Shaykh Muhammad West discusses the heritage of South African muslims
He takes us on a journey that began in 1492 an important date for Muslims to remember.
What’s interesting is the fact that it all began with spices!
Do take the time to listen to this talk that sets the tone for the rest of the talks on how Islam arrived in South Africa. You’ll be surprised.
landownership rajim Bismillah R Rahman Rahim al hamdu Lillahi Rabbil alameen wa salatu salam ala Sayidina Muhammad Ali he was my beloved brothers in Islam salaam aleikum wa rahmatullah wa barakato.
All Praise be to Allah subhana wa tada should have Allah Allah Allah Allah will be witness that none has the right to be worshipped except a lot. And we praise and thank Allah subhanaw taala for granting us this walkthrough Juma and we send our greetings and salutations to beloved Nabil Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, to his pious and to family and all those who follow you soon until the end of time. Allah subhanaw taala bless us to be steadfast in the suit of Nabina Muhammad Sallallahu sallam, may we be with him any sooner in the studio and be with him in the theater in general. I mean, we ask Allah subhanaw taala to forgive our sins of the last week. And Allah bless
us in the week to come with us Juma? No longer easy for all those who are going through hardship and difficulty alleviate the suffering molecule, the sick and grand ramen mafia for those who have passed away. I mean, we're hungry. Over the past few weeks or months, actually, we're talking about a long series on the etiquettes of disagreement. And, you know, do things in series here. I think that's the way that the trend and it's was good, but we pose that series, and inshallah we'll revisit that series. And ultimately, we said the idea behind that series was not to talk about the personal differences, even though there's a lot to discuss it is to get to the the Islamic
differences. Hanafi Shafi, Sufi Mola, bidda, those kind of discussions, how do we live with these kind of differences? So we'll get to that in time in sha Allah. But we taking a break and is good to change and Alhamdulillah we'd like to talk about the Monday was Heritage Day. I know we deal with the public holidays, sometimes we get these public holidays, we have no idea what the public holiday is all about. We just happy that it's a holiday well, hamdulillah. And but it's Heritage Day was on Monday, and we wanted to talk a little bit about heritage, Mike. And as we compiled the slides, we realize won't be just one. So it's going to be a heritage series, maybe three, four weeks on this
topic. And before I begin, why should we talk about heritage? Why is it important for us to talk about this topic? Firstly, understand, Allah references the single Quran, Allah mentions heritage and culture and the race in the Quran in a very beautiful way. Now we have all people know that race is a very sensitive topic, right? in all countries on Earth, our country is the one that is most sensitive when it comes to race. The way the Quran puts it forward so beautifully. Now, 50 years ago, if you had a different color, it was bad, or you were to something wrong. 50 years ago, in our modern age, 1400 years ago, Allah Subhana Allah says in a very, very backward time, in a time when
people had no you know, the thinking was, was so backwards Alesis into the room.
And he signs that there isn't a lot of the ways you know, this and Allah, he said, he created the heavens and the earth because there's a sky. And these are ground, you know, there must be someone who made it. And the differences in your languages and your colors. The fact that you see, there's a white person, a black person, Malay, Indian, Chinese person, and they all they look different. They have different languages. It goes back to Allah says it's a sign that isn't Allah that He is a master plan and creator. This is a sign for people who have understanding and sudo Puja, Allah subhanaw taala says, Remember, that he made all of you all of us from one man, one mother, one one
man and one lady, one mother, one Father, and then he made you into Kaaba shoe over meaning races, you may do different races, and cabal and tribes and nations with our food so that you may know one another so you can interact that you cannot and then Allah specifically and the ayah that I mentioned every week in the cookbook, in a Chroma come in de la de coco. What is the link so Allah says, but the best of you is the one with the most awkward, why does that link the two because naturally, when you have a diverse group of races, you have a white, black, Malay Indian, one will try to dominate the other one that's just normal human nature. One family we are the base we are the
Abraham sir We are the other or whatever it might be. So Allah then in that same IRA, Allah says, But remember, the one with most, the most honorable one is not the outside, it's the taco on the inside. That is what Allah is looking at. So Allah mentions that we can celebrate from these if we can see, Allah says Be proud of your different color. Be proud of your language doesn't mean your only Arabic is the only language is the language of the Quran, it will always be a special place. Be proud of your language and your ancestry and your lineage. But remember, taqwa comes first. Also, I want to discuss on this topic,
too, you know, we only when you speak to scholars from outside of South Africa, do you realize what you have. So we were fortunate we actually Asad kadhi that came here and he says really what you guys what we have here in South Africa. We are live
Here's a head of any Muslim minority on Earth. There is no Muslim minority in the world, and especially in the West, that has what the Muslims have here in South Africa.
