Muslim Views, September 2015 by Muslim Views

Vol. 29 No. 9

DHUK-HIJJAH 1436 l SEPTEMBER 2015

The legacy of a martyr This is an excerpt from the keynote address delivered by SHAIKH SADULLAH KHAN at the 10th anniversary dinner of the Imam Abdullah Haron Education Trust, held on September 5.

AVING spent much of my childhood in Bo-Kaap, and subsequently schooling elsewhere, I returned to Cape Town after university studies to lead taraweeh at Stegmann Road Mosque, in the mihrab where Imam Abdullah Haron stood to lead his congregation. So I am pleased to be connected to this illustrious Imam Haron in any way and so privileged to be asked to deliver the keynote address in his honour. We are here, on the one hand, to acknowledge the outstanding contribution made by this organisation (IAHET) to empower members of marginalised communities, and, on the other, to pay tribute to the legacy of a martyr from our community after whom the organisation is named. We are in a commemorative period of the year. We have, coming up on September 24, national Heritage Day, celebrating our nation’s diversity and our heritage. Our heritage is the legacy of struggle against oppression and injustice, which defines our historical identity and lies at the heart of our spiritual wellbeing; a struggle of which the conscientious Muslims have always been an integral part. We are also in a commemorative spirit, marking the ruthless murder of a brave son of Africa by the brutal forces of apartheid. We salute Steve Biko who was killed on September 12 but never destroyed. And we reflect on the supreme sacrifice made by As-shaheed Imam Haron on September 27, 46 years ago, this month. He was among that kind of mu’min of whom the Prophet (SAW) said: ‘…mixes with people gets involved in society.’ Imam Haron connected with all segments of society, reached out to all, irrespective of colour, gender, age or creed.

The late Imam Abdullah Haron addressing members of a brigade in Stegmann Road Mosque. Imam Haron was as comfortable speaking to dignitaries as to children, and was consistent about the need for justice for all. In this period of Hajj, and coinciding with the 46th year of Imam’s arrest, torture and death in detention, we reflect on how much of his legacy, based as it is on Quran and Sunnah, we have implemented in our lives and that of the ummah. We cannot but admit that much as we celebrate Eid and sacrifice, there is still much that is left to be desired in the way in which we relate to our community, our mosques, our workplaces and our environment. Photo SUPPLIED

His primary focus on empowering the youth, his concern for the wellbeing of society, his ability to reconcile his anti-apartheid activism with his duties as imam, his capacity to break down racial barriers, his efforts at securing aid for the families of freedom fighters, and his unique grace of creating inter-faith connection are all exemplary. Little wonder that it was the first time in the history of St Paul’s Cathedral, in London, that a prayer service was held for a Muslim, in October 1969, where the anti-apartheid priest Canon Collins said: ‘He is a martyr, a victim of the appalling racial system of South Africa. He was doing work for the victims of persecution.’ A valiant voice against the oppression of the racist apartheid regime, Imam Haron’s words still echo in the memories of freedom fighters: ‘These apartheid laws are a complete negation of the fundamental principles of Islam. They are designed to cripple us

educationally, politically and economically. We cannot accept this type of enslavement. The monster of racialism is vicious. How much more can we bear?’ He spoke these words when it was not politically correct and certainly not convenient. He risked arrest, detention, torture, exile or death. He was detained on Moulood Day, May 28, 1969, under the Terrorism Act, tortured and, after 123 days (with no opportunity to see his loved ones), he breathed his last, in jail, on September 27, 1969. More than four decades after being martyred in police detention by the apartheid state’s security branch, Imam Abdullah Haron was posthumously honoured by the South African government, in 2014, by being awarded the Order of Luthuli: Gold. The award recognises South African citizens who have contributed to the struggle for democracy, human rights and justice.

We have come a long way; we have all the potential to become a prosperous nation, united in its diversity. That potential can only be realised if we have principled leadership, leadership with integrity. We need principled, conscientious leaders like Imam Haron today, leaders who have the commitment to serve people. We often celebrate how far we have come. The concern should be: in which direction are we going? Are we moving from where we were to where we are supposed to be? We fought a noble struggle so bravely against the racism of leaders imposed upon us; it is unfortunate that we now have to fight the corruption of leaders we have chosen. History has taught us that it is far more effective to be a catalyst for peace when we are strong enough to guard ourselves. A voice of peace echoes far better when we are able to resist pressure, challenge oppressors, ensure

our freedom, be intolerant of corruption, practically eliminate discrimination and be vigilant adversaries to injustice. People of faith and people of conscience always support the legitimate aspirations of the oppressed, whoever they are and wherever they may be. It is our collective duty to perpetuate the mission of the noble prophets who came throughout history as beacons of light, liberators of humanity; their primary mission was that people live with justice. Whether it be the struggle of Moses against the despotic Pharoah, the martyrdom of Prophet Muhammad’s grandson, Imam Husain at Karbala, Malcolm X gunned down in New York or our very own Imam Haron martyred in detention; they all fought to uphold the principles of truth and justice. Their effort was in fulfilment of a moral obligation that serves as a universal message which has left a lasting legacy of struggle and resistance against corruption and injustice. Imam Haron reflects the best of our legacy, a superb specimen of altruism and humanitarianism, an icon in the struggle against injustice and racism. From Moses, through Sayyidina Husain to Malcolm X to Imam Haron: They have been morally on the side of those against unjust rulers, reproaching tyrants and encouraging the oppressed to persist and patiently persevere in their struggle for justice, freedom and dignity. Their lives and struggle provide evidence of the moral victory of right over wrong, of virtue over vice, of principle over compromise, of the oppressed over the oppressor, of the denied over the denier; the ultimate victory of blood over sword. Their legacy exposes those who watched what was happening, knew what was right and yet, did nothing. How many are there even today who shy away, not only from mentioning their struggle but who abandon the very memory of their lives? May Allah preserve us from minimising their struggle.

Muslim Views

Muslim Views . September 2015

Eid-ul-Adha is an opportunity to conquer racism

ID-UL-ADHA is associated with ritual sacrifice, symbolising obedience to Allah when Ibrahim (AS) was initially commanded to sacrifice his son. This obedience derives from true faith and sincere submission to the will of Allah.

The depth and strength of the faith of Ibrahim (AS) transcended fear and reason. Ordinarily, he had cause to fear the loss of his son, and he had cause to question the rationality of the command of Allah. However, he set both fear and reason aside due to his true faith, and sincerely submitted to the will of Allah. His faith enabled him to proceed with the sacrifice. Ibrahim (AS) conquered the fear of losing that in the world which he loved dearly. He also conquered the evil temptation to question the command of Allah. These were both possible because his faith and his submission were true and sincere. Following this great demonstration of faith and submission, the sacrifice of his son was halted. He had passed the test of faith, and the animal was substituted. In this way, his sacrifice of the animal had become our annual ritual at Eid. The submission of Ibrahim (AS) is extraordinary and of an order that is beyond our capacity. Hence, the ritual sacrifice of the animal is ordained as a mercy unto us. However, the lesson in the ritual derives from his great

sacrifice. Our faith should be true and our submission sincere to enable us to conquer the fear of losing that which we love dearly and to conquer the evil temptation to question the decree of Allah. The relevance of this lesson in our lives today is too often lost in the physical performance of the annual rite. The lesson of the great sacrifice speaks uniquely to a spiritual and social disease in our community and broader society, namely racism. This disease is borne of the love of self, power and rank. It is the disease of pride and the submission to the temptation to falsely consider oneself superior to others. The disease is essentially evil in nature and in origin. Iblis considered himself superior to Adam (AS) and he fell for the temptation to question the command of Allah that he should submit to Adam. The pride and false reasoning of Iblis made it impossible for him to acquire true faith and to sincerely submit in ultimate obedience to Allah. The very same disease is at the heart of racism. The false belief in one’s superiority over others leads to the inability to recognise our common humanity. This is followed by various instances of false reasoning in which physical and worldly attributes such as skin colour, tribal affiliation and culture are used as criteria to distinguish and discriminate between people. Racism remains rife in South African society and in local communities. Exclusion and prejudice has been exposed at our universities for years. It must be assumed it is because universities are inherently centres of free-thinking and critical enquiry that this social disease is more readily exposed in these spaces. It follows, therefore, that racism is likely entrenched at various other levels of society, including religious communities such as Muslims. At this time of Eid-ul-Adha, let us combat racism by means of true faith and submission to Allah. Eid-ul-Adha is an opportunity to sacrifice pride and to conquer the temptation to use false criteria to discriminate between people. Allah’s command is that we discriminate only on the basis of good character, and that we submit to Him only. Racism is a disease that should be defeated by true faith and submission to Allah. Eid mubarak!

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

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Corruption in the context of social justice

Ebrahim Patel, Minister of Economic Development. Photo FARID SAYED

In the second article on our series focusing on corruption, we publish excerpts from a speech delivered by Minister of Economic Development, EBRAHIM PATEL, at Claremont Main Road Mosque, on December 7, 2012. This address kick-started the Western Cape Religious Leaders’ Forum’s anti-corruption ‘Preach and Teach’ weekend. ORRUPTION is often used in the specific sense of those with authority or power who subvert their responsibility of trust for improper personal interests, largely financial. This includes accepting bribes and other material inducements to influence administrative decisions. When a state tender goes to an individual not because it is the lowest bid price or the best proposal, or it advances legitimate public policy goals but because a payment is made to the decision-maker or family member, it does serious damage to a society. It means that the state pays a higher price than it should, which takes money away from education or healthcare for the poor or accepting poor quality work, which endangers the welfare of the population. If we allow this to become endemic, affecting the day-today conduct of the business of the state, we create a dysfunctional system in which the state no longer serves the interest of the people but is simply a means to the accumulation of wealth by a few. While corruption is viewed by most of us in largely individual and personal terms, there is a case to be made for a much deeper understanding of the word ‘corruption’ – as something that erodes and destroys. If we understand corruption to be a threat to socio-economic justice then it becomes crucial that we locate the struggle against corruption within a wider struggle for social justice.

In a society faced with enormous challenges of poverty, inequality and unemployment, we need to simultaneously recognise the corrosive effect of corruption on the social justice project and, at the same time, not confine our focus to corruption only. The social justice project requires that good women and men, across society, in government, churches, mosques and workplaces, act to address our big challenges. We will be in dereliction of our duties as citizens if we expect our role to be limited to voting once every five years, and expect elected representatives alone to take on the social justice challenge and sit back, criticising our efforts. We are a people capable – as shown by our history and enjoined by our values – of being active citizens in promoting social justice outcomes. By this I refer to programmes that promote job creation and decent wages that address poverty and the deep inequalities that tear at our social fabric. If an effort to fight corruption is to mean anything beyond political point-scoring then it has to be linked to this larger struggle for justice. The problem of corruption is not merely one of a struggle against personalised corruption but one for the creation of a just society. Any attempt to reduce the problem to the personal and the individual is not only simplistic but also part of a larger agenda that is uninterested in serious change in the power relations that underpin economic inequality and social injustice. Personal agency in fighting corruption: Every act of corruption – of which bribery is one manifestation – is one too many. Every one of us – individuals, organisations, communities and the state – thus have a responsibility, first to refuse to be complicit in any act of corruption and then to actively oppose and expose it wherever we encounter it. Our own complicity ranges from using connections to get a driver’s licence without meeting the basic competence requirements or to improperly access public services because we know a politician, or even petty acts of taking pens and stationery from the office for our children at home. We lament corruption with the left hand and contribute to it with our right hand. In confronting the task of ending corruption as part of the creation of a just society, our attention is drawn to a number of challenges: to speak and not be silent; to refuse to give a bribe or refuse a bribe; to be courageous and self-reflective about our own complicity in abusing power or using connections improperly.

It was narrated from ‘Abdullah bin ‘Amr that the Messenger of Allah (SAW) said: The curse of Allah is upon the one who offers a bribe and the one who takes it. (Ibn-Majah and Al-Tirmidhi)

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. Muslim Views

Muslim Views . September 2015

A heritage and ecology project to map the future of Palestine PROFESSOR ILAN PAPPE introduces a project, centred around a village described as one of the most beautiful in Palestine, that will focus on heritage, human rights, ecology and culture to counter the ‘Judaisation’ of the Galilee.

THE Most Magnificent Vineyards – Majd al-Krum – is the name of the Palestinian village, halfway between the towns of Akka (Acre) and Safad, in the upper Galilee. It is a typical Palestinian village. It was founded hundreds of years ago, survived all the trials and tribulations, even the 1948 ethnic cleansing of Palestine. Neither a massacre of some of its inhabitants and expulsion of others in that year could destroy the village. In the 1960s, it was a symbol for the steadfastness of the Palestinian community inside Israel’s struggle against the Judaisation of the Galilee, which meant confiscation of their land and robbing the citizens of their basic human and civil rights. Today, it is a town of nearly fifteen thousand, on 1 500 dunams, unable to expand naturally into lands that used to belong to it before it was confiscated for the creation of Jewish settlements. Its inhabitants are all Muslim, and when you travel the narrow streets of the densely populated village, you can spot murals painted by local painters that reconstruct the beauty of the village in past years: before the foundation of the state of Israel. Other indications of why it was called ‘Most Magnificent

Muslim Views

Professor Ilan Pappe speaks at the University of Johannesburg during his national one-week tour of South Africa as a Photo MERAJ CHHAYA guest of Muslim Views in 2014.

Vineyards’ are the pockets of orchards surrounding it, which, before 1948, were rich and plenty and hence travellers used to point out the beauty of the village in their recollections of visits to Palestine. It is there, in the crammed village, where I find peace and hope when I am in Israel. It is a mixed landscape of a refugee camp, with parts that remind us of the beautiful scenery that characterised the village before 1948, and justified its name. Together with friends from the village and nearby villages, I am involved in building a centre and a space that will enable us all, Palestinians and Jews, to cope with what the near future holds for us. We work on the basis of several assumptions. The first is that our power to change the reality in the near future is limited, and that means that we are living in an Apartheid State which is going to employ even worse policies of dispossession and discrimination in the future against the Palestinian

people, in general, and the Palestinians in Israel, in particular. The second assumption is that politics from above has disappointed us – neither the Palestinian Authority nor the political leadership of the Palestinians inside Israel with their insistence on sticking to the ‘two states’ solution, and their assumption that there is a chance for change from within Jewish society, seem to have new ideas on how to stop the brutalisation of our lives. There is another assumption, which I think is shared by many in the Middle East, as a whole, in this most troubled moment in the history of the region. The inability to impact the big picture does not mean that you give up struggling for your dignity, rights and survival in your own community – with the hope that all these struggles will eventually be fused into a powerful movement of change. Such a local struggle focuses on heritage, human rights, ecology and culture. We are focusing on four projects.

The first is the village’s oral history. Recording people’s memories from the days of the Nakba, when the villagers were massacred and exiled, is an urgent project done by the younger generation. The harsh reality of the days of the military rule and confiscation of land, when the village was a centre of steadfastness and resistance, is also on the agenda. The second project is an ecological struggle for survival. The ‘Judaisation’ of the Galilee has wreaked ecological disaster on villages such as Majd al-Krum. The natural habitat gone, including herbs that cannot be found anymore, and the human knowledge these villagers held for centuries is going to be erased if it is not reinstated through projects of reconstruction and research. A cultural struggle like ours also includes strong contact with those who were expelled and left, throughout the years. Just from this village we estimate that 5 000 live around the world (including in Lebanese refugee camps). Maintaining a strong contact with the second and third genera-

tions through visits and their interest, is a project which has impact for the future of Palestine as a whole. And, finally, we do not forget our Jewish neighbours. We invited them to us as equals, not colonisers and oppressors, to learn about the past and our joint present and future on the basis of human and civil rights for all. In the Israel of 2015, this is the most subversive project one can undertake – but this is essential for our survival, not only in Israel and Palestine but in the Middle East as a whole. Muslim Views will publish regular updates about the development of the Al-Galil Centre for Knowledge, Heritage and Identity. Professor Ilan Pappe was a guest of Muslim Views for a one-week lecture tour last year. The author of numerous books, Pappe is professor of history and director of the European Centre for Palestine Studies at University of Exeter. Photo (byline-box) TOYER NAKIDIEN

Muslim Views . September 2015

Muslim Views

Muslim Views . September 2015

MJC Nominations Committee fails to deliver MAHMOOD SANGLAY

THE Muslim Judicial Council (MJC) was finally presented, on August 6, with the report of its Nominations Committee (NC) for the appointment of the Independent Advisory Panel (IAP). The report concludes the work of the NC officially announced on November 11, 2014. Eight months after the window period for nominations had closed, on December 24, 2014, the NC announced that the ‘nominations process yielded an unsatisfactory and inconclusive result’. Only one nomination had been received by the NC, hence it was not possible to appoint the IAP. In a 23-page report, the NC details the background to the process, its own functions, a review of the nominations process and outcomes, factors that impacted on its work and its findings and recommendations. The members of the NC, Abdul Waheed Patel, Sulaiman Noor Mahomed and Associate Professor Waheeda Amien contributed their services to the committee on a pro bono basis. Patel, the convenor of the NC, is Managing Director of Ethicore Political Lobbying, Mahomed is a leading businessman and Amien is Associate Professor in Law at University of Cape Town. The NC report succeeds in undertaking a fair analysis of the MJC’s current reservoir of nonreligious expertise. Furthermore, the report explores the potential of the current associate membership status of the MJC in terms of its constitutional provisions, and it assesses the merits and the

influence of informal personal networks on executive decisionmaking within the organisation. The report further emphasises that, although the NC’s efforts did not yield the desired results, this does not detract from the merits of an IAP, and the NC recommends that the MJC continues its efforts to establish the IAP.

Conclusions The NC foregrounds some serious challenges faced by the MJC in its role as a council of religious leaders in the community. While the merits of the MJC’s informal personal networks are acknowledged, the report states that they are lacking in respect of good governance. By implication, the reliance of the MJC on such networks is a threat to its credibility. However, the credibility of the report itself is compromised. It omits to raise the question of why the nominations process failed. The core function of the NC was to set up the IAP yet its final report offers no explanation of its failure to do so. Instead, the report implicates, to some extent, the media for this failure due to ‘a limited degree of inaccurate reporting’ and the conflation of ‘outstanding legacy issues’. This is disingenuous. The responsible media are not identified and the allegations in the report are vague, so it is anyone’s guess which media organisation is alleged to have reported in a way that undermined the work of the NC. On the other hand, the NC is correct to assert that it cannot be expected to account for the outstanding questions on the ‘legacy

Eight months after the window period for nominations had closed, on December 24, 2014, the NC announced that the ‘nominations process yielded an unsatisfactory and inconclusive result’. Only one nomination had been received by the NC, hence it was not possible to appoint the IAP. issues’ of the MJC. For example, the NC is clearly not in a position to account for the finances of the MJC’s Halaal Trust. The same applies to the inherent double standards in the MJC’s halaal certification services to Woolworths while it is supporting the BDS call to boycott this company. These matters are not within the mandate of the NC. There are two possible reasons for the non-delivery on the NC on its mandate. The first is that the NC conducted a weak marketing campaign and, therefore, failed to communicate the value proposition of the IAP to its target audience.

The NC had not properly defined its target audience, had not prepared an adequate marketing strategy and had underestimated the impact of poor timing of the campaign at year-end. The NC also misjudged the reputational risk associated with the campaign and the backlash from members of the community disenchanted with the MJC. The NC relied solely on radio, print and online media coverage to reach its target audience. While these traditional media are important, they cannot produce a successful campaign to the exclusion of other opportunities, such as the Jumuah platform. There was, further, an overreliance on the NC’s online presence and an erroneous assumption that the target audience would access the site. On the other hand, there was no social or digital media strategy. The second possible reason for the non-delivery of the NC on its mandate is that the broader Muslim community has, over the years, simply become disenchanted with and indifferent to the MJC. The merits of a proposed IAP needed to be supplemented with a powerful marketing strategy. Instead, the NC’s campaign was weak. Furthermore, the NC ignored a series of criticisms of the process. In December 2014, Muslim Views questioned the absence of governance as a key focus area and the poor provision it made for enabling public participation in the nominations process. Another focus area the NC omitted is public relations and reputation management. The report is silent on these criticisms.

Above all, in February and March this year, Muslim Views repeatedly directed a set of questions on the nominations process to the NC, which it deliberately ignored. Muslim Views then approached the MJC who assured the newspaper that the NC is still managing the process and that a response would be forthcoming. There was none. Nevertheless, the newspaper sustained this engagement for four months, without success. It is, therefore, deeply ironic that the NC claims to have responded to media enquiries received. Finally, after eight months of ignoring Muslim Views’ questions, the newspaper was issued, on August 4, an invitation to attend a media conference on August 6. The invitation was followed up with a call from Wisahl Jappie, the media liaison officer for the NC. I explained to Jappie that due to the short notice no one was available to attend on behalf of Muslim Views. I also asked why our media enquiries had been ignored for eight months. Jappie responded by saying it was because Muslim Views inaccurately reported that Ethicore convened the NC. Muslim Views acknowledges, and regrets, that this error was made in the April edition of the paper. However, it is petty and highly unprofessional to ignore media enquiries for this reason. Finally, the NC report was, evidently, prepared in reckless haste. Almost every page is marred by poor editing and proofreading. To date, the NC has also failed to post its final report on its website.

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Muslim Views . September 2015

Muslims, Palestine and speaking truth to power This is an excerpt from an address by Professor FARID ESACK to the 30th anniversary of the Kairos Conference.

