Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

Da'wah movements and Sufi tariqahs : Competing for spiritual spaces in contemporary south(ern) Africa

2005; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 25; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/13602000500114157

1469-9591

Muhammed Haron,

Religion and Sociopolitical Dynamics in Nigeria

Abstract Abstract This paper provides a brief survey of the contemporary da'wah movements and Sufi orders (tariqah) that have redefined and reformulated some of the social institutions among the Muslim community in southern Africa. After a theoretical discussion of the definition of movements and orders, the paper provides a brief overview of Islam's presence in contemporary southern Africa. This is followed by a historical review of the various Sufi tariqahs and Muslim movements in the region, focusing on the Tabligh Jama'at and including the Chistiyyah, Murabitun, Qadriyyah, Alawiyyah and Naqshbandi tariqahs. In the final section of the paper comparisons are made between the growth of da'wah movements and Sufi tariqahs and the reasons for their relative influences and successes are analysed. Notes 1. Muhammad Amara, 'Islam in Southern Africa', unpublished 'Islam in Africa' Conference Paper, New York: University of Binghampton, 2001; Abdulkader Tayob, Islam in South Africa: Mosques, Imams and Sermons, Gainesville, FL: University of Florida Press, 1999; and Ephrahim Mandivenga, Islam in Zimbabw, e Gweru: Mambo Press, 1982. 2. Muhammed Haron & Aslam Farouk-Alli, Research and Writings on Islam and Muslims', in Annual Review of Islam in South Africa, No. 7, December 2004, pp. 79–87. 3. Ebrahim Moosa, 'Worlds Apart: The Tabligh Jamat and Apartheid, 1963–1993', Journal for Islamic Studies, No. 17, 1997, pp. 28–48. 4. R. Scott Appleby and Martin E. Marty, Fundamentalisms and Society: Reclaiming the Sciences, the Family, and Education, Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 1993; R. Scott Appleby and Martin E. Marty, Fundamentalisms and the State: Remaking Polities, Economies and Militance, Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 1993; Appleby, R. Scott and Martin E. Marty, Fundamentalisms Comprehended, Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 1995. 5. The following small selection of references is but a few samples of the many writings that have concentrated on Sufism in Africa: Louis Brenner, 'Separate Realities: A Review of Literature on Sufism', International Journal of African Historical Studies, Vol. 5, No. 4, 1972, pp. 637–658; Mervyn Hiskett, 'The Community of Grace and its Opponents, the "Rejecters": A Debate about Theology and Mysticism in Muslim West Africa with Special Reference to its Hausa Expression', African Language Studies, Vol. 17, 1980, pp. 99–140; Peter B. Clarke, West Africa and Islam: A Study of Religious Development from the 8th to the 20th Century, London: Edward Arnold, 1982; African Islam and Islam in Africa: Encounters between Sufis and Islamists, eds, David Westerlund and Eva Evers Rosander, London: Hurst & Co. and Uppsala: Nordic Africa Institute, 1999; and Knut Vikor, 'Sufi Brotherhoods in Africa', in The History of Islam in Africa, eds, Nehemia Levetzion and Randal L. Powels, Cape Town: David Philips and Oxford: James Currey and Athens, OH: Ohio University Press, 2000, Ch. 20, pp. 441–476. 6. Knut Vikor, 'Sufi Brotherhoods in Africa', op. cit. 7. Abdul Kader Tayob, Islamic Resurgence in South Africa: The Muslim Youth Movement, Cape Town: University of Cape Town Press, 1995. 8. Oxford Advanced Learners' Dictionary, 2000, 6th edition. 