Vol. 28 No. 3 JAMAD-UL-AWWAL 1435 l MARCH 2014

THE tenth international Israeli Apartheid Week (IAW) campaignwill take place in South Africa between the 10th and 16th ofMarch. The IAW campaign is organised in South Africa by

IAW South Africa and has been endorsed by over 65 organisationsacross the country.

IAW is an annual international series of events that seek to raiseawareness of Israel’s apartheid policies against the indigenous Pales-tinians, and garner support for the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctionsagainst Israel (BDS) campaign, which is aimed at bringing an end toIsrael’s apartheid policies and violations of international law.

In 2012, the United Nations Committee for the Elimination ofRacial Discrimination found Israeli policies ‘tantamount to Apartheid’.

Prior to that, in November 2011, similar findings were made by theRussell Tribunal in Cape Town.

In 2010, Human Rights Watch published a report titled ‘Separateand Unequal’, which details Israel’s discriminatory practices againstthe indigenous Palestinians.

In 2009, in a study commissioned by the South African government,the SA Human Sciences Research Council also found Israel guilty ofpractising apartheid.

In South Africa, many activities have been planned for the IAW.Among these is the boycott of SodaStream.

This boycott is supported by the South African chapter of the inter-national Boycott Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement.

SodaStream is an international company that manufactures and sellsdrink-making machines, syrups, bottles and carbonators.

Its main production site in Israel is in Mishor Edomim, an Israelisettlement industrial park located in the West Bank.

The land where the SodaStream factory is located was illegally con-fiscated by the Israeli military occupation authorities from Palestinianowners.

Israeli settlements are an impediment to peace, and violate interna-tional law.

Since 1968, the US government has called on Israel to stop buildingand expanding settlements in the West Bank.

Although many Palestinians work in the plant, a study by WhoProfits, an organisation that tracks Israel’s economic practices in theoccupied Palestinian territories, found that 82% of Palestinians work-ing in Israeli settlements would quit those jobs if viable alternativeswere available.

Omar Barghouti, a Palestinian activist, said the fact that ‘tens ofthousands’ of Palestinians work in settlements is the direct result ofIsraeli policy.

Barghouti says Israel has been ‘systematically destroying Palestinianindustry and agriculture, confiscating our most fertile lands and rich-est water reserves, and imposing extreme restrictions of movement pre-venting many from reaching their workplaces’.

Under these conditions, the Palestinian economy can scarcely pro-duce job opportunities capable of competing with Israeli settlementindustries.

Consumer boycotts are an important means of generating publicawareness about Israeli apartheid and occupation as well as buildinginternational support for the boycott.

It is also a means of applying economic pressure for change.This kind of pressure has forced retailers to stop selling Israeli pro-

duce and produce from illegal settlements in particular.The consumer boycott has resulted in a 20% decline of Israeli

exports in the wake of the Gaza massacre from 2008 to 2009.In South Africa, SodaStream is stocked by many of the major out-

lets namely PicknPay, Spar and Shoprite Checkers.According to Safoudien Bester, spokesperson for Runners for the

Freedom of Palestine, many unsuspecting Muslims are using this prod-uct even though there is a label indicating the origin on it.

Runners for the Freedom of Palestine calls on the public to supportthe boycott of SodaStream, contribute to building awareness of the ille-gal Israeli occupation, and building economic pressure on companieswith plants on illegal Israeli settlements.

Public accountability vital for Muslim NGOs page 4

Israeli Apartheid Week on track

A group of United States military veterans and their families joined the villagers of Bil’in in the West Bank, Palestine, in theweekly protest against the Israeli Apartheid Wall, which is less than four kilometres from the village. The Israeli ApartheidWeek offers an opportunity for solidarity such as this to be harnessed in a global campaign for justice in Palestine, and toraise awareness about Israel’s apartheid policies. Photo POPULAR STRUGGLE COORDINATION COMMITTEE

IAW events in South AfricaISRAELI Apartheid Week (IAW) offers ordinary people around the world an opportunity to take part in an extraordinary and truly global campaign.There are IAW representatives responsible for organising events in most major SouthAfrican cities, towns and universities. For details send an email to:iawsouthafrica@apartheidweek.org or telephone 011 492 2414 and the organisers willput you in contact with the IAW representative in your city/ community/ university.Confirmed events include a national book tour by international author, Miko Peled. AnIsraeli peace activist, author and karate instructor, Peled has written the best-sellingbook, The General’s Son: Journey of an Israeli in Palestine.For details of his itinerary in the various centres, contact the IAW South Africa team orvisit their Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/iawsouthafrica.

In Cape Town, BDS South Africa and the ANC Youth League Western Cape will•hold an IAW mass rally at Rocklands Civic Centre, in Mitchells Plain, on Saturday,March 15, at 11:00 a.m.The keynote speaker will be the Minister of Public Enterprises, Malusi Gigaba.

Muslim Views

Muslim Views . March 20142

Muslim Views . March 2014 3

Muslim Views

WITH the battle well underway to win thehearts of voters who go

to the polls on May 7, political parties are dominating the news.Some political leaders are evengiven editorial space – or take upcolumns in the print and electronicnewsletters of their political parties– to project their personal stance onissues that have little or no bearingon the daily struggles of the poor.This election, like those in the past,is more about the political partiesand politicians than about the people.The election season is an opportunity for communities toswitch the agenda to ‘people first’.As we have seen with the servicedelivery protests across the country,communities will not hesitate to riseup against politicians and bureaucrats who fail the people.But the politicians are often absent during these uprisings.The election campaign, however,forces politicians to come to thecommunities, and here is a chanceto dictate the agenda; the opportunistic politicians providepeople with an opportunity to exercise their power well before thepolls.As politicians go on their roadshowsand visit potential areas of support,people must mobilise and confrontthem with the daily realities of lifethat face the poor: hunger, unemployment, dysfuntional – andin some cases non-existent – healthcare facilities, housing, education,

crime…Recently, a politician went on adoor-to-door campaign in Sowetoand was enthusiastically met bypeople in the area, many wearing t-shirts of the political party that thepolitician represents.However, one member of the community took the opportunity tobluntly ask the politician: ‘Why don’tyou visit us when our children arekilled? Why do you only visit usnow?’This was broadcast on national television.By mobilising at grassroots level,communities can speak with onevoice, irrespective of their politicalallegiances.This voice must be forthright so thatpoliticians – and the media – cannotpretend not to have heard the message.A mobilised community would beable to use the election campaignas a vehicle not only for articulatingits grievances but as a launch padfor progressive action.Sociologist Trevor Ngwane, inresearch conducted at University ofJohannesburg on protests between2004 and 2013, found that whileservice delivery was the numberone grievance, followed by housing,water and sanitation, representationfeatured high on the list of grievances.This demonstrated, as Ngwanepointed out, that people wereunhappy with the way their publicrepresentatives were putting forward their case.Going to the polls and making yourcross against the name of the partyof your choice is just one aspect ofdemocracy. A democratic systemshould deliver substantively. Oneshould be able to see an improvement in one’s life, that of thecommunity and the country.Over the past 20 years, the equalitygap has widened in spite of peoplebeing given the opportunity tochoose their public representatives.When those who seek to representus canvass our votes, we mustmobilise so that we can speak withone voice and remind them of thisfrightening fact.

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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The massacre of March21. Why Sharpeville?

RESISTANCE to the pass laws intensified during the1950s, and various protests took place. Yet, it wasSharpeville and the events of March 21 that came to

represent the struggle of Black people against the unjust systemof apartheid.

Why Sharpeville?The Sharpeville massacre itself is well documented. However,

little of the literature focuses on background explanations as tohow developments within Sharpeville led to the confrontationbetween police and anti-pass demonstrators on that fateful day.

The critical question, often ignored in the literature on theevent is, ‘why was it in Sharpeville as opposed to anywhere elsein the Union that the PAC’s campaign received its strongestresponse, a question that can only be answered by examining thelocal history that led up to the shootings’. (Chaskalson, M. 1986.‘The Road to Sharpeville’, African Studies Seminar Series paper,Wits University)

Role of local industriesIscor and Sasol were and continue to be the two key role play-

ers in the provision of employment in the Sharpeville region.These two industries experienced rapid growth in the immediateaftermath of World War II and continued growing into the 1950sand 1960s.

In response to this growth and increased employment oppor-tunities, thousands of ‘African’ families from the immediate ruralhinterland, dominated by ‘white’ commercial agriculture,inevitably found their way into Vereeniging.

These families settled in the only accommodation in the areaoffered to ‘Africans’, Top Location, and later, Sharpeville.

This movement had a significant bearing on the NP govern-ment’s designs for all urban areas across South Africa.

These designs are reflected in the government’s most elaboratepiece of legislation intended to regulate the numbers of ‘Africans’entering urban areas, the Native Laws Amendment Act of 1952.

The role of the Vereeniging Town CouncilThe Native Laws Amendment Act of 1952 was used as a

mechanism to distribute ‘African’ labour in such a way that‘white’ commercial agriculture was guaranteed adequate suppliesof labour despite increasing levels of impoverishment in the coun-tryside.

Sections 10 (1) (a), (b), (c), and (d) of the Act were enforced insuch a way that only ‘Africans’ in long-term, regular and some-what permanent employment were allowed to reside in urbanareas.

In his examination of the circumstances leading to the mas-sacre that takes into account local developments during the1950s, Chaskalson argues that ‘throughout the 1950s Sharpevillewas recognised across the country as the model African town-ship, and the Council was able to censor almost all local Africanpolitical activity’. (Chaskalson, 1986)

Therefore, the social and economic development of Vereenig-ing towards the end of the 1950s, particularly the administrationof its ‘African’ township, is significant in the Vereeniging TownCouncil’s role in the events of March 21, 1960.

In the early 1950s, Vereeniging’s only ‘Black’ township, TopLocation, was modelled along the same lines as Sophiatown, andwas also notoriously difficult to police.

The Vereeniging Town Council decided to apply the ‘Sophia-town solution’ to Top Location.

By the end of 1959, all residents of Top Location had beenrelocated to Sharpeville, where they were subjected to strictercontrols.

Even more important than strict policing, Sharpeville, like allother townships created by the NP government, was made to payfor the cost of its upkeep. This was done through charging rentalsconsidered exorbitant when taking into account the families’incomes.

Finally, the ejection of the unemployed considered in excess ofthe requirements of the town’s labour needs had the potential tocreate dissent against the town council.

The lives of residents of ‘African’ townships elsewhere in theUnion were regulated through the application of the provisionsof Section 10 (1) of the Native Laws Amendment Act of 1952.Sharpeville was no different.

Transgressors of location regulations, i.e. those found to be inVereeniging illegally because they were not in formal employ-ment, risked being forced back to the rural areas.

In the context of the 1950s, when the homeland system wasonly evolving, this could have entailed repatriation of these‘Africans’ to areas closer to ‘white’ commercial farms where theycould be easily available as seasonal labour when they were need-ed.

These were the circumstances that many residents ofSharpeville were faced with when the march against passes wasproposed in 1959.

Courtesy: www.sahistory.org.za

Muslim Views

Muslim Views . March 20144

MAHMOOD SANGLAYTHE reaction to the publicationof the article on charities lastmonth elicited an unprecedentedreaction from the public andcharity organisations.

The response was mainly posi-tive, with a range of voices fromthe public as well as in civil soci-ety organisations welcoming thesurvey.

Many expressed disappoint-ment and concern that only twoout of the six charities hadresponded to the survey.

Muslim Views is engaging allthe charities in a follow-up on thesurvey with a view to study thepossible submission of outstand-ing information and the inclusionof the charities who may havereconsidered their positions anddecided to participate in the sur-vey. This report will be publishedin a forthcoming edition.

Conducting the survey itselfwas an enlightening exercise in anumber of ways. The informa-tion-gathering process revealed adiversity of responses, from anenthusiastic willingness to partici-pate to an almost fearful reluc-tance and an evasiveness to do so.

This may be an indication oflevels of transparency, account-ability and compliance. However,one remains convinced that mostof our leading Muslim charitiesdo commendable work and theyshould continue to enjoy the sup-port of donors.

Nevertheless, it is vital that weraise questions about governance,accountability and compliance,no matter what organisation it is.

A code of governance for non-governmental organisations is aserious matter. NGOs are knownto have faced legal action or have

been shut down for non-compli-ance or breach of operating con-ditions.

It is no different for Muslimorganisations, especially inrespect of the management ofpublic funds, assets andresources. Public interest is thekey motive for seeking account-ability from any public organisa-tion, especially charities.

While Muslim charities areobviously not exempted from thiskind of scrutiny, it appears thatthere is some resistance andobfuscation in this respect for areason peculiar to faith-basedorganisations.

Public accountabilitySome members of the editorial

team of Muslim Views recall aclassic response some time ago bythe leader of a prominent localMuslim organisation when askedto produce its financial state-ments for a newspaper report inthe public interest.

The Muslim leader responded,‘Did the Sahabah of the Prophet(SAW) ask him to produce finan-cial statements?’

This response is quintessentialof the flawed notion of account-ability among some Muslims. Theflawed logic goes: If we are ulti-mately accountable to Allah, whyshould we account to fellowhumans?

This presumes that anyone in aposition of trust and power in aMuslim organisation is not onlybeyond reproach but also abovequestioning; we simply have toaccept that because they fearAllah they will, therefore, alwaysact ethically and in the publicinterest.

Is this presumption furtherentrenched if the person in power

happens to be a well-known reli-gious leader?

Are people expected to treatsuch a leader with the kind ofrespect that precludes account-ability for conduct in a positionof trust, especially if it is in themanagement and administrationof public funds and importantdecision-making?

The Prophet (SAW) was com-manded in the Quran by Allah:‘Take counsel with them in allmatters of public concern then,when you have decided upon acourse of action, place your trustin Allah for, verily, Allah lovesthose who place their trust inHim.’ (3:159)

This notion of consultationrecurs in surah 42, verse 38.

According to MuhammadAsad, in his commentary onQuran 3:159, a hadith on theauthority of Ali ibn Abi Talibclarifies that ‘deciding upon acourse of action’ means, accord-ing to the Prophet (SAW), to con-sult with knowledgeable peopleand to follow their advice. Asadrelies on Ibn Kathir for this inter-

pretation.This endorses governance by

consent and council, which isconsistent with governance that isaccountable and transparent.Many scholars consider thisQuranic principle fundamental toIslamic legislation relating to gov-ernance.

The term amruhum shura bay-nahum, in Quran 42:38, accord-ing to Asad, refers to the wholecommunity of believers and itdenotes all affairs of public con-cern.

This precedent set by theProphet (SAW), who is ourmodel, is therefore applicable andbinding on all Muslims for alltimes.

Sahih Bukhari records a hadithnarrated by Abdullah. Allah’sApostle said: ‘Everyone of you isa guardian and is accountable tohis charges.

‘The ruler who has authorityover people is a guardian and isaccountable to them… so all ofyou are guardians and areaccountable to your charges.’(Vol 3, Bk 46, No 730)

Public accountability is a coreconcept in Islam and, therefore,any Muslim NGO should fullyembrace it without question.

Communication and media relations

Generally, Muslim organisa-tions do not take media, commu-nications and public relationsseriously, and do not appreciatetheir role in the integrity of theorganisation. This was also thecase with most of the charities inthe survey, and their responses tothe report published last month.

Among the main aims ofmedia, including newspapers, areto report news, act as the

guardian and as the mirror ofsociety, and help in developingpublic opinion.

Newspapers increasingly playan important role in local newsand reporting on matters relevantto communities of interest, suchas religious communities.

These are all important for avibrant democracy and in thepublic interest. Therefore, theindependence of media as theguardian or ‘watchdog’ of societyshould be respected.

Media have a responsibility toinvestigate and report on mattersthat affect their readers in anyway. Such reporting may be criti-cal if need be but it may also befavourable and complimentary.

The charities survey is in thepublic interest, and the charitiesthat collect public money can andshould benefit from such a surveyif they are true to their mandateand meet the appropriate gover-nance requirements.

Media provide an importantmeans for public organisations tocommunicate with the public and,therefore, should be effectivelyused for this purpose, boththrough paid-for-advertising andthrough good newsworthy editor-ial coverage.

Media may not be your friendbut they need not be your enemy.

NGOs need to allocate dedi-cated resources to media and pub-lic relations. This includes train-ing staff to deal with media ordi-narily as well as in a crisis situa-tion.

Good use of the media andpublic relations are part of abroader communications plan.Poor communications manage-ment may in fact precipitate a cri-sis, causing harm to the image ofthe organisation.

Accountability and media relations vital for Muslim NGOsPublic interest is

the key motive for

seeking

accountability

from any public

organisation,

especially charities.

Muslim Views . March 2014 5

Muslim Views

Muslim Views

Muslim Views . March 20146

MAHMOOD SANGLAY‘…[T]he brutality of the arrestsand the manner in which the kid-nappings took place, people’sclothes ripped off with knives,hooded, goggled, suppositories,nappies, nobody is going talkabout that to anybody’s wife, arethey? Ever?’

