three centuries, and we do not today have those same sharp edges of Islamophobia, do we allow other newer Muslim communities to take the same time to reach equilibrium? Can we shorten the trajectory for other societies to be relatively free of Islamophobia and antiMuslim hatred? Are we all permitted to make our own mistakes? Is it not better to condense history and distil its lessons and apply its wisdom more expeditiously and contextually?
ORIGINS IN SLAVERY AND EXILE As mentioned earlier, Muslims came to South Africa over 300 years ago, with the first wave arriving as exiles and slaves from other Dutch colonies in the Malay archipelago and south India. They were brought to the Cape to blunt the anti-colonial struggles they led, and the slaves came as a pool of labour to service the needs of the Dutch as they developed transport routes between the colonies and Europe. With time, other slaves were brought from the rest of Africa to join their Malay counterparts, and found in this community both solidarity and spiritual sustenance. This Malay community had spiritual luminaries among the political exiles, and soon the complete integration of all slaves – Malays, Indians and Africans – into one ethnic identity, the Cape Malays, and an over-arching religious identity, Islam, made for a durable presence in South Africa. Meanwhile, on the east coast at Port Natal, the British colonisers in 1860 started the transfer of Indian indentured labourers from places like Madras and Calcutta to South Africa to work on the sugar plantations. This started the second major wave of Muslims into South Africa, as this wave later included more Indians as merchants to the country. This wave however was part of a different process of identity formation, as common conditions of hardship forced them to seek ways, difficult as it was, to transcend their fault-lines of religion, class and caste. They sought refuge in a common Indian identity, which found expression in languages, music and culture. Conditions were hard for the early Muslims in South Africa, and these difficulties persisted in various forms for about 300 years. The political exiles were serving out banishment orders or jail sentences. In fact the first 148
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prisoner, in whose footsteps Nelson Mandela followed, on Robben Island was Shaykh Madura, a Muslim leader who was exiled. It was from his grave that Nelson Mandela sought inspiration and solace when he spent his many years as a prisoner of Apartheid on Robben Island. The slaves were the property of the Dutch masters, and subjected to the usual conditions and forms of abuse that slaves are subjected to. The indentured labour system was the British compensation for labour after they
In the Cape, the Dutch had additionally banned and outlawed the practice of Islam. Disobedience to this carried one of three consequences: confiscation of property; imprisonment; or execution. had formally outlawed slavery, but remained in need of slaves. The conditions were brutal. They toiled unceasingly. They enjoyed no rights, and the chances of ever returning to their countries of origin were remote.
ANTI-MUSLIM PRACTICES Particularly in the Cape, the Dutch had additionally banned and outlawed the practice of Islam. Disobedience to this carried one of three consequences: confiscation of property; imprisonment; or execution. This was a law that remained in force for about one century, and resulted in the absence of any visible Islam in the form of mosques and other institutions. The Apartheid system introduced by the National Party in the twentieth century, deemed both the ethnic and religious identities of Muslims inferior, with no recognition for the practices of Islam, and Islam was deemed a “false faith” by the Apartheid state and its theological bedrock, the Dutch Reformed Church. Apartheid was the ultimate expression of Christian Nationalism, and was infused into every aspect of life, alongside the racial volu m e
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