The ‘Arabisation’ of SA Muslims

IN A recent article called “On Multiple Identities” in the online publication Daily Maverick, regular columnist Kalim Rajab spoke of a conversation he recently had with an Indian female colleague of his on the issue of wearing a sari.

He had innocently asked her if she would consider wearing a sari. According to Rajab, he was thrown aback that she was thrown aback by the question. “Not really,” she replied, “a sari is for Hindus.”

Rajab further says: “She, by contrast, was Muslim and in drawing this distinction, she was probably not alone in her thinking.”

Was it not just a couple of generations ago when almost all Indian South African women wore saris?

Nowadays it is very rare for Indian South African Muslim women to wear them. Most favour wearing the hijab, chador, or burkah – Middle Eastern or Arab cultural clothing.

These days many South African Muslims of Indian origin appear to acknowledge their India roots far less than previous generations did.

The Muslim cultural norms and practices brought to this country by their forefathers from India seem to be overtaken these days by a stronger identification with Arab culture in many aspects.

Certainly, young Indian South African Muslims these days know more Arabic words and phrases than the generation before them and in ordinary conversations between Muslims the use of these Arabic words and phrases is certainly much more prevalent than it was in the past.

So culturally, Indian South African Muslims have embraced and are embracing the Arab culture and practices and seem to be moving away from what one could loosely call the “Indian brand of Islam” that their parents and grandparents inherited and lived by.

The catalyst for the movement away from the “Indian brand of Islam” towards “Arabisation” of Indian SA Muslims started in the late 1970s and early 1980s when the charismatic and controversial Ahmed Deedat headed up the Islamic Propagation Centre International (IPCI) in Durban.

Deedat was supported by massive Saudi Arabia funding for the propagation of Islam in southern Africa.

The direct Arab influence through being exposed to Islamic literature by Arab academics and thinkers for the first time, led many Muslims here to believe that they were culturally closer to the Arab people by virtue of their religion, rather than to their Muslim cousins in India. Prior to this, young Islamic scholars and students, including those who wanted to become maulanas, went to India (and Pakistan in some rare instances) for religious training and education.

With access to the Arab world having been opened up by Deedat and the IPCI, more and more Islamic scholars and students were able to go to Saudi Arabia and the Middle East to further their studies, bringing back more of the Arab culture and a stronger conservatism – clearly reflected for example in current clothing styles.

Nowadays there is almost a snobbishness that exists among Arab and Middle Eastern educated scholars over their Indian sub continental educated counterparts.

Where does this leave most Indian SA Muslims at present? With the advent of democracy in 1994, Indian South Africans as a whole have become more prosperous generally and many more are able to travel abroad these days than during the apartheid era. It is now much more commonplace for Indian South African Muslims to afford to go for pilgrimage to Mecca than it ever was in the past.

Young Indian South African Muslims are also more inclined to go on holidays to the Middle East, including the Arab Emirates and Islamic countries like Malaysia rather than India as the previous generations did, almost without exception.

The conscious seeking of a stronger “Muslim identity” by many Indian South African Muslims these days appears to have now cut the umbilical cord that tied them to their Indian cultural roots.

If you disagree with this, just ask Indian South African Muslims which country they support next time the Cricket World Cup is played. Besides those who support South Africa (possibly because of Hashim Amla’s presence?), more will support Pakistan, simply because it is a “Muslim country” rather than the Mother India of their forefathers.

Enver Mall is a Durban-based attorney who currently runs a Black Economic Empowerment consultancy.