Muslim Views, March 2015

Vol. 29 No. 3

JAMAD-UL-AKHIR 1436 l MARCH 2015

Memorials should be more than reminders of injustice MAHMOOOD SANGLAY

NE day, we will need to memorialise a sustained history of protest, from the apartheid era through decades into post-apartheid South Africa.

The anti-pass laws protest march from Langa to Caledon Square, led by Pan Africanist Philip Kgosana on March 30, 1960, and supported by over 50 000 people, is today memorialised in Langa.

In July 2014, twenty people were arrested in Langa during a service delivery protest. The residents of the township demanded basic amenities and services like water, sanitation and disaster relief for flooding.

Over 20 years ago, banners bearing the slogan ‘Prepare to govern’ were displayed at major transport intersections, not far from Langa.

Today, the government of two decades has not yet delivered on their promise of decent housing.

The residents of Langa are still compelled to resist evictions and they still feel the need to resort to burning tyres on public roads and throwing stones, bringing traffic to a standstill.

A resident of Langa confirmed that some people have been living in backyards for 35 years.

It is 55 years since Kgosana led the great march to fight for the dignity of our people.

That fight for dignity has not yet ended. Time has passed, laws have changed and a democratic political dispensation is in place but the living conditions of the people of Langa remain essentially unchanged.

The memorial of Kgosana is more than just a reminder of the iconic struggle.

It is a blot on our collective conscience.

ANC General Secretary Gwede Mantashe told media ahead of the party’s 103 anniversary celebrations in January: ‘We will be reminding people of their history.

They don’t know the journey and

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ACG Architects, as part of the Langa Memorial Collective, won a competition in 2009 for a public art installation to commemorate the events that took place on this site in March 1960, which was part of the Pan Africanist Congress’s anti-pass campaign that resulted in police killings at Langa and the Sharpeville Massacre of March 21, 1960. The memorial design was the outcome of a workshop and participation of local residents, including participants in the events of 1960. The memorial was funded by the City of Cape Town.

Photo MALCOLM CAMPBELL

the complexity of the journey.

Freedom is not a destination. It is a journey.’

This astonishingly arrogant and patronising utterance is perhaps an indication of how detached the ruling party is from the true concerns and aspirations of ordinary South Africans.

The struggle for liberation in South Africa was not exclusively an ANC struggle.

The Pan Africanist Congress is but one important liberation movement, independent of the ANC, that contributed signifi-

cantly to the struggle. Hence, our freedom today is not the exclusive preserve of the ruling political party.

We are entering the twentyfirst year of our post-apartheid democracy, yet much of the journey for many has been unsatisfactory. Social and economic justice is ultimately what restores the dignity of a marginalised people.

However, the key indicators in these respects show a grim reality.

Sources such as StatsSA, the Presidency’s 2014 ‘Twenty Year Review’ and others show that

extreme poverty (households of five living on less than R11 a day) now affects 20 per cent of the population.

Only 36 per cent of all black people who are of working-age are employed, compared to 63,8 per cent of whites. Over twothirds (67 per cent) of youth – classified as between 18-24 years of age – have been unemployed for a year or longer.

The poorest workers in South Africa earn around R2 700 per month while the top CEOs walk home with a whopping R760 000

per month.

The average income of white South Africans is around 800 per cent higher than the average income of blacks while the greatest increases in income disparity since 1994 have come from within the black population.

Given these few statistics, it is no wonder that the dignity of our people remains under assault.

We cannot memorialise our past without dignity in the present. It undermines the memory of the sacrifices of our struggle heroes.

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Muslim Views . March 2015

Muslim Views . March 2015

Cease the distortion of our history

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HARPEVILLE Day resonates with many who are, in any way, connected to the struggle for liberation in South Africa.

However, not everyone who is connected to the struggle share the same sentiments in respect of the record, the memory and the renaming, in 1995, of Sharpeville Day to Human Rights Day. March 21, 1960, in South Africa, is today first and foremost a celebration of human rights. It is celebrated through an association of our Constitution and the Bill of Rights with international human rights ideals.

The government, in almost an afterthought, only then links the day to the events in Sharpeville in 1960. And this link is produced by the routine regurgitation of vital statistics: 69 dead and 180 wounded in peaceful protests against pass laws.

The above is a heinous distortion of our history because it is a de-contextualised, de-historicised and sanitised version of the true events of a day worthy of full commemoration.

The first iniquity is the act of renaming the day into an abstraction meant to soften the blow. It does so because the geopolitical significance of Sharpeville is immediately lost in the abstraction.

South Africans can no longer experience the occasion in a way that

authentically and directly relates to events in a given place and time in our history.

The second iniquity is the expungement of the role of the Pan Africanist Congress (PAC) and its leader, Robert Sobukwe, from the narrative. The PAC and the African National Congress (ANC) differ over the latter’s lack of an Africanist ethos in the Freedom Charter. These ideological differences and the ANC’s hegemony over the struggle led to the marginalisation of the PAC and its leader.

An important fact often deliberately left out of the narrative is that the March 21, 1960, protests against the pass laws were called by the PAC and not the ANC. The latter’s call was for March 31 but the PAC pre-empted this and called for a protest march ten days earlier. Yet, the popular narrative reflects an ownership of the legacy of Sharpeville by the ANC. Apart from these historical issues around the commemoration of the Sharpeville massacre, both the memory and proper commemoration of the event are important for South Africans today.

It serves the interests of apologists, opportunists and reactionaries to rewrite a history of struggle. It is such distortion of our history that further relegates and diminishes atrocities such as Marikana and Orkney as isolated cases.

Apartheid is no longer on the statute books and we have a democracy in place, therefore – so the reasoning goes – anti-apartheid discourse is no longer relevant.

This is a diabolical fallacy. Racism, the class system, poverty and the legacy of apartheid are all still with us.

Therefore, the silenced voices of leaders like Sobukwe and Steve Biko remain ever-relevant.

When our social organisations today advocate campaigns against poverty and the like, it is devoid of a context of the past dehumanisation of our people.

Democracy has come to apply a salve of amnesia, to produce a euphoria that overwhelms the anger induced by the pain of the past.

We must constantly evaluate and re-contextualise our present struggle, with a very proactive and conscious agenda of arresting attempts to systematically distort our history.

Our editorial comment represents the composite viewpoint of the Editorial Team of Muslim Views, and is the institutional voice of the newspaper. Correspondence can be sent to editor@mviews.co.za

Publishers: BRISKTRADE 175 (Pty) Ltd P O Box 442 Athlone 7760 South Africa Tel: 021 696 5404 • Fax Admin: 021 696 9301 Advertising adverts@mviews.co.za Admin info@mviews.co.za Editor Farid Sayed E-mail editor@mviews.co.za Fax Editor 086 516 4772 DISTRIBUTION Your Advertiser 021 638 7491 Views and opinions expressed by contributors and advertisers in this publication do not necessarily reflect those of the editorial team or the publishers.

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My father – El Hajj Malik El Shabazz, Malcolm X

February 21 marked the 50th anniversary of the assassination of El Hajj Malik El Shabazz, Malcolm X. In this extract from an article that appeared on the shabazzcenter.net website, his daughter, ILYASAH SHABAZZ, traces the roots of her father’s revolutionary activism.

Y father was an exemplary human being because of the service he gave to humanity.

Malcolm X was only in his 20s when he burst onto the scene of the human rights struggle.

And in just a few short years of tireless service, he carried all of us forward into a brighter and more egalitarian future – asking nothing for himself or his family in return.

My father was just 39-yearsold when he was martyred.

But, thanks to Allah, he left us with a legacy – a legacy of truth, courage, compassion and love for all humanity and a legacy of service to God. My father, like his parents, was willing to risk everything, including his life, in the name of truth and justice.

One of my greatest concerns about the way my family’s history is told is the distorted picture that is given of my father’s early family life.

One such distortion is that before my father went to prison and discovered Elijah Muhammad, he was an illiterate deviant who could barely sign his name.

To some degree, the Autobiography is responsible for this.

The Autobiography was completed after my father’s assassination.

And three of the final chapters were, strangely, omitted.

But the truth is that Malcolm’s parents, Earl and Louise, were two, young, ‘conscious’ activists having met in Canada, at a Garvey rally.

And they, as father and mother, emphasised the importance of social justice, literacy and education to young Malcolm and his siblings.

It was they, my grandparents, who promoted accountability, responsibility and leadership ideals in young Malcolm and his siblings.

Malcolm’s mother, Louise Norton-Little, from Grenada: St. George’s Dominion, spoke five different languages and served as the national recording secretary for Marcus Garvey’s organisation, the United Negro Improvement Association (UNIA).

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As a young mother, she filled their home with language, culture, humanity and the love of education.

She taught young Malcolm and her other children to sing the alphabet in French, and had them read to her from newspapers produced by Garvey and a fellow Grenadian.

She kept a dictionary on the table where her children did their homework; and if they mispronounced a word, she made them look it up.

My grandfather, Reverend Earl Little, was a Baptist minister who helped organise Garvey’s UNIA. Grandfather Earl fought fearlessly for freedom from the inhumane yet, lawful oppression of Black-skinned people back in the 1920s.

On the night of my grandfather’s assassination, he was gathering signatures in Klu Klux Klan territory for a petition to bring the US government up on charges before the League of Nations for violating the human rights of Black Americans.

And so, it was the thinking and analysis of Earl, Louise and the Garveyites that influenced my father’s nationalistic, pluralistic and global understanding of freedom strategies.

People mistakenly say that my father made Hajj and came back a changed man who NOW loved humanity – like he didn’t previously.

They say, ‘He returned to the United States with a newly found compassion for all people.’

My father’s struggle for the benefit of people began long before he made Hajj.

He travelled around this country alone, tirelessly educating and lecturing because of his love for people, because of his love for our humanity.

It seems that his Hajj served to increase his awareness and understanding.

That’s why people make Hajj – but it did not change him into one who loved humanity.

He had already proven himself as such.

And today, I can honestly say I am extremely proud to be a daughter of El Hajj Malik El Shabazz, Malcolm X, and of Dr Betty Shabazz.

They were exceptional human beings. Simply extraordinary.

And I do not say this because they are my parents but because of their love and compassion for all of us.

They dedicated themselves to complete service to humanity... freedom and justice.

This newspaper carries Allah’s names, the names of the Prophets and sacred verses of the Holy Qur’an.

Please treat it with the respect it deserves.

Either keep, circulate or recycle.

Please do not discard.

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Muslim Views . March 2015

The ‘pathology of inherent violence within our nature’ MAHMOOD SANGLAY

THE Embassy of the Republic of Iraq hosted a symposium on the theme ‘Countering Extremism and Terrorism in the Digital Age’ on February 16, at the Table Bay Hotel in Cape Town.

Just over 30 delegates, most of whom represented diplomatic missions, attended the event. The absence of the Muslim Judicial Council (MJC) was noted, both officially and unofficially.

Thirteen topics were covered by various speakers. This report is on the opening address by the former South African ambassador to the United States, Ebrahim Rasool.

Rasool’s topic was ‘Root causes of violent extremism and terrorism’ and he pointed out that South African Muslims, uniquely, have had the opportunity for coexistence and peace under conditions of democracy and human rights.

We have, he said, participated in a struggle for liberation without being ‘afflicted by the pathology of inherent violence within our nature’.

‘Unless we are able to bring peace to the soul of the Muslim world, we are not going to find peace in the world at all,’ Rasool said.

He estimates that since the end of World War II, 60 to 70 per cent of the violence and conflicts in the world have affected Muslims in one way or another ‘by virtue of either what was done to them or what was done by them’.

Over seven decades, major political events have contributed to sowing the seeds of a culture of extremism. Rasool identified several of these, including the estab-

Muslim Views

The ‘Countering Extremism’ symposium hosted by the embassy of Iraq was attended by a range of diplomatic personnel, religious and political experts and media representatives. This group photograph shows, from left, front, Dr Mohamed Shahid Mathee, University of Johannesburg, Ebrahim Rasool, former SA Ambassador to the USA, Dr Hisham Al-Alawi, Iraqi Ambassador to South Africa, Shaikh Fakhruddin Owaisi, Sunni Ulama Council, and Farid Sayed, Editor of Muslim Views. At the back are Dr Andrea Brigaglia, University of Cape Town, Muhammad-Nur Nordien, Director of Nordien Consultancy, Johannesburg, Peter Knoope, International Centre for Counter-Terrorism, Netherlands, and Shafiq Morton, Voice of the Photo YUSUF SALAMI Cape.

lishment of the state of Israel, the independence of India followed by the partition of Pakistan, the eight-year long Iran-Iraq war, the of Iraq and invasions Afghanistan, the rise of the Taliban, the seminal attack on the Twin Towers on 9/11, the rapid rise of Islamophobia and the rise of Isis as cases in point.

However, he also pointed out that counter-extremism, similarly tends to be extremist, coming at times from those seeking power and, at times, from those in power, backed by the military industrial complex.

Rasool’s premise is that we

have to drive a discourse of counter-extremism to disengage from the seven decades of unremitting conflict. Without this clear objective, we are likely to be caught up in a ‘complex maelstrom’ in which one form of extremism is replaced by another.

Basing his position on the Quranic principle of justice, ‘even though it be against your own selves’ as espoused in 4:135, he advocated an interrogation of extremism from wherever it emerges.

He argued, however, that the US is now disinclined towards ‘unbridled militarism’ due to an

exhaustion of its financial resources and due to the vast majority of Americans opposing another imposed war.

Even though the resources and appetite of the West for war is diminished, its foreign policy for the foreseeable future will remain dominated by its interests in the security of Israel.

Rasool advocates an end to the culture of equivocation by the Muslim world to usher in a new culture.

Equivocation on issues such as the poor treatment of women disable Muslims to take firm positions on violation of women’s

rights by groups like Boko Haram and Isis.

He also advocates the amplification of the intellect and a theology that is consistent with the maqasid of Islam as opposed to any given local culture.

Rasool calls for a genuine explosion of the stereotype of Islam and Muslims as violent and extremist in three ways.

Firstly, by bringing ‘relief to the restless’ as witnessed in the Arab Spring.

Secondly, by changing forms of governance that are unjust and that marginalise the masses and, thirdly, by managing both of the above without creating a gap for the breeding of undesirable extremist elements.

He identified the fault lines that sustain extremism as the Sunni-Shiah, the Islamist-secular and the moderate-extremist divides. These need to be managed by means of strategies such as moving away from the traditional – and contested – model of the Islamic state to the civil state, which upholds the values of Islam as opposed to the rules and regulations of Islam.

He also calls for appropriate solutions for Muslims in Europe and Muslim minorities. He did not expand on this due to insufficient time.

Ultimately, the solution is to ‘build a movement that is militant but not violent, radical but not fundamentalist, and revolutionary but not extreme’.

He said that if we can manage that, we will effectively deal with our historical problems and our future challenges.

Reports on the presentations by other speakers will follow in the next edition of Muslim Views.

Muslim Views . March 2015

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Muslim Views . March 2015

Muslim civil society to address social justice issues Muslim Views speaks to MUHAMMAD CAJEE, Convenor of the Muslim Civil Society Conference planned for later this year.

LET’S begin by asking you: Why the need for a Muslim Civil Society Conference?

I’ll give some quick context before I explain why. We know that our South African Muslim community comes from a rich history of contribution to the struggle for justice, equality and freedom in our nation, starting with Shaikh Yusuf of Makassar serving his political exile in the Cape in the late 1600s. Then, Tuan Guru being one of the first political prisoners on Robben Island from 1780 to 1793, and Shaheed Imam Haron, Ahmed Timol, Babla Saloojee and Abu Bakr Asvat sacrificing their lives for freedom between the 1950s and the 1980s.

However, at the same time, we must acknowledge that, over the last 15 years, since the second intifadah in 2000, our focus as a community has very much been on international issues that are close to our hearts, such as Palestine, Afghanistan 2001, Iraq 2003, the Arab Spring 2011 and now the Arab Winter.

As a result of this, we are coming to be defined as a community that acts on international issues but are not as vocal on local issues, even though South Africa is as close to our hearts.