WE stand in humility in front of Allah for our collective and individual failure to foreground the struggle of the Palestinians, and for carrying on with life as normal in the face of daily injustices visited upon them. Our efforts have often been inadequate, and the rulers and governments in many of our countries have offered half-hearted public condemnation of Zionism and the occupation, on the one hand, while actively collaborating with the Israeli regime, on the other, to contain their own populations’ ability to act in solidarity with the Palestinians. We are proud of many parts of the ummah who have, in the recent past, compelled their rulers to yield to their cries for freedom and justice. We call upon our people to be vigilant to ensure that their victories not be usurped by those Western powers who have been deeply complicit in the oppression of the Palestinians. We live in a time when many incessantly demand that, as Muslims, we proclaim our belief in peace and harmony before all else. We acknowledge our responsibility to work for peace. We, however, do not do so in response to the demands of imperialists who insist that Muslims must play dead as these powers roll over our bodies and lands in pursuit of oil and other natural resources. We struggle for peace in response to the call of the Almighty: ‘And God invites [man] unto the abode of peace’

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(Yunus: 25). This ‘abode of peace’ bears no resemblance to the ‘peace’ of the Empire. Theirs is one of silence and acquiescence in the face of dispossession and occupation. Theirs is a peace that trades in death. The peace that the Quran calls us to is one of life, of justice and of dignity. We are mindful of the Quranic obligation to disturb the established order (even if presented as ‘peace’) if it is based on injustice and dispossession, as is so evidently the case in Palestine. ‘[F]or, God has created the heavens and the earth in accordance with [an inner] truth, and [has therefore willed] that every human being shall be recompensed for what he has earned and none shall be wronged’ (AlJathiyah:22). This ayah equates justice with truth and, in AlImran, ayah 18, ‘there is no deity save Him, the Upholder of Equity’, the Quran exhorts the faithful to uphold justice as an act of witness unto Him (Al-Nisa:135 and Al-Mai’idah:8). ‘The Most Gracious has imparted this Quran [unto man]. He has created man: He has imparted unto him articulate thought and speech. [At His behest] the sun and the moon run their appointed courses; [before Him] prostrate themselves the stars and the trees. And the skies has He raised high; and has devised [for all things] a measure, so that you [too, O men,] might never transgress the measure [of what is right]: weigh, therefore, [your deeds] with equity, and cut

not the measure short!’ (Al Rahman: 1-10) The Quran places humankind and the task of doing justice within the context of their responsibility to the Creator, on the one hand, and the order that runs through the cosmos, on the other. It is within this overall context that humans are being warned against ‘transgressing the measure’ and are exhorted to ‘weigh, therefore, [your deeds] with equity’. ‘We send forth Our apostles with all evidence of [this] truth; and through them We bestowed revelation from on high … so that men may behave with equity …’ (Al-Hadid:25). The Quran postulates the idea of a universe created with justice as its basis. The natural order, according to the Quran, is one rooted in justice; deviation from it is disorder (fitnah). The status quo in a particular social order, irrespective of how long it has survived or how stable it has become, does not enjoy an intrinsic legitimacy in Islam. Injustice is a deviation from the natural order. Though it may stabilise over decades by establishing new facts on the ground and the persistent building of illegal settlements, it is, nonetheless, regarded as a disturbance in ‘the balance’. In the Quranic paradigm, justice and the natural order based on it are values to be upheld while socio-political stability per se is not. When confronted with this disturbance in the natural order through the systematic erosion of human rights, the Quran imposes an obligation on the faithful to challenge such a system until it is

What is the Kairos Document? The Kairos Document is a Christian theological statement that emerged during the most intense days of our struggle against apartheid, in 1985. The document challenged the churches’ response to the vicious policies of the apartheid regime, and also critiqued the way the church and religious beliefs were used to serve apartheid. The 30th anniversary of this document was recently celebrated at University of Johannesburg by an international gathering of nearly 200 Christian leaders. After 1985, many other countries – including Palestine – where injustice is common, produced their own Kairos documents. Professor Farid Esack spearheaded an initiative to draft a Muslim response to the Kairos Palestine Document, which called upon Christians around the world to help fight the Israeli occupation. eliminated and the order, once again, is restored to its natural state, i.e., one of justice. The Quran offers itself as an inspiration and guide for comprehensive insurrection against an unjust status quo. It, furthermore, asks to be read through the eyes of a commitment to the destruction of oppression and aggression and the establishment of justice. In a situation of injustice, the Quran, by its own admission,

must become an inspiration for a comprehensive insurrection against oppression in all its manifestations. We call on Muslims to deepen and intensify their resistance to all forms of oppression and to strengthen their solidarity with the Palestinians. Farid Esack is Professor in the Study of Islam and Head of Department of Religion Studies at University of Johannesburg.

Muslim Views . September 2015

Israel sanctions-buster to perform in Cape Town

Huge protest planned by BDS MUHAMMED DESAI

SOUTH Africans made history in 2014 on the streets of Cape Town by organising the largest protest this country has seen since 1994. The protest was in solidarity with the Palestinians (and their progressive Israeli allies) against Israel’s military attacks and brutality towards the Palestinian people. The Israeli attacks resulted in the killing of more than 550 Palestinian children and more than 2 000 other civilians. Following the Cape Town protest march and other nationwide actions, certain gains have collectively been made due to public mobilisation and pressure. For example, subsequent to a meeting with the President of South Africa, the ruling party’s NEC decided that ‘companies that do business in the Israeli occupied [Palestinian] territories, such as Capegate, G4S Security and Caterpillar to not be allowed to do business with [the South African] state’. In addition, the highest decision-making body of the ANC adopted, in September 2014, a ‘travel-ban’ to Israel for any SA

government minister, deputy minister, mayor, municipal manager or other official. In April 2015, SA’s Minister of Higher Education encouraged universities and academics to support the academic boycott of Israel. In June 2015, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) recorded a decrease of 46 per cent in Israel’s Foreign Direct Investment. The decline, according to the authors of the report, was primarily caused by the fallout and protests against Israel’s attacks on Gaza and international BDS boycotts against Israel. One year later, in 2015, Israel still continues its targeting and killing of Palestinian children and civilians. As of September 2015, in this year alone, Israel has killed and injured over 50 Palestinian children and countless civilians. Relentless attacks by Israel require consistent resistance and protests. The BDS movement is proving to hold Israel accountable through consistent lobbying, public advocacy and consumer activism. To achieve its successes, the BDS movement employs various

strategic and thought-out tactics. We work with students to advance the academic boycott, meet with businesses to drop Israeli-linked companies, lobby government ministers and officials to impose state sanctions, write to artists urging them to cancel Israeli gigs, become shareholders to push for divestment resolutions, and use the courts to hold accountable those involved in the Israeli military. In South Africa, the BDS movement has set its sight on Woolworths for the consumer arm of our (many) campaigns. The #BoycottWoolworths campaign was launched in August 2014 by a broad group of civil society organisations and groups, including the MJC, ANCYL, YCL, IUC, Jamiat, PSC, Cosatu and BDS South Africa. The campaign has received widespread attention and support from various South African government ministers, artists, wellknown personalities and antiapartheid stalwarts. A growing group of Woolworths shareholders have also begun to back the #BoycottWoolworths campaign! In November 2014, it was found by a Wits University

researcher that Woolworths is losing R8 million a month due to the boycott. In its own December trade update, Woolworths admits that, for the first time in years, both it’s like-for-like food sales volume was negative and it’s like-for-like clothing sales volume was negative. In its June 2015 mid-year trade update, Woolworths claimed that its sales have increased, however, the company failed to make known that its sales increased less than what it had anticipated. Reuters reported that Woolworths sales grew ‘slower than a year ago’, reflecting, according to the Business Day, ‘slack consumer spending’. Without a doubt, Woolworths is currently facing – due to its Israeli trade – one of the largest consumer boycotts any South African retailer has experienced since the dawn of democracy. To counter this, according to various reports, Woolworths has signed-up US artist Pharrell Williams in its ‘Are You With Us?’ marketing campaign in an attempt to counter the #BoycottWoolworths campaign. Williams will be performing in

South Africa for Woolworths just one week before he leaves for Israel, where he is scheduled to perform (in violation of the cultural boycott of Israel). Members of the community and public are invited to buy plane tickets, book bus seats, take a train or hitch a ride but make sure that on Monday, September 21, you join us in Cape Town at Grand West Casino (outside, not inside!) at a protest against Pharrell Williams for violating the cultural boycott of Israel, and Woolworths for trading with Apartheid Israel. Together, let us send a clear message to the Israeli regime that it is and will be held accountable by the peoples of the world! Let us all be part of the largest protest an artist would face in this country! Let us make history again on the streets of Cape Town. Grand West Casino has a seating capacity of 5 000. Will there be more #BoycottWoolworths protestors than Woolworths concert-goers? The power is in your hands. Muhammed Desai is National Co-Ordinator of BDS South Africa. Mon 21 SEPT Meet @ 3pm Speeches @ 6pm Grand West Goodwood

Muslim Views

Muslim Views . September 2015

Palestinian human rights activist speaks at Wits AAISHA DADI-PATEL

ON August 5, University of the Witwatersrand’s Palestine Solidarity Committee hosted a talk by Palestinian human rights activist Ibrahim Issa Ibraigeth on the dispossession of Palestinian land entitled ‘Whose land is it anyway? Land grabs and human rights’. Having spent a total of 17 years in Israeli jails, Ibraigeth told Muslim Views that he comes from a family that has always been politically conscious, and that his own activism had intensified from the time he was in high school. ‘I participated in some resistance activities at school, and was a part of some demonstrations. ‘In 1978, when I was still in high school, I was arrested by Israeli intelligence for the first time.’ The youngest of eleven children – five brothers and six sisters – Ibraigeth was inspired by his siblings, and says: ‘I was born into a family that believed in actively engaging in the struggle.’ One of Ibraigeth’s brothers was very active in Fatah and the PLO in the struggle against the Israelis. He passed away in a plane crash, overseas, in 1976. In 1968, 20 years after the Occupation began, another of his brothers was tortured by the Israeli army and left the country. Ibraigeth completed his studies at Bethlehem University in 1986, obtaining a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration – and was politically active throughout his time at university. He was arrested several times during his time as a student but saw his involvement as necessary.

Muslim Views

Palestinian human rights activist, Ibrahim Issa Ibraigeth, speaking on the topic 'Whose land is it anyway' at the University of the Witwatersrand's Palestine Solidarity Committee event. Photo AAISHA DADI-PATEL

‘In our context, student movements were seen as essential and a part of the Palestinian struggle. We used to do all we could to be active in raising awareness in any way, and being a part of any campaign that sought to protect the Palestinian land. We had to be aware and saying something against the construction of illegal settlements on our land. There was a variety of activity,’ Ibraigeth told Muslim Views. When the First Intifada started, towards the end of 1987, Ibraigeth had just been released from jail. He returned to his hometown, Hebron, where his

father had cultivated land and been an established farmer of fruit and vegetables for many years, and found that the Israeli Occupation had taken over what he and his family had once called home. ‘When I was released, most of our harvest and the market for production weren’t there anymore. We had to move into the Palestinian refugee camp. This was the situation not only for my family but also for most of the other farming families in the area – the markets were closed and they couldn’t survive anymore.’ Ibraigeth says that his time in

the refugee camp, seeing how his fellow countrymen were forced to live, was what inspired him to throw himself fully into humanitarian work in 1989. ‘I started working for The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights in 1989. We used to reprimand human rights violations by the Israeli Occupation. When people were injured or killed we would document these, conduct investigations, bring back the bodies. ‘I did this for one year, and then I joined the Palestinian Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA), working as a community mobiliser and then, later, at a rehabilitation programme centre. It was approved to assist those who were physically handicapped by Israeli violence. ‘I worked in the YMCA for seven years, and then I worked in another international organisation, World Vision, also for seven years. I did programme management for some of the most excluded and marginalised Palestinian communities – communities that were completely isolated and had massive construction obstacles in their land. ‘We would support these people and help them get access to basic services to ensure their livelihood so I have had good experience and engagement with the communities. I then moved to another Palestinian organisation, working in the north of West Bank for two to three years, and for the past eight years, have been involved with Action Aid.’ When asked about his involve-

ment in the YMCA, despite him being Muslim, Ibraigeth says that such differences mean little to the people of Palestine. ‘In our Palestinian context, Muslims, Christians, Jewish, whoever – we live in unity. We have always lived as human beings with the same nationality, without any discrimination. We lived not only as friends but as one family. We used to sleep and eat in each other’s houses, visit each other and celebrate our common and different holidays and festivals with each other. ‘The Occupation tried to fragment our unity but it never succeeded. Even in South Africa, if there is any discrimination amongst people, I hate to see it. People should be united. Religion shouldn’t divide us – when it comes to our beliefs, we are accountable only to God. We are accountable to each other with our values, our credibility and our humanity. ‘It will do us better to support each other as much as we can, regardless of anything else. And this is how we live in Palestine. It’s an opportunity to say: let us be fully aware of the colonialism that will take away dignity and try to control people and resources and confiscate freedom and plant hatred instead of love amongst communities.’ Married, with four children, and now back in Hebron, the town of his birth, Ibraigeth continues his activism and calls for unity, based on the Palestinian model – ‘unity for humankind.’

Muslim Views . September 2015

Vygekraal Cemetery limits three burials per day MAHMOOD SANGLAY

THE Vygekraal Cemetery Board (VCB), which manages the cemetery in Johnstone Road, Rylands Estate, in Cape Town, is accused of unfair treatment due to a quota system of three burials per day. Azaad Sayed is aggrieved about the manner in which Nazleah Ameeroedien, the secretary of VCB, handled his application for permission to bury his father-in-law, Bashier Modack, who passed away on July 29, at around noon. The deceased resided in a road adjacent to the cemetery, hence his family’s desire to bury him there. They contacted VCB for permission to bury him at Vygekraal. However, they were informed by Ameeroedien that the cemetery’s quota of three burials per day had already been reached and that the deceased would have to be accommodated at another ceme-

tery. However, Sayed says he was not satisfied with this response and then contacted Baradien Salie, who is employed as manager of the cemetery, to obtain permission for the burial at Vygekraal. Sayed confirms that Salie had been aware of Ameeroedien’s decision not to grant permission for the burial at the cemetery. Despite this, according to Sayed, Salie agreed to accommodate the deceased at Vygekraal and arranged for a hole to be dug that afternoon for the burial. The proximity of the deceased’s place of residence to Vygekraal cemetery was taken into account in this decision. Salie received payment and issued a receipt for this service. They then proceeded to prepare for the funeral prayers at Habibia Masjid, after Esha prayers, at about 7.30 pm, on July 29. According to Sayed, a representative from the cemetery called

the family of the deceased at 6.30 pm to confirm if everything was on schedule for the burial. Confirmation was given but, at 6.45 pm, Salie called to say that Ameeroedien had revoked his decision and that they could no longer proceed with the burial at Vygekraal that night. This was a few minutes before the funeral bier was to depart from the residence of the deceased to the masjid. Consequently, the family was faced with the added distress of arranging an alternative burial site at short notice while the family and friends of the deceased were gathering at the masjid for the funeral prayers. It was amidst this confusion that Sayed eventually succeeded in securing a site at the Pooke Road cemetery near Athlone Industria. The funeral prayers finally took place at 9.15 pm. Salie declined to be interviewed by Muslim Views.

Ameeroedien, on the other hand, told Muslim Views that Sayed had indicated to Salie that she had telephonically granted permission for the burial at Vygekraal. Sayed denies telling Salie this alleged untruth. Of greater significance in this instance are questions relating to the introduction of the quota system for the cemetery itself. When asked why a quota of three burials per day was introduced, what public consultations had taken place and what procedures had been followed in making this decision, Ameeroedien did not offer any answers. It appears the quota system was introduced unilaterally and arbitrarily as she also did not clarify under what conditions the quota is applicable. Ameeroedien, however, also pointed out that the cemetery, which was established over 100 years ago, is under severe stress in respect of available space.

The cemetery also faces environmental challenges such as a high water table, which precludes burials especially after seasonal rains. In 2004, VCB proposed an expansion project of the cemetery on the adjacent land. An independent environmental impact assessment report of the proposal in 2012 by a consultancy recommended that another site be sought for the purpose of additional burial space. While the report recognises the significance and the religious and cultural importance of the cemetery, it strongly proscribes an unmitigated expansion project. In particular, the report finds that expansion of the cemetery can be permitted only when ‘very strict mitigation measures have been put in place’, including the lowering of groundwater levels beneath the cemetery and reducing the extent to which decomposing bodies are in contact with the water table.

MYM convenes annual regional assembly THE Muslim Youth Movement Western Cape region (MYM-WC) convened its annual Regional Assembly (RA) and regional elections in Mitchells Plain, on August 22. The assembly elected a sevenperson Regional Executive Committee and affirmed its commitment to mobilise the region into radical and constructive action towards social justice. In a statement after the elections, the MYM-WC noted that

the organisation was at a critical point of its 42-year existence. This provided an opportunity for the MYM to ‘reframe its ideologies’ and to understand Islam in a ‘radical’ context that is ‘inspiring for youth and addresses the socio-economic issues of our time. ‘We believe that the MYM, also, needs to radically challenge the South African Muslim’s problematic proximity to political power and to white capital, which

is ever prevalent in the Western Cape.’ MYM-WC aims to develop robust Islamic and political training programmes across the region, strengthen its existing branches in Mitchells Plain and University of Cape Town, while continuing to mobilise for the setting up of branches across the province. To follow the region’s progress, all enquiries should be directed to 072 456 7260 or email: wc@mym.za.org

The following people were elected to the MYM Regional Executive Committee for the 2015-2017 term: Chairperson – Minhaj Jeenah Deputy Chairperson – Ammaarah Arendse Regional Secretary – Ihsaan Bassier Deputy Regional Secretary – Mishka Sarels Treasurer – Saif-Ul-Islam Godla Gender Desk Officer – Leila Khan Regional Tarbiya Officer – Mogamat Saabik Kader

Muslim Views

Muslim Views . September 2015

Cultivating recognition in the quest for environmental justice PROFESSOR ASLAM FATAAR

This is a two-part excerpt from a khutbah delivered at Claremont Main Road Mosque, on August 21. IT is an incontrovertible fact that global warming, environmental pollution and ecological imbalances all over the world are now drastically affecting quality of life. Climate change is threatening to destroy the material basis necessary for human existence. We see the impact of climate change in rising temperatures, melting ice caps and rising sea levels. Humans are being affected by an increase in diseases related to air pollution, dwindling food resources and fast exhausting sea resources. This issue now confronts us as Muslims as a matter of urgency. We have to persuade ourselves of the need for an appropriate response. Our response, I believe, should be based on a proper recognition of the extent of the crisis. I do not think that recognition of the depth of this crisis will come easily. We don’t have it currently and it will not come easily to us as individuals, communities and nations. Unlike incurable diseases like cancer, HIV/ Aids and certain strains of TB, the imminence of death by environmental pollution and climate change is not apparent. This lulls us into a kind complacency. We need courageous leadership to have us confront climate change and its impact. The question is: who is giving leadership on this matter?

Muslim Views

Prophet Muhammad (SAW) declared: ‘Wisdom is the lost property of the believers, where believers find such wisdom, they are most deserving of it.’ In this light, recently, the Catholic Church, under the leadership of Pope Francis, released an important papal encyclical – correspondence to bishops and priests – concerning the most urgent issues for religious, civic, social, economic and political action. The pope’s moral stance is based on the fact that the devastating climate change over the last 100 years is the result of human activity, and that humans are now called upon to display the moral responsibility to adopt behaviour that will avoid untold destruction and misery. What is remarkable about the pope’s view is that he suggests that ecological problems are not just environmental problems. He also pays attention to the impact of climate change on the most vulnerable and poor in the world. He calls attention to the devastating consequences of industrialisation, pollution and waste. He is severe in his criticism of the role of unbridled capitalism in the destruction of Earth. How has the urgency around climate change been taken up by Muslim communities around the world? It seems as if this is not a priority among Muslims, mired as they are, for example, in the Middle East, in conflicts and wars of destruction, which is the consequence of devastation visited on them by US and Zionist empire. It is the consequence, too, of governments and power brokers in Muslim majority societies who

Our ethical compass, or qibla, is profoundly out of alignment with this challenge over human survival. fail to embrace science, technology and education as a means of developing ethical, political and economic institutions and practices to respond to the challenges posed by climate change. In other words, we have not seen emerging in the Muslim world a galvanising approach in response to climate change. It is just not regarded as the main ethical challenge of our times. Our ethical compass, or qibla, is profoundly out of alignment with this challenge over human survival. In this light, in August 2015, an important initiative convened by Islamic Relief brought together a range of Muslim civic actors and leaders in Istanbul, Turkey. Islamic Relief coordinated the initiative because they provide relief efforts in many areas of the world affected by severe rains, drought and other changed climatic conditions tied to climate change. This initiative produced the first, wide-ranging Muslim response to climate change, the so-called Istanbul Declaration on

Climate Change, which declares: ‘We are in danger of ending life as we know it on our planet… This current rate of climate change cannot be sustained, and the earth’s fine equilibrium (mizan) may be lost soon… ‘What will future generations say of us, who leave them a degraded planet as our legacy… We particularly call on the welloff nations and oil producing states to lead the way in phasing out their greenhouse emissions as early as possible and no later than the middle of the century.’ The Istanbul declaration calls for a coherent response from the Muslim world to address climate change, and has begun to obtain support from Muslim leaders all over the world. As Muslims, we are not prepared to radically adapt our lifestyles and economic platforms to mitigate and address the dunya’s sustainability. The initiative tries to intervene in the complacency in the Muslim world. My suggestion is that there is a failure to recognise the impending ecological disaster that has been coursing its way into the very fabric of our lives, affecting how we now live and die, the quality of our existence, the scarcity of resources for human survival, where droughts and floods affect our livelihoods, causing famine, forced human migration and wars. The question then becomes: what then should the Quranic or Islamic response be in the face of such denial? I believe confronting this crisis requires that we have to come to terms with our (mis)recognition and, simultaneously, develop new

terms for actively working across a number of areas as part of our response. Proper recognition (ma’rifa) of the depth, nature and urgency of climate change is paramount. This will shock us out of our complacency. Proper recognition based on awareness and knowledge should be followed by redemptive or corrective practices. We have to embark on strategies to adopt the type of behaviour that will mitigate the worst consequences of climate change. On-going literacy, information sharing and education are important. So too are the productive use of our Allah-given human ingenuity, via scientific research, to find creative solutions, alternative energy sources and cost-saving, clean air technologies. Becoming productive in areas of research into new science and technology able to mitigate environmental challenges is now a fard kifayah (community obligation). It is clear that once we are able to recognise the depth and extent of the crisis, we have to get busy to address this crisis on multiple fronts. We have to consider how we establish productive practices (amal-al-salihat), how we engage in Allah’s call for us to be His human agents for good on this earth. In part two, Professor Fataar explores how we should cultivate the ability to recognise the impact of our behaviour on the environment. Aslam Fataar is Professor and Vice Dean – Research, in the Faculty of Education at Stellenbosch University.

