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The ’Ibaad-u-Ragmaan Qadiri Jamaa’ah

he ’Ibaad-u-Ragmaan1 Qadiri2 Jamaa’ah3 serves as a vehicle for Islamic learning and the remembrance of

Allāh, the Praiseworthy. At the time of writing, the Jamaa’ah consisted of hundreds of people, comprising

men, women and children.

Groups dedicated to the service of Islām4 and the worship of Allāh, the Most Near, and similar to the ’Ibaad-u-

Ragmaan Qadiri Jamaa’ah in its approach, exist internationally.

’Ibādāt5 binds the ’Ibaad-u-Ragmaan Qadiri Jamaa’ah. Their outlook balanced, they are short on excesses and

lacking in sensationalism. Competing at doing good deeds comes easily to its members. Their method is effortless,

their comfort at adhkār6 unforced.

By the Grace of Allāh they became brethren. Although the group operates on a definite, yet simple “the Sheikh7

and the rest” hierarchy, all its members are considered as being afloat on the same sea, journeying towards Allāh,

the One Who Is With those who do right.

Few organizations are so immersed in the religious record and social symbolism of Cape Muslims. The ’Ibaad-u-

Ragmaan Qadiri Jamaa’ah shows that taṣawwuf8 in practice is more of a communal matter than a lonely quest.

1 ’Ibaad-u-Ragmaan, also spelled ’Ibad al-Raḥman, or ’Ibād al-Raḥmān and pronounced ’Ibādur Raḥmān; from the Immutable Qur-ān,

the 25th Chapter called “Al-Furqān”, or “The Criterion”, from Verse 63; “slaves of Allāh, the Most Beneficent”, or “worshippers of the

Most Beneficent God”, translated from Arabic.

2 Qadiri, Arabic, associated with the name of the leader of the saints, Sayed ’Abd Al-Qādir al-Jīlānī (d. 561AH/1166CE - May Allāh, the

Exalted In Might, Be Affectionate towards him), the earliest organized and most widespread Ṣūfī order (an order of Islamic spirituality).

3 Jamaa’ah (Arabic; pl. Jamā’at, or Jamaa’at), also spelled Jamā’ah, or Jama’ah; meaning group, assemblage, or congregation - often

referred herein as the ’Ibaad-u-Ragmaan Qadiri Jamaa’ah. A place of spiritual overhaul, it is used to mean a circle wherein Allāh, the

Most Gracious, is worshipped and continuously praised.

4 Islām, Arabic, also spelled Islam; al-Islām by definition, is the testimony that there is no God but Allāh and that Muḥammad is the

Messenger of Allāh, the establishment of Ṣalāh, the payment of Zakāh, the Fast of Ramaḍān and Ḥajj to the Baitullāh. The Arabic word

‘Islām’ simply means ‘submission’, and derives from a word meaning ‘peace’. In the Islamic context, it means the ‘complete and

unconditional submission and surrender to the Will of God’; the Religion of Peace, thus.

5 ’Ibādāt, Arabic, also spelled ’ibaadaat; the plural form of ’ibaadah or ’ibādah, and from the root ‘to serve’; the term literally means

‘service’. Worship, devotions, or supplications for the sake of Allāh, the One Who Is Independent of all wants and Worthy of all praise.

6 Adhkār, Arabic; the plural of dhikr. Although the word dhikr, or dhikrullāh, is usually translated as “remembrance of Allāh”, it refers to

the recital of certain litanies, such as repentance, thanks and praises of Allāh, and combinations of invocations as a form of

“remembrance”, or “recollection” of Allāh, the One Who is most Exalted in Power. The word adhkār is often used in the form adhkār, or

athkaar, and dhikr is frequently spelled thikr; dhikrullāh is oftentimes denoted as dhikr-ullaah, dhikr-ullah, thikr-al-laah, thikr-ullaah, or

thikr-ul-laah - the pronunciation and meanings are the same.

7 Sheikh, also spelled Chaykh, Cheikh, Şeyh, Shaiyk, Shaykh, Sheh, Sheigh, Sheik, Shaikh, Sheykh, Syaikh, Syaykh, Syeikh, or Syekh;

feminine, Shaikha, Shaykha, Shaykhah, Sheigha, Sheikha, Syaikha, Syaykha, Syeikha, or Syekha; plural, mashā-ikh, shuyoukh, or

shuyūkh; also found in Farsi and Urdu, an ‘old man’ or ‘elder’, translated from Arabic. Such a person may be the head of a tribe, or clan

in Saudi Arabia; a Ṣūfī master, or a pious gentleman, among its many meanings.Usually granted in the local community to those males

who qualify in the Islamic religious sciences overseas, Sheikh is a title that is given to a learned person as a mark of popular respect.

8 Taṣawwuf, Arabic, sometimes spelled tasawuf, tasawwuf, tasauwwuf, tassawuf, taṣawuf, taṣauwwuf, or taṣṣawuf and derived from the

Arabic word “suf”, meaning 'wool'; “the state of being a Ṣūfī”; Ṣūfism, or the mystical strand of Islām. Called the ‘Science of reality’, the

‘Science of the soul’, the ‘Science of the Higher Faculties’, ‘Spirituality in practice’, the ‘Inner aspect, or facet of Islām’, or the ‘Inward

dimension of Islām’, taṣawwuf is the internalization of Islām. Taṣawwuf is never outside the mainstream of normative Islām. It

emphasizes the strict observance of Islamic Law and finds organisational expression in a range of Ṣūfī orders and suborders.

T

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The ’Ibaad-u-Ragmaan Qadiri Jamaa’ah, like Sunnī9 Islām and the Qādirīyyah10 Ṭarīqah11 itself, was not formed

out of enmity, or as a breakaway, or opposition to another group. Free of hysteria, the Jamaa'ah is autonomous and

entirely open. Its members fail to attend the Saturday sessions only through compelling reasons. Their relentless

persistence at adhkār is a reflection of their deep-seated faith. Parents raise their children in the Jamaa’ah. Many

have grown old as part of the ’Ibaad-u-Ragmaan.

