Muslim Views, February 2018

Vol. 32 No. 2

JAMAD-UL-AKHIR 1439 l FEBRUARY 2018

Prayers for rain

Nearly 2 000 Muslims gathered on the Hazel Road sportsfield, in Rylands, Cape Town, for Salaatul Istisqaa (Prayer for Rain) at 7am on Sunday, February 4. The prayer was called jointly by the Muslim Judicial Council, Masjidul Quds and Habibia Soofie Masjid. Speakers at the gathering emphasised the need to beseech Allah’s forgiveness for our sins and to appeal that He answers our prayers with the blessing of rain. Shaikh Fuad Isaacs is pictured (left) leading the supplication for rain. At present, Capetonians are compelled to abide by the City’s restrictions of 50 litres of water per person per day as the three-year-long drought approaches autumn, which will hopefully herald a rainy winter. Should the drought persist and the City fail to realise adequate alternative sources of water, Day Zero is upon Capetonians by June 4. The dawn of Day Zero will see 75 per cent of the city’s homes – more than one million households – not receiving normal water supply. Families and some businesses will have to queue at 200 water collection points across the city to collect a daily allocation of 25 litres until water reserves are boosted. Read our editorial (p. 3) and an article by the Water Crisis Coalition (p. 4) for a critical perspective on the water crisis.

Photos MAHMOOD SANGLAY (top) and NOOR SLAMDIEN (left)

IDLIB IN CRISIS

Muslim Views . February 2018

Water is a divine gift and a public resource

ALL living things are made from water and need water to survive. This is an undisputed truth. Another truth is that water fit for human consumption, globally, is decreasing in availability through climate change. Increasing population growth and demand for water is inevitably going to lead to a global water crisis.

The population of Cape Town has grown faster than the City has increased its capacity for storing water. Since 1995, the city’s population has grown 79 percent, from about 2,4 million to an expected 4,3 million in 2018.

Over the same period, dam storage has increased by only 15 per cent.

The province is in the grip of a three-year-long drought, the worst in recorded human history in the region.

It is a matter of public concern that this crisis is being poorly managed.

The rising tensions between the City and its citizens continue as the City imposes restrictions and the citizens bear the brunt.

According to the Climate System Analysis Group, at the University of Cape Town, the 2017 two-, three- and four-year average rainfall figures have been the lowest since 1981.

More importantly though, the rainfall for 2017 was the lowest since 1933!

Clearly, this drought is severe and it therefore follows that political leaders should prioritise the public interest above all else, particularly above party political interests.

However, this is evidently not the case.

The DA leader crossed the line between

his party and the relevant organs of state, ignoring the separation of powers required for a provincial government to operate independently.

As officials, they remain accountable to the people, and not their party.

His actions have undermined accountability and participatory democracy, and weakened the City’s ability to govern in the interests of all of its residents.

It also creates the impression that government institutions can be accessed and influenced through party structures.

This is a clear enabling environment for possible corruption, as is the case with the public relations contract for communication on drought awareness awarded to a company owned by former DA leader Tony Leon.

While it should be noted that the City was already preparing a water demand management strategy and that this drought was both unexpected and unprecedented, the level of political interference has detracted from the efficacy of the strategy.

Furthermore, wasteful expenditure in the national Department of Water and Sanitation, erroneous water allocations to agriculture and a failure to respond to red flags raised by the Western Cape obstructed timely interventions.

Despite the failures of government, it remains its responsibility to control water supply and distribution.

The biggest threat to the public interest is privatisation of water, which opens the door to profiteering in an environment where companies are accountable to shareholders and not consumers.

Privatisation fosters corruption because contracts, costs and profit margins are routinely withheld from the public.

Local control and public rights are not the priority of corporations.

They can neither be expected nor trusted to operate in the public interest.

In addition, exorbitant financing costs, job losses and the threat of bulk water exports for profit are serious concerns.

Companies cannot be trusted to exercise care to prevent over-extraction of water from natural sources that may result in ecological disruption.

This is a time for generative leadership that puts the interests of life and the general public above any particular personal, group, institutional or corporate interests.

Water is a divine gift and a public resource, and must be respected and managed as such.

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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People who inspire AMINA WAGGIE

M

USLIM VIEWS will be starting a new series in March.

We will feature people who go out of their way to make a positive change in the lives of others without expecting any recognition or reward. We are looking for stories about ordinary people who are doing remarkable work and making a difference in their communities.

Muslim Views has always valued input from our readers, who have played a part in making this newspaper the success it is today.

Because of you, we are able to produce some of the content that we do. We appreciate the information that our readers bring to us regarding any stories or events in the community.

As a community-based newspaper, we also ask you to let us know about those unsung heroes you feel should be highlighted in your community.

Through this new feature, we want to focus on the admirable work that so many ordinary people are doing throughout South Africa. These stories should inspire others to give of themselves to make a difference in the lives of those who need it.

We invite readers to send us stories or details of people you feel are an inspiration to others.

Please send your stories or details of the people you would like us to feature via email to amina@mviews.co.za, fax to 086 516 4772 or post to Amina Waggie, Muslim Views, PO Box 442, Athlone 7760.

Don’t miss this exciting, new series, starting in March, when we will feature those individuals

‘And what will explain to you the path that is steep?

(It is) freeing the bondman; Or giving food in a day of privation To the orphan with claims of relationship, Or to the needy (down) in the dust.

Then will he be of those who believe and enjoin patience (constancy and self-restraint), and enjoin deeds of kindness and compassion.

Such are the Companions of the Right Hand.’

(Quran 90:12-18) or groups whose efforts deserve to be highlighted, and who support and give hope to people in your community.

In the first of our new series, Muslim Views will provide our readers a glimpse into the work done in an area with so rich a history – District Six – by a man who has touched the lives of so many – Tahir Levy.

Readers who have any connection with District Six will need no introduction to the person pictured here. Tahir Levy is probably one of the most well-known personalities in District Six. For more than fifty years, he has unselfishly and tirelessly served those who found themselves in difficulty, either because of social or legal issues.

Photo MUSLIM VIEWS ARCHIVES

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

Please treat it with the respect it deserves.

Either keep, circulate or recycle.

Please do not discard.

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Muslim Views . February 2018

Exposing plans to privatise our water resources and services SHAHEED MAHOMED

THE South African Environmental Observation Network (Koopman and de Buys, 2017) reports that the current low rainfall period in Cape Town is similar to that of 2004-2006 and 1971-1973.

Thus, those who clamour that this is the worst drought of the century are exaggerating.

The question is why?

The answer: Cape Town is being used as an international social experiment to privatise our water resources and services.

Recently, the local and provincial government came up with a new concept – ‘day zero’ – when they threaten to turn off the taps supplying water to four million people, even when dam levels will still be at 13,5 per cent.

They claim that the last ten per cent of dam water cannot be used, yet the city leadership will cut off all the taps, but not taps for the CBD, a whole month before the time. This is what 3,5 per cent of water represents.

However, there are engineering techniques that could easily make at least another four per cent of the remaining ten per cent usable.

So, in reality, the City is threatening to cut the water of the masses two months before the time.

On January 8, 2018, a number of organisations spontaneously decided to work together, after finding that we opposed the undemocratic water bylaw proposals by the City. On January 15, 2018, about 65 organisations

...those who clamour that this is the worst drought of the century are exaggerating.

The question is why? The answer: Cape Town is being used as an international social experiment to privatise our water resources and services. came together to form the Water Crisis Coalition, which comprises mostly residential groups, with worker, small farmer, faith-based and human rights groups and activists.

Among other things, we oppose the bylaws, which for the first time introduce prepaid water meters. In other words, soon, just as with electricity, we will have to buy coupons before the Council will allow us to get water.

This system of coupons for water will only work if the City installs water meters that can be remotely controlled from a central place, much like prepaid electricity is done now.

Thus, the main so-called water saving measure of the City has been to ‘aggressively’ impose these water meters on all of us.

These devices are often defective, they leak, they are not SABS approved, they do not measure accurately, and thousands had to be replaced two or more times.

The devices are not Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA) approved even though they have transmitters. They have also not been tested for the radiation effects of their transmitters. And the Legal Metrology Act says that any meter used in households must be SABS

approved.

We demand an immediate stopping and removal of the water management devices, and that the charges and fines be reversed.

Leaks in pipes and households cause a loss of 100 million litres of water every day. The Development Action Group (DAG) approached the City years ago with a plan to put unemployed plumbing apprentices to work to fix leaks in houses. The City rejected the plan.

Also, two years ago, the City was supposed to reduce the pressure in pipes at night , when we use less water. This would have saved millions of litres of water each day as less water would leak.

The City did not do this and only started random pressure reduction in the day since the start of February, this year. They have not even published a schedule so people can be prepared for this.

There are over 70 springs around the City and despite having agreed to meet with the Water Coalition to discuss a plan to open them, they are delaying meeting us. Their actions are not only running down the supply of water and creating water scarcity but are creating panic.

Every day, millions of litres of spring water flows, wasted, into the sea. Our demands are that all

the springs be opened within the next two weeks. We also demand that all leaks be fixed.

We further demand that boreholes be regulated and limited from draining the aquifers. The City is removing millions of litres from the aquifers, without a public plan of recharging them. There is a danger that the actions of the City will destroy the aquifers forever.

Already, Cape Town pumps over 100 million litres of treated sewage and stormwater into the sea every day. This water could, and should, be used to recharge the aquifers yet the City has no plan to do this.

The City has given permission for housing development and mining on the last major recharge zone in the City, the Philippi Horticultural Area, which supplies more than half of the city’s vegetables. We say: Hands off the PHA, revoke the new permits for development and mining.

The formula of the City for ‘day zero’ was proven fake when they pushed back the date by a month to May 11.

The irrigation season always ends at the same time, which should have been part of the original calculation. It was not. They started calculating ‘day zero’ when

agriculture was using huge amounts of water – from 800 to 1 200 million litres a day.

Large commercial agriculture has refused to adopt smart irrigation, which could bring down their use by 50 per cent. So it was not that the residents of Cape Town were wasting water, it was big agriculture.

Many small farmers and many farm workers have had their water cut. Thousands of farm workers are now unemployed.

In addition, the Groenpunt farmers also will release 10 billion litres of water back into Cape Town. This is another 20 days of water for the City.

With all the above considered, there is enough water in Cape Town. ‘Day zero’ has been proven to be a fake. The punitive tariffs that raise the price of water is to punish families who have been saving.

Those with larger families and often where more than one family is staying at a place, mostly the poorer section of the masses, will also be carrying the burden of higher tariffs. We reject the punitive tariffs.

The privatisation of water and services must be stopped. We call on every street and every area to set up water committees. Join the Coalition. Water for all or the City management must fall.

Contact the Water Crisis Coalition at watercrisiscoalition@gmail.com.

Shaheed Mahomed is a member of the Cape Town Water Coalition.

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Muslim Views . February 2018

March 8: time to make the invisible women visible VANESSA RIVERA DE LA FUENTE

INTERNATIONAL Women’s Day – March 8 – is approaching.

It is a day for recognition of women as architects of history and of the struggle for their liberation and equality. Women from all continents come together on this day to commemorate and claim this date as theirs.

The first historical antecedent that led to the establishment of this day was the New York Shirtwaist strike of 1909, known as the ‘Uprising of the 20,000’. This was a labour strike involving women working in New York Shirtwaist Factories.

Led by Clara Lemlich and the International Ladies ‘Garment Workers’ Union, it began in November 1909. In February 1910, they settled with the factory owners, gaining improved wages, working conditions and hours.

A year later, in the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire, on March 25, 1911, the deadliest industrial disaster in US history took place.

Women protesting for better work conditions were locked inside the facilities. A fire broke out, causing the deaths of 146 garment workers, who died from the fire, smoke inhalation or falling or jumping to their deaths.

Most of the victims were immigrant women from 16 to 23-yearsold.

In South Africa and many countries in the global South, the situation of disadvantaged women and migrants is not very different

The work done by women at home is often invisible and unequally distributed.

We can change this by recognising its value for our lives and social progress, and commit to sharing it according to the ethics of our faith.

Photo WOMENINTHEWORLD.COM

from that of New York’s seamstresses 100 years ago.

The exploitation of mothers and their children on strenuous journeys, with low wages or, sometimes, in exchange for food for the day, is a pressing reality in our countries.

The destruction of the environment and the scarcity of resources, such as water, favour the exploitation of the most vulnerable, who struggle to survive. Every March 8, we have enough to celebrate but it is also a reminder of how much remains to be done.

March 8 was established to honour working women; women who are an active part of social and economic life, making their contribution in their careers and from their desks as doctors, teachers, lawyers, saleswomen, political

figures and activists.

However, there is a group of working women who are often not pictured nor mentioned in the celebrations of this date: housewives.

Yes, housework is work, an invisible, unpaid, often taken for granted work.

There is a widespread perception that ‘work’ is something that we do outside our homes, is paid for, has a defined schedule, has social benefits and vacations once a year. But, when we talk of housewives’ work, we are talking about a major kind of work with a huge influence in our daily lives and a powerful impact in the economy of our nations.

Believe it or not, according to the United Nations, the unpaid work of housewives has a value that could represent between 10

and 39 per cent of a country’s gross domestic product (GDP).

It can be more important in a country’s economy than the manufacturing industry, the commerce or transport ventures. If we had to pay for it, many governments would go bankrupt.

Housewives are working women, and their workload, worldwide, is unequally distributed in relation to men and other family members.

Islam states that domestic chores should not be a source of slavery for women and that the chores should be shared, as indicated by the Sunnah of Prophet Muhammad (SAW).

Jamila, a mother of two from Goodwood, told me: ‘I wake up early to make breakfast, and when my family is at the table, they do not even look at me, they do not

thank me and they do not have the deference to pick up their dirty dishes. It’s as if I do not exist.’

But Jamila exists. ‘Someone’ cooks, washes, cleans, irons, organises tasks to make it possible for others to work, study, do sports and get involved in politics.

Most of the time, that ‘someone’ doing things for ‘others’ is a woman.

The work of caring and the logistical support involved in the work of housewives include the goods, services, activities, relationships and values related to the most basic and relevant needs for the existence of people, and are crucial for the development of the family and the individuals in it.

This March 8, I invite you to make the invisible visible, to think about the impact of domestic work in your lives and to express gratitude for it.

We should be doing it every day but this is as good a time as any to recognise that unpaid and invisible work has value and economic and social impact beyond the limits of the home.

We should commit strongly to viewing the tasks involved as a duty shared by all who live in the house.

Vanessa Rivera de la Fuente is a social educator and communication specialist, journalist and research consultant. She is also an independent scholar on women’s studies, religion and politics.

Your comments and feedback are valued. Email her at: vrivera.de@gmail.com

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Muslim Views . February 2018

African Muslims can do more than call to prayer MAHMOOD SANGLAY

DRIFTSANDS, Mfuleni, is about 27 kilometres from Cape Town and five kilometres from Khayelitsha. It is also surrounded

by Delft, Crossroads, Mandalay and Blue Downs.

All these townships emerged as apartheid-era developments and have always been subjected to structural barriers that breed poverty and unemployment.

But the politics of historical apartheid remains a grand context for the politics of disempowerment of local communities today.

Imam Yaseen Katona, of Naqshbandi Muhammadi Masjid, in Driftsands, is part of unique narratives, including that of triumph over adversity.

But he is also part of a narrative of resisting stereotypes of African Muslims. He says Muslims in the suburbs tend to assume that African Muslims exploit Islam to beg and to enrich themselves.

Another common stereotype is that African Muslims are best suited to make the call to prayer.

This, says Imam Yaseen, reflects a corrupted rendering of the pre-eminence of Sayyidina Bilal (RA) as the one appointed by Prophet Muhammad (SAW) to make the very first call to prayer.

There is a failure to note the essential point of the choice of Sayyidina Bilal (RA) as the one who possessed both the voice and the character for that noble task.

Imam Yaseen was born Muslim in 1978, in Harare, Zimbabwe.

He was one of seven children.

Imam Yaseen Katona is pictured teaching Quran in his adult class. His developmental work, which includes education, spiritual guidance and the provision of food, with the support of benefactors, has made a significant difference to the local community in Driftsands. The population of the township is over 2 000, of which 300 are Muslim.

Photo NAZMEH SCHROEDER

At age three, his parents separated and his mother moved to Malawi with the children.

She passed away when he was 18, and he recalls hardships, like attending boarding school in Salima, Malawi, with no shoes, and no blankets to cover himself at night.

However, Imam Yaseen also recalls a beloved mother figure in later years, Khadija Hamdan, who cared for him and other orphans in Malawi.

He studied Quran in 1994 and excelled in Arabic. His Islamic education and conventional school-

ing were undertaken simultaneously.

In 2004, he travelled to Cape Town where he met Shaikh Nazeem Taliep, the then imam of Masjied Ghiedmatiel Islamia, in Rondebosch East.

This is where he received his training as imam over a period of four years. He also continued Arabic Studies at International Peace College South Africa (Ipsa) and, in 2005, commenced his memorisation of the Quran.

Another challenge faced by Imam Yaseen when he first arrived in Driftsands in 2008 was super-

stitions about Islam and Muslims by the local community. The people believed that Muslims keep dead people and snakes in their homes and mosques.

There was resistance to the idea of a mosque or an Islamic centre.

Imam Yaseen was thus the first imam of a new prayer facility for Muslims in the area. The mosque can accommodate 300 people, and approximately 50 people attend Jummah. The immediate area lacks proximity to places of work and is far from essential services.