Muslim Views . September 2015

Hope for schooling in Manenberg MAHMOOD SANGLAY

‘THIS idea was haunting me for more than thirty years, that something needs to happen in the townships,’ says Ashra Norton, founder and CEO of The Leadership College (TLC). TLC was launched on August 7, in Manenberg, although schooling commenced back in 2009. Schooling at TLC is free and includes a uniform, stationery and transport where needed. Learners have access to free wireless internet and printing facilities. The school is open till 5pm throughout the week. This provides a vital opportunity for learners to complete their homework at school, especially those who, due to dire poverty, have little space or no access to basic facilities such as a desk and electricity. The school also offers a feeding scheme for learners from poor homes who have no food at home. Sandwiches are distributed discreetly to those in need. Norton says dire poverty tends to undermine the dignity of learners and that it affects their selfesteem, self-confidence, peer relations and, ultimately, performance in the classroom. Norton was born in District Six and, subsequently, became a resident of Manenberg. She emphasises that TLC is not simply an institution that nurtures the gifted and the talented graduates of the 14 surrounding primary schools from which the college mainly draws its learner intake. It is also an institution

The official opening of The Leadership College (TLC) on August 7, in Manenberg, was attended by, left, Professor Jonathan Jansen, rector of University of the Free State and Helen Zille, right, premier of the Western Cape. Ashra Norton, centre, is the founder and CEO of TLC. Photo JASON BOUD

that demands from the learner a commitment to learn. The decision to admit a child is also weighted by social conditions that influence performance and commitment. Learners whose household income is less than R8 000 per month qualify for a scholarship. Those whose monthly household income exceeds R8 000, qualify subject to a sliding scale. She says that three per cent of parents contribute to the school’s costs. A departmental subsidy covers 50 per cent of the school’s R6,5 million budget for 2015. The rest is from private donors. Norton’s experience over the years has shown that the model of supporting disadvantaged learners with private schooling does not work because it fails to build role models inside the townships. Many of them don’t succeed, and those who do, lose contact with

their roots. TLC is designed to redress this tendency and ensure that its learners remain connected with Manenberg by bringing private schooling into the township. The vision is to empower learners from Manenberg to produce leaders with the potential to succeed in completing tertiary education and embark on careers with a mission to contribute to improving social and economic conditions in Manenberg and beyond. Clearly, this was not envisaged when the school commenced operating in 2009 at Minaarul Huda Masjid, in Manenberg. Their vision then was to save a few Muslim children with the potential and the will to learn. TLC then had a roll of 47 learners in two classrooms, one for boys and one for girls. However, the patent difference TLC made in the prevailing

schooling environment attracted interest from the broader Manenberg community. In the middle of the first school year, a congregation of church members approached Norton and said they had observed the transformation of the positive impact of the new school on the learners, who were friends and neighbours of their own children. ‘They came to me and said you cannot do this for Muslims only.’ They asked her to set aside her admission policy of exclusively Muslim learners as there was a need for equally committed children of other faiths to attend TLC. She agreed and, in 2011, the school was open to all, although it remains a faith-based institution. The school now has a roll of 65 per cent Muslims and 35 per cent Christian. This was an important change because, Nor-

ton says, the school is now a platform for interfaith harmony. In addition, the school is open for use by the community, including the mosques, churches and youth groups. The growth of TLC since 2011 compelled its move to its present premises, in January 2013. The growth since then compelled the school to increase its intake in grade 8 from two to four classes. Thus, by 2019, TLC is expected to have a roll of 800 learners. In 2014, the high schools in Manenberg produced a total of 33 distinctions in matric, of which 30 were from TLC. The matric pass rate in Manenberg was 46 per cent while TLC’s pass rate was 87,5 per cent. This year, Norton applied to the department for approval of a tuition programme for all secondary school matric learners in Manenberg. The application was successful and, since March this year, TLC has been offering free extra-curricular tuition in various subjects, from Monday to Saturday, to 400 matric learners. At the historic first meeting of these matriculants, many of whom belong to rival gangs, a young man said, ‘Miss did you know there is no hope in Manenberg?’ He went on to point out that each of them is destined to become a gangster and that the bright ones are destined to become gang leaders. Norton begged to differ. She responded that each of them is an ambassador. The young man instantly responded positively to this affirmation of his self-worth. And the room loomed large with hope.

Muslim Views

Muslim Views . September 2015

Staring at the moon SHAFIQ MORTON

THERE is a view that moon sighting or the physical observation of the new lunar crescent, is an anachronism, an out-dated methodology of determining the lunar calendar. ‘Why use the naked eye when we can use technology?’ is the mantra. Of course, there are advantages in technology. However, it is my argument that in the case of crescent observation, the advantages of computed and mechanical outcomes are outweighed by other factors. This is because a reliance on calculation alone distances us from the inherent wonder of the skies and removes the positive communal aspects of moon sighting. Technology takes us away from creation and community; it reduces the heavens to yet another material abstract, which is certainly not the message of Quran as it enjoins us to marvel at what is around us. Having been involved in Islamic calendar work for over 20 years – and having had to calculate over 300 lunar months, in advance, on probability – I can vouch that the stellar universe is sometimes far beyond our maths and even the laws of physics. There are so many aspects to observing the lunar crescent. We have to consider its distance from the earth, its age, its lag time, its luminosity, its posi-

tion in the sky and what the seasonal conditions are. It’s not just a question of age, as so many think. These variables can also throw up surprises. There have been occasions when the crescent shouldn’t have been sighted, and it was; and there have been times when it should have been sighted, and it wasn’t. Indeed, the dictum that Allah knows best is profound – it becomes a truly humbling experience when the laws of probability are defied. Yet, in spite of this, the lunar year – based on physical observation – has always balanced itself out in terms of 29- or 30-day months, as well as the total days for the year (355). This is, I believe, its inherent miracle. Nonetheless, there is still a school of thought that attributes cultural ‘primitiveness’ to all this – with the underlying assumption that crescent observation is somehow ‘unscientific’ or ‘mediaeval’ and that it can summarily be replaced by formulae. This, of course, betrays the fact that crescent observation (with the naked eye) is specifically mentioned in the Quran. The execution of sacred law is not my brief and people are entitled to their views but the calculated calendar can go awry sometimes. The observational one – as I’ve said – has its own inimitable cycles. A lot of crescent observation has to do with experience and accumulated skills.

The moon.

Photo SHAFIQ MORTON

This was proved some years ago when members of the Cape Town Observatory, armed with telescopes, asserted that the new crescent for a certain month could not be visible. To their utter amazement, the ‘maankykers’ (as we call our observers) found the crescent within minutes and pointed it out to them. For the hilal process (‘hilal’ is the Arabic for ‘crescent’), there have to be three things in place: a knowledge of fiqh (application of sacred law) on crescent observation, an understanding of astronomy and, naturally, an expertise born of experience from looking at the skies. I would suggest that the South African model of observing the crescent on a co-ordinated regional basis is the most viable. It combines the skills of a hakim (a qualified Islamic scholar) with scientific data and the practical experience of the observers.

The final decision, adjudicated by the hakim, is based on shura – mutual consultation – of the observers around the country. We are one of the few minority communities in the world able to coalesce as one around this point. This system was used in the heyday of the Islamic realm when Baghdad and Bukhara hosted the biggest observatories on earth. The scholars of the day would synthesise their fiqh and science with, yes, actual hilal observation. While there is debate on the conditions of credible witnesses, I would argue that crescent observation should remain in the province of those qualified to do so. If one does not know what to look for in the sky, things such as jet streams, other planets and even cirrus clouds can be misleading. But, I have to be honest, my enthusiasm for gazing into the heavens is based on personal experience. Many years ago, I was told that the Prophet (SAW) used to look up at the skies. When asked by his Companions why, the Messenger would answer that he was looking to see if the last days had arrived, and when he saw the stars in place, his gratitude would increase. This may not be a reliable hadith but what I do take is its universal principle. No longer do we shell peas or draw water.

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Muslim Views

Modernity has many benefits. But it does distance us – as I’ve already said – from our world. Many years ago, I remember looking at the Milky Way in the Richtersveld, far from city environs, on a cold and clear night. It was overwhelming. The Milky Way – a massive smear of light across the sky – had so much sparkle, scale and colour. But more significantly, as shooting stars streaked across the deep, it vibrated with energy. On another occasion, I was in the Namib Desert. It was ominously dark. But then the moon started to rise. First there was a glimmer, a luminescence and, suddenly, the dunes were bathed in a soft radiance. I could see forever. This was not an unnoticed pallid city moon with its hijab, or veil, of pollution and artificial light. This was a bursting into life, like Barzanji’s famous dedication to the Prophet (SAW): ‘anta badru’ (you are the full moon), ‘anta nurun fawqan nuri’ (you are light upon light). I have never forgotten my encounters with the night skies. The ancient Egyptians were so awed by them that the Milky Way became a heavenly attribute of the Nile. However, as a Muslim, I am constantly reminded of the singularity and breathtaking scope of creation every time the new crescent is observed.

Muslim Views . September 2015

Practicality and spiritual significance of sacrifice DR MOGAMAT HOOSAIN EBRAHIM

EID-ul-Adha means ‘Festival of Sacrifice’ – and it is so named because animals are sacrificed on that day. Nabi Ibrahim (AS) almost sacrificed his son Ismail (AS) to seek the pleasure of Allah – father and son were equally prepared to offer their lives in the way of Allah. Their example of courage – such as patience and fearlessness of death – has bewildered the world. We commemorate that exceptional act on the day of Eid-ulAdha and associate ourselves spiritually as well as physically with it by performing animal sacrifices. This spiritual association signifies commitment to the ideal of sacrifice in the life and renewal of that dedication, stretching from year to year. On the occasion of Eid-ulAdha, Muslims sacrifice animals, and they have been enjoined to distribute one third of the meat to the needy so that the less fortunate also eat well. In this respect, this sacred festival is higher than all other festivals in the world. In this article, we will focus on the sacrifices made by the shaikhs/ imams and other relevant parties who plan and slaughter sheep on the day of Eid-ulAdha. There is a need to acknowledge that those slaughtering sheep on the day at relatives and neighbours’ houses sacrifice a lot of their time. Their immediate families hard-

Onlookers recite the takbeer when animals are slaughtered at the qurbani at Photo AMIEN PIENAAR Jamiya Tus Sabr, in Primrose Park.

ly see them on this auspicious occasion. This sacrifice is considered to be the ‘attainment of faithfulness’, and the Islamic ideal of sacrifice forms part of ‘faithfulness’. Exertion as well as the act of slaughtering and all other activities related to it on that day give more meaning to one’s life. Nothing is achieved without effort, as is mentioned in the Quran: ‘… Verily, never will Allah change the condition of a people until they change it themselves…’

(13:11) In 1988, the Qurbaan Farm initiated the idea of slaughtering sheep on the farm because the City of Cape Town Health Department (CCTHD) did not allow backyard slaughtering, and flats did not have proper facilities for slaughtering. A large percentage of the people who commission the Qurbaan Farm to slaughter their sheep are present on the occasion. Strict processes are followed by the CCTHD, the SPCA and Qaasimul

Uloom, which monitors the shariah requirements for slaughtering. From the 1990s, Sunrise Farm and other charitable organisations also offered to perform slaughtering for people. During the period of the late Shaikh Tayb Jassiem, of Nurul Huda Masjid, in Leeuwen Street, Bo-Kaap, people slaughtered their sheep at the masjid. Sheep were kept at the people’s residences for seven days preceding the day of Eid-ul-Adha in order for children to play with and feed the sheep. This was to educate the children about the spiritual significance of the day. There then followed a period when most people started slaughtering sheep at their residences again. It was a colourful scene to observe people slaughtering their sheep at so many homes in BoKaap. The takbeer echoed far and wide. Since five years ago, people have reverted to slaughtering sheep at the masjid again. Approximately 150 sheep are currently slaughtered at Nurul Huda and Boorhaanol Centre. In Primrose Park, the Davids family used to slaughter 16 sheep on behalf of their families at their residence. The slaughtering of sheep grew when more people in the area requested them to slaughter their sheep. Six years ago, due to the lack of facilities, the Davids family organised the slaughtering of sheep at the mosque in Primrose Park, Jamiya Tus Sabr. A permit was obtained from the health

department for slaughtering sheep. Currently, most of the sheep slaughtered at the masjid are on behalf of people in Manenberg, where it is not conducive to slaughtering. The acquiring of sheep is not an easy task. It is the organisers’ responsibility to obtain quality sheep at reasonable prices. Some people believe that the best sheep are from Namaqualand. Last year, 270 sheep were slaughtered in Primrose Park. Approximately 30 sheep were purchased from people who organised their own slaughtering. Every year, a small profit goes towards the upgrading of the facilities. Before Eid-ul-Adha, the students of the Primrose Park madrassah are educated and encouraged to participate in the slaughtering of the sheep. Generally, the price for purchasing and slaughtering sheep also includes skinning, cutting and delivery. Before delivery, the meat is stored in fridges situated on the grounds. To date, the inspectors of the City of Cape Town Health Department are impressed with the slaughter operations at the Cape. We are blessed that we have the co-operation of the relevant authorities in order to fulfil this most important sacrifice so that our young can observe and continue the practice. Dr Ebrahim is a lecturer in Religion Studies, History, Ulum al-Quran and Ilm al-Kalaam at International Peace College South Africa (Ipsa).

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Muslim Views

Muslim Views . September 2015

The Reformation in need of a reformation DR AUWAIS RAFUDEEN

EVER since 9-11, in particular, there have been calls from various quarters for Islam to be ‘reformed’. The call becomes more frequent with every atrocity committed in the name of Islam. Like Christianity, the call goes, Islam needs to go through its own Reformation and Enlightenment. It needs to become more progressive, rational, liberal, relevant and in tune with human rights. It must cast off its outdated adherence to tradition, to the legacy and interpretations of the ulama, to the received understanding of the religion espoused by the majority. Islam needs to be revitalised by discarding its features that do not fit neatly into the modern world. Or so runs the argument. Nobody will deny that Islam is in periodic need of renewal, especially when things appear awry and require a change in mentality. But there was always an internal Islamic mechanism to achieve such change, namely tajdid, which refers to the healthy renewal – not reform – of the institutions that make Islam what it is. The most important objective of Islam is the cultivation and maintenance of faith. And these institutions, legacies and interpretations of the ulama are integral to maintaining that faith. Indeed, this is one of the most remarkable aspects of Islam in the world today: despite the stress under which the religion operates, it appears that faith in the religion is still very strong, that Muslims believe in its verities, that they have a living attachment to the religion indicative of such faith. A capitulation to liberal democratic values, to contemporary norms, to current thought systems not only erodes traditional structures but, by extension, erodes faith. And the erosion of faith is the greatest disaster a Muslim can encounter. It is against this background that we need to understand traditionalist thinker, Karim Lahham’s critique of the Muslim reformer, Muhammad Shahrur.

Muslim Views

His Muhammad Sharur’s Cargo Cult (Tabah Foundation, 2012) is not so much a critique of this ‘reformer’ per se but of the concept of reform itself. This concept, Lahham argues, finds its roots in a different ‘silsila’, a specific chain of thought that traces its roots to Europe’s gradual break with religion in the post-Middle Ages, particularly with the Enlightenment. It is a chain that, of course, is fundamentally different to that of tradition, which prides itself in locating its teachings in a ‘silsila’ that stretches back to the Prophet (SAW). And so, on the one side, we have Revelation and faith and, on the other, doubt in Revelation and increasing agnosticism as a consequence. But Lahham’s central point is this: no matter how well-intentioned Muslim reformers may be, the fact that the ‘silsila’ of their underlying conceptual framework is radically different to that of traditional Islam will inevitably mean that they will bring its doubt and loss of faith into this religion as well. This doubt and loss is generated, in large measure, by the notion of moral autonomy so characteristic of modern thought. Here, the individual believes that he can find the truth and guidance by his or her own lights, through his or her own efforts and has no need for divine guidance in this regard. In fact, following revealed religion is seen as a sign of immaturity. The Enlightenment, in this view, has provided human beings with the ‘courage’ to break with tradition and authority, and think for themselves. This is naturally anathema to the traditional Muslim understanding, where guidance is realised through obedience to the fundamental teachings of Islam as transmitted by recognised authorities. In breaking with such authorities and attempting to understand the Quran and (with far greater trepidation) the Sunnah in their own way, Muslim reformists echo this Enlightenment call to autonomy. The thought of the German philosopher Immanuel Kant was

pivotal to this new concept of the autonomous individual. For Kant, our mind processes the information received by our senses through specific inbuilt categories, allowing us to make sense of what we experience. But, as Lahham notes, the upshot of his thought is that we can never experience reality in itself, only reality as it is constructed through these categories. And so we may ask, I think, where does this approach leave the claims of Revelation and its central insight that reality is to be discovered through obedience to divine law, to the law that proceeds from Reality in itself? In obscuring Reality in itself (God), Kant lays the theoretical basis for human autonomy. In addition, while Kant was a Lutheran, his approach eventually leads to subjectivity and scepticism as evidenced by major currents in contemporary philosophy. While effectively disavowing revelation, Kant still believes in a moral law. Indeed, it forms an essential aspect of his philosophy. But he argues that, in this sphere, human beings are only bound to act on a will which is their own. It is the will that constructs a moral law of universal applicability, the only law which human beings need to obey – the law that they have themselves formulated. This is the essence of human autonomy in practice. But, as Lahham indicates, what would compel anyone to obey even this law? If reality is for all intents and purposes a construction of our mind, why should we be obligated to follow the law of our own will. What purpose is there in being ‘good’? Autonomous morality surely collapses into amorality. Contemporary predatory capitalism, I can add, would be one consequence of the implicit, unintended nihilism found in Kant’s work. So, when Muslim reformers decide to break with the broader tradition and, wittingly or not, assume the notion of the autonomous individual – one that is not ‘trapped’ by the cumulative scholarly tradition of the ulama

but can interpret the Quran by his or her own lights – they become party to a highly problematic genealogy of ideas. This autonomy also assumes a studied ignorance of the metaphysical foundations of traditional Islam. The goal of Islam, traditionally speaking, is to cultivate the self through received religious practices in order to know God and develop a yearning for Him. The reality of this world pales into insignificance as the reality of the next comes increasingly into view. Time, space and causality – the essential building blocks of a metaphysical system – are all defined in relation to the Being of Allah. In contrast, in the unstated metaphysics of putative reformers, there is an over-concern with the time, space and causality of this world – one that effectively assumes the time and space of this world to be the truly real, a time and space (not God) that is believed to truly cause events. The outcome of such an orientation is to divinise history, to believe that divine injunctions are fully subject to the dictates of unfolding social, cultural and economic contexts, and, by implication, to see God and eternal divine truths as an appendage to the ‘actual’ forces of history. Reformers in Islam and elsewhere may not intend this but this is what effectively results from their initial orientation. Why is all this important? Our present world is shaped by the legacy of the Reformation and the Enlightenment. The Protestant Reformation – which represented a ‘reform’ of traditional Catholicism – in fact, set into motion the forces that produced the more secular Enlightenment, with its emphasis on reason as the sole guide, on the autonomy of the individual and on scientific progress as against ‘religious superstition’. But, what have been the consequences of the Enlightenment trajectory? We live in a world of increasing economic dependence and less self-sufficiency. It is a world whose consequences, as Lahham eloquently puts it, ‘serve

the interests of an elitist minority fiscally farming the greater part of humanity for its own benefit’. The autonomy so cherished by the Enlightenment has produced self-interest as a philosophy in itself, a dog-eats-dog world of neo-liberalism that severely undermines family and community structures. And the notion of scientific and technological progress championed as the means to eventually bring progress and happiness to all has actually resulted in a potential ecological catastrophe. In any case, the measure of happiness as the increasing consumption of newer and newer goods hardly speaks to the complex human condition, and so results in more unhappiness than the reverse. The levels of violence witnessed in the world today, and its various spin-off effects, such as mass migration and displacement, are closely related to the problems ushered in by the Enlightenment trajectory. It is little wonder that there are increasingly vocal calls for alternative views of the good, for alternative ways of assessing and tackling our reality. And these alternative visions often have the roots in religion – a traditional conception of religion, whether in Islam, Christianity or somewhere else which, by their nature, speak to the complex needs of a human being. It is these alternative visions that radically challenge our contemporary way of doing things, that call us to rethink the entire legacy of the Reformation, that call us to rethink the philosophies that, via the Enlightenment, form the legacy of this Reformation – philosophies such as liberal democracy and Marxism (philosophies that, while seemingly at odds, largely mirror one another). In effect, these alternative visions are saying that, far from Islam having to be ‘reformed’, it is really the idea of ‘Reformation’ that is in need of reformation. Dr Rafudeen is Senior Lecturer in the Department of Religious Studies and Arabic at University of South Africa.