9. Jeffrey K. Hadden, 'Religious Movements', Encyclopedia of Sociology, eds, Edgar F. Borgatta and Marie L. Borgatta, New York: Macmillan, Vol. 8, pp. 1642–1644, 1992; and Rodney Stark and William Sims Bainbridge, 'On Church, Sect and Cult: Preliminary Concepts for Theory of Religious Movements', Journal of the Scientific Study of Religion, No. 18, 1979, pp. 117–131. Also view Said A. Arjomand's 'Introduction: Social Movements in the Contemporary Near and Middle East', in From Nationalism to Revolutionary Iran, ed. Said Arjomand, Albany, NY: SUNY Press, 1984, pp. 1–27; and Christopher A. Rootes' 'Social Movements and Politics,' African Studies, Vol. 56, No. 1, 1997, pp. 67–95 for more insights into and information on social movements. 10. Rodney Stark & William S. Bainbridge, op cit. 11. John Saliba, Understanding New Religious Movements, Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1995. 12. Edward Burke III, 'Islam and Social Movements: Methodological Reflections', in Islam, Politics and Social Movements, eds, E. Burke and Ira M. Lapidus, Los Angeles, CA and London: University of California Press, 1987, pp. 17–35. 13. Knut Vikor, 'Sufi Brotherhoods in Africa', op. cit., pp. 441–442. 14. Ali Mazrui, The Africans: A Triple Heritage, New York: Africa World Press, 1986. 15. Henry Louis Gates, Wonders of the African World, Six Hour—PBS series, 1999. Portions of the footage are available online at: 16. Ephraim C. Mandivenga, 'The Role of Islam in Southern Africa', in Religion and Politics in Southern Africa, eds, Carl F. Hallencreutz and Mai Palmberg, Uppsala, MN: Scandinavian Institute of African Studies, 1991, pp. 74–88; Abdul Kader Tayob, 'Islam in Southern Africa,' in Islam Outside the Arab World, eds, D. Westerlund and Ingvar Svanberg, London: Curzon Press, 1999, pp. 111–124; and Robert C.H. Shell, 'Islam in Southern Africa', in The History of Islam in Africa, eds, Nehemia Levetzion and Randal L. Powels, Cape Town: David Philips and Oxford: James Currey and Athens, OH: Ohio University Press, Ch. 15, 2000, pp. 327–348. 17. Muhammad Amra, 'Islam in Southern Africa', unpublished 'Islam in Africa' Conference Paper, New York: Binghamton University, April 2001. 18. Visit the homepage at: . 19. Visit the homepage at: . 20. James N. Amanze, Islam in Botswana, Uppsala, MN: Uppsala University, 2000; David Bone, ed., Malawi's Muslims, Blantyre: Christian Literature Association in Malawi, 2000; and Ephraim C. Mandivenga, Muslims in Zimbabwe, Gweru: Mambo Press, 1982. 21. Read the thesis of Gerrie Lubbe's 'The Muslim Judicial Council—A Descriptive and Analytical Investigation', unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of South Africa, Pretoria, South Africa, 1989; and Jacobus Naude's 'The Ulama in South Africa with Special Reference to the Transvaal Ulama', Journal for Islamic Studies, No. 2, 1982, pp. 23–39. 22. Visit the homepage at: . 23. Murshid David, Directory of Muslim Organizations in South Africa, Johannesburg: ICT, 1994; this work is now outdated. 24. But, despite the South African Muslims' financial strength, many have been going to Botswana on collection drives, particularly during the month of Ramadan. This thus raises questions as regards the manner in which money is disbursed amongst the South African Muslims themselves. 25. Consult Samadia Sadouni, 'Le Minoritaire Sud-Africaine Ahmed Deedat: Une Figure Originale de la Da'wa' (The South African (Muslim) Minority's Ahmed Deedat: A Unique Figure of (Islamic) Da'wah), Islam et Societies au Sud du Sahara (Islam and Society South of the Sahara), No. 12, December 1998, pp. 149–170; and David Westerlund, 'Ahmed Deedat's Theology of Religion: Apologetics Through Polemics', Journal of Religion in Africa, Vol. 33, No. 3, 2003, pp. 263–278. 