Islam in South Africa Copyright 1999 by Abdulkader Tayob. This work is licensed under a modified Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommer- cial-No Derivative Works 3.0 Unported License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/. You are free to electronically copy, distribute, and transmit this work if you attribute authorship. However, all printing rights are reserved by the University Press of Florida (http://www.upf.com). Please contact UPF for information about how to obtain copies of the work for print distribution. You must attribute the work in the manner specified by the author or licensor (but not in any way that suggests that they endorse you or your use of the work). For any reuse or distribution, you must make clear to others the license terms of this work. Any of the above conditions can be waived if you get permission from the University Press of Florida. Nothing in this license impairs or restricts the author’s moral rights. Florida A&M University, Tallahassee Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton Florida Gulf Coast University, Ft. Myers Florida International University, Miami Florida State University, Tallahassee University of Central Florida, Orlando University of Florida, Gainesville University of North Florida, Jacksonville University of South Florida, Tampa University of West Florida, Pensacola Islam in South Africa Mosques, Imams, and Sermons ABDULKADER TAYOB Published in association with Religion in Africa, a series of the African Association for the Study of Religions University Press of Florida Gainesville . Tallahassee. Tampa . Boca Raton Pensacola . Orlando. Miami. Jacksonville Copyright 1999 by Abdulkader Tayob Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper All rights reserved 04 03 02 01 00 99 6 5 4 3 2 1 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Tayob, Abdulkader. Islam in South Africa: mosques, imams, and sermons / Abdulkader Tayob. p. cm. — (Religion in Africa) Includes bibliographical references (p. ) and index. ISBN 0-8130-1651-7 1. Islam—South Africa. I. Title. II. Series: Religions of Africa. BP64.S63T39 1999 297'.0968—dc21 98-29933 The University Press of Florida is the scholarly publishing agency for the State University System of Florida, comprising Florida A&M University, Florida Atlantic University, Florida International University, Florida State University, University of Central Florida, University of Florida, University of North Florida, University of South Florida, and University of West Florida. University Press of Florida 15 Northwest 15th Street Gainesville, FL 32611 http://nersp.nerdc.ufl.edu/~upf CONTENTS Preface viii 1. The Sermon in Islam: A Discursive and Religious Symbol in History 1 2. Creation of the Cape Mosque Discourse 21 3. The Claremont Main Road Mosque: Redrawing the Cape Tradition 40 4. Transvaal Mosques: The Production of Orthodoxy 60 5. The Brits Mosque: Orthodoxy and Its Periphery 77 6. The Sermons: Ritual Inscription of Space 102 7. Sermons and the Re-citation of Discourses 115 8. Conclusions 137 Notes 149 Works Cited 161 Index 173 PREFACE Friday worship is a particularly important event in the weekly calendar of a Muslim. Mosques overflow as worshipers perform ablutions and rush to participate in the weekly service. This can last for only a few minutes or may take up to an hour. The Friday service in a majority Muslim country cannot be missed. Friday is usually the weekly holiday, and amplification systems calling the faithful to prayer become louder. When the time for prayers comes, mosques fill to capacity and many worshipers often squeeze into places on a sidewalk or even a street adjoining the mosque. Friday worship in the middle of "normal" working day in a minority Mus- lim country such as South Africa is sometimes regarded as an intrusion that has to be tolerated and respected. In terms of the new democratic constitu- tion, however, it can demand unusual rescheduling of office meetings and may make demands on schools to allow Muslim children to attend reli- gious services. This "intrusion" in any context is multiplied tenfold if the sermon comes under the guidance and control of political protagonists of one sort or an- other. Internal Muslim conflicts may be obscured from the outsider as petty or queer, but the rise of Islamism in global politics often means that the Friday flow to and from the mosque is continuous. Before the service, the flow of men in clean, often white outfits may resemble a stream, sometimes rushing, sometimes meandering, from a source. And then, about an hour later, the flow can be reversed, sometimes to an equally compelling goal. Anything can flow from a Friday sermon: a Khomeini-like audiocassette that reaches out to followers who have not made it on that day; a march against an embassy; a manifesto for an Islamic state; or a program of action against a perceived problem