Muslim Views . September 2015

Humility is needed for dialogue between feminists and ulama MAHMOOD SANGLAY

SA’DIYYA Shaikh’s Sufi Narratives of Intimacy is manifestly her sojourn into a feminist exploration of gender and sexuality through the work of the spiritual luminary Ibn Arabi. Shaikh insists on the abiding relevance of Ibn Arabi in social, religious and spiritual discourse. ‘If knowledge is not used to transform the world then I’m not interested in that knowledge,’ she says. So how is knowledge of Ibn Arabi’s worldview relevant as diagnosis of the crisis of humanity today? Shaikh’s considered response is, ‘Completely unrefined jalal.’ For Ibn Arabi, the divine names are divided into jamal, which are attributes of beauty, and jalal, which are attributes of majesty. Examples of the latter are independence, inaccessibility, wrath and sovereignty. These are connected to God’s incomparability. According to Ibn Arabi, human beings reflect a shadow of these attributes. Shaikh’s description indicates that human beings have developed an unaligned and excessive set of jalali attributes, which she uses as a means of framing violence in the world today. However, she also points out, affirming the feminist lens through which she sees the world, that there is no particular refinement for men that’s different for women. ‘We are all capable of embodying the 99 attributes in harmony.’ It’s only our socialisation that sets men and women apart. Yet, an inherent ambivalence distinguishes the journey of Shaikh’s friendship with Ibn

Associate Professor Sa’dIyya Shaikh.

Arabi, attended by the usual temperaments of friendship. ‘Every now and then I would get very frustrated with him. I would read these things that, on the surface, were so benevolent but so paternalistic and I would get so irritated.’ For example, Shaikh says parts of Ibn Arabi’s interpretation of the hadith in which the Prophet (SAW) expressed his love for perfume, prayer and women, are devoid of a woman’s subjectivity. Shaikh denounces readings of texts that are about women but which exclude women’s experience in the reading. Another is the narrative of women’s creation from the rib of Adam. In Ibn Arabi’s creative rendition of the narrative, the crookedness and deficiency of the rib is transformed into one of bending in inclination and love towards the man. And the man reciprocates. Yet, she remains part of him, and while this is beautiful it is also ‘romantic paternalistic patriarchy’ Shaikh

Photo MICHAEL HAMMOND/UCT

asserts. Nevertheless, the mystic’s unceasing charm ‘just whirls you all the time’ in the Mevlavi fashion. No impression remains static. Such is the changing face of every moment with Ibn Arabi. Shaikh sees this fluidity in Ibn Arabi’s worldview as profoundly transformative and as a signature technique in which the mystic at once charms and disarms a captive audience. She calls it an ‘exquisite assault’. In a third example, Shaikh recalls the narratives of the creation of Eve, the miraculous birth of Jesus and the divinely ordained honour accorded the prophets of God. In each instance, the station of woman oscillates between the light of emancipation and the shadows of patriarchy. First, there is the rib narrative, somehow redeemed by loving inclination, as opposed to crookedness. Then there is the miraculous birth of Jesus in which Mariam is elevated ‘above the women of all nations’ (Quran

3:42). This is followed by the unique privilege accorded God’s prophets who have access to perfection (akmaliyya), to the exclusion of women. Finally, after the zenith of prophethood, men and women alike have access to akmaliyya. Shaikh views this dynamism in Ibn Arabi as a profound way of engaging his contemporary interlocutors with revolutionary ideas for his time. For Islamic feminists today though the trifling paternalism evokes discomfiture. In her final chapter, Shaikh addresses the work of Syed Hossein Nasr and Sachiko Murato. The latter argues that Ibn Arabi posits a spiritual matriarchy and a social patriarchy, a notion Shaikh finds untenable. She says Nasr and Murato have read Ibn Arabi with a traditionalist lens. (And she describes the hierarchies in Nasr’s worldview as likely to offend – across the board – because it is sustained by an underlying notion of class and race.) She challenges Nasr’s idea of jamal as feminine and jalal as masculine. According to Shaikh, Ibn Arabi is not making these gender differentiations. Access to akmaliyya, through a constant striving for balance and refinement of jamali and jalali qualities in ourselves, is a ‘birthright’ accessible to men and women alike. A recurring refrain in the text is that Sufism’s essential critique of egotism presents an opportunity to challenge notions of male superiority. Islam in South Africa is characterised by social and religious male hegemony and a patriarchal narrative.

‘Sufism is not the panacea of all things good and liberatory but the foundational assumptions of Sufism are enormously productive because they come from an organic critique of assertions of superiority and power,’ says Shaikh. ‘I’m quite fed up with Muslim men. No Muslim man would go to a mosque that is racially segregated but they all happily go to a gender segregated space.’ What does she propose in light of this critique? How would she engage those in power locally, at the helm of religious institutions? Access to critical tools ideally inspires activism and compels the activist to use this knowledge and work towards social transformation. However, Shaikh’s activism is largely polemical. Although the polemic is compelling, as a repertory to engage patriarchy in our midst, it appears Muslim feminism in South Africa is but a novel concept unsupported by organisational structures or a programme to confront Muslim patriarchy. A singular, albeit insular, instance approximating Islamic feminist activism is confined to programmes in a limited sacred space – Claremont Main Road Masjid, Cape Town. Shaikh regards this as a model and a vital space for nourishment, where the humanity of both men and women enjoy equal validation. However, in the absence of structures and programmes, there remains the potential for transformation. It starts with dialogue, and Shaikh recognises one vital ingredient, a note on which to commence. ‘What we all need is a lot more humility. That applies to feminists and to ulama.’

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Muslim Views

Muslim Views . September 2015

MSA launches schools’ wing ZAKIYYAH SABLAY

‘WHEN last has one of your MSA events caused someone’s mind to grow, their hearts to move?’ This was the question Moulana Khalil Hendricks posed at an inter-schools MSA committee meeting held at Darun Naim, in June. From that question, a group of us consisting of various schools’ MSA heads, deputies and Grade 11 members began putting together what became our launch event, ‘It’s Not Too Late’, the conference that was held at Islamia Hall on Sunday, August 16, 2015. Moulana Khalil Hendricks, Laura Pistorious, Zakariyya Harnekar, Zahraa Janodien and Mustafa Karbanee were the main speakers. Topics included re-connecting to Allah and reality, a revert sister’s journey to Islam, dating and deen, a QnA panel about getting married in a way that pleases Allah, a personal reflection by a 2014 matriculant about how imperative understanding the Quran is, and an address by one of our grade 12 group members on the youth’s readiness to stand up, make a real difference to our surroundings and change others’ perceptions of us. We formed this group and held the conference totally for Allah’s sake; something we all kept reminding each other throughout the planning. Alhamdulillah, even if one mind grew and one heart moved, we are grateful. To all those who assisted in putting the event together, and to

Muslim Views

Simplified Hajj guide

Moulana Khalil Hendricks leads the audience in a powerful closing duah at the launch of the MSA Schools of the Cape. Photo LU-JAINE ISAACS

whoever was a part of the amazing crowd of 1 000 who attended, Jazakallah khair. You brought our beginning to life and we make duah that we continue to grow minds and move hearts, Insha Allah, ameen. Our vision is to develop this MSA network organisation into an exciting platform for the youth, run by the youth – a place of personal and spiritual development, a place of changing perceptions and instilling a sense of pur-

pose, a place that develops a strong identity in being a Muslim and living with a higher purpose. To find out more about how to become involved and to stay up to date about things happening, visit www.msaschools.co.za (under construction). Follow us on Instagram @msacapeschools and like our page on Facebook ‘MSA Schools of The Cape’. Zakiyyah Sablay, a Grade 12 student, is a member of MSA Schools of The Cape.

DURBAN-based publisher, Baitul Hikmah, has released a simplified presentation and explanation of Hajj through distinctive aerial maps, diagrams, illustrations and pictures. The Muhammad Hajj Guide also provides an overview of Madinah, the importance of visiting it and highlights some important places that may be visited in Madinah. In addition, the book has selected supplications or duahs from the Holy Quran that one can read during the specified days of The book has distinctive aerial maps, diagrams, illustrations and pictures. Photo SUPPLIED Hajj. It includes the step-by-step pictorial description of the Hajj of our beloved Prophet going to perform this sacred pillar (SAW) and dedicates a specific of Islam. chapter for women performing Place your order for a copy of Hajj, giving women a chance to The Muhammad Hajj Guide via see the basic fiqh rulings that are the Baitul Hikmah online bookstore on www.hikmah.co.za specific to them during Hajj. This is one of the finest pictor- or contact the store: ial Hajj guides and is strongly rec- info@hikmah.co.za/ ommended for anyone who is 031 811 3599.

Muslim Views . September 2015

Education summit demands ‘new educational system’ STAFF REPORTER

THE MAIL Education Summit, held on Monday, August 10, at Rylands Community Hall, in Cape Town, has made a call for radical social change and the building of a humanitarian society based on sound human values, dignity and respect. Calling for the unity of the poor working class, both rural and urban, the summit demanded ‘a new educational system with free, equal, obligatory quality education’ based on the best global standards. The summit’s resolution was adopted following a thorough analysis of the state of education in South Africa. The summit noted that there was a huge and growing class division in education between the rich elites and the poor and exploited working class. The well-resourced, adequately equipped and well-financed education of the ruling class, with private, independent or costly ‘schools for profit’, prepared their learners for a dominant position as future rulers and overlords of an exploitative capitalist society. On the other hand, the summit observed that the underfunded, ill-equipped, run-down public schools of poor students were burdened with unaffordable school fees, overcrowded classes, a shortage of proper school buildings, much fewer high schools than primary schools (ratio 1:3), huge student drop-out rates from grade one to twelve, constant harassment of principals and teachers by education departments and the growing threats by national and provincial authori-

The principal of South Peninsula High School, Brian Isaacs, received an award for being a ‘principled principal’ at the inaugural Education Summit hosted by the Movement Against Illegitimate Leaders (Mail). The award was in recognition of his contribution to education. Mail spokesperson, Abdurahman Khan, said: ‘We recognise his contribution to the struggle for the pursuance of quality education for the children of the poor. He is continuously in the forefront to oppose attacks on the schools of the poor.’ The Mail Education Summit was attended by the Progressive Principals’ Association, leading community members and organisations, various clergy, educators and learners from schools in the Western Cape. The keynote address was delivered by Professor Salim Vally, Director at the Centre for Education Rights and Transformation at University of Johannesburg. (Left to right) Brian Isaacs (South Peninsula High School Principal), Ursula Fataar (New Unity Movement member), Faranaaz Simon (secretary of Mail), Frank van der Horst (Concerned Education Forum exco member) Photo ABDURAHMAN KHAN and Professor Salim Vally of University of Johannesburg (UJ).

ties to close schools, while a huge shortage exists. The poorly resourced schools have to cater for students from communities suffering high unemployment, rampant poverty, huge inequality, lack of teacher training colleges, gangsterism, drugs and violence. The summit pointed to the ‘psychological warfare’ waged by education departments through the late delivery of school books, victimising teachers, delaying salary payments and forcing the

closure of schools, especially in the poor rural areas. Many schools are run-down prefab buildings, mud schools, shacks or even old shipping containers, with unhealthy toilets, inadequate water or electricity, no laboratories, halls or libraries. The summit noted that the social class divisions in society were mirrored in the inferior, oppressive and unequal education. This education system, it pointed out, was responsible for producing students who provide

cheap labour, thus increasing the large number of unemployed. Another concern raised by the summit was the growing and widespread corruption in education, government, business and society, creating further misery for the poor in education. Scarce resources, diverted for the rich and ruling elite, increased the public debt, the summit noted. The summit alleged that this ‘promoted a sick, corrupt mentality that starts from the president, the ruling class parties

to huge corporations. Big corporations, the summit claimed, were responsible for the flight of R600 billion every year as dividends, profits or royalties. Pointing to huge levels of inequality in the country, the summit referred to the R2,1 trillion of private wealth – out of a total of R6,2 trillion – that was in the hands of a tiny, rich elite of eight billionaires and 48 808 millionaires. The balance of R4,1 trillion of private wealth in South Africa was owned by foreign billionaires, according to the summit. ‘This is imperialist capitalist exploitation of our wealth while the poor majority of parents and students live in utter poverty and misery,’ the summit declared. Adding to the burden faced by education for the poor was an increase in electricity and water tariffs, the rising cost of living, a slowing economy and a huge wave of retrenchments in a global economic decline. The summit resolved that social change was necessary to ‘build a new equal society with a new equal obligatory education to global standards that roots out all the corruption, inequality, class exploitation and the greedy enrichment of a few at the expense of the majority. ‘The people who produce the wealth – the workers – must be assured equal rights, caring human values, economic and social development. ‘They must control the creation, distribution and consumption of wealth by all on the basis of equality with no class favouritism, corruption nor privilege.’

Muslim Views

Muslim Views . September 2015

Muslim Views

Muslim Views . September 2015

Health File

Dealing with exam anxiety RASHID AHMED

ASSESSMENTS are central to educational systems, and assessment methods like exams can generate a considerable amount of anxiety. Anxiety is a normal human emotion to many different situations, not only exams, and it is only a problem if the nervousness or worry significantly impacts on your functioning. There is sometimes confusion about what exam anxiety is. If you have not prepared well or not mastered the subject matter and you are also anxious, and do not perform well, your performance may be more reflective of your level of preparedness than your anxiety. However, if you have prepared well for an exam and have really mastered your work but the nervousness or worry affects your functioning then managing your anxiety also has to be part of your exam preparation. Each person has a unique learning style and personality so all we hope to offer in this brief article are a few pointers that may help.

What is exam anxiety? Exam anxiety refers to a number of physical, emotional, behavioural and cognitive symptoms that significantly impact on functioning and well-being, and often result in underperformance. It can manifest as forgetting work you know, making mistakes you do

No matter how overwhelming a problem is, tackling it begins with the first step. Avoidance is one of the most common responses to anxiety. Start as soon as you finish reading this article! not normally make and not being able to work as systematically as you normally do. There are many symptoms of anxiety, some of which are a dry mouth, heart beating faster, excessive fear or feelings of helplessness, fidgetiness and a difficulty organising your thoughts. Some pointers on managing exam anxiety While there are many helpful techniques for managing anxiety for exams as well as other situations, there is no quick fix. If anxiety is affecting your performance, some of the tips below may help. l Often, anxiety is proportional to level of preparedness. There is no substitute but to be well prepared and organised. This

needs to happen long before the exam. l If you have not left enough time for preparation, be realistic about what you can achieve. Maximise the time you have rather than focusing on what could have been done. If you manage your anxiety, even a limited amount of time can be utilised effectively. l Focus on what you are able to do and generate a realistic work plan with the available time. l Negative thoughts, and particularly thoughts about the outcome (e.g. I want to pass with a distinction), can increase anxiety. Focus on the effort you put in and reward yourself for your efforts rather than the

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outcome. For example, ‘I gave 100 per cent and I can feel proud even if my results do not reflect my effort.’ Maintain a balance even when you feel you have very little time. Exercise, eating properly and getting enough sleep, all maximise performance. Cramming can actually affect performance negatively. Accept that you will get anxious and that it’s normal. Use this as an opportunity to identify and manage some of the reasons for your anxiety: have I not prepared well enough? Do I want a particular mark? Am I anxious about my parents’/ teachers’ reactions? If so, how can I address these anxieties? There are many techniques to directly deal with the symptoms of anxiety. A variety of relaxation techniques, such as breathing exercises and guided imagery exercises, can considerably reduce your anxiety. Do not do exam post-mortems. Rather reflect on what you can do differently or improve for the next exam. Reflect on what you think you did well and build on that. All successful ventures are a combination of individual and collective efforts. Activate the necessary supports that you require. Is there a friend/ teacher/ tutor that can help you to understand the work better? Is there someone you can talk to about the pressure

you feel? Depending on your circumstances, you may also need professional support. l Remember, your feelings and thoughts impact on your perceptions. If you are anxious or have negative thoughts, the situation may appear worse than it is. l Maintain perspective. Even though, at the moment, that specific assessment or challenge seems the most important thing in the world, in the bigger scheme of your life, it is simply one point in life’s journey. l No matter how overwhelming a problem is, tackling it begins with the first step. Avoidance is one of the most common responses to anxiety. Start as soon as you finish reading this article! l Finally, failure is part of life. Learning and drawing from that experience is what equips you for the future. If you give your best shot and accept the disappointment and other feelings that go with failure, and try to learn from the experience then you cannot ask any more of yourself. Failure in the secular sense may have a very different meaning spiritually. We hope these guidelines are helpful and do not appear as a recipe to be followed. Draw what you find helpful from these tips; you know yourself best. All the best for the exams and the future on behalf of the Islamic Medical Association. Rashid Ahmed is a psychologist.

AS SYRIA ENTERS A FIFTH YEAR OF CONFLICT, THESE FIGURES WILL CONTINUE TO RISE. VULNERABLE PEOPLE NEED YOUR HELP NOW MORE THAN EVER BEFORE.

Muslim Views . September 2015

What parents need to know about congenital heart disease in children DR LIESEL ANDRAG

CONGENITAL heart disease is an abnormality of the heart that a person is born with. These abnormalities occur very early in pregnancy, when the organs of the foetus are being formed – around six to ten weeks of pregnancy. Congenital heart defects are one of the most common developmental problems babies can be born with: about eight out of 1 000 children can be born with such defects. About one in 100 of these children will present with ‘critical heart disease’, which means they will be sick directly after birth or early in life and will need emergency medications, procedures or heart operations to survive. Other children, with less severe defects, may initially do well and only present later in life. Sadly, children’s heart defects are often missed at birth and during their early years, and the children then present too late to be helped. It is, therefore, important that every parent or caregiver is able to notice symptoms or signs of heart disease in their child: 1. Babies and children with heart defects usually grow poorly. This can be picked up by plotting their growth on the growth chart in the Road to Health Booklet that every baby gets when it is born. Babies are weighed by the

The good news is that medical science has advanced so much that even complex heart defects can be operated on early in life; and most patients with congenital heart disease can have normal, productive lives. clinic sister at each of their immunisation visits. However, when they are bigger, infants and children should still be taken to their local clinic or doctor for regular weight checks, usually every three months for the first year and, after that, every six to twelve months. In this way, the health care practitioner will quickly pick up if the child is not gaining weight and growing as expected. The child can then be checked for causes of poor growth, such as heart defects, other organ defects, malnutrition and persistent infections, and be referred for treatment. 2. Babies with heart defects can feed poorly. For a baby, feeding from a bottle or from the breast is their biggest exercise. Therefore, if they have an underlying heart problem, they will struggle to feed. They will get tired while feeding, needing frequent little rests to catch their breath. They can sweat a lot, especially on the forehead, and have fast

breathing while feeding. Parents should remember there may be simple answers to the above problems, such as a baby struggling to feed due to a blocked nose or sweating because of overdressing. 3. Babies with heart defects may have a blue discolouration of their tongues, hands or feet. If a child is blue, it means that they are not getting enough oxygen in their blood. These babies need urgent medical attention. An easy, painless test to do at the clinic or in the hospital is pulse oximetry. This machine has a small clip that is put on a baby’s foot or hand, and measures the amount of oxygen present in the blood. Should this level be lower than normal, the patient must be transferred for further evaluation. 4. Babies with heart defects may have a genetic abnormality such as Down’s syndrome. These babies should all have a screening ultrasound of their hearts, as it is not always possible to pick up their heart defects early in life. 5. Children with heart defects may always be sick and have

many admissions to hospital for lung infections, which may, in fact, be due to underlying heart disease. 6. Older children with heart defects may complain of palpitations (feel their heart beating very fast), have swelling of their face or feet or have frequent dizziness or blackouts. They may also get tired with minimal activity and can’t play or keep up with their friends. Again, it is important to rule out other causes of tiring such as asthma or lung diseases. Should parents be concerned about their child, it is best to immediately take them to their local clinic or doctor for a checkup. The health professional should always listen to a mother’s concerns, especially if she presents repeatedly with the same problem. Health professionals should always take note of a family history of heart disease. A history of heart defects in the family, the mother or one of her other children, gives the mother a higher risk of having a child with

heart disease, and she should have a detailed foetal scan in every further pregnancy to check that baby’s heart. Parents who had a baby die unexpectedly in its sleep (cot death) should take their other children for a check-up to rule out a rhythm defect of the heart. If there is any doubt about the health of a child, the child can be referred to a specialist who deals with children with heart disease, a paediatric cardiologist, who can treat the child appropriately. The good news is that medical science has advanced so much that even complex heart defects can be operated on early in life; and most patients with congenital heart disease can have normal, productive lives. The challenge is to recognise congenital heart disease early in life to assure the best management and outcome. The earlier a child with a heart defect is treated, the better their chance of surviving and living a normal life. For additional information about congenital heart disease or to find your closest specialist, visit the website of the Paediatric Cardiac Society of South Africa at www.pcssa.org Dr Liesel Andrag [MBChB (Stell) FC Paed (SA) MMed (Paed) (Pret) Cert Cardio (SA) (Paed)] is a paediatric cardiologist at Melomed Private Hospital, Gatesville. Tel no 021 633 1156.

