough Muslims make up less that 2 petcent of the total population,their presence is highly visible. There ate over twenty-five mosques inCape Town and over one hundred in Johannesburg, making minarets asfamiliar as church towers Many are histotic and/or architectuml monuments.More importantly, Muslims ate uniquely involved in the nation'scultwe and economy. The oldest extant Afrikaans-language manuscriptsare in the Arabic script, for they ate the work of Muslim slaves writingin the Dutch patois. South African historian Achrnat Davids has tracedmany linguistic elements of Afrikaans, both in vocabulary and grammar,to the influence of the Cape Muslims. Economically, the Indian Muslimsaxe the most affluent, owing primarily to the cirmmstances under whichthey came to South Africa. Muslim names on businesses and buildingsare a familiar sight in all major cities and on those UniveAty campusesthat non-Whites were allowed to attend during apartheid ...
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Haron, Muhammed. "Islam, Democracy, and Public Life in South Africa and in France." American Journal of Islam and Society 25, no. 1 (2008): 151–54. http://dx.doi.org/10.35632/ajis.v25i1.1507.
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During 3-5 September 2007, scholars associated with University of Witwatersrand’sDepartment of Anthropology and key members of the Johannesburg-based Institute of French Studies in South Africa explored ways toengage South African and French scholars in forms of cooperation. Toaddress this event’s focus, “Muslim Cultures in South Africa and France,”the organizers brought along the School of Social Sciences and Humanities(University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg) and the Institut d’Etudesde l’Islam et des Societes du Monde Musulman (Ecole des Hautes enSciences Sociales [EHESS]) to partner with them.The theme, “Islam, Democracy, and Public Life in South Africa and inFrance,” identified three basic objectives: to re-imagine Islam as an objectof academic enquiry, explore the epistemological dimensions of the study ofIslam, and foster scientific networks. The organizers highlighted a key question:“How do Muslims employ their religion to explain and clarify theirposition and role in public life in South Africa and France?” and identifiedthree focus areas: The Status ofMinority Religions: The Case of Islam; ReligiousIdentity - Political Identity; and Trans-nationalism/regionalism.The “Southern Africa” panel, chaired by Aurelia Wa Kabwe-Segatti(French Institute of South Africa [IFAS]), consisted of Alan Thorold’s (Universityof Melbourne) “Malawi and the Revival of Sufism,” SamadiaSadouni’s (Wits Institute for Social and Economic Research [WISER])“Muslim Communities in South Africa,” Liazzat Bonate’s (Eduardo MondlaneUniversity) “Leadership of Islam in Mozambique,” and Eric Germain’s(EHESS) “Inter-ethnic Muslim Dialogue in South Africa.” Sadouni examinedsuch crucial concepts as religious minorities and extracted examplesfrom both countries. Thorold, who analyzed Sufism’s revival in Malawi,relied on the work of ErnestGellner. Some participants, however, argued thathis ideas have been surpassed by more informed theoretical scholarship.Bonate reflected upon the differences that played out within northernMozambique’s Muslim communities vis-à-vis the government. Germain,who explored early Cape Muslim social history, provocatively argued thatmuch could be learned from this community’s make-up and attitude. Asexpected, he was criticized for sketching a romantic picture.The “Media and Power” panel, chaired by Eric Worby, featured GabebaBaderoon’s (post-doctoral fellow, Penn StateUniversity’sAfricana ResearchCenter) “Islam and the Media in South Africa.” She traced how Islam ...
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Sonn, Tamara. "Middle East and Islamic Studies in South Africa." Middle East Studies Association Bulletin 28, no. 1 (1994): 14–17. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0026318400028443.
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Although muslims make up less than two percent of South Africa’s total population, they are a well-established community with high visibility. In 1994 South Africans will celebrate 300 years of Islam in South Africa. The introduction of Islam to South Africa is usually attributed to Sheikh Yusuf, a Macasser prince exiled to South Africa for leading resistance against Dutch colonization in Malaysia. But the first Muslims in South Africa were actually slaves, imported by the Dutch colonists to the Cape mainly from India, the Indonesian archipelago, Malaya and Sri Lanka beginning in 1667. The Cape Muslim community, popularly but inaccurately known as “Malays” and known under the apartheid system as “Coloureds,” therefore, is the oldest Muslim community in South Africa. The other significant Muslim community in South Africa was established over 100 years later by northern Indian indentured laborers and tradespeople, a minority of whom were Muslims. The majority of South African Indian Muslims now live in Natal and Transvaal. Indians were classified as “Asians” or “Asiatics” by the apartheid system. The third ethnically identifiable group of Muslims in South Africa were classified as “African” or “Black” by the South African government. The majority of Black Muslims are converts or descendants of converts. Of the entire Muslim population of South Africa, some 49% are “Coloureds,” nearly 47% are “Asians,” and although statistics regarding “Africans” are generally unreliable, it is estimated that they comprise less than four percent of the Muslim population. Less than one percent of the Muslim population is “White.”
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Moosa, Ebrahim. "Islam and Civil Society in South Africa." American Journal of Islam and Society 11, no. 4 (1994): 602–4. http://dx.doi.org/10.35632/ajis.v11i4.2447.