We are so integral part of this community, but we've kept our identity. So some communities, they come Muslim communities, they come and they minorities, they either disappear completely. Mohammed becomes mo le becomes L is no more Islamic attire, there's no, we don't worry about halaal anymore. In fact, if Islam becomes something ceremonial, you only practice it maybe on an acre a day, on a day, if they even practicing the pharaoh in making Salah. Well, they'll say I can't come to Juma. I'm working. I can't make my Salah. So I make a Torah we head home. So this is how many Muslim communities have gone. They've disappeared. And as the generations go, it gets less and less in
these others became very isolated. You have a little Pakistan Caliphate in the middle of town. We think so in order to do we don't integrate, you come to the masjid. It's not, it's in the middle of London, but the mosque is in English. So we keep sort of keep ourselves cocooned in. So you have these two extremes isolation and complete assimilation, where as year what we have in South Africa, is we have our Islam very clear. And we've part of this culture and we accepted, how did we get there? Now this is something a miracle. Understand this is something of a miracle across the world. Countries from Australia to Canada, they look at this community, especially in Cape Town, Cape Town
is even more so how did you guys do it? What did you guys do to get this? And what must you do to keep it the same? discussing our heritage year as a Muslim community? This is very important, because we are the leaders, they said you guys are the leaders. We don't think of ourselves as South Africa as leaders in many things. But as a Muslim community, we should be that leaders in how a Muslim minority should live. Another point, you know, I part of this Allah chat groups across the world, and they talking about the series is the Gulf. I don't know if you heard of it. It's a series on the Ottoman Empire. Okay. So turkey made it and now these are discussing, is it good? Is it bad
because lots of people are watching it. And they finding, you know, easily finding other in the way the Muslim Caliphate and how Islam was honorable a time when we were strong. So they watching it now the scholars say but you know, this is music in the these things are not appropriate, but they are some positives. Now the debating, and my discussion is not about whether it's permissible or impermissible to watch these things. The main thing is, Muslims are watching something that shows Islam in a positive light. And it's like revolutionary. It's like for all our lives. We as a generation, we were born knowing that Palestine is under occupation, right, we were born knowing
that, that there was no halifa that there is no Muslim country that you can look at for leadership. But we are at the bottom, so we are born. With that in mind, we have to go back to realize that we have a very proud history, a long history of honor, a long history of, of not not power, in the sense we had a massive Empire, we didn't have that. But instead we were at the forefront of civilization, that being a Muslim counted something today, being a Muslim is sort of like you almost shy in other parts of the world to say, you know, Muslim, Muslim comes with being backwards being a criminal in some countries. That wasn't the case. People looked at us to lead the world for me for
many, many centuries. And the fact that Muslims are opening up a series and may find in connection with the deen tells us that we as orama are not teaching properly. That is what it means to say la ilaha illAllah. And what we gave to the world in terms of civilization, so heritage is very important. heritage is a Muslim, and heritage particularly as a Muslim, South African. So I'm going to talk a little bit of history and it's gonna be a bit of a history lesson, and inshallah highlight the important parts if you zone out to wake you up. But in sha Allah, this is very important. I found it fascinating, because I didn't know much of South African history. And I've learned this
now. And I think it's very important.
So I take you back 1000 years ago, 1000 years, the world was very different. Europe was in the dark ages completely backwards.