September is

Heart awareness month

Healthy Hearts, healthy kids

Melomed Private Hospitals now offer a comprehensive Peadiatric Service inclusive of Paediatric Cardiology and Paediatric Cardiothoracic Surgery. Our paediatric units are uplifting with an inspiring mixture of state of the art healthcare facilities and decorative charm. Our focus is to provide first class paediatric services to children with complex needs, helping them to maximise their independence, wellbeing and quality of life. The Cardiac Centres at Melomed Gatesville and Melomed Bellville enable the hospitals to provide a 24 hour cardiac intervention and peadiatric service to its patients. Melomed Bellville Paediatrician: Dr M Ledger: 021 946 1347 Paediatrician/Paediatric Pulmonologist Dr D Rhode: 021 945 1898 Paediatric Neurologist Dr R Solomons: 021 945 1898

Melomed Mitchells Plain Paediatricians Dr OF Adam: 021 391 4967/8 Dr EJ Laubscher: 021 392 6177 Dr V Singata: 021 392 8255/ 8

Melomed Gatesville Paediatricians Dr M R Khan: 021 637 3811/3817 Dr M Omar: 021 699 1321 Paediatrician/Neonatologist Dr S Raban: 021 637 2358

Paediatric Surgeon Prof D Sidler: 021 637 8100 Paediatric Cardiologist Dr L Andrag: 021 633 1156 Cardiothoracic Surgeon (Adult/ Paediatric) Dr Z Karani: 021 633 1156

www.melomed.co.za info@melomed.co.za Melomed Gatesville: 021 637 8100 Melomed Bellville: 021 948 8131 Melomed Mitchells Plain: 021 392 3126 Melomed Tokai: Opening Soon! Muslim Views

Muslim Views . September 2015

Pride on Arafah ADDY,’ six-year-old Yusuf wanted to softly whisper, his eyes joyfully shining as he spotted his father. He was peering through a gap between two poorly aligned adjacent flaps of his group’s tent. He was on Arafah, looking absolutely cute and gorgeous in his miniature ihraam made from the one his deceased maternal grandfather had once worn. His father, Ayub, was walking with Yusuf’s eight-year-old brother, Ali, towards a different tent occupied by a different group. Yusuf wanted to run towards his father but the stern look from his mother reminded him of the countless lessons that, by now, had been cemented in his brain. ‘I must not go to Daddy unless he calls me. I must never call out to him unless it is in my house. I must stay in the background at all times unless summonsed.’

‘D

Polygamy was widely practised and accepted in his country but marrying someone from a lower class was decidedly frowned upon, writes Doctor SALIM PARKER. How he wished that those maddening rules would just disappear into thin air! But he has learnt to obey; he has learnt to bow to society’s norms. He, close to the time of Wuqoof, the climax of the Hajj, exited the back of his tent, the white of his garb disappearing in the shadow cast by the tent against the harsh sun. A decade earlier, Ayub wanted to marry Rabia, Yusuf’s mother. She was of an undesirable class, despite her doctorate obtained at the same university Ayub had attended.

The author, Doctor Salim Parker, flanked by two hujjaaj, Hafiz Vahed (left) and Riedwaan Harris, on Arafah. Photo SALIM PARKER

Succumbing to the strict norms of his very conservative and elitist society, dominated by his absolutely powerful, patriarchal and billionaire father, he married Zainab, with Ali a fruit of that union. The father passed away two years later and the riches and power were now Ayub’s domain. One of the first decisions he made was to marry Rabia. Polygamy was widely practised and accepted in his country but marrying someone from a lower class was decidedly frowned upon. The elders of the clan tried to talk Ayub out of it but, scared that the source of their considerable worldly benefits would trim his generosity, they meekly and reluctantly stopped talking about it. Ayub was deeply principled and religious, and had great difficulty reconciling the teachings of the Quran with the traditions and acceptances of his society. Some aspects were beyond his control, such as jet setting to manage the global empire his father had created, and mingling with the upper crusts of the stratospheres inhabited by the super rich. He had married Rabia, and she led a very comfortable but, decidedly, low-key life. She had, initially, continued studying and teaching her passionate subject but stopped when they were blessed with the arrival of Yusuf. Ayub led parallel lives. Most of his time was spent in the business world with his accepted and extended family. Once a week, he tried to spend the day with Rabia in a much humbler abode where, besides the array of security personnel stationed outside, he was not inhibited by the stiffness and formalities of his pompous mansions. There, he and Rabia were still two university students in love. Zainab was of similar royal lineage as Ayub, and a teenager when they married. She knew the nuances that permeated their lifestyle, and was always on guard and awaiting the announcement What road led to Arafah, what tree shielded the pilgrim, what ihraam covered what soul? Photo SALIM PARKER

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Part of the rituals of Hajj is Tawaaful Ifaadah. This is usually performed after returning from Musdalifah, where hujjaaj gather pebbles, stay for at least a part of the night then proceed to Meena and pelt Jamaraatul Aqaba. [The prominent green line on the right of the photograph marks the start and end of a shoat (round) of tawaaf.] Photo SALIM PARKER

of the arrival of a second wife. Her father had three wives and she knew that there was a big chance of a similar fate shattering her perfect world. She was, however, not prepared for his decision to marry Rabia. She had been assured by his family that it was a student passing phase and always expected that her competition would be the product of the amalgamation of mega businesses. When Ayub asked her permission to marry again, she resignedly agreed. When he announced that it was to his low caste first love, all hell broke loose. Her monochrome upbringing could not fathom why he would want to descend to such abysmal levels. Since then she convinced herself that, on the weekday that he was in his alternate universe, he was merely on a business trip. Rabia’s humble upbringing was in a small, isolated Saudi village, and it was only her teachers’ persistence that had resulted in her father allowing her to complete her schooling. It had taken nearly a year before her tribe could be convinced to send her to university, where she flourished. She met Ayub, fell in love but realised, very soon, that marriage was not to be. When he got married to Zainab, she immersed herself in more studies but the demand for her to return to the village and be cattled off to a family-approved suitor became more and more intense. Two years after Zainab’s betrothal to Ayub, Rabia became aware that her family was coming to physically remove her from university. That is when Ayub called, saying that he wanted her to be his second wife.

Her choices? She would marry someone from her impoverished village and her husband would work in one of the big cities to make ends meet. On the other hand, Ayub pledged to be with her at least once a week. She would have an absent husband either way. To her, it was a no-brainer and there was no opposition from her family when the man she deeply and truly loved, proposed. As a high ranking member of society, Ayub had access to everything. One of them was performing Hajj as often as he could. He had taken Zainab and Ali on two occasions, and Rabia and Yusuf once. It was his annual ascend to humility where he could expand his thoughts on his philanthropy. Rabia, by now, had become an efficient administrator of all his charities, and it provided her with a canoe in her vast sea of loneliness. This year, he wanted all his family to accompany him. His vast entourage was housed in the same hotels and tents as his official family. Rabia, Yusuf and her brother were housed separately but as luxuriously. In Makkah, Ayub took Ali with him for four of the daily prayers, and Yusuf for the last, night one. Never did he take them together and never did it cross his mind to do it. That is just how his life revolved and the only one he knew. CONTINUED ON PAGE 25

Muslim Views . September 2015

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 24

Ayub was happy. He had both his families with him. Zainab was not too pleased but she knew that Ayub dearly wanted his whole family on Hajj, and she did not voice her displeasure. Life carried on as usual in Makkah, on Mina and now on Arafah. Ayub spent most of his time in Zainab’s group, with the occasional excursion to Rabia’s equally luxurious accommodation. Rabia was happy to be on Hajj and now on Arafah. Her advanced studies had led her to a deeper appreciation of the magnificence of her Creator. But she did wish Ayub would spend more time with Yusuf. Though she knew Ayub loved her deeply, he could divorce her at any time if he so wished and she would simply have to accept it. She accepted her unwritten status as the lesser wife, she, the offspring of lesser earthly possessors. But Yusuf was part of him! She offered earnest prayers that, somehow, Allah would intervene, that that situation would change. Someone in Ayub’s tent decided to talk about Nabi Muhammad’s (SAW) Last Sermon. This is the sermon that he delivered during his only Hajj, and when he announced that our Creator had perfected our religion for us. Ayub listened intently. In previous years, he had not really paid any attention to it as he had always been occupied with his own inner thoughts and prayers. ‘O People, it is true that you have certain rights with regard to your women but they also have rights over you.’ The words jolted him. Rabia never demanded anything from him, and even Zainab, in her peculiar manner, accepted her fate. The imam then spoke of the equality of all humankind. ‘No one is superior to the other except in piety and good action,’ was the message that was relayed in a crystal clear manner. Ayub genuinely believed that he was a just and generous person and here, words revealed 1 400 years ago proved him to be a follower of a lesser form of his true religion. He went to Rabia and profusely apologised to her, indicating that it was the time of Wuqoof and that Allah was his witness about his realisation. ‘I married you accepting the conditions and it is a contract we made in the presence of witnesses. Anything else you may do now will prejudice the promises you made to Zainab, and I cannot allow that,’ Rabia wisely said. ‘Let’s reaffirm our true belief in our Creator and our love for each other and let Allah guide us,’ she added. She did not reveal her feelings about Yusuf. She did not have to. Ayub went to Zainab. She did not have the deep human insight Rabia had but he knew that she understood him and loved him dearly. She knew that he dearly wanted his two sons together with him. On the first few occasions that Ayub had secretly taken his two boys out together she had gone into a violent rage. But, over the years, she had learnt to appreciate the happiness that the boys evidenced on Ayub, and now simply accepted it. Ali used to tell her of the adventures the three of them had, and she, strangely, found herself unable to deprive them of that pleasure. She felt very close to Ayub and knew that, in their very peculiar society, he was a very good man. She was not going to join his other wife for any activity. Besides, the women in their groups are always separated from the males. She, however, knew

In the heat of the time of wuqoof, the abundance of trees now found on Arafah Photo SALIM PARKER provides welcome shade to some hujjaaj.

Once on Arafah, pilgrims are encouraged to conserve their energy in preparation for wuqoof, the climax of Hajj, the time when the pilgrims are closest to Allah and after which they will have been forgiven their past sins. Photo SALIM PARKER

what would complete his Hajj. ‘Take your sons,’ she said. ‘Take your sons and may you always take care of all of us.’ Ayub felt blessed and, uncharacteristically for a man of such power, prestige and wealth, cried. He cried just like millions of other indistinguishable pilgrims were sobbing while standing and beseeching their Creator for mercy. ‘Today, I have perfected your religion for you.’ The words kept

repeating themselves. Ayub wanted to perfect his belief. He always wanted a simple life, be one of the invisible mass. But he, long ago, had realised that he had inherited a fortune and had the uncanny ability to grow it exponentially. He had a gift for business and could do much more good with the wealth that he had created than if he had decided to work as an academic. His charities ranged widely, from paying for essentials such as food in famine-struck

areas to arranging for cleft palate surgery for a child in Rabia’s impoverished village. Zainab, like Rabia, realised the value of this type of work and it gave purpose to both their lives. Allah was surely aware of all their efforts, for the more they gave the more, it seems, his fortune grew. Under the shade of a tree, an elderly couple stood, hands interlocked and praying silently. Very close to them, a young couple stood, the man’s tear-filled cheeks buried on the woman’s welcoming and accepting shoulder. Further away, a man led his wife in prayer, she keeping a discreet two steps behind him. In other areas, groups of men and females congregated separately and, all over, there were individuals scattered like dry leaves by a sudden breeze. All were in uniform ihraams, sailors in the sea of humanity on Arafah yet, each being an individual wave lapping its own shore. Ayub walked with Ali and joined some of his compatriots under the bright green, leaf-laden branches of a large tree. The welcoming, cooling Arafah midday breeze comforted the shade seek-

ers even more. They all knew about Ali, and some had, on occasion, tried to guess what the magnitude of his inheritance would be. Ayub lifted Ali onto his left shoulder. Rabia, in the meantime, had been requested by one of their many manservants to let him take Yusuf to his father. Disbelievingly, she had told Yusuf to accompany their faithful assistant and she watched them walk towards the tree under which she could see Ali perched on Ayub’s shoulder. Zainab observed the scene with pride. She saw Yusuf approaching his father. Both mothers and wives started crying. Yusuf was scared. He knew he was not allowed to approach his father in public yet he had been summonsed to him. Had he done something wrong? He walked slowly towards the tree. Ayub saw him coming and smiled. As Yusuf stood next to him, Ayub announced to those around him: ‘My son, Yusuf,’ and with his free right hand, lifted his other pride onto his strong, broad, right shoulder. Comments to: salimparker@yahoo.com

After years of keeping it secret, a lecture based on Rasulullah’s (SAW) sermon on Arafah opens a rich father’s eyes and causes him to introduce his son from his second wife to everyone on Arafah, where all, rich and poor, are equal, except in terms of taqwa, and where Allah forgives those who repent. Illustration SAAID RAHBEENI

Muslim Views

Muslim Views . September 2015

Summit discusses riba-free banking SAYED RIDHWAAN MOHAMED

REGENT Business School (RBS), a higher education institution in South Africa, recently organised a one-day Islamic finance seminar in Cape Town, at the Table Bay Hotel conference venue, on Friday, August 28, 2015, with the aim to educate participants about riba-free banking and responsible finance. The seminar was organised by RBS for the students of finance, the banking institutions, financial managers and broader interested organisations. All attendees were officially welcomed by South Africa’s reputable advocate and RBS lecturer, Advocate Mahomed Vahed, of Durban. The seminar was instructed by world-renowned scholar and Islamic Banker Dr Yahia Abdul Rahman, the CEO and founder of California-based Lariba Bank. Abdul Rahman shared his experiences and vision on riba-free finance and banking and the popularisation of the industry in South Africa and throughout the world. Senior management executives of leading South African banks, members of the religious bodies, a group of local attorneys, amongst other individuals, were in attendance. Abdul Rahman emphasised the importance of the implementation of ‘riba-free’ (RF) in our lives. He also added a diverse addition to the topic discussing the financing of other religious buildings while also outlining that interest-free banking is not just an Islamic concept but also encour-

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Mahmoud Youssef-Baker (chairman of Iqraa Trust, South Africa), Sayed Ridhwaan Mohamed (lecturer at Cape Town Islamic Educational Centre – CTIEC), Dr Yahia Abdul Rahman (Founder, Lariba Bank, California), Mufti Sayed Haroon Al Azhari (lecturer at CTIEC) and Advocate Mohamed Vahed (lecturer at Regent Business School). Photo SUPPLIED

aged by all semitic religions. In addition, the participants were given ample opportunity to ask questions to demystify the Islamic finance sector for the future decision makers and leaders in the corporate world. Youssef-Baker, a founding director of Albaraka Bank and Chairman of Iqraa Trust SA,

introduced Abdul Rahman and shared a few personal experiences as he praised him for the achievements and the initiatives to educate people around the world about the concept of riba-free banking. Local scholar, Mufti Sayed Haroon Al Azhari, from Cape Town Islamic Educational Centre,

was also present and shared his views. ‘Dr Yahia is a visionary who inspires through actions and not only through words. ‘After spending time with him, you realise that he is a man of God, teaching everyone around him that we should serve the creation of Allah, despite religious-

political differences. We, as the Muslim ummah (community), have not yet understood the extreme worth of this great luminary and his great contribution that he made to Islam and to humanity. ‘We need to create more opportunities for South Africa to meet with the highly skilled and experienced Dr Yahia Abdul Rahman in the near future so that we can live a better life.’ The objective of the event was to raise awareness of the benefits and advantages that Islamic finance brings to the economy and the implementation of ribafree banking. Dr Yahia Abdul Rahman’s book, The Art of Islamic Banking and Finance, published by Wiley Finance, was made available for purchase to all participants at the seminar. It shows how to apply RF to everything, from joint ventures and portfolio management to home mortgages and personal finance. The seminar was one in a series of initiatives which Regent Business School has planned to elevate and advance Islamic financial knowledge and to develop future leaders in the Islamic finance industry through learning programmes.

Muslim Views . September 2015

Cape-based hafidh wins national Quran competition AAISHA DADI-PATEL

THE 10th National Quran Memorisation Competition took place on August 22, at Nizamiye Masjid, in Midrand, Gauteng. Hosted by the South African National Quran Committee, the event saw a number of huffaadh from across the country recite qiraat for a panel of three of the most senior quraa in South Africa, Qari Ayoob Essack, Qari Basheer Patel and Qari Rashid Dhabelia. Winner of the first category – 30 juz – was Cape Town-based Muhammed Sheik. Speaking to Muslim Views, 21-year-old Sheik said that he was ‘humbled and honoured’ by the award. Born in KwaZulu-Natal, in 1994, Sheik – the son of Mufti Allie Bin Haroon – grew up in Durban and moved to Saudi Arabia as child, where he completed his primary schooling and also began his memorisation of the Quran. He returned to South Africa and completed his hifdh at Daarul Uloom Inaamiyyah, Camperdown. Sheik concurrently completed his schooling, matriculating at the end of 2012 with eight distinctions. He did an Aalame-Faadil course in conjunction with schooling and completed the equivalent of five years of a normal daarul uloom syllabus in that time, and also began studying the Qir’aah Sab’ah Mutawaatirah and has completed the individual recitation for the following imams: Hafs, Kisaa’ie, Hamza, Naaf’i. Currently, he is a thirdyear medical student at Stellenbosch University.

From left: Shaikh Habib Al-Harithy, Secretary General of the International Commission for the Introduction of Islam; Abdullah Al-Madhi, Ambassador of the Royal Photo SANQC Embassy of Saudi Arabia in Pretoria; Hafidh Muhammed Sheik and Enver Surty, Deputy Minister of Basic Education.

Sheik is no stranger to Quran recitation competitions, having been a keen participant since the age of 13. He has taken part in competitions in which he represented South Africa in Egypt, Sudan, the Haram of Makkatul Mukarramah as well as Russia. He has been honoured by dignitaries internationally for his dedication towards Quran – in particular, the presidents of Egypt and Sudan. During Ramadaan, this year, Sheik participated in another competition in Dubai. Having taken a short break from compe-

titions to focus on his academics over the past couple of years, Sheik says that it has been a bit more challenging this year because he has a lot that he needs to keep his focus on but has, so far, managed to keep up – something which his latest achievement can surely attest to. The current head of the Muslim Students’ Association (MSA) Cape regional body, and the deputy president of the national Union of Muslim Students’ Associations, Sheik is very involved in youth leadership. He also hosts a weekly radio show on Voice of

the Cape in which he engages youth matters. He delivers khutbahs regularly, having started doing so at the age of 12. One of the prizes Sheik won is the opportunity to represent South Africa at the King Abdul Aziz International Quraan Competition, in Makkah, next year. Other prizes included an Apple iPad, a cash prize and a sponsored Umrah trip for two, which Sheik says he will be giving to his parents. Sheik told Muslim Views, ‘I am blessed to have beautiful people

in my life who remind me, all the time, that true joy is achieved through sweaty hands, a determined heart and a strong commitment. ‘The greatest joy for me was bringing tears of joy to the hearts of my beloved parents and siblings, who form the core of my support, warmth and care through the noble words of Allah Almighty, the Holy Quran. It is amazing how the memorisation and mere recital of such divine words impact the heart, far deeper than any other human enchants.’

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Muslim Views . September 2015

AWQAF - promoting self-reliance and sustainability

The revival of waqf as a means of reviving Islamic culture and civilisation ZEINOUL ABIDEEN CAJEE

FROM the earliest times of the development of waqf in Madinah, waqf played a major role in furthering the culture of giving, physical development of properties and funding of projects that contributed not only to immediate relief to the poor and needy but also to the long term civilisational goals of Islam. A society and economic system was created wherein the economy was largely private. This private economy, coupled with the strong notions of sadaqah and redistribution of wealth, and more so the concept of waqf and sadaqah jariyyah, helped create a new type of economy where wealth created through private initiative became public domain. This wealth transferred to the public domain was then effectively used, and quickly became the hallmark of a growing Muslim ummah which had at its heart a caring culture. It was the public domain awqaf that supported education, research, scholarship and several other public utilities, such as hospitals, libraries and kitchens for travellers and the poor. However, centuries later, when rapid change overtook the Muslim world, we find that, in the 21st century, there is an enormous amount of private wealth. This wealth that several private citizens hold, has the potential, once again, for the exponential growth of Islamic culture and civilisation.

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For this to happen, several steps need to be implemented regarding the revitalisation of waqf or awqaf. The decline of Islamic civilisation also correlates with a decline in private sector/ civil society waqf making. That awqaf were so widespread had another underlying fabric in Muslim society: A giving culture and an enabling environment. Furthermore, its mainly private citizens and private entrepreneurs were driven by a passionate desire to please Allah and to follow strong recommendations and urging of voluntary giving as illustrated in the Quran and the advice and practical implementation by Prophet Muhammad (SAW) and his companions (RA).

Waqf as a key driver of Islamic culture and civilisation It is common cause that civilisation includes a complex system of institutions that promote its core values and beliefs over sustained periods of time. Waqf, as one of the cultural instruments of shariah, has also been one of the key drivers of Islamic civilisation. Voluntary gift donations in the form of waqf have been instrumental in building institutions to this day. Mosques as the primary carriers of Islamic civilisation have been built through pious contributions by various people throughout the ages. Masjids Quba and Nabawi are important examples of the early beginnings of Islamic civilisation.