So, the time has come for us, as South African civil society, initiated in part by Muslim civil society, to speak, act and become problem solvers with equal vigour and energy on critical South African issues that face all of us as ordinary citizens daily, such as educa-

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tion, healthcare, nation-building, crime and justice, and unemployment. This conference is the beginning not the conclusion.

What does this conference aim to achieve?

It really aims to instigate a national conversation and call to action broader South African civil society. A day of talking heads and a fancy dinner wouldn’t really achieve much if it doesn’t act as a catalyst for a national conversation about our role as civil society in securing our country’s future.

It has to motivate us to act consistently to achieve the society that we envision, that is, world-class public education, world-class public healthcare, low levels of crime, an effective and efficient justice system, and low levels of unemployment.

Those are very idealistic goals.

Of course they are, and so is the just, equal and prosperous society that Islam envisions. But again, the simple immediate goal is to instigate a national conversation in broader South African civil society to motivate us into action.

What should also motivate us into action are the huge socio-economic costs down the road of not acting now as civil society, by partnering with government and other civil society organisations and communities to find solutions to these critical socio-economic issues.

For example, a failing public healthcare and education system dramatically increases poverty and the gap between rich and poor. If the current trajectory continues, in the next ten years a much larger proportion of our society will not have access to quality education and healthcare. Only those who can afford medical aid and private

schooling will have access. We’ll have the situation where, within our own immediate families, some will have access and others not.

No amount of charity or fundraising will be able to solve that problem.

The only solution is to start acting now, as civil society, to work with government to alter the trajectory, and to efficiently spend the public purse to fix the root causes, which is fundamentally the lack of capacity on the part of the state to implement public policy efficiently and effectively without waste.

Is this an open or elitist civil society conference?

It is broad and open, definitely not elitist. The conference is envisioned to be a pluralist civil society conference in its truest sense, initiated by the Muslim community, bringing together Muslim civil society and broader civil society for a common purpose.

Attendance is open to anyone really – citizens, NGO leaders, jurists, professionals, business leaders, religious leaders – regardless of ideology, political affiliation, religion, gender, etc. As I said, pluralist in the truest sense.

How is the conference programme structured?

The conference uses the NDP as its initial input. Regardless of your view on the NDP, the reality is that the NDP is a policy blueprint that has been tabled by government to guide South Africa’s development until 2030.

It’s our duty as citizens and civil society to engage with the plan, understand it and critique it, and make a judgment for ourselves on whether to reject it, amend it or chart a different course. This has not happened.

Considering this, we have struc-

tured the conference programme along themes identical to the chapters of the NDP, with eight panel discussions.

The panels are as follows: Improving Education and Innovation; Promoting Health; Uniting the Country; Building Safer Communities; Social Protection; Fighting Corruption; Creating Employment; and Effectively Implementing Policy.

Each panel will consist of a neutral moderator, two civil society representatives, a government leader, labour leader, and a business leader to engage in a robust discussion around the content of each chapter of the NDP in turn, with participation from the conference delegates on the floor.

I should also add that the conference opens with a gala dinner, which will be addressed by the Honourable Deputy President, Mr Cyril Ramaphosa, in his capacity as the Chair of the National Planning Commission. We’re co-ordinating with his office to lock in a suitable date.

How will the conference be funded?

It will primarily be funded through the conference registration fees and the gala dinner.

Donations are also welcome. Ideally, we’d like this conference to also be funded, in part, by a large base of small R100 donations from our community.

Our target is 5 000 x R100 donations = R500 000 and is very achievable. 500 x R1 000 contributions would also be great.

Which other organisations are on board?

So far, we have the Muslim Judicial Council (MJC), Jamiatul Ulama, United Ulama Council of South Africa, Sanzaf, Awqaf-SA,

ASRI, Minara Chamber of Commerce, Muslim Professionals Network, Samnet, Al Ansaar Foundation and Radio Al Ansaar, Voice of the Cape, Radio Islam, iTV, Muslim Views, Union of Muslim Students Associations, Islamic Careline, Muslim Aids Project, Islamic Forum, Al Imdaad Foundation, The Call of Islam, Suliman Nana Memorial Trust, Islamic Relief SA, Somali Community Board of SA, The United Arab Communities of SA and the Islamic Medical Association.

Over and above these organisations, there are several individuals who are on board in their personal capacities. Any other organisations or individuals who want to come on board or contribute in any way can email me directly.

Where can readers go for more information, to volunteer, contribute, register to attend or make a donation?

The website is www.asri.org.za and I can be reached on Muhammad.cajee@asri.org.za.

We welcome volunteers. Interested participants can sign up for the mailing list on the website, on which we’ll send updates as more details are finalised. Also on the website is information about ASRI, a pluralist Domestic Public Policy Institute that’s one of the initiators of this conference. ASRI is currently building research and applied research capability, and we do have some funding available for Honours, Masters and PhD study in the areas mentioned, i.e. Education, Health, Nation building, Crime and Justice, and Creating Employment. Honours, Masters and PhD candidates are welcome to contact us to talk about research fellowships and mentorships.

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Muslim Views . March 2015

In the new ANCYL, discipline is a top priority MAHMOOD SANGLAY

‘REVOLUTIONARIES like Che Guevara, definitely! I mean you cannot be young and involved in the force of the left and not be admiring Che Guevara.’

But Muhammad Khalid Sayed, 30, the newly elected Western Cape leader of the African National Congress Youth League (ANCYL) also admits to influences from figures like Vladimir Lenin, Frantz Fanon, Ali Shariati, Mahmood Mamdani and Edward Said.

Of course, the traditional historic liberation movement leadership like the young Mandela, Tambo, Sisulu, Biko, Hani, Lembede and Sobukwe also loom large.

More close to home and to his contemporaries, he respects the ‘personality and discipline’ of Dullah Omar, who died in 2004 when Sayed was 19 years old.

Omar was also from Sayed’s home political constituency, the Robert Waterwitch Thornhill branch of the ANC, and he values the brief opportunity he had to interact with Omar.

Among Sayed’s contemporaries today, he has a high regard for both his political superior, Minister of Public Enterprises, Lynne Brown, and for Max Ozinsky whose integrity he greatly admires.

Mcebisi Skwatsha, the Deputy Minister of Rural Development and Land Reform, is a mentor whose commitment to principles Sayed respects and with whom he often engages ideologically.

‘My father has also had an impact, it goes without saying,’ he says with a smile.

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The election of Sayed as Western Cape ANCYL provincial chairperson comes after six years of a political vacuum within the league.

Muhammad Khalid Sayed, left, walks alongside his political mentor, Mcebisi Skwatsha, Deputy Minister of Rural Development and Land Reform. The event was the ANC’s 103rd Anniversary Celebrations at Cape Town Stadium, on January 10.

Photo SUPPLIED

He adds that his father, the editor at Muslim Views, clearly

influenced his position on issues such as racism and social justice

in his childhood and early adulthood.

Sayed is unmarried and lives with his parents, so he literally resides within a very familiar sphere of influence. However, he qualifies that this influence, now, unlike in his childhood and early adulthood, is necessarily moderated and unobtrusive.

Of course, in order to ensure the mutual independence and integrity of the role of the media professional on the one hand, and the politician on the other, these boundaries are necessary and understood.

The elements of personal, professional and public trust invested in this relationship are self-evident.

The election of Sayed as Western Cape ANCYL provincial chairperson comes after six years of a political vacuum within the league. It is, to date, the most important move in his nascent political career.

He played an active role in politics at the age of nine when he campaigned for the ANC in the 1994 elections. He says he even compiled his own little scrapbook

about the liberation movement at the time.

As he grew into a young man, he sustained this interest. In 2004, he formally joined the South African Students Congress (Sasco) at the University of Cape Town (UCT) when he commenced his tertiary studies.

His courses straddled the related disciplines of religious studies and social science and he holds a Masters degree, cum laude, in Religious Studies on the topic ‘The Shifting World of South African Madrasahs, 1973-2008’.

Sayed also holds a Diploma in Arabic Language from University of Damascus, in Syria.

While reading for his Masters degree at UCT, Sayed held research positions for National Research Foundation and the Centre for Contemporary Islam in the Department of Religious Studies. Throughout this period, his interests have been in a variety of social science fields, notably in contemporary politics, religious values and education.

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Muslim Views . March 2015 CONTINUED FROM PAGE 8

He became actively involved in the local ANC, in Athlone, after he graduated in 2010. At the time, there was no ANC Youth League. Today, Sayed may be credited for introducing the youth league to this ANC branch. In other areas he revived the league.

In 2011, he took the position of Senior Advisor in Parliamentary, Governmental and Political Affairs at Ethicore Political Consulting, which provides professional and independent political lobbying, intelligence and communications services.

After almost a year, he left Ethicore and joined the ANC Caucus in the Western Cape Provincial Legislature.

In 2014, Sayed joined the Department of Public Enterprises and Development Co-operation as Parliamentary Liaison Officer to the Minister. He still holds this position while managing the responsibilities attendant with the provincial ANCYL chair.

The impetuosity of youth ‘Without a youth league that is radical and militant, the ANC is going to be dead,’ says Sayed. He quotes Kgalema Motlanthe in affirming that the ANCYL must be militant and radical but he qualifies this by saying it does not suggest licence for undisciplined, unlawful and insubordinate behaviour that undermines public trust and the unity of the organisation.

The context of this assertion is important. The events leading to the expulsion of Julius Malema from the ANCYL in 2012 and the subsequent anarchy within the league has bruised the ANC itself.

Sayed maintains that radicalism and militancy are vital and

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He became actively involved in the local ANC, in Athlone, after he graduated in 2010. At the time, there was no ANC Youth League... his qualification, he says, applies to such instances as the poothrowing incidents, campaigns to make the Western Cape ungovernable and attacks on the media.

In June 2014, the ANCYL marched on the offices of the Mail & Guardian in Johannesburg, calling it counter-revolutionary for becoming a ‘willing propagandist of a counter-revolution against the ANC in support of the opposition’.

Sayed does not share this view and says he enjoys a good relationship with the media. However, he admits to a policy vacuum on a number of relevant issues, including media freedom.

Sayed supports state intervention in independent civil society affairs but cannot say whether this includes intervention in media freedom. The same applies to the ANC’s proposed Media Appeals Tribunal, the Protection of State Information Bill or the right of the media to practise selfregulation.

However, neither a provincial nor the national ANCYL may be able to challenge the democratic centralist position of the ANC, which sees itself in a very conservative relationship with the media. It appears this is one issue that must still be interrogated by the provincial ANCYL.

Rhetoric of racism Racism is another major issue with the ANCYL and it readily evokes anti-racist rhetoric.

In his report at the Provincial Conference on February 22, he

says, ‘We need to ensure that, as black people in this province, we instil a sense of confidence that we can govern.

‘The only way to try and unseat the DA is by ensuring that, in general, among the young people in society, we move away from a racist mindset and move towards a mindset where black people, and Africans in particular, feel confident about who they are and their culture.’

On the one hand he criticises a racist mindset. Yet, on the other hand, he implies that black people lack the confidence to govern.

Conversely, it suggests that white people possess the confidence to govern.

This juxtaposition of the absence of black confidence and the prevalence of white confidence is counter-productive. In its attempt to offer a critique of racism, it instead continues to polarise people in terms of race and thus plays into a racist rhetoric.

Sayed disagrees and defends the rhetoric as useful in the context of a history of black oppression that must constantly be invoked in order to build a black consciousness focused on eliminating racism.

‘Too often we have seen young people, especially, have black skins but white brains. We see this in the Blue Party [the DA] and in the Red Party [the Economic Freedom Fighters].’

This line, also taken from his recent conference report, similarly suffers from the polarising rhetoric.

In this instance Sayed concurs it could have been expressed differently.

Sayed recognises the deeply ingrained forms of racism in the Western Cape manifesting and justifying itself, for example, as assertions of socially exclusive ‘indian’ and ‘coloured’ cultural identity. And often those who make these assertions point, as vindication and a guarantee of their right, to the Constitution of South Africa.

It’s a gargantuan task, he concedes, but Sayed posits broad consultation within the province and the building of solidarity as a first step towards deconstructing this evil. He says the league has no grand strategy yet.

Palestine Palestine is a major policy issue for the ANCYL and the league fully endorses the Boycott Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign against Israel.

The ties between BDS and the ANCYL are so close one fears it may compromise the independence of both the movement and the league.

Sayed appears surprised and says this concern is for BDS to answer.

However, the ANCYL position is clearly not consistent with that of the ANC, and embarrassingly so. South Africa continues its diplomatic and trade relations with Israel and the ANCYL can only say that it will continue to pressurise its own ruling party and the government.

Sayed says he cannot respond

because, as ANCYL representative, he is not a deployee for international relations. Nor, he says, can he speak for the ANC. At a public debate at Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University (NMMU), on March 5, the Democratic Alliance (DA), the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) and the ANCYL were on a panel to address the topic ‘What are the political parties’ positions on the State of Palestine/ Israel?’

Sayed represented the ANCYL. Disappointingly, it seems Sayed was upstaged by the EFF whose speaker engaged in more powerful and eloquent rhetoric in defending the international efforts to isolate Israel.

And Sayed was outwitted by the DA whose speaker put him on the spot, claiming that the ANC has an interest in protecting the US$400 million trade relationship with Israel.

It is not surprising that there is no unequivocal position on the long-time burning national issue and in parliament, Nkandla.

Perhaps it is not appropriate for a provincial Youth League leader to express an opinion on the President’s unauthorised expenditure of millions of rands of public money for personal use.

But then, for a radical and militant youth, perhaps it should be.

After the successful national conference, Sayed says one of his priorities is to build unity and discipline in the ANCYL. Given his charisma, youthful energy and integrity that seems a realistic goal. But this alone is not sufficient to unseat the DA.

Muslim Views

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Muslim Views . March 2015

Xenophobia: our official-unofficial policy?

SHAFIQ MORTON

THE letter ‘x’ doesn’t feature prominently in the English dictionary as the opening letter of a word. Mostly, the ‘x’ precedes borrowed expressions, mainly from Greek. In this case, the word ‘xenos’ means ‘strange’ or ‘foreign’. ‘Phobia’, as we all know, denotes fear.

Xenophobia is a ‘deep-rooted, irrational hatred towards foreigners’ intones the Oxford Dictionary, whose definition I prefer over a wordier Webster.

This is because my encounters with xenophobia tend to agree with the Oxford version, whose definition I would expand to embracing racism and orientalism.

What the dictionaries can’t define, though, are the horrific outcomes – violent mob behaviour directed against those who have become figures of national resentment.

Xenophobia, which targets migrant African minorities, is our great shame.

The picture of Mozambican national, Ernesto Nhamuave, clinging to life after being set alight by a mob in the Ramaphosa informal settlement during Gauteng’s xenophobic riots in 2008, is a harrowing image that has come to characterise the disturbing savagery of South African xenophobia.

Please note that I deliberately haven’t used the term ‘postapartheid’ to frame the discussion; our historical human rights shortcomings did not become new ones after Madiba.

Three centuries of colonialism and 46 years of apartheid are not

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Those who were the most ‘xenophobic’ in debate usually came from township environments while those who were more tolerant generally hailed more from the middle-class ones the kind of things that disappear overnight because of a different rule book.

Culturally, we are the heirs of an entrenched, violent racial irrationality that has constantly hallmarked our turbulent history.

For instance, how many of us know that the first recorded xenophobes were the early Cape settlers who used to hunt the San or that the Adderley Street Slave Lodge was used as a brothel by the Dutch?

Gabiba Baderoon, in her book, Regarding Muslims, explains that the obsession with the p-word on the Cape Flats is a direct result of black women being debased.

The term Maasbiekers, once referring to Mozambicans in our community, is as loaded as ‘makwerekwere’, the derogatory term for foreigners today.

Even in the stormy 1980s, when thousands of Congolese and Mozambicans sought shelter in South Africa from regional conflict, some of our Bantustans – to which they were confined by the government – deigned not to accept them.

So should it be a complete surprise that in the 1990s foreigners would unfairly bear the brunt of socio-economic frustration?

Due to our mining industry, we have always been an economically migrant society.