America wasn't discovered. Yes. And we know we say that inverted commas because they were millions of people living there already. Right. These countries were not discovered they were already they, meaning they weren't colonized it. And the world leaders with the Muslims. We had an a, an empire. We had a a community that split from Portugal. And you should know this, that we ruled Spain and Portugal for 800 years from 711. From the year 711. Muslims ruled Spain, Portugal, from Spain and Portugal all the way to the Philippines. Manila, FEMA, FEMA, FEMA, FEMA, Manila, Manila, right the Philippines across the entire world. These were Muslim countries and we lead the world in
terms of prosperity in terms of technology, the kings of Europe, they would send the kids to Spain, Muslim Spain to learn under the allameh first universities in the world in North Africa. All right, we will. And we'll talk more about this golden age of Islamic of Islamic civilization. The Europe was very much backwards. And slowly, we lost our Islam. We started fighting amongst ourselves, we started debating about silly things, we stopped progressing, we started worrying about the dunya. And we started to lose our position. and Europe took our books, they took our knowledge translated into the languages, and they revive themselves, they deform the church, and then we throw Peter
Freemasons. Now we took I'm going to start with about the colonial period colonialism is when Europe came and dominated and conquered all these countries around the world. How did it begin? You know, it actually began in 1492. The first the real colonial power was Spain. The Spanish kingdom was the first colonial empire, what happened in 1492, it coincide when the Muslims were kicked out of Spain. So what happened? The Christians of Spain got the act together, and they kicked the Muslims out once and for all the Muslims will go on 1492 a very sad year for us that we lost the lost Kingdom in Spain gone. And therefore they took our technology, they took our knowledge. In fact, the ship that
Christopher Columbus took to go to America to discover America was a ship given to him by the Spanish. Now, where did they get the technology from, from the Muslims that they kicked out just a year ago, they took our technology, they enhanced it. And they use that to start dominating the world. So they didn't they conquered North America, South America, we all know the names Vasco de Gama. And order them, they came around Africa. So because they couldn't travel to India, and Indonesia to get spices because by land, you have to go through North Africa, through Arabia through the Muslim countries. They said we'll just take ships and get them. So they started a maritime
Empire. Right? The Spanish were the first and they discovered all these different countries along the way. And of course, they came here to our country as well. This is now talking about the 15th century or so when they came here, and something to understand about our country. Obviously, they didn't discover South Africa. They were people living here. We all know that. And I think people when we talk about land, expropriation and all these things, very important to remember that that no one discovered this country they will people living here and they will people brought to you by force, right? Something to keep in mind. So our country
if you were to look at South Africa, you can really divide in an hour understand in rugby, why you have that very famous north and south Darby Transvaal, I guess I was why why is it between Cape Town? And why is it because our country should have divided into, we ain't got the Cape Colony on the one side in the west southwest. And we've got the eastern North and eastern part of South Africa. And in the middle, you've got this desert Kuru, basically. So people, you had two distinct groups of people living in South Africa, you had the Koi in the sand, people living here in the Cape Colony. And they obviously have the oldest people, you know, from, from a, from a genetic way, race
people, they are the oldest civilizations in the world. They've been here for 1000s of years. If anyone can claim to own this land, it's those the Bushman people that we talk about, they were the first really inhabitants of this land, went across the Kuru. On the other side, on the eastern side, you had your African kingdoms, black Africans, and they came from other parts of Africa down. And I must mention here there are certain elements in the culture and allow them if they were in contact with Muslim civilization before or even ambia went to them because we believe that every nation was in the Navy. So there was a Khoisan, Navy, there was a Chinese navy, there was a Mayan Incan ethnic
Navy. It was obviously a Navy that went to the Zulu people, the Bantu people, stuff like circumcision, which is very unique to our Deen, or unique to the Abrahamic faith you find in some of the cultures. So you had these to understand you in the West, you've got the Khoisan, and in the east, you have the African kingdoms. And basically, there was harmony and peace in reality. And when you look at the documentation,
yes, people will say, it was
a one backwards in terms of technologically backwards, yes, very rural, but it was peaceful. People lived and people would, they would say, and I find this amazing that they will say they would let a young boy be in charge of a massive herd of cattle, he would graze them. People would pause, no one would attack him, no one would steal. And if there was some fighting, the tribal chiefs would get together and they'll resolve this. That not just technical, you know, sometimes we think civilization is only technology. No, civilization is inside. More importantly is humanity. More important in terms of civilization is being a good person. You can have famous famous quote from
Martin Luther King
What's the point in having smart bombs when you don't have smart people? What's the point? Oh guided missiles, but you have misguided leaders. What's the point? So, our nation as we said before the colonials dropped here, we basically can see our country split in half. We've got the Khoisan, people have the waist, and you have the African blacks in the east, okay. And they live basically autonomously. Then we said Europe, revived itself. After they kicked the Muslims out in Spain. They took our technology, they took our books, and they went through the nations. And they started to find and they use this technology, to uplift the people, but also to exploit many parts of the
world. So they took these ships and they went across the world. And we started colonizing most, you know, spinal or taking murdering millions and millions of people. And it must be said, you know, people find it, we shouldn't talk so much. You go to Australia, for example, the indigenous peoples, we are the Aboriginal people. who's gone, what happened here, you go to North America, we they were millions of Native Americans, we have a now what happened to these millions of people, it must be understood what happened. Okay. And as Spain dominated in Spain, we said was the first because they benefited the most from the Muslim technology. And they colonized, they colonized the Philippines
and Indonesia, they basically had a monopoly on the spices, all of this was about money.
