Cape Argus - South Africa’s first mosque opened its doors in 1794 and 230 years later hundreds of people gathered in prayer and community at the Auwal Masjid in Dorp Street, Bo-Kaap, in celebration of the historic occasion.
Families, friends and members from various other mosques gathered for a Khatmul-Qur’an programme, the recitation of the entire Qur’an, an act abundant in blessings and done on significant occasions.
The special programme at the weekend also included breakfast and lunch for attendees.
The mosque continues to see a high number of attendees, particularly on special or holy days, while continuing age-old traditions and cultural practices, weekly classes and programmes, all contributing to the social fabric of the community.
The mosque bears great significance for the Muslim community, as the first and oldest mosque built in South Africa. Imam Abdullah Kadi Abdus Salam, widely known as Tuan Guru (Master Teacher), from royalty hailing from Tidore, Indonesia, banished to the Cape and incarcerated at Robben Island, was the first Imam of the masjid.
Bo-Kaap’s eldest resident Abdeya Da Costa, 98, is able to hear the sounds of the daily call to prayer (athaan) wafting through the home she has resided in all her life, located on the same street as the mosque.
Da Costa occasionally would attend the weekly dhikrs (litanies of remembrance) at the mosque and last week, joined for the age-old tradition of “rampies sny”, the cutting and scenting of lemon and orange tree leaves, done annually around the birth commemoration of the prophet Muhammad.
“I was lying on the bed at home and somebody was making the athaan, and I just thought the athaan has a certain kind of an echo that goes direct to the soul. There’s still a lot of history that we must really join. And I grew up on that street and I did not move from that road, and the house. There’s still a lot of things that we need to capture. A lot of the people who live there still live there,” Da Costa said.
Mualima Nazly Moulana, a teacher at the Awwal Academy, an afternoon madrasah for children five to 12 years old, said even during the closure of the mosques as a result of the Covid19 pandemic, the rendering of the educational component did not end.
“Being a member of the community as well, I would say that it’s that continuation of Islamic education. Because this was the first madrasah and to think that we are continuing that legacy, for me that’s just so inspiring to think that I’m actually part of that legacy.”
With her love for plays, she said her next project was to teach the children about the history of the mosque through this art form.
“I said we need to know our heritage and the moment we have gentrification in our area, so the fear is that lots of our culture, of our Islam will be lost and we have to hang on to it with both hands and actually teach our children what our history is so that they can appreciate it and also continue the legacy. Teaching them about Tuan Guru and Saartjie van de Kaap.”
The imam at the masjid is Sheikh Ismail Londt and co-Imam, Moulana Mogammad Carr.
Cape Argus