Victoria Brittain is a demurewoman but her words lacked nopassion.

Her visit to South Africa lastmonth to promote her new bookShadow Lives is part of a deeplypersonal journey of outrageagainst the war on terror. Sheshared some of that outrage inher time at Muslim Views.

This extraordinary journeyemerges from Victoria’s contactwith the women behind the mentargeted in America’s war on ter-ror. The work was not premedi-tated in the developing friend-ships with Sabah, Zinnira,Josephine, Dina and the others.

They are of Arab and Asiandescent and their husbands arelabelled ‘terrorist’. The friend-ships and close bonds came firstthen came the story. It was first inthe form of a drama produced forstage performances in 2010.

Now the narrative has beendeveloped and published in bookform, mainly as portraits of thewomen.

Often pain and suffering areunderstandably personal and pri-vate, especially when part of thesuffering is social isolation by notonly the other but also by thosesharing one’s own faith and cul-ture.

Muslims avoided them becausethey were tainted with the terror-

ist label.In this case, rejection and judg-

ment erected the barriers of isola-tion, compounding the pain andsuffering of the women’s fears fortheir husbands in prison.

Victoria appeared on the scene.Deep trust and friendship mediat-ed her shared experience of thewomen’s terror as a private hell.Not only was she of the empirebut she also faced barriers of lan-guage, culture and religion. Shetranscended these with compas-sion and humanity.

Being a woman offered her away to transcend the barriers sep-

arating gender in religion and cul-ture. She says had she not been awoman, her subjects would sim-ply not have opened the door forher. Being a writer with a con-science offered a vehicle to taketheir personal suffering in orderto publicly expose the injusticeand human rights violations.

Victoria’s intervention wasuncontrived and authentic, in theway intimate shared grief is madepublic.

Victoria says almost all thewomen in the book are herfriends and there are over half adozen of them. Hence there are

very few interviews but portraitsinstead.

Hers is an extraordinary act ofcompassion by reaching acrossthe gulf of language, culture andreligion to touch their utter isola-tion, fear and despair.

The impact of state terror isdevastating on the lives of peopleunjustly persecuted. Children aretraumatised and confused.

The adults deal with paranoia,alienation, attempts at suicide,hunger strikes and heavy medica-tion. And then there is the haunt-ing question of torture and thescars that remain. Victoriaexplores this landscape of theirshadowed lives.

In this way, it is arguably anunprecedented work of narrativejournalism. According to someold schools of journalism, suchrelationships do not lend them-selves to proper objective report-ing. Not so says Victoria.

Objectivity in journalism is afallacy. Her journalism is an inti-mate narrative that dispenseswith the barriers but accentuatesthe truth. And the truth is con-veyed with scrupulous reportingof the facts and as part of a com-pelling narrative.

She adds that she is quite con-fident her narrative is of womenwhose husbands have beenunjustly incarcerated in the USand in the UK and that, had shebeen less scrupulous, other, lesscredible subjects may have beenpart of the narrative.

A recurring theme of the narra-

tive is the waiting hence the titleof Victoria’s play The Meaning ofWaiting.

It is incomprehensible, Victoriasays, to westerners how thesewomen cope with the stress andpain. Sabah’s consolation isdrawn from the Quran when sheresponds. ‘Allah will never giveme more pain than I can bear.’

Victoria usually explains toincredulous others astonished bythe women’s capacity to cope, ‘It’stheir faith.’

But Sabah’s husband, Jamil, isback from Guantanamo. Zinni-ra’s husband, Shaker, had beencleared as a security risk in 2007but is still held in Guantanamo.Victoria’s consolation to Zinnirais to remind her that her role is toprepare for the day Shakerreturns.

On the one hand, Zinnira tor-tures herself about Shaker’s tor-ture. On the other hand, theAmericans trash the Geneva Con-vention. Victoria says theirlawyers argue that it is not tortureunless the prisoner reaches thepoint of pain equivalent to organfailure.

Of the 176 men still impris-oned in Guantanamo Bay, 86have long since been cleared bythe Americans.

However, there is no informa-tion made available about howmany of them are still being heldin cages, how many of them areon hunger strike and how manyare being force-fed.

Shadow Lives adds a newdimension to the voices of out-rage against imperial injustice.

The book is published locallyby Jacana and available frombookstores for R180.

Never a burden greater than I can bearVictoria Brittain, the author of Shadow Lives visited South Africalast month to promote her new book.

Photo SUPPLIED

Muslim Views

Muslim Views . March 2014 7

DR SALIM PARKERSHAIKH Serag Makkie Johaar,the Imam at Nurul Islam Masjid,in Bo-Kaap, has been elected toserve on the World Imam Committee.

Shaikh Serag attended the firstWorld of Mosque Imam Confer-ence, which was held in theIndonesian city of Pekanbarufrom December 2 to 6, 2013, andso impressed the delegates thatthey elected him to the commit-tee.

More than 120 imams attend-ed from all over the world, and12 formal papers were delivered,one of them by Shaikh Johaar,entitled ‘The revitalisation of therole of the Mosque Imam inbuilding the Ummah Civilisation’.

His contribution was receivedwith enthusiasm, and he interact-

ed intensively with his fellow del-egates. Though it was evident thatthe challenges in Muslim minori-ty countries differed at times withthose of predominantly Muslimcountries, many similar issueswere identified.

The delegates were fascinatedby Shaikh Johaar’s elaboration ofthe peaceful co-existence and reli-gious tolerance of our rainbownation, and specifically how non-Muslim expertise was utilisedwhen his community was facedwith the possibility of the openingof a liquor-serving establishmentadjacent to the masjid.

The need for inter-faith dia-logue was recognised and reli-gious tolerance was debated.

Differences of opinionamongst Muslims were alsoexplored. Among the topics thatwere addressed was the intoler-ance of certain Salafi sectors inIndonesia towards those whopractised dhikr and traditionalIslamic practices.

More modern problems, suchas how to address the scourge oftattoos amongst young Muslims

in Singapore, were also discussed.Some more mundane, but no

less important topics, such as thequalifications of imams, their per-sonalities and attributes, theirroles in society, the difficulty ofmaintaining the distance betweenthe private and the public, andtheir professional developmentwere also debated.

A six-man committee was setup at the end of the conference. Itis headed by Shaikh Whalled binMohammad Al Ali of Kuwait,with Professor Dahril of Indone-sia as its secretary-general.

Shaikh Abdul Gabeer Azaad,from Pakistan, Shaikh Sidiqque,from France, Shaikh Ambye,from Senegal, and Shaikh Johaarare the other four members.

South Africa, despite being aMuslim minority country, hasimpressed the delegates, throughShaikh Johaar’s superb presenta-tion and active involvement, tosuch an extent that they honouredhim by electing him to the WorldImam Committee.

The next meeting is scheduledfor later this year in Kuwait.

Cape imam serves on international committee

Shaikh Serag Johaar is pictured athis desk at the Nurul Islam Masjid inthe Bo-Kaap, Cape Town.

Photo SALIM PARKER

Muslim Views

Muslim Views . March 20148

SHAFIQ MORTONTHE kidnapping of SouthAfrican schoolteacher, PierreKorkie and his wife, Yolande, inYemen, has thrown into sharprelief a bleak socio-politicalIslamic landscape, one that needsto be urgently addressed by apublic serious about the ethicsand image of Islam.

The ethos of Islam – asopposed to its theology of Cre-ational Oneness – is mercy, com-passion and a love of knowledge;a love of knowledge underlinedby a humility that tolerates differ-ences of opinion and respects thesanctity of human life.

However, we have to admitthat there are instances when dif-ferences of opinion go beyondthese guidelines.

Fools unaware that they areignorant, and dogmatic extrem-ists – who think they’re right andyou are irredeemably wrong – arevery difficult to deal with.

Of course, the above problem– while not just confined to Islam– needs to be dealt with.

What I’m referring to here isthe despotic, law-breaking andoften violent fringes of the faithbeing freely allowed to makeclaims on its Sunni centre, and tohide behind the silence.

The question is: how can a dis-credited 200-year-old sect (whichis Wahhabism) assert that it hasthe only solution to the social,

intellectual and political future ofIslam?

How can it blithely declareunbelief on those who disagreewith it, and then shed blood with-out censure?

Is it not obvious that this secthas taken on the maxim that theends will always justify themeans, no matter what? Whitherthe Islamic ethos?

Whether it be Al-Shabab inSomalia, Boko Haram in Nigeria,Ansar al-Dine in Mali, ISIS(Islamic State of Iraq and Syria) inSyria or Ansar al-Shariah inYemen, voices are much too softin condemning their criminality; acriminality camouflaged by decla-rations of friendship with Al-Qaeda, a dilapidated media phe-nomenon that has only deliveredsuffering and stereotype.

Super-imposing a castratedversion of Islam over serioussocio-economic problems in theMuslim world by exploiting itshapless youth as foot soldiers, iscertainly not going to solve any ofits pressing problems. And this isexactly what the Al-Qaeda phe-nomenon has done.

In March 2010, the Organisa-tion of Islamic Conference did, toits credit, issue an urgent fatwavia the renowned Shaikh Abdul-lah Bin Bayah of Mauritania, con-demning Al-Shabab’s tactics inSomalia. The fatwa was ignoredin a blaze of suicide bombings inMogadishu and the WestgateShopping Mall siege in Nairobi.

What further evidence, then,does the community need that inour midst are elements that needserious redress?

The modern-day Khawarij: out of the fold of Islam

Symbol of resistance: The weaponwhich has become the iconic symbolof resistance against colonial imperialism, the AK-47, hasnow been usurped by those who,under the pretext of rejecting dictatorial oppression, use it toimpose their narrow interpretation oftheir beliefs. Photo SHAFIQ MORTON

CONTINUED ON PAGE 9

Muslim Views

Muslim Views . March 2014 9

Closer to home, the kidnap-ping of the Korkies, allegedly bythe Al-Qaeda affiliated Ansar al-Shariah, is yet another travesty ofthe Islamic ethos that human lifeis sacred. What holy book canever justify the cruelty of demand-ing money for an innocent humanlife?

How can this ever be done inthe name of Islam?

Obviously, the silence needs tobe broken. New ground has to beturned in dealing with the spectreof extremism within the Islamiccommunity. Whatever has gonebefore, has failed. The extremistsstill rule with fear and loathing.

In my view, the answer lies inthe history of the Wahhabi sectcentred in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia,that has spawned so much miseryin the 21st century.

This is because they are, histor-ically, the genetic offspring of theKhawarij, a literalist sect thataccused Imam Ali (RA), theProphet’s (SAW) cousin, of weak-ness when he indulged in humanarbitration.

Renowned for their austeritybut boorish manners, the Prophet

(SAW) predicted that their under-standing of faith would notdescend beyond their collarbones,suggesting that their hearts wouldbe hard and ignorant. TheKhawarij ended up assassinatingSayyidina Ali.

The significance and ultimatefate of the modern-day extremistlies in the lexical meaning of theword ‘Khawarij’, which means tosecede or go out – in this case, togo out of mainstream SunniIslam.

Sayyidina Ali (RA), a mercifulman, was always hopeful that theKhawarij would regain their sens-es.

History records that he wassuccessful in convincing almosthalf their number to return toclassical Islam.

Compassionate, almost to afault, he did not declare themunbelievers or push them away.

What is important is that therewas no harshness in his approachas opposed to the Khawarij, whoeven pronounced unbelief – andsometimes death – on those whocommitted sin or disagreed withthem.

Today, there are illustrativeparallels. Modern Islam sits undersiege, the media telescoping nega-tive events perpetrated by themodern-day Khawarij and creat-ing the impression that main-stream Islam is a maelstrom ofhate, prejudice and hard-hearted-ness.

However, the truth is far fromthis. Recent research by the RoyalStrategic Centre in Jordan indi-

cates that only 3% of the Muslimcommunity falls into the extrem-ist or Khawarij camp.

This is a small minority, whichindicates the potential power ofthe middle to move decisively onits troublesome fringes. Thesilence has to break, and thosewho act wrongly in our nameneed to be fingered.

For this, our scholars have tostep up and be counted in realnumbers. Those in the learnedfraternity who have already hadthe courage to speak up and leadby example, need to be supportedin their untiring efforts to bringtrue human values to the table.

The Khawarij, therefore, needto be identified for what they are:people who have exited the foldof mainstream Sunni Islam, as

those who, because of theirbehaviour, have no right tobelong to it whatsoever.

In the Catholic sense they needto be publically excommunicated.

Of course, the declarationupon them is not reflected in theidea of kufr – or takfir – as theywould do to us at the drop of ahat. There is a subtle but criticaldistinction here.

Nobody is being declared anunbeliever.

The Khawarij are not unbeliev-ers because they do still believe insomething.

They are, however, out of theembrace of Islam until they recanton notions of beheadings, suicidebombings, grave desecrations,hostage-taking and naked vio-lence against non-Muslims.

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 8The silence has to break, and those who act wrongly in our name need to be fingered.

For this, our scholars have to step up and be counted in real numbers. Those in the

learned fraternity who have already had the courage to speak up and lead by example,

need to be supported in their untiring efforts to bring true human values to the table.

Muslim Views

Muslim Views . March 201410

MAHMOOD SANGLAYONE would think that a couplemarried for 35 years is not quiteout of the ordinary. But HajjiEbrahim and Haja GadijaAdams’ lives together offer something uncommon for ourtime.

Hajji Ebrahim is 81 and HajaGadija is 69. They have been liv-ing in a retirement village inSteenberg for over 13 years andthey enjoy their independence.The village is home to abouteighty residents, of whom twelveare Muslims.

A short narrative of their lifetogether, and that of Ebrahim’searly life, was penned by Gadijain letters to Muslim Views.

It is unusual, nowadays, tofind someone making a specialeffort to write by hand the salientdetails of a personal, romantictale. Her story is as charming andquaint as her assertion that HajjiEbrahim’s month is not completewithout Muslim Views.

Her tale opens with her hus-band’s life as an orphan, before heturned ten. His parents, Abdoelaand Umrah, were survived by hismaternal grandmother who tookcare of him.

Gadija writes that he ‘used tobroke from door to door with ahorse and cart, selling veggies andhousehold goods’ with hisgranny’s driver. The driver, in thiscase, was of your old-fashionedhorse-and-cart variety. He proba-bly wielded a home-made whipand exclaimed ‘Ait, ait!’ as theywent along.

The demands of this responsi-bility impacted on his schooling.Therefore, Hajji Ebrahim, unfor-tunately, did not have a formal

education. However, he learnedto read and write while in theemploy of the provincial govern-ment of the day.

Today he is an avid reader, par-ticularly of the local communitynewspapers.

Haja Gadija’s formal educa-tion ended as a young child instandard six.

She was one of twelve childrenand took an opportunity in 1969,at the age of 24, to complete a

secretarial course. His granny passed away when

he was in his late teens so his aunttook him in. He assisted with thehousehold chores and did ‘oddjobs’ to earn his keep. In 1954, atthe age of 22, he commenced ser-vice as a messenger at GrooteSchuur Hospital, in Observatory.

Gadija relates that this iswhere he met his first wife. “Theyworked hard, had little earningsbut they saved and bought a

house in Addison Road, SaltRiver and, in 1972, they went toMakkah and Madinah for theirFard Hajj.”

Hajji Ebrahim was widowed in1978, at the age of 46, after hiswife fell ill. He personally attend-ed to his ailing wife. They had nochildren.

‘He even took off three monthsunpaid leave before she passedaway,’ writes Haja Gadija.

About three months later, after

his first wife’s 100 days’ com-memoration prayers, he met HajaGadija at the latter’s aunt’s housein Hazendal, Athlone.

The meeting was quite fortu-itous as Haja Gadija and her par-ents, Ismail and RachmatBaderoen, were visiting from theStrand.

The extraordinary lives and times of the Adamses

Hajji Ebrahim and Haja Gadija are pictured at a ‘grand lunch’ for the benefit of Palm Tree Mosque, Cape Town, on June 5, 2011. Photo SUPPLIED

CONTINUED ON PAGE 11

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Muslim Views . March 2014 11

‘We just saw each other for fiveminutes,’ writes Gadija. It was abrief introduction by her aunt andthen Hajji Ebrahim left.

However, the young lady hadmade a deep impression on him,so deep that he returned toHazendal regularly thereafterwith the hope of meeting Gadijaagain.

His hopes were not realisedbut he remained undeterred. Heasked Gadija’s aunt for her phonenumber and called her at work.She was employed as a secretaryand receptionist in Bellville at thetime. That was about threemonths after they first met, as “inthe Dutch song ‘Rosa’,” HajaGadija recalls.

They spoke on the phone fiveto six times a day for three days.On the fourth day she received aletter from Hajji Ebrahim by‘speedpost’. It was a letter of pro-posal for marriage.

The next day, Hajja Gadijatold her parents that she would bemarrying her suitor. ‘It just feltright!’ she says. Haja Gadija wasa 33-year-old maiden who was‘popular, with lots of proposals,

played table tennis and tennis,was good at it too’.