26. Larry Posten, Islamic Da'wah in the West: Muslim Missionary Activity and the Dynamics of Conversion to Islam, New York & Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1992; Samadia Sadouni, 'Le Minoritaire Sud-Africaine Ahmed Deedat', op. cit.; Samadia Sadouni, 'Les territoires d'un prédicateur musulman sud-africain: Ahmed Deedat' (The Territory of a South African Muslim Preacher: Ahmed Deedat) in Dynamiques religieuses en Afrique australe (Religious Dynamics and Africa) ed., Véronique Faure, Paris: Karthala, 2000, Ch. 8, pp. 161–173; and David Westerlund, 'Ahmed Deedat's Theology of Religion: Apologetics through Polemics', Journal of Religion in Africa, Vol. 33, No. 3, 2003, pp. 263–278. 27. See Abdurahman Doi's 'Proselytism and Islam in Southern Africa', Emory International Legal Review, Vol. 14, No. 2, Summer 2000, pp. 1147–1167 for an overview of this phenomenon. 28. Khalid Masud, ed., Travellers in Faith: Studies of the Tablighi Jama'at as a transnational Islamic Movement for Faith Renewal, Leiden: E.J. Brill Publishers, 2001. 29. J.L. Cilliers, 'Die Tabligh- Beweging en sy invloed in Suid-Afrika' (The Tabligh Movement and its Influence in South Africa), Journal for Islamic Studies, No. 4, 1984, pp. 55–77; Ebrahim Moosa, 'Worlds Apart: The Tabligh Jamat and Apartheid, 1963–1993', Journal for Islamic Studies, No. 17, 1997, pp. 28–48; the latter was republished in Masud's Travellers in Faith, op. cit. 30. Ebrahim Mahida, History of Muslims in South Africa: A Chronology, Durban: Arabic Study Circle, 1993. 31. See the website at: and the section under 'topics'. 32. Ahmad Mukaddam, 'Islam, Violence and Motives: An Analysis of the Schismatic Differences and Otherness between Wahhabism and Sunnism as Enacted in Aspects of the Azaadville Incident', unpublished Religious Studies Postgraduate Paper, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa, 1987. 33. Faried Esack, 'Three Islamic Strands in the South African Struggle for Justice', Third World Quarterly, Vol. 10, No. 2, 1988, pp. 473–498; and A.K. Tayob, Islamic Resurgence in South Africa, op. cit. 34. Read John Edwin Mason, ''A Faith for Ourselves': Slavery, Sufism and Conversion to Islam at the Cape', South African Historical Journal, No. 46, May 2002, pp. 3–25; also consult Andriana Pigai's edited book entitled Islam e citta dell'Africa a sud del Sahara: Tra Sufismo e Fondametalismo (Islam in Africa South of the Sahara: Between Sufism and Fundamentalism), Napoli: Ligwari Editore, 2001; as well as African Islam and Islam in Africa: Encounters between Sufis and Islamists, eds, David Westerlund and Eva Evers Rosander, London: Hurst & Co. and Uppsala, MN: Nordic Africa Institute, 1999. In addition also read Roman Loimeier, 'From Cape to Istanbul: Transnational Networks and Communal Conflict', Investigating South–South Dimension of Modernity and Islam: Circulating Visions and Ideas, Intellectual Figures and Locations, eds, Helmut Buchholt & Georg Stauth, Yearbook of the Society of Islam series, Vol. 2, Ch. 4, 2000, pp. 85–98. 35. A bit of information on the Sheikh's literary output can be found in Mofakhkhar H. Khan's English Translations of the Holy Quran: a Bio-Bibliographic Study, Singapore: Toppan Publishing, Ch. 4, 1997, pp. 164–165. More information is available online at their website: ; some of its members have also established another related site to focus on the Tariqah's academic programme. Visit which also contains a report of their 'Celebrating Islam Conference' that was held in Pretoria between 16 and 18 April 2004. 36. Fakhruddin Owaisi, 'Sufis at the Cape: Origin, Development and Review', Occasional Journal of ICOSA, No. 2, 2001, pp. 101–119. 