Islam in Cape Town, from Hadhramout via Nusantara
This slide was about Shaykh Yusuf Makassar. Yusuf bin Ali bin Abdullah al-Hasani. Meaning he’s a descendant of the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh), through his grandson al-Hassan bin Ali ibn Abi Talib.
For this slide, I won’t write too extensively on it as I’ve come across a book last year (pic) about him which I’ve not read and I believe that information regarding this is also widely available online.
But I’ll share what I can. And this explains why there are many South Africans in #Tareem.
About 300 years ago, Islam arrived in Cape Town with the arrival of the people of the Nusantara brought in by the Dutch who controlled both lands. One of them being a Shaykh by the name Yusuf who was from Makassar (today part of Indonesia).
So significant was his contribution that there’s a place in Cape Town today called Makassar and the Muslims there are aware that it was he who was responsible for bringing Islamic knowledge and putting effort into spreading it there.
There are a number of miraculous stories about him known among the Cape Malay – the Muslim community of Cape Town and beyond it. The other thing to note was that he was a scholar of high knowledge and hiis scholarship reflects this.
The link with Tareem.
One of his teachers, was Imam Abdullah bin Alawi bin Muhammad al-Haddad al-Husseini. Meaning he’s a descendant of the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh), through his grandson al-Hussein, younger brother of al-Hassan.
One of the key teachers of Imam al-Haddad is Habib Omar bin Abdul Rahman al-Attas. The first mosque built in Cape Town is called Masjid al-Attas. Both these Imams composed and curated litanies which are read in Cape Town, including the local radio once a week.
The Muslims there are clear about this historical link and hence they choose Tareem, or scholars from the same tradition or consistent with it, as a source to learn Islam.
Similarly I’ve chosen Tareem, as historically, this is where Nusantara got its Islam from, of which I’ll begin to explain in subsequent sides.
Did you know Zain that you and I have family links to Sheikh Yusuf by your mother’s side and mine through my father’s side
https://instagram.com/p/pspJbslPk3/?taken-by=fadhilahwahid
When I was at Shaykh Ebrahim’s Zawiya, a brother from Cape Town showed us his stack of books which he said was passed down by his ancestors. I took a look and they’re all in Jawi mashaAllah!
And when I travelled through Cape Town I was so surprised by the number of Muslims and how active the different tariqahs are. In one weekend I was invited to particpate in the hadhras of the Ba’alwie and Shadhili. Ahhh miss Cape Town!