Yet another dimension of Imam Yaseen’s narrative is that of marginalisation and condescension that disempowers.

It relates to a saga, from 2013 till 2016, of entanglement in a conflict between benefactors whose mission was essentially spiritual but was degraded by organisational politics.

Sources close to him reveal that while his journey as imam of the masjid is essentially rewarding and successful, it has also been plagued by a power struggle that was not of his doing.

It was about the control by a benefactor who gives material support but insists on wielding power, thus depriving the beneficiary of independence, autonomy and the right to self-determination. Imam Yaseen declined to be drawn into the conflict, and faced the wrath of a disgruntled benefactor and threats of dismissal.

This was a grievous mistake by the benefactor. The community of Driftsands rallied to support Imam Yaseen, including people of

The children of Driftsands are an important part of the work done by Imam Yaseen Katona. He is pictured here teaching Quran reading to children in the afternoon madrasah.

The children are also provided meals daily, excursions to the library and clothing at Eid. Photo NAZMEH SCHROEDER

other faiths, because they were not willing to tolerate any threat to remove a leader who championed social welfare projects for their benefit and who laboured to restore dignity and virtue in their midst.

The threat thus nullified, brought stability to the broader community of Driftsands. And Imam Yaseen continues to derive joy and satisfaction from service to his community.

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Muslim Views . February 2018

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Refugees sharing stories can lead to a better life NURUDEAN SSEMPA

IT is ten in the morning; it’s a hot day. I am sitting at my desk planning my article for the following edition of Muslim Views.

Earlier, I had told my editor that I am following up on a story of a professional migrant from Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Despite the hardships, the woman has been able to establish herself in South Africa.

I hear a knock on the door and a young man in his twenties is standing at the security door. I let him into the Muslim Refugee Association of South Africa (MRASA) office.

‘I want a toothbrush. I have not brushed my teeth for the last couple of days,’ he said in a broken voice as he sat down.

I tell him that we can support him but that I need to get some basic information from him.

When I ask him his country of origin and where he stays, he starts crying. Having learnt that Abdurrahman stays in Vygieskraal informal settlement in Athlone, I tell him that if we tell our stories, it can contribute to making our situation better.

I narrate to him the story of Carolina Maria de Jesus, a Brazilian slum dweller who had no more than a second-grade education but single-handedly supported her three children and kept a journal of her difficult life.

Through an accidental encounter with a newspaper reporter, Carolina’s daily recordings

Abdurrahman Eddie, an asylum seeker from Tanzania, shared his story of how he came to South Africa and how he strives every day to make ends meet.

PHOTO NURUDEAN SSEMPA

were compiled into a book and published.

‘The book became a best seller and enabled Carolina to escape the slums and buy a house in the suburbs,’ I tell Abdurrahman, who is looking at me attentively.

Having listened to some of Carolina’s daily events which she always recorded in her dairy, the young man agrees to share his story.

Abdurrahman Eddie was born in 1994, in Tanga, Tanzania. He is his mother’s only child. Before he came to South Africa, he was staying in Tanga with his mother, three aunts, four cousins and his grandmother. He doesn’t know his father. Abdurrahman attended Gofujuu Primary School for seven years, and joined Nguvumali Secondary School, also in Tanga. Abdurrahman’s mother had an

ailment so she could not speak properly.

As a child, they did not always have food in the house, and always had to beg from relatives and neighbours. This explains why Abdurrahman ended up at Nguvumali Secondary School, a school with poor results. He never liked the school in the first place.

After finishing his first year in secondary school, a relative got Abdurrahman some money and offered to sponsor him to study further in Mombasa, Kenya, but Abdurrahman’s relatives discouraged the sponsor.

At the beginning of 2013, he left Tanga, in Tanzania, to study in Mombasa. But he only remained in Mombasa for ten days since the sponsor had withdrawn his offer.

He returned home broken but determined not to return to his former school and also determined not to stay with his family anymore.

Using the money the sponsor had given him as pocket money for the school in Mombasa – a plan that didn’t work out – he applied for a Tanzanian passport and decided to come to South Africa.

Abdurrahman took a bus and travelled through Tanzania, Zambia, Zimbabwe and South Africa.

The journey took five days.

Before coming to South Africa, Abdurrahman had heard stories of fellow countrymen coming here, working and getting good money so his plan was to come and work immediately.

He had also heard, before he came to South Africa, about one

of his relatives being killed in a xenophobic attack in Durban.

On reaching Johannesburg, he decided to come to Cape Town, in February 2013. But things turned out to be harder than expected.

Since Abdurrahman could not afford accommodation, he ended up living in a shack. His shack was demolished several times by police and security officers, and sometimes he was injured by them.

Currently, Abdurrahman lives in Vygieskraal informal settlement, in Athlone. There are eight people sharing the shack, and two of his friends live there with their wives. It was after listening to the story of Carolina Maria de Jesus, the Brazilian shack dweller and mother of three boys, that Abdurrahman got the courage to share his story. This is an excerpt from Carolina’s dairy, which was published in book form.

I tired of writing, and slept. I woke up with a voice calling Dona Maria. I remained quiet, because I am not Maria. The voice said: ‘She said that she lives in number 9.’

I got up, out of sorts, and went to answer. It was Senhor Dorio.

A man that I got to know during the elections. I asked Senhor Dorio to come in. But I was ashamed. The chamber pot was full.

Senhor Dorio was shocked with the primitive way I live. He looked at everything surprisedly.

But he must learn that a favela (a slum) is the garbage dump of São Paulo, and that I am just a piece of garbage.

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Muslim Views . February 2018

How Muslim extremists exploit myth in Islam FATIMAH ESSOP

I RECENTLY attended a fascinating talk hosted by Al-Ikhlaas Academia Library, titled, ‘The function of myths in the justification of religious extremism’, by Professor Syed Farid Alatas, nephew of contemporary scholar Syed Muhammad al Naquib al-Attas.

Farid Alatas teaches Sociology at the National University of Singapore. His areas of interest are Islamic thought, the study of religion and reform, and intraand inter-religious dialogue.

His most recent books are Ibn Khaldun and Applying Ibn Khaldun. He is currently researching Salafi extremism.

Alatas visited Cape Town as presenter at the Critical Muslim Studies (CMS) summer school hosted by the Religious Studies Department of University of Johannesburg (UJ).

CMS was inspired by a need to create spaces for intellectually rigorous and socially committed explorations between decolonial thinking and studies of Muslims and Islam. It offers an opportunity to interpret and understand Muslim phenomena in ways that do not reproduce Eurocentrism, Islamophobia or takfiri exclusivism.

This year’s CMS was held at Centre for the Book and was attended by participants from around the world.

The presenters included international scholars, like Professors Alatas and Ramon Grosfóguel, and local scholars, like Professor

Professor Syed Farid Alatas, centre, was the speaker at a public address hosted

by Al Ikhkaas Academia Library, in Lansdowne, Cape Town, on January 17. Alatas is professor of Sociology at the National University of Singapore. He is flanked, on his right, by Dr Elias Parker, chairman of the library’s exco, and Professor Yasien Mohamed, lecturer in Arabic at University of the Western Cape. Mohamed introduced Alatas and the topic ‘The function of myths in the justification of religious extremism’.

Photo MAHMOOD SANGLAY

Farid Esack and Associate Professor Sa’diyya Shaikh. The theme of the summer school was ‘Decolonial struggles and Liberation theologies’.

Each of the presenters challenged the participants to critically engage with existing paradigms of

knowledge and to seek alternative epistemological approaches in their respective disciplines.

They stressed that the structures of knowledge in the modern world lacked epistemic diversity as they are largely based on colonial Eurocentric paradigms, which

have marginalised non-western ideas or philosophies.

For example, Alatas highlighted that at most universities we will typically be taught that the fathers of sociology are David Durkheim, Karl Marx and Max Weber, while ignoring great Muslim scholars like Ibn Khaldun, who, some would argue, was the real father of sociology.

This is symptomatic of the colonial project, which continually seeks to marginalise non-western traditions.

In his presentation, at the Academia Library, Alatas also urged the audience to engage critically with our own Muslim traditions.

He cited two ‘myths’ within our tradition, which may have resulted in acts of religious extremism in our community.

One of these is based on the narrative fate of the male members of the tribe of Qurayzah after the Battle of the Trench.

Alatas pointed out that most seerah literature report that all the males (between 600 and 900 men, according to historical reports) of the Qurayzah Jews were killed, while all their women and children were enslaved.

He then systematically set out to explain why this could not have been the case and why this historical account has to be reassessed.

Firstly, the Quran (33:26-27) speaks of some being killed and some taken prisoners. Secondly, the seerah scholar, Ibn Ishaq, mentioned that before their execution the men were all placed in Usamah ibn Zayd’s (RA) house.

Alatas points out that, logically, 600 to 900 men could not possibly have fitted into one home. Thirdly, and very importantly, Islam does not condone collective punishment so one soul cannot bear the burden of another.

Fourthly, it is reported in the seerah literature that Sayyidina Ali (RA) was responsible for executing a large number of the men, yet no mention is made of these mass executions by Sayyidina Ali (RA) himself.

Alatas concludes that, at most, the leaders of the tribe must have been executed for treason and not for being Jewish, as they were responsible for betraying their agreement with the Messenger (SAW).

Alatas highlighted the importance of deconstructing this myth as extremist Muslim groups may use it to justify the mass killing of innocent people of other religious persuasions.

This myth has also been challenged by other contemporary seerah scholars, like Adil Salahi and Meraj Mohiuddin.

Forums like the CMS and scholars like Alatas advocate critical thinking.

Most knowledge paradigms have a particular bias. When engaging with any form of knowledge production, one should don diverse epistemic lenses and engage with the relevant source materials in a critical, logical and scholarly fashion.

Fatimah Essop is an advocate of the High Court of SA and a Ph.D candidate in the law faculty at UCT.

Muslim Views . February 2018

13

Road safety: advanced defensive driving skills: Danger at railway crossings

Ashref Ismail, who shares monthly motoring news with Muslim Views’ Photo SUPPLIED readers.

ASHREF ISMAIL

THE recent horrific train crash in Kroonstad that, at the time of writing, had claimed 18 lives, once again brought into sharp focus bad driving habits that can cause multiple fatalities. We, at Muslim Views, thought it a good idea to remind ourselves about the dangers of tangling with a train.

When I worked for the Road Traffic Management Corporation, we were approached by Transnet Freight Rail to assist them with providing traffic officers to deal specifically with railway crossing crashes in Rustenburg, where numerous crashes were occurring along a main line that had about six different motor vehicle crossings over a two-kilometre distance. Imagine, we had to, with the North West Provincial Traffic

Department, establish a dedicated policing unit to monitor and safeguard railway crossings over a 24hour period in three shifts!

In a country where special courses are held to explain how to ‘hand-over’ your vehicle when being hijacked, it should come as no surprise that we should discuss the danger at a level crossing!

The only thing to do when you see a train approaching is to stop.

Do not cross until it has passed, right?

It may come as no surprise to you that we have an atrocious road safety record in the country with more than 40 people dying daily on our roads. Some of the most dangerous places to be include junctions, intersections and, needless to say, railway crossings.

Our bad driving behaviour extends to all road types and environments. So, when we encounter a railway crossing, especially if it’s one that we cross often, we tend to become complacent: either we think that we can foolishly outrun the on-coming behemoth or we think that even though the train driver is blasting his horn, we still have a few seconds to dangerously take a chance. Sometimes, we are so preoccupied in our thoughts or, God forbid, with our mobile device, that we are completely distracted.

Advanced defensive driving skills is all about sharpening your

Railway crossing: Taking extra care at a level crossing and understanding the way level crossings operate could save your life.

Photo GOOGLE IMAGES

concentration and enhancing your safety. A train, laden or otherwise, weighs many, many more times the weight of your humble SUV. Dicing with one is very foolish and if you’re doing this daily, with your little kids from school noisily distracting you, this is a recipe for disaster. Remember, a train cannot stop as sharply as you can stop your car. Even at low speeds, a train crashing into a car will almost always destroy the car because the point of impact is at right angles, and, depending on the point of contact, can cause the tyres to blow out digging the rims into the ground and causing the car to be dragged a distance, literally tearing it into pieces along the way.

Should the train ‘clip’ the car on the front or rear extremities, there’s a good chance that the car will spin out and, hopefully, away

from the tracks, with a good chance of survival for the occupants.

The most important road safety tip on dealing with level crossings is to be alert, (radio switched off, no mobile devices and no distraction from other occupants), looking carefully in both directions and, irrespective, of the speed and distance of the approaching train, never risk trying to cross if you see one approaching.

Where booms are in place, it is even more foolish to try to outrun them.

According to Transnet, the most dangerous flashpoints are on rural farm roads, where tractors and heavy machinery sometimes cannot cross the line in time because the driver panicked and found himself in the wrong gear and stalled the vehicle on the tracks.

In cities, because of the general low speeds of approaching trains or because drivers have just become so used to the presence of trains, they become complacent and feel they can easily ‘make it’, often with disastrous results.

As a rule, learner drivers and those who lack confidence using a manual transmission gearbox should avoid roads where train lines pass. Should it be unavoidable then do so with extreme caution and don’t panic, especially if the railroad crossing happens to be on a slight incline and clutch control is critical.

Rather use the handbrake and carefully release the clutch to proceed forward, and don’t allow yourself to be intimidated by impatient drivers hooting behind you. The Kroonstad matter will be investigated but, no matter what the outcome, it is going to be very difficult not to disprove driver negligence.

Remember the case of Humphrey Jacobs in the Cape a few years ago, where ten school children lost their lives when it was alleged that he would daily try to outrun the train? In a landmark court ruling, he was charged with murder (only the second known time where a road crash led to a charge of murder rather than the usual culpable homicide).

Until next time, please take care out there.

14

Muslim Views . February 2018

Make being a safer driver one of your new year’s resolutions JAMEEL ISMAIL

THOUSANDS of car accidents take place on our roads every year, of which many prove fatal.

Human factors could be seen as the biggest contributor to road crashes and fatalities, accounting for more than 70 per cent of contributing factors.

Is it not time then to better our driving and become safer road users?

New year resolution lists are filled with numerous ‘self-improvement’ strategies but how often do we see ‘be a safer driver’?

And when one considers the carnage on South African roads, it begs the question: why are we overlooking this?

Consider this: every time we get behind the wheel of a car, we are operating a very dangerous piece of equipment. Bearing this in mind, as drivers, we have a huge responsibility to our passengers and other road users. Whether you’ve just removed the ‘learner’ sign from the rear window or you’ve been driving for a few years now, there is always room for improvement.

A good start for drivers looking to improve their driving skills is to take a defensive driving course.

There are a number of reputable companies offering defensive driving courses. Check out companies

that specialise in driver training with defensive driving courses that cover practical topics, like ‘hijack prevention’, ‘commentary driving’, ‘your rights at a road block’.

The investment is minor considering the value crammed into these courses, and some insurers may even discount your monthly premiums for getting certified.

As a defensive driver, you can avoid accidents and lower your risks behind the wheel, not to mention boost your confidence.

Here are some pointers to making your driving safer: Focus. Stay alert. Be aware of your surroundings and of other vehicles. Distractions like your phone, your make-up or that cute person in the convertible who stopped beside you, make it harder for you to identify possible threats and hazards.

Criminals often target unsuspecting or distracted drivers at robots or intersections where smash-and-grab type crimes have become rife.

Keep a safe following distance.

A vehicle’s ability to stop is greatly reduced with speed. Keeping a safe following distance is by far one of the easiest, yet most commonly broken rules of defensive driving.

Keeping a safe following distance creates an escape route and gives you enough time to take evasive action.

Road safety is everyone’s responsibility and it starts with you.

Photo GOOGLE IMAGES

What is a safe following distance? At a minimum, during dry conditions, three seconds. Where visibility is low, like in rain or fog, the time should be doubled.

Smooth operator. Drivers who drive in a smooth manner are often better drivers, from acceleration and braking to lane changes and turning, concentrate of making your actions more fluid.

Being smoother on your vehicle will also have a positive impact on your vehicle’s wear and tear and fuel consumption.

Drive for others. Anticipate what other drivers or road users might do and make appropriate adjustments to your driving.

An accident might not always be your fault but identifying the errors and compensating for them might save you.

Be considerate towards others but look out for yourself. Never assume the actions of other drivers.

Speed kills. While that statement could certainly be contested, on public roads, speed makes it harder to avoid an accident, giving you less reaction time and space to escape or bring your vehicle to a stop. Fatalities are drastically increased where speeding motorists are involved.

Keep your cool. Sure, its rude when someone takes your turn at a 4-way stop or when a mini-bus taxi cuts right in front of you without indicating but keep your cool.

Road rage or aggressive driving is more likely to cause severe injuries or accidents.

Control freak. When you are in the driver’s seat, you are in control. Keep both hands on the steering wheel, ensure that your mirrors and seat are adjusted correctly and that you are able to reach all the pedals comfortably.

Go the distance. Always ensure that you have more than enough fuel for your journey. Detours,

road works and traffic can sometimes affect the distance you planned to travel. Check your vehicle’s tyre thread depth, wear and pressure; and service your vehicle regularly, as per your motor manufacturer’s recommendations.

Buckle up. As the driver, it is your responsibility to buckle up and make sure all your passengers do, too. Wearing a seat belt or using a child seat can prevent serious injury or fatalities in a crash, and children should be taught the importance of buckling up at a young age.

Wearing your seat belt should not just be done to silence the annoying beep coming from your vehicle’s seatbelt warning system but rather as a measure to save your life and the lives of your passengers.