37. At a conference at the University of Birmingham during April 2004, this researcher met the grandson of Shaykh Ahmad Bamba, Sheikh Saliou Mbacke—coordinator and consultant of the Interfaith Action for Peace in Africa, who mentioned that a young Cape Townian boy, aged 14, joined the tariqah at the request of the boy's father during 2003, and is currently studying the texts prescribed by the order. In the meantime he has mastered Wolof, the official language of the Mouridiyyah community. 38. Goolam Mohamed Karim, 'Performance, Trance, Possession and Mysticism: An Analysis of the Ratib al-Rifa'iyyah in South Africa', unpublished Religious Studies doctoral dissertation, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa, January 1998. 39. Samuel Zwemer, 'The Moslem Menace in South Africa', Missionary Review of the World, Vol. 37, October 1914, pp. 733–738. 40. Suleiman Dangor, Shaykh Yusuf, Durban: Iqra Research Committee, 1984. 41. Mustapha Keraan, 'Selected Writings of Shaykh Yusuf', unpublished BA Arabic Honours Thesis, University of the Western Cape, Bellville, South Africa, 1994. 42. G.R. Smith, 'A Muslim Saint in South Africa', African Studies, Vol. 28, No. 4, 1969, pp. 267–278; and Muneera Haeri, 'A Chisti Shaykh in South Africa', in The Chistis: A Living Light, Karachi: Oxford University Press, Ch. 7, 2000, pp. 184–189. 43. Hans Kahler, Studen uber Kultur: Die Sprache und der Arabisch–Afrikaanse Literature de Kap-Malaien (A Study of the Culture, Language and Arabic–Afrikaans literature of the Cape Malays), Berlin: Verlag von Dieter Reimer, 1971. 44. Unfortunately the site has been suspended and subsequently incorporated into the mother site of the order. 45. Visit the website at: . 46. G.R. Smith, 'A Muslim Saint', op. cit.; and Haeri, 'A Chisti Shaykh,' op. cit. 47. Visit the website at: . 48. Visit the website at: . 49. Visit the website at: . 50. Read more on Bewley at: . 51. Also see online: . 52. Visit the site at: . 53. Members of the Murabitun travelled to different parts of South Africa and Botswana during the early part of April in 2004 in order to introduce their movement and ideas and to also collect money for this project. 54. Yasien Mohamed, ed., Islam to the Modern Mind: Lectures of Dr Fazlur Rahman Ansari circa 1970–1971 in South Africa, Cape Town: Iqra Publishers, revised edition, 2002. 55. Visit the websites at: , and for further details. 56. Jacobus A. Naude, 'A Historical Survey of Opposition to Sufism in South Africa', in Islamic Mysticism contested: Thirteen Centuries of controversies and polemics, eds, Frederick de Jong and Bernd Radke, Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1999, pp. 386–415. 57. Yusuf Da Costa and Achmad Davids, Pages from the History of Islam at the Cape, Pietermarizburg: Shuter & Shooter, 1994. 58. Visit Sieraj and Ahmad Hendricks' website at: . 59. The November issue of Muslim Views devoted its front page to the contribution of the sheikh. And many other prominent individuals shared their thoughts about the man. See Muslim Views, Vol. 18, No. 12, November 2004, pp. 1 and 3. 60. See a brief sketch by Shafiq Morton in Al-Qalam, November 2000. 61. Due to internal disagreements with Dr Yusuf Da Costa in early 2004, Imam Walele broke ranks with the order and has moved on his own. And Dr Da Costa has been referred to as the Khalifah of the order in Southern Africa. On the 26th of February 2005 in Athlone Civic Centre in Cape Town, the youth members of the order organized a fund-raising dinner which was addressed by Dr Da Costa. 62. Also the issue of Muslim Views, November 2000. 63. Shafiq Morton from Al-Qalam op. cit., 2000. 64. Muhammed Haron, 'South African Muslims Making (Air)Waves', Journal for the Study of Religion in Southern Africa, Vol. 15, No. 2, 2002, pp. 111–144. 65. Maulana Sadeq Desai (tr.), Irshaadul Mulook, Port Elizabeth: MUSA, 1990 and Maulana Sadeq Desai (tr.), Mashaikh –e-Chisti, Port Elizabeth: MUSA, 1998.