Her talent at table tennisearned her victory in 1978 asWestern Cape Table Tennis Feder-ation champion at the WesternProvince Country Union OpenChampionship. She beat IrisBarry who was the South Africantable tennis champion known as‘The Queen of Table Tennis’ formore than a quarter of a century.

Hajji Ebrahim and Haja Gadi-ja were engaged in December,1978, and were married on Feb-ruary 18, 1979. Haji Ebrahimsealed the marriage contract witha dowry of one gold pound.

They purchased their firsthome eight months later and per-formed Hajj together in 1984.

It was a five-month trip by seaon a passenger liner, and includeda tour of England and MasjidulAqsa. In 1987, 1990 and 1992they performed Umrah inRamadaan.

Hajji Ebrahim retired fromGroote Schuur Hospital in 1992.Haja Gadija included, with herstory, copies of letters from theChief Medical Superintendent,the Director General and theAdministrator of the ProvincialAdministration of the Cape ofGood Hope.

In these letters, Hajji Ebrahimis commended for his valued ser-vice of 38 years.

It is noteworthy that hereceived no pension or any otherbenefit after this period of service

because his entire career at thehospital was as a temporaryemployee.

His last position at the hospitalwas that of gatekeeper at the hos-pital stores.

In 1994, the couple sold theirAthlone home and most of theirbelongings, and went to live withher family in the Strand afterHaja Gadija’s father passed away.

She says ‘it didn’t work out inthe Strand’ after three years but itdid signify the importance of theirbond as soul mates. Haja Gadijareminisces that they have hadtheir share of ‘trials and tests, butmostly good endings’.

Indeed, the remarkable aspectof their life together is their exten-sive travels.

She says they have been able tovisit Makkah five times from thesale of their home and posses-sions.

In 2007, they travelled toMalaysia and, subsequently, theyhave been to Turkey, London andCairo as well. Their last trip toMakkah and Madinah was inMay, 2013.

‘We have always paid for ourown travels and we have neverbeen sponsored at all,’ she adds.

Haja Gadija says her husbandis getting ‘frail and old’ and thatshe has her ‘aches and pains’ butthey are content that they havehad a fulfilling life together.

As ordinary pensioners theycan look back with gratitude onan extraordinary life together.

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 10 Indeed, the remarkable aspect of their life together is their extensive travels. She says they have been able to visit Makkah five times from

the sale of their home and possessions.

Muslim Views

Muslim Views . March 201412

NABEWEYA MALICKMADINA Institute (MI) openedits doors and welcomed morethan 100 local, national andinternational students at its inaugural opening and orientation for the One YearIntensive Usul-al-Din programmefor 2014/ 1435.

The auspicious day, January20, 2014/ Rabi-ul-Awwal 19,1435, was the culmination andfruition of an idea for a pro-gramme which would comple-ment Islamic education throughan intensive ‘gap year’. The pro-gramme has attracted aspiringscholars from every sphere ofsociety.

MI reached its target marketand realised its intention, whichwas to encourage every Muslimwhether newly matriculated,graduates or from the corporatesector to embrace the opportunityto study the authentic Islamic sci-ences so that wherever they findthemselves, they would have afoundational understanding oftheir deen.

A diverse range of studentswere welcomed into MI in CapeTown, South Africa, by a range oflocal and international shuyukh,amongst them the dean of the fac-ulty, Shaikh Siraj Hendricks, andthe founder of Madina InstituteInternational, Shaikh Muham-mad bin Yahya Al-Ninowy.

The institute, which is part ofMadina International, is the sixtheducational institute internation-ally established, the other branch-es being in the USA, Canada,Malaysia, Singapore and the UK.The inaugural lecture of the CapeTown institute was presented onJanuary 22, 2014.

The auspicious occasion wasattended by the newly elected 1stDeputy President of the MuslimJudicial Council (MJC), ShaikhRiad Fataar, who expressed hisgratitude to the structures of theinstitute for the sterling work per-formed towards the establishmentof an institution that would con-tribute greatly towards the educa-tional development of our com-munity.

Haroon Kalla, a philanthropistand board member of the insti-tute, inspired scholars with amotivational talk on the impor-tance of laying an Islamic founda-tion for optimal and holistic lead-ership.

The programme is offeredunder the guidance of ShaikhNinowy who has internationalexperience on how Islamic teach-ings should lead humanity by giv-ing hope through education, com-passion and illumination.

MI attracted more than 100local, national and internationalstudents who registered andarrived in South Africa fromacross the globe, some comingfrom Indonesia, Malaysia, CostaRica, Switzerland, West Indies,Mauritius, Bangladesh, Canadaand the United States to attendthe one year intensive pro-gramme.

The board members, faculty

and administration of MIexpressed their appreciation thata special dinner was hosted byMasjidul Quds to welcome thestudents and to offer them anopportunity to meet each otherand to appreciate how far stu-dents of deen are prepared totravel to access Islamic knowl-edge.

The representation of diversenationalities has added a beauti-ful and vibrant educational com-ponent where scholars couldshare their unique cultures andexperiences with their peers, mak-ing Madina Institute a truly inter-national institute based in CapeTown.

Objectives of Madina Institute

The objective of the One YearIntensive Programme is therenewal of the call to go ‘back tobasics’, the Quran and Sunnahalong with their authentic tradi-tional sources, as it foregroundsthe universals of Islam.

These authentic basics ofIslam, the religion of peace,address not only the discursiveand rational faculties of an indi-vidual but also the requirementsof the heart.

Thus, the institute will,through the use of an education(tarbiyyah) which is holistic in itsapproach, present the spiritual,moral and ethical dimensions ofthe deen as they closely associatewith the condition of the heart.

MI is headed by its Dean,Shaikh Seraj Hendricks, andoffers Arabic, Ulum al-Quran,Tafsir, Fiqh, Usul al-Fiqh,Tazkiyah, Ulum al-Hadith, Sirahand Aqidah, taught by an array oflecturers, which include ShaikhsMukhtar Ahmed, Seraj Hen-dricks, Sadullah Khan, Fakhrud-din Owaisi, Abd Al-RasheedBrown, Ganief Kamaar andEbrahim Moos.

The faculty will further be sup-ported by international lecturerslike Shaikh Muhammad YahyaAl-Ninowy (Founding Director),Shaikh Sa’ad Al-Azhari andShaikh Aminullah Abduraouf.

Madina Institute ‘Class of 2014’ inauguratedMadina Institue opening... (from left):Founder, Shaikh Muhammad binYahya Al-Ninowy; Dean of the Faculty,Shaikh Siraj Hendricks; guest, ShaikhAhmad Tijani; and visiting lecturer,Shaikh Isa bin Yahya Al-Ninowy.

Photo SALEEMAH JAFFER

Muslim Views

13Muslim Views . March 2014

SALEEMAH JAFFERMADINA Institute WeekendIntensive Seminars, as the namesuggests, take place on a weekend, over either one or twodays and are intensive, with theday starting at 9.30 in the morning.

With a motto like ‘Illuminationthrough education and compas-sion’, students would expect to beenlightened; they are not disap-pointed.

The topics of the seminarsvary, from leadership skills to theSeerah of our beloved Prophet(Peace be upon him and his fami-ly), the common thread being thatthe topics deal with religious andsocial issues.

The seminars are based onQuran and authentic Sunnah.

Everyone is welcome to attend– young, old, Muslim or non-Muslim – the main target audi-ence being our youth, particularlyuniversity students.

Many students do not havetime to attend regular classes orare unable to commit to manyweeks of attendance.

Madina Institute allows stu-dents to take just one or two daysfrom their busy schedules, andwalk away feeling empoweredand informed.

The weekend-intensives arehosted in association with theMSA (Muslim Student Associa-tion) of the university where theseminar is held.

This facilitates the building ofrelationships with, and network-ing of, like-minded young people.

The approach of the seminars

is academic and fits in well withuniversity surroundings. The rea-soning behind the choice of venueis twofold: it is accessible to stu-dents and it is neutral, and notaligned to any sect, madhhab orreligion.

This provides a suitable plat-form for both Muslim and non-Muslim youth to engage with theQuran and authentic Sunnah inan unthreatening, unbiased envi-ronment, right in their comfortzone.

When asked ‘what makesMadina Institute different’,Shaikh Muhammad bin Yahyaan-Ninowy replied, ‘Nothing.The Quran and authentic Sunnahare the golden standard for every-one who utters “La illaha ilal-lah”. This is not something new.

‘The classical texts used as ref-erences have stood the test oftime, and have been studied byhundreds of scholars for cen-turies.

‘It is not modern or contempo-rary.

‘That youth are involved inacquiring knowledge, spreadingthe message, engaging in dawahand are passionate enough to vol-unteer many hours of their freetime is nothing new either. It isjust part of the legacy of Islam.

‘It is the very tradition of Aliibn Talib (RA), Bilal (RA), Zaid(RA) and many other youngSahabah – whom we can onlywish to begin to emulate. Howcan something that is the norm,the standard and an age-old tradi-tion be different?’

The presenters are representa-tive of a diverse spectrum ofexperts and scholars – from thefaculty of the Usul-ud-Din pro-gramme at Madina Institute tolocal, national and internationalscholars, speakers and leaders.

Looking at past events, onecan see this diversity displayed:from Mr Edris Khamissa (Dur-ban) who presented a marriageseminar at UCT to Shaikh RiyaadWalls and Moulana Abdurrag-maan Khan, who delivered talksat the “Who is Muhammad?PBUH” seminar earlier this year.

Shaikh Sa’ad al-Azhari, cur-rently residing in Eqypt, hasbecome a household name inCape Town since he captivatedhis audience at a two-day seminarin December last year, and is due

to present another on March 8,2014, at UWC.

The organisers of these semi-nars are under the direct leader-ship of Shaikh Abd al-RasheedBrown.

From poster design and distri-bution to the sound, logistics andmarketing, everything – fromstart to finish – is run by youngpeople who are passionate aboutthe Deen and Madina Institute.

Whether it’s brainstormingideas for seminar topics orputting together a course synopsisor deciding which guest speakersto invite – everything is done byyouth under the watchful eye andguidance of Shaikh Brown.

The group of youth is diversebut the love of Islam and ourBeloved Prophet Muhammad(SAW) connects them, bindingthem to form a dynamic team.

Currently, seminars are mainlyheld on Saturdays and are onlybeing hosted at Western Capeuniversities. The plan is to makethese offerings available in Gaut-eng and KwaZulu-Natal in thenear future, and then, hopefully,expanding to the other provincesas well.

To find out more about the lat-est seminars visit the websitewww.madinainstitute.org.za, likeMadina Institute South Africa onFacbook or follow them on Twit-ter (@MadinaInstZA)

The writer, Saleemah Jaffer,recently signed up as a volunteerfor Madina Institute.

A weekend of illuminationMr Edris Khamissa (left) presenting a marriage seminar to young people atUCT on Saturday 22 February, 2014.

Photo SUPPLIED

Muslim Views

14 Muslim Views . March 2014

This is an abridged versionof a pre-Khutbah talk delivered by NAFISA PATELat Claremont Main RoadMosque on Friday, February14, to mark the launch of theMosque’s acceptance of aninvitation to join civil societyorganisations and thousands of South Africansin the One Billion RisingCampaign to end violenceagainst women and children.

IN chapter 81 of the HolyQuran, surah At-Takwir or ‘theDarkening’, Allah SWT drawsour attention to certain signs thathelp characterise a slow yet vio-lent decay of this present world.

The opening verses of thesurah mention a darkening sky,where stars no longer illuminate,and they speak of mountains thatno longer stabilise the earth.

Verses 7-8 call to attention andrhetorically ask: ‘When thefemale child is buried alive – andman is questioned, for what sinwas she killed?’

Here, Allah SWT reminds usthat one the most potent signs ofsocial abnormality and destruc-tion is when human life is valuedor devalued solely on the basis ofgender and social vulnerability.

In his commentary of surah At-Takwir, Egyptian scholar SayyidQutb suggests that the violentrhythm in the opening verses of

the surah, where everything thatis known or familiar is thrown,smashed or scattered, is intendedto illustrate the effects of thehuman heart that is being pulledfrom everything that it associateswith safety, security and protec-tion.

The surah, therefore, com-pellingly describes the devastatingeffects and social consequences ofgender-injustice as humanitybeing uprooted from its moralcore and spiritual centre.

In reflecting on this surah inrelation to the current scourge ofrape and other forms of gender-violence that is presently grippingand crippling our communities, Iam also calling into consciousness

and asking us to collectivelyreflect upon the conditions of ourhearts as a society.

We live in a society where thethreat and fear of sexual violencehave become almost normalisedexperiences of being genderedpersons in this world; wheremany women live with an implic-it and default level of anxiety ofsexual danger and where, sadly,not even our 90-year-old grand-mothers nor our infant childrenand toddlers are safe, secure orprotected.

Clearly, the societal pandemicof devaluing the lives of femalesand young children is not merelya jahili or a pre-Islamic practicementioned in the Quran for its

historical interest, it is very mucha part of our present-day reality.

This reality suggests that as asociety, we, as humans, have notonly become abnormalised butwe are a deeply wounded and aprofoundly fractured one.

As we reflect upon the currentconditions of our hearts, let usalso ask ourselves, how are we asa community of faith attending tothe wounds and fractures in oursociety?

To what extent are we part ofthose that wound or are beingwounded?

Perpetuating the cycle of abuse

CONTINUED ON PAGE 15

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15Muslim Views . March 2014

What types of conversationsare we engaging in about the issueof gender-violence, and what arethe types of conversations weavoid having?

It is not uncommon to findthat many within our communitytend to engage the issue of rapeand gender-violence as if it is ascourge that exists outside of theMuslim community or as if Mus-lims are somehow immune orprotected from it.

Understandably, many of usconsider rape and gender-violencea very deeply challenging topic toconfront.

Therefore, our default posi-tioning is very often one of silenceor distancing.

However, have we consideredhow our silences about and ourfailure to act against all forms ofgender-violence are contributingto the wounding and fracturing ofour society?

A survey conducted over aone-year period in 2011 by theInstitute of Security Studiesrevealed that, on average, sevenwomen are murdered every day inSouth Africa.

Almost 250 cases of assault arereported daily and over 150females are raped every day.

In most cases, these types ofcrimes, if and when reported, areexperienced by women at thehands of their intimate partners.

Disturbingly, another surveyconducted in SA schools in 2001by Human Rights Watch revealedthat eight out every ten youngboys interviewed believed thatwomen are ‘responsible’ for orare ‘the cause’ of sexual violence.

Also, three out of every tenboys questioned consideredwomen who are raped to be ‘ask-ing for it’.

These statistics raise seriousconcerns about the types of gen-dered understandings that we asSouth Africans are nurturing, anddemand that we pay closer atten-tion to our own parenting atti-tudes, to our own teaching andnurturing values and to our owninter-personal relationships.

Do we question the ways inwhich we might contribute to fos-tering unequal and unhealthyrelationships within our ownfamilies and community struc-tures?

Do our attitudes help to per-petuate certain stereotypes suchas females being weak, incompe-tent or fragile and males as strongand domineering; stereotypeswhich not only rob both men andwomen from realising the fullnessof their being but also encouragea distorted use of our physicalbodies?

Do we uncritically apply cer-tain standards of modesty, shame

and honour to Muslim women’sbodies only but then fail to speakabout the types of toxic masculin-ities that these same standardscreate?

Do we teach our daughtershow to avoid being sexuallymolested and unwittingly createthe impression that sexual viola-tions are somehow related to howthey dress and where they go?

At the same time, do we fail toalso teach our sons how not to beviolators and how not to wound,how not to use their voices, bod-ies and physical strength to intim-idate and harass others?

Do we teach them that entitle-ment to a female’s body is not inany way related to her dressingchoices?

Are we critical about how cer-tain assumptions of male-privi-lege and notions of marital hier-archy in Islam mask or are usedas an excuse for marital rape andother forms of domestic abuse?

Very often, women are forcedto endure unhealthy and violentrelationships because of financialdependence, lack of safe alterna-tives and fear of stigmatisation.

Sadly, many women are alsoencouraged to stay in toxic mar-riages by unsympathetic religiousleaders or family members –based on a warped view that herpatience in suffering maritalabuse is somehow a reflection ofpiety or should be accepted aspart of a natural social ordering,an ordering that privileges malesand defines their rights overwomen.

Do we conflate our under-standings of qiwama or a hus-band’s responsibility to financial-ly and emotionally protect andmaintain his wife with maleauthority, control and sexual enti-tlement?

This conflation not only servesto religiously indemnify maleabuse but it also makes it difficult

to recognise abuse when it doesoccur in our homes.

This non-recognition and fail-ure to identify abuse or to glossover it renders it difficult for boththe abused and the abuser torepair and help to end the cyclesof violence.