And they use that to further everything. masala, basically, is the story of his own thing, right? They dominated because of spices. The other European countries in particular, the Dutch didn't like this. They they couldn't travel by land, through the Muslim countries to Indonesia, India to get the spices and the Spain Spanish had the dominance on the shipping lines. So this the Dutch people came up with a very, very smart idea. They started the first public listed company on Earth, the voc. And I, you know, I've been struggling to memorize this thing more than my is for in
the industry.
Basically, the United East Indian company, the vo C. That's what vo C stands for the United East in the brothers in Africa and South Africans not that good. Right. So the first public company in the world, basically what happened a group of business people, they said, You know what, let's put our money together, we clubbed together, we're gonna buy ships, and we're gonna go ourselves and fix the spices from Indonesia. And they put the money together, and they develop, they started this company. So for the first time now, they told the public you can all put your money with will buy the ship together. It's the first people a public listed company in the whole world. And obviously, this is a
huge success. Now, if anyone can, even if you're a farmer, even if you're a laborer, you can put your five cents in and you can own part of that enterprise. So this took off is the first major corporation multinational in the world. So this company, the voc,
they sailed across the world. And they set up a Nic network, and they come and they, you know, again, this wasn't just a business, they came to Indonesia, discovered Indonesia, of course, Muslim, Indonesia, Islam was the and they basically conquered it and colonized it. And they made its people slaves, and they use production, they took the spices and whatever they had, and they send it back to the Dutch in Dortmund, and they sold it, they made huge profits along the way. And they said, obviously, to secure the lines, they need to have ports. And that's how when they came across Cape Town, they said, okay, going all the way from Holland, all the way down to Indonesia, around Africa
is a very long journey. So we need to find a halfway stop. And that's how they arrived here at our Cape of Good have our Cape Town, right. So this is now 652. Okay, so 350 years ago, 652. The Dutch the voc came here, obviously, they were already people here, the queen, the same people, but they could offer not much resistance to a very small superior technological nation. And within a few years, basically, the entire Cape Colony was under the control of the Dutch, the Khoisan people became a servant nation, the servant the race, to a more superior, superior in inverted commas, of course, white colonial power, and was in as it was, in 20 years, they descemet many, many, much of
the population here obviously suffered from that. Also, because Cape Town was literally the end of the world. It's still the bottom of the world, right? So it was a very convenient place to dump all your prisoners. So obviously, as the Dutch, the voc was conquering different countries and lands, the people that fought back, like in Indonesia most prominently, and again, who is fighting back against him, these are, these are Mujahideen, the same kind of people fighting in Palestine for liberation, the same kind of people that are fighting for, for for the same principles of human rights that you just took our land by force. These were the people fighting the colonizers, of
course, they lost a lot. They cannot declare them success, so they lost so many of them were brought here as slaves.
As political prisoners, as you know, and they were dumped on Robben Island, long before the ANC long before anyone else were prisoners on Robben Island. It was our earlier that were the first, but also fighting oppression, the and then 50 years ago. And so as time would go, the Dutch would bring more and more people from the colonies from India. And we always forget that it's not just Malay, resembling Indonesia. It wasn't just Malaysia, Indonesia that came here. It was from Bangladesh. From India, when I say India, it means Pakistan as well, from Sri Lanka, from Madagascar, from East Africa, many out and handling the Mahara module that we had, which was very successful hamdulillah
you support you would found our kids celebrated the other founders of our community.