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Somehow, apartheid brought with it unexpected benefits, such asthe formation of an effective civil society. In addition to the fact thatSouth Africa currently enjoys a preferential status in the internationalcommunity, over the decades state-driven apartheid was resisted by astrong civil society and mass-based organizations. There may be somevalidity to the argument that since the inception of a peaceful transitionto democracy, community-based organizations, nongovernmentalorganizations, and others have somewhat receded from thescene and, in so doing, have weakened civil society. Yet it would beincorrect to say that the new state dominates the postapartheid society.It was to explore the dynamics of the Muslim role in civil societythat the UNISA conference was convened. Several speakers reflectedon the experience of civil society in the Muslim world (JohnEsposito), Sudan (John Voll), Tunisia (Rashid al-Ghanushi), andAfrica in general (Ali Mazrui). All together, some twenty-three papersdealing with various aspects of South African civil society werepresented. Issues related to gender discourse in Islam (Amina WadudMuhsin),culture and conflict (Richard Martin), and interpreting Islamin a postmodern world (Tamara Sonn) were also discussed.The conference discussion was often lively, largely due to theattendance of more than two hundred people for three days. Whilethis format facilitated general public participation, it also inhibited a ...
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Naudè, J. A. "Islam in South Africa: a general survey." Institute of Muslim Minority Affairs. Journal 6, no. 1 (1985): 21–33. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13602008508715922.
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Dangor, Suleman. "The expression of Islam in South Africa." Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs 17, no. 1 (1997): 141–51. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13602009708716364.
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Oosthuizen, Gerhardus C. "Islam among the Zanzibaris of South Africa." History of Religions 31, no. 3 (1992): 305–20. http://dx.doi.org/10.1086/463286.
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Vawda, Shahid. "The Emerging of Islam in an African Township." American Journal of Islam and Society 11, no. 4 (1994): 532–47. http://dx.doi.org/10.35632/ajis.v11i4.2412.
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IntroductionWhile Islam is a fairly dominant religion in Africa, it is verysmall and has been treated as insignificant in southern Africa. Forexample Trimingham, in his survey of the phases of Islamic expansionin Africa, makes the dismissive comment: “Islam’s penetrationinto central and south Africa is so slight that it may be ignored."The presence of Muslims in South Africa, albeit a small percentageof the total population, cannot easily be ignored in terms of theirsocial, economic, and political contribution to the country as individuals,as members of an ethnic group, or as a religious minority. Apartheid has not only prompted a diverse set of responses fromMuslim organizations,s but the political and social events of the lasttwenty years have influenced conversion rates among the nominallyChristian African majority. Although there have been academicattempts to analyze the implications of some of these phenomena.there has been no ethnographic research at a local level to understandhow events in the sociopolitical arena shaped proselytizing work, theconversion process, and the interethnic relationships of the Muslims.This paper, based on ethnographic research in the townships ofKwaMashu-Ntuzuma-Inanda, located near Durban, is a contributiontoward understanding the position of African Muslims. The paper islimited to data collected during the latter half of 1992 and early 1993 ...
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Ingram, Brannon. "Public Islam in Post-Apartheid South Africa: The Radio Islam Controversy." Critical Research on Religion 3, no. 1 (2015): 72–85. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/2050303215577490.
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Willoughby, Jay. "Islam in Africa, Islam in Globalization." American Journal of Islam and Society 33, no. 1 (2016): 165–68. http://dx.doi.org/10.35632/ajis.v33i1.898.
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On October 15, 2105, the International Institute of Islamic Thought commemoratedAli Mazrui’s (1933- 2014) first death anniversary by convening a seminarto honor their mutual close and lasting relationship. Mazrui served as theeditor-in-chief of the American Journal of Islamic Social Sciences (2009-14),participated in many of the institute’s events, and was awarded the IIIT DistinguishedScholar Award in 2011. In addition, he bequeathed his collectionof papers and publications to IIIT.His widow Pauline Utimazrui opened the seminar by recalling how herlate husband always spoke the truth regardless of the consequences, how hedecided to attend Columbia University because so many African students weregoing there, and how he sought to bring up controversial issues to force peopleto think outside the box. She said that he was a very happy and grateful manwho appreciated others, liked to live a simple life and be in the moment, anddid not believe in accumulating wealth.Keynote speaker Ebrahim Rasool, former ambassador of South Africa tothe United States and a long-time activist who was jailed for his anti-apartheidactivities, spoke on “Ali Mazrui: Beacon at the Intersection of Islam andAfrica.” He described Mazrui as follows:Standing for justice is the point of the triangle which is least populated, orif it is populated it may well be populated in the absence of understandingthe implications of belief in the unity of God or the understanding of the dynamismof knowledge. Professor Ali Mazrui will be remembered for epitomizingthe completeness and perfection of this golden triangle [of belief,knowledge and justice], for indeed his knowledge was founded in his unflinchingcommitment to Tauhid or unity and this, in turn, impelled him towardsutilizing his intellect both towards identifying the sources of injusticein the world and positing theoretical and practical solutions towards justice.He reminded his audience how Mazrui never shied away from controversy,as can be seen in his battle with National Public Radio (NPR) in termsof his production and defense of “The Africans: The Triple Heritage,” disagreementswith much of post-colonial Africa’s ideological or philosophicalthinking, and assertion of a distinction between theological Islam and historicalIslam. On a more personal level, in 1969 he rejected an invitation extended ...
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Haron, Muhammad. "Arabic and Islamic Studies in South Africa." American Journal of Islam and Society 8, no. 2 (1991): 363–77. http://dx.doi.org/10.35632/ajis.v8i2.2639.