Thus, the wounding and frac-turing of our collective hearts areallowed to persist and continue,silently and unabatedly.Nafisa Patel is a graduate ofIPSA and has worked as anIslamic educator for a number ofyears. She holds a Masters’degree in Religious Studies fromUniversity of Cape Town; herresearch interests include exploring gender praxis in Islamic Childhood Educationand developing gender-sensitivecurricula in SA madaris.An unabridged version of thetalk is available on the Clare-mont Main Road Mosque’s website: http://www.cmrm.co.za

It is not uncommon to find that many within our community

tend to engage the issue of rape and gender-violence as if it is a

scourge that exists outside of the Muslim community or as if

Muslims are somehow immune or protected from it.

Understandably, many of us consider rape and gender-violence

a very deeply challenging topic to confront. Therefore, our default

positioning is very often one of silence or distancing.

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 14

Muslim Views

16 Muslim Views . March 2014

SALIM PARKER

DURING the entire month that theBattle of the Trench lasted, the Muslims were fearful, facing the

prospect of being completely wiped off theface of the earth.

The Muslims, who were facing emaciationdue to famine, felt that calamitous eventswere befalling them when the enemyappeared to attack like a black cloud. Whenthe enemy army retreated to their camps inthe evenings, the Muslims felt relieved.

However, there was always the nigglingfear that a sudden overwhelming attackacross the trench would be the end of the

Muslims.The hypocrites aggravated the situation by

their persistent negative insinuations such as:‘Muhammad promised you the treasures ofthe Kaiser and Chosroes! However, we aretrapped in this trench now. We cannot evenanswer the call of nature due to our fear!

‘What he promised is completely differentfrom what we have now. God and His Mes-senger promise us deception only.’

But the tide was turning in favour of theMuslims. Nuaym had succeeded in dividingthe enemy, sowing distrust and enmityamongst them. From the start, the Quraishand the other tribes were merely tolerantpartners, and the mistrust that was sown fur-

ther aggravated existing tensions.After more than two weeks of being unable

to cross the trench, the morale of the Confed-erates was low. Some of the tribes took partmore in the hope of plunder and making offwith the booty than out of real animositytowards Islam.

The provisions of the enemy armies wererunning out, a number of their horses died,and even their hardy camels were famishedand were starting to die. They were inexperi-enced in military strategies, and the excruci-atingly long siege further severely dampenedtheir spirits.

Then nature conjured up even more hostil-ities towards them.

The Muslims regularly supplicated toAllah to assist them. The Prophet (SAW) hadpleaded: ‘O Allah, Revealer of the Book,Swift Caller to account, turn the Confeder-ates to flight, turn them to flight and causethem to quake.’

One day, there was a continuous exchangeof arrows and hostilities. When it got dark,both parties withdrew to their respectivecamps. That night, Angel Jibreel appeared tothe Prophet (SAW) and gave him the goodnews that the enemy army would be scatteredby a wind.

When the Messenger of Allah received thegood news, he sat on his knees, opened hishands and thanked Allah Almighty: ‘Thanks

Battle of the Trench: Victory

‘O you who believe, remember Allah’s favour unto you when hosts came at you and We sent against them a wind and hosts you saw not.’ After the Confederates had been laying siege on the Muslims for more than twoweeks, and the Muslims were starting to lose hope, it became exceptionally cold for a few days. An icy wind came in from the east, accompanied by torrential rain. The numbing, freezing wind reached hurricanestrength, ripping the Confederates’ tents out of the ground and extinguishing the fires providing them with warmth. The Arabs, not being used to such weather conditions, running low on rations and not being able tosuccessfully attack across the trench, decided to give up and return to Makkah, not having achieved their goal of obliterating the Muslims. Illustration SAAID RAHBEENI

Muslim Views

Muslim Views . March 2014 17

and praise be to Allah for His Mercy to meand my Companions!’

Allah’s favour and Mercy is noted in theQuran: ‘O you who believe, remember Allah’sfavour unto you when hosts came at you andWe sent against them a wind and hosts yousaw not.’ (33:9)

The weather was exceptionally cold for afew days, and rain compounded the adverseconditions. An icy wind came from the east,accompanied by torrential rain.

The Arabs were not used to such weatherconditions. The numbing, freezing windreached hurricane strength. Though bothsides were severely affected, the Muslimswere somewhat sheltered against the extremeforces of nature. They lost none of their tents,besides, they were not far from home.

This was in sharp contrast to the Confed-erates, who witnessed their tents being blownaway, their fires providing them warmth allextinguished, and their cooking utensils madeuseless.

What was not destroyed by nature wasdealt with by unseen forces. The enemy weresoon crouching on the ground, huddlingtogether for warmth, their eyes so filled withdust and dirt that they could not see eachother.

The Prophet (SAW) prayed till late into thenight, the bitter cold not stopping him. Hethen went to the men closest to his tent and is

reported by Hudhayfah to have asked: ‘Whoof you will rise and go to see what the enemyare about and then return, and I will askAllah to make him my companion in Par-adise?’

The men were so cold and famished thatnone responded to the request. The Prophet(SAW) then called upon Hudhayfah in personwho readily obliged. He went to the camp ofthe Quraish and made his way to where theircommander, Abu Sufyan, was seated.

The Quraish were, by now, numb withcold and Hudhayfah reported that AbuSufyan exclaimed: ‘Men of Quraish, ourhorses and camels are dying, the BaniQuraizah have failed us, and we have beeninformed that they intend betraying us; andnow we have suffered from the wind whatyour eyes behold. Therefore, begone fromthis place for I am leaving.’

Abu Sufyan mounted his camel but in hishaste forgot to untie it. Some of the notablesof the Quraish castigated him for hastening toleave and leaving his men behind. He thenmeekly waited for the troops to assemble.There were frantic but futile attempts bysome who did not want to accept defeat topersuade the army to stay.

Some, like Khalid, realised that NabiMuhammad (SAW) did not lie about his mes-sage. Abu Sufyan then allowed his troops toset off towards Makkah, and he followed a

while later. Ikrimah stayed a while with a cav-alry of about 200 men, in case the Muslimsmounted a sudden attack on the fleeingQuraish.

Hudhayfah waited for the enemy army tostart marching and then made his way to theGhatafan camp but he found it completelydeserted. The bitterly cold wind had com-pletely broken their spirits and they werealready on their way east, to Nadj.

Hudhayfah then made his way back to theProphet (SAW) who was performing salaah, acloth wrapper of one of his wives shieldinghim from the cold. Nabi Muhammad (SAW)gestured to Hudhayfah to sit at his feet and toget under the wrapper that covered him.

The Prophet (SAW) finished his prayerprostrations and greeting and was then giventhe news that the enemy was retreating.

After praising and thanking Allah, whohad sent help, by smiling, the Messenger ofAllah uttered the following: ‘There is no godbut Allah; He is the unique one. Allah madeHis army victorious and helped His slave. Hedefeated Ahzab (Arab tribes) alone!’

The Quran states that the army of thepolytheists returned empty-handed withoutobtaining anything: ‘And Allah turned backthe unbelievers for (all) their fury: no advan-tage did they gain, and enough is Allah for theBelievers in their fight. And Allah is Almghty,able to enforce His Will.’ (33:25)

The time of the early morning prayersapproached and Bilal recited the athaan. Justafter the prayers, as the first hue of lighttouched the plains that the Confederates hadoccupied the day before, a vast desolationgreeted the Muslims.

The camps of the enemy was as empty asthe trench that separated them from the faith-ful Muslims. The Prophet (SAW) then gavepermission to the soldiers to return home,and virtually all sped off.

It then dawned on the leaders that theConfederates might have left some spiesbehind. If the trench was left unguarded, themassive army of the enemy might return,storm the trench and invade Madinah.

Nabi Muhammad (SAW) then sent Jabirand Abd Allah after the departed Muslims toask them to return.

They attempted this but it was all in vain.The two returned to the Prophet (SAW)

and informed him that they had failed to getthem to return.

However, by that time, it was evident thatthe enemy would not return.

The Prophet (SAW) laughed and reassuredthem that all was in order. He then set outwith the remaining Muslims back to Madi-nah. Faith and determination had succeededin overcoming the onslaught of the infidels.Stories from the Hijaz is sponsored by Al-Anwar Hajj and Umrah.

The Prophet (SAW) had pleaded, ‘O Allah, Revealer of the Book, Swift Caller to account, turn the Confederates to flight, turn them to flight and cause them to quake.’ Though both sides were severely affected by thesevere cold, hurricane wind and torrential rain, the Muslims were not as badly affected by the extreme forces of nature. They lost none of their tents, were able to get warm food and besides, they were not far fromhome. When Hudhayfah returned to the Muslim camp after going to spy on how the weather was affecting the Confederates, he reported that they had given up, had deserted their camps and were returning to Makkah.This is recorded in the Quran: ‘And Allah turned back the unbelievers for (all) their fury: no advantage did they gain, and enough is Allah for the Believers in their fight. And Allah is Almghty, able to enforce His Will.’(33:25) Illustration SAAID RAHBEENI

Muslim Views

Muslim Views . March 201418

SALIM PARKER

IFELT a tap on my shoulderfrom behind me, and then felt ahand firmly placed on it.

‘Salaam. Can you help me?’ hesaid in immaculate English.

‘Not another one with a hard-luck story about being robbed inthe Holy Mosque again!’ I thought.I was on the first floor of theHaram in Makkah and had justcompleted a tawaaf after the Eshaprayers. The first floor was com-pleted just a day before, after mas-sive renovations, and very few peo-ple were aware that it was open fortawaaf.

There were ten days to go beforeHajj commenced. There were nottoo many people there and I reallyfelt immensely spiritually upliftedas I could finish the seven circum-ambulations with ease, unlike theprevious days where there was mas-sive congestion on the ground floor.

I turned around and saw a thingentleman, all by himself. ‘I amfrom Pakistan and I am blind,’ hesaid. I braced myself for a sad storyand a probable appeal for funds.

Initially, my plan had been toperform the prayer and head off fora meeting with a medical colleagueat a hotel nearby. This doctor hadcalled me to say that he would belate, and that had given me sometime to tawaaf; a ritual that, for me,combined devotion, reflection and abit of physical activity!

I had about twenty minutes togo before my scheduled meeting. Iwas looking at the Kaabah whenthe blind man approached me.

‘I am here all alone,’ he contin-ued. ‘Normally, a friend of minecomes with me but he was not feel-ing too well so I came with somemembers of my group, and they aregoing to get me here at this spot,close to the beginning line of thetawaaf, a bit later. Can you helpme?’ he added.

‘He did not ask for money,’ Ithought to myself. ‘Sure,’ I replied.

‘Will you help me perform atawaaf here, please? It is impossiblefor a blind man to perform it on theground floor.’ I looked down andsaw absolute congestion, and seem-ing chaos.

It had taken me two hours thenight before at about the same time,plus the loss of two litres of sweatand a couple of bruises, to completeit, while I was done within fortyminutes of peaceful strolling thisevening.

‘It would be my pleasure,’ Ismiled. I offered the sagely manwith the flowing white beard andwalking stick my hand, and westarted walking towards the start-ing area of the tawaaf.

I told him about my meeting thatI had to attend and it was clearlynot a problem for him; all he woulddo was to ask someone else to assisthim once I left.

We walked at a leisurely pace,and by the time we got to the start-ing line we had already gonethough the formalities of sketchingour backgrounds. He had anassured gait, his walking stick pro-viding him the same information ofthe floor in front of him as my sub-conscious gaze was informing me.

We made our intention for theritual that can be performednowhere else in the world, thevirtue of which was even morerewarding than the sunnah prayers.Our pace was naturally slower thanthe one I was accustomed to.

I found myself having more timeto recite certain prayers, more timeto internalise the amazing spiritthat perpetually embraces all thevisitors to the Haram.

It took about ten minutes for usto complete the first round. Iinformed him that I would assisthim with the second round but thenwould have to take my leave.

‘No problem,’ he said, as we setoff for our second round. His pacewas slightly slower now and I wasworried that he might be tiring.

‘Shall I get you a wheelchair?’ Ioffered.

If he were in a wheelchair, itwould have allowed us access to thewheelchair ramp and we wouldhave been able to complete thetawaaf within fifteen minutes withease.

Without a wheelchair, theywould not even allow a blind or dis-abled person on this new structure.

He apologised for walking slow-ly and said that he was engaged insupplication and was not aware ofhis pace. He really enjoyed walkingand felt that each physical footstepwas another closer towards his Cre-ator.

My phone rang but receptionwas poor and I could not receivethe call. Even worse was the poornetwork which did not identify thecaller. I assumed it was my col-league and hurried to complete thesecond round, virtually draggingthe old man along.

I greeted and he thanked me pro-fusely. ‘Don’t worry about me; Ifound you to help me and I am sureI’ll find someone else to assist me,’he said.

As I turned away from him, myphone rang again. It was my col-league; he was trying to reach me inorder to postpone the meeting as anemergency had cropped up. As wetalked, I immediately turnedaround looking for the blind man;He was nowhere to be seen.

Less than a minute had passedsince the time I had left him till Istarted looking for him again. Ablind man can only walk a certaindistance within one minute butthere was no trace of him!

Before I knew it, I had complet-ed another round while looking forhim, and then reversed direction incase I had missed him; still no signof him.

I started to question myself. Wasit necessary to pay so much atten-tion to a meeting that I could haveeasily postponed for an hour? InSaudi, it is almost traditional for ameeting to start late, and I couldhave phoned my friend to ask if itwas in order for me to arrive late.

Was I being tested when therewas no reception at one stage andpoor network at another?

I should really have been makingthe utmost effort to spend anotherfifty minutes in serving one ofAllah’s servants and, hopefully,reaping the rewards for doing it.

I stood there blinded by mydesire to attend a now postponedmeeting and no blind man to assist.

I recalled my Great Shaikh friendtelling me of the auliyah who areamongst us at all times. They arehere to test us into doing good,inspiring us to greater deeds.

Whether it is an old man strug-gling to put on his shoes, a ladylooking for her Quran, an exhaust-ed pilgrim desperately trying to getsome precious Zam-zam at impossi-bly long queues or simply a strangersitting at the end of a long day,starving after having fasted thewhole day with only a date and abit of water in front of him, they areall there.

They do not ask for riches ormoney. They appeal to our human-ity and our kindness. They ask verylittle and, in return, we can reapimmeasurable rewards. A slice of abread here, a few minutes there, asimple, outstretched hand some-where else, helps those in need.

I had failed in fulfilling a simplerequest. I have been honoured withmany Arafats, and still some oflife’s simpler messages have eludedme at times.

As I completed the five rounds ofthe tawaaf that were still outstand-ing, I realised that Arafat was beck-oning. Sometimes, we are so blind-ed by our ambition that we becomeoblivious of the road taking usthere; our fellow travellers andthose who crowd and, at the sametime, observe us from the sidelines.

Most of us are going to travelthat road only once in our lifetime;may our eyes open way, way beforewe get there.Comments tosalimparker@yahoo.com

Blind leading the blind

Sometimes, we are so blinded by our ambition that we are oblivious of the many interesting travellers we meet along life’sjourney – travellers who are put there as tests and assistants by a Higher Power. [The picture was taken by an anonymousfellow pilgrim who, seeing Doctor Parker struggling to take the photograph, offered his assistance, perhaps to ensure thatthe poignant message is preserved for posterity.]

Muslim Views

Muslim Views . March 2014 19

MV’s quick survey ‘flawed’IN response to the front-page article in the February, 2014 issueof Muslim Views (Vol. 28 No. 2),‘Major SA Muslim charities fail todisclose information in the publicinterest’, I think that it is important to make the followingclarifications.

Firstly, as Country Director ofIslamic Relief SA, I welcome andfully support the need for ensuringgood governance, accountability,transparency and full disclosure inall types of charitable/ humanitari-an organisations (not just Muslim-based).

Although I was not contactedpersonally to offer a response to theenquiry (as seemed to be the casewith the other five charities sur-veyed) our media department washappy to co-operate and thereforeresponded to the questionnairewithout hesitation or question.

However, despite the nobleintentions of ‘public interest’ aspurported by journalist Mr Sanglay,the ‘quick survey’ methodology thathe employed was, in my opinion,not only over-reaching in its aimsbut also fundamentally flawed.

Let it be known that the type ofquestions posed in the survey, andthe ‘quick’ short answers it requiredmeant that such information, with-out giving any corresponding con-text, could be interpreted in a total-ly inaccurate and potentially mis-leading way.

For example, the article statesthat IRSA receives 47% of its fund-ing from government, with no fur-ther qualification that this fundingwas only a once-off project done in2012 in association with the SAgovernment in Chad and our Islam-ic Relief Chad office.

The varied nature of the workwe do and the different partner-ships we form on various projectsmakes it difficult to capture thesekinds of operational nuances in aquick survey.

Also, the article claims thatIslamic Relief did not provide itsconstitution and founding docu-ments.

However, it failed to also notethe fact that the reporter did notactually follow up this request withthe person he was directed to, asany good investigative journalistought to have done. So a simplematter of oversight is presented inthe article as a failure to disclosethis information.