Rooted in Prophetic Tradition, group dhikrullāh12 has always been part of taṣawwuf, or Ṣūfī13 routine. Aṣfīyya14

have by tradition carried the torch for the Ahl al-Sunnah15 wal-Jamā’ah16. For aeons, Ṣūfism had typified Islām to

most Muslims.

Ṣūfism has consistently produced the great saints of Islām.

Aṣfīyya have always been characterised by an insatiable desire for learning. Many of the classical Muslim17

scholars were Aṣfīyya.

Ṣūfism has influenced esoteric traditions, philosophers and writers in and outside Islām.

Aṣfīyya have often been persecuted for their beliefs. Aṣfīyya gave their lives fighting foreign occupation, and the

double talk and misery that it brought.

9 Sunnī, Arabic, derived from the Arabic word Sunnah; one of the Ahl al-Sunnah wal-Jamā’ah (Arabic), someone from the ‘custom of the

Holy Prophet Muḥammad and his community’, or the orthodox Islamic way.

10 Qādirīyyah, also spelled Kaderiya, Kadiri, Kadiriyah, Qaderi,Qaadiree, Qaaderi, Qaadiri, Qaadirie, Qaadiriya, Qaadiriyah,

Qaadirīyya, Qaadirīyyah, Qaadriah, Qadaria, Qadariyah, Qadariyya, Qadarīyya, Qadarīyyah, Qaderīyyah, Qadhiri, Qadhiria, Qādiri,

Qadiria, Qadirie, Qadiriya, Qādirīya, Qādirīyah, Qadiriyah, Qadiriyya, Qādiriyya, Qadiriyyah, Qadirīyya, Qādirīyya, Qâdirīyya,

Qadirīyyah, Qādri, Qadri, Qadria, Qadriah, Qadrīyya, Quadarīyyah, or Quaderi; the Qādirīyyah Order is a Ṣūfī order (an order of

Islamic spirituality) associated with the name of the leader of the saints, Sayed ’Abd Al-Qādir al-Jīlānī al-Ḥasanī al-Ḥusaynī al-Ja’fārī

al-Ḥanbalī (d. 561AH/1166CE - may Allāh, the One Who Scatters His Mercy far and wide, be Affectionate towards him). The

Qādirīyyah Ṣūfī Order was the earliest organized and is still the most widespread order of Islamic spirituality.

11 Ṭarīqah (Arabic; pl. ṭurūq), also spelled Ṭariqah; the way, or path (of Islamic spirituality), the practice of the sharī’ah.

12 Dhikrullāh, Arabic, although dhikrullāh is usually translated as “remembrance of Allāh” or “calling upon Allāh”, it refers to the recital

of certain litanies, such as repentance, thanks and praises of Allāh, and combinations of invocations as a form of ‘remembrance’, or

‘recollection’ of Allāh, the One Who is Most Exalted in Power. Dhikrullāh is oftentimes denoted as dhikr-ullah, dhikr-ullaah, dhikru'llah,

thikr-ullaah, thikr-ul-laah, thikr-al-laah, or zikrullah (in places such as Lithuania, Brunei and on the Indian subcontinent,) - the meanings

are the same.

13 Ṣūfī, Arabic, sing. n.; pl. Aṣfīyya; fem. Ṣūfīyyah, sometimes spelled Ṣūfīyya, Sūfiyya, or Sūfiyyah; from the Arabic suf (wool) and

sometimes spelled Sufi, Sūfi, or Soufi; a person of Taṣawwuf, a Ṭarīqah person. While many explanations for the origin of this term exist,

a Ṣūfī is a Muslim who leads a spiritualised life. Such a person is usually an adept of the Islamic mystical path (Taṣawwuf) and stresses

both the letter and the spirit of the Islamic religion in the belief that the two are complimentary.

14 Aṣfīyya, Arabic, the plural form of Ṣūfī.

15 Sunnah, Arabic; pl. sunan; the word 'sunnah', or 'sunna', is derived from the Arabic root 'ṣanna', which means 'to introduce', 'to

prescribe', or 'to establish'. According to the Sacred Law of Islām, the Sunnah of the Capable Messenger of Allāh is something that

the Holy Prophet Muḥammad did, said and agreed to, or disagreed with - may Allāh, the One Who Raises with honour whom He

pleases and Debases whom He pleases, Indefinitely Shower His Peace And Blessings on our Extraordinary Prophet , and on his

descendants and bold companions.

16 Ahl al-Sunnah wal-Jamā’ah, Arabic, also spelled Ahl al-Sunnah wa al-Jamā’ah, Ahl al-Sunnah wal-Jamâ’ah, Ahl al-Sunnah wal-

Jamaa’ah, Ahl as-Sunnah wal-jamâ’ah, or Ahlus-Sunnah wal-Jamaa'ah; the people of the ‘custom of the Holy Prophet Muḥammad

and his community’, the majority mainstream Islām, or the orthodox Islamic way.

17 Muslim, Arabic; pl. Muslimīn; fem. sing. Muslimah; masc. pl. Muslimūn; fem. pl. Muslimāt; literally, a 'submitter', or 'one who

submits (to the will of God)'. A Muslim professes and practises the faith of Islām. Also see al-Islām and Islām.

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Most of the leading Aṣfīyya of the past never took to arms; Ṣūfīc militancy has, since time immemorial, been

essentially defensive.

Aṣfīyya also resisted despotic Muslim rulers. Aṣfīyya have at times and are today being persecuted within Islām.

Islamist maniacs kill and mutilate in the name of religion. Extremist Salafism18 challenges human decency,

Ash’arīyyah19 conventions and Ṣūfism in many parts of the world.

Ṣūfism has always had the capacity to mobilise the masses.

While maintaining its distinct course, Ṣūfism surges like a mighty torrent and accepts varied streams as it carves

out new ones. A fifth of the world’s Muslims today identify with taṣawwuf. Ṣūfism has a proud intellectual and

spiritual past and offers an even better future.

In spite of slavery, and being oppressed through Portuguese, British and Dutch colonialism and apartheid20,

Muslims in South Africa had, supported over the years by taṣawwuf norms, preserved their religion with much

stoicism and sometimes great flourish. This was a feat by any means, as Islām did not survive in the New World,

as an example, where Muslim slaves in the tens of thousands were also sent to by colonisers. Ṣūfism, in other

words, is an inseparable part of the South African Muslim identity.