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IntroductionThe field of Arabic and Islamic studies in South Africa remains, withfew exceptions, virgin territory. This applies both to Islam within the countryitself as well as to the field of research on Arabic and Islamic topics in general.Very few scholars, Muslims or otherwise, have produced scholarly articlesor books on these and other related topics. As one who is familiar with theSouth African scene, it is my opinion that there are several reasons for thislack of interest: the official policy of apartheid, the lack of funds and subsequentjob opportunities for graduates, and the lack of qualified university personnelwho can guide students wishing to pursue such research, to name just a few.This paper is being presented in an attempt to inform the Muslim worldat large about the difficulties facing South African Muslim researchers intheir academic quest for knowledge of their past as well as their own particularlarger concerns. It opens with a brief historical statement about the beginningof Islam in South Africa and then moves on to the main portions: thedevelopment of Arabic and Islamic studies in South Africa, the institutionsand people involved, and some of the literature which has been produced.Muslim Educational Efforts in South AfricaBefore focusing on Arabic and Islamic studies research, there is a needto sketch, albeit briefly, the historical development of Muslim educationalinstitutions in South Africa. The pre-Tuan Guru (d. 1807) (Lubbe 1985) erawas characterized by the existence of a number of home-based madiiris(schools) which provided a basic knowledge of Islam to the Muslims as wellas to the slaves (Ajam 1985; Shell 1984). This system began with the arrivalof the first Muslims to the Cape area in the mid-seventeenth century (Shell1974). With the appearance of the first mosque, which was actually calledthe Awwal Mosque, in the Cape by Tuan Guru in 1795 (Davids 1980), thiseducational activity was gradually shifted from the home to the mosque, whichsoon became the central meeting place of the Muslims. The number of mosquesslowly increased after the British supplanted the Dutch as the colonial mastersand granted religious freedom to all religious groups in 1804 ...
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Bhana, Surendra, and Abdulkader Tayob. "Islam in South Africa: Mosques, Imams, and Sermons." International Journal of African Historical Studies 31, no. 3 (1998): 632. http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/221482.
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Coger, Dalvan M., and Abdulkader Tayob. "Islam in South Africa: Mosques, Imams, and Sermons." African Studies Review 44, no. 3 (2001): 190. http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/525654.
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Thomas, Paul H., and Abdulkader Tayob. "Islam in South Africa: Mosques, Imams and Sermons." Canadian Journal of African Studies 34, no. 2 (2000): 484. http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/486443.
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Mumisa, Michael. "Islam and Proselytism in South Africa and Malawi." Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs 22, no. 2 (2002): 275–98. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/1360200022000027285.
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Tayob, A. I. "Approaches to the Study of Islam and Muslim Societies." American Journal of Islam and Society 9, no. 3 (1992): 425–27. http://dx.doi.org/10.35632/ajis.v9i3.2585.
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This conference was convened by J. H. Dreyer of the Department ofSemitic Studies at the University of South Africa, Pretoria, South Africa, andthe Department of Religious Studies, University of Cape Town, Cape Town,South Africa. It was preceded by a banquet, during which the Islamic Studiesprogram of the Department of Religious Studies was introduced to the peopleof Cape Town. Approximately 250 invited guests attended the conference,which was well received by local Muslims and set the parameters for ahealthy relationship between the department and the Muslim community.The conference was attended by a fluctuating audience of eighty to 150individuals from the University of Cape Town and various Muslim communities.This provided an ideal opportunity for the emergence of a varietyof lively and critical ideas. Issues affecting Muslims living in South Africaalso generated a lot of discussion.The keynote guest speaker was Richard Martin, Arizona State University,Tucson, Arizona. The rest of the papers were presented by scholars fromSouth African universities who have been involved in the study of Islam andArabic. The following broad areas were covered: early Islamic history;Qur'anic hermeneutics in traditional and modem scholarship; revivalism;Islam in South Africa; and Muslim personal law in South Africa.The first session dealt with early Islam and featured two presentations.The first, Martin's paper on "Public Theology in Medieval Islam: The Roleof Kalam in Conflict Definition and Resolution," set the pace with aninteresting and innovative approach to the study of early theological disputes.In addition, he presented kalam disputes to illustrate how modem discussionsand debates on fundamentalism have produced a kind of public theologyinvolving both the media and academia in North America. He was followedby Abdul Kader I. Tayob, University of Cape Town, who dealt with themeaning and significance of the masjid as a sacred space as reflected in theQur'an and si'rah literature of the thirteenth hijri century.Two papers on Qur'anic hermeneutics made up the second session. A. K. ...
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Gabru, N. "Dilemma of Muslim women regarding divorce in South Africa." Potchefstroom Electronic Law Journal/Potchefstroomse Elektroniese Regsblad 7, no. 2 (2017): 43. http://dx.doi.org/10.17159/1727-3781/2004/v7i2a2849.
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On a daily basis people enquire about the dissolution of Islamic marriages, in terms of South African law In South Africa. There exist no legal grounds for obtaining a divorce in a South African court, for persons married in terms of the Islamic law only. The reason for this is due to the fact that Muslim marriages are currently not recognised as valid marriages in terms of South African law. The courts have stated that the non-recognition of Islamic marriages is based on the fact that such marriages are potentially polygamous.In South Africa, marriages may be dissolved by the death of one of the spouses or by divorce. In terms of the Divorce Act, a decree of divorce will be granted by a court of law. Islam grants the husband the right of divorce and also grants the wife the right to request and apply to dissolve the marriage through what is known as Khula, the woman also has the right to a delegated divorce. If the husband dissolves the marriage by divorcing his wife, he cannot retrieve any of the gifts he has given her. Islam further makes provision for the "reasonable maintenance" of divorced women. The non-recognition of Islamic marriages has the effect that a person married in terms of Shari'ah only, has no right to approach a court of law for a decree of divorce and, unless a husband divorces his wife in terms of the Shari'ah, the wife is trapped in a marriage, even if the marriage has broken down irretrievably. Thus a custom in South Africa has developed, whereby Muslim husbands refuse to divorce their wives in terms of Islamic law, so as to punish the wife. The wife in turn cannot make use of the South African judiciary to obtain a divorce, because of the non-recognition of her marriage. This is a burden, which is in direct conflict with Islamic law. In 2000 a Bill was drafted by the South African Law Commission. This act will recognise Islamic family law within a constitutional framework. This article deals with the dilemma that a Muslim woman is faced with in South Africa with regards to divorce.