The article, unfortunately, wasnot well-thought out or was per-haps premature and potentiallydamaging as it offers no supportingevidence for the claims it makesother than the fact that four of thesix charities were less than enthusi-astic in participating in the ‘quicksurvey’.

An enquiry of this nature neces-sitates a far more sophisticated levelof analysis than what was actuallyoffered. I am, therefore, cautiousabout the inferences made and theconclusions drawn in the article.

I do agree that the Muslim pub-lic needs to have full confidence inthe charities they support, and thatwe should never become compla-cent in the view that accountabilityto Allah somehow absolves us fromclose operational scrutiny.

In fact, we rely on the continuedsupport and generosity of ourdonors; this support is built on amutual confidence and a sharedvision of social impact – a confi-dence I assure you we do not takelightly.

However, just as we as Muslimsshould demand a high level of pro-fessionalism and accountabilityfrom the charities we support, Ithink we can similarly expect thesame level of responsible reportingand quality investigative journalismfrom our media partners.

Yusuf PatelCountry Director

Islamic Relief South Africa

Mahmood Sanglay replies:Dear Mr PatelThank you for your response to

the article. The first matter thatneeds clarification is your inferenceon communication when the chari-ties were asked to respond to thesurvey.

I contacted the charities by emailand telephonically through theavailable contact details in ouroffice database. In every case,including that of Islamic Relief, theperson receiving the first email oranswering the phone referred themedia enquiry to the appropriatemanager.

If this media enquiry was notforwarded to you as CountryDirector it was due to an internalcommunications failure at IslamicRelief, not Muslim Views.

It is further disingenuous of youto suggest that I should have fol-lowed up when your office failed toforward Islamic Relief’s foundingdocuments after a single request. Ifthe norm of Islamic Relief is to beasked twice by the media for co-operation, should we assume this isthe norm in your dealings with yourdonors and beneficiaries?

Nothing alters the fact that yourfounding documents were not for-warded upon request by either oneof two people at Islamic Relief.

The ‘simple matter of oversight’was reported as ‘Islamic Relief’sconstitution and founding docu-ments were not forwarded’. It wasnot ‘presented as a failure to dis-close information’.

The quick survey method (alsoreferred to as a snap survey) is areliable tool frequently used in aca-demic institutions, the public sectorand the private sector. Its merits arewidely recognised especially for thekinds of research involving thecompilation of basic data for reli-able results with a high degree ofconfidence.

Discrediting this survey methoddoes not do Islamic Relief any credit.

The charities survey specificallywas neither overreaching norflawed because the questions do notpreclude context or qualification.The onus is on the respondent toprovide the context and to qualifyany data where appropriate.

Indeed, a follow-up email fromme to Islamic Relief specified arequest for financials for the years2010, 2011 and 2012 so that a datarange could provide context andvariation.

Islamic Relief chose to providethe data for 2012 only. Were weprovided the data for all threeyears, we would have reflected the‘varied nature’ and the ‘nuance’ youseek. Once again, this is a commu-

nications failure on the part ofIslamic Relief, not Muslim Views.

You state that the article offersno supporting evidence of theclaims it makes but you fail to iden-tify a single unsubstantiated claim.

The more sophisticated analysisyou refer to is possible in a muchlonger report, typically found inacademic research papers. Sinceeditorial space in a newspaper islimited, most newspapers rely onsnap surveys or summaries.

The article explains that the sur-vey is very basic and that it is asmall step towards a more detailedanalysis of charities in South Africa.Depending on the co-operation ofthe charities in future enquiries,such an analysis is indeed possible.

We expect our readers to be cau-tious about inferences drawn fromthe article in which only two out ofsix charities responded to the sur-vey questions. Hence we urged allthe charities to participate, and weare at liberty to revisit the matter ofthe survey with them.

Clearly, the survey is incomplete.However, the lack of participationby four charities is a significantfinding worthy of reporting to thepublic.

Any inferences drawn fromreporting these facts may bequeried by the charities concerned,just as it may be queried as to whythey have not responded to the sur-vey questions.

Letting the lefthand know whatthe right doesMY thanks to Mahmood Sanglayfor his investigative piece on ‘Muslim Charities’ (MV, February,2014).

Congratulations too, to Sanzaf,for remembering that, with muchpublic money, comes a no lesseraccountability toward that public.

Also, I would add my voice tothose of others too, who are con-vinced that such an appeal forgreater transparency on the part ofthese organisations is long overdue.

Contrast that, on the other hand,with the thoroughly Islamic-style ofphilanthropy that characterised thework of the late Imam Ahmed Kar-jiker of Victoria Road, Grassy Park.

Here was a man whose sadaqahgave off the perfume of a genuinebarakah, steeped as he was in thesunnah of keeping one’s left hand inignorance of what the right isdoing.

M K GamieldienOttery East, Cape Town

‘Doesn’t charitybegin at home?’WITH reference to MahmoodSanglay’s article on Muslim charityorganisations [MV, February,2014].

He had the courage to exploresome of the salient features, whichleft many people informed aboutthe functions of some of the majorMuslim organisations that prefer tolend a hand in foreign countriesinstead of to the indigenous localcommunities that are in dire straits.

Donations received locally andinternationally are supposed to be

utilised for the betterment of peopleof the land; doesn’t charity begin athome?

The general activities of Muslimorganisations are supposed toinclude social welfare, relief work,provisions of bursaries and scholar-ships, arrangements of seminars,symposiums and conferences, dis-semination of the message of Islam,establishment of libraries, sale anddistribution of Islamic literature,essay and speech contests, poetryrecitals, youth camps and others.

Donations given to Muslimorganisations should cater for thegeneral needs of the local Muslimcommunity. The remainder can berendered to other communities else-where.

We hope that MahmoodSanglay’s work will shed light andenlighten us about what the truthreally is once his enquiry is com-pleted.

We wish him all the best in hisendeavours.

Abdurrahman MadidiCravenby

Support PalestineI WOULD like to vent my angertowards Islamic countries as theyignore the plight of Palestinians.

Masjid-ul-Aqsa is in the hands ofIsrael and all they are busy doing isfighting each other.

May Allah have mercy on Pales-tine and its people. I will dedicatemy life to the Palestinian cause assoon as I come out of prison, InshaAllah.

Ibrahim Rafiq Matlou

A tribute toMunadia KaraanYOU either hated her or you lovedher but you could certainly notignore her.

I knew Munadia Karaan since1996 when she wrote a column forthe Boorhaanol Islam magazine butI met her for the first time in 2007at the Voice of the Cape studios.

I cannot lay claim to have been afriend or even a colleague yet thebond between us was very real. Shewould often ask me for topics thatshe could feature on her show, andwhenever I had a burning issue theemails between us would fly.

I admired her for the fact thatshe not only went where angelsfeared to tread but even where dev-ils would not dream of venturing.

She was the bravest, most fear-less journalist it has been my privi-lege to know. Yet, her fearlessnessin exposing what was not right inour community was not done withmalice or for salacious motives.

Her driving force was her pas-sion and absolute love for the Mus-lim community, and her firm beliefthat we could do better.

Her bravery extended to her per-sonal life. Always a very privateperson, she astounded us all withher openness about her illness.

Her unflinching descriptions ofwhat she was experiencing servedas an example and an inspiration toall those who were going throughillnesses, and struck awe in thosewho were perfectly healthy.

Towards the end, she no longerwent to the studio but made use ofthe wonders of technology byworking from her bed. The lasttime I was a guest on her show, sheinterviewed me in a restaurantwhere she had taken me for lunch.

The last time I asked for her helpshe had just been told by the doc-tors that they would not recom-

mend further treatment.I had this overwhelming desire

to see her and sent her a very tenta-tive text, to which she replied,‘Please come.’ I will always begrateful that Allah guided me tomake the visit because when shedied I was in Port Elizabeth.

I sat in her company, amazedthat she was still wondering whatelse she could do for her communi-ty; she could not possibly just giveup.

I salute you Munadia, a trueMuslimah, a woman with strongimaan. You lived your life constant-ly striving to emulate our belovedRasul (SAW).

I salute her parents, MoulanaYusuf Karaaan and sister Zuleiga,and the entire Karaan family. Youraised someone who proved to be agift to the community, and youshared her unselfishly; Jazak AllahGhairun.

May Allah reward you and grantyou sabr and contentment in yourhearts. Ameen.

Jasmine KhanCape Town

Saudis’ truecoloursTHE self-proclaimed custodians ofthe two [Holy] mosques are nowshowing their true colours; they arealigning with Israel to destroy Iranand Syria.

The Saudis suppressed the newsconcerning their collusion withIsrael after realising that it willbring about adverse publicity to thehouse of Saud.

Israel possesses nuclear arma-ments and has a bloody history ofkilling Palestinians, and is stilldoing so by employing hired killers.

The Saudi-financed mosques aretheir embassies from where theypromote the Wahhabi cult.

Now there are allegations thatthey are busy coercing the localulama to bring about havoc amongthe Shia/ Sunni communities, likethey did in countries such as Syria,Iraq and Pakistan.

Muslims have been supportingthe oppressive despotic rule by per-forming numerous hajj and umrahsin the land which is under the tute-lage of foreign powers.

Hajj under these circumstancesbecomes shirk; hajj that strengthensthe hands of the shayateen is worsethan idol-worship. It’s got to be sus-pended until Arabia is ruled by truebelievers.

It must be noted that all thisbloodshed in Muslim lands is notfor preserving the purity of Islam.Islam is just used as a cover. It is topreserve the hegemony of the Saudimonarchy.

Smiley (pseudonym)Johannesburg

LETTERS TO THE EDITORLETTERS TO THE EDITOR

IPSA 5th AnnualWasatiyah

Symposium seriesDue to space constraints,Aslam Farouk-Ali’s paper,‘Sectarianism in contemporarySyria – towards an understanding’, will be published in our April 2014edition.

Write to: The Editore-mail: editor@mviews.co.za

MORE LETTERS PAGE 21

Muslim Views

Muslim Views . March 201420

Muslim Views

Muslim Views . March 2014 21

Educate the children, boysand girlsON a regular basis I assist womenwhose husbands have died or whohave divorced them. They visit myoffice because their water or electricity has been cut or themunicipality has sent intimidatingfinal notices, and these women donot know what to do.

After a decade in the Social Wel-fare Department of the MuslimJudicial Council, and 15 years inlocal government, I consider theunder-education of females as oneof the greatest threats to the futurewell-being of the Muslim ummah inCape Town.

I consider those who discouragethe holistic education of womenfolkas a nemesis of this community.

Recently, a woman approachedmy office with a substantial(R100 000) municipal debt. Herhusband died a few years earlier.

While the husband was in theprocess of dying, his wife wasassured by his family that theywould financially care for her andthe children as her husband wasbeloved by them.

After a few years, the wife,because of witlessness, kept onpassing the municipal accounts tomembers of the late husband’s fam-ily. Unknown to her, the accountswere never paid. When the munici-pality eventually cut the water, themother with four children realisedher dilemma.

At my office, the woman wastearful as she never had a formaljob and her only son, who was sup-porting the family, wanted to marry

and move on to live his life.While the woman praised her

late husband, she could not explainwhy his family had made deceitfulassurances.

Since the woman had no qualifi-cation or work experience, I wasleft wondering who is responsiblefor maintaining this family, finan-cially.

Although I was able to help herwith an arrangement or the deletionof the account through the installa-tion of a water meter, that was trulythe least of her problems.

Perhaps the words of the authorMartha Beck reflect this woman’ssituation best: ‘Emotional discom-fort, when accepted, rises, crestsand falls in a series of waves. Eachwave washes a part of us away anddeposits treasures we never imag-ined. Out goes naiveté, in comeswisdom; out goes anger, in comesdiscernment; out goes despair, incomes kindness. No one would callit easy, but the rhythm of emotion-al pain that we learn to tolerate isnatural, constructive and expan-sive. The pain leaves you healthierthan it found you.’

After 30 years of marriage, thisfifty-something woman with chil-dren was financially on her own.Her only son was anxious to moveon but could not as he was hismother’s only financial support.

Those of us who have daughtersmust think carefully. Those whodiscourage the holistic education offemales must bear the consequencesof their words.

By providing our children, maleand females, with skills or qualifi-cations, life may be easier. In theend, Allah knows best.

Cllr Yagyah AdamsCape Muslim Congress

Good mannerslackingI AM a man who is, God willing,striving to cling to the Creatorwho made me and, by the way,who made the Creation as well.Anyway, I feel I was guided to saythat.

Whether it is the Shariah lawyou follow, the Christian Gospelsor the Law of Moses, keep strivingto have good manners and etiquettebecause this seems to be lacking insociety.

If you follow the scriptures ofdifferent religions then you will seethat humility also plays a part, andGod Almighty does not have timefor arrogant, haughty, ‘nose in theair’ people.

Yes, He is Merciful but Heresists the proud and gives Grace tothe humble.

Follow the prophets and be likethem: humble. They weren’tpushovers but asserted themselvesagainst all those that came upagainst them.

Christians, Muslims and Jews:stop thinking that you are some-times better than other people andfaiths.

What’s the use you are in flow-ing robes like the Pharisees in Jesus’time and you preach the finerpoints of the Law or Shariah yet weare hypocrites and arrogant withoutward ostentation, pulling thewool over people’s eyes.

Also, there are those who greettheir Muslim brother with ‘salaam’and not his Christian friend stand-ing next to him. Not even a ‘hello’.Bad manners. I have also experi-enced where I greeted people threeor four times in total and they just

don’t greet back.I’m sure in Islam there is cour-

tesy.People, let’s pray for humility

and good manners in our lives, andmay we ask God to help us strive inthe image of the prophets, peace beupon them all.

God bless you all to success.Salaam. Shalom. Peace.

Kenneth SellarCape Town

Let the poorinherit the earthTHE latest international cricketsaga should make it obvious toany thinking person what the rootcause of social ills are in developedand developing countries globally– the general public, all over theworld, has been turned into ‘Enter-tainment Junkies’ (EJ) by themedia, and corporations.

In the latest episode, India, Eng-land and Australia have managedto secure themselves ‘top dog’ sta-tus in international cricket, therebyensuring that the largest share ofrevenue derived from the game willbe channelled to them, especiallyIndia, with the highest number offanatical cricket followers.

This autocratic move is madepossible because the general publicis so gullible for entertainment, andis in line with trends in football,baseball, basketball – in fact allmajor spectator sports codes.

How does this impact on thesocial fabric?

The insane amounts of moneyinvolved in remunerating sport‘superstars’ boggle the mind, andthey generally live lives of indul-gence and extravagance.

Multinational corporations forkout sinful amounts in sponsorshipto these ‘celebrities’ in return formedia exposure and advertisingmileage.

‘So what? It’s their money, andthey can do whatever they want

with it’, is the usual reaction fromEJs. And because of this mindset,the proletarians will forever beprotesting for living wages, betterliving conditions, basic services.

Until an organisation is born,brave enough to confront this glob-al curse, the rest of the world willbe barking up wrong trees.

Sulaiman MarthezeMitchells Plain

Not Muslim sonot a terroristIT had all the makings of an act ofterrorism: the hijacking of a planeby a lone (non-Muslim) dissidentfrom the troubled Ukraine duringthe Winter Olympics in Sochi!

His apprehension by TurkishMuslim soldiers almost ‘nullified’the act as one of terror; an article inthat country’s papers does not referto him as a ‘terrorist’ even thoughthreatening to blow up a plane inorder to make a political statementis clearly terrorism by most defini-tions of the word.

Now it is being said that he wasvery drunk. Next? The Ukrainianhijacker is mentally unbalanced.

But Muslims who act in thiscrazy way are never viewed as trou-bled loners even when it seems pret-ty obvious!

That the Turks are among theheroes of this story won’t be men-tioned explicitly either. After all, thecountry is a predominantly Muslimstate!

If the hijacker had been a Mus-lim, the press would certainly havedeclared him a terrorist and the factthat he threatened to bomb theplane would not have been takenlightly!

The definition of terrorism isnow dependent on who is culpable;its delineation, by Western yard-sticks, obviously clear!

AR ModakJohannesburg

LETTERS TO THE EDITORLETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Muslim Views

Muslim Views . March 201422

10km Big Walk marks 15th anniversaryThe 15th anniversary of the Big Walk took place on Sunday, March 2, 2014. The event started at Cape

Town Stadium, and a special feature of this year’s walk was the tribute to the legacy of Nelson Mandela.Trevor Manuel, the Minister in the Presidency in charge of the National Planning Commission,attended the Big Walk and gave the walkers atthe start an enthusiastic send-off. Photo LUCAS Afieya Mohamed, Moerida Abrahams and Rufeeka

Mohamed were jubilant as they were doing theten kilometre walk along the Sea Point beachfront. Photo SHARIEF JAFFER

Walkers pass the9km mark on theirreturn to GreenPoint Track forthe festivities ofentertainment andlucky draw prizesafter the event.

Photo LUCAS

Muslim Views

Muslim Views . March 2014 23

DR AUWAIS RAFUDEENIN the midst of the current capitalist crisis, how do we thinkabout economics from an Islamicpoint of view?