The properties on which these institutions were built were endowed. Similarly, in South Africa, the first masjid, on the eve of the unbanning of Islam, in 1804, was built on land endowed by a Muslim lady, Sarah van den Kaap, and still plays an important role in imparting knowledge and culture to Muslims in South Africa. The Mosque University, in Qarawiyin, Fez was endowed by a Muslim woman, Fatima alFihri, out of her inheritance, and is known to be the first university. Al Azhar University was also supported by Islamic endowments, particularly to its students, professors and the educational process. Princess Fatima donated the land on which Cairo University was built. The first hospitals around the world to care for those people in need of medical attention were built through awqaf. The idea of a hospital emerged from the caliphs in nations like Egypt, Syria and Turkey, the first of which was built during the reign of Caliph Harun-ul-Rashid (786809 AD), in Baghdad. In one of the first hospitals, the guiding principles were stated in the waqf deed as follows: â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;The hospital shall keep all patients, men and women, until they are completely recovered. All costs are to be borne by the hospital whether the people come from afar or near, whether they are residents or foreigners, strong or weak, rich or poor, employed or unemployed, blind or sighted, physically or mentally ill, learned

or illiterate. There are no conditions of consideration and payment; none is objected to or even indirectly hinted at for non-payment. The entire service is through the magnificence of Allah, the generous one.â&#x20AC;&#x2122; Khafagy, in a study in 2008, asserts that the proceeds of many endowments were allocated to establish Quranic elementary schools in almost every Egyptian village, and that the waqfs significantly improved the Islamic middle and high schools. The generous endowment funds also enabled poor students to get free education in these schools. Much of these efforts were in response to British colonial designs to take over education in Egypt during 1882-1952. Awqaf were established to support public kitchens and other welfare institutions, and have been a major role player in poverty alleviation. For example, the Hasseki Sultan Imaret, comprising a public kitchen, orphanage and vocational school (which still exists today) was endowed by a lady, Sultan Suleyman the Magnificentâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s wife, Hurrem Sultan. Several great scholars, scientists and thinkers have been funded through waqf which enabled them, free from government interference, to pursue their research, teach and contribute to scientific inventions.

Current state of Islamic civilisation Muslims, since the fall of Andalusia, colonisation and the

fall of the Ottoman, Persian and Mogul empires, have gone into slumber and backwardness in some respects. At the same time, admittedly, Muslims have been progressing in other spheres. While the faith is intact and its adherents have grown, we have yet to produce, in our current generation, the best leaders in knowledge, science, refinement, high moral values and culture. While we continue building mosques the world over, we lack organisation and leadership at several levels in society. In terms of the higher objectives of shariah, we seem to be lagging regarding the protection of deen, life, progeny, intellect and wealth. We have been territorially colonised and continue being mentally colonised under the yoke and hegemony of cultural imperialism. There is no doubt that the institution of waqf played a major role in the development and growth of Islamic culture and civilisation. Why then should this important institution, which is pivotal to the development of the ummah and has the potential to make major contributions to human civilisation, not be revived to take its place as a major force for positive change within the Muslim ummah? The revival of waqf will also contribute to the revival of Islamic culture and civilisation. Zeinoul Abideen Cajee is the founding CEO of Awqaf SA.

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Muslim Views . September 2015

Undercover Muslim exposed SHAFIQ MORTON

ITH Yemen in the news for, arguably, all the wrong reasons, Theo Padnos’s book, Undercover Muslim, a Journey into Yemen, takes on a whole new significance. Published in 2011, just about the time US-Yemeni extremist Anwar Awlaki was vapourised by a drone, Padnos (formerly, Peter Theo Curtis) takes us on a richly layered and personal tour into the heart of the real Yemen and its face of Salafism. Almost no-one has succeeded in a first-hand English narrative to depict the Salafi universe in the Arab world, one tempered by the austere, reductionist and extreme credo of the discredited Saudi scholar, Ibn Abd ul-Wahhab. The story begins when Padnos, tutoring poetry to the inmates of a Vermont prison, shows them a YouTube video of John (Suleiman) Walker Lindh, the American Talib. This kindles in him the idea of seeking out the John Walker Lindhs of the Muslim world. He travels to Sana’a and, as an English teacher, is able to get a job at a local government-funded newspaper, the Yemen Times. His plan is, instead of ‘wandering around amidst religious feelings I could not understand’, to learn Arabic and to study Islam. Almost in the style of Richard

Said … tears up an election poster of President Abdullah Saleh. In a matter of seconds both find themselves arrested and flung into jail Burton and others who buried themselves in Muslim characters to avoid detection on their 19th century travels, Padnos ‘embraces Islam’ and takes on the name, Thabit. He enters a madrassah where he encounters a community of youths seeking out their Islamic Utopia. There, he meets ‘brothers’ from Nigeria, France and England, and, in the intimate living space of the madrassah, is quickly exposed to their idiosyncrasies – and weaknesses. An expedition with his friends in the upmarket sector of Sana’a looking for halaal chicken (in a halaal-friendly, 99% Muslim country) becomes an understated, if not tragically, side-splitting commentary on the kind of extremism that can so bedevil the Muslim world. In another instance, his friend Said – inflamed with the Salafi notion that all images are forbidden – tears up an election poster

of President Abdullah Saleh. In a matter of seconds both find themselves arrested and flung into jail. On his release from prison, Padnos discovers that he’s passed some kind of credibility test. With his Thabit persona and the tribal acclamation of ‘Bani Mattari’ (a kind of qat he used to occasionally chew) he could now travel to a madrassah in the town of Dammaj, to the north. Dammaj had become a Salafi hub in the Zaidi-Shia Houthi region. With the Salafis regarding the Shia as unbelievers, and the Houthis perceiving the Salafis as an ideological pestilence, their mutual antagonism was easy to understand. Funded by the petrocrat Saudis, the Dammaj community was luring thousands of people from all over the world. Padnos meets Jawad, from Islington, a 14-year-old banished to the Yemeni desert by his Yemeni refugee mother in England. Jawad had been dispatched to the ‘homeland’ to quell his delinquent fires but his adventurism and urban survival instincts are very much in evidence. While Undercover Muslim is a personal journey, the author doesn’t intrude. Padnos allows his surroundings and his characters to tell the tale. Five years after Padnos’s departure from Dammaj, the Houthis would chase the Salafis out of town. And, in another turn

of irony, Padnos would be captured by Jabhat an-Nusra, in Syria, and held for six months before being released. Although written in 2006, Undercover Muslim, a Journey into Yemen, is still very much a

recommended read for those trying to understand why things in Islam are, sometimes, the way they are. Undercover Muslim, a Journey into Yemen is published by Random House, London.

Muslim Views

Muslim Views . September 2015

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Local qurbani This year, Muslim Hands prides itself to be at the forefront of qurbani service, par excellence, at an affordable price of R1 100. We offer our local donors the opportunity to witness their qurbani. We will slaughter, skin and distribute the meat. All of this is inclusive in the price. Since 1993, Muslim Hands has been helping you to carry out your qurbani in over 50 of the poorest countries around the world, making sure you reach the neediest communities during the days of Eid-ul-Adha. This year, help us to ensure that even more people are reached and fed during the days of Eid-ulAdha by fulfilling your qurbani obligation and giving an extra qurbani, in accordance with the prophetic tradition. Extend the blessings of this sacred occasion by helping to provide even more

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impoverished families around the world with fresh meat. Muslim Hands qurbani is unique as all our animals are sourced locally, helping sustain local farmers, reducing transport costs and cutting carbon emissions. All the sacrifices will be performed within the days of Eid-ulAdha in accordance with the sunnah of our beloved Prophet Muhammad (SAW). All the meat is cut and distributed immediately, while the meat is still fresh.

Affordable qurbani prices With Qurbani prices starting

from as little as R395, we hope you will choose to offer your own qurbani and an extra Prophetic qurbani. Offering no compromise on quality, you can rest assured that we select only the healthiest animals, ensuring the best meat for those whose diets lack vital nutrients. Last year, you helped feed over one million people. Muslim Hands recently launched the Prophetic Qurbani Campaign so that we may revive the beautiful sunnah of sacrificing an extra qurbani animal on behalf of the poor amongst our ummah.

In doing so, we were able to ensure that even more people were fed during the days of Eidul-Adha. Alhamdulillah, we saw a very large increase in the number of Prophetic qurbanis given! Muslim Hands donors helped provide over one million needy people with a nutritious meal for the blessed days of Eid-ul-Adha for many of whom eating meat is a rare and special occasion. Insha Allah, this year, your generosity will, once again, allow us to spread the blessings of Eid and reach even more needy people.

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Focus on Finance

Muslim Views . September 2015

Access to information promotes rights THE Constitution says: ‘Section 32(1)(a) of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa Act, No. 108 of 1996 (hereinafter referred to as ‘the Constitution’) provides that everyone has a right of access to any information held by the state and any information held by another person that is required for the exercise or protection of any rights.’ South Africa’s Constitution gives every person the right of access to information held by a public or private body that is required for the exercise or protection of any right. The Promotion of Access to Information Act of 2000 (PAIA) gives effect to this right. The Act represented a landmark in South African history, seeking to foster a culture of transparency and accountability in South Africa. The Act also acknowledged the need to educate South Africans on their rights, to enable them to participate in decision-making that affects their lives. Accesses to information regimes are fast gaining momentum around the world. South Africa’s freedom of information legislation remains unique in the world, however, being the only such law that permits access to records held by private as well as public bodies.

The objective of this act

l To promote transparency, accountability and effective

HASSEN KAJIE, CA (SA), a director of NEXIA SAB&T, based in the Cape Town office, and AYSHA OSMAN, CA (SA), National Technical Manager for Nexia SAB&T in the Centurion office, explain the right of access to information as entrenched in the Constitution and how it impacts on business enterprises.

governance of all public and private bodies by empowering and educating everyone to understand their rights in terms of PAIA so that they are able to exercise their right in relation to public and private bodies, and to l Effectively scrutinise and participate in decision-making by public bodies that affects their rights. l To ensure that the state takes part in promoting a human rights culture and social justice. l To encourage openness and to establish voluntary and mandatory mechanisms or procedures which give effect to the right of access to information in a speedy, inexpensive and effortless manner.

How does the Promotion of Access to Information Act (PAIA) work? The most important distinction that the PAIA makes is between public bodies and private bodies. This is also the first enquiry which a requester must answer – is the body which holds the record that is being requested a public or a private body?

It is easier to request a record held by a public body because, for such requests, the requester does not have to justify why the document is required – the requester’s entitlement to the document is presumed. A public body must, therefore, disclose the record to the requester, provided that the requirements in terms of the PAIA have been met and no ground for refusal applies. With a private body, the record must be disclosed if the requirements have been met, the record is required for the exercise or the protection of any right, and no ground for refusal applies. There are also practical differences: apart from different forms that need to be completed, the access and request fees involved also vary.

How does the PAIA affect companies? Requirement: PAIA requires every public body, as well as many private bodies, to produce a manual which contains information on how to use PAIA to access their own records. The manual must be published in at least three official languages

Hassen Kajie is a Director of the Cape Town office of Nexia SAB&T.

Aysha Osman, National Technical Manager in the Centurion office of Nexia SAB&T.

that will assist information seekers to make requests for information from the body concerned. The manual must contain the following useful information: l Mandate l Contract details l Description of PAIA Section 10 Guide l Categories of records held l Automatically available information l Services of the public body l Recourse The manual must be made easily available in the following ways: l by making a copy available at every office of that particular entity during office hours; l by making available the manual on the website, if any, of the particular entity. At present, the Minister of Finance has exempted ALL private bodies from having to compile manuals until December 31,

2015, except those which operate in specific sectors, with 50 or more employees OR operate in specific sectors and have an annual turnover equal to or exceeding specific amounts. [See: http://www.sahrc.org.za/home/in dex.php?ipkContentID=70] If you would like a specific topic featured in the upcoming issues, kindly send your suggestions to technical@nexiasabt.co.za. This article is intended for information purposes only and should not be considered as a legal document. Please note that while every effort is made to ensure accuracy, Nexia SAB&T does not accept responsibility for any inaccuracies or errors contained herein. If you are in doubt about any information in this article or require any advice on the topical matter, please do not hesitate to contact any Nexia SAB&T office nationally.

Muslim Views

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Muslim Views . September 2015

Invitation to Muslim older persons

I AM writing about research I am doing on the care of Muslim older persons living with extended families, and would like to invite older persons to participate. The research is part of a social work study at University of Johannesburg, Centre for Social Development in Africa but is being conducted in the Cape. The aim of this research is to learn from Muslim older people living in extended families about their experiences of family care and support. This information will provide valuable data that could be helpful for the care of older people, in general, and could also contribute to the development of social work services for older people in South Africa. To participate, persons should be aged sixty or above and mentally fit. The research will involve an interview with the Muslim older person and the main caregiver to discuss their family care arrangements. An interview will take about an hour and all information will be kept strictly confidential. The identity of participants will also remain anonymous. Older persons who take part in the study will receive a cash payment for their participation. Interested persons can contact Dr S Abdullah at 073 923 2488 or after hours at (021) 697 2077 for further details. S Abdullah

The value of reading Quran REFERRING to the excellent article on the importance of encouraging young learners to become fluent in the Arabic language (MV Aug 2015), I salute Shireen Mukadam, and I wish her an adventurous journey of discovery through the Glorious Quran. For those of us who are not so fortunate to pursue our studies of the Arabic language, let us take solace in the following story: Why we read Quran in Arabic even though we don’t understand it. An old American Muslim lived on a farm in the mountains of eastern Kentucky with his young grandson. Each morning, Grandpa was up early sitting at the kitchen table reading his Quran. His grandson wanted to be just like him and tried to imitate him in every way he could. One day, the grandson asked, ‘Grandpa! I try to read the Quran just like you but I don’t understand it, and what I do under-

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stand I forget as soon as I close the book. What good does reading the Quran do?’ The grandfather quietly turned from putting coal in the stove and replied, ‘Take this coal basket down to the river and bring me back a basket of water.’ The boy did as he was told but all the water leaked out before he got back to the house. The grandfather laughed and said, ‘You’ll have to move a little faster next time,’ and sent him back to the river with the basket to try again. This time, the boy ran faster but again the basket was empty before he returned home. Out of breath, he told his grandfather that it was impossible to carry water in a basket, and he went to get a bucket instead. The old man said, ‘I don’t want a bucket of water; I want a basket of water. You’re just not trying hard enough,’ and he went out the door to watch the boy try again. At this point, the boy knew it was impossible but he wanted to show his grandfather that even if he ran as fast as he could, the water would leak out before he got back to the house. The boy again dipped the basket into the river and ran hard but, when he reached his grandfather, the basket was again empty. Out of breath, he said, ‘See Grandpa, it’s useless.’ ‘So you think it is useless?’ The old man said, ‘Look at the basket.’ The boy looked at the basket and for the first time realised that the basket was different. It had been transformed from a dirty old coal basket and was now clean, inside and out. ‘Son, that’s what happens when you read the Quran. You might not understand or remember everything but, when you read it, you will be changed, inside and out. That is the work of Allah in our lives.’ Once again, I enjoyed the article. Moegamat Fatigh Petersen Cape Town

Disputing facts Terima Kasih/shukran for publishing my letter in the Muslim Views August 2015 issue. It is quite strange that Toyer Nakidien forgot that he wrote in the Muslim Views dated May 2015 page 12 and I quote “Roggeland, it is claimed, where Afrikaans had its roots. It is said that Shaikh Abu Abu Bakr Effendi, a Turkish qadi, spent some time on this farm teaching Muslim slaves about Islam.” end of quote. There was no Afrikaans(kombuis taal/kitchen language) then as the spoken word and writing was only formerly introduced as an language

in 1875. As describe as an (“mutilated/broken/uncivilised Dutch”). So either there was gremlin or Shaytaan that put this in my issue of Muslim Views newspaper or you Toyer Nakidien do not know how to keep tabs of his writing. Another question to Toyer Nakidien so what slaves are he writing about as my letter indicates that Slavery was totally abolished in 1838 and Shaikh Abu Bakr Effendi only arrived in Cape Town in 1863 (The Mosques of the Bo Kaap by Achmat Davids) 25 years after the total emancipation of slavery at the Cape. I never wrote about the Moerat families and are you trying to paint a picture that I am to be abusive in my writing about the family. I never wrote about them. Also to the reply of Mahmood Sanglay that I am writing about the slave woman Mooie Angela being freed as a slave to marry this Boer Arnoldus Willamz Basson as there were no Afrikaners at that time. Reason if you already had your way with Mooie Angela as most women that came from India as reported by Mahmood Sanglay were housed in the Slave Lodge were abused also known as an whore house. I doubt it very much when they say that people came from South East India necessary meant that they were Indians. If Mahmood Sanglay still agree with this than most coloureds are bastard Indians. It can also actually meant that this was the last ports of call before the long arduous journey to the Cape of Storms or like our esteemed Islamic scholar Tuan Quru Qadi Abdoes Salaam RA in his diary said the Cape of Sorrow. As this statement of Mahmood Sanglay is the truth. Why is there ABSOLUTELY NO hand written documents like letters, or any religious writings manuscripts and buildings of Temples and Mosques. If 25% Indians really came from India. I also wrote where is the tangible or intangible evidence besides the Iziko museum column list of people that came from S/E of India? The best way to prove who is right or wrong in this argument is to take a sample of DNA of most “coloureds”. This DNA testing must include the Basson Boer family and if some of the coloureds are proven are of Indian descent than local Indians and Mother India must ask our ANC government to register them as Indians and they must embrace them as there long lost Indian family and they must have an big reunion. I hope and trust that my reply will be published Insha Allah. Shukran. Was Salaam M G Hartley Cape Town This letter has been published as received.

Toyer Nakidien responds: Once again, I thank the editor for allowing me to respond to Mr Hartley. Mr Hartley quotes me as stating that Roggeland is where Afrikaans had its roots. He then asserts: ‘There was no Afrikaans (kombuis taal/ kitchen language) then as the spoken word and writing was only formerly (sic) introduced as an (sic) language in 1875.’ This implies that he read my statement as saying that Afrikaans existed as a language at the time. A cursory reading of my words proves such an interpretation wrong. Nevertheless, the fact that Afrikaans ‘was only formerly (sic) introduced as an (sic) language in 1875’ does not mean that people suddenly started speaking Afrikaans only then. On the contrary, it means that, already by 1875 – only 12 years after Shaikh Abu Bakr Effendi’s arrival at the Cape – it had become so commonly used that the authorities saw fit to recognise Afrikaans as a language. Thus, although I did not state it, it is highly likely that for a large part of the population, the language of communication was Afrikaans. Regarding the use of the term ‘slaves’ in my article: Mr Hartley is correct. By the time Shaikh Abu Bakr Effendi arrived at the Cape, the British had abolished slavery so there should not have been

slaves on any of the farms. A question: bearing in mind the intense hatred the Afrikaner had for the British – derogatively referring to them as ‘rooinekke’ – and Paarl being so far from Cape Town, are we to believe that those farmers would simply abide by British law and free the slaves at great financial loss to themselves? This, when the abolition of slavery by the British came after they had wrested control of the Cape after the Battle of Blaauwberg, in 1815? Finally, Mr Hartley also misread my statement about the Moerats. I stated: ‘I fail to see how an article about an establishment where a committed family, the Moerats, is doing admirable work for a troubled group of individuals can be seen as ‘trivialising’ ‘Cape slave history’. ‘On the contrary, I feel that Mr Hartley, in his response, has trivialised the exceptional work being done by the Moerats at Roggeland.’ I clearly did not accuse Mr Hartley of writing about the Moerats. My article was about Roggeland, where the Moerats are ‘rehabilitating’ recovered drug addicts. By concentrating on the language issue and ignoring the thrust of my article, I accuse Mr Hartley of trivialising – i.e. ‘make (something) less impotant’ – the work done at Roggeland, by the Moerats. But that’s his choice. [This correspondence is now closed. Editor]

Lunar confusion

a time-manager. The hilal is the demarcator (mawaqeet) of religious obligation. Indeed, the sighting of the hilal is considered the very illa (effecting or operative cause in shariah law) for the discharging of a number of religious obligations. The synodic lunar month is measured from a sun/ moon conjunction or birth of the moon (when two astronomical objects have either the same right ascension or the same ecliptical longitude, normally measured from the centre of the earth) to the next successive conjunction. Unfortunately, many people have been led astray by an inaccurate understanding of the term ‘New Moon’. Modern astronomers adopted this term – which had always referred to the first visible young, waxing crescent – and used it to refer to the conjunction. The astronomers soon realised that the inaccurate use of the term ‘new moon’ to refer to the conjunction would lead to confusion. To be more accurate, scientists now distinguish between the ‘Astronomical New Moon’ and the ‘Crescent New Moon’. As used by the astronomers, the ‘Astronomical New Moon’ means the conjunction. In contrast, the ‘Crescent New Moon’ means the first visible, young, waxing crescent.

