Culture

200-year-old Quran discovered in South African Mosque

Published

1 year ago

August 23, 2023

A 200-year-old Quran has been discovered at a Mosque in the Kaap district of Cape Town in South Africa, according to the city officials.

The Quran, written in neat graphics, believed to have been hidden by an Indonesian imam who had been banished to the southern tip of Africa by Dutch colonisers, is now the pride of Cape Town Muslims who have jealously guarded it since its discovery.

Cassiem Abdullah, a member of the Mosque committee, told the BBC that builders found the religious book in a paper bag in the Auwal Mosque’s attic, while they were breaking it down as part of renovations.

“Researchers believe that Imam Abdullah ibn Qadi Abdus Salaam, affectionately known as Tuan Guru, or Master Teacher, wrote the Quran from memory at some point after he was shipped to Cape Town as a political prisoner, from Tidore island in Indonesia in 1780, as punishment for joining the resistance movement against Dutch colonisers,” Abdullah said.

“It was extremely dusty, it looked like no-one had been in that attic for more than 100 years. The builders also found a box of religious texts written by Tuan Guru,” he said.

The unbound Quran, comprising loose pages that were unnumbered, was in surprisingly good condition, with the exception of the first few pages that were frayed at the edges, he further explained.

“The black and red ink used for the clearly legible calligraphic writing in Arabic script was, and still is, in very good condition.”

“The big challenge for the local Muslim community in their quest to preserve one of the most valuable artefacts in their rich heritage, which dates back to 1694, is to ensure that all the pages containing the Quran’s more than 6,000 verses were placed in the correct sequence.

“The Quran has since been displayed in the Auwal Mosque, which was established by Tuan Guru in 1794 as the first mosque in what is now South Africa.”

A Tuan Guru biographer, Shafiq Morton, believes that the scholar in all likelihood started writing the first of five copies while being held on Robben Island—where anti-apartheid icon Nelson Mandela was also imprisoned from the 1960s to the 1980s —and continued doing so after his release.

“Most of these copies are believed to have been written when he was between 80 and 90 years old, and his achievement is seen as all the more remarkable as Arabic was not his first language,” Morton noted.

According to Morton, Tuan Guru was jailed on Robben Island twice—first from 1780 to 1781 when he was 69 years old, and again between 1786 and 1791.

“I believe one of the reasons he wrote the Quran was to lift the spirits of the slaves around him. He realised that if he were to write a copy of the Quran he could educate his people from it and teach them dignity at the same time,” Morton says.

“If you go to the archives and look at the paper that the Dutch used it’s very similar to that used by Tuan Guru. It’s probably the same paper.

“His pens he would have made himself from bamboo and the black and red ink would have been easy to obtain from the colonial authorities,” he added.

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Culture

Moroccan court jails journalist 18 months over remarks about politician

Published

1 day ago

November 12, 2024

Isaac Dachen

A Moroccan court on Monday sentenced a journalist, Hamid Mahdaoui, to 18 months in prison after he was found guilty of accusing a prominent politician of fraud, a verdict that has sparked international condemnation from press freedom advocates.

Mahdaoui’s case has garnered international criticism because he is being prosecuted under Morocco’s penal code rather than the press code governing journalistic conduct.

His attorney Mohamed Hedach, told journalists after the judgement that Mahdaoui who is the editor in chief of Badil.info, will serve a 1.5-year sentence and be fined an equivalent of $150,000 after being found guilty of defamation.

Mahdaoui was prosecuted after a complaint from Justice Minister Abdellatif Ouahbi following a video posted on his website accusing Ouahbi of corruption and fraud, both of which the justice minister denied.

The accusations, according to media reports, came after the royalist Party of Authenticity and Modernity, which Ouahbi headed, became enmeshed in controversy last year when an imprisoned Malian drug dealer implicated party members in a sprawling drug trafficking case that shook the North African kingdom.

Reporters Without Borders’ North Africa representative Khaled Drareni had in October, called the prosection of the journalist a “misuse of the justice system to intimidate and silence the press.”

Mahdaoui was imprisoned in 2017 after publicly throwing his support behind activists who led protests over social and economic inequities. He was also sentenced to three years for not reporting to authorities that a Dutch Moroccan man had told him arms were being sent to the protesters. He later said he didn’t report it because he didn’t take the information seriously.

Morocco has in recent years been criticized for imprisoning journalists and activists known for criticizing the government. King Mohammed VI pardoned and released the country’s three most prominent imprisoned journalists — Omar Radi, Taoufik Bouachrine and Soulaimane Raissouni — in July.

Culture

South Africa finally unveils improved King Shaka statue at Durban airport

Published

3 days ago

November 11, 2024

Isaac Dachen

After years of complaints by the public, South African President, Cyril Ramaphosa, has finally unveiled an improved version of

a long-awaited statue honouring legendary Zulu warrior, King Shaka.

Ramaphosa, who unveiled the new statue of the warrior alongside Zulu King, Misuzulu kaZwelithini, at the King Shaka International Airport in Durban, said the statue “marks the beginning of a renewed focus on cultural tourism, empowering local communities and attracting visitors to experience the depth of South Africa’s traditions, values, and stories.”

The 12-metre-tall figure of King Shaka depicts the man credited with uniting the Zulu nation as a warrior with a spear and shield and replaces a previous artwork that was criticised for making the monarch look like a “herd boy”.

Speaking at the ceremony, KwaZulu-Natal Premier, Thami Ntuli, said:

“This statue of King Shaka stands as a testament to our shared commitment to cultural heritage tourism, which aligns with the government’s grand vision for preserving and celebrating our shared history.”

He went on to say the statue was a symbol of respect and gratitude to King Shaka, a leader who shaped history through innovation and strategic acumen, carving out a legacy that inspires not only the Zulu nation but the province of KZN.

“It is our shared heritage, and today, we stand together to celebrate it,” Ntuli added.

Ramaphosa described the statue as a symbol of unity, integrity, and leadership for all South Africans, expressing hopes that the figure would inspire tourists to learn more about the country’s heritage and history.

Shaka, who was in 1828, is credited with creating a formidable fighting force that dominated the Zulu region.