The Qādirīyyah was the earliest South African ṭarīqah.

Local Aṣfīyya are much-admired.

The ’Ibaad-u-Ragmaan Qadiri Jamaa’ah has helped taṣawwuf to maintain both an informal and institutional

indigenous presence.

The group holds discussions at Habibia, where everyone is allowed a say.

The ’Ibaad-u-Ragmaan Qadiri Jamaa’ah was founded on taqwā21. The group was started by the late Hajjī22

Abduragmaan da Costa (May Allāh the Most Beneficent, Grant him and his parents Jannah23, Inshā-Allāh).24 Its

18 Salafism, the Arabic Salaf term that refers to the era of Muslims who personally knew the Holy Prophet Muḥammad , and those

who knew that generation. Muslims regard any religious figure from the first three generations (the first three centuries, some scholars

say) of Islām as being of the people of the Salaf. The term Salafī was appropriated by the Wahhabīyyah. The Wahhabīyyah during the

time of Imām Muḥammad ibn ’Abd Al-Wahhāb al-Tamīmī (1703-1792) had called themselves “al-Muslimūn”. Before long, they were

renamed “Ahl al-Tawḥīd”, and then “al-Wahhabīyyah”. Before long, the movement called itself the “Ahl al-Ḥadīth”. After a while, they

referred to themselves as “al-Salafīyyah”. Seeing themselves as the guardians of Islamic orthodoxy, most Salafīyyah believe that

Muslims should, in an unqualified manner, return to the traditions and practices of the earliest Islamic community.

19 Ash’arīyyah, Arabic, Ash’arī doctrine was taken from the Shāfi’īyyah theologian, Imām abū al-Ḥasan ’Alī ibn Ismā’īl al-Ash’arī (874-

936CE). Descended from the famous companion of the Holy Prophet Muḥammad , Sayyidinā abū Mūsā ’Abdallāh ibn Qays al-

Ash’arī , he was born in Basra, Iraq. The author of more than three hundred books, Imām abū al-Ḥasan al-Ash’arī is considered by

experts as the reformer of the third Islamic century. Many of the brightest stars within Islām were of the Ash’arī creed - May Allāh, the

One Who is never unjust in the least degree, Pardon all of these people and Raise their status. Ash’arī metaphysics is underwritten today

by the adherents of the four schools of Islamic jurisprudence, namely, Ḥanafī, Mālikī, Shāfi’ī and Ḥanbalī. These schools of Islamic law

have, along with many other advantages, helped Islamic rules evolve and adapt to new realities over time.

20 Apartheid, 'Separateness', or a “state of being apart”, translated from Afrikaans; a fanatical, institutionalised socio-political system of

discrimination, segregation, injustice and oppression based on race that prevailed until 1994 in settler, white-minority ruled South Africa.

Apartheid was meant to confine and subdue the black majority in that country.

21 Taqwā (Arabic, Farsi, Urdu); taqwallāh, more correctly; lit. to protect oneself against something; “to hold the sacred dear,” in

English. ‘God wariness, piety, the quality of being God-fearing, heedfulness’ being its common meanings.

22 Hajjī (Arabic; also, Hajji, Haji, Ḥājjī, al-Ḥājj, or al-Ḥāj; fem., Ḥajja, or Ḥajjah; pl., ḥujjāj), an honourable title that is given to a male

who has performed the Pilgrimage to Mecca.

23 Jannah (Arabic; pl. jannāt, jannaat, jinān, or jinaan), heaven.

24 Inshā-Allāh, also Insha-Allah; Arabic for “Allāh Willing”.

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first dhikr25 was held in 1962 at the home of Hajjī Yusuf Allie (d. 2005). He lived at 12 Whitford Street, Bo-

Kaap26. Others there included Sheikh Mohamed Ganief Booley (1924-1982), Imām27 Achmad Moos, Imām

Abdullah Haron, Hajjī Gasant ‘Tiny’ Abed (1931-2003) and some children.

Hajjī Abduragmaan was the son of Sulaiman (1881-1943) and Ayesha da Costa (1901-1981). Sulaiman da Costa

was a plasterer and a convert to Islām. Ḥajja28 Ayesha was a housewife. She had six sisters and a brother. They

were called Zubayda, Khadija (d. 1964), Makkea (d. 1948), Janap (1908-1973), Fatima (d. 1991), Roseda (1914-

1985) and Abduragmaan (d. 1949). Ḥajja Ayesha da Costa was the daughter of Hajjī Sulaiman (“Hai29 Slemang”)

Hendricks and Ḥajja Rashieda (“Sies30 Siera”) Hendricks, nee Kamaldien (d. 1950), of Claremont. Hajjī Slemang

had died in 1937. His parents were Imām ’Abdullah “Giechie” Hendricks (d. 1891) and 'Ayesha Hendricks (d.

1893) of Swellendam. 'Ayesha Hendricks was the daughter of Hajjī Abdul Bassier and Ghashiah van der Schyff.

Hajjī Abduragmaan da Costa was the third of nine children. He was born in Uitenhage in the Eastern Cape on

Friday, 10 October 1924. This date coincided with Mīlād al-Nabī31 of that year, 1343 Hijrī32. Of this he was singly

delighted. Hajjī Abduragmaan grew up in Salt River and went to school at Trafalgar in District Six. He worked as

a plasterer and later as a terrazzo artisan. Together with his brother, Hajjī Suleiman (1923-2000), and the late Hajjī

Mogammad Cassiem “Mowbray” (d. 1975), he received his formal Islamic education from the accomplished

Meccan-educated Arabic grammarian Sheikh Abdullah Abduroaf (d. 2004) and from the legendary Sheikh Ismail

'Ganief' Edwards al-Shāfi’ī (1906-1958) - May Allāh, the Most Compassionate, Be Kind to them.

25 Dhikr (Arabic; pl. adhkār), although the word dhikr, or dhikrullāh, is usually translated as “remembrance of Allāh”, or “calling upon

Allāh”, it refers to the recital of certain litanies, such as repentance, thanks and praises of Allāh, and combinations of invocations as a

form of ‘remembrance’, or ‘recollection’ of Allāh, the One Who Is Most Exalted in Power. The word dhikr is sometimes spelled dhiker,

dhikir, dzikir, thikr, zekr, zhikr, zickr, zikir, or zikr - the meanings are the same.