Practice makes perfect. The best way to improve a skill is to practise and practise correctly. Being a ‘good driver’ certainly takes time, and when you implement safe driving measures from the get-go, these measures become habit and the habit results in you becoming a better driver.

Saving lives on our roads begins with you. It is our responsibility as road users to exercise safe and lawful behaviour to ensure the safety of you the driver, your passengers and other road users.

Let’s all get there safely!

16

Muslim Views . February 2018

- ADVERTISEMENT FEATURE -

Islamic Relief-funded sewing projects empowers lives SHANAAZ EBRAHIM-GIRE

AS a humanitarian and development organisation, one of Islamic Relief’s objectives is to provide vulnerable families with lasting routes out of poverty.

This is being achieved through integrated, sustainable programmes targeting unemployed rights holders and guardians of orphans and vulnerable children.

The NGO’s skills development and training programme aims to provide the necessary tools to overcome the socio-economic challenges faced by poor households.

Poverty and inequality remain the driving factors of unemployment in South Africa. By the third quarter of 2017, the unemployment rate stood at 27,7 per cent.

The number of unemployed had risen by 33 thousand to 6,21 million.

With these staggering figures in mind, Islamic Relief South Africa (Irsa) partnered with the Amy Foundation (formerly the Amy Biehl Foundation) to fund its youth skills development programme, which encompasses sewing, craft and design, beauty and wellness and hospitality, targeted at township youth.

The Amy Foundation is a nonprofit organisation that offers programmes to develop and empower children and youth between the ages of five and 35, living in chal-

lenged and vulnerable communities in the Western Cape.

‘There are huge inadequacies in the schools and communities in which we work, ranging from devastatingly high unemployment, violence, drug abuse, teen pregnancy and crime,’ Marketing Manager Michelle Bagley explained.

‘In addition, we reach those out of school youth and work together to build skills needed to secure employment and create businesses.’

Through the Amy Foundation partnership, Islamic Relief equipped the programme with sewing machines and overlockers.

These resources were needed to assist 36 participants to successfully complete their training.

According to Islamic Relief South Africa CEO, Yusuf Mohamed, families who live below the breadline without a ‘reliable and adequate’ means of earning a living, are more vulnerable to poor social lifestyle choices and financial debt.

‘Poverty is a cycle that must and can be beaten. By supporting sustainable livelihood projects, Islamic Relief donors help people acquire the skills they need to develop a reliable means of earning income.

‘At Islamic Relief, we share the same values as Amy Foundation: of making a difference in the lives of disadvantaged youth. By coming together for this skills, devel-

opment and training programme, we are creating a positive change in their lives,’ Mohamed said.

Trainees attended a four to six month-long incubation programme that will result in the production of handmade South African and Cape Town-themed items for the fashion, tourism and hospitality industries, and for general household use.

One of the success stories of this partnership is 28-year-old single mother of two, Thuli Mdosi.

She was born in the Eastern Cape and came to Cape Town in 2010 seeking employment and with a vision of a better life.

After a short stint as a petrol attendant, Thuli started selling leggings before her neighbour introduced her to the Amy Foundation where she joined the Craft and Design programme in early 2017. She has not looked back since.

‘I suffered from a very low selfesteem. Life was tough as I was struggling to earn enough to sustain my children and myself.

When I started this programme, I had a very basic knowledge of sewing but soon learnt pattern making, cutting and dressmaking and business skills.

‘I also learnt how to respect and conduct myself when speaking to clients,’ Mdosi explained.

The business skills Thuli has acquired has played a major role in her journey. In May 2017, she

Thuli Mdosi, one of the success stories of the youth skills development programme, in the surroundings that saw her learn and develop the dressmaking and business skills she needed to open a clothing business.

Photo AMY FOUNDATION

bought an overlocker and another sewing machine at the foundation to start her business, called ‘Indwangu by Thuli’.

She started selling the clothing that she makes – kiddies clothes, tracksuits, leggings, jackets and dresses, generating an income for herself.

‘I am a firm believer that you can never gain too much knowledge. I push myself to learn something new every day. I would like to expand my business with my aim to own my own business space by June 2018.

‘I am ready to stand on my own feet and I am thankful for the assistance received from the Amy Foundation and Islamic Relief who made this initiative possible.’

SYRIA

EMERGENCY RESPONSE

IDLIB IN CRISIS

R500

Provides Provides emergency emergency medical medic al supplies

R1000

Provides Pr ovides food food for for a familyy ffor famil or one month

R1900

Secures fulll Secur es a ful winterization kit

R300 000

Equips an emer emergency gency field hospital

YOUR GIFT Y OUR LILLAH LILL Standard Standard Bank Fordsburg Fordsburg Acc No. No. 005318459 Branch Branch Code Code 005205 Ref: No..

Ref: IDLIB1 + Contact Contact No

islamic islamic-relief.org.za - relief.org.za

0800 111 898 111 898

ZAKAT FULFILL Y YOUR OUR ZAK KAT FNB Smith S Street treet Acc No. No. 62161066933 Branch Code Branch C ode 221426 Ref: Contact No..

Ref: IDLIB1 + C ontact No

To support Islamic Relief’s local development projects, deposit all general donations into the following bank account: Islamic Relief SA, Standard Bank, Account number 005318459, Fordsburg branch, Branch code 005205, Reference: Contact Number.

For zakaah contributions, use the following bank account details: Islamic Relief SA, First National Bank, Account number 62161066933, Smith Street Branch, Branch code 221426, Reference: Contact Number.

To find out more about Islamic Relief’s sustainable livelihoods initiatives in South Africa, visit www.islamic-relief.org.za or email info@islamic-relief.org.za.

18

Muslim Views . February 2018

- ADVERTISEMENT FEATURE -

Jobs a challenge for youth Sanzaf Education Empowerment and Development (Seed) offers vocational training opportunities for youth SANZAF COMMUNICATIONS

THE South African National Zakah Fund (Sanzaf) Seed programme aims to uplift communities through sustainable development by supporting individuals in early childhood development, youth and community development, Islamic studies, vocational training and higher education.

During December, last year, some 45 students completed an NQF Level 2 qualification in motor mechanics, health and safety, welding and electrical engineering.

The vocational training courses are specific classes offered to

Taariq Adams (top), from Manenberg, fulfils his ambition to carve a great future in the motor industry with support from Sanzaf and the Athlone Electrical Skills Development Training Centre.

Sanzaf Vocational Training students (pictured right) at the certification ceremony which was held at the Manufacturing, Engineering and Related Services Sector Education and Training Authority (MerSETA) accredited Athlone Electrical Skills Development Training Centre. Our aim is to provide students an opportunity to grow their earning potential through a learned skill. Sanzaf’s caseworkers across the Western Cape provide holistic counselling to families seeking assistance.

Our goal is to help people to help themselves and to give them the confidence to become self-sufficient and independent.

Photos SANZAF COMMUNICATIONS

learners to train for a particular job or career and offers opportunities for youth to advance their education and to make a difference in their communities.

Taariq Adams, 21-years-old, from Manenberg, was overwhelmed with emotion when he received assistance from Sanzaf, and a position at Market Toyota.

‘I was encouraged by my teacher at the madrasah I attend to seek assistance from Sanzaf.

After my assessment with Insaaf Osman, from the Seed department, I was offered financial aid to pursue my studies,’ he said.

To support a student to pursue their dreams you may contact Faeza.govind@sanzaf.org.za

Muslim Views . February 2018

19

HWMEM LOOKS AHEAD AFTER 75 YEARS OF SERVICE

R24 million disbursed to 4 500 students MAHMOOD SANGLAY

SEVENTY-FIVE years is a grand number in the history of any organisation and marks the culmination of all its accomplishments over time.

This number looms large for Hospital Welfare and Muslim Educational Movement (HWMEM), which emerged in 1942, when the world was at war.

The Union of South Africa, as the country was then called, joined the British Commonwealth forces in World War II battles in North Africa against Nazi Germany.

The South African military personnel included Muslims, some of whom were convalescing patients at Somerset Hospital, in Cape Town. A few concerned local Muslims assisted with the dietary needs of these patients.

Their assistance was also extended to Muslim families in respect of burial and mortuary services. It is through the former initiative that the hospital welfare part of the organisation emerged.

Another initiative of Muslims, under the yoke of the opressive apartheid government, emerged.

According to executive members of HWMEM today, the Muslims in 1969 collaborated with contemporary liberation movements, namely the ANC and the PAC with a view to establishing an education fund.

HWMEM today affirms that this initiative was driven by a commitment to ‘education before liberation’, a striking paradox to the recalcitrant slogan that advocated the opposite in the school boycotts of the 1980s.

This was followed by the establishment of the Education Bursary portfolio of HWMEM to assist students at tertiary institutions.

HWMEM also played an important role in resisting the racially based permit system in the seventies and early eighties. The collaboration between HWMEM and the universities exposed these institutions to the risk of losing their state subsidies. The first disbursement to deserving students was in the amount of R720.

Seventy-five years is a testament of an organisation’s perseverance in difficult times, where there is competing demand for limited resources. And the executives of HWMEM prefer to frame it as a commemoration as the connota-

This historic photograph is annotated with the heading ‘Hospitals Welfare Society (Moslem), Incorporating Moslem Welfare Society, Established August 1942, Officials and Members, 1951-1952’. Standing in the back row, left to right, are: Shaikh M A Jassiem; S Isaacs; G Jattiem (executive member); A B Chikte; A Samie; A Cornelius; S Mohamed; A Kamalie (executive member). Standing in the second row, left to right, are: Imam A B Saban (executive member); S M Maroof; H E Dollie (executive member); J Lalkhen; H G Fataar; H S Busch (executive member); M Marthinus; A Sadulla (assistant manager). Seated, left to right, are: H Khan (general secretary); A Mohamed (manager); A Jassiem (chairman); E A Parker (president); A Hamza (vice-chairman); H E Parker and N Anter (honorary joint treasurers). Sitting in front, left to right, are executive members M H Rahbeeni; S Saban; B Saban; H T Samat and G Harris.

Photo SUPPLIED

tions of celebration evoke opulence and excess.

Their ethos is a commitment to frugality, keeping operational costs low and maximising efficiency and delivery. This is reflected in their modest offices and the growth in their financial support in education.

In addition, for over seven decades, 99 per cent of the members of the organisation have been and still are volunteers.

Another key value is their commitment to supporting a diversity of beneficiaries, ensuring that this is reflected in the demographics of their students. And this includes religious diversity.

All the stalwarts of HWMEM are worthy of celebration and many of the current members were mentored and guided by them.

Financial assistance to students pursuing tertiary education amounts to R24 millon to approximately 4 500 needy students over seven decades. In 2017 alone, HWMEM disbursed R2,1 million to 170 students at a number of higher learning institutions in South Africa.

As a part of the education portfolio, HWMEM also administers a school for the visually impaired, namely Madrassa-tul Khayr. This is a free Quran learning programme for the blind and partially sighted. The school has a roll of fifteen, mainly adult learners.

HWMEM continues to attend to the dietary needs of Muslim patients in hospital. This involves regular inspections and the certification of kitchens as halaal. The organisation has oversight of the

provision of halaal food at over 23 state and selected private hospitals in the Western Cape.

Another service that is sustained through its historical legacy is the mortuary and burial service of HWMEM. This includes assistance to families with socio-legal, burial arrangements as well as pauper burials.

The increase in the number of refugees and immigrants from other African countries to Cape Town has seen this service become more essential.

The social welfare and outreach programme of HWMEM includes the disbursement of zakaah by means of feeding schemes, food parcels and annual Ramadaan programmes. The organisation has also assessed and assisted numerous needy families in the commu-

Their ethos is a commitment to frugality, keeping operational costs low and maximising efficiency and delivery.

nity who qualify for zakaah.

Social welfare support extends to orphanages and old age homes.

HWMEM also runs a wheelchair distribution programme to disabled members in the community in need of wheelchairs.

Looking ahead, HWMEM plans to grow and diversify its investment in all its programmes.

For example, financial assistance to students is not only earmarked for an increase but additional support in the form of workshops on career guidance is envisaged.

It is worth noting that HWMEM also plans to introduce social responsibility projects for its bursary beneficiaries with a view to inculcate social welfare awareness and the need to assist others in the community.

In light of this vision, the call to traditional donors as well as new donors for support is clear: HWMEM is ready to make a bigger impact over the next 75 years.

20

Muslim Views . February 2018

Boland ladies host walk for cancer AMINA WAGGIE

THE Boland Islamic Council Women’s League (BICWL) will be hosting their annual cancer awareness walk, the ‘Pink Walk’, which they have been successfully running for 15 years, on Sunday, March 4, 2018.

There is a five kilometre (5km) walk and an eight kilometre (8km) walk, which will both start and finish at Harmony Park Day Camping Site, Gordons Bay Road, Strand.

It begins at 8:30am and there is an entry fee of R20.

The BICWL hopes to have as many supporters as possible participating in the Pink Walk in order to generate funds via the entry fee, while simultaneously educating people about cancer and the effects it has on the lives of people.

The BICWL is a non-profitable organisation whose main objective is to donate the proceeds of their joint fundraising efforts to deserving institutions and charitable organisations across the spectrum, regardless of religion and race.

The organisation was established in 1998 – they are celebrating their 20th anniversary this year – and has not neglected its initial aims, which are to promote the deen of Islam, unite women in Islam, and promote education for women, to be involved in welfare affairs and to liaise with other organisations.

For the past few years, the BICWL has been donating various amounts of money to the Cancer

Association of South Africa (Cansa) and Pink Drive, which are organisations working with cancer-related issues.

They have also supported the aged, the poor, the abused, the youth and HIV/ Aids sufferers – and this was utilised to involve the various communities in supporting another good cause, the Pink Walk.

The BICWL has been raising the awareness in communities that cancer is not an illness that affects any specific group of people; it can touch anyone.

The aim of the walk is about nothing other than charity and the passion to improve the lot of the needy.

In this, the BICWL wants to celebrate the caring nature of women.

‘We know that women are the bearers of humankind and we have been given this special attribute to love and to nurture.

‘We also know that by giving our support, whether it is through a donation to a beneficiary, we as women and mothers will be able to add quality to the lives of those vulnerable children,’ said Sumaya Gabier, chairperson of the BICWL. The Pink Walk has been growing exponentially since its formation. Compared to the earlier days of the institution, the growth rate and the number of people who come to each annual walk are overwhelming.

The BICWL believes that the more people are educated about cancer, the more the donations

will increase and, consequently, many more lives could be saved.

‘We believe that as our numbers have been rising over the past fifteen years, it will be an achievement for us the day we reach 5 000 people.

‘In 2016, we reached 2 000 participants, and in 2017 we almost had 3 000 participants. We believe that very soon our dream will become a reality,’ said Gabier.

Over the past fifteen years, the BICWL has had two major annual fundraisers – a fun walk in Stellenbosch and a high tea on Women’s Day at venues in Boland towns.

Since the first effort to raise funds was launched, in 1999, approximately R400 000 has been distributed, one of the major contributions being the R23 000 which was donated to the Groote Schuur Hospital Cancer Unit, and R25 000 to The Sunflower Fund, an organisation that raises funds to assist patients with bone marrow transplants.

Other beneficiaries have been old age homes, the disabled, a centre for abused children, female inmates in Worcester prison, trauma centres at police stations, organisations who care for street children in the Boland, youth programmes and the children’s wards at hospitals in Boland towns.

The BICWL has also assisted Aids organisations and hospices with fundraising.

This year, the BICWL hopes to donate R20 000 each to two of their beneficiaries, The Sunflower Fund and Pink Drive.

Women from different areas and socioeconomic backgrounds come together yearly to participate in the Boland Islamic Council Women’s League’s (BICWL) Pink Walk to show their support and solidarity for those who suffer from cancer.

Photo SUPPLIED

‘We appeal to every woman and their families to join and support this worthy cause that is established to save lives. We have an obligation as the mothers of the nation to join hands and to spread the word to families, extended families and friends.

‘One’s contribution will add value to the lives of people whose families can’t afford the best medical support for them. The walk welcomes everyone despite gender, colour or religion because cancer can affect all people, without discrimination,’ said Gabier.

Nurul Latief Islamic Association Kramat Faure PUBLIC ANNOUCEMENT

Cancellation/ postponement of the 2018 Kramat festival Assalaamu alaikum warrahmatullahi wabarrakatu 1. All potential campers, visitors, supporters and service providers are hereby informed that our association has taken the very difficult decision to cancel our annual Easter Kramat fundraising event for 2018. This means that there will be no activities related to the event, including camping, stalls and entertainment.

We took the decision for, amongst others, the following reasons: 1.1 The critical water crisis in the Western Cape and the sensitivity everybody, including faith-based organisations like us, must display during this period. As responsible Muslims, we must be at the forefront and set the example regarding saving water at all times, particularly over this period.

1.2 The additional cost due to increased water consumption that the masjid would be responsible for as well as that for sewerage removal services over a public holiday period, should we continue with the event. Our masjid would not be in a position to carry such costs.

1.3 For health and hygiene reasons, should the event continue over the weekend and the water supply is adversely affected and limited.

2. Our committee is planning to host a similar event after the envisaged rainfall months, over the long-weekend of September 21 to 24, 2018. Monday, September 24 is Heritage Day. This is, in any case, in line with our vision to move our annual fundraiser to later in the year in anticipation of the Easter long-weekend falling in Ramadaan within the next few years.

3. We want to sincerely thank all those who normally support our annual Easter event and trust you will equally support us in implementing the decision we have taken.

