Tonight is an important night in the history of South Africa, in the history of the Muslim community of South Africa and particularly of Cape Town. Our gracious host, the Ahlul Bait (a.s) community, have invited us for the ceremonial and functional purpose of inaugurating this Ahlul Bait (a.s) Masjid in Cape Town, South Africa.

It is indeed an important occasion in the history of Islam and Muslims in the Cape, but we cannot ignore the coincidence in time of this inauguration with the celebration of the birth of our beloved Prophet Muhammad (SAWA), whom Allah (SWT) describes in the Holy Quran as a mercy unto all creation:
Surah Anbiyaa (chapter 21, verse 107)

This is not only an affectionate term. It is the enduring and permanent mission of the very life of our beloved Prophet Muhammad (SAWA). This is a name and a mission given by the Almighty (SWT), who in a self-identification says of Allah’s (SWT) first and primary attribute in Surah Rahman (chapter 55 of the Holy Quran) verses 1 – 4:

The Beneficent Allah,
It is He Who has taught the Qur’an.
He has created man:
He has taught him intelligent speech.

OPENING OF AHLUL BAIT (A.S) MASJID ADDS DIVERSITY IN HONORING ALLAH (SWT)

The Ahlul Bait (a.s) community in Cape Town is yet another addition to the places in South Africa and particularly Cape Town where the name of Allah (SWT) is celebrated abundantly. The name of God (SWT) is celebrated abundantly and profusely, but most importantly, here it is celebrated freely and without fear. Whether we celebrate God who is called Allah (SWT) or by reference to every other name, it is celebrated profusely, but it is celebrated freely.

It is indeed Allah (SWT) who teaches us in the Quran, that mischief will engulf the land when we do not defend the temples, the synagogues, the monasteries, the mosques and all the places where the name of God is celebrated abundantly. And so, the coming together of the ceremonial and functional purpose of inaugurating this Masjid with the celebration of the birth of the mercy unto all of humanity may indicate to us that this inauguration may yet again in the history of Muslims in the Cape require that the wings of mercy be spun over the inauguration of this Masjid tonight.

ISLAM’S INTRODUCTION TO SOUTH AFRICA WAS ALSO UNPOPULAR

While different in circumstance, the opening of this Masjid must recall in the annals of the Muslims of the Cape, how the first mosque in South Africa, the Auwal Masjid in Bo-Kaap, was opened in the shadow of slavery, exile and subjugation and was nurtured with the memory of the religion of Islam that was banned here in Cape Town and in South Africa, but was sustained by the promise that Islam shall never perish in this part of the world.

Saartjie van de Kaap responded to this promise with courage and sacrifice, as she bequeathed her property for the purpose of a mosque that will be there for posterity as long as Islam and Muslims are in this part of the world. This memory of intolerance towards and hatred of Muslims, backed up by the might of the colonial power, made Tuan Guru (known as Qadi Abdus Salam) declare Cape Town as the Dar-ul-La’nah, the cursed place, and a place of sorrow.

This description as an accursed place was the description of oppression, subjugation and the outlawing of a religion. In it was contained the anguish of a scholar and a leader who was determined to defy the colonial intent to obliterate Islam as a religion and Muslims as a community.

ISLAM’S CHALLENGES UNDER THE APARTHEID SYSTEM

Only those whose memories are short, whose recollection of history is incomplete, who were not present when Islam was declared a false faith by the Dutch Reform Church, or were not humiliated when they had to register their children as illegitimate because our marriages were not recognized or were either absent from, or oblivious to the struggle for justice, for dignity, for inclusion, acceptance and even tolerance or had no memory of how these values were forged with the blood, sweat and tears of succeeding generations of Muslims with their fellow South Africans.

Only those people will not heed the words of Nelson Mandela who in 1994, as he was inaugurated as the first democratically elected president of a free South Africa, and I say this - he was in the presence of then president of the Muslim Judicial Council, Sheikh Nazeem Mohamed (May Allah have mercy on his soul) and after the prayers of Sheikh Nazeem Mohamed, Nelson Mandela declared, and I quote: ”Never, never, and never again shall it be that this beautiful land will again experience the oppression of one by another”.

Nelson Mandela exhorted us to shun both the macro-exclusions in Apartheid, as well as the possible daily micro-exclusions that human beings and communities are capable of.

