Situation Revort Islamic Studies in South Africa Background of South African Islam In 1994, South Africans will celebrate three centuries of Islam in South Africa. Credit for establishing Islam in South Africa is usually given to Sheikh Yusuf, a Macasser prince who was exiled to South Africa for leading the resistance against the Dutch colonization of Malaysia. The fitst Muslims in South Africa, however, were actually slaves who had been imported, beginning in 1677, mainly from India, the Indonesian archipelago, Malaysia, and Sri Lanka, by the Dutch colonists living in the Cape. The Cape Muslim community, popularly but inaccurately known as "Malays" and known under apattheid as "Coloreds," is the oldest Mus- lim community in South Africa. The other major Muslim community was established over a century later by indentured laborers and tradespeople from northern India, a minority of whom weae Muslims. The majority of South African Indian Muslims, classified as "Asians" or "Asiatics," now live in Natal and Tramvaal. The third ethnically identifiable group, clas- sified as "Aftican" or "Black," consists mainly of converts or their descendants. Of the entire South African Muslim population, roughly 49 percent are "Coloreds," nearly 47 pement are "Asians," and, although sta- tistics regarding "Africans" ate generally unreliable, it is estimated that they are less than 4 percent. Less than 1 percent is "White." Contributions to South African Society Although Muslims make up less that 2 petcent of the total population, their presence is highly visible. There ate over twenty-five mosques in Cape Town and over one hundred in Johannesburg, making minarets as familiar as church towers Many are histotic and/or architectuml monu- ments. More importantly, Muslims ate uniquely involved in the nation's cultwe and economy. The oldest extant Afrikaans-language manuscripts are in the Arabic script, for they ate the work of Muslim slaves writing in the Dutch patois. South African historian Achrnat Davids has traced many linguistic elements of Afrikaans, both in vocabulary and grammar, to the Muen* of the Cape Muslims. Economically, the Indian Muslims axe the most affluent, owing primarily to the cirmmstances under which they came to South Africa. Muslim names on businesses and buildings are a familiar sight in all major cities and on those UniveAty campuses that non-Whites were allowed to attend during apartheid SOM: Islamic Studies m h t h Africa 275 Perhaps most significant has been the Muslim contribution to the struggle against racism. Due to the communities' geographic and cultural separation, many early protests, such as the 1882 Revolt of the Malays, were communally based. The Natal Indians came together in 1930 to form the Natal Indian Congress for the exp- purpose of protesting a bill voiding theh right to elect members of the Natal Legislative Assem- bly. The initiative for forming the Congms came from the Muslim community, although overall it was a joint Hindu-Muslim-Christian effort. The movement's leader, Mohandas Gandhi, was bmught from hdia to South Africa by Muslims to be their lawyer. In his autobiog- raphy, Gandhi traced the awakening of his social and political conscious- ness and the development of his leademhip skills to his experience among South Africa's Muslim Indians: "Here it was that the religious spirit within me became a living fotce ...."' Gandhi is, of course, known for religious tolerance, and South African Muslims are proud of their close d a t i o n with him. Dr. G. M. Karim, former director of education of the Islamic Council of South Africa, writes: "Perhaps the political world owes a debt to the Muslims for having contributed to the birth of the idea of passive resistance and its subsequent fulfillment in India!"' Muslims have also been involved in South Africa's nationally based struggle. Following the Natal Indian Congtess's s u d passive k s - a c e campaign in 1946, the African National Congress (ANC) decided to join forces with the Indians in the struggle to defeat racism and intolerance. Among the leading Muslims working with the ANC were Dr. Yusuf Dadoo, leader of the South African Indian Congress. In 1951, a joint planning council of the ANC and the Indian Congtess was formed. Included on it were Dadoo and another officer of the Indian Congress, Yusuf Cachalia. Cachalia's bmther, a lifelong associate and trusted con- fidant of Gandhi, was also involved in the council, as were such other Muslim heroes of the stmggle as Ahmed Kathrada, who was imprisoned for twenty-seven y e a s and, after being released with Nelson Mandela, now heads the ANC's Public Relations Depattment. Ismail and Fatima Meet (Mandela's biographer) are well-known Muslim activists against apartheid and, like all who worked against that policy, have suffered detention, amst, and torture. Today there are many Muslim leaders in the ANC, including Kader Asmal and Muhammad Valli Moosa, who was the ANC negotiator in the m t l y completed constitutional talks. 