26 Bo-Kaap, Upper Cape Town, translated from Afrikaans. The area west of Buitengragt Street and north of Wale Street in Cape Town,

named thus on account of its height above sea level. Up to 1991, the predominantly Cape Malay, or Cape Muslim part of central Cape

Town.

27 Imām (Arabic, pl. a’immah), also spelled Imam, or Imãm; one who leads the congregational Islamic prayer, sometimes used to refer to

the head of an Islamic state.

28 Ḥajja, the Arabic Ḥajja, al-Ḥajja, Ḥajjah, or al-Ḥajjah is a title that is given to a female who has performed the Pilgrimage to Mecca.

Its masculine form is Hajjī, Hajji, or al-Ḥaj; its plural form is ḥujjāj.

29 Hai, a creolised form of Hajjī and Ḥajja; a Cape Muslim title given to a person who has performed the Pilgrimage to Mecca.

30 Sies, as used, a Cape Malay “kombuis” Afrikaans derivative of the English social titles, 'Mrs', 'missis', and 'missus'. Kombuis

(Afrikaans, pl. 'kombuise'), lit., kitchen. Kombuis Afrikaans (in the text), or Cape Dutch, as it is sometimes called, refers to the Afrikaans

dialect peculiar to many of the so-called ‘coloured’ people of the Western Cape, South Africa.

31 Mīlād al-Nabī, Arabic, called Maulid al Nabi, Maulid al-Nabi, Maulid an-Nabi, Maulid el Nabi, Maulud al-Nabi, Maulud al-Rasul,

Maulud an-Nabi, Mauludur Rasul, Mawlid al-Nabi, Mawlid-al-Nabi, Mawlid an-Nabi, Mawlud al-Nabi, Mawlūd al-Nabī, Mawlud al-

Rasul, Mawlud an-Nabi, Mawludur Rasul, Meelad al Nabawi, Meelad al Nabi, Meelad al Nabwī, Meelad al-Nabawi, Meelad al-Nabi,

Meelad an-Nabi, Meelad un-Nabi, Meelad-un Nabi, Meelad-un-Nabi, Mīlād al-Nabawi, Milad al-Nabi, Mīlād al-Nabi, Milād an-Nabi,

Milād dun Nabi, Milād un-Nabi, Milād-dun-Nabi, Milād-ul-Nabi, Milād-un-Nabi, Mīlād al-Rasūl, Milad al-Rasul, Moulid al Nabi,

Moulid al-Nabi, Moulid an-Nabi, Moulood al-Nabi, Moulood an-Nabi, Moulood-un-Nabi, Moulud al Nabi, or Mulid al-Nabawy; 12th

Rabi al-Auwal, the birthday of the Holy Prophet Muḥammad . Apart from Qatar and Saudi Arabia, the Mīlād al-Nabī festival is a

public holiday across the Muslim world. Although its observance is disapproved of by governments there, Mīlād al-Nabī is celebrated in

private homes and zawāyā in these two countries. The ’Ibaad-u-Ragmaan Qadiri Jamaa’ah recites the ashrakal during this month.

32 Hijrī, Arabic, used to refer to the Islamic lunar calendar. Like the Gregorian calendar, the Hijrī calendar consists of a 12-month year

and a 7-day week. A lunar month is the time between two new moons (a synodic month). The term “After the Hijrah” (A.H., or AH)

refers to a date in the Hijrī calendar. The Arabic ‘Hijrah’ means migration, or to leave a bad way of life for a better one, and often refers

to the migration of the Holy Prophet Muḥammad from Makkah to Madīnah (May Allāh Protect the holy cities). This journey took

place in the twelfth year of the Holy Prophet’s mission (622CE) and marked the beginning of the Muslim calendar.

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Raised as “Abduragmaan” by his mother and “Men” by his father, few people called Hajjī Abduragmaan by his

correct name. He was otherwise known as “Uncle Man”, “Mu’allim”33, “Sheikh”, “Man”, “Boeta34 Man”, “Uncle”,

“Boeta Manny”, or “Papa”. His three children said “Ppa”; his grandchildren called him “Oupa”. One person even

called him “Ḥadhrat”35, which is a form of address often ascribed to the virtuous. A man of his time, Hajjī

Abduragmaan taught local Muslims Islamic theology for many years. Those people that he had trained went on to

teach others. Their names are too numerous to mention. Always loyally supported by those around him, the salient

trait of Hajjī Abduragmaan's leadership, was the sheer strength of his character and example. He carried adhkār on

his shoulders. His sharī’ah36 attitude Shāfi’ī37 and of the Qadiri Ṭarīqah persuasion, Hajjī Abduragmaan da Costa

pursued the issues of adhkār and Islām with great enthusiasm. Hajjī Abduragmaan had taken bay’ah38 with a

Qadiri sheikh from India on the advice of Imām Abdul Kariem Kagee (1912-1986) of Habibia. Hajjī

Abduragmaan’s Uwaisī39 spiritual connection was through Sayed40 Maḥmūd al-Qādirī41 of Constantia. A ṭarīqah

sheikh in the normative sense, he avoided the affluent and kept away from power and worldly position. Hajjī

Abduragmaan taught Muslims their religion for nothing. This ethos still exists within the ’Ibaad-u-Ragmaan

Qadiri Jamaa’ah, where its’ members rather hope for reward from Allāh, the God of bounties unbounded. A

restless thinker, his focus was books and worship. He never appeared on radio or television. Any act not intended

for the sake of his Creator was left untouched. An honourable man, he maintained the highest level of integrity and

bowed only to his God Most High. For the last thirty years of his life he would rise from his bed in the middle of

the night for ’ibādāt. His nightly prayers would last until after Fajr42. Only once during this period had he

overslept for the tahajjud ṣalāh43. It is in the field of adhkār that Hajjī Abduragmaan da Costa made his reputation

and a telling contribution to Islamic society. He replanted the tender seed of taṣawwuf in soil that was being sullied

by Ahmedism, Mirzaism, Qadiānism and Bahā’ism. Political dissent came with the protest against religion.

