Celebrating 30 years of rendering the call to prayer
THE latest episode of The Cape Malay “Jawwap” – a division of SKYLIMIT ProjMan (PTY) Ltd – features Groote Schuur High School life coach Moegamat Galant.
The episode can be viewed on YouTube. Gallant, better known as MG, celebrates 30 years of being the bilal (the person making the Muslim call to prayer) at Al Jaamia Mosque in Stegman Road, Claremont.
In his family, he is known as “The fighter” or “The Champ” for surviving three open-heart surgeries performed by the legendary late Dr Chris Barnard in the 1980s.
His story is being told in a book, Imam Haron’s BILAL: Let them hear, let them listen! written in true Cape Malay style by Fatima Galant Abrahams.
It also encapsulates memories of his father Hajji Abduraghmaan “Pinkie” Galant, who was student of an anti-apartheid icon, the late Imam Abdullah Haron.
In 1969, Haron was incarcerated by apartheid’s security branch for 123 days without charge and in isolation, where he was brutally tortured and killed.
“I grew up in Lansdowne, a very vibrant and colourful place called Yorkshire Street. I’m the fifth-eldest son of Mogamad Salie Galant and Najwah Vallie Galant.
“My father grew up in Claremont and after the forced removals, they moved to Lansdowne. My mother is also formerly from Claremont and to seek better opportunities, their family decided to move to Durban when she was little.
“It’s difficult to speak about myself without mentioning my grandfather and Claremont ... I didn’t have the pleasure of meeting him, but there is a strong connection, especially with all of the stories that we have heard.
“I can say that he is present in my life, with all of the stories, the good gestures and memories. He was quite popular, with a beautiful character,” Galant said.
At the age of one year and nine months, he needed open-heart surgery due to a heart defect, he said.
“Shortly after birth, the opening between two major blood vessels closes, but in my case, it remained open. My mother said I would crawl and suddenly fall to the ground.
“One day, I was crawling down the passage, my face hit the ground and I was bleeding profusely. I was rushed to hospital and this was to be the start of the investigation.
“My father says the first operation was unsuccessful, as well as the second, and doctors became really concerned.
“The surgeon who performed the world’s first human-to-human heart transplant operation, Doctor Christiaan Neethling Barnard, was called to step in. He was about to leave on vacation, but put his plans on hold and the third operation was successful.
“I don’t remember much about that, but I do have memories of during the time I was recovering, especially the days when my beloved mother, grandma and Aunt Asa would accompany me on the regular check-ups,“Galant said.
He was raised in a pious environment, where the Qur’an was regularly recited and where his brothers Abdul Aziz and Yusuf would imitate reciters like the great Abdul Basit from Egypt and Sheikh Yusuf Antar.
As young boys they would lead voluntary prayers during Ramadaan at a mosque in Strandfontein.
“The small mosque was still in the process of being renovated, I could’ve been five years old at the time. Their teacher was Sheikh Ganief Moos. My mother reminded me about this because it was my first introduction to the different songs of praise being recited at the mosque,” Galant said.