MY MORAL COURAGE TO STAND FOR THE DIGNITY OF SHIA MUSLIMS

Today, we do not inaugurate this Masjid in the shadow of a macro-exclusion like Islamophobia or Apartheid, but we are aware of the potential for numerous micro acts of exclusion that we are capable of visiting upon each other.

The exclusions, micro in size, are not overwhelming enough to have stopped this inauguration or stop enough people from coming here, but it has caused some to reflect on whether they should be present at all tonight. I too had to reflect about whether to be present.

Then, I weighed up. On the one hand, if I was undaunted by the security branch of the police, by the Apartheid state, by its repressive machinery then I should be undaunted by the micro acts of exclusion and intolerance that some would want us to be afraid of.

On the other hand, if everything we’ve struggled for, if what I have based my life in government on in making the Western Cape a home for all and founding the World for All Foundation, if that is all to mean anything, then it must mean courage in the face of threats, bravery in the face of admonishments to stay away, hope in the face of advice to be careful.

My dear brothers and sisters, if too many people were frightened and careful in Apartheid South Africa, we would not be free today and there would not be hope for the Palestinians. There would not be hope for people who are oppressed all over the world. So, sometimes it is important not to listen to advice!

THE SAD STATE OF THE MUSLIM UMMAH

The era we live in is too dangerous and fragile an era. Across the world, the state of the Ummah is a troubled one. We are caught in the pincer grip of external threat and internal fragmentation. Externally, our condition is one defined by occupation, authoritarianism in various guises, civil wars which displaced Muslims and put them at the mercy of foreign powers and Islamophobia which makes being Muslim a daily hazard.

Our internal condition is characterized by growing restlessness among the masses of Muslims yearning for inclusion and a say in their daily lives in the countries that they live in. It is characterized by fearful rulers who show no rule of mercy, but rather an iron fist. It is characterized by tentative scholars who say what is safe and prescribed rather than what is true and just, and by extremists who operate on their anger and instinct rather than justice guided by knowledge.
In this maelstrom of conflict and fragmentation, Muslims retreat from the world and turn on each other. We avoid confronting those responsible for our condition but use the little might we have against those amongst us who may irritate us!

MUSLIMS PIONEERS IN THE GOLDEN AGE ARE HUMILIATED WITH OUR INTELLECTUAL TERROR!

In a world where the Ummah is disempowered, we use our little power to overpower other Muslims. In a world where the West utilizes the foundations of al-Khwarizmi’s algorithms to deploy the latest technologies and to pierce the secrets of the universe, we research which Shia insulted which companion, which Sufi prayed at which shrine, what the length of a preacher’s beard must be, and under what conditions a woman can drive a car. That is our intellectual contribution to a world that is using the foundations of Ibn Rushd, al-Khwarizmi, the al-Jabr and everything like that.

We have become adept at utilizing what I describe as the vocabulary of intellectual terror. We use these words against each other, and it reminds me of the way the al-Muwahhidun, the so-called true followers of the one true God (or as they call them in the West – the Almohads) entered Andalusia at the height of the Islamic civilization in Europe, to judge who were the true Muslims and who were the false Muslims, rather than to build the civilization further. Who was on true Tauheed and who was on misguided Tauheed!!!

To set right the Muslims of Europe who were too prosperous for them and too learned and too Avant-garde in their knowledge and to reform their belief and bring it back to the true path. The rest, my dear brothers and sisters, is history! Our legacy from Andalusia is all over the Western world, but today, our presence is despised! From the great Dar-ush-Shahada (the abode of free profession of faith), from the Dar-us-Salaam (the abode of peace), from the abode of Dar-ul-Amaan (the abode of mutual security and safety), we are in danger of returning in this world to the Dar-ul-La’nah (the abode which is accursed for us).
We cannot afford that the vocabulary of intellectual terror and theological blackmail should ever take us in South Africa, from our abode of freedom of worship, mutual peace and security, and coexistence with all our fellow citizens, back to that abode which Tuan Guru described as Dar-ul-La’nah, the accursed abode.