Shukran on behalf of the Executive Committee Nurul Latief Islamic Association Kramat Faure P O Box 150 Macassar 7134 For further enquiries please contact: Shabier Ismail cell: 082 441 6042 Ebrahim Peters cell: 082 562 5457

Muslim Views . February 2018

21

Cape Town’s water crisis: we are not alone

While the effect of climate change has been incremental in the Western Cape, more extreme weather episodes can be expected. Sea Point, June 2017.

Photo SHAFIQ MORTON Farmer in the Punjab. What happens in one part of the world, happens in another.

Photo SHAFIQ MORTON

SHAFIQ MORTON

THIS piece is not about the blame game, triggered by the ‘worst drought in living memory’.

Nor is it about the arrogance and the rank incompetence of our city authorities who only woke up when they realised that they would be the first administration in the world to run out of water.

No, this is not about the DA and its cloying attempts to shift the blame, and it is not about the ANC intent on scoring points against the DA. Locked into fiveyear election cycles that have ignored long-term planning, our political parties have simply

dropped the ball.

The point is: water affects every South African citizen. We are a water-stressed country, and water has to transcend party differences.

Today’s status quo – the city of Cape Town unilaterally installing water restriction devices that have never passed SABS or NRCS muster – is the equivalent of a chain store blaming its customers for its poor service, and then forcing them to purchase inferior goods as a result. It is no wonder that the public is angry.

The great shame, the why of the water crisis, is that government and council have ignored a host of water experts – sometimes even

their own – for decades.

In fact, the first caution about water in the Western Cape was issued in 1970. The second warning, the result of research in 1990, said that we could run dry by 2007.

In 2005, a local company, Grahamtec, offered to install a R2 million desalination plant at the V&A Waterfront at its own expense to showcase the cost effectiveness of desalination. The city turned it down.

Since then, South African manufacturers have struggled to get local tenders, despite the fact that their plants have been installed internationally. For instance, our desalination technology successfully helped to wean Singapore off the Malaysian grid.

In 2007, water researchers issued another warning; this time

saying that if current demand continued, Cape Town would run dry by 2012-15. Michael Muller of the SA Water Institute reported that the council was ‘arrogant and over confident’, saying that our water would last until 2022.

To its credit, the city did institute some measures of saving. But as we all know, that was not enough to get through our latest drought cycle – which began in 2015, largely due to the El Nino phenomenon, a change in the surface temperature of the Pacific.

The earth’s ocean currents and weather systems are all interlinked, and El Nino – or its effeminate twin La Nina – shifts the trajectory of frontal systems, causing droughts in some regions and flooding in others. For countries such as Australia, Brazil, India,

Water, say many experts, is the new oil. A windmill in the bone dry Karoo.

Photo SHAFIQ MORTON

An old lady in Shahdad Kot, Pakistan, still waits for help from aid agencies that never came. She remembers better days in her youth.

Photo SHAFIQ MORTON

A girl in a Pakistan refugee camp in Shahdad Kot carrying water for a family of six. It’s the poor who suffer the real consequences.

Photo SHAFIQ MORTON

Spain, South Africa and the US, the complex El Nino/ La Nina effect has meant drought. For other regions of Asia and the Caribbean, it has meant torrential rainfall and high-strength cyclones.

The harsh reality is that parts of Asia, the Americas, Australia and Africa are all severely waterstressed. In Brazil, over 800 metropolitan areas have become water-stressed; Perth and Melbourne in Australia face similar challenges.

This is all happening on a planet of which 70 per cent is covered by water but where only three per cent is potable, and of that, another 50 per cent is locked up in glaciers.

As a surfer who has monitored the weather keenly for five decades, and who as a radio presenter has done a daily weather report for 20 years, I can safely say that our climate is slowly changing.

While our cycles of dry and wet years have more or less remained consistent within the limited bands of predictability, there have been shifts. For example, kelp – a coldwater organism – has encroached further into False Bay due to fewer westerly winds, which warm the sea after the cold upwelling of the southeaster.

Our weather systems – admixed with the side effects of global warming – often result in more extreme frontal incidences, such as the peninsula’s near-cyclone of June, last year, and the hurricanes of the Gulf.

However, at the end of the day, water crises are rarely a matter of rainfall but more a case of bad human management. In this, we are certainly not alone.

For us to survive, there is a need for a more holistic understanding and environmentally sensitive approach to water catchment. People should not be punished, as in Cape Town, for going off the grid.

However, whatever happens, our precious water resources must not fall into the hands of greedy privateers, which occurred in California.

It is the duty of the state to provide water for us all – without discriminating against the poor, for whom the bucket queues of Day Zero are already a daily occurrence.

22

Muslim Views . February 2018

Death in a state of ihram

Arafah and Hajj remind us of the stark interplay of our temporary existence on earth, our pre-ordained departure and how we manage that time, writes DR SALIM PARKER. HAJJ is Arafah. Arafah is the closest that we mere mortals ever get to our Creator, the day when we are in our ihraams, which resembles the cloth that we adorn when we depart this world. It is the day when Allah smiles on his worshipping subjects and when more are forgiven than on any other day of the year.

Ironically, in this submissive state, where we are reminded of our inevitable demise, our Creator encourages us to rekindle our humanity, humility, piety and Godconsciousness, with a chance for us to emerge from the plains of Arafah as sin-free as a new-born child.

Death. Life. A new beginning, an end to old, bad ways.

Arafah and Hajj remind us of the stark interplay of our temporary existence on earth, our preordained departure and how we manage that time.

It is known that those who pass away as martyrs are guaranteed heaven.

Anyone who is in ihraam when recalled by our Creator is considered a martyr and is blessed with a place in Jannah.

Many express the wish that their final breath be exhaled during their once-in-a-lifetime pilgrimage, and some are given that honour while in a state of ihraam.

Most, however, wish for the ultimate redemption that is associated with an accepted Hajj so that they can commence their remaining time on this temporary abode with a clean slate.

He was one of those who accepted whatever his Creator has planned. And we know that Allah is the ultimate planner.

There were subtle hints that he was preparing to not return to South Africa from Hajj. Some who greeted him before departure to Amid the hustle and bustle of people walking to and from the jamaraats on the days of pelting, a person sitting alongside the road making duah will not be approached and offered help.

Photo SALIM PARKER

Saudi Arabia were puzzled by the cryptic messages he had given them. However, on deeper reflection, it became clear that he had been preparing them to bid farewell to him.

Even in Saudi Arabia, his wife could not initially understand some of his suggestions, such as buying presents for their loved ones as this was contrary to his usual practice of offering a duah for them.

I had seen him the day before Hajj, when he suffered an epileptic attack. I tried to ensure that he understood that he had to have his identification tags with him at all times in case he fell ill again. The identification tags would then ensure that his group leaders would be contacted.

His parting words to me were, ‘Allah knows best.’

The crowds are massive on Arafah and Mina every year. He and his wife reached Arafah without any issues and they reached out to their Creator during the time of Wuqoof, the apex of Hajj.

I had strongly advised him to travel by bus, and he had taken the bus from Arafah to Musdalifah after sunset.

This journey is very unpredictable and, after reaching Musdalifah, the group had split into smaller groups, and the couple, somehow, got seperated from the rest.

They managed to get to Mina and pelted the largest of the Jamaraat. They then tried to make their way back to their camp on Mina but could not determine their bearings due to the massive crowds.

He sat down and they shared some water and a fruit. As they were always travelling together, she kept his phone with her belongings. At one stage she had him in her sights, the next minute he was gone.

We are faced with these situations every year. Every year, people get lost and every year we inevitably are able to reunite them with the rest of the group. This year was no different. When his wife made her way back to the camp we assured her that we would find him.

We could not call him as she had his phone but we assumed that he had his identification tags on him. All he had to do was to show it to any official and they would either call the numbers displayed prominently on the tag, direct him to his camp or even escort him back to the rest of his family.

She was very uneasy when I spoke to her. It was evident that she had a nagging doubt that he would approach any of the officials. But, there was always the chance that he would run into someone of his group or that someone would recognise him and approach him.

That day, the Day of Eid, the Day of Celebration, was one of severe anxiety for his wife.

‘He is in Azizyah!’ a fellow pilgrim informed one of the group leaders. We excitedly informed his wife and a massive feeling of relief was felt by all of us.

We immediately contacted one of the members of the group to check on him. Once found, this contact would call our lost pilgrim’s wife.

This person could find no trace of him. We then asked fellow pilgrims to search both our buildings in Azizyah, which was duly done.

Again, no one could find him.

The person who had initially reported seeing him was then contacted and it transpired that he had seen someone who resembled our lost pilgrim in the vicinity of our building but had not actually made contact with him.

Still, we were not too worried.

We sent his name to the hospital data base and they indicated that no one by that name had been admitted to any of the hospitals in the vicinity.

In retrospect, we should have asked them to check each of the four names that he had. Often, the hospital data base contains the name or second name as the surname so a search for surnames, even under the South African nationality, would not reveal anything.

The group started to get a bit concerned the next day when we had still not heard anything. All the other lost pilgrims had by then been found.

His wife was worried that he had simply sat down somewhere and made duah – as he had told his daughter he would do before his departure on this ultimate journey. No one will, among the millions present on Mina, ask someone who is sitting somewhere and praying whether they need assistance.

We do not know what transpired. All we know is that he was not reunited with us.

One of the group members went to the central hospital and a very kind receptionist there searched the entire data base. This was on the second day of Tashreeq, the second day of stoning.

He had a first name, two second names and his surname on all his cards.

The receptionist diligently entered all the names separately and came up with a match. ‘He is in the hospital in Arafah,’ it was revealed.

One of the group members had a vehicle and immediately set off to the hospital on Arafah.

I informed the wife that he had been found, and she told us that her daughter and son-in law, who were working in Saudi Arabia, were on their way to Makkah. We were at that time walking from Mina to Azizyah.

I reassured her that the medical facilities were world class for all hujaaj and that he was in the best hands.

That was until I received a call from one of my colleagues. He told me that he was at the hospital and our pilgrim had been found.

I was walking alongside his wife at that time and excitedly asked him whether I should put her on the line with him. ‘No Doc, please step away from her. They asked me to identify him at the hospital morgue.’

That last thirty minutes was one of the most difficult times of my life as the wife had been expecting to hear that he was well.

Some other pilgrims asked me some medical questions and we, in the meantime, managed to ensure that her family would be there to meet her in Azizyah.

We broke the news collectively to them and tears flowed freely, not just amongst the family but amongst the rest of us.

We were assured that he was still in ihraam and that he was destined for Jannah.

He had, most likely, simply sat down somewhere, recited like a true martyr and waited for Allah to call him.

We asked ourselves whether we had done enough to keep him with us in order to make more duah for all of us. Allah alone knows the answer to that.

For more Hajj Stories visit www.hajjdoctor.co.za. You may contact Dr Parker via e-mail: salimparker@yahoo.com

Muslim Views . February 2018

23

Cape Town march for Prophet Muhammad (SAW)

Left to Right: Moulana Sayed Imraan Ziyaee, Sayed Ridhwaan Mohamed, Hafez Raashid Kazi and Mufti Sayed Haroon Al Azhari pictured during the street march.

Photo CTIEC COMMUNICATIONS

CTIEC COMMUNICATIONS

THE Cape Town Islamic Educational Centre (CTIEC) organised an inspirational event in honour of Prophet Muhammad (SAW). The Grand Moulood 1439 took place on January 28, 2018, and was attended by about 1 200 devotees from across Cape Town, including a few guests from Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal.

Under the umbrella of CTIEC, led by Moulana Sayed Imraan Shah Ziyaee and the CTIEC ulama, the annual peaceful March For Prophet Muhammad (SAW) to mark the auspicious occasion of the birth of the Holy Prophet, proceeded from CTIEC, through 11th Avenue, Eagle Park, and ended at Masjidul Kareem Centre.

Carrying flags and braving the extreme temperatures, men, women and children turned up in huge numbers to mark the blessed occasion with the message of peace, tolerance and peaceful coexistence.

The second session began with melodious recitations from the Holy Quran by Shaikh Hafez Mustufa, one of the local reciters,

Guest speaker, Moulana Habeeb Milanzi (Founder of Usintsho Lwethu) delivering his talk.

Photo CTIEC COMMUNICATIONS

followed by presentations of naats by local naat reciters, including students of CTIEC. The guest naat reciters were Hafez Noor Muhammad Khan Ziaee, from Johannesburg, Hafiz Muhammad Raashid Kazi of Durban and CTIEC’s young Sayed Haseen ud Deen, who all mesmerised the audience with their melodious voices. The venue was beautifully decorated and appropriately portioned to cater for

Moulana Sayed Imraan Ziyaee holding the microphone for Hazrat Moulana Qutboodien Kagee (from Habibia Soofie Masjid) as he makes a special duah for CTIEC. Photo CTIEC COMMUNICATIONS

males and females separately.

LCD screens were placed in the female area so that they could enjoy the programme more.

The principal of Cape Town Is-

Carrying flags and braving the extreme temperatures, men, women and children turned up in huge numbers to mark the blessed occasion with the message of peace, tolerance and peaceful co-existence.

Mufti Sayed Haroon Al Azhari (Head of Cape Town Ulama Board) delivering the keynote speech in front of a panel of ulama from various organisations.

Photo CTIEC COMMUNICATIONS

lamic Educational Centre, Allama Moulana Sayed Imraan Shah Ziyaee, said that the way people remained in attendance calmly and

Peaceful march in the southern suburbs in honour of Prophet Muhammad (SAW).

with full devotion despite the heat demonstrated that Cape Town is a place of lovers of the Holy Prophet (SAW).

Photo CTIEC COMMUNICATIONS

24

Muslim Views . February 2018

Kiswah – the covering of the Kaabah

Craftsmen at work with part of the kiswah to be used in 2018. This was at an exhibition in Abu Dhabi.

Photo FATIMA PARKER

SALIM PARKER

HAJJ is Arafah, and on the ninth day of Dhul-Hijjah, all pilgrims, dressed in their symbolically basic and unifying ihraam, head for Arafah, the vast plain around Jabal Rahmah, the Mount of Mercy. All are aware of the two pieces of white cloth that adorn the bodies of men while ladies wear their humblest garbs.

No pilgrim is in Makkah at that time and the Kaabah, in effect, the centre of the universe for all Muslims, undergoes a revival of its glorious external splendour.

It is on this day that the kiswah, the cloth covering the Kaabah, is changed annually, and there is a rich history associated with it.

On this day, every year, the old kiswah is removed and cut into small pieces. Certain individuals, visiting foreign Muslim dignitaries and organisations are then given some of these pieces. Most consider it as one of their most prized possessions.

The new kiswah then adorns the Kaabah. It is claimed that this custom was started by Nabi Ismail (AS) 4 000 years before the origin of Islam. The current cost of the kiswah is about 60 million rand as 670 kilograms of pure silk is used as well as 150 kilograms of gold thread.

The kiswah consists of 47 pieces of cloth; each piece is 14 metres long and one metre wide, in effect, covering 658 square metres. The kiswah is wrapped around the Kaabah and tied to copper rings at its base.

The manually designed embroidery of the Quranic verses is slowly being aided by computers, thus increasing the speed of production. The upper half of the kiswah is decorated with a 95-centimetre wide strip featuring verses of the Holy Quran, inscribed in gold-plated silver thread.

Traditionally, the pattern of the kiswah has not changed. The material is made from silk and a gold embroidered band is sewn about

The door of the Kaabah is covered by an exquisitely decorated piece of embroidery.

three-quarters the distance from the bottom.

The part covering the door, which stands just over two metres above the ground, on the northeast side wall, is covered separately with richly embroidered Quranic verses. There is also an opening at the Hajaratul Aswad, the Black Stone.

Nabi Muhammad (SAW) and the Muslims in Makkah did not participate in the draping of the Kaabah until the conquest of the city, in 630 AD (7 AH), as the rul-

Besides the gold inlay, the black part of the kiswah is also embroidered with black Quranic inscriptions.

Photo SALIM PARKER

ing Quraish tribe did not allow them to do so.

When Makkah was conquered by the Muslims, they decided to leave the kiswah as it was until a woman lighting incense in the Kaabah accidentally set it alight.

Nabi Muhammad (SAW) then draped it with white Yemeni cloth.

Later, Caliph Muawiyah used to drape the Kaabah twice a year and introduced the now traditional silk covering. Al-Nasir, the Abbasid caliph, established the current practice of dressing the Kaabah with only one kiswah at a time, superseding the former custom of allowing old kiswahs to accumulate one over the other.

This was due to Al-Nasir observing, when he performed Hajj in 160 AH, that the accumulated kiswahs could cause damage to the Kaabah, and he, therefore, decreed that only one kiswah should drape the Kaabah at any one time.

Another caliph, named AlMa’mun, draped the Kaabah three times a year, each time in a different colour. He used red on the eighth of Dhul-Hijjah, white on the first of Rajab, and another red brocade on the twenty-ninth of Ramadaan. Later on, Al-Nasir draped the Kaabah in green. However, both he and Al-Ma’mun were not happy with the frequent colour changes, and switched to black. Black has remained the only colour that has since been used for the kiswah.

Earlier, the kiswahs were plain and it was only in 1340 that the embroidery border tradition was introduced by the Egyptian ruler, Hassan.

From the time of the Ayyubids, during the reign of as-Salih Ayyub, the kiswah was manufactured in Egypt, with material sourced locally as well as from Sudan, India and Iraq. The Amir al-Hajj (commander of the hajj caravan), who

Photo SALIM PARKER

was directly designated by the reigning sultans and emperors, transported the kiswah from Egypt to Makkah on an annual basis, amid huge fanfare.