It's it said an alum scientifically that we are the most diverse city on Earth. I'm gonna look at the faces here. You wouldn't know how to categorize us where you come from. All over the world, all abroad, people yelling to this briyani Yeah, it this place at the bottom of Africa. And under extreme, difficult situations. What came out of it is this deinstall survived. And it's going to be a sad story. But what the one positive I take from it, Spanish Empire is gone. Dutch Empire is gone, voc is gone. But the Muslim community stoian La ilaha illAllah remains, they try to extinguish it in Indonesia didn't work, brought it here to Cape Town, it survived. It's something that shouldn't
logically survive. But that's the story of us as a community here in the cape. So they brought all these people from around the world to us to this place here in Cape Town. And Islam was at that time, a banned religion. So the Dutch were very strict against Islam. Because they fought the Muslims in Indonesia. They had a special dislike to Islam also the Dutch were very at that point in time. They were very strict conservative Christians. So religion was a very strong was a very sore issue for them. And they fought Islam was forbidden, you couldn't practice your deen openly. They were no Masjid allowed. So even though she Yousuf was here 690 only 100 years later, 1792 you have a
woman she 400 years no Masjid. Why? Because they weren't allowed to sit by Muslim. What did they do, they would give Juma outside and Subhanallah a testament to these great Oh, no other words to describe and Allah knows basically springs than earlier, what they did to keep and maintain a community. And it's such a difficult situation, difficult. persecution. So this, this community of Islam, brought from all over the world came here. And they started back started from scratch and sort of developed over the next 100 years. And they you know, Subhanallah they did this. They simply they took the most you said they rejected class.
At that time, you clearly had a hierarchy, the colonial power masters on top, then you had servants and you had slaves, you had you were illiterate, your labor, your life was meaningless. And now you had a group of people, educated scholars, Allah, yes, that lost some of them or royalty, even losing the position. And they came in they said we are the same. In fact, we are the masters of the same. And out and this this teaching of Allah is universal. And that's why people flocked to this Deen to give someone is again, that your your destiny is not based on the color of your skin, or what tribe you're born from. Your destiny is in your own hands. And it's based on your relationship with Allah,
that's what counts. And that's why people started obviously, flock to the Ziad, your dean, and you had your Muslim Muslim community growing. And of course, more and more, more and more Europeans came to this land. So Still, the Dutch were confined to the cape and they didn't really venture into the east. They weren't so interested in the east. We skipped now 100 years. And during that 100 years, basically, Afrikaans becomes a language I think they say it's the old it's the newest language of the world is Africans, the youngest of the world's language, Africans. It's a unique language. It's not the sort of people that the Europeans that came here, they ended up staying here. So I initially
we came here for work, they were going to do a you know, spin tin, whatever, five years, 10 years to do a job and then go back and they decided to stay here not go back to Ireland. And the interview. I mean, they mixed with a local people, they got married, they married or they had offspring, and you had now Afrikaans is a language on its own, and you had a race sensitive issue. But you had a
mixed race year as a unique kind of community.
Europe, things changes in Europe. So while the Dutch are ruling things here in Cape Town, things are changing in Europe. You have a revolution in France, you have Napoleon. And basically long story short, the British start to become dominant. The British Empire now starts to eclipse the Dutch Empire and within a few years
So after 100 years or so that Britain completely overpowers the Dutch and controls takes its its colonies, including Cape Town. So Cape Town goes down to the British and the British start to lulea in Cape Town, and because of the British coming into Cape Town, a couple of things. Number one, they were a little bit better when it came to slavery than the Dutch, the British were more open. And in fact, the British were the first people to banned slavery completely. Right. So and they gave rights, Islamic rights, they made Islam permissible, it became a religion that was free to be practiced. And that's why shift to nguru Rahim Allah could open over Masjid because the British
allowed him to open a magazine now that the route but because of these, these changes, because of this, the Afrikaners in Cape Town, they didn't like what they saw in the change of power. They didn't like what they saw in terms of a new, they wanted to preserve their own language, not not English anymore, but try to preserve because obviously, this is what the colonizer does. When he comes, he brings you his language, he brings you his cultures, viola, he even changes your name. I think how sad it must be.