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Dadoo, Yousuf. "The Consolidation and Spread of Islam in South Africa." American Journal of Islamic Social Sciences 26, no. 2 (2009): 48–78. http://dx.doi.org/10.35632/ajiss.v26i2.378.
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Much has been written about Islam’s advent, entrenchment, and spread in specific regions of South Africa, and other writings cover its advent over the entire country. And yet no sufficient academic scrutiny of factors that have contributed to its consolidation and spread in recent times has been undertaken. By researching this issue, the problems and challenges confronting Islam at present and in the foreseeable future will be better appreciated. After presenting a brief synopsis of Islam’s advent South Africa, I assess how it was consolidated and then tackle its spread while underscoring specific successes and failures. Where necessary, the names of individuals are mentioned. The divergent nature of Islamic faith and practice is constantly stressed. The topic is a fascinating field of study in which sometimes contradictory forces strive for hegemony. Finally, a possible solution to this problem is presented.
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Cochrane, Logan, and Suraiya Nawab. "Islam and development practice: HIV/AIDS in South Africa." Development in Practice 22, no. 5-6 (2012): 875–82. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09614524.2012.685877.
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EL-AFFENDI, ABDEL WAHAB. "‘DISCOVERING THE SOUTH’: SUDANESE DILEMMAS FOR ISLAM IN AFRICA." African Affairs 89, no. 356 (1990): 371–89. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/oxfordjournals.afraf.a098304.
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Salamone, Frank A. "Islam in South Africa: Mosques, Imams, and Sermons (review)." Africa Today 48, no. 1 (2001): 159–60. http://dx.doi.org/10.1353/at.2001.0019.
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Dadoo, Yousuf. "The Consolidation and Spread of Islam in South Africa." American Journal of Islam and Society 26, no. 2 (2009): 48–78. http://dx.doi.org/10.35632/ajis.v26i2.378.
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Much has been written about Islam’s advent, entrenchment, and spread in specific regions of South Africa, and other writings cover its advent over the entire country. And yet no sufficient academic scrutiny of factors that have contributed to its consolidation and spread in recent times has been undertaken. By researching this issue, the problems and challenges confronting Islam at present and in the foreseeable future will be better appreciated. After presenting a brief synopsis of Islam’s advent South Africa, I assess how it was consolidated and then tackle its spread while underscoring specific successes and failures. Where necessary, the names of individuals are mentioned. The divergent nature of Islamic faith and practice is constantly stressed. The topic is a fascinating field of study in which sometimes contradictory forces strive for hegemony. Finally, a possible solution to this problem is presented.
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West, Gerald O., and Tahir Fuzile Sitoto. "Other Ways of Reading the Qur'an and the Bible in Africa." Postscripts: The Journal of Sacred Texts, Cultural Histories, and Contemporary Contexts 1, no. 1 (2005): 47–76. http://dx.doi.org/10.1558/post.v1i1.47.
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This article explores how religion possesses and is possessed by Africans. It does this by recognising both the power of religion to configure and of Africans as agents who reconfigure what they encounter in their African contexts. The central question of this article is how placing African agency and context in the forefront reconfigures talk of Islam and Christianity in Africa. The question is taken up through an analysis of two African religious leaders, Shaykh Ahmadu Bamba from West Africa and Isaiah Shembe from South Africa.
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Haron, Muhammed. "Emerging and Challenging Voices in the House of Islam." American Journal of Islamic Social Sciences 26, no. 3 (2009): 56–85. http://dx.doi.org/10.35632/ajiss.v26i3.384.
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South African Islam has always been associated with the Cape Malay and Indian communities throughout the twentieth century. As a consequence, Islam as a religious tradition was seldom associated with other ethnic groups. Toward the end of apartheid and during the era of democracy there has been tangible evidence of its growth among African ethnic communities. This essay, which looks at this phenomenon from roughly 1961-2001, reflects upon South African Muslims’ demographics with special focus on the African Muslim communities and analyzes the position of African Muslims alongside their coreligionists by concentrating on randomly selected case studies. I seek to demonstrate how certain representatives from the selected communities, via internal developments and external influences, have had significant input in terms of changing the face of Islam in southern Africa. The essay is prefaced by a theoretical frame designed to assist in understanding the development of an African Muslim identity and the emergence of an African Muslim community.
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Haron, Muhammed. "Emerging and Challenging Voices in the House of Islam." American Journal of Islam and Society 26, no. 3 (2009): 56–85. http://dx.doi.org/10.35632/ajis.v26i3.384.
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South African Islam has always been associated with the Cape Malay and Indian communities throughout the twentieth century. As a consequence, Islam as a religious tradition was seldom associated with other ethnic groups. Toward the end of apartheid and during the era of democracy there has been tangible evidence of its growth among African ethnic communities. This essay, which looks at this phenomenon from roughly 1961-2001, reflects upon South African Muslims’ demographics with special focus on the African Muslim communities and analyzes the position of African Muslims alongside their coreligionists by concentrating on randomly selected case studies. I seek to demonstrate how certain representatives from the selected communities, via internal developments and external influences, have had significant input in terms of changing the face of Islam in southern Africa. The essay is prefaced by a theoretical frame designed to assist in understanding the development of an African Muslim identity and the emergence of an African Muslim community.