In the pecking order that gov-

erns being a newcomer, our recent migrants fleeing war, famine and poverty have always been the most vulnerable in the most insecure and most impoverished sectors of our society – a place where competition for scarce jobs and resources is at its most intense.

Let me provide an anecdotal example of why I say the above.

A few years ago, I was teaching a journalism course at a local tertiary institution.

When the topic of xenophobia came up in a discussion forum, things got very heated.

Some students were adamant that the foreign migrants should go home.

Foreign migrants took their jobs, sold drugs and unfairly occupied RDP houses.

Other students argued that foreign migrants were hard-working, law-abiding and that the RDP houses had been sold to them by the very same locals who wanted them out.

As I sat watching these talented young minds let loose on each other, I began to observe a pattern emerging. It was a small class and I knew my students well.

Those who were the most ‘xenophobic’ in debate usually came from township environments while those who were more tolerant generally hailed more from the middle-class ones. It wasn’t scientific but there was an

observable trend.

It reminded me that apartheid’s group areas had been designed to confine people of colour to the outskirts of cities.

The poorer you were, the more you were pushed to the edges.

With populations forcibly moved, they were suppressed by a psychology of state violence that, I feel, still festers angrily within our DNA. I tried the same discussion on xenophobia with another class, and exactly the same thing happened.

I tried it the following year and, again, the same thing happened. Those from disadvantaged backgrounds always expressed the most antagonism towards foreign migrants.

Fascinated, I turned to a 2004 study on xenophobia by the SA Migratory Project that told me 21 per cent of its respondents had felt that foreign migrants should be repatriated; 64 per cent had felt there should be restrictions.

It tied up with my findings number-wise but I didn’t encounter too much about setting – for instance, foreign migrants are not targeted in economically stable areas.

Given apartheid’s stark geography, this lack of attention to socio-political ecology surprised me.

I’m no expert but wouldn’t the

institutional memory of our privilege-divided landscape be the key to addressing the challenges of xenophobia?

When you’ve been down in the dumps for so long, and your hopes have been extinguished by decades of municipal neglect, unemployment and corruption, perceiving a newcomer to be ahead of you in the queue is going to fuel resentment, justified or not.

However, what struck me further was another statistic.

It showed that 87 per cent of law enforcement officials believed, ten years ago – without any proof – that foreign migrants were involved in crime.

This explained the bureaucratic disdain that is the bane of every migrant’s life in South Africa.

Xenophobia – I’m afraid to say – is our official, if not unofficial, policy.

Comparisons are unmistakably odious but it does remind me of a mentality during apartheid that a black man walking through a white area was always regarded as a potential burglar.

Even the dogs were xenophobic and, picking up their master’s vibes, would snap and snarl at any person of colour.

Of course, in trying to understand xenophobia, we are certainly not condoning the rank lawlessness and gross victimisation that bedevils our poorer communities.

But, surely, the time is ripe for our leaders, who will pay lip service to the rights of foreign migrants on Human Rights Day, to rid themselves of the subliminal xenophobe that still lingers within us.

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IPSA graduation 2015 an historic occasion Dr HOOSAIN EBRAHIM

INTERNATIONAL Peace College South Africa’s (Ipsa) 2015 graduation was held at Kelvin Grove, in Newlands, Cape Town, on February 27, 2015.

This event will not be forgotten for three reasons.

Firstly, it was the first accredited graduation where students were conferred the three-year Bachelor of Arts Degree Islamic Studies, and the one-year Higher Certificate Islamic Studies.

Secondly, the keynote speaker was his Excellency, Ambassador Ebrahim Rasool.

Finally, a Lifetime Achievement Award was awarded to the activist Shaikh Abdul Gamiet Gabier.

The principal of Ipsa, Shaikh Ighsaan Taliep, welcomed and informed the audience of IPSA’s 10th Anniversary “12 000 believers’ waqf for financial sustainability”.

Ipsa’s vision, he believes, is to ‘build a world-class tertiary institution with the aim to develop leaders who are equipped to engage the intellectual, ethical as well as socio-political challenges that had precipitated the decline that continue to grip the ummah across the globe today’.

In order to achieve these objectives, he appealed to the audience to join the drive for financial sustainability of the first registered Islamic tertiary institution in South Africa.

Because ‘Extremism’ has been the theme of Ipsa’s past seminars, I was not surprised when Shaikh Ighsaan mentioned that there are people in the community who

International Peace College South Africa (Ipsa) BA Islamic Studies graduates with Ipsa principal, Shaikh Ighsaan Taliep. From left: Fatima Matthews, Munthirah Kriel (cum laude), Igsaan Frieslaar (cum laude), Shaikh Taliep, Abubaker Solomons, Sabirah Guzano and Abeeda Photo FRED BARKER Mohamed.

practised extremism for the purpose of piety in Islam.

He believes it is in stark contrast to the Prophetic council: ‘Beware of extremism, for the one thing that brought destruction to those before you was their extremism in religion.’

He said, ‘Though we observe with concern the discourse of religious extremism and intolerance rearing its ugly head in our own communities, South African Muslims yet represent a beacon of light for how to live Islam and coexist in a modern globalised and pluralist society.’

After the principal’s address, Ambassador Rasool gave his keynote address.

He commended Ipsa for their choice of Shaikh Abdul Gamiet Gabier as its Lifetime Achievement Award honouree, pointing to his active participation in the struggle against apartheid as the epitome of what the Quran describes as ‘… the people of knowledge, standing for justice’.

This, Ambassador Rasool said, should be what Ipsa strives towards producing out of the unique combination of over 1 400 years of Islamic scholarship and

300 years of experience of being Muslim in South Africa under slavery, colonialism, segregation, apartheid and now freedom.

Drawing on Surah Alaq (the Congealed Clot of Blood), Ambassador Rasool pointed to the three ingredients contained in this chapter that create the basis of scholarship and the recipe for Ipsa’s excellence.

The first revelation of the Quran, the exhortation to read (‘iqra’), he said is the foundation of a learning institution that teaches and reads, thus imbibing knowledge already developed.

He continued emphasising that Allah follows this with a reference to the creation of the pen (‘al qalam’), thus exhorting us to disseminate, proclaim and spread what we know. Ipsa, therefore, has to encourage its faculty and students to be prolific in the exercise of writing.

Finally, Allah challenges us to uncover what is yet unknown (‘Allah reveals what we do not know’). The emphasis on research has been the driving force for the early Muslims who uncovered the heavens, developed mathematics and science, and made key discoveries in many disciplines.

After Ambassador Rasool’s keynote address, Shaikh Ebrahim Moos took to the podium and gave an introductory speech about Shaikh Abdul Gamiet Gabier.

The highlight of the evening was when Doctors Abdul Karriem Toffar and Hoosain Ebrahim were called upon to confer the first accredited certificates and degrees.

The students were conferred either the one-year Higher Certificate Islamic Studies or the Bachelor of Arts Degree Islamic Studies.

Shereef Abbas did the vote of thanks, and the principal, Shaikh Ighsaan, officially closed the graduation. The salawat was finally recited with the participation of everyone.

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Muslim Views . March 2015

Partnership addresses local poverty MAHMOOD SANGLAY

SIPHIWO Sulaiman Shabangu, 64, embraced Islam in 1986, in Johannesburg. In May 2012, he moved to Cape Town to seek greener pastures and start a new life. He settled in NY21, Gugulethu, where he purchased a modest home.

Due to the needs of neighbours in the area, Shabangu soon launched Al Mau’un, a weekly feeding scheme, which provided meals for up to 150 hungry residents in the area. They were mostly children, and he cooked two pots of food every Tuesday.

Today, the organisation benefits 425 people, with the support and partnership of Islamic Relief.

It is popularly known as Neighbourly Needs and is registered as an NPO dedicated to the welfare of children who are being neglected and malnourished.

The vision of Neighbourly Needs is to create a safe, healthy, drug-free and poverty-free environment for the local community.

Its goals are to manage the soup kitchen and feeding scheme, provide mentorship to the unemployed and to offer a youth centre especially for the benefit of drugaddicted youth.

Another goal is to provide shelter for and support to the neglected children by means of the day-care and after-care centre.

The organisation also hopes to assist the community in accessing welfare grants.

At present, Neighbourly Needs runs a soup kitchen that feeds about 150 people with a nourishing meal twice a week. They also provide 50 loaves of bread a week to the aged and their families.

The ultimate aim of Neigh-

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bourly Needs is to provide neglected and abused children with shelter, and a resource centre for the youth.

As a non-profit organisation, it is not funded by the government.

It uses its own resources and relies on the generous support of the community outside the township. Some of the funding for the project is derived from the soup kitchen.

In order to help render the source of funding sustainable, the organisation collects second-hand clothing, and sells to the public.

Shabangu’s research shows that households with an income of R2 300 are below the poverty line. In the Western Cape, he says, this applies to 48 per cent of households.

In the same province the proportion of people over the age of 20 with grade 12 is 20 per cent.

Based on the relevant statistics relating to, inter alia, employment and education, Shabangu approached the Muslim community to help establish the soup kitchen in the township. This is where the idea of selling used clothing emerged as a means of income.

The first organisations to support Neighbourly Needs, for a limited period, were Nakhlistan and Muslim Hands. Thereafter, Islamic Relief came on board and contributed significantly by giving blankets in the winter and food parcels.

The South African National Zakah Fund (Sanzaf) also provided support by supplying ingredients from month to month for the soup kitchen. Sanzaf also makes a significant contribution to the collection of used clothing of Neighbourly Needs.

The partnership between Islamic Relief and Neighbourly Needs started in 2012 with support in the form of blankets, food parcels, fitrah parcels and Eid hampers.

They also provided pots and three gas burners. The pots have capacities of 60 to 80 litres and are also rented to other members of the local community for functions such as weddings.

In September 2014, Islamic Relief approached Neighbourly Needs with the idea of extending an existing feeding scheme in Langa to other madrassahs. Shabangu was then tasked to identify ten madrassahs, which he did and the extended feeding scheme commenced in November 2014.

In that month, Islamic Relief started a contribution of R30 000 per month. Currently, eleven madrassahs are serviced in the project.

The goal of the partnership is to develop it into a fully-fledged feeding scheme with all the facilities of a modern, hygienic kitchen that has the capacity to serve meals, snacks, fruit and perhaps sandwiches.

School learners are typically the benefciaries of the scheme with a view to build healthy learners, motivated to attend classes, even in anticipation of a nourishing meal at the end of lessons.

An Islamic Relief report forwarded by Shabangu stated that this project presents a good image of Islam, and offers good opportunities for dawah.

Shabangu is assisted by his wife, Evelyn Mabinza, and they consult and seek counsel from their local religious leader, Shaikh Ismail Gqamane.

Ten years of love and labour produces heritage sites book TEN years ago, Naeema Limbada decided that we needed to link ourselves to our history via our sacred sites scattered across the Middle East, Turkey, India and China. Sadly, in Makkah and Madinah, over 90 per cent of our Islamic heritage has already been obliterated.

An inveterate traveller and former tour guide, Naeema decided to write it all down for future generations.

As she says, little did she realise the enormity of the task but it had to be done.

After a decade of researching, writing, image sourcing and e d i t i n g , Remembrance of Islamic Sacred Sites has finally been published by Al-Kaaf Trust, of Cape Town.

Chairman of the trust, businessman and activist, Dr Anwah Nagia, says the book reflects the heart and soul of an unassuming

author, inexperienced but sincerely driven by the task at hand.

‘When Naeema started, she couldn’t have realised that Syria, a historical treasure trove, would lie smashed and in ruins.

Yet, here we have a record of its heritage. We have supported her work at the Al-Kaaf Trust because we think it is an honest and upright work reflecting our ethos,’ he said.

At the book launch, held at the soon to be completed AlKaaf Human Rights Centre incorporating the Palestine Museum in District Six, Limbada questioned the u m m a h ’s silence on the destruction of its Islamic heritage, particularly in Saudi Arabia.

She said that the sacred sites were important reminders of our rich past.

Remembrance of Islamic Sacred Sites is available from AlKaaf Trust at 082 418 1898.

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Muslim Views . March 2015

Tribute to Farhaana Mugjenkar (July 30, 1983 – February 5, 2015) Dr MOGAMAT HOOSAIN EBRAHIM

ON behalf of the principal, deputy principal (academic) and staff of International Peace College South Africa (IPSA), it is a great honour and privilege to write a tribute to Farhaana Mugjenkar.

I thank the Mugjenkar family for allowing me to write this tribute. It is highly appreciated. She was not only a student of IPSA but became very attached to the staff and was more like a family member.

Farhaana died on Thursday morning, at 4.30, at Groote Schuur Hospital, and was buried the same day, at the Pooke Road Maqbarah. Her Salatul Janazah was performed after Asr Salaah, at Habibia Soofie Saheb Jamia Masjid.

Attending the masjid and maqbarah reminded that young and old will leave this dunyah.

The Quran reminds us that ‘every soul shall taste death’.

Farhaana was born in Cape Town on July 30, 1983. She was the eldest of four sisters born to Shaikh Mahmood and Khairunnisa Mugjenkar.

Farhaana commenced her madrassah years in Kimberley for eight years. When she arrived in Cape Town, she pursued her madrassah education at Madrasatul-Quds, Gatesville.

She attended Rylands Primary and High Schools until she completed her Senior Certificate.

Thereafter, she registered with University of South Africa (UNISA), completing a few courses towards a degree in law.

It was her passion to study.

Because of her love for the deen,

‘I tried my utmost to always check on her but she, being the amazing soul that she was, always beat me to it by checking in on me to ensure that I am doing well. Farhaana had a warm, loving heart and spirit who will be missed by all who know her.’ she registered with IPSA, completing the one-year Enrichment Course and continued with the BA degree. Due to her illness she could not complete her degree.

Shaikh Fakhruddin Owaisi, one of Farhaana’s teachers, said: ‘Farhaana was my student for three years and I remembered her as a truly dedicated and well behaved student, always smiling and greeting. She worked hard to achieve her goals.

‘A few days before she passed on, she messaged me to say salaam and requested me to make duah. I pray that Allah grants her continuous happiness in the next world as she had in this temporary world.’

Farhaana’s sister, Aneesa, said that Farhaana loved reading the

biography of The Prophet (SAW).

‘She enjoyed watching videos of Shaikh Muhammad Ninowy and Mufti Menk. Her hobbies were knitting and baking and she had an interest in arranging flowers. She had in mind opening her own business. She also started working on a recipe book.

‘She was very assertive in bringing her ideas across. She always had a smile on her face; she had the ability to forgive very easily.’ This reminds me of the Prophet (SAW) when he said: ‘Do not anger.’

When I interviewed her father, he said, ‘She is still the apple of my eye.’

Her spirituality was clearly evident. When I made contact with the records officer at IPSA, Mas-

noenah Kamalie, she had this to say: ‘I had the honour of knowing Farhaana. She had a special place in my heart that only she knew how to fill.

‘Farhaana and I spent many hours chatting about her hopes and dreams and her love for Allah and her yearning to always be a student of deen. After she left IPSA we stayed in contact.

‘I tried my utmost to always check on her but she, being the amazing soul that she was, always beat me to it by checking in on me to ensure that I am doing well.

Farhaana had a warm, loving heart and spirit who will be missed by all who know her.’

I had the honour to teach her Sirah and History at IPSA and found her to be dedicated and

passionate about her work. Her personality and character set a good example for the rest of the class.

I conclude this tribute by stating that Farhaana was a faithful person who lived a life of sincerity, dignity and, above everything else, was conscious of her duties as a Muslim. She expressed her love for Allah and endeavoured to follow the practice of Muhammad (SAW).

May the Almighty forgive her sins and reward her in abundance for the sacrifices she had made studying the deen. May the Almighty Allah grant her Jannatul Firdous and grant her family sabr, ameen.

Our condolences go to the Mugjenkar and Parker families.

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Muslim Views . March 2015

- ADVERTISEMENT FEATURE SANZAF Skills Development Programme recognises potential in people

Forty years of selfless service to humanity SAKEENA BOCK

THE South African National Zakah Fund (SANZAF) recently honoured Mualimah Yasmine Abdulrazaak with a LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD aptly inscribed ‘In honour of your outstanding commitment and dedication for serving those in need and for leaving no one behind’.