Younger Muslims were attracted to agnosticism. South African Islām felt the brunt of rampant atheism. People

33 Mu’allim (Arabic, n. sing.; pl. Mu’allimīn; sing. fem. mu’allima), teacher.

34 Boeta (Afrikaans, pl. boetas; fem. sing. tietie, ousus, or sus), a title of regard assigned to an elderly male, often the oldest brother.

35 Ḥadhrat (Arabic, n. sing.), also found in Farsi and Urdu and often spelled Ḥaḍhrat, Ḥadrat, Ḥadrāt, Ḥadrât, Hazrat, or Hazrath; a

title of honour given to a saintly person; lit., a “noble presence”.

36 Sharī’ah, Arabic, also spelled Sharia, Shariah, Shari’ah, Sharee’ah, Shari'at, or Syari'ah; pl. sharā'i'a, or sharaa'i'a; literally, the “way

to the water hole”; the Revealed Law of Islām, or Sacred Law of Islām, in the context of this work.

37 Shāfi’ī, Arabic; also al-Shafay, al-Shāfe'eyah, al-Shafi'ī, al-Shāfi’īyah, al-Shāfi’īyyah, or as-Shāfi’ī; al-Shafi'ī is a patronymic taken

after Shāfi’, the great-great-grandfather of Imām Muḥammad ibn Idrīs al-Shāfi’ī; al-Shafi'ī also, is a tag which shows a connection with

the Shāfi’īyyah school of Islamic jurisprudence named after the charismatic al-Imām Muḥammad ibn Idrīs al-Shāfi’ī (d. 204AH/820CE,

May Allāh Shower His Mercy on him).

38 Bay’ah (Arabic; also spelled bai’a, bai’ah, or bay’a; its feminine plural form is bay’aat, or bay’āt), an oath of allegiance, or a pledge

whereby a leader undertakes to live by and dispense the Sacred Law of Islām, and his followers agree to faithfully go along with him.

39 Uwaisī, Arabic, also Owaisī, Owaisīa, Owaisīah, Uwaisīa, Uwaisīah, Uwaisīyya, Uwaisīyyah, or Uwaysī; from al-Shahīd Uwais bin

’Āmir al-Murādī al-Qarnī of the Yemen (d. 37A.H./657CE - May Allāh Shelter him against anxiety); a description that tells of a

Muslim who takes his connection to a silsilah through a deceased Ṣūfī master; also, a form of spiritual transmission that refers to the

relaying of spiritual knowledge between two individuals without the need for physical interaction between them.

40 Sayed (Arabic and Urdu; pl. sādāt; variously spelled Saiyid, Sayid, Sayyed, Sayyid, Sayyidī, Seyyed, Seyyid, Sīdī, or Syed; fem.

Saiyida, Saiyidah, Sayeda, Sayedah, Sayida, Sayidah, Sayyeda, Sayyedah, Sayyida, Sayyidah, Seyyeda, Seyyedah, Seyyida, Seyyidah,

Syeda, or Syedah) a title of esteem, or veneration ascribed to a leader, a God-fearing person, or a descendant of the Very Last Prophet

Muḥammad . The title may refer to someone who has some, or all of the named attributes.

41 Al-Qādirī, a postfix that denotes a connection to the Qadiri Ṣūfī Order. Qadiri is oftentimes spelled Kadiri, Qaaderi, Qaadiree,

Qaadiri, Qaadirie, Qaderi, Qadhiri, Qādiri, Qadri, Qādri, or Qadirie. The Qādirī Order is a Ṣūfī order of Islamic spirituality associated

with the name of the leader of the saints, al-Sayed ’Abd Al-Qādir al-Jīlānī (May Allāh, the Exalted in Strength, be Caring towards him).

42 Fajr, Arabic, meaning the time of the Fajr Ṣalāh, or the time of the early morning Muslim Prayer.

43 Tahajjud ṣalāh, Arabic, also known as ṣalāh al-tahajjud; the non-obligatory “night vigil” Islamic prayer.

6

became involved with the Subud movement. Shi'ism arrived later. White nationalism manifested itself through

apartheid; black nationalism boiled beneath the surface. Shielding his family and the Jamaa'ah against these belief

systems by answering their supporters had demanded years of his life. Hajjī Abduragmaan had rekindled taṣawwuf

practices where the Cape today, has become a melting-pot of many ṭurūq44. Cape Town has become a haven for

Aṣfīyya of all persuasions, many of them settling here after leaving the countries of their birth. The Jamaa’ah

consisted of only forty people at the time of his death.

Hajjī Abduragmaan passed away peacefully on Wednesday, 30th August 1989, 28 Muḥarram 1410AH and is

buried at the Doornhoogte Cemetery in Johnston Road, Rylands Estate, Cape Town.

Hajjī Mogammad Riefaard Manie al-Shāfi’ī al-’Alawī45 al-Shādhilī46 al-Qādirī al-Chishtī47 succeeded Hajjī

Abduragmaan da Costa as the sheikh of the Jamaa’ah. He was the son of Hajjī Moegsien (1915-1985) and Ḥajja

Rugaya Manie (1924-1973). His great-grandfather, Sheikh Ismail Mu'awiyah Manie (d. 1918) and Imām ’Abd Al-

Mālik Hamza (1867-1949) were the first South African-born persons to memorise the Unchangeable Qur-ān. They

had qualified in Mecca. Born after Imām Moegammad Fareed Manie (1945-2006) as the second of six children,

Hajjī Mogammad Riefaard came into the world on Wednesday, 7th August 1946 at 174 Schotsche Kloof Flats, Bo-

Kaap. Sheikh Ebrahim Majiet (b. 1930) was his first ustādh48. He was further tutored by his father and also by his

uncle, Abdus Shakur Carelse (d. 1970). In his youth, he received his Islamic instruction from Ismail Manie (1918-

1969). In days to come, he would sit at the feet of Sheikh Mohamad Mahdi Hendricks (1908-1981) of Azawiyah.

Sheikh Mujaahied Hendricks (1928-1996) taught him on Sheikh Mahdi’s death. At various intervals he had

studied Arabic and Islām under Hajjī Abduragmaan da Costa. Professor Yusuf da Costa (1935-2018), also, was

one of his mentors.