LIVING in the West, we as Muslims are bedevilled by annually recurring community disagreements pertaining to the correct determination of Islamic dates for the commemoration of both the Eids and the month of Ramadaan. Not unusual are unpleasant scenes of divided communities and split families at periods which are otherwise meant for purposes of ibaadah and collective contemplation. A lunar calendar is a calendar based on a particular lunar revolution of the earth. There are several diverging ways of expressing the lunar month: the sidereal month, the synodic month, the tropical month, the anomalistic month, the draconic month and the Islamic month. These months are separately measured, either from a star, the sun, a phase of the moon or a position of the moon in the sky. The Islamic lunar month is measured from the appearance of the hilal (the youngest waxing crescent sighted in the western sky at the end of the correctly marked 29th day) until the successive next hilal (Quran 2:189), with the proviso that an extra day is added to the month if the moon is in its hidden phase at the end of the 29th day (Bukhari: Hadith 3.124). The Islamic lunar month cannot be less than 29 days and not more than 30 days. In Islam, the moon orbit is not

CONTINUED ON PAGE 33

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 32

Lunar confusion It is the synodic lunar month that is the cause of the problems among Muslims. Over the past 150 years, many so-called modernists deemed it necessary to align the Islamic lunar calendar to the synodic lunar calendar and the Gregorian solar calendar. On a purely prima facie consideration, this would appear to accord with the Quranic verse, ‘and the sun and moon follow set courses’ (55:5). But, on closer examination, one realises that the orbit of the sun around a centre point of mass in the Milky Way galaxy and the corresponding orbit of the moon around the sun in space has absolutely no connection with the time-keeping system on earth. We insist, wrongly, that time is linear, that it needs measuring, taming, and used as a resource. Yet, the Islamic conception of time is about finding the divine in the chaotic, about creating meaning in a world of anxious overstimulation. Dr Abdurrazak Ebrahim Zeekoevlei, Cape Town

Hajj: a message to mankind THIS is the season of the greatest spiritual journey held dear in the heart of every Muslim for five thousand years and more. The Hajj pilgrimage has lived on as the grand meeting of man’s most

intense and sustained remembrance of his Lord, The Almighty. For more that 1 400 years, since the last days of Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him), each year it has thrived in the very spirit, and in compliance with the Divine will, of the sacred way of the one whose call it seeks humbly and adoringly to answer and to glorify. Indeed, Hajj enlivens and fortifies the conscience with a profound sense of connection, so deep in the human past, to Prophet Abraham (AS), his wife, Hagar, and his newborn first son, Ismail, both of whom he left alone in the wilderness of the barren valley where they received from God Almighty the miracle of the blessed water of Zam Zam, and waited impatiently for the prophet patriarch’s return. The Quran tells us Prophet Abraham’s story in remarkable detail with intended emphasis on the oldest house of God Almighty, the Kaabah. Hajj, in Arabic, refers to pilgrimage to the house of Allah, the Kaabah, in a specific bodily and mental state, and within a specific time frame to perform specific rituals. As such, Hajj is a broad and extensive form of worship that requires one to put together and manage his financial, physical, mental and emotional resources for an extended period of time in which he/ she has to perform a large number of deeds of varying religious weights, prerequisites, obligatory and recommended acts, and that requires one to have a reasonable knowledge of

what, how and where to do each one of these particular acts. Those who have been to Hajj or have studied it, attest to how intricate performing Hajj can be. Muslims from Adam (AS) to the end of time, belong to a single brotherhood. They are bound together by the concept of monotheism in Hajj. This concept of monotheism is translated into deeds as Muslims from a wide range of backgrounds stand united in one place, worshipping one, Allah the Almighty, undivided by race, colour, language or nationality. A S E Ameen Mountain Rise, Pietermaritzburg

Protecting democracy GLOBALLY, billions suffer at the hands of repressive regimes. Across Africa and the third world, the story repeats itself. Behind the politics there are reasons how despotism fortifies and why people suffer. In 1947, in the House of Commons, Winston Churchill said, ‘Many forms of government have been tried, and will be tried in this world. No one pretends that democracy is perfect or all-wise. Indeed, it has been said that democracy is the worst form of government except for all those other forms that have been tried from time to time.’ Since those with money and hidden agendas usually manipulate politics, governance is problematic. Revolutions can arise anywhere in Africa and the third

Muslim Views . September 2015

world, depending on whose interests are at stake. Egypt is a typical example. When democratically elected governments are toppled by insidious activities, chaos will ensue and those with agendas have opportunity to operationalise their plans. In these difficult settings, how must ordinary people protect themselves from those who manipulate governance processes in favour of a group or dogma? Alan Moore, in his novel V for Vendetta suggests, ‘People should not be afraid of government, governments should be afraid of their people.’ This implies that local voters must consider reducing the African National Congress majority on a national level to moderate their general ineptitude. Maybe, a shock at the polls would motivate the ANC to ensure that all departments and municipalities hasten with delivery and achieve clean audits. Voters must also reduce the Democratic Alliance arrogance and gluttony for absolute control, locally. Should the DA and ANC attain fewer votes in the 2016 municipal elections, political humility may prevail. Support for independent regional parties may cause introspection among the two big parties. The objective is to keep the ruling parties liable in all municipalities. Voters must dilute the vote to allow greater diversity of opinion. While this may not always be useful, it should be noted that despotism often has its origins in arrogant political governance by majority parties. Voters must consider the manner in which the ANC handled the Nkandla/ Eskom/ Telkom and other scandals. Also, if DA arrogance and lust for unlimited power at the expense of rate, and taxpayers are not kept in check,

autocracy could ensue. For example, the Finance Portfolio Committee receives reports from sections which include the Debt Management Action Report, the Traffic Fine Report and so on. The irony is that the City is making huge profits from traffic fines, which increased from R142 366 407 to R227 116 046 over the year. The Debt Management Action Report also indicates how the City squeezes the public by limiting water and electricity. It lists the army of law firms that strongarm locals to pay. Against the City, an average person does not stand a chance when moves are afoot to squeeze revenue. By any national standard, the City of Cape Town is an efficient revenue-collecting machine, which is an admirable quality when equated to other municipalities in South Africa. While some officials are efficient, where is the value when politicians waste millions of ratepayers’ money on hair-brain schemes? To date, not even leading DA politicians know how much money was lost with the Crystal Palace soccer scandal, weeks after the event. In the words of the wise, what is the purpose of national and local government squeezing locals for income with increased rates and taxes and then ANC and DA politicians waste the money? Cllr Yagyah Adams Cape Muslim Congress

Write to:

editor@mviews.co.za

Fax: 086 516 4772 Kindly include full name and address details. Letters must not exceed a maximum of 500 words

Transforming trash to fly our dreams BRIDGET PITT

THE junk gatherer uses her bird staff to attract the discarded and reusable detritus of the world. The bird will find uses for these things that other humans love only for a moment... This is the inspiration behind this year’s Flight of Dream’s Parade, to take place in Grassy Park, on Saturday, September 26. Sixty school children have been giving up their Saturdays to create puppets for the parade, which is organised by the Princess Vlei Forum to create awareness about the birdlife and other natural life at Princess Vlei. This year, the parade also aims to create awareness about pollution and the litter that clogs the vlei and its surroundings. This pollution is unsightly and poses a major threat to the wildlife at the vlei. To highlight this issue, the puppets have been created from discarded plastic bottles and other recycled materials by learners from Lotus High School, Hyde Park Primary School

and John Graham Primary School. The parade will also feature a performance of the Khoi legend ‘The Great Bird Race’ by students from Lotus High School. The performance will incorporate puppets, movement and music. The parade will move from LOFOB in 1st Road, through Grassy Park to Princess Vlei, with performances at the Grassy Park Library (2.30pm), Perth Park (3pm), and Princess Vlei (3.30pm). All are encouraged to watch these performances, and witness the wonderful creative talent of our local school learners. Families are also invited to come and picnic at Princess Vlei after the event. School children or teachers who would like to participate in the parade can contact the Princess Vlei Forum at imagine@princessvlei.org. Lotus High School students, who will be performing the Great Bird Race for the Flight of Dreams parade, with a mantis created from plastic waste. Left to Right: (Standing) Mushfiqa Wuig, Octavia Daniels, Tim Felix, Warda Ganief, Nadine Joemath. (Sitting): Tim Felix, Samsuneesa Smith. Photo BRIDGET PITT

Muslim Views

Muslim Views . September 2015

PART ONE

Positive and Effective Parenting

Parenting through the child’s developmental stages FOUZIA RYKLIEF

AM re-visiting this topic as I have noticed young parents struggling to understand their children’s behaviour. I am doing a series on radio and will include content from that in these articles. I’ll start with the first stage and follow up with each stage in subsequent issues. Social and emotional development Social development is the way children learn to trust people and develop relationships. It includes learning to like and trust people (form relationships), learning to behave in a socially acceptable way, and sharing and taking turns. Social competence involves the ability to cooperate with peers, the ability to share, express feelings and show empathy. Emotional development includes learning to feel good about oneself and what one does – developing a positive selfesteem, becoming aware of one’s feelings, learning how to express those feelings appropriately, and learning independence and selfcontrol. It also involves learning to respect the feelings of others. A child’s social and emotional stage of development is one of the factors influencing behaviour. Other factors that affect behaviour include basic needs, temperament, position in the family, life experiences, context in which the behaviour occurs, parents’ expectations and competition. Understanding the different stages of development will help parents have more appropriate expectations of their children. Children develop according to their own, inner ‘time-clocks’. According to Erik Erikson, children successfully move from one stage to another if they have successfully resolved critical tasks in the previous stage. If they have not, they will move to the next stage but will carry the unresolved issues with them. Each child will go through all the stages. Each stage contains specific critical tasks or characteristics related to social and emotional development. The environment plays a vital role in influencing the way in which the child develops. The various stages give an indication of the different behaviour patterns that can be expected as

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part of healthy development. Although each child is different, and may not successfully resolve all the critical tasks, all children need love and security.

The first stage: (birth to 18 months: trust versus mistrust) Babies grow at a tremendous rate and learn that the world around them is safe and caring enough to trust and engage with. They need to learn to trust at this stage, and the relationship that they have with their primary caregiver (usually the mother), at this point, is most important. Only in this way are they able to develop trust in themselves. This will form the basis of their security and ability to trust throughout their lives. Children cannot be ‘spoilt’ by too much affection, and cannot be seen to misbehave at this stage as their behaviour is merely a way of communicating their needs and discomforts. A baby definitely cannot have too much love or affection.

It is important to note that the parents’ or caregivers’ primary task is to provide responsive and predictable emotional and physical care. If the care infants receive is consistent, predictable and reliable, they will develop a sense of trust which they will carry to other relationships, and they will be able to feel secure even when threatened. If the care has been harsh or inconsistent, unpredictable and unreliable then infants will develop a sense of mistrust and will not have confidence in the world around them or in their abilities to influence events. Such infants will carry this sense of mistrust with them to other relationships. It may result in anxiety, heightened insecurities and a feeling of mistrust in the world around them. When a mother lets her baby wait too long to be fed or for a clean nappy or if she does not love or play with the baby then

the baby will not feel she can trust her mother to take care of her. The baby will not trust her as she grows up, and may feel suspicious of other people. If a baby is left to cry and later stops by herself she has not learnt to be ‘good’ but, instead, has learnt that it does not help to cry or to reach out to people – that the world and the people in it cannot be trusted, nor can the baby trust herself because she is not able to convince others that she needs them. In this way, the child learns to be ‘helpless’. She then stops trying and withdraws. This does not mean that if you let your child cry once or twice she will develop mistrust. A child has to learn to tolerate frustration but when this frustration becomes a set pattern, it can cause problems. Success in this stage will lead to hope. By developing a sense of trust, the infant can have hope that, as new crises arise, there is a real possibility that other people will be there to give support.

Failing to acquire the virtue of hope will lead to the development of fear. Suggestions for parents/ caregivers to facilitate the development of trust: Listen to what your child is saying from the moment of birth. She is communicating with you, although she cannot speak. Whether it is a cry, a smile or a tantrum, do not ignore her; communicate with her. A baby is not spoilt as easily as people believe. Do not be afraid to pick her up when she calls you (cries). Try to be consistent in your care of your child. Maintaining a reasonable routine is important. The repetition that is implied by routine and consistency helps your child to get to know you, the situation and herself. Remember, knowledge leads to trust. Enjoy your baby. If you enjoy her, you have won the biggest battle because then you will have the right attitude and motivation.

Muslim Views . September 2015

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DISCUSSIONS WITH DANGOR

Muslim Views . September 2015

Syrian-Saudi relations When the Arab Spring made its way to Syria, Saudi Arabia threw its weight behind the Sunni majority opposition in Syria, while Iran publicly declared its support for the Assad regime, writes Emiritus Professor SULEMAN DANGOR. RIOR to the Iran-Iraq war (1980-1988), Syria and Saudi Arabia were on good terms. However, Syria’s support for Iran during the Iran-Iraq war led to strained relations between the two. To ease tensions, Syrian president Hafez Assad paid a visit to Riyadh, in December 1981. When King Fahd became the ruler of Saudi Arabia, in 1982, he developed a close bond with Assad. In the 1990s, Saudi Arabia and Syria enjoyed a good relationship. Following the invasion of Kuwait by Iraq, in August 1990, Syria joined the US-led international coalition established to defend Saudi Arabia and liberate Kuwait.

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In February 1991, a joint committee was formed by Saudi Arabia and Syria to foster economic cooperation between the two countries. After Bashar Assad succeeded his father as president, Syria and Saudi Arabia signed an accord, in early 2001, to set up a free trade area. The Israel-Lebanon war, in 2006, disrupted relations between the two countries since Syria overtly supported Hizbollah. They deteriorated further in 2008, when the Saudi Arabian ambassador was withdrawn as a mark of protest over Syrian forces’ crackdown on anti-government demonstrators. From mid-2008 until 2011, the relationship between Saudi Arabia and Syria improved. Bashar Assad visited Riyadh, in September 2009, and King Abdullah visited Damascus a month later. By reaching out to Syria, the Saudis were signalling their recognition of the important role Damascus was playing in the region while hoping to weaken the ties between Syria and Iran. Diplomatic ties were re-established between Syria and Saudi Arabia and, by January 2010, Assad had visited Saudi Arabia three times. However, in 2011, the Saudis condemned the Assad regime for its handling of the anti-Assad protests. Following failed attempts to promote a deal behind the scenes to solve the Syr-

ian crisis, King Abdullah openly castigated Assad. When the Arab Spring made its way to Syria, Saudi Arabia threw its weight behind the Sunni majority opposition in Syria, while Iran publicly declared its support for the Assad regime. This damaged the relations between the two countries further. Saudi Arabia closed its embassy in Damascus and expelled the Syrian ambassador. The ongoing internal conflict between the Assad-led regime and the opposition forces within Syria has become a regional conflict not only because the conflict within Syria has regional implications but also because all the main regional powers have been directly involved in the conflict. The Saudi stance on Syria is motivated by a combination of factors. First, the Saudis are averse to the Ba’athist ideology. Second, the Saudi regime cannot remain silent about the continuous crackdown of the mostly Sunni political opposition by the Syrian regime. Third, Saudi Arabia perceives the decline of the Assad regime as a golden opportunity to weaken Iran while deflecting some of the criticism regarding its policy with respect to the Arab Spring. The Saudis have been attempting to rally the international community and the region against Assad as part of a larger, regional

The Saudis have been attempting to rally the international community and the region against Assad as part of a larger, regional competition between the Gulf countries and Iran. This is why the Saudis are openly backing a regime change in Syria competition between the Gulf countries and Iran. This is why the Saudis are openly backing a regime change in Syria. The Saudis fear that regional instability would endanger their power and control of the kingdom. This is the rationale behind the Saudis’ attempts to prevent the Arab Spring from spreading to regional allies. Saudi Arabia has become one of the most vocal critics of Assad and his regime, as well as in advocating recognition, support and arming the anti-Assad opposition forces. Facts on the ground seem to suggest that the conflict between the Syrian regime and the opposition is far from over. If the conflict continues, it may lead to further regional instability – something the Saudis have been trying to avoid since the beginning of the Arab Spring. Does Saudi Arabia continue to pursue regime-change in Syria, and the Syrian regime continue to pulverise the opposition or do they accept a negotiated settlement? Even though Saudi Arabia has a rapport with sectors of the Syrian opposition, the future could pose serious challenges to the regime. Firstly, arming the opposition could, in future, create threats to the Saudi regime while potentially posing a threat to the stability of the region. Secondly, the Saudis may be concerned about the potential rise

of groups like the Syrian Muslim Brotherhood in a ‘post-Assad’ Syria. Long-term strategies aimed at ensuring a successful political transition in Syria are being hindered by the Saudi and Iranian competition for influence in the region. As long as they perceive the Syrian conflict as an opportunity to establish their hegemony, it seems unlikely that the conflict will be resolved. Now Russia has stepped into the breach. It is urging Saudi Arabia and Syria to negotiate a settlement of the conflict. It wants a coalition between Syria, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Turkey – to fight Isis. While Assad demands that the Saudis stop supporting the opposition in his country, the Saudis want Iran to stop supporting Assad and Hizbollah. A conference was held in Moscow where the Syrian regime and the opposition were invited. The National Coalition for Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces, which is based in Istanbul and recognised by many Western and Arab states as a legitimate representative of the Syrian population, chose not to go to Moscow. It declined the invitation, saying that the Russian government sides with Assad in the war, making it an unreliable broker. It will be interesting to see what comes out of these negotiations.

Muslim Views . September 2015

From Consciousness to Contentment

Peace on those who patiently persevere JASMINE KHAN

O you know someone who constantly complains; to whom every setback is seen as a personal affront? When you mention that you cut your finger they tell you of the time they broke their arm? It is really amazing that someone can go through life perfectly healthy, with no ailments whatsoever, and at the sign of the first affliction, they bemoan their condition. Sadly, this is the case today. We are so focused on what is wrong in our lives, our health or our finances that we fail to see the blessings. When we accept and bear whatever ailment we suffer from, we will gain Allah’s pleasure. Nabi Muhammad (SAW) said: ‘Nothing befalls a believer, a (prick of a) thorn or more than that but Allah will raise him one degree in status thereby or erase a bad deed.’ (Bukhari 5641) Resisting the temptation to blame our condition or circumstance on others will greatly reduce stress and, in addition, will promote a healthy relationship with others. There is great wisdom in the old saying, ‘I never promised you a rose garden.’ However, even in a rose garden there are thorns; similarly, we are often faced with hardships, trials and even illnesses. The more we rail against what we consider the unfairness of life, the more we make ourselves, and those close to us, miserable. When calamity or illness strikes, we are called upon to dig deep into our faith and trust. Everyone, even the prophets (AS) of Allah were struck with hardships and trials. We have to remember that nothing happens without the permission of Allah, and what we perceive as a calamity could well be a blessing in disguise. We have to trust in the divine plan; a plan that we cannot possibly fathom at the outset. It is possible that what we are experiencing is part of a bigger plan that Allah has in store for us. The journey through life is never a straight path; there are corners and bends along the way and, very often, road blocks to challenge us. In the Holy Quran, Allah promises that with every hardship comes ease: ‘Have we not expanded your breast? And

removed from you your burden which weighed down your back; and exalted your fame? So, verily, with every difficulty there is ease.’ (94:1-5) As true believers, we know and accept that everything comes from Allah. It is only human nature to waver in times of great calamity but we should constantly remind ourselves that the greater the hardship, the greater the reward from Allah. Allah loves those who patiently persevere. It is possible that the hardship is a sign of Allah’s love for us. Anas ibn Malik narrated that the Prophet (SAW) said: ‘Great rewards come from great trials. When Allah loves a people, He tests them, and whoever accepts it attains His pleasure, whereas whoever shows discontent with it incurs His wrath.’ [Narrated and classed as hasan by at-Tirmidhi (2396)] It is important to note that in this hadith, our beloved Prophet

(SAW) is providing solace for us. The promise of higher rewards for how we behave in the face of difficulties is another example of Allah’s love and mercy for His creation. Al-Fadl ibn Sahl said: ‘There is a blessing in calamity that the wise man should not ignore for it erases sins, gives one the opportunity to attain the reward for patience, dispels negligence, reminds one of blessings at the time of health, calls one to repent and encourages one to give charity, and endure.’ When we realise that life will throw up challenges and that these are a means to strengthen us physically, emotionally and spiritually, it will be clear that they were placed there so that we can learn from it. Unfortunately, we have people in our lives who constantly complain and are never satisfied. They are actually questioning Allah’s decree and they are in a lose-lose situation, and could find themselves totally lost.