A selfless service to humanity is also a selfless in this special moment (from left): SANZAF Western Cape Administrator, Abdurazaaq service to the Sharing Razaaq, Mualimah Yasmine Abdulrazaak, SANZAF National Treasurer, Fayruz Mohamed, and Almighty.

SANZAF Deputy Chairperson, Showkat Mukadam.

Photo SAKEENA BOCK On bidding farewell to MualThese are big shoes to fill but both on radio and as a case-workimah Yasmin, SANZAF Deputy er in the early years benefited the groundwork has been set for Chairperson Showkat Mukadam, many that passed through the the Tarbiyyah programme at reflected on the instrumental role doors of SANZAF. Those tuning SANZAF. she played in the systematic in and listening to her soft-spoken True to her humanitarian spirdevelopment of training Muslims but formidable voice were edu- it, Mualimah Yasmin remains a and reverts in the spiritual, moral cated and informed about zakah dedicated volunteer. We wish and social aspects of our deen. and the outreach activities of Mualimah Yasmin all the success Her deep insight and wisdom SANZAF. in the future.

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CASEWORKERS at SANZAF deal with a plethora of social issues affecting society on a daily basis ranging from economic issues, family relationships and conflicts, challenges facing the elderly and drug abuse, to name but a few.

The approach at SANZAF is to maintain the dignity of the person who chooses to come for assistance or to seek advice.

A holistic assessment is offered by the caseworkers to establish what can be done to benefit and sustain a family in the long term.

Hence, the Skills Development Programme offer, which is part of the SANZAF education empowerment development programme

popularly known as SEED. This programme plays an essential role in alleviating poverty and uplifting communities.

Insaaf Osman, Skills Development Coordinator, explains what sets the course aside from the rest.

‘The main benefits we see from the programme are that our beneficiaries that have been coming to our offices consistently have not returned for assistance after pursuing the training.’

She added that the Information Technology (IT) students will be graduating in April, and internships for these students with stipends are secured.

Would you like to support a student in need, and make a difference?

Feel free to contact us at 021 447 0297 or visit us at www.sanzaf.org.za Mohammed Ibrahim, an IT student at an accredited institution, studiously applies himself while Insaaf Osman, SANZAF Skills Development Coordinator, looks on. These training courses offer students an opportunity to gain access to the world of work, allowing students to become self-sufficient.

Photo SUPPLIED

Perspectives

Muslim Views . March 2015

15

Hallaq’s impossible state: an interpretation Part 6 The real meaning of life THE brutal economic logic of the state inevitably produces a citizen that is similarly focused on the material and the immediate. In other words, it produces a citizen that is intuitively suspicious of the spiritual; that is trained not to look into that realm as a solution to life’s crises.

If so, how does the citizen of the modern state give meaning to his or her life?

A major vehicle of meaning in the modern world is the phenomenon of nationalism. While a certain degree of nationalism has historically been characteristic of cultures worldwide, its use by the modern state has taken certain dramatic overtones.

Nationalism has now come to fill the void created by the marginalisation of religion in modern society. In other words, it often takes the place of religion.

Modern nationalism is composed of beliefs and symbols that ape a religion but, of course, it is not a religion in the traditional sense. It is the religion of the state. And it is the religion of a citizen that has been left emotionally and spiritually impoverished by the logic of that state.

And as shown, in Nazi Germany, for example, it can have devastating consequences.

In contrast, Islam, like any traditional religion, locates reality in the eternal, not in the historical.

In this series of eight articles, Dr AUWAIS RAFUDEEN presents an interpretive summary of a major recent book, The Impossible State, by a distinguished expert in Islamic law, Professor Wael Hallaq. The book speaks in a major way to the modern Muslim condition and the issues it raises are deserving of careful consideration by all those seeking to faithfully adhere to the shariah while navigating the tempestuous modern world.

All actions take place keeping the reality of God firmly in the forefront.

The human being is soon going to return to that God, and his and her purpose is to make the reality of God palpable in their lives.

And they do so by submitting to the shariah.

And the key to the shariah, the key to making the reality of Allah palpable, is acting upon the five pillars of Islam. And because Allah is a reality who is All-Seeing, All-Hearing, it is not merely formal acting upon these pillars that is required.

On the contrary, a Muslim is also required to act upon the spirit and inner meaning of these pillars. (In a traditional Muslim society, formal following and

Modern nationalism is composed of beliefs and symbols that ape a religion but, of course, it is not a religion in the traditional sense. It is the religion of the state.

And it is the religion of a citizen that has been left emotionally and spiritually impoverished by the logic of that state inner spirit – fiqh and tasawwuf – go hand in hand, being two sides of the same coin.)

And the spirit of these pillars revolve around the concept of niyyah (intention), which implies doing things purely for the sake of Allah.

But attaining such Allah-consciousness is not easy. A human being is involved in a constant battle between the heart (the seat of such consciousness) and the nafs or lower self (containing the forces that detract from such consciousness).

And so the human being has to fight the forces of the lower self in order to develop and cultivate such consciousness. And in the process of such cultivation, the

human being gradually acquires virtue – that is, submitting to Allah willingly, freely and, ultimately, out of pure love.

And this is really what is intended by the shariah, the moral system of Islam: it aims to cultivate the real, active, ardent love of Allah within the individual. And in this love, the self finds its fulfilment, its highest purpose and its unending bliss.

It is the shariah, then, rather than the modern state, that shows a profound care and solicitude for the true welfare of an individual.

It seeks to gently guide the self to the truly real.

In this journey, the self realises the nature of virtue, realises its qualitative dimensions, realises

that it is more than a material accident.

In contrast, the modern state reduces the individual to a citizen, to an automaton in the service of the state. And having so reduced the human being, it leaves her spiritually alienated, disenchanted and impoverished.

Reference: Wael Hallaq, The Impossible State, Columbia University Press, New York, 2013.

In part seven, we look at how the economic worldview of the shariah fares in the face of the forces of globalisation.

Dr Rafudeen is Senior Lecturer in the Department of Religious Studies and Arabic at University of South Africa.

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Muslim Views . March 2015

Muslim Views . March 2015

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Muslim Views

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Muslim Views

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Muslim Views . March 2015

Hajj greetings CRIPPLED by arthritis, she slowly heaved her heavy frame into my consulting room in Cape Town, her hefty walking stick struggling to support her.

Jovial as always, she again laughed and elaborated on my clinical inadequacies before starting to talk about her medical issues.

She has been my patient for a third of her 75 years on this earth.

She is a devout Christian, and we frequently discuss religious issues.

Her husband passed away a few years ago after a few decades severely incapacitated by damaged lungs – a sad price paid to the fashion of smoking since childhood. She reminisces about him at every visit, and I often express my admiration of her devotion to him.

She was an absolutely stunning lady in her youth as the many photos that she proudly presented to me bore testimony to. She has

The father threatened, the mother spoke of the shame, the extended family violently objected, writes Doctor SALIM PARKER. had many proposals since being widowed and she would relate these to me with a giggle; flattered to still be admired yet determined never to be ‘unfaithful’ to the man with whom she had spent more than half-a-century.

‘Doc, why do you people greet everyone before you go on Hajj?’ she asked me on one occasion.

She had grown accustomed to my annual absence during the pilgrimage period and would always enquire about my journey upon my return.

‘I don’t greet everyone every year; it’s only when people go for the first time that they do that,’ I replied.

‘Well, it seems everyone who

attends the surgery knows when you’re gone,’ she said. ‘A Muslim came to greet me,’ she added with a stutter. Her eyes lit up and then she hesitantly gazed down, a shy smile becoming subtly discernible.

The change from the loud and verbose to teenage withdrawal could only mean one thing. ‘So which old flame came to greet?’ I quizzed.

‘It’s nothing really,’ she protested but I persisted and, after a while, she relented.

She recounted the story of her first love, many, many decades ago in one of the well-known suburbs of Cape Town where Muslims and Christians lived peacefully as neighbours, shared in each other’s joys and sadness and earning each other’s respect by allowing each other to practise their religions in harmony and tranquillity.

She was deeply in love with him. She was a deeply devoted Christian and he a Muslim. They discussed marriage and she realised that Islam was a religion she was very interested in. She, in fact, realised that she deeply admired all her Muslim neighbours and that she had values in common with them.

They spoke of her attending classes conducted by a local shaikh, and the two of them decided to approach their respective families.

From what I gathered, her parents had not been over the moon with her plans but informed her that they would not stand in her way. His parents, however, were a completely different story.

The father threatened, the mother spoke of the shame, the extended family violently objected. ‘I decided to leave all things as

be; left thoughts of being his life, his wife and, in the process, also left thoughts of becoming a Muslim,’ she recounted.

‘You’re a Muslim at heart,’ I thought. Every year, she would religiously call me just before Ramadaan and the day after Eid; after every Hajj she would enquire about the journey. She grew up surrounded by the religion yet, when she wanted to entrench it in her heart and life, prejudice tore it away from her.

She was acutely aware of the celebrations taking place when he married a Muslim lady a year or two later. She felt alienated by the course of events, remained true to her Christian upbringing and, later, married the most wonderful man.

Many a child she bore and many more years they spent in wedded bliss. She must have had a wonderful personality in her youth. There must have been something about her that triggered fond memories when many Muslims reminisced about days gone by and remembered those who were special and significant in their lives.

These were the prospective pilgrims who make it a rule to greet virtually everyone who was present in some way or other in their lives. And she could account that nearly everyone in the neighbourhood of her youth came to greet her before they embarked on their Hajj.

She fondly recollected a couple who had got married in their teens and received a Hajj trip as a wedding gift from their parents.

Different tales she told of divine directions some of her Muslim friends experienced on their way to fulfilling the fifth pillar of Islam.

‘Yes Doc, so he came to greet me a few weeks ago,’ she shyly related. ‘His wife passed away a few years ago and he said that his one regret was that he could never take her for Hajj. They could never afford to go but now he had enough money to go.

‘All his children are married, just like mine. He was all alone, just like me. He is lonely, just like I am,’ she added.

‘So he proposed and you two are going to get married and the two of you are going to perform Hajj!’ I exclaimed. ‘Yes!’ I added.

‘We are going to be in Saudi together.’

She burst out laughing. ‘No Doc, nothing like that. He wanted to talk but I kept it very formal. He talked of how different life could have been if he had persuaded his parents to consent to the two of us getting married.

‘I talked of how good my husband was, how blessed we all were for what God had provided us with, and that we all believe in the same Creator. I knew I always was important to him as he was important to me. I appreciated it that he came to greet.’

I looked at her and noticed her sadness. ‘Remember that people also come to ask for forgiveness.

Sometimes, decades later, they want to right a wrong, ask for forgiveness no matter how indirectly, before departing for Hajj,’ I said.

‘You know Doc, I wanted him to fight for me those many years ago. I felt I was worth fighting for as I went for religious classes and loved the religion that I never embraced. Sometimes my family said I was more Muslim than Christian.

‘Just not being born a Muslim was such an insurmountable objection to his parents; and I lost faith in that way of life. I probably would never have been accepted.

‘I kept thinking that I was a child of a lesser religion in his parent’s eyes, that I was not worthy of entering the religion that recognises no superiority of one believer over the other. But I am not bitter; I just often think about your religion and wonder about this wonderful journey that Muslims speak so highly about.’

My telephone rang. My receptionist informed me that the waiting room was packed; I had spent a considerable time chatting to her. ‘Let me greet you before I depart for my Hajj,’ I smiled.

She hugged me. ‘I know I am always in your prayers,’ she said.

‘And I’ll take your prayers on this pilgrimage which many consider the ultimate journey,’ I replied.

‘You know Doc, I think his greeting was part of his redemption, and it finally led to me accepting that human fallibility leads to weakness. He did not fight for me but his greeting said a lot of his regret.’

She smiled, ‘Let’s greet and forget.’ She suddenly laughed out loud and departed, leaving behind a few stark reminders of all the worthwhiles that I, as a human being, was too weak to fight for.

Comments to: salimparker@yahoo.com

In our eagerness to fulfil the tenets of our deen, how often are we blinded and leave others in the shadows due to our prejudices?

Photo SALIM PARKER

Muslim Views

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Muslim Views . March 2015

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Muslim Views

20

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Muslim Views . March 2015

Myth or fact?

I FEEL compelled to respond to the article by S Morton, ‘Justifying the Light Fantastic’ (MV February 2015).

At the outset, the divine Quran is the only primary source of guidance, and the hadith is a secondary source. In other words, the Quranic verses take preference over the hadith.

The writer therefore succeeds in pointing out that there are over forty ahadith that contradicts the Quranic injunctions on prophetic intercession.

My main concern is that the writer confines 1 400 years of scholarship to the hadith. He disregards the vast body of Islamic scholarship in the sciences, politics and economics, among other fields, that has its roots in Quranic revelation.

The general acknowledgement is that the Quran gave rise to the modern scientific era. I do not need to elaborate on this.

Another problem is that the writer fails to distinguish between myth and logos, which is common in our Islamic society.

While there is a place for myth in society, any attempt to translate myth into rationality only leads to irrationality. Many mythological concepts have crept

into Islamic culture and practice in the post-Quranic stage for obvious reasons.

These are based on similar topologies found in other mythological beliefs. The saliva mixed with sand is one of these, and can be traced back to ancient Irish folklore and Roman beliefs.

The use of saliva for treating eye-diseases, in particular, is noted in a variety of Jewish, Greek, Roman and early Christian sources. Egyptian myth tells us that Thoth healed Horus’s blind eye by spitting on it.

Instead of distracting from the issues at hand by consistently discrediting the respondents to his initial article, the writer should concede fact from myth.

N Mahomed Western Cape

Realise the dynamism of the Quran IN response to the dialogue between Members of The Open Mosque and Shafiq Morton in Muslim Views (February 2015): a dialogue can become a minefield if not characterised by tolerance, sincerity, love and sanctity of Nabi (not prophet)

‘Enemies to yourselves’ CHAPTER 64, Surah Taghabun (Mutual Loss and Gain): ‘O ye who believe! Truly, among your wives and your children are (some that are) enemies to yourselves: so beware of them! But if ye forgive and overlook, and cover up (their faults), verily Allah is Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful.’ (Yusuf Ali translation) Very often the Quran contains verses that utterly frighten me. The above verse often causes me to ponder deeply when requested to assist a family that has problems which are evidently self-created.

After nearly ten years in the Social Welfare Department of the Muslim Judicial Council (MJC) and 15 years in national, provincial and local government, I am fairly confident when helping people.

Muhammad (PBUH), an exemplar that embodied the Quran, a divinely inspired book with a complete code for life.

The Quran with its true history, describes the physical and the metaphysical, not forgetting the development of the self in the spiritual and material way. The Quran is a book that is divinely protected (Surah 15:9).

There have been no additions or deletions since its completion

by Nabi Muhammad (PBUH) 1 400 years ago. It is protected in such a way that its details cannot be altered (Surah 41:41), as happened with the divine books of previous nabis, peace be upon them all.

The response to the above dialogue is in conjunction with the current rise in literalist religious models for organising societies and individual lives, the complicity of western and Muslim leaders with Zionism, the United States of America and its allies’ invasions of the predominately Muslim middle eastern countries such as Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya and its war on terrorism in which Islam (Muslims) is the scapegoat.

The above should be of great concern to the Muslims who hold dear the same Kalima Tayyaba.

The Quran is essentially a divinely revealed scripture for all of mankind till the end of time

When I do not know, I research, consult or refer into the correct direction. Ironically, often I assist people who hear but in reality do not listen to the advice given.

Example 1: An elderly lady met with me about her Council arrears. During the chat, she told me that her son was a drug addict and he did not like to work. I suggested that she tell him to contact me so I could refer him to a rehab. I also told her not to support him otherwise he would not improve.

Since he never visited, I contacted the lady who told me not to worry. Months later, she was in my office and explained that she was being evicted. I was startled as she owned the property and had little debt.

Ironically, in our time apart, her son swayed her to transfer the house onto his name for inheritance. He then sold the property and used the money on drugs. He left his mother with municipal accounts and left the sold property without any

(14:1) and (2:185). The Quran must be studied (2:121) then we will realise it is divine knowledge.