You come to school Your name is Ahmed, your name is Fatima says no, we don't know these names. You are, You are mock. And you are Samantha because those are the names we're gonna call you on. It's part of taking away your humanity. Part of taking away of who you are, that your language, your culture, your name is mean your religion. So what was done by the Dutch was done to them by the British. And because of this, basically the Afrikaners left Cape Town in a what we call the great trick of learning these things, I find it interesting. This is how African history and they basically now venture into the eastern parts of South Africa into the African areas that they hadn't
gone before. This is about 150 years ago, 200 years ago. And they set up the caliphate in Pretoria, okay, at the expense of the African people that were living the * battles, people killing people dying. And so now you basically had a South Africa, you had a cape town community ruled by the British, you have your slaves, you have your colors, and you have the Afrikaners. That's why you have the monument day in Pretoria, that was the first country really away from the British set up in the orange police statement at all. And now you have that's why I said I would not be the cape versus Nepal because now you had the British and the Dutch competing in certain areas. And this is
how it was for the for a number of years.
Then something happened that was completely unexpected. This country of ours was always a backward country, a farming community. In fact, the British would say that this, this colony of Cape Town was the most sterile, the most useless colony that they had in the Old Kingdom of the British, from India to Australia, to America to this one in Cape Town is the worst of all, is nothing they
then they discovered diamonds and gold
in the North 90% of the world's diamonds in this country 40% of the world's gold in Johannesburg. And while that
fortunes changed for some very good for the rich, not so good. Because that came a new influx of fighting in this land. In the 19 1850s 18 150, basically, the Gold Rush started. And this in that time, that area with the golden diamonds were discovered was in the Dutch controls, not the British powerhouse. And that's why the British needed to force themselves further and further inland to take over and that's why you're the Anglo Dutch Anglo Buddha. Why Why is the English and the Dutch fighting because they found gold. So just as one group of people pushed another group, the Dutch, the Dutch found themselves being pushed further and further by the British.
And this, this tremendous competition for resources for the gold for what was in this land of this country. Now how many people died, and the in the native people ultimately pay that expense that price? So now that you have all this, diamonds and gold, this is something to think about? within 20 years, how quickly things have changed in this country. Within we were one of the most backward countries in the world. Within 20 years, we became the most industrialized country in Africa. Within 20 years, they brought all the technology from Europe to build up this industry.
Right. So you brought the civil you brought the technology, but how much of civili what happened to civilization, just something to think about? to mind that golden diamonds was going to do it? You need the locals. And that's why many of the African indigenous people living on the eastern side of South Africa. They were taking the men were taken basically to mind. For months on in fathers sons were taken under the earth. Mothers women had nowhere to go so they went to become domestic workers, cheap laborers, kids, so entire communities. were lost.
A community that was mostly peaceful, but it was mostly subsist, they lived on the land and they interacted peacefully now, they were forced into like a pipeline to mine this golden diamonds, when all went back to Europe, all those wealth and all the riches went back to Europe, we don't even spawn a lot that the British Royal jewels the crown jewels brought from from our land is on the under the heat of the queen, Panama. And this is really how this land was exploited and this community was exploited over time. So this continues through the 1850s all the way until the end, this tension between the Afrikaners and the British trying to continuously push him further and
further, of course, it resulted in a number of wars, no one really won. Ultimately, they agreed to a unified South Africa by the Union of South Africa, right the Republic, the First Republic of South Africa. Also it's in this point in time, as mentioned, so how did our Indian brothers from Durban and Johannesburg get here, something amazing to think about the fact that the British, the British now took over this country
and they use the African labor force to mine the diamonds, who's going to do the farming, who's going to do the business who's gonna you know, who's gonna be the working class, you have to be brought people from another part of the kingdom. Obviously, it wasn't forced labor. But now you had from India, which is another colony of the British Empire, they brought laborers in. Now imagine if you need to bring extra labor force to mind or to form the fields, ways the native people the in the minds. So because your color was you were darker, you were less of a person, you got the worst job.
Because you were not that dark, you got to work on the farm, because you were slightly above that you get to work now as an administrator. And of course, if you are the ruling class, because of your color, you got to own things and own people. So that's how when the gold is discovered, and the African community is shifted to the mines, we have in this time, our brothers and sisters from India, Pakistan, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Sri Lanka, coming to Durban and Johannesburg, and we have a different and that's why we have the mix. Why of this? Shafi Hanafi buzz, because our brothers from India, of course come from a Hanafi background is how Islam came to India, from Indonesia, the Islam
came through via a Shafi method, and they were brought to Cape Town, so you have your chef easier in Cape Town, and you had a fish move in the east and that's why you have a difference of these slight differences of opinion.
