Muslims in post-apartheid South Africa: race, community, and identity

Abstract

Archbishop Desmond Tutu evocatively called South Africa the 'Rainbow Nation of God' to show how, despite the doomsayers who predicted racial civil war, under the guiding hand of Nelson Mandela in 1994, South Africa had adopted a path of reconciliation and non-racialism. A quarter-century on, this optimism is on the wane as 'racial' incidents make national headlines virtually daily. This broader context frames this article, which examines the historical and contemporary relationship amongst Muslim South Africans who constitute around two percent of the country's population. They are mostly composed of Indians, Coloureds, and Black Africans, as defined in the South African census. This article examines the histories of race (and their logics) among Muslims in South Africa, especially between Africans and Indians, including social intimacies and boundarymaking. It does so against the background of changing social, political, economic, and cultural conditions, which include an influx of Muslim migrants from Africa and South Asia, rising racial nationalism, widespread poverty and unemployment, and the dissemination of new ideas. While focusing on intra-Muslim relations, the article makes a critical contribution to a broader discussion about race in post-apartheid South Africa.

Expanding the Boundaries of “Muslim Writing” in the Poetry of Gabeba Baderoon

“…25 Goolam Vahed has recently noted that racial frictions have increased in the least ten years or so because of the economic and social crisis in the country, but these emerging racial tensions can only be understood within the context of the historical power hierarchies that have shaped South Africa. 26 Vahed further argues that the demise of apartheid did not lead to the transformation of South Africa into a post-racial society. 27 In fact, race still colors South Africans' perception of daily confrontations and is one of the persistent dividing lines among Muslims.…”

“…26 Vahed further argues that the demise of apartheid did not lead to the transformation of South Africa into a post-racial society. 27 In fact, race still colors South Africans' perception of daily confrontations and is one of the persistent dividing lines among Muslims. The Indian, Malay and African populations continue to live in distinct neighborhoods and competition for scarce resources is often seen as race-based.…”

Covid-19, Congregational Worship, and Contestation over 'Correct' Islam in South Africa

“…The General Household Survey of 2013 put the Muslim population at just over a million out of a total population of 52 million (Schoeman 2017:4 of 7 pages), although Muslims themselves believe that the number is closer to two million, as many migrants may not be accounted for. Muslims comprise of several streams: 'Malays' 6 , who are descendants of slaves from South and South-East Asia, who arrived in the Cape from the 17 th century and are concentrated in the Western Cape; the descendants of indentured migrants from South and North India who were brought to work on the sugar plantations of colonial Natal between 1860 and 1911; the free Indian migrants from Western India who followed in their wake and are concentrated in Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal (Vahed 2021); post-apartheid migrants from South Asia and Africa (cf. Vawda 2017;Koch 2017); and a small indigenous African grouping (Sitoto 2014).…”

“…The Islamic landscape could also change markedly as new migrants from South Asia and Africa are settling and evolving (cf. Vahed 2021).…”

“…Does insistence on Urdu mean that in the local context the Ummah should comprise exclusively of Indian Muslims or should the local Zulu and Xhosa learn Urdu? (Vahed 2021).…”