The passivity prevalent in the Muslim world today is poles apart from the dynamic Islam presented by the Quran. Belief in God has been replaced. The concept of sovereignty of Allah in human affairs has been changed to the concept of sovereignty of the people or the sovereignty of individual human beings.

Consequently, the centralisation of the ummah is lost. Instead of subservience to Allah, the Muslims today are subservient to mullahs, faqirs, pirs and the imams and all sorts of political and intellectual exploiters (9:31).

The main mission of our Beloved Nabi Muhammad (PBUH) was to release mankind from priesthood and the heavy burdens and the yokes that were placed upon them (Surah 7:157).

Our Beloved Rasool (PBUH) achieved his goal, gave a practical demonstration of it and left behind a pattern of the Quran for the smooth development of the self.

Hence, some of the narrations of the scholars of antiquity for some reason or the other broke that pattern whereby Islam changed from the dynamic pragmatism to a religion of mythology and mysticism whereby Muslims today are groaning under the same pressure of the same weights and are bound by the same yokes from which our beloved Rasool (PBUH) came to release them.

Islamic history, with the Quran as the only source of law, has

warning.

The addict son ruined his mother’s financial stability. As the verse explains, the elderly lady’s greatest enemy was her son; she just did not know this fact.

Example 2: Decades ago, I experienced a similar case at the MJC offices. After decades of hard work, a retired couple decided to transfer their home into their son’s name. The son who was married for some years had lived with them and they trusted him.

After the transfer was done, the son and his wife who were married in court had marital problems. Long story short, the divorced wife ended up with the elderly couple’s house, and the pensioners and their son had to rent elsewhere.

To add insult to injury, the wife remarried and her new husband is living in great comfort. As the verse advised, in this case the wife was the husband’s unknown enemy.

been more intellectually accomplished than Christian Europe of the day, where Christians, Jews, Hindus, Buddhists had flourished and worked together.

It was a deen that seeded the European Renaissance and enabled many aspects of modern West and global civilisation.

Presently, the deen of Islam is being vilified, ignored, misunderstood, suppressed or even misinterpreted because the divine message of the Quran has been stuck to various interpretations and literal statements of acts of our Beloved Nabi Muhammad (PBUH) who was a dynamic pragmatist Allah had sent to bring to mankind a code of life that is detailed in the Quran – a code for life that evolves with time, with the quagmire of social milieus which has affected the Muslim world. Hence, it is important not to ignore divine revelation in Islamic scholarship.

The article of Shafiq Morton that has brought about this dialogue is a good thing perhaps and, hopefully, the Muslims will realise the dynamism of the Quran and the mythological narrations of the scholars of antiquity, Insha Allah. Allah knows best!

It is my earnest appeal to my fellow Muslims to read the following divine Quranic revelations: Surahs 12:08, 6:50, 38:70, 6:155, 18:6 (Allah’s Hadith). Perhaps or maybe we will return to the status of the Mutaqeen. Insha Allah.

Ismail Achmat Cape Town

Example 3: Recently, I was contacted by a person who had received several notices from the Council to come forward and make an arrangement. As a result, I advised where to go and even what to say.

A week later, the person insisted on an urgent meeting as his water and electricity was cut. Confident in my advice, I contacted the Council admin demanding answers.

The official clarified that the person did not come forward and, after months, due process was effected.

On meeting, I asked the plaintiff why he did not listen a week earlier. He replied that he was busy and forgot. This person shamed me in the view of key officials. In this case, the man did not need enemies as he was his own enemy.

In the end, Allah knows best, may Allah protect you and me from our enemies known and unknown. Ameen Cllr Yagyah Adams Cape Muslim Congress

Write to The Editor. e-mail: editor@mviews.co.za • fax: 086 516 4772 • PO Box 442 Athlone 7760

Please keep your letters as brief as possible. Muslim Views reserves the right to edit letters that exceed 500 words. Kindly include full name and address details.

Orient Ladies celebrates 25 years of service

The current executive committee of the Orient Ladies Cultural Club are, from left, Feroza Ebrahim, secretary, Farida Ahmed, assistant secretary, Razia Ismail, vice-chairperson, Ayeshabi Parker, chairperson, and Amina Parker, treasurer.

Dilaram Royker, assistant treasurer, was absent.

Photo SHARIEFA JOHAAR Muslim Views

MAHMOOD SANGLAY AFTER 25 years, Orient Ladies Cultural Club has reason to celebrate the ways in which it has enhanced the lives of women in the community.

The aim was to empower women in the community socially, culturally and spiritually.

However, in the course of their efforts much charitable work has also been done.

On February 14, 1990, the first official meeting of 14 members of the club was convened by the founders, Suraya Vinoos and Feroza Ebrahim. This followed elections, the creation of different portfolios, the formation of an executive committee, various subcommittees and the drafting of a constitution.

The club currently has about 50 members but this number is dynamic due to the constant influx and departure of members.

They discovered that they all had a range of different skills and talents. Some excelled in the culi-

nary arts, others in crafts and some had lessons in spirituality to share. Soon the club formed a dhikr group and book club.

They also presented programmes in the interest of their members’ health and they invited medical specialists to talk to them on health-related topics.

The club also promoted small businesses and home entrepreneurship by having an annual mini-market. In Ramadaan, the members benefit from extra classes on spiritual topics.

Members of the club enjoy quarterly outings to destinations like strawberry farms, Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens or frolicking in the water on the beach on a hot, sunny day. Such activities are enjoyed for their social value and for building relations between members.

Over the 25 years, members have supported the club generously by contributing to the annual Winter Warmth collection drive.

Some of the regular recipients

of the club’s Winter Warmth collection drive include the South African National Zakah Fund, Mustadafeen Foundation, The Khayelitsha Masjid and Beitul Aman Home for the Aged.

In 2000, the club contributed to the Department of Ophthalmology at Tygerberg Hospital for its Cataract 2000 project.

Recently, the club assisted the Mfuleni Development Trust for a project which is under construction in Delft.

They also gave over 100 hygiene packs for the ‘To My Sister with Love’ campaign in Syria.

Another successful campaign was the Adopt-a-School-Project in which socks, shoes and raincoats were contributed for the benefit of the learners at Christian David Moravian Primary School.

Much of the activities require organisational skills and planning. By participating in the club’s various activities, members are empowered and contribute to achieving its objectives.

Muslim Views . March 2015

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Spirituality a dimension of well-being DR MOGAMAT HOOSAIN EBRAHIM points out that the road to wellness – especially with behavioural illnesses – is a synergy between spirituality and sound medical advice and treatment.

MAJOR advances in unravelling the causes of illnesses and improving the quality of medical care are speedily taking place in the area of scientific research. All these have enhanced curative and preventative measures in fighting illnesses.

Despite the advancement in knowledge and modern technology, it is evident from statistical data currently available that humankind still suffers from psychological, social and physical diseases, specifically behaviourrelated disorders.

Although people are well aware of preventative methods and treatment, they may be unable to keep to the advice given by concerned physicians. This indicates that certain ideas and thoughts may already have been shaped which influence people’s behaviour in health and illness.

These ideas and positive approaches will have a greater impact on human behaviour if they are spiritually bound and religiously established. It will have a more dynamic and broader impact on the encouragement of health-care and the prevention of behaviour related diseases.

It was described by the prophets that preventative measures are instructions from Almighty Allah who created human beings and knows what

‘Recite that which has been revealed to you of the Book and keep up prayer. Surely prayers keep (one) away from indecency and evil; and certainly the remembrance of Allah is the greatest (force). And Allah knows what you do.’ benefits or harms them.

During the era of the Prophet Muhammad (SAW), this spirituality had a powerful effect on his companions and those after them.

With the current behavioural related disorders, this faith/ spirituality should be increasingly reinforced now that we realise the great dangers that confront humanity.

Absolute faith is central to the role of prevention. The Quran gives clear directions to abstain from these behavioural ills. And the starting point is to firstly obey Allah and His Rasul (SAW).

Allah mentions in Chapter 59, in a part of verse seven: ‘And whatever the Messenger gives you, accept it, and whatever he forbids you, abstain (from it).’

Alcoholism was partly responsible for the deterioration which befell prehistoric civilisations.

During our contemporary world, many families are destroyed because of this evil. Alcoholics and drug-addicts cannot live without their fixes, and in their desperate moments are ready to

commit the worst crimes.

Islam faced that great evil and succeeded gradually in overcoming its dangerous effects. The final prohibition of the consumption of wine is mentioned in the Quran: ‘O you who believe, wine and games of chance and idols and divining arrows are an abomination, a handiwork of Satan. Leave it aside in order that you may succeed.

‘Satan seeks only to cast among you enmity and hatred by means of wine and gambling, and would keep you away from remembrance of Allah and from prayer; will you not then desist?’

(5:91) The Prophet (SAW) said: ‘An intoxicant is a mother of all vices.

Whosoever drinks it, his prayers will not be accepted by Allah for 40 days. If he died and there is wine in his stomach, he has died the death of the jahiliyyah (the period before the advent of Islam).’

The true Islamic societies, to date, are reasonably free from the evils of alcoholic addiction. This

is as a result of the deep faith that true Muslims keep as regards the Quranic injunctions and following the practice of the Prophet (SAW).

This was also applied to other physical, psychological and social evils.

Although faith is of varying degrees, spiritual faith often creates in man satisfaction and pleasure depending only on the AllPowerful Allah.

This pleasure and satisfaction is manifested in the behaviour of a true believer who is confronted with a very dangerous situation but who is urged by his faith to go through it, in several cases succeeding. Without this faith, such an endeavour could not be fulfilled.

The faith is acquired through love and satisfaction, meditation and contemplation of the universe and insight about life.

Allah says in chapter three, verse 190: ‘In the creation of the heavens and the earth and the alternation of night and day, there are indeed signs for reflection.’

This meditation creates in one a wealth of insight that the Almighty Allah is not only the Creator but is the absolute giver of health and all other bequests.

It is Allah who created disease and who also created relief.

Muslims have made exceptional contributions to medical science, being driven by their faith and the saying of the Prophet (SAW): ‘There is no disease for which Allah did not create a cure.’

Finally, the recital of the Quran and regular prayer is the answer to all these sins.

Allah says: ‘Recite that which has been revealed to you of the Book and keep up prayer.

‘Surely prayers keep (one) away from indecency and evil; and certainly the remembrance of Allah is the greatest (force). And Allah knows what you do.’

(Quran 29:45) Dr Ebrahim is a lecturer in Religion Studies, History, Ulum al-Quran and Ilm al-Kalam at International Peace College South Africa (IPSA).

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Muslim Views . March 2015

Health File

Chronic kidney disease (CKD) Doctor MY CHOTHIA

Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is an irreversible form of kidney damage. It is a very common disease with one out of ten persons in the world having some form of CKD. In the Western Cape, it is estimated that the number of new cases of the most severe form of CKD, end-stage kidney disease (ESKD), is approximately 1 250 cases per year.

The most common causes of CKD include diabetes mellitus (‘sugar’), hypertension (‘high blood pressure’), infections such as HIV, and inherited diseases such as autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease (ADPKD).

Individuals with CKD usually have no symptoms until very late in the disease progression. If symptoms are present they are usually non-specific. For this reason it is important that individuals at high risk for the development of CKD are screened yearly.

High-risk individuals include those with diabetes, hypertension, HIV infection, a family history of kidney disease such as ADPKD and age older than 50 years.

Screening for CKD includes measuring the blood pressure, testing the urine for protein using a dipstick and a blood test to measure creatinine (a substance normally made by muscle and removed by the kidneys).

The main aim for identifying individuals with early CKD is to

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Sister Jennifer Juta (left) with patient Mieta Amsterdam while receiving haemodialysis at Tygerberg Hospital.

Photo JOHNATHAN MAREE

prevent progression to ESKD. This treatment relies on patients taking their medication regularly. treatment Preventative includes sugar control in diabetics, blood pressure control in those with hypertension, cessation of smoking, and avoiding over-the-counter (OTC) medication that may cause further dam-

age to the kidneys, such as pain medication including Brufen® and Voltaren®, and certain types of antibiotics.

If OTC medication is purchased, patients must inform the pharmacist of their CKD to avoid the inadvertent dispensing of potentially kidney-damaging medication.

For those individuals who progress to ESKD, the treatment options are extremely costly.

These forms of renal replacement therapies (RRT) include haemodialysis, peritoneal dialysis and kidney transplantation.

Both forms of dialysis are timeconsuming, which impacts on the patient’s quality of life. Those on haemodialysis receive this form of RRT three times a week at a dialysis centre. Here the patient is connected to a machine that removes blood from the body and, after toxins have been removed, returns the ‘cleaned’ blood to the patient.

The other form of dialysis, called peritoneal dialysis, is done by the patients themselves at home and entails the instillation of fluid into the abdomen through a catheter, allowing it to dwell for four hours. This allows toxins to move into the fluid. Thereafter, this ‘toxin-filled’ fluid is drained and replaced with ‘clean’ fluid.

The procedure is done four times a day. Most patients will initially receive dialysis as RRT but this is only used as a bridge to allow patients to survive long enough to ultimately receive the best form of RRT, a kidney transplant.

Kidney transplantation has the best overall outcomes such as the best long-term survival, the best quality of life and cheaper costs as compared with both forms of

dialysis.

However, due to a shortage of organ donation, the number of patients awaiting transplantation is growing at a rapid rate. (For information regarding organ donation, please visit the Organ Donor Foundation website, https://www.odf.org.za/) The vast majority of patients with ESKD, about 80%, are dependent on the public sector for RRT. However, due to costs, only limited numbers of patients will eventually receive this treatment in the public sector.

In conclusion, CKD is a very common condition. Patients at risk for the development of CKD should be screened so that treatment can be initiated early to prevent progression to ESKD. Adherence to prescribed medication is of utmost importance. The best form of RRT is kidney transplantation but a lack of organ donation is the main reason for many patients waiting for a transplant.

As the vast majority of ESKD patients are dependent on the public sector for RRT, and treatment is prohibitively expensive, many cannot be accommodated in the public sector. For this reason it is important that preventative therapies are initiated early, and strict adherence to these treatments are maintained.

Dr MY Chothia is a nephrologist in the Department of Medicine, Divisions of Nephrology and General Medicine, Faculty of Medicine & Health Sciences, Stellenbosch University and at Tygerberg Academic Hospital.

Muslim Views . March 2015

23

Arthritis just the tip of the iceberg of rheumatology Doctor NUR ABRAHAMS

‘SO, what is rheumatology?’

That’s a question I often get asked, and the easy answer is that we deal with arthritis.

However, that is just the tip of the iceberg. There are more than 100 rheumatic diseases, some being more common than others.

Some rheumatic diseases may not always be obvious at the onset and may require some time to make an accurate diagnosis.

Rheumatologists see common conditions like gout, where an accumulation of uric acid results in the deposition of uric acid crystals in the joints. Gout usually affects men more than women.

Post-menopausal women are more at risk of developing gout than pre-menopausal women.

Gout usually presents with an acute, painful, swollen joint.

Gout can affect any joint in the body but most people will have an attack of the big toe at some point.

If uric acid levels remain high for years then crystals deposit in the tissue and result in tophi.

Tophi are unsightly lumps on the skin that can occur in the hands, tendons and even ear cartilage.

Gout is usually easily treated provided patients comply with the prescribed treatment.

The hallmark of rheumatic diseases is inflammatory arthritis.

Features of inflammatory arthritis include pain that is worse in the morning, and improves with activity; morning stiffness lasting for more than an hour and, usually, the insidious onset of pain.

Rheumatoid arthritis, psoriatic arthritis and SLE (systemic lupus erythematosis) are some examples

There are more than 100 rheumatic diseases, some being more common than others. Some rheumatic diseases may not always be obvious at the onset and may require some time to make an accurate diagnosis.

Dr Nur Abrahams.

Photo SUPPLIED

of conditions that can cause inflammatory arthritis.

A great deal of research has gone into the immunological understanding of these diseases.