The tradition continued until 1927, when a factory was opened in Saudi Arabia but this closed about a decade later due to nonavailability of machinery. Production was then shifted to Egypt until 1962.

The relationship between Egypt and Saudi Arabia soured during that time and the Saudi factory was reopened and was used until the modern, presently used, factory was opened, in 1977. Pilgrims often visit it. High quality silk is currently imported from Italy and Switzerland. It is then dyed black, and automated machines are increasingly being used in the spinning manufacturing process.

Computers are currently also used to assist in the hand-embroidered decorative process.

Some pilgrims sometimes try to tear or even cut parts of the kiswah during the Hajj and Umrah, to take home. The factory has maintenance teams on standby who can inspect it every hour if needed and repair any damages.

To strengthen the kiswah, a team of experts at Umm al-Qura University, in Makkah, is studying the introduction of Kevlar, a synthetic fibre, into the silk in order to make it resistant to high temperatures and heavy weights. Nanotechnology is also being incorporated to strengthen the fabric and make it less susceptible to mishandling and the elements.

Saudi Arabia is introducing austerity measures due to its economic decline. When the high cost of the kiswah was mentioned to one of the factory officials, his reply was: ‘The kiswah glorifies the house of Allah. The Kaabah more than deserves this honour.’

Muslim Views . February 2018

25

My pencak silat journey towards meaningful change

Pencak silat Student of the Year 2017, Gadija Greeff, training at the Newclare Sports Grounds. Next to her is her youngest son, Jamaal.

Photo MARIAM GILLAN

GADIJA GREEFF

PRIOR to starting pencak silat, I was interested in martial arts for my children. Personally, training in nature, with meaningful exercises where the body flows using its own strength, appealed to me.

I was so excited when the manager of the Persaudaraan Pencak Silat SA invited me two weeks after my children started at the Syrian drop-off point at Bostmont Masjid. I had initially thought it was for youth only but then felt that my silent duahs had been answered.

Since embarking on this pencak silat journey in November 2015, my life has been transformed in so many ways. After attaining ‘Student of the Month’ in February 2017 and ‘Student of the Year

2017’, I was asked to write what pencak silat meant to me.

Being a shy person growing up, with a lot to say but too shy to say it, our pencak silat group has provided a forum for expression, allowing creativity to flow, without too much stress. In fact, the monthly de-stress treatments I used to have to go for, have been brought down to zero.

At pencak silat, students come out of their shells in a comfortable way with a little nudge from our amazing instructors with their exceptional leadership skills. You learn that age is just a number when you see the potential of the youth.

Pencak silat has been such a blessing in my life, a door that the Almighty has opened for me to gain so much more than just exercise. Spending time with my chil-

dren, keeping our bodies in shape is a priceless gift. We have built a stronger bond and improved our relationship through pencak silat.

The students are forced out of their comfort zones and realise that they are able to achieve. This is how leaders are moulded.

The mindset with which I do pencak silat is different to that of others, maybe due to my age or that I am there by choice and not by force. I take in everything from a different perspective and thankfulness for all I experience through the Almighty. I am there because He put me there.

Pencak silat gives your life purpose and I thank everyone for their contribution to this: the children who come for a hug or a kind word or tell about what happened at school or are feeling down. I am blessed to be there for them as Allah has intended, through our pencak silat family.

Pencak silat allows for dedicated time for meaningful training, through the business of life, to prevent deterioration of the muscles over time and with age. One’s circulation is much better, and illness due to lack of circulation is minimised.

Regular training speeds up the metabolism, especially when a daily routine is implemented. The endorphins released make you feel happier after training as the stress of work, school and tertiary education is released.

Your senses are sharpened and you deal much better with stressful situations. Along with a strengthened immune system,

Pencak silat Student of the Year 2017, Gadija Greeff, going through her training Photo MARIAM GILLAN routine.

challenges faced during training allow for a positive mind, to know that success is achievable.

It is so much more than just physical training, as you think on your feet and tend to pre-empt things before they happen so you deal with the unexpected much better.

The Islamic aspect of pencak silat is the ‘cherry on the top’ for me. The duah read before and after training assists us to remember our Creator through whom all things are possible.

The breathing techniques we are taught incorporate the Arabic alphabet, while the Kalimah is incorporated into certain pencak silat movements.

Students are also taught to respect the call of the adhaan, dur-

ing which any training, talking or movement ceases and we are able to take in and experience the beauty and peacefulness of the adhaan.

Students attend the masjid for Esha salaah, and I thank Allah for making it possible, each Wednesday evening.

Pencak silat teaches respect, social responsibility, discipline, humility, a sense of belonging, a solution to stress, physical training with an Islamic focus – the list is endless.

I am sure there are aspects of importance in pencak silat that I did not even touch on, some which I hope to learn as I continue this journey. It is just such an awesome concept and I have great love for it.

26

Muslim Views . February 2018

Book attempts to trace development of ‘political Islam’ The Islamists: A Contextual History of Political Islam.

Basheer M. Nafi. Afro-Middle East Centre (AMEC), Johannesburg. www.amec.org.za.

2017, 352 pages. Translated from Arabic by Aslam Farouk-Alli, ISBN: 978-0-9946825-3-6. R250-00.

UNDOUBTEDLY, the rise of the Islamists places political Islam at the heart of the debates raging among contemporary Muslims about their very existence, the renewal of their lives and countries, and their struggles to answer questions pertaining to statehood, governance, citizenship, pluralism, unity, revival, truth and obligation.

This is essentially what I wanted to clarify in this book, and this is what I believe the ongoing changes in an increasing number of Arab and Muslim countries provide evidence of.

The above statement gives the purpose of the book and what is being examined.

The focus is on political Islam, its protagonists and people in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region.

Other neighbouring countries outside the region, like Sudan, receive similar scrutiny.

That the region spawned an Islamic movement is surveyed and critically commented on.

A country-wide and in-depth historical account of developments and their impact on the people, politics and Islam is given in the book.

Basheer Nafi gives attention to

various countries, giving effective descriptions of insights in different chapters of the book.

Nafi is a social research analyst at Al Jazeera, and former teacher of history and Islamic studies at London University.

He has published on Arab nationalism, modern Islam and the history of Salafism.

His books include Islamic Thought in the Twentieth Century (as co-editor) and Arabism, Islamism and the Palestine Question (1908-1941): A Political History.

Nafi is a regular columnist for the Middle Eastern Monitor (Memo).

In The Islamists, Nafi places the role of leadership on some early ulama who, during the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, expressed a view of Islamic thought in a period of crisis.

The reform is traced to the major scholars, Shah Waliullah Dihlawi (1703-1762), Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab (17031792), Muhammad ibn Ali al-Shawkani (1760-1834) and Abu Thana al-Alusi (1802-1854).

This, Nafi says, was not revolutionary or subversive as the Quran was used for reasoned argument in the discourse for rethinking sociopolitical matters.

The reformists named above pioneered the liberation of Islam from taqleed (blind imitation), superstition and revival of ijtihad (intellectual renewal) and dealt with restructuring the ideas and interpretations that had encumbered the theology and laws of Islam at the time.

He describes the period as a ‘century of impasse’ for Islam as

its armies were under attack by Europe.

Lands and markets of the Persian Gulf, Mediterranean coast, Indian subcontinent and the Malaysian archipelago were being conquered and penetrated.

This impasse, Nafi says, is what drove Muslim leaders in Istanbul, Cairo, Tunis and Tehran to initiate administrative and legislative changes resembling the European.

The colonials in Algeria, India, Indonesia and Egypt, under the British, also modernised and strengthened imperial power by introducing the central state and dominating education, legislation and economics.

Infrastructure building and translation of key texts were also initiated to produce ‘ideal civil servants’ and nations with a single vision.

Control over the endowment (waqf) sector reduced support and revenue for the resistance.

The development of political Islam which followed the reform period in the early 20th century is traced to the fall of the Ottoman (Turkish) and Moghul (Indian) empires.

Contestation and resistance also included those that called for the complete embrace of Westernisation, its ideas and cultural patterns of society and work, while others rejected change and called for adherence to inherited practices.

Between the two, a group who became known as Islamist reformists, promoted the changing of conditions with Islam as a rallying system.

Many leading persons and organisations are mentioned in Damascus, Baghdad, Tunis, Istanbul, Indonesia, Iran and India.

Nafi further notes the dedicated amongst them, the intellectuals and anti-colonists in Jamal al-Din al-Afghani (1838-1897), his student Muhammad Abduh (18491905) and Rashid Rida (1865-1935) playing their parts.

Nafi contributes their biographies, describes their writings and narrates their efforts to vitalising the Islamist project and liberation of people.

The Islamic political activism of Hassan al Banna and Abul Ala Mawdudi, which led to the establishment of the Muslim Brotherhood (Ikhwaan) in Egypt and Jamaat Islami in India, are discussed.

The influence and opposition of these movements that based their struggles on Islamic foundations and that caused acceptance by people in their respective regions are studied.

The fact that these movements exist today – despite bannings and arrests of leadership – and contest elections as political parties and independents (when banned) show their popularity.

That they win substantial seats in parliament also tells of their growing influence.

The Islamic Revolution in Iran, Islamic State groups, Palestine, the Arab uprisings of 2011 and other contemporary issues are also dealt with.

To conclude, Nafi provides goals and his views on the future of the Islamic Movement.

The forces of political Islam are not trying to replicate an ancient Islamic legacy; they are modern political entities in terms of their social and political issues that inform their discourse, from governance to economics and law.

Consequently, the differences between them are no fewer than their agreements. Moroccan Islamists for example, are very different from Jordanian Islamists – at least from the perspective of their relationships with the monarchy and the royal families in their countries, and especially since the start of mass mobilization in Jordan.

Similarly, because the cultural and political climate in Tunisia is different from that in Algeria and Egypt, we should not be surprised that Ennahda was one of the first Islamist organisations to adopt a democratic vision.

And, although most Islamists ultimately followed their example, it is not difficult to see multifaceted differences in opinion, not only between Islamists and others but also between Islamist groups themselves.

Issues such as secularism and its relationship to the state, the limits of nation-states, and what it means to be an Islamist in this post-Arab-revolution era are all open to question and debate.

The book is written in a simple style and serves an academic as well as general audience. It is a good resource, enjoyable and a useful read.

Review by YOUSUF CAJEE

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Muslim Views . February 2018

27

Waqf and zakaah, a happy marriage SHAFIQ MORTON

MUCH is said about zakaah as an instrument of poverty alleviation. However, zakaah as an instrument of social relief cannot exist in isolation. The deen, by its very nature, is not a closed system. The fact that the doors of ijtihad – legal reasoning – are still ajar indicates dynamism within Islam.

In other words, instruments within the shariah are open-ended, adaptable and sympathetic to the needs of society. Zakaah as an institution is linked to worship – it is regarded as an act of ibadah – mentioned many times in the Quran.

Islam is the only faith that sets out in such minute detail the mechanics of wealth redistribution.

All faiths promote generosity, especially to the poor, but Islam addresses it in detail, codifying it and clearly marking out its recipients. As such, zakaah expresses itself collectively. Its aim is to relieve, uplift and to energise the ummah.

Interestingly, zakaah has a close kinship to another shari mechanism, waqf. Defined as a trust or endowment held in perpetuity for Allah’s sake, and with selling or individual ownership forbidden, a

Another waqf was created out of the estate of Rabbi Mukhayriq, a close friend of the Prophet (SAW), who fought with the Muslims at Uhud. He told the Prophet (SAW) that if he died in battle, he would bequeath him his seven palm groves. He was killed in battle and the groves were made waqf, thus benefitting the whole community, the profits from the date harvests providing charity for the poor...

waqf is essentially a communal, fruit-bearing investment.

Bearing in mind that zakaah is dependent on wealth, waqf is an ideal partner to zakaah as waqf is a wealth generator.

As waqf is fully asset and shariah-based, it offers a pure source of wealth untainted by haraam initiators, such as speculation, usury and investment sources, like breweries, casinos – or even non-environmentally friendly industries.

One of the first awqaf in Islamic history was Bir Ruma, the well in Madinah, that Sayyidina Uthman purchased from a Jewess,

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who was charging people for its use. Sayyidina Uthman handed the well over to the community, thus freeing up the monies that would have been spent on water for other useful social purposes, such as zakaah.

Another waqf was created out of the estate of Rabbi Mukhayriq, a close friend of the Prophet (SAW), who fought with the Muslims at Uhud. He told the Prophet (SAW) that if he died in battle, he would bequeath him his seven palm groves. He was killed in battle and the groves were made waqf, thus benefitting the whole community, the profits from the date harvests providing charity for the poor.

From the abovementioned primary models, waqf developed into a sophisticated system that shaped social cohesion, created wealth and released zakaah.

When the Islamic realm was at

its peak, as much as one-third of agricultural land was waqf, as were roads, mosques, schools, hospitals, water sources, bridges and buildings.

The ‘sunnah’ of waqf, to put it one way, is self-sufficiency – a decentralised social ‘ism’ that looks after the individual without state intervention, which is the biggest problem in poor countries today – where governments are incapable or too inherently corrupt – to look after their own people.

The point here is that the marriage of waqf and zakaah is the antidote to the disease of state incapacity and incompetence.

If Muslim communities fully embrace these instruments, even as minorities, the impact will be noticeable. And as the waqf institutions mature, so will their outreach.

In this equation, the end game is not just poverty alleviation but

poverty eradication via a re-circulation of surplus wealth. The distribution monies derive from the self-sustaining, profitable institutions, which incrementally build up base funds.

The marriage of waqf and zakaah is, without doubt, a win-win situation for our community in the long term. The maths is very simple: take a waqf of one million rand producing a surplus of R100 000 in year one. By year ten, it could be distributing R500 000, as the waqf investment swells to five times its size.

In other words, as our collective wealth increases, so does our collective zakaah. The happy marriage of waqf and zakaah is certainly something worth thinking about.

Courtesy: http://www.sanzaf.org.za/news/o ur-blog/523-waqf-and-zakah-ahappy-marriage

28

Muslim Views . February 2018

Health File

Children and healthy eyes SIRAJ ALLIE and WASEELA ALLIE

CHILDREN learn through their eyes. As much as 75 per cent of what they learn are learnt through their eyes. Healthy vision is critical for children to read, write, see the board or screen, and even to play.

Healthy vision refers to much more than seeing clearly close up or far away. Our eyes also help to differentiate between similar letters such as ‘b’ and ‘d’.

Children will not complain when they have a vision problem.

One reason for this is an eye condition called anisometropia. This is when one eye is significantly weaker than the other.

When the child looks at an object, the object is very clear with the good eye and blurry with the weaker eye. The brain compensates by blocking out the blurry image and only the good eye is used. Due to this, the child and parent won’t necessarily notice a change in visual behaviour.

It is important that teachers and parents observe children’s visual behaviour. When children can’t see well, they could have trouble learning. There are subtle signs of eye problems that we should look out for: the child might lose her place while reading, avoid reading or her grades could fall.

Siraj Allie.

Photo SUPPLIED

Other signs of eye problems are children frequently rubbing their eyes, squinting, getting headaches when reading, tilting the head to one side, holding books very close to the face, sitting close to the television, having trouble remembering what was read and a short attention span.

Changes in the way your child’s eyes look can also be a hint that something is wrong. The more obvious signs to look out for are: bulging, drooping lids, redness, eyes that don’t work together, grey or cloudy centre, pus or crusty lids, constant tearing, a white pupil in a photo taken with a flash.

The most common eye problems in children are blurry vision,

Waseela Allie.

Photo SUPPLIED

crossed eyes (strabismus) and a lazy eye (amblyopia). Regular eye examinations can detect problems early even before you or your child notices anything wrong.

The longer the child has untreated vision problems the more the brain will work to make up for it, leading to future issues that become more difficult to treat.

An eye examination involves three important things, namely, to have fun, it is easy and pain free.

Informing the child of this reduces anxiety.

The ability to see far and near is measured with a chart. Eye movements, the ability of the two eyes to work together and the health of the eye will also be examined.

If a child has a vision problem, prescription spectacles are prescribed. Spectacles can be worn at any age. Plastic frames are recommended for children. Older children should be allowed to choose a frame they like, making them more willing to wear it.

A child who wears spectacles is advised to have an eye examination yearly.

Most children aren’t mature enough to clean and use contact lenses until age 16. Visual correction surgery is also not advised for growing children.

We live in an age where people of all ages are exposed to technology. Toddlers are swiping iPads and 80-year-olds are surfing the internet. It is a reality that such devices are part of our lives and we need to learn to use them correctly as they do affect our eyes.

Using these devices can cause eyestrain, called digital eyestrain.

Some symptoms that a parent can look out for are burning, tearing, itching, tired eyes, headaches, fatigue, loss of focus or blurred vision. When one looks at objects close up, the pupils (the black part of the eye) get smaller, the eye muscles adjust the size of the lens, which makes the two eyes converge or come together.

When one spends hours looking at an electronic device, it keeps the eyes converged and causes strain

on the eye muscles.

The solution to this is to limit screen time, and when using these devices, to take regular breaks.

After every ten minutes of looking at the device, look at something in the distance for about 20 seconds then continue what you were doing.

The device should also not be held too close to the eyes; about 30cm is recommended. Avoid using the device in the dark, rather use it in a well-lit room as the eye muscles work much harder in the dark.