'Mohaodas K. Gandhi, Autobbgra&: llrc Story of My Enperirnents with Truth, trans. by M. Desai (New Yo& Dover Pubhcations). %. M. Karim, "The Contributims of Muslims to South Afi.ican Culture: BuUetin on Zskvn and Christian-Muslim Relations in Afica 2, no. 1 (1984):6. 276 The American Journal of Islamic Social Sciences 11:2 There are also several specifically Muslim groups working for libera- tion and social justice. In 1961, Cape Muslims launched the Call of Islam to fight oppression and intolerance in the name of Islamic principles of social justice. Its leader, Imam Abdullah Hatoon, was killed in detention in 1969 and became a renowned martyr for the antiapartheid cause. The original group was superseded by the Clarcmont Youth Movement (CYM), which later formed the Cape Islamic Federation (CIF) and re- mained devoted to the same principles. In 1970, the Muslim Youth Movement (MYM) was formed and later spun off the Muslim Students Association (MSA) in 1974 and at least ten other organizations, such as the Women's Islamic Movement and the Islamic Da'wah Movement. Qiblah, another Muslim group, was formed in 1980 and operated on the belief that by devoting itself to Islamic principles of social justice, it would be able to bring about liberation. The original Call of Islam move- ment no longer exists, but another Call of Islam was formed in the mid- 1980s by fomer MYM and UDF (United Democratic Front) membem. It remains at the forefront of Islamic social justice movements. The 1970s and 1980s were a period of incteased organizational activity and developing self-identity, particularly among young Muslims disenchana with the conservatism of the older genmtions. These youth we= also clearly inspired by the success of Islamic movements in the Middle East and Pakistan. Despite ideological and organizational differ- ences, these and other smaller Muslim groups, which are motivated con- sciously by Islamic principles, are committed to the end of oppression and the establishment of a just society in South Africa. A Tradition of Tolerance One of the most striking chatacteristics of the South African Muslim community is its tradition of religious tolerance. This stands in marked contrast to the communal strife frequently 8ssoci8ted with Islamic society in the modem Middle East and northern India. Several factom can be cited to explain this phenomenon. Most basically, the tolerance of South African Muslims is based on religious belief. Muslim activists of all varieties cite Qur'anic demands that believers fight injustice, regardless of who is being victimized. They M e r cite the Qur'an's pluralism: "Those who believe, Jews, Christians, and Sabaeans-whoever believes in God and the Last Day and does good works, they shall be rewarded and shall have nothing to fear" (2:62) and "If God had willed it, he would have made all of you one community" (548). Yusuf Saloojee, a physician who is both coordinator of the Call of Islam for the Transvaal and an exezutive of the ANC for Lenasia (Johannesburg), is cufiently involved SOM: Islamic Studies m South Africa 277 in voter registration in the Muslim community. He reminds those who, having lived segregated for generations, question the wisdom of associating with non-Muslims that the overriding Islamic principle of unity (tuwhi? requires not just belief in one God but working to reflect that belief by treating all of God's creatures as equal. Beyond that, however, are the realities of South Africa's official policy of racism. As geographic segregation by skin color ignored reli- gious differences, nonwhites of all religions tended to live and be edu- cated together, which had an inevitable impact on social relations. Sophia- town, for example, was one of the oldest "Black" settlements in Johannesburg. When it was demolished, as a result of the Group Ams Act, it had a population of sixty thousand people. Like District 6 in Cape Town, it was home to people of color and all religions, and, though it was poor, it is remembered nostalgically as an ideal of communal living. Sophiatown has been immortalized in the work of Dan Mattera, a popular South African poet, who speaks lovingly of its pluralism and religious tolerance. This pmximity fostered solidarity among the oppressed. As Yusuf Cachalia said of the abovementioned 1952 civil disobedience cam- paign: "No amount of police p m c e could dampen the enthusiasm with which the down-trodden masses supported the defiance ~ampaign."~ Muslim Education in South Africa The earliest Muslim community in South Africa, which was com- posed of slaves, was prohibited fmm practicing its religion openly. As a result, its members developed innovative religious 8ssoci8tions based primarily on their indigenous South Asian Sufi ptactices. Such religious education as was carried on was in the home. In was not until the end of the eighteenth century that the first mosque, the Awwal Mosque on Dorp Street in Cape Town, was established. Attached to the mosque was the country's first Islamic school. Its founder, Tuan GUN ("Mister Teacher" in Malay; d. 1797), also trained the first gmup of imams in South In 1805, after England had wrested control of the Cape fmm the Dutch, Muslims were granted religious freedom. At that time, it was 'Heidi Holland, 17re Struggle: A History of the Afiican National Congress (Londw and Glasgow: Grafton Books, 1990). 