Targeted therapies are available and have proven effective in patients who are not controlled by conventional treatment. These newer agents are called biologics.

Also in the spectrum of rheumatology are rare autoimmune diseases which affect the connective tissue – bone, muscle, joint and skin – and vasculitis – inflammation of the blood vessels.

These diseases usually require immune suppressive agents to control the diseases.

Systemic Lupus Erythematosis

(SLE) is a multisystem autoimmune disease. The manifestations vary and can affect each person differently. Skin and joint disease are the common features while other patients can have severe organ dysfunction.

Kidney disease in SLE is the main cause of mortality along with infections in patients that are immune-compromised from the treatment used in SLE. All patients with lupus should be on chloroquine as this has been shown to prevent flair ups of the disease.

Fibromyalgia (FMS) Fibromyalgia is chronic pain syndrome where people have widespread pain. It is associated with poor sleep and sedentary patients.

FMS is a diagnosis of exclusion. Other causes of pain need to be excluded e.g. thyroid disease, rheumatoid arthritis, SLE, psoriatic arthritis, drugs-statins and myositis.

The clinical examination in FMS is usually normal. The range of movement in joints is normal despite having pain. A tender

point examination is usually painful, confirming the diagnosis.

Other symptoms related to FMS include persistent fatigue, waking up unrefreshed and a feeling of mental slowness. A host of somatic symptoms may also accompany patients with FMS e.g. tingling of fingers, dizziness, headaches, abdominal pain, numbness and nausea.

Fibromyalgia is part of the spectrum of diseases where pain amplification is central to the pathogenesis. Patients may have increased pain sensitivity.

Alodynia is the painful feeling that patients may get from own pain stimuli, for example shaking hands and hugging. Hyperalgesia is an exaggerated pain response out of keeping with the stimulus.

Treatment of FMS involves simple analgesia management and improving the quality of sleep. A graded exercise programme is also vitally important to the outcome of FMS. So what should one expect when visiting a rheumatologist? l Accurate assessment and diagnosis of painful syndromes. l Management of soft tissue

rheumatism often with local steroid injections. l Control of inflammatory arthritis and to monitor for the potential side effects from these treatments. l Investigate and manage connective tissue diseases and vaculitides.

Rheumatologists usually spend six years in medical school before doing a speciality in Internal Medicine, which is an additional four years of training.

The Fellowship in Rheumatology is an additional two-year course followed by a thorough examination by academic professors.

Often a rheumatologist works with multiple other health providers, like nurses, physiotherapists, occupational therapists as well as other physicians and surgeons.

The team approach is often necessary as rheumatic diseases can be very complex.

Dr Nur Abrahams, MBChB (UCT), FCP (SA), Cert Rheum, is a rheumatologist based at Melomed Gatesville Hospital.

Telephone 021 699 0095

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Muslim Views . March 2015

AWQAF - promoting self-reliance and sustainability

Waqf: asset management and income generation DR GAATHIER MAHED

OVER the past 20 years, Islamic finance has grown faster than its conventional counterpart. Proof of this lies in the fact that market growth has been in the region of 15 percent per annum from 2005 to 2008. In fact, global assets of Islamic finance have doubled since the start of the economic downturn.

Tentative estimates suggests that the size of the market has been valued at around $1,45 trillion, globally, which indicates that Islamic finance has ‘shown resilience at a time when the global economy has slowed and conventional banking in Western countries has been under pressure’ – so notes the UK Islamic Finance Secretariat (UKIFS) in research reports published in October, 2013.

This is evidence of the expanding Muslim middle class and their wealth, argues Nasr (2010). Historically, wealth within these burgeoning Muslim societies has been synonymous with charity, writes Singer (2009).

Unlike zakaah, which is a compulsory form of worship, the donation of wealth in the form of charitable endowments is done voluntarily. Believers are allowed to bequeath up to a third of one’s estate for charity, writes Khan (1979), and this form of philanthropy has played a significant role in aiding in the development of societies.

Further, after examining cases of charity and charitable endow-

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ments in Muslim society, Singer (2009) has concluded that the generous contributions of individuals has led to the construction of infrastructure, which would otherwise have been state-funded and operated.

Historical sources indicate that many of these smaller assets, specifically in Istanbul, were mainly donated by women, and they have stood the test of time as some still serve their communities today, in the form of water fountains and gardens, notes Bear (1984) further.

In a modern context, we find multiple waqf institutions globally, with some of them managing multi-million or even multi-billion dollar funds.

In certain scenarios, the largest awqaf institution has been found to be a private company or even a ministry.

A prime example is that of the Ministry of Awqaf in Qatar, which recently published figures that indicate that one billion Qatari riyals worth of stocks is under their management (Awqafuna, 2013).

Furthermore, over 291 endowments from 275 endowers over a period of three years have been established in this oil rich state.

The Warees Investment Company, which is based in Singapore, focuses on property, and has approximately half a billion in Singapore dollars under management. One should note that half of the assets under its management are owned by the Islamic Religious Council of Singapore.

... asset management by the clergy has led to the downfall of societies. This could be the possible reason for separating the financial institution from the religious in Singapore …

Behrens-Abuseif (2004) has shown that asset management by the clergy has led to the downfall of societies. This could be the possible reason for separating the financial institution from the religious in Singapore, and thus it has proven to be a roaring success.

It is evident that here in South Africa, and particularly in Cape Town, where many waqf properties are located in strategic areas, these locations could be used, like in Singapore, to aid in income

generation for the community and, in turn, make the communities self-sustainable.

This model for managing and developing waqf property requires a paradigm shift and could best be achieved with the correct mindset and attitude.

It is with this thinking that Awqaf South Africa has worked towards managing waqf properties and assets in South Africa with transparency and accountability.

These two principles, along with income generation and management, form the cornerstones of a sustainable, community-driven venture.

The Awqaf Foundation of South Africa (AwqafSA) currently operates as a waqf management institution, and has simplified the process of donating endowments through developing various products, namely: The 1% product allows any individual to contribute a percentage of his or her monthly earnings to participate in the waqf process.

According to the AwqafSA website, the 1% waqf is tailormade for anyone including the ‘student, housewife, professional, clerk, business, factory worker, shop assistant – who has a bank account’.

The payment is made by debit order and the waqif (or waqifa) must complete a payment authorisation form available from AwqafSA. Another product offered through the foundation is the

Waqf al Nuqud or the Direct Lump Sum Waqf.

Endowed from regular or occasional cash, cheque and electronic deposits, this product guarantees that there is zero risk of any monies being lost as 100 percent of all deposits will be invested and work from day one, the website explains.

However, should you wish to endow tangible goods like jewellery, coins, property and even real estate, the Al Maal Waqf product is specifically designed to meet those needs.

Further, if an individual wishes to bequeath up to one third of his or her estate in an Islamic will, AwqafSA offers its Al Wasiyyah Waqf product.

Finally, for the donation of a percentage of profits or equity in a business or on a specific business transaction, the Al Tijarah product is perfect for entrepreneurs with their pulse on societal needs.

Donating through AwqafSA’s range of products could not be easier. Make your waqf now and ensure that your ultimate reward with your Creator is secured. And Allah, as always, knows best!

For further information, the website of the National Awqaf Foundation of South Africa can be viewed at http://www.awqafsa.org.za/ while correspondence may be forwarded to awqafcape@awqafsa.org.za.

Dr Gaathier Mahed is a volunteer at the National Awqaf Foundation of South Africa, and is based at the Cape Town office.

Muslim Views . March 2015

Real South African Budget: a frantic daily struggle TERRY BELL

WEDNESDAY, February 25, was Budget day in South Africa, an annual event for the state. But, for most citizens, budget day is every day or, if they are slightly luckier, a weekly or monthly calculation to try to, at least, remain afloat, economically.

So, what happened last month, along with the plaudits and the protests reflected in the media, will not cause any excitement for more than half the population.

And who can blame those who live in penury? While the state can effectively wallow in debt, with its functionaries able to live high on the hog, debt for people on the ground often means malnutrition and a slow descent into sickness and premature death.

Unlike the government, big business or the historically wealthy, there is little – and usually no – access to loans at anywhere near reasonable rates to tide poor families over a rough patch.

The mashonisas and those moneylenders who remain just on side with the law, ensure that repayments are cripplingly high for those forced to borrow.

And there are no allowances made for the recipients of grants that, in most cases, do not even cover the cost of an adequate diet.

It is an awareness of this that underlines the arguments by the labour movement for more expansionist policies and for a more equitable redistribution of resources.

This year, with more fears of job losses and in the face of an ongoing economic crisis, there is greater urgency being expressed about these demands.

Yet, calls for such policies run counter to requests for belt-tightening, however these are presented. These calls are also based on the labour-supported assumption of a macro-economic foundation of widespread redistribution, of labour-intensive work leading to a ‘virtuous cycle’ of economic growth: the opposite of the government’s growth-first orientation.

The focus for these policy debates is invariably how to create a better life for all South African families. And, according to official, Stats SA figures, most men, women and children live below the poverty level.

Cosatu general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi also maintains that a family of five would need R4 750 a month to rise just above this. Yet, most family incomes are below R3 000.

And the generally estimated number of dependents surviving on the incomes of the nearly 11 million people employed in the formal sector is five or more.

Nearly a quarter of the working population is also covered by ministerial sectoral determinations and these, for the most part, amount to barely more than R2 000 a month. A domestic worker, for example, now has a minimum wage of R2 065,47.

Out of this must come often hefty travel costs to and from work.

And, despite the 25 per cent decline in the petrol and diesel prices since July last year, there has been no reduction in travel costs. Nor, according to a survey by the Pietermaritzburg Agency for Social Action (Pacsa), has there been any overall reduction in the price of food, where transport and, therefore, fuel costs are an important factor.

In time for this Budget week, Pacsa also produced its latest figures on the current cost of adequately feeding a family, taking account of family size and the ages and nutritional requirements of family members.

An adequate, balanced, but basic diet for two healthy, active adults with two children, under the age of nine, costs R2 144,52 a month. For a family of seven – a more realistic average – that includes a pensioner, two active adults and four children, two under nine, one of ten and one of 16, Pacsa puts the monthly cost at R3 754,05.

For most South Africans, these figures, combined with the cost of transport, school fees, clothing and shelter, along with wages less than R3 000 a month, constitute the economic reality.

Wednesday’s Budget did little to change this but these are facts that should give added impetus to labour’s demand for a national minimum wage that makes for an at least tolerable life.

Terry Bell is a Cape Town-based journalist, commentator and author. Visit his blog at terrybellwrites.com

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The spirit of ubuntu and asabiyya RABIAH TALIB BADROEN

THE principle of ubuntu/ asabiyya was once a vision that the underprivileged aspired to collectively. Sadly, it has become a shadow of the real spirit.

The humanist philosophy originated from African heritage symbolising allegiances and respectful relations with each other.

The origin of ‘ubuntu’ can be found in the African languages of sub-Saharan Africa. The Arabic synonymous term is ‘asabiyya’.

Abd Al Rahman Ibn Khaldun (1332-1406/ 732-808 AH) was a historian from the Golden Age of Muslim civilisation and hailed from North Africa. He is known as the founder of sociology, Ilm al Umran.

He defined ‘asabiyya’ as group cohesion and solidarity and more coherent to a life not threatened by modern lifestyle distractions.

Yet, modern lifestyles enhance modern crafts, sciences and arts and culture, all aspects conducive to enlightenment, and recognised

by Ibn Khaldun.

Asabiyyah and ubuntu refer to the spirit of loyalty and cohesiveness to a common culture, language and code of behaviour.

Solidarity remains the essence, though variations in these elements are present.

The Liberian activist, Leyman Gbowee, defines the concept of ubuntu as: ‘I am what I am because of who we all are.’

Ubuntu/ assabiyyah is spelled out by Tutu as ‘I am human because I belong, I participate. I share – I am because you are’.

We think of ourselves far too frequently as just individuals, separated from one another whereas we are connected and what we do affects the immediate, whole sur-

rounding world.

Steve Biko, the political activist killed in South African detention in 1977, was a passionate proponent of ubuntu. He detested the hallmark of capitalism for the inherent characteristic of individualism, using people as stepping stones for the purpose of self-progression.

His contribution to ubuntu/ asabiyyah was professing the ideology of the African personality, placing less emphasis on power and more on humanity in a concerted effort to overcoming confrontational problems – an ideology consistent with the teachings of Islam.

With Islamophobia on the increase, it has become an essential part of Enlightenment to understand the reason for the individual’s existence as part of a greater world society.

Muslims all over the world are confronted daily with either confidence in asserting yourself as a Muslim or condescending to the acceptance model of a Muslim prescribed by an order totally ignorant of Islam and the respect afforded to the last prophet of Islam, Muhammad (SAW).

The Golden Age of Muslim civilisation is resurrected within oneself.

That ideal persona naturally extends to others in normal, natural integration in society, a feature which is exported from the authentic ahadith on the character of Muhammad (SAW).

Rabiah Badroen is a graduate in International Politics and Islamic Studies. She is currently registered as a Masters candidate at University of South Africa (Unisa) and is a staff member of the English Department at Al Jouf University, Saudi Arabia.

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DISCUSSIONS WITH DANGOR

Muslim Views . March 2015

Is there absolute freedom of expression in France?

Despite the fact that freedom of the press is guaranteed by the French Constitution, there have been several effective cases of censorship, writes Emeritus Professor SULEMAN DANGOR. HE French would have us believe that freedom of expression in France is absolute and that they will not be prevented from mocking or ridiculing anyone, including religious figures. Let us examine if the French claim of defending their ‘way of life’, including absolute freedom of expression, is true.

There are laws in France that prohibit homophobic hate speech, and a 1970 law prohibits the advocacy of illegal drugs.

The 1990 Gayssot Act prohibits racist or/ and religious hate speech under which negationism, including Holocaust denial is an offence. This law was invoked to

T

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forbid public appearances by the comedian Dieudonné (well known for making anti-Semitic jokes) and to ban pro-Palestinian demonstrations.

Despite the fact that freedom of the press is guaranteed by the French Constitution, there have been several effective cases of censorship against newspapers (Le Canard enchaîné, Hara-Kiri as well as Charlie Hebdo).

Nicolas Sarkozy, former President of France, ordered the firing of the director of Paris Match because he had published photos of Cécilia Sarkozy with another man in New York.

Racial hatred and other discriminatory and violent language in artistic work is criminalised as a ‘public expression offence’.

Many artists have been taken to court for this offence, which lies mainly in Article 24 of the 1881 Law on Press Freedom.

Government officials, civil society groups and individuals have repeatedly sued artists for defamation and incitement to violence.

The deputy of the UMP party, Nadine Morano, called on Nicolas Sarkozy to censor hip-hop bands, while 200 UMP deputies, led by François Grosdidier, demanded censorship of hip-hop bands.

This demand followed the release of a song called La France

by French hip-hop band Sniper.

The song ‘Sarkozi’ by Joey Starr was banned in 2006.

The proclamation of the state of emergency, used during the Algerian War (1954-62) and also in 2005, during the civil unrest, allows the state to legally censor news articles and other media productions.

Henri Alleg’s book La Question denouncing torture by the French army during the Algerian war was censored as well as other similar books, such as The Battle of Algiers and Frantz Fanon’s The Wretched of the Earth (1961), with a preface from Jean-Paul Sartre.

Mongo Betis’ Main basse sur le Cameroun, autopsie d’une decolonization (Cruel Hand on Cameroon, autopsy of a decolonization), was censored by the Minister of the Interior, Raymond Marcellin, on the request of the Cameroon government.

Bagatelles pour un massacre,

by Louis-Ferdinand Céline, was banned for anti-Semitism. L’Ecole des cadavres and Les Beaux draps by the same author were also banned, as was Léon Degrelle’s Tintin mon copain.

A book called Suicide, mode d’emploi written by two anar-

The volunteer was ordered to remove an article that had been online since 2009 concerning a military radio relay station of Pierre-sur Haute chists, Claude Guillon and Yves Le Bonniec, containing a historic and theoretical account of suicide as well as a critical overview of ways to commit suicide was published in 1982.

After a law repressing incitation to suicide was passed in 1987, the book could not be rereleased and is unavailable in any library or bookshop in France.

