Aashiq Hill – The Biography Of Imam Abdullah Haroon
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AI: Transcript ©
I will discuss, inshallah, the same topic as,
Sheikh Abdul Lawl Mulgedi. Number 1, I'm Ashi
Hill.
I'm from the Republic of Mitchells Plain,
in Cape Town,
and I'm involved in various dawah projects teaching,
imamad and stuff like and.
So the topic is
Imam Abdulbaran.
Imam Abdulbaran, as we know, was an anti
apartheid sword at the cape.
He was,
anti the apartheid government.
I'll mention some of the facts that Sheikh
Abdullah, mentioned because
the information that we took was basically from
the same source, his son, professor Muhammad Arun,
that's based at the University of,
Zambia. Khabarov Muslim. Yeah. Botswana.
Abdullah Harun was born in the on the
8th February
1924 in Newlands, Claymont.
He was the youngest in a family of
5.
And as an infant, his mother, Aissa Martin,
passed away.
He was he was his father was alive.
His father was named Amarin,
Harun,
but his father was unable to take care
of him, and he sent him to his
aunt who took care of him and raised
him.
His
his aunt,
sponsored him to study the din of Allah
Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala, you know, until he got
married and that's where the support from the
aunt stopped.
He completed his early studies at Tawfala in
grade 6 in the year
oh, the school was established in the year
1912.
And for 2 years, he pursued Islamic studies
at Mac in Mecca. We was tutored by
the famous sheikh Abdul Rahman Al Alawi Al
Ma'ik. You know, the Alawi scholars from from
Saudi Arabia.
After studying in,
preliminary Islamic studies in Saudi Arabia, he turned
to South Africa, and he continued his search
of knowledge under local by
the names of Sheikh Abdul Latbar Hamildin
who died in the year 1946.
And he also studied I don't know if
this is true, but according to certain sources,
under Sheikh Ismail Hamid who was the 1st
Azhar graduate, you know, the 1st,
Sheikh that went overseas
to the Azhar and studied over there. I
remember at that time, today you find that
in Cape Town specifically, I don't know the
situation in Durban, in Johannesburg,
it's imams,
maulanas,
and sheiks.
You know, at that time, the sheiks were
people who stayed overseas.
So people who went to Makkah studied with
the masha'i of Makkah.
People who scholars who went to Egypt who
studied the scholars of Egypt at the Azhar,
they were the sheiks and the.
The were normally the people that came from
the subcontinent,
and this was before the Darlows in South
Africa. And the imams were people who studied
locally
under the scholars at the cape. So these
were his teachers.
However, the one who encouraged him to participate
fully in communal activities
and particularly in social wealthy,
sector,
that was Sheikh Ismail Hanif.
He does extended his services to the poor,
the needy, and he also began to teach.
So not only did he do
knowledge by teaching the community, he also had
the fact of, like Sheikh Abdul, Bilal mentions.
You know, he did teaching, knowledge, conveyed
the deen, and also he assisted the poor
and the needy.
His political views, the imam's ideas were influenced
and shaped by both internal and external factors.
While studying under Sheikh Ismario
and teaching at a local local Muslim school,
he befriended a few individuals.
And these individuals frequented the intellectual gatherings of
the Teachers League of South Africa
and the non European unity movement. So these
individuals, you know,
changed this figure and his thought.
The imam's social political views were also informed
influenced by the by the ideas of the
Egyptian brotherhood, Iran,
and other Arab Indian movements. So all of
these, you know, movements
affected the ideas of the imam, which shows
that the imam or imam was a leader.
He studied.
When he was officially appointed in 1955
as the imam of the Al Jamia Mosque
in Stikhman Road,
he initiated a few things.
Now normally at the Cape, we have the
tradition of the klubsa, you know, the koans.
So instead of the koans, the imam initiated
adult classes. So adult classes for males and
females.
He innovated alternatives for the koon carnivals,
brief talks
about various issues pertaining to Islam
after the salah during the month of Ramadan.
So this is one of the practices that
shift,
shift Abdullah Harun initiated. So like the small
naseehah that we have at the Cape after
the is over, the imam will give certain
advices. This is what Sheikh Abdul Mahal initiated.
And he also allowed women to participate
in mosque executive
activities.
Along with his close circle of things, he
established the progressive
Claremont Muslim Youth Association,
known as the CMYA,
in 1958.
And CMYA,
the Claymont Muslim Youth Association,
went on to publish a monthly bulletin
like a newspaper,
the Islamic murder, and this was in the
year 1959.
Also on a side note, we discussed the
MJC last night.
The the imam was formed part of those
initial scholars that formed the MJC.
You know? According to certain individuals,
the imam was not recognized by certain people.
I thought this is my idea. I thought
because the imam studied locally, you know? So
the scholars from the Azhar and the scholars
who studied in Makkah did not recognize him.
But one of my colleagues reminded me that
Bibiya Tabashayikh at the MJC at that time
was loyal to the to the ANC.
And the sheikh,
I don't I don't know if he was
loyal to the ANC, and that's that caused
the that caused the clash.
The imam and other stakeholders decided to establish
a monthly newspaper,
the Muslim news, which eventually became the Muslim
views.
He was appointed
as its editor
and used the opportunity to make the paper
as representative
and as relevant as possible.
It covered
cultural,
religious, and political issues.
One
moment here. It played a functional role
in this newspaper
that kept the Muslims informed about various Islamic
issues that took place at the at the
table.
The imam,
besides the newspaper,
he used despite a hookup and his sermons,
you know, to inform the Muslims
about the injustice that is taking place.
Some statements of the imams,
inhuman,
barbaric, and un Islamic. This is what what
he called the group atheist act when most
when many people were told to move out
of the areas that they grew up in.
And he added that these laws were a
complete negation
of the fundamental principles of Islam.
They are designed to cripple us
educationally,
politically,
and economically.
We cannot accept this type of enslavement.
We also see
see it seeks to close all loopholes in
the government's reg
reg regimentation
of the lives of the people. Our motherland
has been a big prison house with just
a few loopholes to breathe through. Now that
is cemented,
a granite wall is to be built around
our motherland to suffocate us so that the
world does not hear our cry. Our country
is unique.
And then he went on.
I'll stop you inshallah. His death
as Sheikh mentioned, he went to Saudi Arabia.
He met the king of Saudi Arabia. He
met many, influential
figures. He traveled, the he met he he
met the Muslim.
He went to London, met people over there.
And, in the
in 1967,
on the morning of 1969,
the imam was summoned by the security branch
of the apartheid government, you know, by an
official named Spekha Van Venk,
under the terrorism
act. He went forth,
and,
as she had mentioned,
you know, he was skipped for months
for months in in an 180
days. He was skipped,
in jail, and eventually, the Muslims heard about
his about his death. The, the the the
the word that came from the governor was,
he fell from his death, but as many
know, he was obviously tortured to death. And
as a side note,
on the day that he died,
there was a tremor in Talbak. So many
attribute it to the karama
and and the greatness of this individual.
And to this day, he is known as
Ashayed,
the martyr,
Abdulaharan.
May Allah have mercy upon the imam and
the sheikh. Amen. May Allah grant the sum
of his qualities.