'Muhammed Hrrron, "Islamic Education in South Afrka," The Muslim li&xtional Quarterly 5, no. 2 (1988):41. The infomLation in the Sections on "M& Education" and " A d v d Islamic studies" is sumummd . fmm this article, which includes a useful bibliopphy, aod informadian received from Rofessor Iqbal Jhazbhay, Department of semarcs, Universityof southma. 218 The American Journal of Islamic Social Sciences 1132 thought important for the Cape Muslims to have a ptoperly trained scholar for religious training. Sheikh Abu Bakr Effendi (d. 1880) was sent from Turkey. He established a girl's school and the School of Higher Islamic Theology and also produced the earliest work on Islam in Arabic- Afrikaans Buytin a2 Di% (The Explanation of Religion). Islamic schools that were independent of mosques were not estab- lished until the early twentieth century. Known as mudrusuh schools or Muslim mission schools, the first was established in 1912. By 1959, nine- teen such schools, all of which followed the same curriculum as the Secular schools and featured additional lessons in Islamic studies, had been established throughout the Cape and Natal. Many of them received government assistance , in the form of teaches' salaries, and enjoyed the same status as Christian missionary schools. The imposition of apartheid in 1948 had a devastating effect on Mus- lim education, particularly after the passage of the Group Areas Act of 1950, which forced the relocation of nonwhite people to areas merved for their color classification. Most of the mudrusuhs had to be abandoned, though some were reestablished in the new anzis. In the 196Os, new mad- rmuhs began to be established. However, these were different from the earlier institutions that had paralleled secular schools, for they were after- school religion programs designed to supplement public school education. Muslims were also s u c c d in influencing the "Indian Affairs" and "Colored Affairs" education departments to introduce Islamic studies and Arabic in their public high schools in the 1970s. In the 198Os, some pri- vate Muslim high schools were established as well, usually under the patmnage of wealthy families. Efforts to unify the curriculum of Islamic education at the provincial level through associations of religious scholars are continuing. Difficulties arise at the national level, however, for two reasons. For one thing, the diverse ethnic origins of the Malay and Indian communities show them- selves in both theoretical and practical issues. The Cape community, for example, generally follows the SGfi'i mudhhub and retains vestiges of some of South Asian Sufi practices, while the Natal and Transvaal com- munities tend to be Hanafi and influenced by either Deobandi or Brelvi thought as well as cultural practices dominant in their ancestral Indian regions of origin. These differences are particularly evident in the seven- teen theological seminaries now in existence in South Africa, all of which operate independently of one another. Furthermore, the legacy of apar- theid lingers. One of its effects, in addition to intensifying the ethnic identities of segregated groups, was the empowerment of regional religious leaders. Transcending apartheid-induced provincialism would require that some people relinquish their elite status. As in Muslim com- sonn: Islamic studies m south Africa 279 munities elsewhere, t h m is a great deal of talk about Islamic unity and condemnation of the divisions imposed by imperialism. But effective action on the part of existing provincial elites is difficult to discem. Advanced Islamic Studies in South Africa It is on the university level that the greatest progress has been made in promoting Arabic and Islamic studies.' Since 1955, programs have been developed at the University of South Africa (a cotiespondence uni- versity that was the only university without skin-color requirements dur- ing apartheid), the University of Durban-Weshrille (formerly for "Asian" students), the University of Western Cape (formerly for "Colored" students), as well as such formerly Ehglish and Mrikaaner universities as the University of Cape Town, the University of Natal, the UnivetSity of W i t w a t e m d , the University of Orange Ftee State, the University of Pretoria, the Univetsity of Port Elizabeth, the University of S t e l l e n b h , Rand Afrikaans University, and Potchefstroom University. Many of those involved in the Islamic resurgence groups mentioned above are involved in or are products of these programs, particularly the ones at the Univer- sity of South Africa, the University