As recently as April 2013, a volunteer with administrator’s access to the French language Wikipedia was summoned by the Central Directorate of Homeland Intelligence (DCRI), a division of France’s interior ministry.

The volunteer was ordered to remove an article that had been online since 2009 concerning a military radio relay station of Pierre-sur Haute. DCRI claimed the article contained classified military information and broke French law.

The volunteer was told he would be held in custody and charged if he failed to comply.

While France continues to promote freedom of the press and speech online by allowing unfiltered access to most content, it filters web sites promoting child pornography, terrorism or racial violence and hatred.

All films intended for theatrical release have to be granted a visa by the Ministry of Culture, upon the recommendation of Commission for Film Classification.

Cinemas are bound by law to prevent under-aged audiences from viewing films and may be fined if they fail to do so. Among the films that have been banned

are the following: Le Petit Soldat, The Battle of Algiers, Romance, L Essayeuse, Le Mur, and De Zwischenzeichen der Sexualitat.

In terms of France’s privacy law, the publication of private details of someone’s life without their consent is a punishable offence, with limited public interest defences available.

Privacy is safeguarded not only by civil law provisions but also by the existence of specific criminal offences which indirectly promote the withholding of information and self-censorship, and limit the exposure of political corruption.

In 2010, a French official claimed that, while freedom of speech exists in France, ‘the limits are different than in the US, as far as insults, defamatory comments, or propagation of hatred are concerned’.

In September 2013, l’Agence France Presse (AFP) posted a gloriously unflattering photo of current French President Francois Hollande, which the editors immediately retracted, citing ‘an editorial decision’, following objections by the President.

Interestingly, French law allows freedoms to be suspended under the threat of unrest or violence. There are, in fact, voices in France expressing the need for minorities to be protected from hate speech which may lead, according to them, to heinous acts and hate crimes.

Given the above, the claim that there is absolute freedom of expression in France is as untrue as it is hypocritical.

Main source: Wikipedia

Light from the Qur’an

Muslim Views . March 2015

27

Patience: the key to all difficulties

IBRAHIM OKSAS and NAZEEMA AHMED

N the turbulent times in which we live, and which are characterised by the demand for instant gratification and immediate resolution of whims, there is surely a quality that we are all sorely in need of, and that is patience (sabr).

In this regard, in his contemporary Quranic tafsir, Risale i Nur, Bediuzzaman poses the question: ‘What is the purpose and aim of the saying, Allah is with those who patiently persevere?’

By way of answer, Bediuzzaman says that as is required by His Name of All-Wise, Almighty Allah placed in all things an arrangement, like the steps of a flight of stairs.

An impatient man does not act with slow deliberation, and so either skips some of the steps and falls or leaves some deficient and thus he cannot reach the pinnacle of his goal.

From this it is clear that exercising patience does not equate to inaction.

Rather, it requires consideration, deliberation and seeing the wisdom in the inherent arrangement of matters.

This is quite instructive as it will assist us to navigate issues ranging from waiting in long queues to facing what we may perceive as challenges and calamities from a very different orientation and perspective.

I

Bediuzzaman states that the saying ‘patience is the key to all difficulties’ and the hadith ‘patience is the key to happiness’ have become like proverbs. That is to say, Almighty Allah’s grace and favour is with those who are patient.

Patience is threefold: the first is to patiently persevere in refraining from sin; and this patience is taqwa, and manifests the meaning of the ayah in Surah Al-Baqara: ‘Allah is with those who fear Him and restrain themselves.’

The second is patience in the face of calamity: this is to place one’s trust in Allah Almighty and to submit to Him. It is to be honoured by the manifestation of these ayahs in Surah Ali Imran: ‘Allah loves the patient’ and ‘Allah loves those who put their trust in Him’.

As for impatience, it amounts to complaining about Allah, and to criticising His actions, accusing His mercy, and not liking His wisdom. For sure, man is weak and powerless, and weeps complainingly at the blows of misfortune but our complaint must be to Allah, not about Him. Our words should be like the words of Nabi Yacub (AS) in Surah Yusuf: ‘He said: I only complain of my distraction and anguish to Allah.’

That is to say, we should complain to Allah Almighty, and not lament by asking, ‘What have I done that this should happen to me?’ as though complaining to

other human beings about Allah.

Bediuzzaman says that our trying to excite the sympathy of impotent humans is both harmful and meaningless.

The third sort of patience is patient perseverance in ibadah, which raises a person to the station of being the beloved of Allah.

It urges a person towards perfect worship of Allah and servitude of Him, which is the most elevated station.

Further, with regard to us exercising patience in all situations, Bediuzzaman specifically addresses the person suffering from ill health and who may be unhappy and anxious about his or her condition.

He says: ‘Have patience! Your illness is not a difficulty for you; it is a sort of cure for life departs. If your life yields no fruits, it is wasted. And if it passes in ease and heedlessness, it passes most swiftly.’

An indication that your life is lengthened through illness is the following, much repeated proverb: ‘The times of calamity are long while the times of happiness are very short.’

The question then arises: what are we to do if illness serves to lengthen our lives in this world?

Bediuzzaman responds by saying: ‘Be patient, indeed, offer thanks!

Your illness may transform each of the minutes of your life into the equivalent of an hour’s ibadah.’

Bediuzzaman further explains that there are two kinds of

ibadah. One is positive, like the well-known ibadah of duah and the establishment of the salaah five times per day.

The other is what is seen as the ‘negative’ forms of ibadah like illness and calamities.

By means of these illnesses and calamities, those who may be afflicted by them realise their impotence and weakness; they beseech their All-Compassionate Creator and take refuge in Him; they, therefore, perform ibadah that is sincere and free from hypocrisy or ‘show’ of any kind.

Bediuzzaman states that there is a sound narration stating that a life passed in illness is counted as ibadah for the believer but on condition that he or she does not complain about Allah.

It is even established by sound narrations that one minute’s illness of some who are completely patient and thankful becomes the equivalent of an hour’s ibadah, and a minute’s illness of certain perfected men may be the equivalent of a day’s ibadah.

Thus, we should not complain about illness which, Insha Allah, may transform one minute of our lives into a thousand minutes, and through which we will gain long life; we should rather offer thanks to Almighty Allah.

Bediuzzaman then recounts some of his own experiences, having endured a life of exile and imprisonment because of his complete and total service to Islam, imaan and Quran.

He says that everything departs and, after it has gone, if it was distress and hardship, it yields such pleasurable benefits, both in this world and in the hereafter.

From the point of view of being sacred service (to imaan and Quran), it reduces the trouble suffered to nothing.

In his own words: ‘I assure you that by practising total patience, by offering thanks to Allah Almighty, and through endurance, I am happy at my situation.

‘Thanks in the face of disaster are for the reward to be had from disaster and for the benefits in this world and the next.’

He further says that, as for physical hardships, such hardships were both transitory and unimportant, and they yield reward, and they were a means by which the service of imaan unfolded in other situations, and so it was necessary to meet them with thanks and patience.

Bediuzzaman recounts what his students said: ‘Let us see what Allah does, since whatever He does is good,’ and thus they worked steadfastly to transform those transient difficulties that they may have experienced, into permanent instances of mercy.

Insha Allah, may Allah Almighty allow us to benefit from this instruction and make us of those who are patient and who rely on Him. Ameen.

Muslim Views

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Muslim Views

Muslim Views . March 2015

Positive and Effective Parenting

Muslim Views . March 2015

29

TALKING ABOUT TOUGH ISSUES

When a child has cancer FOUZIA RYKLIEF

THIS article is a report on a discussion I arranged for Radio 786 two weeks ago. The presenter, Zainab Bean, and I spoke to Vanessa Vermaak from CHOC (Childhood Cancer Foundation South Africa).

Introduction How many of us know that February 15 is International Childhood Cancer Day? I did not know until I started to research the topic and spoke to Vanessa Vermaak.

I have always been aware of Breast Cancer Day because there are the Cup for Cancer events, and even national sports teams wear pink outfits when they play.

This awareness is very necessary as we know that breast cancer is common amongst women.

But childhood cancer? This is something I think we block out until it happens to someone close to us.

How prevalent is childhood cancer?

Globally, the incidence of childhood cancer is 150 children in a million. In South Africa, one in 600 children is affected by cancer before the age of 16.

What is the survival rate?

70 to 85 per cent of children can be cured.

In high income and developed countries, the survival rate can be as high as 80 to 90 per cent.

Vanessa stresses that this can be enhanced by early detection.

Unfortunately, many children are diagnosed when the cancer is in an advanced stage and treatment often fails.

How does CHOC support the parents/caregivers?

‘Keeping more than hope alive’ is the tagline on CHOC’s logo. It speaks volumes and it is with this as a motivation that I write this article.

The organisation was founded in 1979 and operates across the country. It has CHOC houses all over the country (more about this later). CHOC employs social workers and voluntary workers.

The first question I asked was, ‘How do you help the child?’

Vanessa’s immediate response was that their major focus when

The support from CHOC is important

‘The children are absolutely phenomenal.

but equally important is family. A listener

When you come to a CHOC house in the

phoned in and shared her story of her

afternoon you will see children coming

daughter who was ill from the age of

home from treatment, feeling awful, some

two-and-a-half years. The daughter told

vomiting. Five minutes later, they are

her mother: ‘Don’t cry Mommy, I’m okay.

playing outside, laughing. They are

Just batcha (pray) for me.’ The mother

focused on life now – playing. We focus

shared how important it was to have

on tomorrow, they focus on right now.

her family supporting her. Her daughter

Treatment of an hour ago is past.

is now in her thirties and doing well,

This is an amazing lesson we can learn.

Alhamdulillah!

It is our privilege to witness this.’

it comes to psycho-social support is the parent. Their approach is a holistic one, focusing on emotional and practical support.

Emotional support for the parent is crucial to the child’s emotional well-being. Experience has shown that when parents first hear that their child has cancer, they do not take in anything that the doctor is saying. They are often told: ‘Your child has cancer and must start treatment immediately.’

This comes as a great shock and parents need time and support while processing this. The support from CHOC is important but equally important is family.

A listener phoned in and shared her story of her daughter who was ill from the age of twoand-a-half years.

The daughter told her mother: ‘Don’t cry Mommy, I’m okay. Just batcha (pray) for me.’ The mother shared how important it was to have her family supporting her.

Her daughter is now in her thirties and doing well, Alhamdulillah!

CHOC has a handbook that explains everything in simple terms for parents.

Practical support We often only think of the emotional stress but not so much

of the practical challenges.

CHOC assists parents with travelling costs, food vouchers and accommodation. Some families live outside Cape Town and need to be close to the medical facilities.

Treatment can be from six to nine months and, for some, travelling to and from the medical facility is a problem. The CHOC house where a mother and child is accommodated for the entire period is a microcosm of childhood cancer. There are families from all walks of life.

The houses are not just for the poor but also for middle-income families who are struggling. These houses are located across the country.

What about the siblings?

A concern I often have is that while the parents’ focus is on the affected child (also in case of other situations, and it is necessary) the other children can feel left out. Understandably, the parents have a great deal to cope with in addition to caring for the child.

Parents need to focus on huge changes such as losing a job because it is not always possible to get leave for nine months while the child is receiving treatment.

This results in loss of income. So

the stress of this gets to everyone.

The mother often has to stay with the child at the CHOC house for the full nine months.

The siblings, especially the very young ones cannot understand this and wonder when she will be coming home. The siblings continue being children who have needs, and CHOC helps the family to keep this in mind and to respond to those needs.

How does the child cope?

In answer to my question: ‘When you have to explain to a child what is happening, how do you do it and what is their response?’

Vanessa said that it is not easy because most of the time they do not understand. The doctors are amazing because they treat the children as equals and use the correct terminology when explaining treatment.

She said further that she feels for the teenagers because they understand. When teenagers have a relapse, they often refuse further treatment, feeling that they do not want to put their bodies through it again.

Parents don’t understand this.

Their brains take over and try to find the logic in it. The children know their bodies and although their spirits are often still high

they know when it’s close to the end. They know what they can handle and what they can’t.

CHOC has a series of books for the children to help them get through it all: ‘Keemo goes to the doctor, Keemo starts therapy, Keemo loses his hair, Keemo goes home.’ Children are hearing terms constantly and these books explain medical terms simply. The books help them to know what to expect, which makes everything easier.

In conclusion, the question, ‘How do children cope?’ was answered by Vanessa as follows: ‘The children are absolutely phenomenal. When you come to a CHOC house in the afternoon you will see children coming home from treatment, feeling awful, some vomiting.

‘Five minutes later, they are playing outside, laughing. They are focused on life now – playing.

We focus on tomorrow, they focus on right now. Treatment of an hour ago is past. This is an amazing lesson we can learn. It is our privilege to witness this.’

We should heed this powerful message from a child: ‘Don’t cry, Mommy, I’m okay. Just batcha (pray) for me.’

References: www.choc.org.za Telephone: 086 110644; email: wcape@choc.org.za

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30

Muslim Views . March 2015

From Consciousness to Contentment

The best amongst you is the one who treats his women with kindness JASMINE KHAN

T is close to three months since we celebrated the birth of the best of humankind, Rasulullah (SAW). True to age-old Cape tradition, Moulood celebrations continue every weekend. The salawaat and ashrakal pour forth from the lips of our amazing Moulood jamaahs, Alhamdulillah.

As an ummah, we send peace and blessing on our beloved Rasul daily, in obedience to Allah’s request.

Globally, the enemies of Islam are insulting our noble Prophet (SAW). In response, Muslims have responded with anger, and feel the urge to retaliate. An insult to our Rasul is seen as a heinous crime.

There are many who, in the name of Islam, have embarked on a spree of killings because of what the enemies of Islam are doing.

What is completely ignored is the fact that Rasulullah (SAW) never retaliated, never committed an act of violence or said a harsh word to those countless enemies who ridiculed and insulted him.

Of greater import is the fact that while we celebrate his birth, we seem to have forgotten that Allah instructed us to follow our beloved Prophet’s example. He, (SAW) said, ‘I leave two things with you, the Book of Allah and my way of life. If you cling to that you will never go wrong.’

Should we not do some reflecting and consider whether we are, in fact, following the Sunnah? Are we doing so in the important matters, not just in the rituals?

Looking at some of the situations currently taking place in our community, the answer appears to be a resounding ‘no’.

Zureida has two daughters and is married to a businessman whose business has failed several times. Every time he gets into trouble, her father helps him out.

Her husband abuses her and when she says she wants to leave him, her father tells her that if she does, she will be digging his grave.

Faranaaz has not gained closure since her first husband left her to live with a ‘white’ girl.

Now in her second marriage, her husband lost his job because of

I

Muslim Views

Of greater import is the fact that while we celebrate his birth, we seem to have forgotten that Allah instructed us to follow our beloved Prophet’s example. He, (SAW) said, ‘I leave two things with you, the Book of Allah and my way of life. If you cling to that you will never go wrong.’ Should we not do some reflecting and consider whether we are, in fact, following the Sunnah? Are we doing so in the important matters, not just in the rituals? Looking at some of the situations currently taking place in our community, the answer appears to be a resounding ‘no’. dishonesty and has had an affair with a colleague. Faranaaz is still with him but finds it difficult to trust him.

Six months ago, Gayaat’s husband told her that he is unhappy and is moving out to ‘find himself’. He then started what he terms a platonic relationship with a non-Muslim woman. When Gayaat had come to terms with the end of her marriage, her husband asked to return and work at the relationship.

However, he continued to see the other woman, even taking his eight-year-old daughter to visit her. After months of see-sawing and playing with his wife’s emotions, he has now given her a talaq.

Soraya is 20-years-old and was married for just 18 months when she discovered her husband was having an affair with a schoolgirl but he refused to end the relationship. He subsequently divorced her.

Warda has been putting up with her husband’s affairs for years.

Every time she finds out about an affair, he apologises and promises to reform, and then, very soon thereafter, he does it again.

Hudah is married to an angry and abusive man. He spends lavishly on other women and does not support his wife at all. She has two sons who are experiencing anger issues and are rude to her.