For Malaysian thinker, Profes-sor Adi Setia, this would requireus to radically overhaul the wholenotion of economics as it nowstands.

In contrast to the profit-driven,individualist ethos of neo-liberal-ism, Setia proposes an ‘Islamicgift economy’ where the focus ison mutual giving and receivingfor the purpose of material andspiritual well-being.

The notion of an Islamic GiftEconomy (IGE) is grounded inIslam’s understanding of realityand its view of human nature.

In the Islamic understanding ofreality, the world’s physical andcultural resources are abundantand unending as Allah is the con-stant Giver and the One Whorenews His creation.

As for human nature, Islambelieves that human needs anddesires are limited and should belimited in order to bring out andnurture the spiritual self in thehuman being.

And so, IGE fundamentallycontrasts with two assumptionsof modern economics. The firstassumption is that the world’sresources are scarce and limited.Underlying this assumption is thebelief that God is absent from theworld.

The second assumption of con-temporary economics is that thehuman being seeks to fulfil hisdesires, and this search for fulfil-ment leads to the creation of ever-

new wants.At the bottom of this assump-

tion is the belief that the humanbeing is a purely physical entity.There is no spiritual core thatneeds to be cultivated by puttingrestraints on desires.

It is difficult to over-emphasisethe importance of these funda-mental divergences between IGEand contemporary economics.IGE is calling to a whole differentworldview, one that requires us tospiritualise economics.

It is more radical than Marx-ism because, despite their differ-ent economic models, Marxismstill shares the same assumptionsabout reality and human naturethat inform capitalism.

In this spiritual economics,because the human knows thatthe world’s resources are abun-dant, he or she takes in accor-dance only with their need.

In addition, they know that ifthey show thankfulness to Allahfor fulfilling their needs, Hegrants them even more out of HisAbundance. In contemporaryeconomics, on the other hand,anxiety over assumed scarcity andlimited resources feeds the sins ofgreed and accumulation.

For Setia, Muslims need toprofoundly and creatively reflecton Islam’s view of reality and itsview of human nature whenentering the economic domain.

It is only in this way that it canprosper on its own principleswhile still maintaining a construc-tive engagement with Westerneconomic thought.

In the absence of such reflec-tion, it will be merely co-opted,whether it knows it or not, into

the current neo-liberal main-stream which Setia believes haslargely happened with today’sIslamic banking and finance sec-tors.

Setia’s criticisms of Islamicbanking and finance veer towardsthe technical, and are best left toexperts in that field to evaluate.Briefly, he sees Islamic bankingand finance as tied to the broaderinternational practice of fraction-al reserve banking, and so it isstill fundamentally interest-basedand driven by high profit mar-gins.

He also believes that Islamicbanking is market-driven and sois out of step with traditionalIslamic economics which has, bynature, been voluntary, commu-nal and devotional.

Whatever specialists in thesefields may think of Setia’s criti-cisms, his broader point is welltaken: Islamic banking andfinance has not emerged to chal-lenge neo-liberalism, and almostappears complicit with it.

For this reason alone theindustry should do some seriousself-introspection about its under-lying goals and motives.

The elements of an alternativeSo much for the underlying

principles of the Islamic Gift

Economy. But what are its ele-ments?

As indicated earlier, Setiadefines IGE as ‘the sharing, mutu-al giving and receiving, of naturaland cultural abundance to pro-mote material and spiritual well-being’.

This definition locates its rootsin the way Islam has traditionallytalked about economic activity.

In the traditional perspectivethere is an emphasis on the notionof giving – or, better still, ‘gifting’– rather than taking as shown in arange of concepts such as waqf(endowment), wasiyyah(bequest), sadaqah, hibah andhadiyah (‘gift’).

And so the traditional purposeof economic activity in Islam wasto serve the communal/ publicrather than individual/ privateinterests. And even legitimate pri-vate interests were subject tobroader public interest; in theshariah, communal interests takeprecedence over private interests.

An Islamic Gift Economywould revive and reinvigorate theapplication of these concepts insociety. They wouldn’t just be aninteresting, grudging aside to eco-nomic activity in Muslim societyas is now the case.

On the contrary, they wouldconstitute the very forefront ofsuch economic activity. And, in sodoing, their communally drivenfocus would challenge the foun-dational individual-centredness ofneo-liberalism.

Waqf, for example, is by itsvery nature a ‘pouring-out’ ofwealth in contrast to ‘trickledown’ neo-liberalism – which, asSetia notes, really means cream

for the rich and crumbs for thepoor.

It is also a firm Islamic beliefthat ‘giving’ or ‘gifting’ neverdeprives the giver. On the con-trary, he or she stands to receiveboth materially and spiritually forthis act of giving.

If giving and gifting withoutulterior motives become part andparcel of Muslim consciousnessthen no one will be left out of thismutual giving and receiving.

Reciprocity becomes the hall-mark of Muslim social life. As theQuran says, ‘And whatsoevergood thing you spend, it will berepaid to you in full, and you willnot be wronged.’ (2:272)

Setia points to the fact that wefind many examples of a gifteconomy in traditional societies,in general.

And even in the West, in Amer-ican frontier life for example, wecan find outstanding examples ofsuch community-based reciproci-ty.

More tellingly, though, is thefact that a number of economistsin the West are radically rethink-ing the paradigm on which mod-ern economics rest.

Frightening global inequality,the spiralling costs of even basicnecessities and large-scale envi-ronmental devastation means thatthey are calling to more sustain-able, more local and more com-munal ways of doing economics.

For Setia, Muslims would dowell to engage in a constructivedialogue with such perspectives. Dr Rafudeen is senior lecturer inthe Department of ReligiousStudies and Arabic at Universityof South Africa (UNISA).

Towards a radical economics… Islamic banking is market-driven and so is out of step with traditionalIslamic economics whichhas, by nature, been voluntary, communal and devotional

Muslim Views

Muslim Views . March 201424

THE high unemployment rate amongst South Africans paints a bleak picture for theyouth of today.

Employers are reluctant to hire untrained and unskilled candidates due to the risksattached. These include substantial costs in respect of training and induction programmes.

The employer also runs the risks that employees will have a poor work ethic and notbe suitable for the relevant job.

Government attempts to address this problem by providing young and inexperiencedjob seekers the opportunity to equip themselves with the necessary skills to actively par-ticipate in economic activity with the implementation of the Employment Tax IncentiveBill, which became effective on January 1, 2014.

The Employment Tax Incentive was designed to encourage employers to hire young andless experienced job seekers by reducing the cost to employers through a cost-sharingmechanism with government.

The aim of this incentive is to develop young employees in order for them to contributemeaningfully to drive the economy forward.

The employer and the employee need to meet certain criteria in order to qualify for theincentive.

An employer is eligible to receive the Employment Tax Incentive if the employer:l is registered for the purposes of withholding and payment of employees’ tax (PAYE);l is not in the national, provincial or local sphere of government;l is not a public entity listed in schedule 2 or 3 of the Public Finance Management Act,

other than those public entities that the Minister of Finance may designate by notice inthe Gazette;

l is not a municipal entity;l is not disqualified by the Minister of Finance due to displacement of an employee or by

not meeting such conditions as prescribed by the Minister.An employee is a qualifying employee if the employee:

l has a valid South African ID or asylum seeker permit;l is between the ages of 18 and 29;l works for an employer in a special economic zone as indicated by the finance minister

in the Government Gazette or works in an industry which has been indicated by thefinance minister in consultation with the Ministers of Labour, and Trade and Industry(the age limit is not applicable in these instances);

l is not a domestic worker;l was employed by the employer or an associated person to the employer on or after

October 1, 2013 andl is not an employee in respect of whom an employer is ineligible to receive the incentive

as the employee is remunerated below the minimum wage or paid a wage below R2 000per month where minimum wage is not applicable.The Employment Tax Incentive can be claimed from January 1, 2014, and there is no

limit on the number of qualifying employees that an employer can claim the incentive for.Employers registered for employees’ tax purposes will be able to utilise the incentive by

reducing the employees’ tax payable in that month by the incentive amount.If the incentive exceeds the employees’ tax otherwise due in a particular month, an

employer will be allowed to carry the excess amount forward to the next month withincertain limits.

The amount claimable by the employer would have to be calculated on a monthly basis,based on the table below:

The following example illustrates the effect of the above on an employer’s monthlyPAYE liability:

Company A appoints three staff members from January 1, 2014, with a monthly remu-neration of R3 500 and two staff members with a monthly remuneration of R5 500 each.

All employees are South African residents and are qualifying employees in respect of theEmployment Incentive Tax. The employees’ tax payable for the month of January, for theentire staff complement of the company, amounts to R17 500.

This incentive is available to qualifying employers until December 31, 2016, where itseffectiveness will be reviewed to determine whether to continue with this incentive.This article is intended for information purposes only and should not be considered as alegal document. If you are in doubt about any information in this article or require anyadvice on Provisional tax payments, please do not hesitate to contact Nexia SAB&TTax department at 021 596 5400.

Employment Tax Incentiveencourages jobs for young people

Focus on Finance

HASSEN KAJIE, CA (SA), a director of NEXIA SAB&T, based in the CapeTown office, and WALIED HEYNES, CA (SA), Technical Manager at NEXIASAB&T, explain how the recently enacted Employment Tax Incentive Billoffers rewards to employers for hiring young job seekers.

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

Walied Heynes is Technical Manager in the CapeTown office of Nexia SAB&T.

Advertising Booking DeadlinesPublication Date Booking Date11 April 2014 24 March 2014

16 May 2014 29 April 2014

Ramadaan edition:20 June 2014 2 June 2014

Eid-ul-Fitr edition:25 July 2014 7 July 2014

Muslim Views

Muslim Views . March 2014 25

MAJDI RYKLIEFQURANIC injunctions and aperfect prophetic example dictateevery aspect of a Muslim’s life,and these include all economicinteractions he or she undertakesas well.

Whether it is the social respon-sibility of zakaah or sadaqah, theencouragement of entrepreneurialspirit through fair trade, the out-lawing of usury (interest), the exe-cution of the law of inheritance,the rules of accepting and gran-ting a loan or other matters, Mus-lims are encouraged (and expect-ed) to conduct all these within thebest framework possible, withinthe confines of the shariah.

Waqf is another economicbehaviour encouraged by thismoral and religious law.

As explained in previous edi-tions, a waqf – from the rootwaqafa meaning ‘to cause a thingto stop’ or ‘be confined’ – may bedefined as holding an asset andpreventing its disposal, for thepurpose of repeatedly extractingits usufruct for the benefit ofhumanity.

In other words, waqf means toprevent the usage and discardingof any asset from which one canderive some charitable benefit orcan use its proceeds for widersocietal needs.

For many South African Mus-lims, the notion of waqf is con-fined to everyday examples likethe establishment and manage-ment of masajid, madaris, muslimschools, libraries, hospitals, foun-tains and roads. All these, by theirnature, are immovable properties.

Cash waqfs inthe Ottoman Empire

One type of waqf rarely men-tioned is the Cash Waqf or Awqafal Nuqud and, as the nameimplies, its corpus consists entire-ly of cash.

This type of waqf was uniqueto the Ottoman Empire as it wasdeemed permissible by the Hanafischolars of that era even thoughmany initially objected as they feltthat the endowment should beimmovable.

Research trio Cengiz Toraman,Sinan Yilmaz and ProfessorBedriye Tuncsiper write that theOttoman courts ‘approved thisform of endowment as from thebeginning of the 15th century andby the end of the following centu-ry, they had reportedly becomeextremely popular all over Anato-lia and the European provinces ofthe Empire’.

In a society where education,health, security and food produc-tion were financed by endow-ments, the Cash Waqfs, writes DrMurat Çizakca, carried seriousimplications for the very survivalof the Ottoman social structure.‘Moreover, they were instrumen-tal in the emergence of a legallysanctioned and widespreadmoney market,’ he wrote.

Modern day Cash Waqf modelsA revival of the Cash Waqf or

Waqf al Nuqud model has beenwitnessed in the 21st century asmany Muslim and Muslim-minority countries have launchednew and innovative ways toinvest in social empowerment

projects.Different Cash Waqf models

have been introduced, of whichthe more popular ones are theWaqf Shared Model, the Corpo-rate Cash Waqf and the DepositProduct Model.

According to Waqf expert DrMagda Mohsin, in the case of theWaqf Shares model, founders(people intending to make awaqf) would buy shares in a fundfrom a religious institution atprices that are specific to thatcountry and will then receive awaqf share certificate.

The institution to which theendowment is entrusted will thenact as mutawalli (overseer ofaffairs) to manage the collectedfund.

Finally, writes Mohsin, ‘Thecollected fund will then be dis-tributed to charitable purposes asspecified by the institution itselfe.g. building mosques, schools,training centres, etc.’

This model has proven to bepopular in Kuwait, the UnitedKingdom, Sudan, Malaysia,South Africa and Indonesia.

The Corporate Cash Waqf isanother example of a modern dayWaqf al Nuqud, one of the mod-els that the Awqaf Foundation ofSouth Africa (AWQAFSA) uses.

In the case of the corporatefund, the founder could either bean individual or corporate entitylooking to invest in social causes.Dividends on investment aredonated to a waqf institution in aCash Waqf.

The institution the corporatechooses assumes the role of themutawalli to manage the fund.

After deducting operational costsand expenses, revenues will thenbe forwarded to charitable caus-es.

The Deposit Product modeldiffers from the other two in thatfounders are able to directlydeposit into a Cash Waqf accountat a bank and thereafter choosefrom a list of beneficiaries towhom he or she wishes to donate.

Here, the bank takes theresponsibility of the mutawalliand will invest the capital throughMudaraba Contract and revenueswill only be channeled to benefi-ciaries that the founder chose.

Make a Cash Waqf todayWaqf al Nuqud or the Cash

Waqf is considered the easiestform of waqf in which to partici-pate as cash may be donateddirectly to organisations involvedor it may be deducted from sav-ings accounts.

Whether you are an individualor corporate, affluent or strug-gling to make ends meet, you toocan participate in this public waqfscheme.

AWQAFSA affords you theopportunity to donate cash, prop-erty, shares or any other assettowards a project of your liking.

All these forms of waqf,including cash waqf or Waqf alNuqud can play an importantrole in the social upliftment ofSouth Africa’s indigent massesand the ummah.

By contributing these forms ofwaqf to a vital cause, you willensure that our collective aims foran economically and spirituallyprosperous society could be

attained, Insha Allah.Majdi Ryklief is a member ofAWQAFSA.

The cash waqf: from Ottoman era origins to modern day applicationAWQAF - promoting self-reliance and sustainability

IN keeping with AwqafSA’s educativeand developmentalfunction, a new

Leadership workshopwill be held on

Saturday, March 8,2014, from 9am to

12.30, at the ExecutiveSuites, KromboomRoad, RondeboschEast, Cape Town.

With its primary focuson financial

management andresponsible spending,

this workshop is gearedtowards the youth whofind themselves in an

increasingly materialistic and capitalist world.

All interested partiesare welcome to contact

the offices at (021) 697 3556 oremail us at awqaf-

cape@awqafsa.org.zafor more details.

Muslim Views

Muslim Views . March 201426

SHAMEEM BRAYTHE National Police Aid Convoys (NPAC), a UK-basedrelief organisation, has contributed a consignment ofdevelopment aid, which MuslimHands received on January 28,this year.

The items received includedschool equipment, blankets,office, medical and sport equip-ment, and toys for children. Thegoods were intended for schoolsand the needy in South Africa,with the aim of assisting witheducation and alleviating poverty.

Muslim Hands did a needsassessment to ascertain whichschools and organisations are inneed of the goods received.

We were not able to include allthe organisations that are in needin the Western Cape due to theamount of items that werereceived; we do, however, hope toreach out to the other organisa-tions with our next consignment,Insha Allah.

The goods were distributed tothe following schools and organi-sations:l Oranje Kloof Primary School,

in Hout Bay, were given 78school desks, 62 chairs, 17tables, 6 book shelves, educa-tional books, two bags of sportequipment, notice boards,white boards and A4 whitepaper.

l Oranje Kloof Primary, a non-fees school, is situated in theoutskirts of Cape Town and isdependent on donations to ful-fil their day-to-day require-ments.

l St John Ambulance receivedfirst-aid bags, zimmer frames(walking aids), A4 paper andstationery to assist them withtheir training courses.

l Beitul Ansaar, in MitchellsPlain, was given toys and edu-cational games for the chil-dren’s cognitive and socialdevelopment.

l Goodhope Educare receivedtables, chairs, toys and educa-tional games for children.

l Rylands High School, inGatesville, received boxes ofA4 paper and chairs for thestaffroom.

l Kensington Home for theAged, in Kensington, CapeTown, received chairs for theelderly.

l Mary Harding, in Athlone,received boxes of A4 paperand stationery for the class-rooms.

l Eros School, in Bridgetown,received boxes of A4 paperand stationery for their stu-dents.

l Johnson Road Kabrstan(maqbara), in Rylands,received filing cabinets foradministration use, and gazebocoverings to provide shelterfrom the rain or sun duringburial services. The items werereceived by the manager of theMuslim cemetery.

l Saartjie Baartman Centre, inAthlone, received toys, sportequipment and blankets fortheir shelter for abused womenand children.

l Help the Rural Child, in Mow-bray, received educationalbooks for the children.The schools and all recipients

expressed immense gratitude andappreciation to Muslim HandsSA and UK for the items that they

received, and conveyed that theitems would facilitate them toprovide better education.