Exercising one’s focusing muscles daily can help prevent one’s vision from becoming blurry. A recommended exercise is to hold reading material or a cell phone at 30cm and then intermittently looking at a distant object. Do this to and fro movement for three minutes twice a day for five days a week. Back to school is upon us and it is typically a busy time for parents. We go through the checklist, which includes backpacks and stationery. We should add another important item to that checklist: having an eye test.

Siraj Allie [B.Sc (hons) B.optom.F.O.A. (SA)] and Waseela Allie (B.Optom) are from Specs for Africa, in Vangate, Athlone.

Muslim Views . February 2018

29

Parenting a newborn – common problems and what to expect DR LEANA VAN DYK

EXPECTING a baby can often be an overwhelming experience.

It takes much preparation, and some parents even read books on what to expect.

They prepare for the delivery and baby’s room. Parents try to digest all the information from family, friends and the much confusing internet but, until baby arrives, no-one can fully prepare parents for what is coming – this includes first time or second time parents.

I often witness the overwhelming joy from the parents with that first cry; a joy that reflects the instant, unconditional love for their child, a love that will ensure that they walk this road with full commitment!

There are many ways to assist parents in preparing for the delivery. Antenatal classes are essential for preparation for delivery but also to inform parents on what to expect once their baby arrives.

We urge all parents-to-be to attend antenatal classes. The classes are informative but you also build a comradery with other future parents, and you have the opportunity to share your fears and expectations. There are many possible problems or illnesses that can affect the newborn but there are only a few that are expected in all newborns and can be managed with great ease.

Feeding issues Breastfeeding remains the best feeding choice for a newborn.

Breast truly is the best! But to

infection. Ask the nursing staff early to assist you with correct latching.

Poor suck or biting is also common. If your baby is well otherwise, this should resolve with enough stimulation and assistance.

It is important to remember that you are not the only one struggling and there is help available. During pregnancy, read up on techniques and how to overcome challenges. The nursing staff and your paediatrician can assist you in hospital and, after being discharged, contact a lactation specialist if you have any concerns.

Neonatal jaundice Dr Leana Van Dyk.

Photo SUPPLIED

some mothers, breastfeeding can be a struggle in the beginning.

The initial milk (colostrum) is thick and little. This is, however, enough for your infant in the first few days. Milk production usually increases on day three. Weight loss over this period is common and normal but weight loss of more than ten per cent of the birth weight needs to be addressed.

There are many ways to increase milk production. These include enough rest, increasing your fluid intake, no smoking, healthy eating and natural remedies (ask your pharmacist) or request treatment from your obstetrician.

Tender, abnormal nipples are a common problem. This can occur from incorrect latching or a local

All babies have jaundice to some degree. This is due to the short lifespan of the neonatal red blood cells and due to immature liver enzymes in all newborns.

Jaundice is a normal condition in a newborn but once the level of bilirubin reaches a critical level, your baby will require phototherapy. Testing for jaundice levels are easy and often non-invasive. This will be done in the hospital. After being discharged, you can do the following to assess your baby:

Look for yellow discoloration, especially of the sclera (white of the eye). If it occurs, contact your nearest hospital or clinic to do a screening test for jaundice.

Feed your baby often. This will keep them well hydrated, and assist in decreasing the concentration of the bilirubin, which is responsible for jaundice.

Mothers with a ‘negative’ blood group (A, B or O Negative) must be aware that their children can get severe jaundice. Regular testing is required.

Hypoglycemia Low blood sugar can occur in the first few hours after birth. This will be monitored by the staff. It can be prevented by feeding often but if it persists, a workup will be done by your doctor and your baby might need additional ‘topup’ feeds or intravenous fluids.

This is a common problem in babies where mothers have diabetes. For this reason, it is essential to be healthy and to control you diabetes during pregnancy.

Neonatal sepsis Infection during the first three months of life needs to be detected

and managed with great urgency and priority.

Some signs of neonatal sepsis are fever; irritability; lethargy (sleepiness’ more than normal); poor feeding; vomiting, diarhoea or abdominal distention; irregular breathing or apnoea (baby stops breathing for more than 15 seconds); blue discoloration or ‘mottled’; jaundice, especially longer than 14 days after birth.

If any of the above occurs, contact your nearest healthcare worker for a workup and necessary referral.

The causes of infection can range from urinary tract infection, meningitis or general infection that is still related to birth.

Finally, always surround yourself with a support system to help you on this journey. Remember that there is help and assistance available, and seek medical advice if you are unsure or worried.

Never ignore your parental instinct that will guide you along the way.

Dr Van Dyk [MBChB (UFS), FC Paed, MMED (US)] has a practice at Melomed Hospital, in Tokai. She may be contacted at the hospital on 021 712 7643.

There are many ways to assist parents in preparing for the delivery. Antenatal classes are essential for preparation for delivery but also to inform parents on what to expect once their baby arrives.

30

Muslim Views . February 2018

Discussions with Dangor

A history of student unions The organisation started to denounce the apartheid government and, from the 1960s, Nusas leaders faced banning, writes EMERITUS PROFESSOR SULEMAN DANGOR.

CAMPUSES are on fire again. This time, many analysts blame President Jacob Zuma, who created unrealistic expectations with his announcement of free education.

The Economic Freedom Fighters Student Command (EFFSC) is again at the forefront of student protests.

In this issue, I will give a brief background to the emergence of student movements both at school and tertiary level in South Africa.

In 1924, the National Union of South African Students (Nusas) was established to represent student interests on college and university campuses.

Its inaugural conference, in Bloemfontein, was attended by students from Bloemfontein, Witwatersrand, Cape Town, Natal, Rhodes and Potchefstroom – all traditional ‘white’ campuses.

Though it claimed to be nonracial, it was dominated by ‘white’ students. In 1927, Nusas founded a ‘parliament’ which excluded Black students. In 1933, Afrikaner students, feeling that their specific inter-

ests were not represented, established the Afrikaanse Nasionale Studentebond (ANSB).

Subsequently, students from Afrikaans-medium universities – Bloemfontein, Potchefstroom and Pretoria – withdrew from Nusas.

When University of Stellenbosch also cut its ties with Nusas, it led to the split between Afrikaans- and Englishspeaking universities.

In the 1940s, University of Fort Hare and the ‘non-white’ division of University of Natal joined Nusas.

Subsequently, the organisation started to denounce the apartheid government and, from the 1960s, Nusas leaders faced banning, detention, deportation and withdrawal of their passports. Nusas began to issue scholarships to needy students and also became involved in the release of prisoners, adult education for Blacks, and feeding schemes for the poor of all races.

In 1970, Steve Biko resolved to break away from Nusas to form the South African Students Organisation (Saso) dedicated to the Black Consciousness philosophy.

Black students felt that ‘white’ students were dominating Nusas, and that it was not radical enough to deal with the challenges facing Black students.

At school level, the South African Students Movement (Sasm) came into being, in 1972, to foster contact with Black school learners throughout the country.

According to analysts, Sasm inspired the Soweto students uprising of 1976.

After Sasm was banned, following the student uprising, the Congress of South African Students (Cosas) was established, in 1979, to take up the cudgels on behalf of Black learners at secondary schools, as well as at technical, teacher training and correspondence colleges. Although it initially allied itself to the Black Consciousness Movement, it changed course and began to express its support for the African National Congress (ANC). Although Cosas’s main focus was on non-racial democratic education, it began to represent the interests of young workers and unemployed youth.

In 1983, Cosas aligned itself with the UDF and hence became involved in political issues.

Following the declaration of the state of emergency, Cosas was banned in 1985. Subsequently, the Pan Africanist Student Organisation (Paso) was established in 1989 to represent Black learners at school level.

Students at tertiary level were represented by the Pan Africanist Student Movement of Azania (Pasma), which was launched in 1997. As the name suggests, it is guided by the Pan Africanist philosophy.

Returning to tertiary institutions, though Nusas became more critical of government after the Soweto student uprising, Saso suspected that Nusas was supported by government and hence retained its independence.

Saso, like Sasm, was banned in 1977, following the Soweto uprising.

Two years later, the Azanian Students Organisation (Azaso) was founded in 1979.

Like Saso, Azaso was a proponent of Black Consciousness and became allied to the Azanian People’s Organisation (Azapo). However, it later jettisoned its BC philosophy and formed the South African National Students Congress (Sansco), which became an affiliate of the UDF. Subsequently, Sansco closely cooperated with Nusas on educational and political issues.

The ditching of the Black Consciousness Movement by Sansco led to the formation of the Azanian Students Movement (Azasm), in 1983.

Azasm claimed to be the true successors of Saso and continued what it claimed to be Biko’s legacy.

In 1991, Sansco, a UDF affiliate, agreed to merge with Nusas to form the South African Students Congress (Sasco). Since Nusas had affiliated with the UDF in 1986, it made sense for the two unions to unite.

Sasco is considered as the student wing of the ANC and is, therefore, often viewed with suspicion by student critics of government. This explains its loss of support on most campuses.

After its establishment in 1975, the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) had also launched a student wing, the South African Democratic Student Movement (Sadesmo), which has a presence on several campuses. However, it has never been successful in attracting students and has remained a minority. A more recent formation is the DA Students Organisation (Daso), which has a growing support base. It won the majority of the contested SRC seats at the universities of Pretoria and Cape Town.

The EFFSC, which was established after the EFF’s formation, in 2013, has gained great support on several campuses in the past few years. It succeeded in winning the Wits SRC elections – a traditional Sasco stronghold – by a significant margin, and has made significant inroads into SRCs at other campuses.

EFFSC has taken advantage of the disenchantment of students with the ANC, represented by Sasco, and succeeded in drawing support away from Sasco, the dominant student union on campuses.

Evidently, students have put their trust in the EFFSC and support its radical approach.

If anything, campus politics has always been fluid and is likely to remain so for the foreseeable future.

A journey through the Quran in preparation for Ramadaan RAMADAAN is the month in which the Quran was revealed to Prophet Muhammad (SAW) so the greatness of this blessed month is inextricably linked to the Holy Book itself.

But, ask yourself: do you resolve each year that you will attempt to study the Quran?

So many of us do but fail to fulfil our best intentions.

Are you aware of the key messages and lessons of each surah?

And can you imagine the joy you will feel when you finally begin to understand what is being recited in the tarawih prayers this Ramadaan?

For the second year running, the Islamic Forum brings to you its unique course, ‘Journey Through the Quran’.

This course will transform your Ramadaan by teaching you how to engage with the Quran in a way you have never done before.

The course, presented by Shaikh Sharif Hasan Al Banna, will be held at the Islamia College Auditorium, at 409 Imam Haron Road, Lansdowne, from Friday, March 30, to Monday, April 2 (Easter weekend).

In the space of just four days you will learn: • 99 personal development lessons based on Quranic teachings; • Key messages, themes and stories to assist your long-term learning; • A cohesive summary and overview of all 114 chapters; • The Quran in application: dis-

cover how to apply your knowledge practically in your everyday life; • 1 000 Arabic words from the Quran, and so much more.

Traverse the pathways of the Quran that run all the way from Al-Fatiha to Al-Nas under the tutelage of Shaikh Hasan Al Banna.

This course will give you the tools to re-establish your connection with the Holy Book and finally receive all those messages you have been missing.

The presenter Shaikh Hasan Al Banna is the founding director of the Islamic Institute for Development and Research (IIDR) and an advisory board member of the Research Centre for Islamic Legislation and

Ethics in the Faculty of Islamic Studies at Hamad Bin Khalifa University, in Qatar.

In addition to pursuing his post-graduate research at Al Azhar University in Islamic Jurisprudence, he is a successful entrepreneur and CEO of a global media and publishing company.

His preliminary studies of the classical Islamic sciences were under his father, Shaikh Muhammad Abdul Qadir, a renowned scholar specialising in tafsir.

Shaikh Hasan Al Banna holds a BA (Hons) in Arabic and Law from the School of Oriental and African Studies at University of London. He also studied at Institute Européen des Sciences Humanities, in France, and University of Alexandria, in Egypt.

Moulood & Dhikr Jamaah programmes in the Western Cape Nurul Ghairaa Jamaah Masjidul Mubarak Adam Tas Avenue, Ext 13 Belhar February 17, 2018, at 2pm Hajja Fatima 083 424 4189/ 021 952 1433 Gujjatul-Islam Gujjatul Islam Masjied Banhoek Street Stellenbosch February 18, 2018, at 9am Hajja Rugaya Toefy 021 886 6486 Nurul-Hudaa Ladies Moulood Jamah Moegammadiyah Masjid 68 Tennyson Street Salt River February 25, 2018, at 8am

Hajja Laygie 021 447 3406/ 082 200 6912

Hajja Koolsum Kannemeyer 082 688 9310

Al Waniyas Masjidul Taqwa Cnr Alleman & Athwood Roads, Newfields March 4, 2018, at 2pm Shariefa Sabadien 083 675 8260/ 021 447 0594

The following Moulood and weekly dhikr programmes are all under the auspices of Jamaah Ad

Ummatul Muslimeen Jamah Gustrouw Masjied Cnr Gustrow & Hassan Khan St Strand March 11, 2018, at 8am Hajja Mariam Oliver 072 379 2360 Nurudien Thikr Jamah Bridgetown Masjid March 18, 2018, at 8am

Da’irat Us Salihiyyah – The Salihiyyah Dhikr Circle: The dress code for all programmes is white.

The contact person is Hajja Naema Manie 078 200 9774

The organisers The Islamic Forum was launched in 1990, in Durban, to provide a dynamic platform for education and engagement within the South African community.

Registration Early bird registration by March 15 is R500. Thereafter, the fee is R600, which includes tea and refreshments.

The student rate is R350. Limited sponsorships are available.

For more information email info@islamicforum.org.za The book Journey Through the Quran is sold separately at R450 and is available online at www.hikmah.co.za or at the course.

Issued by Islamic Forum Mowbray Masjid Queen Street, Mowbray February 24, 2018, at 2pm Salaamudeen Masjied Cnr Portulago & Contytuft Rds, Lentegeur March 3, 2018, at 2pm This list was compiled by Muslim Views staffer, Shireen Abrahams.

We thank the Moulood and dhikr jamaahs for kindly sharing the information.

If your jamaah has a dhikr or Moulood programme which you wish to publish in Muslim Views, please email the details to: shireen@mviews.co.za The Moulood Jamaah at Masjidus Sabr in Primrose Park preparing for their programme with the rampies sny, a tradition associated with Moulood-unNabi commemorations in Cape Town.

Photo courtesy Dr Hoosain Ebrahim

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Muslim Views . February 2018

31

Muslim Hands assists over 3 000 students to date

Students receive stationery packs donated by Muslim Hands donors Photo SYED ALI HAIDER

MASNOENA ALLIE ISAACS

SINCE its inception in 2014, Muslim Hands, with your generous donations and support, has sponsored over 3 000 pupils, ensuring that their basic need for education is achieved.

Our stationery drive has sponsored schools in KwaZulu-Natal, Gauteng, Port Elizabeth and Cape Town.

We support every child’s right to basic education as many of these young pupils lack learning resources.

On Sunday, January 21, 2018, Muslim Hands distributed over 500 stationery packs to learners

from Manenberg, Heideveld and Bonteheuwel.

Many struggling families cannot afford basic educational needs.

Muslim Hands equips thousands of impoverished learners with school stationery, enabling our young learners to educate themselves as a way out of the poverty cycle.

Providing education is a sadaqah jariyah. For just R500, donors sponsored a stationery pack which learners can use for the whole year.

In 2017, four schools were provided with stationery packs for a total of 430 learners, and a further 230 learners from 20 different

Muslim Hands staff celebrate a successful stationery drive campaign Photo SYED ALI HAIDER

schools received stationery packs at the Muslim Hands office.

In 2016, five schools benefitted, with a total of 480 learners and a further 230 pupils from more than 20 different schools were given stationery packs at the Muslim Hands office.

In 2015, four schools were sponsored with a total of 960 learners and a further 1 162 learners from more than 30 different schools received stationery packs at the Muslim Hands office.

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In 2014, almost ten schools were provided with numerous stationery requirements and equipment.

Brand new computers were also installed at various institutions that now have fully operational computer labs, contributing to the progress of many aspiring learners.

In 2015, Muslim Hands was approached by Voice of the Cape (VOC), who offered Muslim Hands the opportunity to join

them on their annual stationery drive.

MHSA’s very own stationery drive was already underway so joining up with VOC allowed Muslim Hands to expand their reach of schools.

MHSA offered to sponsor 100 stationery packs, which included a Muslim Hands branded backpack per pack.

MHSA also offered to sponsor every child at the school with a warm meal on the day of the distribution.

Volunteers played a big role in assisting the Muslim Hands staff with the packing of the stationery packs.

The volunteers also assisted on the day of the distribution.

Muslim Hands also assisted with 43 school uniforms, thereby giving learners the confidence to begin their school year with courage to do their best for the academic school year ahead.

The Muslim Hands stationery drive is one of our annual campaigns and has been a success ever since its inception, Alhamdulillah.

Muslim Hands prides itself in knowing that we have assisted these needy families and would not have been able to deliver such a successful campaign without the help of donors and volunteers.

Call Muslim Hands today on 021 633 6413 and donate generously. Muslim Hands – united for the needy.

32

Muslim Views . February 2018

Positive and Effective Parenting

Celebrating ‘averageness’ and helping children succeed FOUZIA RYKLIEF

WHEN our children achieve average or low grades, either because they are not interested in schoolwork, specific subjects or just have difficulty in mastering those subjects, it does not mean that they will not become successful and fulfilled persons.