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Khan, Aftab A. "Islam and Ethnicity in Africa and the Middle East." American Journal of Islam and Society 8, no. 2 (1991): 356–58. http://dx.doi.org/10.35632/ajis.v8i2.2637.
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This three-day seminar, sponsored by the State University of New Yorkat Binghampton's Schweitzer Chair in Humanities, the South Asian and AfricanStudies Program, the Department of African Studies, and the African AmericanInstitute, discussed the African experience, the Middle East experience, andcrosscultural comparison.The opening presentation was made by Ali Mazrui, who holds theSchweitzer Chair in Humanities at Binghampton. He discussed the interactionof Islam and ethnic cultures in Africa and pointed out that Islam and ethnicityare essentially contradictory concepts, one being a universalist and the othera particularist view of society. "But," according to him, "Islam has becomeethnicized and ethnicity tends to become Islarnized." The resulting tensionscan be overcome only by a strong sense of human solidarity, such as theone which the Prophet talked about when he said that nobody excels in faithunless he loves for his brother what he loves for himself ...
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Vahed, Goolam H. "Mosques, Mawlanas and Muharram: Indian Islam in Colonial Natal, 1860-1910." Journal of Religion in Africa 31, no. 3 (2001): 305–35. http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/157006601x00194.
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AbstractThis study examines the establishment of Islam in colonial Natal, attempting to fill a void in and correct the existing historiography.1 In comparison with other parts of Africa, the lack of a historiographical tradition on Islamic South Africa is conspicuous, but understandable given that traditionally the impact and consequences of racial segregation occupied the attention of most historians. Although Islam is a minority religion in South Africa, apartheid has created an impression of population density not reflected in the census figures. According to the 1996 census, there were 553,585 Muslims in a total population of forty million.2 Indian Muslims make up one of the two largest sub-groups, the other being Malay¸.3 There are 246,433 Malay and 236,315 Indian Muslims.4 The majority of Indian Muslims are confined to KwaZulu Natal and Gauteng, while most Malay Muslims live in the Western Cape. There is thus very little contact and interaction between them; indeed there are deep differences of history, culture, class and tradition. Muslims have played an important role in the social, economic and political life of the country. The many mosques that adorn the skylines of major South African cities are evidence that Islam has a living presence in South Africa, while the militant activities of the Cape-based People Against Gangsterism and Drugs (Pagad) in the post-1994 period has ensured that Islam remains in the news. This study demonstrates that, apart from obvious differences between Indian and Malay Muslims, there are deep-seated differences among Indian Muslims. The diversity of tradition, beliefs, class, practices, language, region, and experience of migration has resulted in fundamental differences that have generated conflict.
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Haron, Muhammed. "South Africa’s Institutions of Higher Learning." American Journal of Islamic Social Sciences 31, no. 3 (2014): 50–69. http://dx.doi.org/10.35632/ajiss.v31i3.284.
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As a discipline, “Islamic studies” has attracted serious attention by a number of institutions of higher learning in predominantly nonMuslim societies. While southern Africa’s communities witnessed the inclusion of “Islam” as a subject in the faculties of theology at various regional universities as well as Christian seminaries, Muslim communities have clamored for the appointment of Muslim staff at universities to teach courses on Islam. On the whole, these educational developments bode well for the teaching and studying of Islam regionally, even though the purpose and objectives for doing so differ radically from one institution to the other. This essay first seeks to offer a brief insight into the teaching of “Islam” as a subject in theological/oriental/religious studies programs; it thereafter reflects upon “Islamic studies” as a social science discipline that has been included in the social science and humanities syllabus. It focuses on the BA Honors program to show the themes chosen for these programs and how scholars redesigned and changed these programs to meet modern needs. Apart from using “social change” as its theoretical framework, it also brings en passantinto view the insider/outsider binary that further frames the debates regarding the teaching and studying of Islam at these institutions in southern Africa generally and South Africa in particular.
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Haron, Muhammed. "South Africa’s Institutions of Higher Learning." American Journal of Islam and Society 31, no. 3 (2014): 50–69. http://dx.doi.org/10.35632/ajis.v31i3.284.
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As a discipline, “Islamic studies” has attracted serious attention by a number of institutions of higher learning in predominantly nonMuslim societies. While southern Africa’s communities witnessed the inclusion of “Islam” as a subject in the faculties of theology at various regional universities as well as Christian seminaries, Muslim communities have clamored for the appointment of Muslim staff at universities to teach courses on Islam. On the whole, these educational developments bode well for the teaching and studying of Islam regionally, even though the purpose and objectives for doing so differ radically from one institution to the other. This essay first seeks to offer a brief insight into the teaching of “Islam” as a subject in theological/oriental/religious studies programs; it thereafter reflects upon “Islamic studies” as a social science discipline that has been included in the social science and humanities syllabus. It focuses on the BA Honors program to show the themes chosen for these programs and how scholars redesigned and changed these programs to meet modern needs. Apart from using “social change” as its theoretical framework, it also brings en passantinto view the insider/outsider binary that further frames the debates regarding the teaching and studying of Islam at these institutions in southern Africa generally and South Africa in particular.
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Cassiem, Armien. "Shaykh Yusuf of Macassar; Scholar, Sufi, National Hero: Towards Constructing Local Identity and History at the Cape." Kawalu: Journal of Local Culture 4, no. 1 (2017): 23. http://dx.doi.org/10.32678/kawalu.v4i1.716.