So,
the Indian community now starts to develop and also in that time, some some of you I find this amazing, you know, something strange, one of those people that actually came to South Africa at that time smartemail Gandhi,
Mahatma Gandhi, the very famous man that you know, we all brought brought in India was a colony of the of England, that brought India out of British occupation was Mothma Gandhi, but he was in South Africa first, how did he get here? So he was a newly qualified lawyer, he studied in England qualified as a young man and is working in in in India, when a businessman here in South Africa, an Indian businessman, he was had a court case, and obviously, he knew the rules, it was between him and a white person. So he was worried that the system is gonna, not gonna be fair. So he contacted this young lawyer, Gandhi in India, can you come and help me so gladly came here for a job about six
month contract to a year contract to try the case. And when he got here, he saw how the laws work. He saw how people were exploited, how even the road, if you have a certain color, you can walk on this road. And there's many stories of how he was pushed out of the train. And he was beaten up. And because of that, he felt that the level of the level of in humanity in this country, the level of exploitation, and I mean, he only really saw what was happening to the Indian people, what was happening to the black people is exponentially worse. And so he stayed here. And that's when he started to formulate his ideas, formulate his resistance to colonialization non violence and with
time, he actually went back to India, and he used that to bring India out of occupation. So he was really inspired, if you could call it that by the injustice that was done in our land. And he went back and that's how India became, became a you know, independent. we fast forward now quickly, and we'll end up on this point. So now in the night, the 20th century 1900s what happened
basically Britain is ruling most of South Africa, but in the World War One World War Two breaks out and was obviously because of that the British Empire is not the British Empire once was it loses its power. It can't control its colonies like it wants to. So basically its colonies start to rule themselves. So even though the British are technically ruling South Africa, the locals here decide what to do. And as the colonial
Power is losing what's the fear? The fear is the laws that they made. So they made the law that we will have a republic you can vote, excellent democracy beautiful, but sorry only for white people. Your vote doesn't count 20% of the population controlled 90% of the land and it hasn't changed much since then. Economically, everything still belong to a ruling class. Now, when the imperial power colonial power is losing out what they fear, the natives are coming, that after 200 300 years of subjugating a people now that we can't control them with a gun, something is going to happen. And we started using rhetoric rhetoric that you hear now in Europe, Subhan Allah, it's repeating, they are
coming to take your land. They're coming to take your jobs, they're coming to enter your communities and change the ways of your forefathers. You had a nationalistic, the National Party, a white African are fearful people scared that these outsiders are going to come in the same rhetoric year in Europe today, these Muslim migrants are going to come in and we need to stop them and they are criminals and they are backwards and uncivilized. And they will take over our land. That's why you find even like Nazi parties are rising up again in Europe. The same thing happened here and out of fear of the fear. The National Party will bring a party they won the elections and we'll talk about
what happened they often next week inshallah. So just a few announcements
will continue to sit on this lecture, because a few announcements
there is a next week inshallah the Islamic Relief in partnership with the
the BBs the habibie orphanage, they having a shoot upon the arrow, shooting for the archery club at obedia. They are having a at Islamia college on the six, a fundraiser and then monies for orphans. So if you'd like to support what you do is you can buy an arrow and people will shoot arrows in your pocket, that's how money will be raised. Or you can go yourself and shoot an arrow if you'd like to do so. So that's next week, inshallah it's going to be at Islamic college for the orphans then insha Allah also on the sixth and I don't think our slide is up also on the sixth inshallah the evening we will have our Nightmare on Elm Street so we have this annual lecture Nightmare on Elm Street
poster will come up it's going to be the night of the date so it's often Asia year at
bronto but the center of the shy it's an outdoor lecture with a permitted inshallah we will have a night of the date to talk everything about the bazaar about what happens in the cupboard, a journey that he was going to take something which was what happens the day you die, what happens in the cupboard, what happens can can spirits come back afterwards can we influence your dreams? So we're going to have our nightmare incident that's off to Asia next week, or the sixth next week Saturday of the show inshallah and then of course we ask all those who would like to be part of our what Islam series The women that are in the messenger, bot 15 and 16 I think is our bots. 17 Actually,
that's our next episode. We're talking about the Prophet saddam and his wife. So if you'd like to be part of that, or wait for ripple to 13 with any questions concerns with Mohammed ajimobi sacrifice assalamu aleikum wa barakato