Not only do they have to live through their trying circumstances but they will also incur Allah’s displeasure for their discontent. Allah says clearly in the Quran: ‘…Only those who are patient will receive their reward in full, without reckoning.’ (Surah Az-Zumar: 10) It is only when our faith is so strong that nothing can breach it, that we will be able to deal with the vicissitudes of life with equanimity and patience. The Prophet (SAW) said: ‘How wonderful is the affair of the believer for his affairs are all good, and this applies to no one but the believer. ‘If something good happens to him, he is thankful for it and that is good for him.’ (Narrated by Muslim, 2999) As we enter the month of Hajj, when friends and family will be standing on Arafah, hoping for forgiveness and a renewal, let us at home take stock of how we handle the difficulties and chal-

lenges of life. As true believers, we should face our own difficulties with conviction in our ability to have sabr so that we may reap Allah’s reward. This is the only way to attain true relief and contentment. Besides, if Allah lifts this calamity from the believer and saves him from the torment then that can double the reward and happiness. Allah says in the Quran: ‘Be sure We will test you with something of fear and hunger, some loss in goods or lives or the fruits of your toil but give glad tidings to those who patiently persevere; who say, when afflicted with calamity: ‘To Allah we belong, and to Him is our return.’ They are those on whom are the salawat (who are blessed and will be forgiven) from their Lord, and (they are those who) receive His mercy, and it is they who are the guided ones.’ (Surah Al-Baqara: 155-157) Address comments to jkinflow@telkomsa.net

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Muslim Views . September 2015

Light from the Qur’an

Death’s true face: luminous and beautiful IBRAHIM OKSAS and NAZEEMA AHMED

HE Quran of miraculous exposition proclaims with its exalted heavenly address in Surah Ali Imran: ‘Every living creature shall taste death.’ In his contemporary Quranic tafsir, Risale-i Nur, Bediuzzaman shares with us that this ayah most powerfully tells of man’s death and the death of all animate creatures. The inevitable reality that this ayah proclaims should enter our ears, penetrate the depths of our hearts and should establish itself there. Importantly, it should shatter our profound sleep and heedlessness. For those of us who have started ageing, it is advisable that whenever we look at our hair in the mirror, the grey hairs, a sign of old age, should tell us: ‘Take note of us!’ so that we heed the warnings issued by our grey hairs. Bediuzzaman contends that through the ageing process, we see that our youth, which so captivated us with its pleasures, and in which we so trusted, is bidding us farewell. This worldly life that we so love and with which we are so involved, is beginning to be extinguished, and the world with which we are closely connected and of which we are the lovers is saying to us: ‘Have a good journey!’ It is warning us that we will be leaving this guesthouse of the

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world. This world, too, is saying good-bye and is preparing to depart. Bediuzzaman says that from the indications of the ayah ‘Every living creature shall taste death’, we should understand that the human race is a living creature; it will die in order to be resurrected. And the earth is a living creature; it also will die in order to take on eternal form. And the world, too, is a living creature; it will die in order to assume the form of the akhira. When considered in this way, we should become aware that youth, which is the source of pleasure, is departing while old age, the source of sorrow, is approaching; that life, which is so shining and luminous, is taking its leave while death, which is terrifying and apparently dark, is preparing to arrive; and that the loved world, which is thought to be permanent and is the beloved of the heedless, is hastening to its end. Bediuzzaman then enumerates some issues that serve to deceive us as we engage in social life, namely, the desire for social standing, attention and fame. While we may consider social standing to afford some temporary pleasures, there is really no true or lasting advantage in it. All the regard, attention and consolation of people only go as far as the looming door of the grave since it is there that it will be extinguished.

Death is a rest from the hardships of life’s duties. It is a change of residence. It is to meet with the caravan of one’s friends who have already migrated to the Intermediate World. Furthermore, people who relentlessly pursue glory and renown, which is the illusory aim of those who chase fame, will soon understand that these things which have deceived them cannot provide them with any solace, and there is no light to be found in them. Bediuzzaman then draws our attention to the Quran’s heavenly teaching and its sublime instruction in giving us good news through sacred decrees, like the ayah in Surah Al-Baqara: ‘And give glad tidings to those who believe.’ Alhamdulillah, It is through the effulgence of the Quran that we find consolation, hope and light. If we think about the face of death, we imagine it to be the most terrible thing and it terrifies everyone. However, through the light of the Quran, we see that although death’s veil is black, dark and ugly, for people of imaan, its true face is luminous and beautiful.

Bediuzzaman explains in many places in Risale-i Nur that death is not annihilation, it is not separation, it is, rather, the introduction to eternal life, and is its beginning. Death is a rest from the hardships of life’s duties. It is a change of residence. It is to meet with the caravan of one’s friends who have already migrated to the Intermediate World. We see death’s true, beautiful face through truths like these. When considered in this way, it will not be with fear that we look at death’s face but, in a sense, we may look at death with longing. Bediuzzaman then encourages those who are ageing to look at their departed youth, which makes everyone weep with its passing, which infatuated them and filled them with desire, causing them to pass it in sin and heedlessness. We will see that within its beautiful, embroidered garb is an ugly face. He recalls one person who lamented, ‘If only one day my youth would return, I would tell it of the woes old age has brought me.’ Elderly people like the one above, who do not know the true nature of youth, think of their own youth and weep with regret and longing. But when youth belongs to people of imaan, who have sound minds and hearts, as long as they spend it in ibadah, good work and trade for the ahirah, youth is the most powerful, agreeable and pleasant means of

securing that trade and those good works. And for those who know their religious duties, and who do not misspend their youth, it is a most precious and delightful, divine ni’mah. When one’s youth is not spent in moderation, uprightness and taqwa, it contains many dangers; it damages eternal happiness and the life of this world. Indeed, in return for the pleasures of one or two years’ youth, it causes many years of grief and sorrow in old age. Since, for most people, youth is harmful, we elderly people should thank Allah that we have been saved from its dangers and harm. Like everything else, the pleasures of youth depart. If they have been spent on ibadah and good works, the fruits of such a youth remain perpetually in their place and are the means of gaining youth in eternal life. In conclusion, Bediuzzaman addresses the elderly and says: ‘O elderly people! I realised these truths through the light of the AllWise Quran, and the warnings of my old age, and imaan opening my eyes. I experienced a true solace, powerful hope and shining light. I was thankful for my old age. And I was happy that my youth had gone. You too, do not weep but make shukr. ‘Since there is imaan and the truth is thus, it should be the heedless who weep and the misguided who lament, and not those with imaan in their hearts.’

FOR ALL

Muslim Views . September 2015

The crescent moon Earth is our home, a tiny blue planet that has travelled in orbit around the sun for millions of years, writes Doctor M C D’ARCY. EW look up at the night sky with clear intent and enjoyment. If they do, most times, what do they see? Nothing! The twinkling lights are as mysterious as they were to the ancients. Shooting stars frightened them, and they still do. Wandering, long-tailed comets and massive asteroids unsettled the ignorant and gullible. They had cause for that fear; giant meteors once wiped out the massive dinosaurs and a host of other living creatures. The moon in its varied phases intrigued, and still does. Lunar and solar eclipses terrified them; they were the dark wrath of gods perched high up in the heavens. Flashes of lightning and rolling thunder struck and boomed. Its high-voltage electricity shocked and killed without mercy. It petrified all. Earth is our home, a tiny blue planet that has travelled in orbit around the sun for millions of years. Day and night it is showered by interstellar mineral debris that continuously rain from the vastness of the beyond. That dust is part of us. It is in us from brain to bone, and that mineral-rich dust nourishes us from birth till death. We should all be aware of that. The sun gives us heat and light, essential for our food and navigation. Its sunrises and sunsets define the circadian rhythms of our internal clocks of sleep and wakefulness. The moon’s soft glow – light reflected from the sun – illuminates the night; the stars aid in steering the traveller across deserts and oceans. On the evening of June 20, this year, as the sun went down, a gossamer-thin haze of mist eclipsed the twinkle of all the calculated 100 billion stars in the vast Milky Way. A bright crescent moon pierced the misty veil and lit the sky, incandescent, ethereal. Close by, two planets shone: Venus, brilliant as a raindrop impaled by the rays of the sun. Just below Venus, the distant giant planet, Neptune, hung fuzzy in the hazy firmament – luminous art in the sky. In all, the effect was dazzling, mesmerising and humbling. My son, Cassiem, and I stood in silent awe. The distance from the sun to the earth is 149 600 000 kilometres. Light from the burning sun travels through the vast cosmos to the planets and the moon, and is then reflected to Earth producing this magic for us. That white light is made up of seven colours: violet, indigo, blue, green, yellow, orange and red. Awesome! Our heads tilted up to the deep sky, we marvelled whether aliens

The dome of Darul Karaar in Park Road, Wynberg, bears a moon and star symbol. Photo TOYER NAKIDIEN

The Malaysian flag with the crescent moon and star symbol. Photo SUPPLIED

The Turkish flag with the crescent moon and star symbol. Photo SUPPLIED

up there were looking at us just as we were looking at them that instant. Surely there must be life out there? Or are we alone; the only mass in the universe blessed with life and human beings endowed with the most complicated brain in the universe? If they are there, and they have the means to survey our solar system, they would see a tiny blue dot, a planet, elliptically swinging around the sun every 365¼ days. That blue colour is the water of the seas that cover a large area of our planet, our water of life. The sun and the moon play important roles in the lives and beliefs of humankind. It has been so since time immemorial. In 1969, I was asked to give a lunchtime talk at University of Cape Town on ‘The role of the moon in Islam’. I started by saying that the moon is not an integral part of Islamic belief; it is nothing but a clock. A somewhat horrified senior sociology staff member interrupted and stated that the moon was part of the religion. I explained that my contention is that Islam is the belief in one indefinable God. The moon is in no way worshipped in Islam. The Arabs used a lunar month in their calendar hence, some religious practices are reckoned using that time measure. In sparsely populated areas, there were no calendars, and the lunar month was easy to follow; you had only to look at the shape of the moon to see where in the month you were. As the following incident shows, one should always be

aware of the context, time and era when making dogmatic assertions or judgements. At that talk, apparently trying to score points, a young man with a yarmulke (skull cap) asked, ‘Why did the Prophet Muhammad have so many wives?’ I responded, ‘Arabs, and in many other societies all over the world, then and now, permitted and still permit polygamy under certain circumstances.’ Then I asked him, ‘Are you Jewish?’ ‘Yes,’ he answered. ‘Shall I ask you whether you believe in the Old Testament that testified that King Solomon was a very wise man?’ ‘Yes,’ he answered. ‘Well,’ I continued, ‘according to the Bible, how many wives did King Solomon have? Did he have many?’ His answer was, of course, ‘Yes.’ I agreed and elucidated, ‘You will then be familiar that, according to the ‘Book of Kings’ in the Bible, King Solomon had 700 wives and about 300 concubines. In that time, for kings, that wasn’t frowned upon. Isn’t that right?’ The young man nodded. Facetiously, I continued, ‘So, if he had 700 mothers-in-law, do you still think that King Solomon was a wise man?’ Muslims use the Hijri lunar calendar starting from the flight of Prophet Muhammad (SAW) from Makkah to Madinah. The Islamic calendar was first introduced by the close companion of the Prophet, Umar ibn Al Khatab, during his leadership of the Muslim community, in approximately 638 AD.

The minaret of Masjidul Quds in Gatesville – and the dome, which is in the darker area on the photograph – only bears a crescent moon. Photo OSMAN KHAN

This lunar year has 354 days. According to Wikipedia: ‘The tabular Islamic Hijri calendar has 11 leap years in a 30-year cycle. An extra day is added to the last month of the year during the Islamic leap year.’ In the Western, solar year, Earth goes around the sun in 365¼ days. There is a leap day at the end of February every four years, with some exceptions. The old Roman year started on March 1, the day that the Roman tax year started. Our tax year still uses March 1 to February 28/ 29. Julius Caesar conquered Egypt and had a dalliance with Pharaoh Cleopatra, who convinced him that the Egyptian year was more accurate. He returned to Rome and introduced the Julian year of 365 days. Because of the quarter day difference, the Julian year went out of sync with the seasons and Easter calculations. Pope Gregory XIII, in 1582, introduced the present calendar named the ‘Gregorian calendar’ after making ten days disappear and using some fancy celestial mathematics. But this calendar also has its defects. Incidentally, not too long ago, a second was inserted at midnight to keep in sync with atomic clocks, for accuracy. Most lunar month calendars, such as the Islamic calendar, have days starting at sunset. Most solar calendars start the day at midnight. The Western calendar, starting with the purported birth year of Jesus, is suspect because the Indian concept of zero was not taken into account when retrospectively calculating his suspected birth date, three centuries after his birth, when Emperor Constantine officially converted to Christianity. One is born at zero time and then lives a year to get to be oneyear-old. In 525 AD, Pope John I asked the monk Dionysius to see to calendar reformation. Dionysius Exiguus (of Anno Domini fame – our numbering system of BC and AD years) stated that Jesus was born 5 500 years after the formation of Earth and that Earth would expire 500 years later.

All our days are named after pagan gods. Sunday was named after the sun god, Monday – the moon goddess, Tuesday – the god Tyr, Wednesday – the god Wodin/ Odin, Thursday – the god Thor, Friday – the goddess Frigga, and Saturday – the god Saturn. The crescent moon and star symbol was widely used in days of antiquity. It can be seen in coins from ancient Mediterranean, Persian and Central Asia. It was depicted on coins of the Sassanid (in old Persia) era, which were still in use during the early Muslim Empire. It is suggested by some that it slowly became intimately associated with Islamic symbols. It was also depicted on manuscripts from the Mamluk (14th century) period in Egypt. The use on flags was noted in European writings during the period of the Crusades when soldiers flowed back to their homes in the West. Currently, it became popular in the 19th century, in Turkey, when the Ottoman caliphs embarked on modernisation of the decrepit empire, in 1844. The crescent moon and star still feature prominently on modern-day Turkish flags. They also appear on the flags of Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, Mauritania, Azerbaijan, Pakistan and Malaysia. Today, the crescent moon and star are ubiquitously used as a Halaal (permissible) food symbol. Interpretation of the symbolic crescent moon and star use is legion. One ancient belief is that it came from the moon god Sin and the goddess Venus in close association. They appeared on Muslim military flags in the 14th century. A most likely later interpretation would have seen that the depicted waxing moon was, like Islam, in a growing phase, and that the shining star depicts the glowing moral concepts of Islam. Simply put, it’s just a pretty symbol. On a dark night, look at the stars and beyond. There is beauty there. You can feel it in your heart and your bones; after all, you are made from a handful of stardust. Muslim Views

SPORTS-TALK

Muslim Views . September 2015

Dr Abdul Haque Patel (right) with his son, Ghaleeb, just six weeks before his death. Photo SUPPLIED

Cricket bids farewell to legends ASLAM KHOTA

ET another page closed on the golden age of non-racial cricket, in July, when the fraternity learnt of the passing of ‘Springboks’ Mahmood ‘Koeka’ Bulbulia (80), who passed away in Mumbai, and Abdul Samad ‘Sam’ Bulbulia (82), who breathed his last at a clinic in Johannesburg. They followed their ex-teammate, Capetonian John James ‘Coetie’ Neethling, who was 82 when he passed away in June. They played in the late 1950s and had the honour of representing the South African team under the late Basil D’Oliveira. They played a series of home and away ‘Tests’ against the Kenyan national team. Koeka and Sam played in one test and the outstanding Neethling played in all three. Earlier this year, cricket also bade farewell to Ismail ‘Chota’ Sader (72), Hassiem ‘Rosie’ Rasdien (80), Dr Abdul Haque Patel (93) and Abdul Kader Saloojee (77). In July, we heard the shocking news of the death of star allrounder of the 1980s, Nazir Dindar, who passed away in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. He turned 49 in February. And last month, on August 6, Mohamed Akbar Moola (75) passed away after battling with diabetes and cancer. Koeka was an opening batsman and, as a six-footer, bowled medium-fast off- and leg-cutters. He formed a lethal bowling partnership with Abham Akhalwaya, another six-footer, for Zulfikaar Cricket Club. In 1959, he went to England and thereafter to India to look after family interests. He remained in India for over 60 years, coming to South Africa intermittently. Sam was a product of Vrededorp ‘Fietas’ and was a stalwart of Crescents Cricket Club where he developed the finer instincts of an opening batsman. In 2012, he was honoured for his services to the game by being named an Honorary Life VicePresident of the Gauteng Cricket Board, and was also one of the inaugural recipients of CSA’s Heritage Blazers, in 2014. These blazers acknowledge the players who represented their national federations before unity. Neethling, a teacher by profession, was one of the best allrounders of his era.

Sam Bulbulia (left) and Yusuf Noorbhai with Akbar Moola (seated) at Wanderers Cricket Club, earlier this year. Moola was Bulbulia’s teammate at Crescent CC before ending his career with Kohinoor CC. Noorbhai also played for Crescents for a short Photo SUPPLIED period.

Muslim Views

He was a naturally talented sportsman who, when togged out in either a soccer shorts or cricket whites, could mix it with the roughest, toughest opponents. He was an outstanding striker for Nelson FC and the Central Union board side, ranking among the best in the Western Cape before he decided to concentrate on cricket. His fitness allowed him to play provincial cricket into his early 40s. Coetie represented SACBOC in all three ‘Tests’ – two against Kenya and one against East Africa. Along with D’Oliveira, he proved to be a great all-rounder on the tour. Chota Sader played for Krugersdorp and Kismet Cricket Club. He was a fine wicketkeeper/ batsman and when Ebrahim ‘Chicken’ Bhamjee and Moosa Mangera were withdrawn from the Transvaal team for the coastal tour, he won three provincial caps. South Africa lost another struggle icon, community servant and cricketer when Dr Patel succumbed to illness and old age. He was born in India and, as a young child, moved to Johannesburg with his uncle after being orphaned at the age of six. He was a model student and, in the early 1940s, went on to read towards a BSc at Fort Hare University, during the war years. He qualified as a medical doctor at Wits University, in 1951, and was among the first Indians to qualify at that institution. His studies were interrupted for a while when he chose to give up his medical career to join the

political struggle. At that time, he served the Transvaal Indian Congress as its secretary. However, stalwart struggle heroes Dr Yusuf Dadoo and Molvi Cachalia intervened and Patel resumed studies and completed his degree. His political activity made him an associate of the likes of Nelson Mandela and Walter Sisulu. After his release from Robben Island, Ahmed Kathrada was a frequent visitor to the Patel household. Patel was vehemently opposed to the amalgamation of rival cricket bodies, SACBOC and SACU, in 1975/76, when they attempted ‘unity’ in the sport at the height of apartheid and uprisings in the country. He was an opening batsman of note and was a superb close-in fielder and a fine leg-break bowler. He represented the Transvaal Indians in a few of the tournaments. He played most of his cricket for Kohinoor Cricket Club. Patel served the community of Evaton, outside Vereeniging, until his retirement, at the age of 82! His son, Ghaleeb, played for Cavaliers and represented Transvaal ‘B’ in the Booley Bowl. Saloojee was a reliable and solid right-hander who batted in the top-order. He qualified as a teacher at the Transvaal Teachers Training College, in Johannesburg. It was sheer co-incidence that his postings to Potchefstroom, Schweizer-Reneke and Bloemhof were country towns with a rich cricketing heritage. After a short stint in Johannesburg, where he gained colours for the Wits Union teams, he moved south, to Cape Town, where he played some of his best cricket. With the anomalies of the absurd apartheid system, Saloojee, of Indian heritage, found himself in the Western Province Coloured Union team under D’Oliveira. His consistency then gained him colours for the South African Coloured XI. Saloojee was a restless and enigmatic character. He suddenly moved to Zambia at the peak of his powers where he took up a

teaching post and played with much acclaim in the local leagues. He eventually settled in Brisbane, where he lived out the rest of his days. He was the younger brother of former Griqualand West and South African Cricket Board of Control (SACBOC) allrounder Suliman ‘Solly’ Saloojee. Perhaps the finest and most popular sportsman of his time was, undoubtedly, the evergreen Rosie Rasdien. He completed matric at Krause Street High School, in Vrededorp, Johannesburg, and later qualified as a teacher. As a multi-talented sportsman, Rasdien had the unique distinction of being one of a few triple ‘Springboks’ where he excelled in cricket, soccer and rugby. He represented the SA Malays and Transvaal in all three codes. In the 1961/62 Dadabhay Tournament, in Johannesburg, he scored 112 for Transvaal in their innings win against Eastern Province. With ‘Tiffie’ Barnes (72), he added 163 runs for the seventh wicket. He was, undoubtedly, one of South Africa’s greatest sportsman in the 1950s and 1960s, and throngs would pack sports fields all around the country to watch him in action. He was a hard-hitting middleorder batsman, superb fielder in the Jonty Rhodes mould and a canny seam bowler. In soccer, he was a graceful mid-fielder, pleasing to the eye, with a thunderous right-foot shot and was a dazzling rugby player. He was one of the twelve excricketers who were the first recipients to be awarded a Heritage Blazer, at Cricket South Africa’s awards evening, in July 2014. Rasdien was among the pioneers of the development of the Muslim community of Bosmont. Nazir Dindar’s Transvaal teammates and friends were inconsolable when the news of his passing broke on the morning of July 6. The former Transvaal and South African Cricket Board (SACB) cricketer had settled in the UK 15 years earlier and was working in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, at the time of his passing. He was 49. Social media was jammed over a number of days where former provincial cricketers and friends from around the country paid handsome tribute to a true gentleman and a cricketer of immense talent. Dindar moved from Middelburg and attended Lenasia High School. As a junior, he played club cricket for Queensland under the watchful eye of Ali Osmany. However, his brilliant perfor-

mances then prompted a move to Pirates Cricket Club where he enjoyed huge success and provincial colours. Dindar was a star all-rounder and was a left-handed batsman in the middle-order and a right-arm fast swing bowler. Together with Jack Manack and Barney Mohamed, they combined as a lethal triumvirate in many memorable matches for Transvaal in the Howa Bowl. Dindar was a brilliant batsman and scored a superb fighting century in Lenasia against a rampant Western Province team to register his provincial best of 132 not out. He scored 970 runs and took 64 wickets in provincial matches. Dindar was selected as 12th man for the South African Cricket Board (SACB) team in 1989. He played as a professional in Scotland and England for four seasons, and qualified as a coach in Lilleshall, in England. Dindar’s brilliance as a youngster saw him power his club, Pirates, to two consecutive double titles in the league and limited overs competitions in the mid 1980s. He scored 30 hundreds during a career where he represented the Transvaal under-19, Transvaal Schools and Transvaal ‘B’. Born in Vrededorp, Mohamed Akbar Moola excelled in both cricket and soccer. He was a tall, hard-hitting middle-order batsman and a fine all-rounder who bowled medium-fast with menacing bounce on matting wickets. He played for Crescents CC and Arsenal CC and represented the Wits Union. He ended his career with Kohinoor CC. Footnote: only Owen Williams, in Canada, Sidney Solomon, in Australia, and Basil Witton, in New Zealand, remain as survivors of the South African team under D’Oliveira. Aslam Khota is a cricket commentator and analyst.