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This paper focuses on the Origins and Malaya presence of Islam in both ritual practices and daily life of modern day Islam as practiced by Muslims in Cape Town, South Africa. It also tries to capture the presence of Shaykh Yusuf s short time spent at the Cape, 1694 - 1699, and how this period of his life gives expression to local history, storytelling, tradition and meaning to Islam in contemporary Cape Town.
 Keywords: Shaykh Yusuf, Macassar, South Africa, Ritual Practices, Local Identity
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BADEROON, GABEBA. "Shooting the East/Veils and Masks: Uncovering Orientalism in South African Media." African and Asian Studies 1, no. 4 (2002): 367–84. http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/156921002x00079.
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ABSTRACT In this essay the author analyzes a series of South African newspaper articles on a Cape Town-based group called Pagad (People against Gangsterism and Drugs). The essay draws upon a larger study of the images of Islam in the South African media and reveals that both the Pagad and the media make use of regressive discourses about Islam. The author finds traces in the media of what Edward Said has referred to as Orientalism. Through the Pagad stories, Muslims in South Africa are treated by the media with an extremely constricted vocabulary which gives little of the suppleness needed to distinguish between Muslims, and the violence enacted in the name of Islam. The answer to the problem of stereotypical and racist representations in the media lies for Baderoon in people reading critically, insisting on complexity, claiming the right to ethical journalistic practices, establishing media with varied ownership, providing alternative visions, and inserting repressed histories into the media.
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Baderoon, G. "South Africa: Pagad, Islam and the challenge of the local." Ecquid Novi: African Journalism Studies 26, no. 1 (2005): 85–107. http://dx.doi.org/10.3368/ajs.26.1.85.
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Nkrumah, Gorkeh Gamal. "Islam: a self‐assertive political factor in contemporary South Africa." Institute of Muslim Minority Affairs. Journal 10, no. 2 (1989): 520–26. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13602008908716138.
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Kaarsholm, Preben. "New Writings on Islam and Muslim Politics in South Africa." Journal of Southern African Studies 34, no. 4 (2008): 961–65. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/03057070802456854.
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Baderoon, Gabeba. "South Africa: Pagad, Islam and the challenge of the local." Ecquid Novi: African Journalism Studies 26, no. 1 (2005): 85–107. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02560054.2005.9653320.
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Palombo, Matthew. "The Emergence of Islamic Liberation Theology in South Africa." Journal of Religion in Africa 44, no. 1 (2014): 28–61. http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/15700666-12301272.
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AbstractThere is a growing interest in Islamic liberation theology today, and seminal authors such as Ali Shariati, Alighar Ali Engineer (1984, 1990), Farid Esack (1984, 1997), and Hamid Dabashi (2008) have developed its central commitments. In South Africa the earliest representative text was the ‘Review of Faith’ (1984) by Farid Esack, used by the Call of Islam (est. 1984) for cultivating personal piety and conscientization (critical consciousness) against apartheid. Based on recent interviews, unpublished manuscripts, and published works, this article demonstrates how Islamic liberation theology emerged in the political praxis of Muslims against settler colonialism and apartheid. In this subaltern history, political Islam as political praxis and not state building generated a unique discursive space for an Islamic liberation theology to emerge within the confluence of two ideological paths: those of humanism and Islamism.
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Crafford, D. "Godsdienstige perspektiewe in die heropbou van die gemeenskap." Verbum et Ecclesia 16, no. 2 (1995): 277–90. http://dx.doi.org/10.4102/ve.v16i2.453.
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Religious perspectives in the reconstruction of the society The multi-religious context in South Africa is a fact and must be taken into account in any effort towards reconstruction and development of the society. The different religiOns are challenged to participate in the process of reconstruction. In many ways they can contribute positively towards the process. There are however also elements in religions which can hinder and obstruct the process. 17lis article considers a number of perspectives in Islam, Hinduism, African Traditional Religion and Christianity which can have a positive or negative influence on the Reconstruction and Development Program in South Africa.
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Gandolfo, K. Luisa. "Gender, Identity, and Islam." American Journal of Islam and Society 27, no. 1 (2010): 102–10. http://dx.doi.org/10.35632/ajis.v27i1.1360.
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Books Reviewed: Valentine M. Moghadam, ed., From Patriarchy to Empowerment:Women’s Participation, Movements, and Rights in the Middle East,North Africa, and South Asia. Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press,2007; Ida Lichter, Muslim Women Reformers: Inspiring Voices againstOppression. Amherst, NY: Prometheus Books, 2009; Wahida Shaffi, ed.,Our Stories, Our Lives: Inspiring Muslim Women’s Voices. Bristol, UK: ThePolicy Press for the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, 2009.The realm of gender studies is rife with potential research foci: to comprisethe geographical, political, and ethical breadth that spans North Africa toSouth Asia, war novels and Iranian cinema to dowries and hudud is, then,a veritable feat. Assuming the concept of patriarchy as the nexus fromwhich to assess the multidimensional subjugation of women within thepolitical, socioeconomic, and ethnic spheres, Valentine M. Moghadamaffords a sweeping, yet insightful, collection of nineteen articles originatingfrom the “Women in the Global Community” conference hosted in Istanbulby the Fulbright Commission in September 2002 ...
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Green, Nile. "Islam for the indentured Indian: a Muslim missionary in colonial South Africa." Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies 71, no. 3 (2008): 529–53. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0041977x08000876.