Taheera’s husband takes no responsibility for anything to do with their life; she has to nag and beg him to do what he is supposed to do. He then becomes repentant and promises to do better but seems incapable of taking responsibility.

Mareldia has been married for two years and, a few months ago, her husband told her he no longer feels a connection to her and now sleeps with his back to her.

They consulted an imam who told them to perform salaah together.

Abeeda’s husband has mood swings; he can be perfectly fine and then, suddenly, he will scream abuse at her. He has slapped her around her head, and banged her head against the wall.

He lies to her father and her father now takes his side.

She is very angry at her father because when she asked if she could move in with him for a while, he refused and told her to stay with her husband and have sabr. She wants to know what happened to the instruction that her father is supposed to protect her if her husband abuses her.

Nadia has three children, aged 16, 10 and 7. She was shocked when, three months ago, her husband sat her down with their three children and announced: ‘I am in love with another woman and will be spending time with her. So you will not see much of

me.’ He promptly moved out.

Now he has returned, begging for forgiveness and wants life to go on as if nothing has happened.

On the authority of Abu Huraira (RA), Rasulullah (SAW) is reported to have said: ‘The perfect believer is the one whose character is excellent, and the best amongst you is the one who treats his women with kindness.’ (Tirmidhi) Abu Darda (RA) reports Rasulullah (SAW) as saying: ‘Nothing counts heavier on the scale of the believer on the day of qiyamah than good character. And truly Allah dislikes a shameless and bad character. (Bukhari) Whatever the reason for our men behaving this way, the bottom line is that women and children are suffering.

The question that begs answering is: Can we say that these men are kind to their wives and children or that they have the best of character?

FOR ALL

Muslim Views . March 2015

31

China is right here: Part 2 Most of the mosques did not have minarets or domes.

Some had central pagodas, just higher than the mosque roof, and were used for ‘moon sighting’, writes Doctor M C D’ARCY. O some, China is enigmatic, cold and mysterious, as if still hidden behind its Great Wall erected to keep the marauding Mongol terror of the 1200s at bay.

Few know its history; still fewer are familiar with the vast number of Chinese innovations and inventions that have filtered to the West over the last millennium.

The printing press is a Chinese invention, as is gunpowder used in fireworks and cannons.

According to a very interesting book, Lost Islamic History, by Firas Alkhateeb, ‘Caliph Uthman bin Affan sent a recent convert to Islam, S’ad ibn Waqqas, as an ambassador to the Tang dynasty of China around the year 650CE. By then many in China had already become Muslim, and the Tang dynasty had invited Muslim soldiers to serve in their armies.’

Firas also writes: ‘In the 1300s, The Hwongwu Emperor wrote the Hundred word Eulogy, which praised the characteristics of the Prophet Muhammad. Copies of it were distributed to mosques throughout China.’

But, over the centuries, Muslims have remained a small minority. Confucianism and Buddhism reigned as the dominant religions and still do. Today, some 40 million or about 2,8 per cent of China’s 1,3 billion are Muslim.

The early Muslims did not summarily discard their ancient Chinese heritage.

Interestingly, their equanimity with Islamic abhorrence of representational figures in mosques, and their ancient Chinese mythology can still be seen in their early mosque construction and décor where traditional Arabic calligraphy is juxtaposed with figurative dragon and spirit motifs.

Aramco World Magazine of November/ December 2014 has a fascinating article on Chinese mosques beyond the tourist mosque-trails of the Ox Road Mosque of Beijing and the Great Mosque of Xian.

Many of the mosques, like the early mosques in Cape Town and

T

Old Chinese mosque sited on platform and with recurved roof finials.

Photo ARAMCOWORLD

Old Chinese mosque.

Photo ARAMCOWORLD

Mihrab of an old Chinese mosque.

Photo ARAMCOWORLD

elsewhere, started off as rooms in houses used for prayers and were later renovated into mosques.

Dedicated mosque structures were often on raised platforms and made almost entirely of timber. Their tiled roof finials, though, had the re-curved pattern of Chinese Pagodas.

This style harks back to the ancient Chinese belief that when evil spirits descend from above and slide down the roof, they would follow the curved roof and shoot up again.

Some of these finials are also decorated with figures of assorted dragons and spirits. Most of the mosques did not have minarets or domes. Some had central pagodas, just higher than the mosque roof, and were used for ‘moon sighting’.

Mosque interior decors were often an amalgam of typical Chinese patterns interplaying with Arab calligraphy and geometrics.

Madrassahs were integrated into the mosque structures. Modern mosques tend to have the generic Middle East style of domes and tall minarets.

The history of the Chinese in South Africa goes back to within a week of Jan van Riebeeck’s landing at the Cape. But why did he come here?

The powerful spice-trading Dutch East India Company’s (DEIC) ships sailed between Texel or Amsterdam in Holland to loading ‘factories’ at Calicut, Madras and Bengal on the coast of present-day India, Batavia (Jakarta) in Java and Calle in Ceylon (Sri Lanka).

(Note that sometimes, in documents, these stations were lumped together and referred to as either India or East Indies, causing confusion for researchers.) The to and fro journeys took many months at sea without fresh food and vegetables.

Often, more than half of the crews, fed exclusively on a diet of salted pork and worm-infested

biscuits, died on the long sea passages between Holland and the East Indies.

Death was primarily due to the deadly disease, scurvy. In this disease the teeth fall out, the patient loses weight, bleeds internally and dies a painful death. Scurvy was later found to be caused by a lack of Vitamin C, abundant in lemons and fresh vegetables.

In 1648, the Dutch ship Haarlem floundered in Table Bay. On rescue, the sailors reported to the DEIC that Table Bay had plenty of water and was ideal for planting vegetables.

To provide a halfway victualing station and hospital for sailors suffering from deadly scurvy, the DEIC decided to erect a halfway station at the Cape with Jan van Riebeeck as the commander.

Jan van Riebeeck had worked for the DEIC in Tonkin (now Viet Nam).

He had also visited the company’s trading post in Desjina, Japan. Of note, he had also been to the West Indies.

During his stay in the lucrative East, he fell foul of the DEIC monopolistic trading laws and was sent back to Holland. In order to rehabilitate himself with the DEIC, he agreed to be sent to the Cape as commander and surgeon to erect the proposed halfway station.

On landing here on April 6, 1652, he erected a mud-brick fort where the old post office of the 1950s was sited, opposite the Grand Parade.

Within a week, he had labour problems. The highly affronted Khoisan, from whom he was stealing traditional grazing land, refused to work for him.

He complained that, ‘The sailors ‘oafs’ he had brought with him on the ships Dromedaris, Reiger and Goede Hoop were lazy and refused to work.’

On May 16, 1652, he wrote a scathing letter to the company in Batavia about the ‘lazy oafs’ and

proposed the importation of Chinese labour (he didn’t mind if they were slaves or prisoners in Batavian jails).

The letter continued in the somewhat derogatory racist mode of the day: ‘Chinese labour is by far the best. The Chinamen are not as turbulent as the Arab nor is he rebellious under pressure like the K**r.

‘He is thrifty and economical like the Indian but, unlike him, is not mean and hoarding but on occasion can and do spend, and even give freely… He is neat (compared with other coolies) intelligent in his work while for patient, steady, persevering work… he has no equals and no superiors.’

A small number of Chinese were sent to the Cape. And, in 1658, some free Muslim, Mardyckers, soldiers from the Indonesian island of Amboina (mardycka = freedom) were brought to the Cape to defend the settlement subject to the conditions of the DEIC’s Statute of India.

It stated: ‘No one shall trouble the Amboinese about their religion or annoy them; so long as they do not practise their religion in public or venture to propagate it amongst Christians and heathens.

‘Offenders to be punished with death, but should there be amongst them those who had been drawn to God to become Christians, they were not to be prevented from joining Christian churches.’

The Chinese were put to work in menial jobs erecting the fort and as laundrymen, gardeners, builders and running boarding houses. They were forbidden to work at certain jobs, such as baking, it being a DEIC monopoly.

In time, the Chinese, never more that fifty souls, mixed and married with some Mardyckers and slaves from Madagascar and West Africa (Nigeria and Angola) who arrived at the Cape in 1658.

The later importation of slaves and exiles from India and Indonesia added to the mix.

A special Chinese cemetery was located just below the Tana Baru (‘New Ground’) Muslim cemetery in the Bokaap till its fairly recent incorporation into the defunct Tana Baru burial grounds.

In Chinese tradition, cemeteries are auspicious when sited high on a hill and facing the morning

sun.

Van Riebeeck left the Cape in 1662 and headed for Malacca, a Dutch enclave and trading post on the coast of present-day Malaysia. His wife Maria died and was buried there.

Van Riebeeck was promoted to secretary for the DEIC in Batavia, Java. He died after eleven years of service and was buried there.

The next influx of Chinese in South Africa occurred during the discovery of diamonds and gold in the hinterland during the 1870s. Substantial numbers settled in Port Elizabeth and on the Witwatersrand.

During the apartheid days they were classified as ‘coloured’.

(Japanese individuals were classified ‘honorary white’ for antiapartheid sanction-busting trade purposes.)

After 1994, there was a huge influx of Chinese from Taiwan and mainland China. The majority of these immigrants are smalltraders dispersed all over South Africa. It is estimated that there are presently more than 250 000 Chinese in South Africa.

China was and is rich in arts and culture. The outsider in the West is mostly aware of this when drinking tea from a Chinese willow-patterned teacup, a Chinese story-design made especially for foreigners by the crockery manufacturers.

But beyond the green tea leaves there are colourful satins and silks, leather and faux-suede, electronics and ships, and add a million pirated-copies of branded goods.

Much of the popular brandnamed couture and shoes have small labels stating ‘Made in China’.

Ask Apple, and many other well-known brand companies, where their innovative products are assembled. Much of the world’s art prints come from Chinese art-presses, the copies hard to tell from the originals.

This ramble is but a touch of China. Even if we resent China’s aggressive economic blows to worldwide economies, also take note of its spectacular rise from poverty to economic super-power.

There is much to learn in and from China across the globe and right here in our midst.

While the world sleeps China works; van Riebeeck wasn’t such a bad judge of the Chinese work ethic after all.

Muslim Views

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Muslim Views . March 2015

South Africa’s electricity crisis: is power really going to the people?

DALE T McKINLEY

MANDLA NGAWETHU! We hear it all the time and many regularly shout it.

Indeed, ‘Power to the People!’ has been a crucial part of South Africa’s political vocabulary for decades, first as the sole preserve of those in the anti-apartheid struggle but now as an almost generic democratic slogan.

While the slogan has always been largely defined by a macroframe of political and social struggle, the ongoing and intensified electricity crisis has given a new twist to its meaning and application, which raises a fundamental question.

Is ‘Power’ (in the form of electricity) really going to ‘the People’?

If we believe President Zuma and his Public Enterprises Minister, Lynne Brown, then the quick and easy answer to that question is that since 1994 most all such ‘Power’ has indeed gone to the people.

According to this line of argument, it is precisely because of the ANC government’s commitment to doing so as part of a larger effort to deal with the discriminatory legacies of apartheid, that the country now finds itself in a power crisis.

In other words, it has been the roll-out of electricity infrastructure to those – overwhelmingly from the ranks of the black poor/ working class – that were excluded from the grid before 1994 which shoulders the primary ‘blame’ for the country’s current electricity woes.

To back this up, Zuma, Brown and their ANC/ government counterparts have continuously cited the fact that since 1994, almost six million additional people have been connected to the grid.

While this is true and while it no doubt represents an important achievement, there are several problems with this whole ‘story’ which crucially undermine the framing argument.

Problem no. 1: The claim (presented as fact by government politicians and reports) that the roll-out has reduced the percentage of households without electricity from around 50 per cent in 1994 to 15 per cent at present, is simply not borne out by the relevant statistics.

A

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When it comes to a

…around 65 per cent of

price comparison with the

all energy ‘theft’ in Eskom’s

manufacturing and mining

supply areas is carried out

sectors, residential users pay,

by the business,

on average, 300 per cent more

industrial, commercial

than these power-guzzlers

and agricultural sectors…

According to StatsSA’s latest yearly compilation of its ‘General Household Survey’ (2013), there are 15,1 million households in the country. During his State of the Nation address, President Zuma stated that there are still 3,4 million households without electricity.

As the Department of Energy has confirmed, this consists of 1,2 million informal and 2,2 million formal households.

One does not have to be a mathematician to quickly figure out the resultant equation; that the percentage of people still without power stands at 22,5 per cent. Not nearly as many of ‘the People’ have ‘Power’ as claimed.

Problem no. 2: While the 11,7 million households connected to the grid might seem like they represent the largest consumer-block of electricity, the reality is that residential use accounts for only 18 per cent of (average yearly) usage.

This pales in comparison to the 58 per cent consumed by the manufacturing and mining sectors combined.

When broken down into per customer usage on a monthly basis, the size of the usage gap becomes even more glaring. Residential (‘homelight’) users supplied directly from Eskom consume 0,0007 per cent of what large corporate/ industrial (‘megaflex’) customers use.

Further, Eskom’s figures show that sales to residential users from

1996-2014 increased by a mere 3,5 per cent – from 1,5 per cent to 5 per cent of total sales.

As energy expert Dirk de Vos has shown, when placed in the context of ‘the total increase in electricity supplied to the country as a whole’ since 1996, ‘less than 12 per cent of that can be ascribed to the expansion of access to electricity in previously un-served areas’.

The expansion of the electricity grid and the resultant distribution and use of ‘Power’ is not nearly as much in favour of ‘the People’ as has been made out.

Problem no. 3: The price that ‘the People’ pay for electricity, and more importantly by that poor majority which is engaged in a daily struggle just to survive, is far beyond what those who are most able to afford, pay.

As set against the average cost of electricity (measured per kilowatt hour) across all socio-economic sectors, residential users pay 100 per cent more.

When it comes to a price comparison with the manufacturing and mining sectors, residential users pay, on average, 300 per cent more than these power-guzzlers.

What makes this class-framed price divide even worse is the fact that almost a third of the power generated by Eskom is sold below the cost of production, with the power-guzzlers and international clients being the main beneficiaries.

The cumulative result is that not only have ‘the People’ become the power cash-cows but the cosy, below-cost deals with those who should be charged much more has financially compromised capital expansion requirements.

Problem no. 4: While the dominant trope of media, public and government discourse and thinking is that poor people are the main defaulters and electricity ‘thieves’ (mostly through ‘illegal connections’), the reality is that, by far, the biggest power defaulters and ‘thieves’ are anything but poor.

Meter audits undertaken by Eskom’s ‘Energy Losses Management Programme’ have shown that around 65 per cent of all energy ‘theft’ in Eskom’s supply areas is carried out by the business, industrial, commercial and agricultural sectors as the result of meter tampering, lack of metering and refusal to pay.

Not surprisingly, Eskom admits that the subsequent financial losses incurred are far greater than those resulting from residential ‘theft’.

When it comes to defaulters, it is once again not ‘the People’ who take first prize. Across the country’s municipalities, the prime culprits are big business and government itself. A few examples will suffice.

Last year, in the Western Cape municipality of Kannaland, a leaked confidential report revealed that big businesses owe

the lion’s share of R20 million arrears to Eskom.

Similarly, a 2014 report from the Free State municipality of Matjhabeng fingered mines, medium-sized businesses, government departments and those renting state-owned properties as the biggest defaulters.

And, even though the 20132014 Annual Report of (Johannesburg’s) City Power failed to mention how much its big business, industrial and commercial clients owed, it did reveal that the yearly debt of Johannesburg General Hospital stands at R57 million.

The picture is clear. Our energy crisis is not the result of successive ANC governments bringing ‘Power to the People’.

Rather, combined with extremely poor forward planning, it is the result of bringing lessthan-cost power to a very small minority of manufacturing and mining corporates.

The crisis has been further exacerbated by allowing those who can most afford to pay, to largely get away with large-scale power ‘theft’ and non-payment.

It seems like ‘the People’ need to shout a lot louder. AMANDLA NGAWETHU! This article by Dr McKinley, an independent writer, researcher and lecturer as well as political activist, was first published on the website of The South African Civil Society Information Service (sacsis.org.za)