The principal of Rylands HighSchool, Mr Pillay, expressed hisgratitude in an email to MuslimHands saying, ‘We feel truly hum-bled and simultaneously specialthat we have been chosen to bethe fortunate recipients of yourcherished gesture.’

All organisations, old-agehomes, shelters, schools, orphan-ages and ambulances that wereassisted by Muslim Hands were indire need of these goods andequipment as they are not sub-sidised by government and arealways in need of new equipment.

The recipients were grateful forthe donations from MuslimHands and NPAC, and expressedthat they would be utilising theitems to enhance their facilitiesand build their capacity.

Muslim Hands SA and all the

recipients of this aid programmewould like to express their sinceregratitude to NPAC and wouldlike to appreciate their efforts forthe immense contributiontowards improving education andreducing poverty in and aroundCape Town.

We hope that National PoliceAid Convoys (NPAC) from theUK will continue assisting us withour community development pro-gramme.

Muslim Hands SA would alsolike to place on record our sinceregratitude and thanks to MrNazeem Fritz and staff of theCool Chain Group for their kindassistance with the clearance ofthe container received from theUnited Kingdom.Contact Muslim Hands today on021 633 6413 or visit:www.muslimhands.org.zaFacebook: muslimhandsSATwitter: muslimhandsSA

- ADVERTISEMENT FEATURE -Muslim Hands Community Development Programme

Staff at Rylands High School, in Athlone, making an inventory of the chairsreceived for the staffroom. Muslim Hands also handed over printing paper onbehalf of National Police Aid Convoys, a UK-based relief organisation.

Photo AMEER SAMSODIEN

Staff of St John’s Ambulance Services with some of the material that was handed over by Muslim Hands on behalf of the UK-based relief organisation,National Police Aid Convoys. Photo AMEER SAMSODIEN

Muslim Views

Muslim Views . March 2014 27

Muslim Views

Muslim Views . March 201428

The onus is on us to lift ourselves from the darkabyss of spiritual bankruptcy and immorality,advises SHAIKH ABDURAGMAAN ALEXANDER.

ALL praise and glory are dueto Almighty Allah, the Sov-ereign of the entire uni-

verse.There is no other being who

can create the majestic moun-tains, the vast oceans, the variedcolours of flowers, plants andtrees.

He sent His beloved Messen-ger, Nabi Muhammad (SAW) asHis ambassador to establishtauhid, justice and world peace.

The world today is bleedingand in global turmoil. We witnesspain, suffering and mass conflictbecause of the godless state inwhich humanity finds itself today.Our youth are trapped in the rutof gangsterism, drugs andSatanism. The world is crying outfor healing.

Allah says in His GloriousQuran: ‘O you who believe! Saveyourselves and your families froma fire whose fuel are men andstone…’

O Muslims, the onus is on usto lift ourselves from the darkabyss of spiritual bankruptcy andimmorality. We have the supremeguidance of the Glorious Quranand the noble teachings and sun-nah of our illustrious master,Nabi Muhammad (SAW).

What better mentors can wehave than those who were shapedand moulded by the university ofMuhammadu Rasool-Allah?

One such mentor is HazratAbdullah Ibn Abbas (RA). Hewas the second son of a wealthymerchant, Abbas ibn Abdul-Mut-talib, thus he was called ‘IbnAbbas’ – the son of Abbas.

The mother of Ibn Abbas wasUmm al-Fadl Lubaba, who pridedherself on being the secondwoman who converted to Islamon the same day as her closefriend, Khadijah bint Khuwaylid,Nabi Muhammad’s (SAW) firstwife.

Ibn Abbas was born threeyears before the Hijrah and hismother took him to NabiMuhammad (SAW) before he hadbegun to suckle. Prophet Muham-mad (SAW) put some of hisblessed saliva on the newborn’stongue, and that was the begin-ning of the close relationshipbetween them.

While growing up, he was bythe Prophet’s side doing differentservices like fetching water forablution. He would follow himon his assemblies, journeys andexpeditions. Nabi Muhammad(SAW) would often draw himclose, pat him on the shoulderand pray, ‘O Allah, teach him (theknowledge of) Al-Quran.’

Ibn Abbas devoted his life tothe pursuit of learning andknowledge. He thus became oneof the greatest ulama whom Islamproduced. He is also known as

Ra-eesul-Mufassireen (The Mostlearned interpreter of the Quran).

The advice of Hazrat Abdullah Ibn Abbas (RA)A man came to Ibn Abbas and

asked, ‘Kindly give me the bestadvice.’

Ibn Abbas replied, ‘Adhere toeight things and you will be onthe right path.1. ‘Imbibe those good actions inyour life which will draw thedivine grace and protection ofAllah on you.’ A life of gooddeeds brings blessings, while evilactions incur misery.2. ‘Always ponder on theapproach of the Akhirah.’ Theafter-life is rapidly approaching.Every move of the hands of theclock is a tick closer to the end ofthis worldly life.3. ‘Fulfil the obligatory worshipof Allah on its appointed time.’This is based on the Propheticteaching that the best action is toperform salaah in its appointedtime.4. ‘Always keep your tongue wetwith the dhikr (remembrance) ofAllah. Allah declares in His HolyBook that the dhikr of Allah is thegreatest.Those who remember Allah,Allah will mention them in theaugust gatherings of the angels.The Prophet (SAW) also taught usthat everything has a polish tocleanse it, and the polish of theheart is the dhikr of Allah.5. ‘Never befriend Shaitaan as heis the envious enemy of

humankind. We need to realisethat the evil Satan does not havegoodwill for humanity. Allahwarns us in the Quran not toworship the Devil nor care for hisevil whispering as he is ourdevout enemy.6. ‘Do not become attached tothis dunya as it will destroy yourachievement of success in theAkhirah.’Hazrat Luqman (AS) warned hisson while advising him, ‘My son,this world is a deep ocean andmany people have drowned andperished in its pursuit. Allah tellsus that this world is nothing butfutile game and deceit. Pray toAllah to grant us only the good ofthis world in order to achieve theultimate good of the hereafter.’7. ‘Always be merciful and give

good counsel to fellow Muslims.’Prophet Muhammad (SAW)taught that a Muslim is a brother/sister to another Muslim. Mus-lims are not sincere in faith unlessthey mutually love each other. Bemerciful to each other and theCreator will show mercy to you.8. ‘Always be mindful of death.’There is no assurance of anythingexcept that every soul will tastedeath. None will escape the icygrip of Malakul-Maut. We comefrom Allah and unto Him is ourultimate return.

We pray that Allah will grantus the ability to construct ourlives on the path of righteousnessand His divine obedience and wepray for world peace, love, mercyand justice, ameen.

Jumuah mubarak!

FROM THE MIMBARFROM THE MIMBAR

Photo OSMAN KHAN

Advice from one close to the Nabi (SAW)

IBRAHIM OKSAS and NAZEEMA AHMED

THIS article forms part of aseries in which we willfocus on understanding the

meaning of the following ayahsin Surah Al-Isra and Surah Al-Hajj as eloquently expoundedby Bediuzzaman Said Nursi inhis contemporary Qur’anic tafsirRisale-i Nur.

‘The seven heavens and theearth, and everyone in them glori-fy Him with praise but you do notunderstand their glorification,’and ‘Do you not see that everyonein the heavens and everyone onthe earth prostrate to Allah, andthe sun and the moon and starsand the mountains, trees andbeasts and many of humankind?’

Since the aforementioned ayahstarts with the heavens, in theprevious article, we looked at theway in which the heavens andeverything it contains glorifyAllah Almighty.

Bediuzzaman states that fromthese ayahs we can see that theAll-Wise Quran states directlythat everything, from the heavensto the earth, from angels to fishes,prostrate, worship, praise andglorify Almighty Allah. But theibadah of the different forms ofcreation differs.

When considering the earthand its glorification, Bediuzza-man brings the matter closer toour understanding by drawingour attention to the creation anddeployment of animate beings in

spring.During spring, hundreds of

thousands of species emerge, andthey are then nurtured in the mostmerciful fashion; wings are givento some of the seeds, they takeflight and are thus dispersed.They are distributed, and mostcarefully fed and nurtured.

Thus, countless tasty and deli-cious fruit and vegetables arebrought forth in the most merci-ful fashion, from clay and fromroots, seeds and drops of liquidthat differ little from one another.

The sending of nutritious milkto the animal young and toinfants, is but one instance ofmercy and wisdom that immedi-ately establishes itself as a tendermanifestation of the mercy andgenerosity of the Merciful andCompassionate One.

So, from Allah Almighty’s cre-ation in spring we can observe ahundred thousand examples ofthe Supreme Gathering, and it is atangible demonstration of theayah in Surah Ar-Rum: ‘So lookto the signs of Allah’s Mercy: howHe gives life to the earth after itsdeath for verily it is He who giveslife to the dead, and He haspower over all things.’

Bediuzzaman conveys that thisayah may be said to express themeaning of the events in spring.Furthermore, he says that fromthis we can understand that theearth together with all the cre-ation that it contains proclaimsthrough all those creations:‘There is no god but He.’

He next draws our attention tothe seas which are constantlysurging, merging and pouringforth. They surround the earthand, together with the earth,revolve, extremely swiftly, in acircle of twenty-five thousandyears in a single year.

Yet, the seas do not dispersenor do they overflow or encroachon the land contiguous to them.They move and stand still, andthey are protected by the Com-mand and Power of AllahAlmighty in a most powerful andmagnificent fashion. The actionsof the seas are their particularform of glorification to AllahAlmighty.

When we look to the depths ofthe sea, we observe that there arethousands of different kinds ofanimals, sustained and ordered,brought to life and caused to die,in such a disciplined fashion, andtheir provision coming from sandand salt water, that it unquestion-ably establishes the existence of aPowerful and Glorious, a Merci-ful Being administering and giv-ing them life and sustenance.

Bediuzzaman says that in look-ing at the rivers we see that thebenefits inherent in them, thefunctions they perform and theircontinual replenishment areinspired by such wisdom andmercy to prove that all rivers,springs, streams and great water-ways flow forth from the treasuryof mercy of the CompassionateOne, the Lord of Glory and Gen-erosity.

The river Nile, that turns thesandy land of Egypt into a par-adise, flows from the Mountainsof the Moon in the south withoutever being exhausted, as if it werea small sea.

If the water that flowed downthat river in six months weregathered together and frozen inthe form of a mountain, it wouldbe larger than those mountains.But the place in the mountainswhere the water is stored is lessthan a sixth of their mass.

The rain that enters the reser-voir of the river is very sparse inthat region and is quickly swal-lowed up by the thirsty soil so it isincapable of maintaining theequilibrium of the river.

Bediuzzaman shares with usthat a tradition has thus becomeestablished that the blessed Nileemerges, in miraculous fashion,from an unseen Paradise.

Bediuzzaman further says thatthe seas proclaim unanimously,‘There is no god but He,’ and pro-duce as witnesses to their testimo-ny all the creatures that inhabitthe seas. Bediuzzaman then focus-es on the mountains and theplains and comments that the uni-versal function and duty of moun-tains is of such grandeur and wis-dom as to stupefy our intelli-gence. The mountains emergefrom the earth by the commandof their Sustainer, thereby calmingthe turmoil that arises from dis-turbances within the earth.

As the mountains surgeupward, the earth begins to

breathe; it is delivered from harm-ful tremors and upheavals, and itstranquillity is no longer disturbedas it pursues its duty of rotation.

In the same way that masts areplaced on ships to protect themfrom turbulence and to preservetheir balance, so too mountainsare set up on the earth as masts,as indicated by ayahs of theQuran such as these in SurahsAn-Naba, Qaf and An-Naziat,respectively: ‘And the mountainsas pegs’, ‘And We have cast downanchors’, ‘And the mountains Heanchored them’.

Furthermore, there are storedup and preserved in the moun-tains all kinds of springs, waters,minerals and other materialsneeded by animate beings, in sucha wise, generous and foreseeingfashion that they prove that theyare the storehouses and ware-houses and servants of One pos-sessing infinite Power, One pos-sessing infinite Wisdom.

Bediuzzaman concludes bysaying that from this example theother duties and instances of wis-dom of the mountains and plainsshow that they give testimony toDivine Unity and they declare,‘There is no god but He’ – a dec-laration as powerful and firm asthe mountains, and as vast andexpansive as the plains. And sowe, too, should say, ‘I believe inAllah.’Insha-Allah, in the next articlewe will discuss the glorificationof trees and plants as well as animals and birds.

Light from the Qur’an

The glorification and praise of the earth

Muslim Views

Muslim Views . March 2014 29

JASMINE KHAN

THE teaching professionused to be one of thenoblest professions; to

undertake the responsibility ofeducating a child and enablingthat child to develop into aresponsible adult was the aspiration of everyone who choseto become a teacher.

Sadly, that is seldom the casetoday. Our education system is insuch a state that teachers are vili-fied and blamed for not doingtheir job.

In addition, we are faced withthe state’s insis-tence on loweringthe pass require-ments, pushinglearners to thenext grade despitethem not meetingthe lower require-ments, and evendoctoring exami-nation results togive a moreappealing picture.

Every year,more and morelearners are letloose on thelabour market toearn a living.Those who opt forfurther educationfind that most col-leges and universi-ties no longeraccept a Matriccertificate.

What is hap-pening in ourschools? Educa-tion is a triad,between learner,parent and educa-tor. Should one ofthese fall short intheir contribution,everything breaksdown.

In seekinganswers, I spoke to teachers atboth private (independentschools) and public schools.

A principal at one of the pri-vate schools explained that whena teacher does not complete a pre-scribed work for the year it is bychoice.

He says that Grades 10-12 is aphase and most teachers spreadthe work to be covered over twoyears and then revise in the lastyear.

This does not make sense;besides, in the case mentioned,the class does not have the sameEnglish teacher for grade 11.

The question parents should beasking is: does the new teacherknow that the learners did notcomplete the previous year’s pre-scribed work?

And what is being done aboutit? The principal furtherexplained the difficulties facinghigh schools when learners enterGrade 10, when the ball gamechanges drastically. Up to thatpoint, learners are assessed onassignments during the schoolyear, which counts for 75% oftheir overall mark, and only 25%is assessed in examinations.

From grade 10, examinations

count 75% of the mark, andclassroom assignments only 25%.He states that at his school theystart the examination ratio fromgrade 7 so that learners are com-petent to write examinations.

When I asked him what hap-pens when a learner enters theschool at grade 10, his answerwas that the learner is theninducted into the examinations byreceiving assistance in copingskills. Parents need to be aware ofthis so that they can ensure thatthe necessary induction is done.

According to the Department(WCED), if a learner has a prob-

lem coping with the work, theteacher has to put an interventionin place to assist; if this is notdone, the child has to progress tothe next grade. In view of theextra burden placed on theteacher who now has additionalwork after hours as well as thenumerous training workshops hehas to attend, most teachers justpass the learner along to the nextgrade without intervention orassistance.

In the public schools, I foundthat the teachers try as far as pos-sible to allow learners to dohomework in class so that the

teacher can monitor how thelearners cope. This may not bethe norm but from what I foundin my interviews, it seems thatteachers in public schools are farmore interested in ensuring thatlearners understand the work.

I know of one teacher at a pri-vate school who rolls her eyeswhen a learner asks her to explaina concept again or she exclaims,‘For God’s sake!’

At another public school, ateacher told me that at the start ofthe school year the principalinsists that the teachers knowevery child’s name; his contention

is that you cannot educate a childif you do not know who he is.

With the influx of children ofdifferent cultures into the schools,this causes a problem as most ofthe names are difficult to pro-nounce, added to which theselearners struggle with both Eng-lish and Afrikaans.

The solution, according to theprincipal of the private school, isthat these learners must writetheir final examinations in theirmother tongue. He gave an exam-ple of a very bright boy at hisschool who was struggling withEnglish and he suggested that the

learner write his Matric in hismother tongue. In fact, the schoolboard paid for him to be tutoredwith this in mind. The boy’smother insisted that he write inEnglish, and he failed.

The principal of a publicschool, with over thirty years inthe field of education, says that heempathises with the challengesfaced by the teachers but feel that,at the end of the day, it comesdown to how committed you areas a teacher. According to him,there is a difference between ateacher and an educator. Ateacher imparts knowledge; an

educator inspires and motivatesthe learner to move forward, towork with initiative.

The purpose is to guide thelearner in his development andgrowth into a responsible adult;one who will be an asset to hisfamily and to society. This, heaffirms, is what education is allabout; not feeding informationwhich will be regurgitated duringan examination.