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AbstractTracing the migration of Muslims from India to South Africa's Natal colony in the late nineteenth century, the article focuses on the missionary activities of Ghulām Muhammad “Sūfī Sāhib” (d. 1329/1911). Placing Ghulām Muhammad in a new religious marketplace of competing religions, and versions thereof, the article examines the strategies through which he successfully established his form of Islam among Natal's indentured and merchant Muslim classes and used the fabric of religion to bind together a distinctly “Muslim” community from the heterogeneous individuals and groups brought from India by commerce and the plantation economy. As a founder of shrines no less than madrasas, Ghulām Muhammad demonstrated the ways in which a customary Islam of holy men, festivities and hagiographies flourished and responded to the demands and opportunities of modernity. Building on the popular appeal of customary piety, Ghulām Muhammad consolidated his success by providing a range of social services (education, healthcare, burial) for the Indian poor of Natal, to create an effective public platform for the norms of Sharia in South Africa.
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Haron, Muhammed. "International Symposium on Islamic Civilization in Southern Africa." American Journal of Islam and Society 24, no. 4 (2007): 143–45. http://dx.doi.org/10.35632/ajis.v24i4.1527.
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AwqafSA (www.awqafSA.org.za), a South African Muslim NGO, has beenin constant contact with IRCICA (the Islamic Research Centre for IslamicHistory, Art and Culture: www3.ircica.org), an affiliate of the Organization ofthe Islamic Conference, for several years regarding possible cooperation. On18 April 2005, this contact culminated in Halit Eren’s (director-general, IRCICA)meeting with a few organizations and their representatives regarding theforthcoming “International Symposium on Islamic Civilization in SouthernAfrica,” scheduled for the following year. AwqafSA and IRCICA, aware ofthe fact that very little research has been done on Islam in southern Africa,have strongly advocated holding a symposium to bring scholars, researchers,and stakeholders together to share their thoughts on their respective countriesand communities. At this meeting, it was agreed that AwqafSA would be thelocal host in partnership with IRCICA and that the University of Johannesburgwould be the third partner in this important historical venture.The symposium took place between 1-3 September 2006 at theUniversity of Johannesburg. A few months earlier, on 28 June 2006 to beexact, Ebrahim Rasool (premier, Western Cape Province) formally launchedthe symposium at Leeuwenhof, his official residence. In his short speech, hestressed the multicultural nature of South African society and the importanceof holding such a symposium in the country, a symposium that will allowparticipants – particularly South Africans – to do some “rainbow gazing”and critically assess their position within South Africa. The premier was alsoone of the keynote speakers at the symposium. Essop Pahad (minister,Office of the President) connected the symposium proceedings to the AfricanRenaissance process as well as to the significant Timbuktu Project(www.timbuktufoundation.org; www.timbuktuheritage.org) spearheaded byShamil Jeppie (the University of Cape Town). He also touched upon newevidence of the influence of Islam in the Limpopo Valley, northern SouthAfrica. In his concluding remarks, he emphatically rejected Huntington’s“clash of civilizations” thesis ...
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Aziz, Ahmad Khalil. "Islamic Resurgence in South Africa." American Journal of Islam and Society 13, no. 3 (1996): 429–36. http://dx.doi.org/10.35632/ajis.v13i3.2311.
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The contemporary Islamic resurgence and spirit of pan-lslamism thatare being experienced today throughout the world did not come aboutovernight. They are the results of two counterforces operative in any giveperiod of time. On the one hand, there was the deconstructionist force, inthe form of the colonial and imperial forces that sought to destroy theIslamic value system. On the other hand, there was the reconstructionistforce of 'ulama haqq and the Sufi shaykhs, who served as the prime stiinulatorsof the reform impusle and of change in the religiopolitical outlookof Muslims throughout the world.Islam in South AfricaSouth Africa has played a forceful role in maintaining Islam's dynamicposition for about three centuries. The picturesque activities of the earlierulama (in the broadest sense of the word)-particularly the Sufi shaykhs- andearly imams laid the foundations for the contemporary Islamic resurgencein South Africa, as seen in the Musliin Youth Movement and suchother da'wah movements as the Call of Islam. Past workers and presentmovements have been religiopolitical positivists and activists. From theoutset, Muslims needed to reconstruct Islamic education and maintain themomentum of revivalism and resurgence activities.The Dutch East India Company and English East IndiaCompany: A Deconstructionist ForceThe East India Company refers to any of a number of commercialenterprises formed in Western Europe during the seventeenth and eighteenthcenturies to further trade with the East Indies. These companies weregiven charters by their respective governments to acquire territory whereverthey could and to exercise therein various governmental functions,including legislation, the issuance of currency, the negotiation of treaties,the waging of war, and the administration of justice ...
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Sitoto, Tahir Fuzile. "Scripting Black African Muslim Presence in South African Islam: A Quest for Self-understanding beyond the Moment of Conversion." Islamic Africa 9, no. 2 (2018): 163–78. http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/21540993-00902002.
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What does it mean to be forever framed as a Muslim cultural “Other”? And what kind of epistemic closure does such framing imply? The little that is written (academic and popular) about the Black African Muslim experience and encounter with Islam in South Africa often entraps this sector within the theme of “conversion to Islam”. This essay examines, therefore, the following question: to what extent does the theme and “narrative of conversion” perform a sort of racial coding that unintentionally writes off Black African Muslim identity as less authentic and therefore not fully Muslim? Taking as its data the available literature on the Black African Muslim sector, limited as it is, as well as selected pieces by a Black African Muslim writer and poet, the essay posits a reading that is attentive to Black African Muslim self-understanding, subjectivities and sense of self beyond the moment of conversion.