The words ‘average’ and ‘mediocre’ have negative connotations for many of us and may give rise to a conflictual relationship with our children as we insist on pressurising them to do better so that they can pursue a worthy career.

How can we re-interpret ‘average’ and find positives?

The quote sent to me by my daughter-in-law gives us an idea of how to do this. ‘… Among the students who will be sitting for exams, there is an artist who doesn’t need to understand maths, there is an entrepreneur who doesn’t care about history or English literature.

There is a musician whose chemistry marks won’t matter.

There is an athlete whose physical fitness is more important than physics.

‘If your child does get top marks, that’s great. But if he or she doesn’t, please don’t take away their self- confidence and dignity.

Tell them its okay, it’s just an exam. They are cut out for much bigger things in life. Tell them no

matter what their grades are, you love them and will not judge them.

Please do this, and when you do, watch your children conquer the world.’

Self-confidence leads to self-determination and self-discipline.

Note that the word ‘self’ appears in all three words. It is about the child knowing herself, deciding for herself and becoming focused and driven without being pressurised by her parents.

However, we need to help them discover their strengths and celebrate these with them, and not bemoan the fact that they are ‘average’ students who will never realise our dreams of becoming doctors or lawyers.

Discovering your children’s strengths and helping them be successful and fulfilled Start early Play is the young child’s work and when we participate in it, we learn a great deal about what they like doing and what they can do.

Play encourages cognitive enrichment and emotional growth.

Seek out what makes your child unique Little quirks can be clues to strengths. My granddaughter likes to ‘show off’ when we visit. She attempts to do the splits and kick up her legs as high as she can. This showing-off could be an early sign that she may have a talent for gymnastics.

ENT STUD ATION D O M ACCOM BLE AVAILA Wifi Daily cooked meals Washing and ironing Lift club to campus and back home Airport shuttle service Supervised mother care Safe family student environment Single and sharing rooms Study facility

Creating family traditions helps children discover their relationship strengths. Relationship strengths are the things one does for and with other people that make one feel proud.

Children need to reflect on their interactions with others and recall the ones where they felt the most positive...

Keep a strengths journal.

Take note of the things your child does – anything that strikes you about her or his behaviour. l What causes your child to express joy and happiness? l What are the things that keep her attention the longest? l Is she generous? How does she show this? l Is she caring or funny?

Create family traditions Family traditions help children discover their relationship strengths. Relationship strengths are the things one does for and with other people that make one feel proud. Children need to reflect on their interactions with others and recall the ones where they felt the most positive.

The more traditions you develop where children have an active role in creating meaning for others, the easier it will be later in life to identify what causes them to feel good contributing to others.

Listen to children Avoid questions that can be answered with a simple yes or no.

Show your child you are inter-

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ested in her perspective. For every answer you receive, follow up with another question. ‘Why do you think that?’ If a child tells you she no longer wants to play soccer, rather than tell her why she should, say, ‘I hear you saying soccer no longer interests you. Tell me why.’

Resist the urge to evaluate everything Parents sometimes unintentionally burden children by evaluating everything they do. When your child shows you a picture she drew, instead of saying it is good, ask her what she likes best about drawing.

Over-evaluation, whether negative or positive, makes children worry about how well they are doing, and this stifles their ability to take risks.

Strengths are more than interests. Help children discover both Strengths are the positive feelings that children have when they perform different actions. Interests are the areas where they apply their strengths. For example, a child may be drawn to animals

and therefore it can be said they have an interest in animals.

However, one child may like to care for animals while another may enjoy training them. The strength of one child is caring and the other one’s strength is teaching. The strength is what someone likes to do, while the interest is where they like to apply it.

The strength can be transferred to other interests. For example, the child who likes to train animals may also like to teach children. When you help children discover both their strengths and their interests, they have a better chance to develop a true passion.

Don’t compare them to their older siblings What mostly hampers children’s abilities to discover their strengths is when they feel they are constantly being compared to their ‘perfect’ siblings. Every child is unique and different. Their differences are cause for celebration, not comparisons that may make them feel ‘not good enough’.

You can see the differences in your children early in their lives.

The more you celebrate this, the better.

I have previously written about how, when we consistently focus on negatives, a child can become discouraged. Rather be encouraging by looking for a child’s strengths and focusing on and nurturing those good qualities.

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Muslim Views . February 2018

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Muslim Views . February 2018

Focus on Finance

Common tax mistakes made by small businesses

casts to ensure that any income tax cash can be provided for and set aside in a separate bank account, if necessary.

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, point out common tax mistakes made by small businesses and advise on how to avoid or reduce the risk of the mistakes occurring.

TAX nightmares among owner-managed businesses and SMEs are costly and time consuming, particularly relating to tax queries and disputes with the South African Revenue Service (Sars).

By taking the time to understand these mistakes, business owners can actively avoid them or, at least, reduce the risk of these tax mistakes occurring.

Inaccurate accounting information The accuracy of the underlying accounting information and supporting documentation is directly responsible for the integrity of a taxpayer’s income tax return.

In the case of SMEs, this integrity is often queried as a result of a lean accounting function and confusion in distinguishing between the financial affairs of the business owner and the business.

Sars tax auditors are first and foremost focused on testing the reliability of accounting books and records by, for example, reviewing cash accounting records for un-

usually large or ad hoc payments, on the basis that these often represent private expenses which have been processed as business expenses and claimed for tax purposes.

The importance of accurate accounting information and supporting documentation is further compounded by tax regulations requiring taxpayers to maintain proof of all income and expenditure as well as maintaining business documentation in a particular format, for example, VAT invoices.

Steps that a business owner should take to avoid the above: l Employ a competent bookkeeper to maintain accurate accounting records and supporting documentation. l Ensure that you have a consistent list of accounts to which expenses and income can be posted for accounting purposes. l Make use of control accounts, which are reconciled on a monthly basis to the external customer/ supplier statements, for example, a VAT control ac-

Missing the SME detail

Hassen Kajie

Aysha Osman

count that is reconciled to Sars accounting statements (which are available on request). l Establish clear guidelines for the accounting treatment of business owner private expenses to ensure that these are posted to a shareholder loan account and not to a business account.

This list of steps is not exhaustive and will vary, depending on the type of business.

and payment of monthly PAYE. When business cash flows are under pressure, tax payments are often the first to be ‘put on hold’ with direct business operating expenses taking precedence.

If this persists, expensive, nondeductible late payment penalties and interest accumulate quickly until the outstanding tax capital amount is paid, particularly as payments are generally allocated

by Sars to interest and penalties first before settling the tax capital amount due.

In order to prevent the abovementioned from occurring, business owners should implement the following: l Include direct (income tax) and indirect (VAT, PAYE) taxes in all monthly cash flow plans. l Establish a separate bank account into which indirect ‘withholding’ taxes are transferred upon withholding, especially for PAYE and VAT. l Include income tax in monthly/ annual business planning fore-

Not taking ownership for tax Owners of small to medium businesses often ‘leave tax to the bookkeeper/ accountant’, without taking ownership of their fiscal responsibilities. It is important that business owners are aware of tax submission deadlines, and ensure that tax is paid within these prescribed deadlines.

The cost of these mistakes can be high, especially for elements such as the late submission and payment of provisional income tax payments or the submission

There are a number of less obvious tax regulations that SMEs operating in a close corporation or private company structure typically fail to apply.

Most of these relate to fringe benefits arising from business expenses and transactions paid by the employer company.

Steps that a business owner could take to avoid these are: l Ensure that all employment-related expenditure is identified in the cash payments records and reported for payroll tax purposes. l Take professional advice in advance of entering into possibly complicated or unusual transactions.

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 . February 2018

35

Drive too fast, and you’ll miss India under the bridge DILSHAD PARKER

THERE is a place below a bridge in Athlone that you may be passing on your way to and from work every day and not even know about.

Rossini’s location, at first, seems a bit dodgy. Situated opposite the Kromboom Road bridge, before the M5, you can be forgiven for wondering if it’s even safe to park your car there.

My limited expectations, due to it’s location, were pleasantly dispelled by the inviting atmosphere inside.

We arrived at about 6.30pm on a Monday in the last week of January. The restaurant was empty save for two staff members holding the fort.

I wondered if we would be dining alone in a deserted restaurant, considering it was Monday, after all, not a great day for dining out.

By the time we left though, just before 8pm, several other tables had become occupied.

The entrance to this restaurant is slightly short of being a fort.

Steel gates over the outside doors do not make for the most attractive entrance but the inside is quite a surprise. The decor leans to a Moroccan/ Indian flavour, with ornate chandeliers lending a low orange glow to the dimly lit interior.

The red and gold wallpaper is reminiscent of a wedding sari spread across the wall. Heavy marble topped tables finish the look. There was an attempt made at serious décor here but, alas, it has fallen short. The end result

An eclectic mix of Indian and Moroccan sets the tone.

lacks polish but if what you’re after is the food and not the décor then this is just fine.

In spite of the heavy eastern overtones, the vibe is laid back and unpretentious. Our waiter was a casually dressed, young, Indian expat who seated us and brought us some menus then left us for about ten minutes before returning for our order.

Rossini, while having an Italian-sounding name, serves distinctly Indian food. They have a great variety of dishes, from grills to curries, and an extensive selection of drinks and fruit cocktails.

The menu has been further diversified to include savoury pancakes and waffles, pizzas and even burgers. We opted for a Chicken Afghan curry which is mild curry with sauteed chicken cubes in an egg fried masala, reminiscent of an egg tarkari, perhaps.

I enjoyed this but thought it a bit too mild. I enjoyed this with an onion naan.

Photo DILSHAD PARKER

Curries were in the region of R65 for vegetarian to R95 for meat. I thought the naans quite expensive, at about R14 each.

A Butter Chicken pasta, yes, that’s right, pasta, was helpful for my little one who easily eats pasta.

This dish was quite good, although a touch sweet and topped with cheese, it threw out any semblance of the real thing. At R75 it was a very generous portion, though, and there was enough to take home for a second meal.

Steak and Waffles, I simply had to try it – obviously a spin on the American South dish of Chicken and Waffles. An impressive dish to look at but I knew at first sight that half of it would go home. The waffle was extra thick set atop with slices of masala steak and a side of mashed potato.

I found this dish too heavy as the batter of the waffle also had pieces of steak inside. The steak on top was a bit sinewy and hard to eat. The dish also could have used

Steak and waffles was an unusual dish that had to be sampled.

Photo DILSHAD PARKER

a more substantial sauce rather than the drizzle of mayo over it – not something I would order again.

Hubby enjoyed his falooda, and my Rose lassi was nice and thick but lacked enough rose flavour.

There is a private room that can be booked for larger groups, and is a great option if you have young children that you don’t want wondering off.

The private room has a glass door, though, so not really so private. It also has a TV if your group wants to catch a game.

When I was there on a previous occasion with friends, we had the grill platter (very tasty), Chicken Makani (spicy), Chicken Hyderabadi (rich and creamy) and Prawn Chaat. The general concen-

Afghan Chicken and Butter Chicken pasta made for an Indian fusion meal.

Photo DILSHAD PARKER

sus is that the food was pretty good. Rossini is part of the Metro complex, which also houses Arabian Nights – a hooka lounge, and a takeaway. The complex is owned by brothers from Dubai which would explain the slightly different variety of dishes on the menu.

This is a minimum frills kind of place. If you’re all about the food and the rest doesn’t matter then it’s worth parking your car under the Kromboom Road bridge.

This review is independent and meals were paid for. Dilshad Parker is owner and author of www.hungryforhalaal.co.za

36

Muslim Views . February 2018

Light from the Quran

Gaining and preserving ikhlas IBRAHIM OKSAS and NAZEEMA AHMED

IN a previous article, we discussed the importance of ikhlas (sincerity) from the perspective of Bediuzzaman Said Nursi in his Quranic tafsir, Risale-i Nur. Naturally, once we accept the importance of such a life principle as believers, we would then need to reflect on the ways in which we can instil such sincerity in ourselves and infuse it in our actions.

In respect of the principle of sincerity, Bediuzzaman cites the following ayahs from the All-Wise Quran. In Surah Al-Anfal, ‘Do not fall into dispute, lest you lose heart and your power depart.’

In Surah Al-Baqara, ‘And stand before Allah in a devout frame of mind’, in Surah As-Shams, ‘He who purifies it has succeeded, he who covers it up has failed’, and, again in Surah Al-Baqara, ‘And do not sell My signs for a small price.’

From these different ayahs, he concludes a number of characteristics that comprise ikhlas. Firstly, in this world, ikhlas is the most important principle in works pertaining to the hereafter; it is the greatest strength and the firmest point of support.

Secondly, it is the most acceptable duah, the most wondrous

means of achieving one’s goal, the highest quality and the purest ibadah.

Bediuzzaman states that since ikhlas comprises such strength and lights like those mentioned above, we are definitely compelled to work with all our strength to gain such ikhlas and to instil it in ourselves.

Failing to attain ikhlas may mean that we may manifest the severe threat contained in the divine prohibition, ‘And do not sell My signs for a small price.’

He further issues a caution that those who seek to do good may confront many obstacles in executing such significant good. In the face of those obstacles, we have to rely on the strength of ikhlas.

We should avoid things that harm ikhlas with the same effort with which we avoid snakes and scorpions. In the words of Nabi Yusuf (AS), in Surah Yusuf, ‘Nor do I absolve my own self of blame; the human soul is certainly prone to evil, unless my Sustainer does bestow His mercy.’ It is self-evident that the evil-commanding soul cannot be relied upon.

Thus, we have to ensure that egotism and our soul does not succeed in deceiving us! Our goal should therefore be not only to gain ikhlas but also to preserve it.

It is only through heartfelt ikhlas that we can save ourselves from the hypocrisy that flatters our soul under the veil and guise of fame and popularity Bediuzzaman offers some thoughts on the ways in which we can gain ikhlas.

Our first and most important aim is to seek Allah’s pleasure in all our actions. If Almighty Allah is pleased, it is of no importance that even the whole world is displeased.

If Allah Almighty accepts an action and everyone else rejects it, their rejection has absolutely no effect. Secondly, it is necessary that we refrain from criticising our brothers and sisters.

Thirdly, we should know that true strength lies in ikhlas and truth. It is only through heartfelt ikhlas that we can save ourselves from the hypocrisy that flatters our soul under the veil and guise of fame and popularity.

Fourthly, true friendship among the believers necessitates being the closest friend, the most sacrificing companion, the most appreciative comrade, the noblest brother or sister.

The essence of such friendship is true ikhlas. The person who spoils this true ikhlas falls from

the high pinnacle of this friendship, possibly to the bottom of a deep depression.

There is nothing to which he or she may cling in between.

Fifthly, one of the most effective means of attaining and preserving ikhlas is ‘contemplation of death’.

Just as worldly ambition damages ikhlas and drives a person to hypocrisy and the world, so the contemplation of death causes disgust at hypocrisy and causes one to gain ikhlas.

We should think of death and understand that this world is transient, and in this way be saved from the tricks of the soul.

It is the soul that wants us to believe in the permanence of life in this world.

We should take instruction from the following ayahs in the All-Wise Quran about death being a reality. In Surah Aal-i-Imran, ‘Every soul shall taste death’ and in Surah Az-Zumar, ‘You will die and they too will die.’

We may reflect on our own death, and if we go a bit further, we may see the death of this cen-

tury and, going further still, we may observe the death of this world, and in this way, open up the way to complete ikhlas.

Finally, Bediuzzaman draws our attention to one of the most harmful things that destroys ikhlas and that drives one to hypocrisy.

It is to flatter the ego and to give high status to the evil-commanding soul by attracting attention to oneself and to seek public approval, driven by the desire for fame, reputation and social status.

The true meaning of brotherhood is to annihilate one’s personality among one’s brothers and to prefer their souls to one’s own.

Rivalry arising from the desire for status and position should, therefore, not be provoked.

This is a serious spiritual sickness that also opens the door to the hypocrisy and self-centeredness called the ‘hidden association of partners with Allah Almighty’, and damages ikhlas.

Bediuzzaman advises that by making all the most beautiful Divine Names of the Most Merciful of the Merciful our intercessor, we beseech that He will grant us success in attaining complete ikhlas.

He concludes the discussion on ikhlas with the following duah: ‘O Allah, for the sake of Surah alIkhlas, place us among Your servants who attain ikhlas, ameen.’

Muslim Views . February 2018

From Consciousness to Contentment

37

Love others for the sake of Allah JASMINE KHAN

IN my work, I come across many instances of young couples, married for a short period and already experiencing problems in the marriage.

On the other hand, I see older couples celebrating 30, 40 and even 50 years of marriage, and yet, are still very close and content.

This made me ponder the saying, ‘Love for the sake of Allah.’

For those couples who have endured through great hardships and trials, often in very strained circumstances, there is a simple recipe. They say, ‘I love my partner for the sake of Allah.’ Strangely, this is a bit puzzling to the younger generation who invariably ask, ‘What does it mean?’

Perhaps, we should start by defining what it is not. It is not that the person stirs your emotions and makes your heart beat faster; nor is it a case of ‘I look into your eyes and see paradise’.

To love someone for the sake of Allah, there are two components: you love the person with your heart and with your deeds. You love for the sake of Allah and for the pleasure of Allah because you recognise the person as a creation of Allah, and because of her or his position with Allah.

This love starts with love for Allah’s prophets and all who fol-

Be very quick to accept an apology, and be even quicker to say you are sorry when you are at fault. Remember your own shortcomings and how you would like to be excused for a slip. We are human and apt to make mistakes, and we have to give our partners the same courtesy... low them. As a natural progression of this, you love your fellow Muslim.