or threat. Clearly, this is an onlooker's view, even if a legitimate and sympathetic one, which sees a religious symbol of multiple meanings and references viii / Preface that beckon to be examined. In a snapshot analysis, the Friday sermon could be deciphered in the power of the word and the mosque, the cha- risma of the individual preacher, the commitment of the worshipers, and the significance of order and regulation in the world around the mosque. This would be an affirmative analysis of the snapshot. It could also be for- mulated in a more incriminating appraisal, however. The Friday service may serve to highlight and encapsulate the segregation of the sexes, the manipulation of the text, the conformity or indifference of the crowd, and the simultaneous confusion of ablutions, prayers, and sermon. Either way, snapshot analyses disregard the history of the event, the multiple layering of the discourses woven temporarily into a seamless whole. With the politicization of sermons in Iran, occupied Palestine, and southern Lebanon, it would seem that the depth of this important religious event has no chance of being revealed. The mullah brandishing a Kalash- nikov at his side in the pulpit makes an indelible and frightening image. For many Muslims, that image evokes the power of Islam finally standing up to a bully, while observers see the terror of religious wars that should have been over long ago. And yet, both the proud-and sometimes arro- gant-Muslim and the horrified observer have missed the deeper levels of this symbol. In the predominant images occupied by Khomeini's tape-re- corded sermons bringing about a revolution, and the Cairene mosque preachers watched closely by security forces, the sermons remain ob- scured. In the modern world, thousands of people making space for a tra- ditional practice remain incredulous. It can only be understood in terms of the political intrigues of Muslim clerics or the instability of the Third World. In this study I propose to analyze the Friday sermon in the fascinating context of South Africa. It seems to me clear that each Friday sermon takes place within a number of overlapping contexts and corresponding dis- courses. The history of Muslims in South Africa has had a decided impact on the discourses, which have produced institutions, organizations, and leaders. One of the prominent signs of these discourses is the Friday ser- mon, which for its variety, aurality, and sheer presence compels greater attention and analysis. As soon as one starts looking more carefully at the sermon, it becomes clear that one cannot separate it from the leaders who produce it or from the mosques within which it is produced. The mosques are not simply brick and mortar, nor are the leaders mere veins and sinews. Mosques and leaders are both products and creators of religious discourse that radiates, now from the vast corpus of Islam, now from the particular history of South Africa. Religious corpus and historical contexts create pos- sibilities and impose limits on the sermon in South Africa. In one sense, since much of the material is not known outside small circles in South African academic scholarship, the symbols, discourses, and histories that I propose to unpack may be interesting for their novelty. I do not see the telling of these stories as an end in itself, however. As someone involved in the processes discussed in this study, I was not a classical par- ticipant-observer but a shameless participant, and I continue to be so. Hence, I began with a symbol of which, to a greater or lesser extent, I was a part. My attempt at unpacking its layers began from the inside and moved out, rather than the usual outsider moving in. I hope to use the opportunity to reflect on the comparative study of modern Islamic societies by using the advantages and disadvantages of this inverse order of investigation and reflection. As will become clear as the text proceeds, I am personally impli- cated in the mosques and sermons. It concerns me immensely to under- stand what takes place. Nevertheless, I hope that I have distanced myself sufficiently for others to appreciate the dynamics involved. My second reason for not simply telling an interesting story lies in the conviction that stories-all of them, and especially academic ones-are carefully constructed out of particular interests and methodologies. There is no interesting story that does not originate from somewhere, rooted in interests and prejudices. I do not want to obscure the roots of my story, namely, the exploration of the sermon-symbol as I participated in it. Third, I choose not to tell a simple story because I deliberately want to deny it the privilege of replacing the lives of Muslims and their histories. This study is not the definitive account of mosques, irndms, and sermons in South Africa, from a Muslim viewpoint that no one from the outside could have.