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Osella, Filippo, and Benjamin Soares. "Religiosity and its others: lived Islam in West Africa and South India." Social Anthropology 28, no. 2 (2020): 466–81. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/1469-8676.12767.
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Idowu-Fearon, Josiah. "Anglicans and Islam in Nigeria: Anglicans Encountering Difference." Journal of Anglican Studies 2, no. 1 (2004): 40–51. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/174035530400200105.
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ABSTRACTNigeria is the most populous nation in Africa. It is also divided on religious grounds with a predominantly Muslim north and a mainly Christian south. Christians make up the majority of the population (52.6 per cent) compared with Muslims (41 per cent). The 17 million Anglicans are the second largest Christian group. With its large and religiously divided population Nigeria is one of the main countries in Africa, and the world, where large numbers of Muslims and Christians live and interact together. In today's world where the ‘Christian’ West and the Islamic world are becoming increasingly polarized, the history of Anglican/Muslim relations in Nigeria provides a key case study with important implications for Anglicans all over the world.
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Akitoye, Hakeem A. "Islam and Traditional Titles in Contemporary Lagos Society: A Historical Analysis." International Letters of Social and Humanistic Sciences 25 (March 2014): 42–49. http://dx.doi.org/10.18052/www.scipress.com/ilshs.25.42.
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Lagos, an area basically inhabited by the Yoruba speaking people of South Western Nigeria and by extension some other parts of West Africa where Islam, Christianity and the African Traditional Religion are still being practised side by side till date with the Africans still being converted to the new faiths without dropping their traditional religion or cultural affiliations. This ideology is very common to the average African who still believes in his culture which has always tainted his way of life or as far as his religion is concerned should not interfere with his culture as the religion as not tacitly condemned some of these practices. This paper intends to examine the extent to which the Yoruba Muslims have been involved in syncretism especially as regards the introduction of the conferment of titles into the Muslim community.
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Krynski, Andrzej, Yves Merlin Kengne, and Hameni Blaise. "THE LONG PATH OF ISLAM TO "THE BLACK COUNTRIES"." Scientific Journal of Polonia University 25, no. 6 (2017): 103. http://dx.doi.org/10.23856/2511.
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Islam as a mode of belief of the Arab peoples existed for several centuries in its original reign of the Near East. But as soon as it had a vigorous expansion, it turned to the "black countries" on the paths of Africa, first North, then South. In its desire to extend to the whole Africa, the conquering march of Islam was not smooth, it experienced many obstacles and wars. The islamization of the world took place because of many wars, but those wars did not always end with the victory of the Muslims, they sometimes led to the decline of the project of Islamization of the whole world.
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Solihu, Abdul Kabir Hussain. "The Earliest Yoruba Translation of the Qur'an: Missionary Engagement with Islam in Yorubaland." Journal of Qur'anic Studies 17, no. 3 (2015): 10–37. http://dx.doi.org/10.3366/jqs.2015.0210.
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This study analyses the first translation of the meaning of the Qur'an into Yoruba, a language spoken mainly in south-western Nigeria in West Africa. Yorubaland in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries was a theatre of serious engagement between Muslims and Christian missionaries, during which a proliferation of translations of religious texts played a major role. Long before the translation of the Qur'an was accepted by most Muslims in Africa, Christian missionaries had taken the initiative in rendering the Qur'an into local African languages. The first known translation of the Qur'an into any African language was Reverend M.S. Cole's Yoruba translation, which was first published in 1906, and republished in 1924 in Lagos, Nigeria. This ground breaking work, written primarily for a Christian audience, was not widely circulated among Yoruba scholarly circles and thus did not generate significant scholarly discourse, either at the time or since. This study, which is primarily based on the 1924 edition of Reverend Cole's translation, but also takes into account other materials dealing with the Muslim-Christian engagement in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries in Yorubaland, examines the historical background, motives, and semantic structure of the earliest Christian missionary-translated Yoruba Qur'an.
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Rafudeen, Auwais. "Theorizing Sunniyat as a Mode of Being: An Asadian Perspective from South Africa." Islamic Africa 11, no. 1 (2020): 94–133. http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/21540993-01101003.
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Abstract Reflecting on thoughts by Talal Asad, this paper suggests an approach to theorizing Sunniyat – the approach to Islam taken by those commonly called “Barelvis” – in South Africa by focusing on sensibilities and dispositions. It specifically examines the kinds of sensibilities that are cultivated by adherents in their relationship to the Prophet as well as in their practice of everyday ethics. The aim is to shed light on the embodied nature of these sensibilities and not just their discursive context. In Asad’s work, both dimensions are important, but discourse is a prelude to embodiment, with the latter constituting one’s mode of being in the world. In thinking about Sunniyat in this way, the works of Abdulkader Tayob and Seraj Hendricks provide important precedents for navigating both discursiveness and embodiment in a South African Muslim context.
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Ogunnaike, Oludamini, and Mohammed Rustom. "Islam in English." American Journal of Islamic Social Sciences 36, no. 2 (2019): 102–11. http://dx.doi.org/10.35632/ajiss.v36i2.590.
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The Quranic revelation had a tremendous impact upon the societies, art, and thought of the various peoples with whom it came into contact. But perhaps nowhere is this influence as evident as in the domain of language, the very medium of the revelation. First, the Arabic language itself was radically and irrevocably altered by the manifestation of the Quran.3 Then, as the language of the divine revelation, Quranic Arabic exerted a wide-ranging influence upon the thought and language of speakers of Persian, Turkish, numerous South and South-East Asian languages, and West and East African languages such as Hausa and Swahili.