It is important that we remember that the Prophet (SAW) said that Allah will ask on the Day of Judgment, ‘Where are those who loved each other for the sake of My glory? Today, on a day when there is no shade but Mine, I will shade them with Mine.’ (Muslim) On the outer level, you respect and support them in the good that they do and, on the inner level, you strive to emulate their ways of dealing with others.

The love for the sake of Allah manifests in action as well as words. You love them not because you know them well but, rather, because you admire their good character. It is not because there is some benefit for you or because they are pleasing to look at.

The love grows as you watch how they constantly try to please Allah, and you find yourself following suit.

Today, young people are bombarded with so many distractions

and so-called ‘fun’ things to do that to sit quietly together at the dinner table and share experiences of the day have become difficult.

There is a distraction which is a third partner in the marriage: the television set. There is a serious disconnect between couples and often we hear the lament, ‘He does not hear me,’ or, ‘She does not see me.’

Very often, we see the negative side of a word or gesture and this leads to discord. Try to focus on what the person is doing that is right and do not blow a careless word or mistake out of all proportion.

Be very quick to accept an apology, and be even quicker to say you are sorry when you are at fault. Remember your own shortcomings and how you would like to be excused for a slip. We are human and apt to make mistakes, and we have to give our partners the same courtesy.

Show compassion if the other person is not feeling good, either because of something that hap-

pened or just feeling out of sorts.

The Prophet (SAW) said, ‘The believers, in their mutual friendship, mercy and affection are like one body; if any part of it complains, the rest of the body will also stay wide awake in pain.’ (Al-Bukhari, Muslim) A sign of your true love for each other is that you will empathise with the loved one’s pain.

One thing I have noticed about couples who have stayed together for very long is that they do things together. It does not mean that they are chained to each other but they visit family together, go for walks and even still go out for coffee or a meal.

They have become comfortable with, and attuned to, each other.

With the younger generation, one often sees a separation in socialising. The man must have his time with the ‘boys’, and the wife has to bond with her girlfriends.

There is nothing wrong with this if it is done in moderation.

The problem arises when there are no shared interests or outings.

Always let your partner know that you love him or her. Nowadays, people send the manufactured greetings that are circulating so prolifically to their loved ones.

What they overlook is that the person receiving those messages knows that the words are not coming from the one they love; they are composed by some faceless entity.

How much better would it not be to address your partner from your heart and say how much you appreciate her or him?

The Prophet (SAW) said, ‘If any of you loves his brother then he should inform him.’ (Tirmidhi).

This is even more important between husband and wife.

Make an intention today to revive the sunnah by saying to those you love for the sake of Allah and for the pleasure of Allah, ‘Uhibbuka fil-llahi,’ or (to a female) ‘Uhibukki fil-llahi.’ This means, ‘I love you for the sake of Allah.’

When someone says this to you, respond with, ‘Ahabbak alladhee ahbabtanee lah’ (for a male) or ‘Ahabbak illadhee ahbabtinee lah’ (for a female).

This means, ‘May the One for whom you have loved me, love you, in return.’ (Narrated in Abu Dawood) There can be no greater reward than to have the love of Allah, ameen thumma ameen.

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Art’s for All

Muslim Views . February 2018

39

Wide brooms and delicate brushes As with many other trades and decorative fields, different arts need very specific tools to effect their beauty, writes DR M C D’ARCY.

WIDE brooms are essential to sweep the deep layers of dust from ingrained notions that so-called ‘Islamic art’ consists mainly of Arabic calligraphy.

Fresh minds open to wisdom and knowledge are essential to survey the diverse body and output of artwork devised and practised by both the Muslim and non-Muslim subjects of the many Muslim empires extent during the last four-hundred-and-fifty years.

Muslims innovated many new art forms but also borrowed many concepts from the cultures of the areas and peoples they conquered.

This is quite evident in structures such as the Great Mosque of Cordoba, in Spain, where pillars with Greek Corinthian scrolled pillar heads support the Moorish horseshoe arches.

The huge dome of the Byzantine Hagia Sophia cathedralmosque-museum in Istanbul, Turkey, is echoed in both the huge Suleymania and the delicate ‘Blue’ Sultan Ahmed mosques.

‘Islamic’ art also encompass many other spheres, such as distinctive architectures that vary from country to country. These include masterpieces such as the Alhambra of Granada, Spain, and the Taj Mahal, in India.

Tile work, mosque lamps, mosaics, brass work, wood geometrics, brass and mother of pearl inlay, wood carving and other arts and crafts, there are too many to cite.

In many old Qurans and royal manuscripts, the calligraphy is often enclosed in frames of exquisite geometric designs. This practice is possibly derived from the ancient illumination décor of bibles, prayer tracts and other state documents.

Miniature art illustrations were widely used in Turkey, the Middle East, Persia and India. The precise origin is unknown.

As with many other trades and decorative fields, different arts need very specific tools to effect their beauty. We have previously skimmed through some of the

A selection of natural hair and synthetic brushes plus a small palette knife to apply thick layers of paint.

Photo M C D’ARCY

basic water and oil painting surfaces and the many pigments used in paintings.

These media are usually applied to the surfaces using brushes of varying sizes and composition.

Occasionally, special, flat spatulas or knives are used to smear paints onto surfaces be they canvases, boards, glass, ceramics or walls.

Many years ago, I wrote about the art of a very special artist I first met in Cape Town’s District 6 before it was razed to the ground by the apartheid regime.

The late Hassiem Adams was a tailor but his passion was oil painting, of which he became a master, gifted with a great sense of colour and colour mixing.

He told me an interesting story of how he started painting. His father painted house walls with oilbased paint. Young Boeta Hassiem scrounged paint from the almost empty tins.

He had no money for paintbrushes so he took a matchstick and used an old razor blade to incise the wooden matchstick to make a small brush to fulfil his dreams.

From this humble beginning, he bloomed into a consummate artist.

His work was so meticulous and beautiful that a local newspaper reporter depicted him to be the ‘Vladimir Tretchikoff of District 6’.

This irked Boeta Hassiem for he had painted his masterpieces even before the Russian emigre had landed in Cape Town in the late 1940s.

I attended one of Tretchikoff’s first exhibitions in Cape Town when he was cruelly shunned by the local white artists, ‘aficionados’ and self-appointed art critics who snidely labelled his work as ‘kitsch’.

Famously, he retorted, ‘Let them criticise but I laugh all the way to the bank.’

Technically, Boeta Hassiem was a match for this artist whose works now sell for millions.

All his life, Boeta Hassiem painted with a couple of small brushes and a small wooden palette.

He never had a painter’s easel.

Most tailors have seasonal income. (My grandfather was a tailor with seven children and died at

Technically, Boeta Hassiem was a match for this artist whose works now sell for millions.

A still life by Hassiem Adams, technically superb, in the M C D’arcy collection.

Photo M C D’ARCY

the age of 39, leaving his family destitute.)

Despite ever-looming penury, Boeta Hassiem never wanted to exhibit his work. I once told him that he was empowered with a very precious artistic gift few people were blessed with. This divine gift was there for him to enjoy but also to sustain a more comfortable life for him and his family.

I bought him some paint and canvases and got an agent to sell his paintings. Sadly, a month or two after that, Boeta Hassiem suddenly passed away – on Eid-ulAdha.

Boeta Hassiem Adams never saw his paintings exhibited in the Iziko National Art Gallery, in Cape Town, as well as the National Gallery of Malaysia, in Kuala Lampur.

I once invited his family to a small gathering at my home and projected some colourful slides from the beautiful gardens and parks in St Louis, Missouri, USA, where I lived and studied pathology for five years.

When I look at his paintings hanging on my walls, I always recall him jumping up from his chair, excitedly shouting, ‘Ya Allah!’ Boeta Hassiem’s face glowed; he was intoxicated by the colour and beauty of nature and creation. His magic with that small palette, a brush and some paint lives on.

For your very own magic, you will need a few brushes of varying sizes. For oil painting, the brushes need to have firm bristles to scoop up paint and apply it with bold strokes. Animal hair bristles are often used.

Applying thin layers of paint is called glazing. For this technique, oil paint thinned with turpentine is applied with nylon or other synthetic bristled brushes. Each layer must first dry before the next can be applied. This is time consuming but it gives a luminous glow.

Acrylic paint is synthetic polymer-based and miscible with water. Synthetic bristled brushes of varying styles and sizes are usually used. Acrylics are diluted with clean water. The brushes are cleaned with soap and water.

A drawback of acrylics is that it dries very fast, making on canvas shading and transitions very difficult. It will also dry hard on the brushes and become difficult to clean.

Watercolour painting is practised with soft hair brushes or the synthetic substitutes. Kolinski sable hair brushes are garnered from Siberian weasels. They are the Rolls Royce of brushes with a price to match it. They hold more water pigment with a smooth release. Kolinski brushes need care as some watercolour paints stain hair, and are difficult to remove.

Brushes come in a variety of sizes and configurations. Some are short handled, others have long handles, allowing the artist to stand well back from the easel.

This gives the artist a better view of the end-look of the painting.

In some, the bristles are short, enabling the artist to push down hard and imprint the bush-stroke.

A rigger is a long, thin bristled brush used for thin lines and tiny dots. Fan brushes can soften harsh borders between objects or sky cloud effects.

Miniature paintings were common in the Muslim-dominated areas of the world. These paintings required special, tiny brushes, some of which had just a single hair. The artist had to hold his breath with every stroke he made.

I bought some of these paintings in Iran, in 1983. On the little birds, scarcely a centimetre or two in dimensions, every feather is visible. In another tiny, winter vista miniature, you can see the eyelashes of the camel when viewing it with a magnifying glass.

So, wide brooms sweep away the blindness of stony ignorance; delicate brushes wipe the eyelashes, revealing the wonder and beauty of the world and beyond.

40

Muslim Views . February 2018

SULAIMAN ‘DIK’ ABED (1944-2018)

Run out by apartheid ZAIN JASSIEM

AS we mourn the passing of one of our cricketing greats and a dear friend, I would like to share some of the experiences of my 55-year friendship with Sulaiman ‘Dik’ Abed and the 1970 season I spent with him at Enfield Cricket Club.

Much has been written about his successful cricketing career but not much about his courage and determination to reach the top from a young age. I will try to give some insight into how I saw Dik start his career.

We met at Trafalgar High School and became close friends due to our love for sport, especially cricket but little did we know what the cricketing gods had in store for him and how he would be tested on and off the field.

What immediately struck me then was a 6ft tall, 16-year-old boy, very chubby (hence his nickname ‘Dik’), in a short pants – the incongruity of it I’m sure was not lost on anyone.

Dik was a bit of an introvert but once he had a cricket bat or ball in his hand, he became a different person – a tough uncompromising competitor who asked and gave no quarter.

Often, after school, we would play cricket in Aspeling Street, where he lived, and quite a few times we played alone and Dik would let me bowl ball after ball and he would not give me the bat until I got him out.

I always got the impression that he was too lazy to bowl; well, he more than made up for that later in his career.

We remained close friends and I joined Roslyns Cricket Club, which was especially strong at that time (1961) and captained by Gesant ‘Tiny’ Abed (all of 6ft 7”), with Salie ‘Lobo’ Abed a great wicketkeeper, Goolam ‘Goolie’ Abed and an up-and-coming Dik Abed.

Tiny (an outstanding allrounder in his own right who captained WP), whom we called ‘Baas’ due to his uncompromising approach to the game, was a tough leader who expected nothing less from his players.

Here’s an anecdote to illustrate this attitude from one of the matches we played at Green Point Track: Dickie Conrad, an outstanding opening batsman, was on the

Dik (right front) with the late Sacos stalwart, Hassan Howa (centre front), Zain Jassiem, the writer of the accompanying article (back left), Goolie (back centre) Photo SUPPLIED and two unidentified friends.

verge of scoring a century against us (which I can’t remember anyone else doing) and hooked a ball high to square leg, and our offspinner, I think called Wentzel, got under the ball but dropped the catch.

As he was fielding on the boundary and close to the exit of the Track, he ran off the field, through the exit and we didn’t see him again for the rest of the innings. He was too scared to face Tiny. Dickie went on to score his century.

Dik developed very quickly under the tutelage of his brothers and, initially, due to his build (not a typical lanky frame usually associated with fast bowlers), he bowled at medium pace.

To make up for his lack of pace, he developed a leg-cutter that he bowled very accurately.

Dik started working out and became more slender, and his 6ft 4” frame was now much more suited to fast bowling.

He started having a longer run up and bowled at a much faster pace.

He maintained his leg-cutter which, with his extra pace, made him a lethal swing bowler.

As the matting wickets we played on were hard, it enabled Dik to get a lot of bounce and, coupled with his swing, made him into a fearsome adversary for most opening batsmen.

After achieving all he could in apartheid South Africa, in 1966, Dik decided to move to the UK, not knowing what conditions he would encounter but he had a burning ambition to be successful.

After an initial trial at Enfield, in the Lancashire League (on the recommendation of Basil d’Oliviera), he was signed and made an immediate impact. His fast-

medium leg-cutters proved extremely difficult to play in the softer English conditions and, with his batting improving all the time, Dik became the perfect all-rounder as an opening bowler and an attacking No.5 batsman.

I recall seeing Dik singlehandedly win two matches in the Lancashire League, in 1970, showing all the grit and determination we had come to expect from him.

Goolie told us of the match where the two brothers played against each other in the Lancashire League – Goolie played for Rochdale and had to face Dik’s bowling.

Dik showed him no brotherly love and peppered him with shortpitched deliveries, which saw Goolie end up with quite a few bruises.

Even during practice at Enfield, Dik used to climb into his team’s bowlers and smashed them out of the ground at will.

When I asked him why he was so tough on his own bowlers, he replied that he wanted them to fear him, and he gave no quarter.

The impact Dik made at Enfield and the high esteem in which he was held at the club can be seen in the following quote from a tribute paid to him by Enfield Cricket Club: ‘…Dik was the paid man in a top team for 10 seasons, unheard of in the current cricketing climate.

‘He took over 800 wickets with his deceptive medium-pacers … and also scored over 5 000 runs…

He raised the profile of a small Lancashire League Club to a level recognised internationally…’

I accompanied Dik to two English county clubs (recommended

by Basil d’Oliviera) – Warwickshire and Sussex – for trial matches. At the Sussex trial, I

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In his prime, all-rounder Dik Abed tore into bowlers, whether in a match or in Photo SUPPLIED the nets.

watched the game with Alan Oakman, an England and Sussex cricketer, who told me that Sussex would not sign him although Dik performed quite well.

In the one trial match Dik scored around 70 runs but was told by the club that they needed a bowler. In the other trial match, he took four wickets in the innings but was told they needed a batsman so Dik was not offered a contract at either club.

I remember driving home with Dik, who was obviously very disappointed as he perhaps had hopes of following in the footsteps of Basil d’Oliviera to county cricket and the England side but resigned himself to the fact that this was not going to happen.

I can’t say that the clubs did not offer Dik a contract for political reasons but after one of the matches, we spent a day with d’Oliviera at his home in Worcestershire, and after chatting to him (this was a year after what became known as the Basil d’Oliviera affair), I could not come to any other conclusion but that it was for political reasons that counties did not offer Dik a contract.

Dik had by that time met his future wife Jannie, a Dutch lady, and married soon afterwards, and had to commute between Holland, where he now lived, and the UK, where he played his cricket.

In 1971, Dik was approached by a representative from the SA Cricket Association asking if he would be willing to accept selection together with Owen Williams for the Springbok side to tour Australia, obviously in a way to save the tour after the d’Oliviera deba-

cle of 1969.

Before he could give them an answer, the tour was called off by Australia.

Dik faced the same dilemma that Basil had to grapple with and in which Basil was strongly criticised in some quarters for agreeing to tour South Africa. One has to remember that Basil was a groundbreaker who lived for cricket, was not a politician and, in any case, had Basil accepted the South African government bribe to make himself unavailable for the 1969 tour, the Springbok cricket teams might not have been isolated for the next 30 years.

After his retirement from Enfield, Dik returned permanently to Holland to join his wife, Jannie, and two children, Rasool and Anissa, and was a devoted family man.

He coached cricket and became captain of Holland, and took them to the 1982 ICC Trophy tournament in England. By this time, Dik was beyond his prime and eyesight problems made batting difficult.

When Dik finally retired from cricket, he managed a sports club in The Hague for the next 25 years.

Jannie passed away in 2008 and Dik was shattered. He never fully recovered from her death and his health started fading but with Rasool and Anissa caring lovingly for him, he was well looked after and was never alone.

Dik used to visit Cape Town every few years and I also visited him in Holland. His last visit to Cape Town was three years ago when illness had already taken its toll but his children wanted him to meet his old friends one last time.

I played him some of the songs that we shared over the years and the last song I remember was ‘Those were the days’ by Mary Hopkins, which was probably his favourite.

Dik’s legacy to me was of a mild mannered, gentle giant, who was determined to overcome the odds stacked against him and to show that he should be regarded as one of Cape Town’s greatest sporting sons from probably the most famous sporting family from District 6 or even Cape Town.

So, ‘Ali Dik’ (As his mom used to call him), you were thrown many curved balls throughout your life and you managed to play them with the grit and determination you always had but the final delivery was unplayable but you showed dignity right up to the end.

You will be welcomed by your brothers in the hereafter and you will not be outshone by the stars in the heavens as you shone as brightly. Farewell my dear friend, you will be sorely missed.