Hajjī Mogammad Riefaard Manie was instructed by Sheikh Mahdi to teach people matters relating to the belief

and application of the Islamic faith. Teaching on most evenings, he also conducted Ḥajj49 classes.

He was asked to assume the leadership of the ’Ibaad-u-Ragmaan Qadiri Jamaa’ah by Hajjī Abduragmaan da

Costa. “Should Riefaard not be there, Achmad (Hajjī Achmat Damon) will take the reins. Failing that, Abdullah

(Hajjī Abdullah Abdullah) will be at the helm,” Hajjī Abduragmaan had said in defining the chain of command.

The Jamaa’ah had made great strides under Hajjī Mogammad Riefaard’s management. His Uwaisī spiritual

connection was through al-Sayed ’Abd Al-Raḥmān Matebi of Constantia. Many, in Hajjī Abduragmaan’s time,

44 Ṭurūq, Arabic; sing. ṭarīqah; also spelled Turuq; a generic term meaning paths (of Islamic spirituality), the practice of the sharī’ah of

Islām.

45 Al-’Alawī, Arabic, an appellation that shows a connection with the ’Alawīyyun Ṣūfī Order. The ’Alawīyyun Ṣūfī Order is sometimes

called the 'Alawīyyun, 'Alawiyun, 'Alawīyyin, Bani 'Alawī, Bani 'Alawīyah, Banu 'Alawī, Bā ’Alawīyyun, or Ba ’Alawīyyun; meaning the

“Family of 'Alawī”, or the “Clan of 'Alawi” of the Ḥaḍramaut in the Yemen. Bā ’Alawī is a contraction of the terms Banī ’Alawī, or Banū

’Alawī. Bā is a Ḥaḍramī dialectical form of Banī, or Banū. A Ṣūfī order (an order of Islamic spirituality) named after Imām ’Alawi, the

grandson of Sayed Aḥmad ibn ’Īsā al-Muhājir (d. 956 circa), who settled in the Ḥaḍramaut during the fourth century Hijrī - May Allāh,

the One with whom are the keys of the unseen, Admit them to His Intimacy.

46 Al-Shādhilī, pronounced ash-Shādhilī; Arabic, sometimes spelled al-Shādhulī, al-Shazali, al-Shazli, or al-Shāzlī; alluding to a

connection to the Shādhilīyyah Ṣūfī Order that is named after Sayed abū’l-Ḥasan ’Alī ibn ’Abdallāh al-Ḥasanī al-Ḥusaynī al-Mālikī al-

Shādhilī (1196-1258CE - May Allāh, the God of the Ancient House, Provide him Protection from hell).

47 Al-Chishtī, an appellation that denotes a link to the Chishtīyyah Ṣūfī Order. The Chishtīyyah Ṣūfī Order is associated with the name al-

Sayed Mu'ain al-Dīn Chishtī al-Ḥanafī (also known as Khwāja Gharīb Nawāz, meaning the ‘Patron of the Poor’) of Ajmer, Rajasthan,

India (May Allāh, the One to whom is our return, Be Compassionate towards him).

48 Ustādh (Arabic, also spelled ustaadh, ustaath, or ustāth; fem. ustādha, ustadha, ustaatha, or ustātha; pl. masc. asātidhah, asaatidhah,

or asaatithah; pl. fem. ustādhāt, or ustāhāt), one who teaches, guides and instructs others in matters relating to the Islamic faith.

49 Ḥajj (Arabic; often spelled Hadj, Ḥadj, Ḥaj, or Hajj), literally, ‘to set out for a definite objective’. In Islamic terminology, it refers to

the universal rite and fifth tenet of Islām, the ‘Pilgrimage to Mecca’ that is performed during Dhul Ḥijjah, the closing month of the

Islamic year; Shawāl, Dhul Qā’idah (Dhu al-Qā’idah) and Dhul Ḥijjah being the three Months of Ḥajj. The Islamic calendar is the

official calendar in Saudi Arabia and in countries around the Persian Gulf. Some Muslim countries use the Islamic calendar for religious

purposes and the Gregorian calendar for civil affairs. The Ḥajj is the largest annual gathering of Muslims in the world.

7

had sought affiliations with foreign shuyūkh50 and overseas dhikr groups. Worldly power did not appeal to Hajjī

Mogammad Riefaard. Where its local roots had sometimes worked against the Jamaa’ah previously, he was to

exploit that very ‘Made in Cape Town’ label with crushing effect. He was a man of courage. His influence, the

results show, was more than convincing in terms of steadily advancing adhkār and Islām in general at the Cape.

He would, in fact, flood greater Cape Town and beyond with dhikrullāh. A likeable man, Sheikh Mogammad

Riefaard would leave his mark as the adhkār head with by far the largest following ever in South Africa.

Years from today, people will ask which of the two gentlemen had the greater genius for leading others in ’ibādāt.

Hajjī Mogammad Riefaard did not have Hajjī Abduragmaan’s depth of learning. A dhākir51 of distinction, Hajjī

Abduragmaan da Costa was the glue that, for over thirty years, had held dhikrullāh together on the Cape Flats52.

Hajjī Abduragmaan’s name became synonymous with the Qādirīyyah very early in his life. Hajjī Mogammad

Riefaard hadn’t quite reached those dizzy heights. Hajjī Abduragmaan pursued the issues that affected the

Jamaa’ah almost as a matter of reflex, whereas Hajjī Mogammad Riefaard was infinitely more passive, more

‘waiting’ in his manner. With Hajjī Mogammad Riefaard, each halt was calculated, every advance carefully

thought through. For Hajjī Abduragmaan, the biggest challenge was in establishing the groundwork for the

Jamaa’ah; Hajjī Mogammad Riefaard’s largest task lay in managing its diversity. Hajjī Abduragmaan had

introduced adhkār into hundreds of homes. By bringing the dhikr back to the houses of worship, Hajjī Mogammad

Riefaard had brought about a great re-awakening and had tied many a heart to the mosque. Hajjī Mogammad

Riefaard took the group to mosques, the inside of which fewer Muslims would have seen ordinarily. His method

had introduced the Jamaa’ah to places and people, likewise, that they would not have met otherwise. During the

apartheid years, Hajjī Mogammad Riefaard’s action spared many mosques from falling into disuse. Hajjī

Abduragmaan had never taken the Jamaa’ah outside South Africa. Hajjī Mogammad Riefaard did. By helping to

take the Jamaa’ah into i’tikāf53 during a part of the Holy Month of Ramaḍān54, Hajjī Mogammad Riefaard had

assisted in setting in train a huge reform in Cape Town. Hajjī Abduragmaan had performed i’tikāf, but on his own.