CURRENT VIGILANTISM AGAINST SHIA DOES ISLAM NO FAVOURS

We must return to the circumspection and caution with which every Caliph and the founders of the Madha’ib used these 3 words – Kufr, Shirk, and Bid’ah. Pronouncements of disbelief, pronouncements of partnerships with God, and pronouncements of innovations in faith, are pronouncements that must be carefully employed, used only by those with sincere and pure motives and free of any agendas, whether political, geo-political or emotional. And that Dar-ul-La’nah does not suddenly surprise you. It creeps up on you ie. Micro discrimination, micro exclusion.

If today, we allow a pronouncement of disbelief to be used so that almost 15% of the global Muslim community is excommunicated, then tomorrow, who knows how many Muslim women can be excommunicated for not wearing a veil, and how many men may be excommunicated for not having the real size of beard.
If today, we allow a pronouncement of partnership with God to excommunicate those who praise Allah (SWT) and praise the Prophet Muhammad (SAWA) in exuberant ways, then tomorrow, even standing in the Salawaat could be an act of excommunication.

HONORING SHIA RIGHTS IS A MATTER OF HUMAN DIGNITY

And so, the Quran teaches us, that if we do not stop mischief and destruction at the temple, it will then come to the synagogue. If we don’t stop it there, it will come to the monasteries, and if we don’t stop it there, it will come to the mosques, and if we don’t stop it there, it will erase God and obliterate God from the consciousness of society.

Such pronouncements of Kufr, Shirk, and Bidah in some parts of the world, are death sentences for people. And I promise you we will see it in this Moulud season as we have seen it in the Karbala season!

This is why I am here. If I cannot stand for a Shia mosque today, then tomorrow, will I be able to stand for a mosque that permits women? If I can’t stand for a mosque that permits women, then can I stand against the killing of Yemenis? If I can’t stand against the killing of Yemenis, then can I stand for the Palestinians?

I AM A PROUD SUNNI WHO SUPPORTS SHIA RELIGIOUS FREEDOM

We have fought too hard for this religious freedom, for us not to secure freedom for other faiths and also variations within our own faith. I speak this as a committed Sunni! I am not a Shia, because I struggle sometimes also to fathom the beliefs and to follow the practices. That is why I am a Sunni. But I have to defend the Shia’s right to practice and believe.

Otherwise, tomorrow someone will mobilize hate and violence against how I practice and how I believe. Or tomorrow, an anti-Muslim government somewhere in the world will say that what Muslims do to each other, now becomes Halaal for them to do to us.

These are the implications of micro-intolerances amongst us. Historically, we have coexisted as Sunnis and Shias. That is why we do Hajj together. That’s why those who tell us certain pronouncements of Kufr and such things should follow it up (which they can’t). Why do they allow these visas if this is indeed the truth which they are inspiring us to do.

Our history has examples of terrible conflicts, repugnant insults sometimes, and profound theological debates amongst us, but we have always known what are mainstream views, and what are extreme views. We have always known the consensus of the centre, and the views of the fringes.

BE REMINDED OF THE ETHICS OF DISAGREEMENT!

We are held together by the protocols and ethics of disagreement because differences or disagreements are not by themselves wrong. In fact, our Prophet (SAWA) has told us that sometimes it can be a blessing or a mercy. Allah (SWT), in the verses quoted above, has given us the tools to manage our disagreements because not only has Allah (SWT) oriented us towards the Quran, but Allah (SWT) has created us with the capacity for intelligent speech.

Threats are not intelligent speech! Blackmail is not intelligent speech! Warning people is not intelligent speech. It is to bring your proof. It is to bring your scholarship. It is to bring your sincerity to the debate and then to accept the outcome of it or live in harmonious disagreement on some of those issues.

I end by saying that we must understand that we are being tested tonight. Whether 350 years of the evolution of Islam in South Africa can stand this test tonight. Whether we would do to others what was done to us. It is a test. We dare not fail!

Therefore, our past has to be to build courage, so that more people would be able to stand for this, because this is the very defense of our constitution, as Minister Naledi Pandor said. If we allow this to slip, we allow 350 years of anti-colonial and anti-apartheid struggle to revive itself in our country. We cannot afford it!

May Allah (SWT) bless this Masjid. May Allah (SWT) bless its leadership and may Allah (SWT) always keep His protecting hand over all of us and over all of you.

Walhamdu Lillahi Rabbil Alamien

Wallahu A’lam