Regarding intervention, hebelieves that learners should bemonitored on an ongoing basis; ithas to be part of the teachingprocess, not a separate issue. He

uses the exampleof purchasing acar, one manbuys a Mercedesand another buysa used Toyota.He says you can-not expect thesame perfor-mance from theToyota as youwould from thenew Mercedes.

The one willgive you asmooth ride; theother will need alot of mainte-nance to per-form. If we takethis analogy toschools then theprivate or inde-pendent school isthe Mercedesand the usedToyota is thepublic schools.

However, con-trary to expecta-tions, it wouldseem that theToyota is by farthe better ride,maybe because ithas an excellentteam of mainte-nance workers.

The Mercedes, on the other handdoes not go so smoothly. Thiscould be because it is expected togive top notch performance andtherefore no monitoring andmaintenance is done. The privateschool’s principal is not in favourof private tuition, he feels thatparents should leave the work tothe teachers; at his school they dooffer extra tuition for strugglinglearners. How effective this willbe is for parents to decide.This series will conclude withinput from parents and the viewsof an independent education consultant.

From Consciousness to Contentment

Education: behind the staffroom door

In the public schools, I found that the

teachers try as far as possible to allow learners

to do homework in class so that the teacher

can monitor how the learners cope. This may

not be the norm but from what I found in my

interviews, it seems that teachers in public

schools are far more interested in ensuring

that learners understand the work.

FOUZIA RYKLIEF

MANY parents, in theirattempts to ensure thattheir children perform

well at school, often go too farwhen assisting their children. Toensure that this is not the case,here are some general principles:

Recognise that schoolwork is the child’s responsibility

l Don’t take over: providehands-on assistance during theearly phase, gradually let goand express confidence in thechild’s ability to take responsi-bility.

l Provide resources and a pleas-ant environment for the childto study and do homework.

l Don’t overload the child withchores.

Join the team – this is a sureway to show you are interested

in your childl Make time to attend school

meetings; write a letter orphone if you can’t make meet-ings.

l Attend school events and getinvolved.

Homework and projectsIf children are given clear mes-

sages about homework from thebeginning, homework willbecome a habit.

If homework is not taken seri-ously, children will learn tobelieve that this will always be thecase.

It is best to establish a clearhomework routine from the firsttime your child starts gettinghomework.

How much help should be given?

This will depend on your child.If you know that your childunderstands the work and iscapable of doing it alone, leavehim to work alone.

Always check the work onceyour child is finished and help outwith concepts that he has notgrasped.

If he needs you to be with himall the time, work towards gettinghim to work independently withjust your company and occasion-al help.

What is important is to notoverly involve yourself in thehomework and certainly not todo the homework for your child.Homework should never be newwork – it is meant as a reinforce-

ment of work covered in class.For school projects, it is best to

get some guidelines from theschool as to how much theyexpect you to help. l Expect to help less rather than

more. Help should be given inthe form of support ratherthan it being of an activenature.

l Helping to read what is expect-ed, questioning your child’sunderstanding of the projectand helping with the planningshould be about all you need todo. Don’t take over the wholeplanning since this is probablypart of the skill set the teacheris trying to test.

l It is preferable that your childhands in the worst project thathe did all by himself, than thebest project that the parentsdid! Teachers will be able totell from previous workwhether or not your child hasdone the project alone.

l When helping, ask yourselfthis question: ‘By helping inthis way, am I teaching mychild some useful skills forfuture projects or am I teach-

ing him that he is not goodenough to do a project alone?’

Studying

Apart from spelling tests andnumeracy tests, the main studyingwill begin in Grade 4 with thefirst of the formal tests.

There are a number of thingsyou can do to help your childwith studying.l Planning and organisation is

the first step. Children writingtheir first formal tests do nothave any idea how to go aboutstudying or planning how to fitin all the subjects.

l Help your child set up a work-space. Equip it with studyingtools like highlighters, colourpens/ pencils, paper etc.

l Look at the test timetable andhelp set up a study timetablewith your child. Put it up onthe wall so the whole familycan see it, and support yourchild in sticking to it. Remem-ber to schedule in down-timeand exercise.

l Test your child – either verbal-ly or set a written test.

l Initially, the help you give yourchild will be quite a lot. How-ever, the time taken to explainstudy techniques early on paysdividends later on.

l Be sensitive to the studyingchild. Keep her work areaquiet and help her to stick toher study timetable.

When there is a problemWhen you notice from home-

work, the report or test resultsthat your child is struggling withsomething, discuss it with yourchild. Don’t nag and pressurisebut state your concerns.

Balance your expectations and,most important, don’t compareyour child, either negatively orpositively to other children in thefamily. Don’t wait, reach out tothe teacher.

When you receive a report thatthere is a problem with the child’sbehaviour try not to be defensive;recognise that your child may notbe right.

To teachers: first share posi-tives about the child then stateyour concerns; ask parents, ‘Doesthis also happen at home, and

how do you deal with it?’To parents: first listen to the

teacher; don’t jump to conclu-sions, blame or excuse; state yourconcerns respectfully.

See the meeting with theteacher as a process of sharinginformation about the child andjointly finding solutions.

In conclusion, remember thewords of encouragement thatfocus on effort and improvementcovered in an earlier article:‘It looks as if you really workedhard on that.’‘It looks as if you spent a lot oftime thinking that through.’‘I see that you’re moving along.’‘Look at the progress you’vemade!’ (be specific; say how)‘You’re improving in …’ (Be spe-cific)‘You may not feel that you’vereached your goal but look howfar you’ve come.’

If a child performs poorly, youremotional support is necessarybecause they need to feel that youare on their side.Fouzia Ryklief is a departmentalmanager at the Parent Centre, inWynberg, Cape Town.

Muslim Views

Muslim Views . March 201430

Positive and Effective ParentingThe parents’ role in the child’s schoolwork

Part 2: Intermediate phase, Grades 4 –7If he needs you to be with him all the time,

work towards getting him to work independently

with just your company and occasional help.

What is important is to not overly involve yourself

in the homework and certainly not to do the

homework for your child. Homework should

never be new work – it is meant as a

reinforcement of work covered in class.

Muslim Views

Muslim Views . March 2014 31

SAILING-SHIPS in full, billowing splendour have aninimitable mystique that

fascinates even those who havenever gone down to the sea inships.

With carved wooden prowsand tall masts that reach to clearblue skies, they tickle the cocklesof all who have tasted the piquantsalt of the sea.

When full white sails sing, andspirited bows slice emeraldwaters, these ships exude majestybeyond the charm of all modernocean-going craft.

Achmat and Shaheen Soni’s artgallery in Soni Avenue, Crawford,is a veritable Aladdin’s cave ofbright and brilliant calligraphyartworks that stun with theirluminosity and polished creativi-

ty. My visit there found studentshard at work; brush and paintsplashed canvases with geometriccalligraphy.

Incongruously ensconcedbetween the easels and canvasesloomed a huge canvas adornedwith an unfinished seascape of acluster of eighteenth-century sail-ing vessels raging in a gunpowderbattle.

It was a vista of death, gutsand glory.

Cannons boomed. Mastscreaked and crumbled.

Men screamed in agony, theirblood painting decks and wavesred. Here before me was the Bat-tle of Trafalgar, October 21,1812, in which one-armed Admi-ral Horatio Nelson of the Englishfleet defeated both the Napoleon-ic French navy and their alliedSpanish fleet.

At Cape Trafalgar, just south-west of Spain, the Franco-Spanishnavies lost twenty-two ships. TheBritish lost none.

Horatio Nelson was killed onhis ship, HMS Victory, by aFrench sniper. It is said that hisbody was preserved in a barrel ofdistilled brandy during a stormyvoyage of two and a half weeksback to Britain and subsequentburial in London’s St Paul’s

Cathedral.Of local interest, Admiral Hor-

atio Nelson once visited androusted in Simonstown. A smallhotel and bar in Simonstownmain road still bears his name.

On a small stool at the base ofthe extensive canvas sat a smartlydressed woman of indefinableage, a tiny brush and paint-smeared artist’s palette in hand.

‘This is Ms Zainulghoess’nAbrahams, and this canvas is thethird or fourth large canvas thatshe’s busy on,’ Achmat Soni intro-duced me to the diminutive artist.‘She loves painting theseseascapes.’

The in-progress painting of theBattle of Trafalgar by Ms Abra-hams was inspired by a magnifi-cent rendering of the naval battleof Trafalgar by Irishman Clark-son Stanfield (1793-1867).

Like Cape Town’s VladimirTretchikoff, Stanfield was once apainter of theatre backdrops.Tretchikoff specialised in green-faced ladies, Stanfield specialisedin sea-related art. His epic paint-ing of the Battle of Trafalgar canonly be described in one word: amasterpiece.

Salt River born, 58-year-oldMs Abrahams matriculated atTrafalgar High School and

obtained her Honours Degree inLibrarianship at University ofCape Town. For many years sheworked mainly in the Architec-ture Library of her alma mater,UCT.

In 2004, she saw a painting byAchmat Soni in Johannesburg,wanted to buy it but it was soldbefore she could put in her bid.

A friend advised that sheshould seemore ofAchmat’s workin Cape Town.Eight years agoshe did justthat, and gothooked onpainting as ahobby.

‘But, Icouldn’t evenhold a pencil,never mind apaint-brush,’Ms Abrahamsconfessed tome. ‘Well, I justsaid to myself,say Biesmillahand do it. I fin-ished my firstc a l l i g r a p h yp a i n t i n g ,Allah-Hu, onmy 50th birth-day, and therest, as theysay, is history.’

Her passionfor maritimepaintings isclear, andasked why, sheexplained, ‘Iwas inspired bya puzzle mysons assembledat our home inRobertson. Itwas a pictureof a marinebattle scene.

‘My sons egged me on to paintsomething like the picture theywere assembling.

That was my very first ship-painting, and it took me one year

and eight months to complete.‘When I took home the paint-

ing my two sons wanted to knowwho would inherit the painting!So, I just had to start anotherone.’

Under the mentorship ofAchmat Soni, she has completedmore than 18 other paintings,particularly of the orchids thatshe collects. Landscapes and flo-

ral art stillallures her butseascapes ruleher art passions.

And whatinstinctive forcedictates this loveof the sea and itsships?

Cape Town isvirtually sur-rounded by thesea.

It runs in ourblood. We comefrom the coastsof India and theIndonesian Isles;we are of theOrang laut, menof the sea.

Many of theold paintings ofCape Townshow Muslimssailing out in lit-tle sail-skiffs topassing three-masted galleonsand to peddletheir wares.

U m p t e e nsketches testifythat the Mus-lims of yester-year were ardentfishermen whoknew the sea.

They trek-netted fish andsold their catchto hungry locals.And they fear-

lessly harvested behemoth whalesfor the oil of their blubber to lightthe lamps of the town, and fortheir delectable meat to feedmany stomachs.

This they did with hand-heldharpoons in fragile little rowingboats.

I frequent Adiel’s MermaidFisheries in Belgravia Road. Hegets the freshest fish every day,weather permitting, and the bestare snapped up largely by thosewhose ancestors come from dis-tant Indian and Indonesianshores.

The wise early birds leave theleftovers for latecomers like me.

But Ms Abrahams has handsnot only for sea-water; she alsofashions clay and porcelain intofancy vessels and ornaments. Shehas an eye for contour and atouch for texture. ‘I do not likeglazing,’ said Ms Abrahams.‘Shape is important to me, colouris secondary.’

A large collection of art bookshelps Ms Abrahams to focus herart but she enjoys just readingabout ‘anything’ for that expandsher vision of the world andmankind beyond the large can-vases and the skies.

Ms Abrahams is fortunate tohave patient mentors in AchmatSoni and his son, Shaheen.

Painting on such a huge scalerequires not only technique butfortitude and determination tocomplete the challenge when, allaround, other artists and studentspore over your every stroke, andloud comments can stall anddemoralise sterling efforts.

In this endeavour one has to bevigilant, eagle-eyed for detail butdeaf to destructive criticism. Inthe end, the art-canvas will billowin the winds of one’s mind and theships will move on in the seas ofone’s soul.

On a smallstool at thebase of theextensivecanvas sata smartlydressedwoman ofindefinable

age, writes Doctor M C D’ARCY.

FOR ALLFOR ALL

Sailing theseas on canvas

Ms Zainulghoess’n Abrahams painting the Battle of Trafalgar.

Photo M C D’ARCY

‘I was

inspired by

a puzzle

my sons

assembled at

our home in

Robertson. It

was a picture

of a marine

battle scene.’

Muslim Views

32 Muslim Views . March 2014

ENVER HASSEN

MOEGAMMAD AllyHassen was born inFietas on December 22,

1926, and passed away on January 15, 2014, after a shortbattle with cancer.

Cricket was always close to hisheart and even through his illness,he remained interested in the hap-penings around the cricket world,always asking for an update of‘scores’.

He grew up in the very baddays of South African apartheidand his cricket was hugely influ-enced by his brother, Dout(Dawood) Hassen.

At a time when ‘non-White’schools were under resourced,when ‘non-White’ parents wereforced to eke out an existencethat occupied most of their ener-gy, Ally and his brother Doutlearned to play cricket on theirown.

In the school of many knocksand mistakes, Ally developed the

technique that made him an out-standing left-handed openingbatsman, and right-arm leg-breakbowler.

Ally was born and bred in‘Fietas’ or ‘Vrededorp’ (nowPageview), a thriving communitythat stretched from 1st street to30th street.

His loving wife, Zubeida, coin-cidentally, also grew up in thisarea, even though they met andmarried in Ottasdal, in 1960,when he was principal of the pri-mary school in Schweizer Reneke.In 1965, he moved to Standerton.

Cricket, in those days, wasplayed on matting wickets withunpredictable bounce and someof the bowlers they faced werequite quick and the batting condi-tions were often difficult, withatrocious ground conditions.

Ally played representativecricket for Transvaal (now Gaut-eng) ‘Coloureds’; he was the rep-resentative team’s opening bats-man and was noted for hisdogged resistance.

In addition to opening the bat-ting, Ally excelled with the ball asa leg- and off-break bowler,‘snakes and snails’ is what thewicket-keeper, Ami Sant, calledhis bowling.

Ally Hassen was the youngestin the family of nine and the onewho chose education as the vehi-cle of his escape.

He was well respected as anEnglish teacher and educationist,and obtained a degree in Englishand History from UNISA.

He also served as an Englishexaminer in the education depart-ment of the House of Representa-tives.

A teacher for 45 years, heretired in Standerton and movedto Cape Town in 1986.

He taught thousands of youngpeople, many of whom stillacknowledge the huge differencehe made in their lives, not just teaching the curriculum but also

passing on life’s importantlessons.

Ally played for many teams,most notably the ‘great’ Rangersteam.

He also represented Transvaal‘Coloureds’ in many ‘inter-race’matches and was part of the win-ning Barnato Trophy team at theGolden Jubilee tournament in1947/48.

He served as ‘union’ secretaryas a young committed player and,later on, was involved with theEastern Transvaal Cricket Boardwhile in Standerton.

He played cricket for variousteams in Fietas, Rustenberg,Standerton and SchweizerReneke, and would have repre-sented Griquas if it was not forfamily commitments.

He played with and againstmany of the ‘greats’ of his gener-ation and often recounted this erawith great fondness – BallieDavids, Mac Anthony, DoolieRubdige, the Abed brothers, hisbrother Dout Hassen, BenMalamba, Frank Roro, the listgoes on and on.

He had also been on numerousannual cricket tours to CapeTown and developed manyfriendships there. He developed alove for Cape Town and it was no

surprise when he relocated thereafter his ‘formal’ retirement fromStanwest School, in Standerton,at the end of 1986.

He officially retired from crick-et in the late 1960s but played theoccasional school game for the‘teachers against students’, hiswicket being the most prized,most notably contributing in acentury stand with one of hissons, at the age of 63!

After officially retiring as avice principal from StandwestHigh School and moving to CapeTown, he taught Matric Englishat Islamia College for anotherhalf-a-dozen years. He consideredthis the best time of his ‘teaching’life.

In his retirement, he spentmuch time mastering the comput-er and writing short stories, poet-ry and novels.

He read very widely and was apassionate student of English lit-erature; he could quote Shake-speare at will: neither age nor ill-ness dimmed his abilities.

Ally was a devoted husband,loving father and grandfatherwho passed on his love for crick-et and literature to all.

Moegammad Ally Hassen issurvived by his wife Zubeida,children Enver, Amina, Zane,Nazier, and 12 grandchildren.

SPORTS-TALKSPORTS-TALKMoegammad Ally Hassen (22-12-1926 – 15-01-2014)

Another eventful innings ended(Right) Moegammad Ally Hassen,whose teaching career and love ofcricket took him to all corners ofSouth Africa. Photo SUPPLIED

Moegammad Ally Hassen is flanked by several of his grandchildren, on whomhe doted. Photo SUPPLIED