Common to the two of them was their resolute constancy and their enormous commitment to their religion. They

shared a magnetism that oozed with the nuances of adhkār. By an effortless lift in the voice, a casual motion of the

hand, a slight twist of the head, a gesture with the eyes, or through a simple movement of the mouth, they would

raise the level of the recital. Allāh, the One Who Bestows gifts, had blessed them with voices of silk. Men of their

own times, they had had set in motion a rediscovery of the love for adhkār. Unswerving in their devotion to God,

they had died in dhikrullāh the both of them. Their names are forever inscribed into Cape Muslim folklore. May

Allāh, the One Who Bestows His abundance without measure on whom He will, Gladden their souls with His

Good Pleasure.

Sheikh Mogammad Riefaard Manie al-Shāfi’ī al-’Alawī al-Shādhilī al-Qādirī al-Chishtī had departed this life on

4th Ramaḍān 1425 (Tuesday, 19th October 2004). He was buried from al-Masjid al-Nur in Parkwood Estate. His

last remains were interred at the Spaanschemat River Road Muslim Cemetery in Constantia. Sheikh Mogammad

Riefaard had left behind a son, a daughter, a son-in-law, a daughter-in-law and five grandchildren. The ’Ibaad-u-

50 Shuyūkh, Arabic, the plural form of sheikh; ‘old men’ or ‘elders’, translated from Arabic. In Saudi Arabia, a sheikh may be the head of

a tribe, or clan; a Ṣūfī master, a pious gentleman, among its many meanings. The word sheikh is also found in Farsi and Urdu. Sheikh is a

title that is given to a learned person as a mark of popular respect and is usually granted in the local community to those who have

qualified in the Islamic religious sciences overseas.

51 Dhākir (sing. fem. dhākirah; pl. dhākirīn), ‘one who engages in adhkār’, translated from Arabic.

52 Cape Flats, the low-lying, sandy plains in South Africa that extend from the Cape Peninsula to the Hottentots Holland Mountains in

the east, Atlantis in the north and the False Bay coastline in the south. Largely characterised by poor living conditions, and divided into

working class suburbs and sub-economic townships, the Cape Flats is the most urbanised part of the Cape Metropolitan Area. The

Nationalist apartheid régime had forcibly moved people of colour from prime city land to the bleak and windswept Cape Flats.

53 I’tikāf (Arabic; n.; also spelled i’tikaaf, its plural form is 'i’tikāfāt'), spiritual retreat.

54 Ramaḍān, Arabic, also spelled Ramadan, Ramadān, Ramadân, Ramadhān, Ramadhaan, Ramaḍhān, or Ramadhan; the Holy Month of

Fasting, the ninth month of the Muslim year in this context. The Islamic fast is a complete one, allowing no food, drink, or intimacy

during daytime hours.

8

Ragmaan Qadiri Jamaa’ah went from forty to four hundred under his watch. For close to two decades Sheikh

Mogammad Riefaard Manie al-Shāfi’ī al-'Alawī al-Qādirī al-Chishtī was the local paragon of adhkār. His was a

life well lived that touched so many. He had breathed fresh life into ’ibādāt. Sheikh Mogammad Riefaard had

transcended adhkār in a way that no other South African has achieved since.

Hajjī Achmat Damon succeeded Sheikh Mogammad Riefaard Manie as the sheikh of the ’Ibaad-u-Ragmaan

Qadiri Jamaa’ah. Born on Thursday, 23rd November 1950 in Diep River, Hajjī Achmat is the son of Imām

Moegammad Salie and Ḥajja Amiena Damon, nee Adams (1919-1956). Imām Moegammad Salie Damon, 1913-

1981, was from Constantia and had, at different periods, served as the muezzin and later as the khaṭīb55 of the

mosques there. During the 1960s, he officiated as the Imām of the Ghusnayne Masjid56 in Diep River and later

presided as the Imām of Masjid al-Jamia in Kalk Bay. An uncomplicated soul, Hajjī Achmat Damon al-Shāfi’ī al-

Qādirī al-Chishtī is the youngest of eight children and lives in Kenwyn, Cape Town. He is a retired schoolteacher.

Hajjī Achmat had nominated Imām Fatgie Manie as his understudy, with Hajjī Mogammad Toyer Adams next in

line. The younger brother of Sheikh Mogammad Riefaard Manie al-Shāfi’ī al-’Alawī al-Shādhilī al-Qādirī al-

Chishtī, Imām Fatgie had passed away on 4 December 2015. May Allāh, Glorious is He, have Mercy on him. He

was inducted into the Qādirīyyah and Chishtīyyah57 Ṣūfī Orders by Ḥadhrat Ghulam Murtaḍá Soofie (d. 2014) of

45th Cutting, KwaZulu-Natal. Ḥadhrat Ghulam Murtaḍá Soofie was the son of Ḥadhrat Shāh 58 Goolam Ḥāfidh

al-Chishtī (d. 1953) and was a khalīfah59 of the Qādirīyyah and Chishtīyyah Ḥabībīyyah taṣawwuf orders. Ḥadhrat

Shāh Goolam Ḥāfidh was the son of Janāb60 Ḥadhrat Goolam Mohammed Ṣūfī Ṣāḥib61 al-Qādirī al-Chishtī al-

Nizāmī62 al-Ḥāfidhī63 al-Ḥabībī64 al-Ṣiddīqī65 (1848-1911). [The descendants of Ṣūfī Ṣāḥib had taken the surname

55 Khaṭīb (sing. masc.) also spelled khaṭeeb, or khaṭib; an Arabic term that is used to describe the person who delivers the sermon and

leads the prayers; a public speaker, an orator, or a preacher in Urdu; the assistant Imām, in the local context.