of Dutban-Wedville, the University of the Western Cape, and the University of Cape Town. The number of theses on Islam and related subjects presented at South African universities at the undergraduate, master's, and doctoral levels has increased exponentially over the past two decades. Of a total of 192 produced since 1930,l was done in the 193% 1 in the 194Os, 5 in the 195Os, 11 in the 196Ck, 28 in the 1970s, and 134 in the 1980s. The subjects range as follows: Arabic, Afrikaans-Arabic/Malay, Qur'anic studies, Islamic studies (general), biographies, social science studies on Muslim communities, education, Islamic politics, Islamic philosophy, Islamic history, Islamic law, missions, Islamic institutions and organiza- tions, economics, the Middle East, Islamic art and architectUte, and Is- lamic music. The majority have been in Arabic, Qur'anic studies, Islamic studies, Islamic institutions and organizations, and the Middle East. There is also a discemable trend toward studying Islam in South Africa rather than in the so-called central Islamic lands. Since 1970, ninety-& theses have focused on aspects of Islam in South Africa, compared to five before 1970. 3t should be noted that the increased organizational activity of Muslims is also seen in a pmliferatiao of newspapes and newsletters, journals, and community-based organiza- tions as well. See Ebrahim Mohamed Mahida, I s h in South Afiica: A Bibliography (Durban: Centre for Research in Islamic Studies, University of Durban-Westville, 1993). 280 The American Journal of Islamic Social Scimces 11:2 Among the effects of this emphasis on advanced Islamic studies in South Africa has been the production of locally trained religious leaders. Traditionally, South African religious scholas have been tmhed in the Middle East, India, Pakistan, or Malaysia. Graduates of foreign institu- tiom tend to have p t e r p d g e than those trained in local theological institutions. But this foreign training has tended both to intensify the ideological differences among Hanafi, Shifi‘i, Deobandi, and Brelvi- oriented communities and to keep religious leaders focused on h e s in Muslim-majority countries rather than in South Africa. At the same time, it has tended to orient the Muslim community’s identity away from South Africa, whichhas cmted some tension between their Muslimidentity and their South African identity. Many young scholars in South Africa today see the development of locally trained religious scholars as a first step toward the unification of the diverse Muslim communities in South Africa as well as working toward a harmonizatian of their religious and national identities. Conclusion South Africa’s Muslim community has become incteaSingly self- conscious over the past twenty years. This is partly due to the influence of worldwide Islamic tendencies, particularly in the Middle East and the Indian subcontinent. It is also a result of the unique citcumstances of South Africa’s racist government. For over three hundred years, South African Muslims lived as an oppressed minority alongside but segregated from an o p p d majority. Thus they were involved in several levels of communal identity-Muslim, nonwhite, South African national-that were overlapping but differing in intensity, value, or duration. The racist status of inferiority was imposed from without and rejected from within. In addition, the naticmalist South African identity is mixed with ethnic ties to a n d homelands. Of the thtee levels of communal identity, only the teligious has managed to withstand the vagaries of colonialism and postcolonialism. But even religious identity is dynamic, capable of changing along with sociopolitical developments. South Africa’s Muslim communities ate making an historic transition from being segregated minorities opposed to an oppressive regime to being participants in an open and divese society. The upsurge in Islamic studies in South African Universities te fleck their concern with facing the challenges posed by this transition: democmthtim pluralism, the role of women, economic and laborissues, and the role of Muslims as a religious minority. In the process of facing these issues, the South &can Muslim community is moving from the sonn: Islamic studies in south Africa 28 1 margins of the Islamic world. In the past, scholars tended to facus on Islamic-majority countries on the assumption that they are somehow more repmentative of Islam than minority Muslim communities. The incteas- ingly high profile assumed by such minority communities as South Africa’s presents scholam with an opportunity to evaluate the validity of that assumption. Regardless of how this and other methodological ques- tiom addressed, however, the expanding scholarly output of South Africa’s Muslim intellectual community will no doubt provide a valuable resource for those intenxted in issues faced by both Muslim minorities and majorities in a highly dynamic society. Tamara Sonn St. John fisher College Rochester, New York