56 Masjid (Arabic; pl. masājid), 'mosque' translated, a 'place of bowing down', or a 'place of prostration'.

57 Chishtīyyah, also spelled Chishtīya, Chishtiya, Chishtīyah, Chishtīa, or Chishtia; the Chishtīyyah Ṣūfī Order (an order of Islamic

spirituality) is associated with the name al-Sayed Mu'ain al-Dīn Chishtī al-Ḥanafī (d. 1230CE, also known as Khwāja Gharīb Nawāz,

meaning ‘The Patron of the Poor’) of Ajmer, Rajasthan, India (May Allāh, the One to whom Is our return, Be Compassionate towards

him).

58 Shāh (Farsi and Urdu), also spelled Shah; from the Indo-European root ska (to cover); adjective: royal, noble, great, excellent, the best

of its kind; singular, masculine: a king, prince, or monarch, translated from Urdu.

59 Khalīfah (Arabic; n.; pl. khulafā, or khulafāh) also spelled khaleefah, khalifah, or caliph; lit. to come after, or to follow; a government

that is run by Qur-ānic teachings is called a khilāfah and its ruler a khalīfah; meaning ‘successor’, the term refers to a successor of our

Morally Upright Prophet Muḥammad ; this word may also refer to humanity in general, where the human being is considered the

khalīfah (representative) of God on earth; in Ṣūfism, a khalīfah, ordinarily, is appointed as a deputy by a sheikh to oversee the regional

affairs of a Ṣūfī order.

60 Janāb, sing. masc., also spelled Janaab, or Janab; in the context of this work and when used as a noun, is a title of dignity. As an

adjective, it means eminent, or respectable. In Farsi, it is a form of address that shows honour. In Urdu, it is a title of respect when

addressing, or speaking of a great man. In Afghanistan, Janāb denotes majesty, pomp, or stateliness.

61 Ṣāḥib (sing. masc.) also spelled Saḥeb, Sāḥib, or Saḥib; a title of courtesy in Urdu; also, a companion, a comrade, an associate, an

owner, a lord, a great man, a governor, a chief, a gentleman; (in some Hindi dialects) God. 'Ṣāḥib' means a 'companion', or a 'master' in

Arabic. It signifies a friend, a lord, a possessor, a master, a disciple, or an apostle in Farsi.

62 Al-Nizāmī, pronounced an-Nizāmī; also spelled al-Nizāmi, or al-Nizami; an identification that denotes a link to the Nizāmīyyah branch

of the Chishtīyyah Ṣūfī Order. This branch derives from the name Sheikh Nizām al-Dīn Chishtī (d. 1325) of Ghiyaspur, a village outside

Delhi, India. (May Allāh, the One Who Sends the bee as a sign for those who give thought, Cover Sheikh Nizām al-Dīn with His

Guardianship).

63 Al-Ḥāfidhī, also spelled al-Ḥāfidhi, or al-Ḥafidhi; a classification that denotes a connection to a branch of the Chishtīyyah Ṣūfī Order

that traces back to Khwāja Ḥāfidh Muḥammad ’Alī of Khairatabad (d. 1850, May Allāh, the One Who Is A Witness of all things, Be

Pleased with him).

9

‘Soofie’ after the great man, interestingly.] Hajjī Mogammad Toyer Adams was initiated into the same salāsil66 by

Imām Abdullatief ‘Bābu’67 bin68 Shāh Muḥammad Yūsuf Purkar al-Qādirī al-Chishtī al-Ḥabībī (1926-2004) of

the Habibia Soofie Masjid, or “the College”, in Rylands Estate, Cape Town.

Hajjī Achmat had learned Arabic and Islām under Hajjī Abduragmaan da Costa. His Uwaisī spiritual link is

through Sayed ’Abd Al-Laṭīf bin Qāḍī69 Muḥammad Yūsuf. He had pledged his allegiance to the Qādirīyyah and

Chishtīyyah salāsil with Imām Bābu. Imām was granted khilāfat70 of the Qādirīyyah and Chishtīyyah taṣawwuf

orders by Shāh Pir71 Ḥāfidh Pasha72 al-Ḥabībī (d. 1989), the head of the Ḥabībīyyah branch of the Chishtīyyah

Silsilah, in Hyderabad, India, in 1988.

Who has done more for group adhkār - Sheikh Mogammad Riefaard Manie al-Shāfi’ī al-’Alawī al-Shādhilī al-

Qādirī al-Chishtī, or Sheikh Achmat Damon al-Shāfi’ī al-Qādirī al-Chishtī? I would split the prize if I were forced

to respond. For length of service Sheikh Achmat has set a new high watermark in adhkār achievement. By 2012,

he had eclipsed both Hajjī Abduragmaan da Costa and Sheikh Mogammad Riefaard in the number of years that

they had served the Jamaa’ah and adhkār. Hajjī Abduragmaan had lasted twenty seven years; Sheikh Mogammad

Riefaard had endured for eighteen years, fifteen of those years as the sheikh.

Sheikh Achmat Damon has been to the Ḥijāz more often than Sheikh Abduragmaan da Costa and Sheikh

Mogammad Riefaard Manie.

The greatest number of highly qualified Jamaa'ah people has emerged under the leadership of Sheikh Achmat. At

the last count, there were seven doctors among the Jamaa'ah ladies alone. An extraordinarily high sample if

matched against the regional and national averages, Jamaa'ah females excel out of proportion to their numbers.

The 'Ibaad-u-Ragmaan Qadiri Jamaa'ah continues to produce some of the most educated people in that part of the

world.

64 Al-Ḥabībī, Arabic, also spelled al-Ḥabībi, or al-Habibi; the beloved; an appellation denoting an association with Khwāja Ḥabīb ’Alī

Shāh al-Ṣiddīqī al-Chishtī of Hyderabad (d. 1323AH/1906CE, May Allāh, the All-Aware, Sprinkle His Forgiveness on him). Khwāja

Ḥabīb ’Alī Shāh al-Chishtī was the spiritual guide of Ḥadhrat Goolam Mohammed Ṣūfī Ṣāḥib al-Chishtī (1848-1911) of Riverside in

Durban and Sayed ’Abd Al-Laṭīf al-Chishtī al-Ṣiddīqī of Rylands Estate in Cape Town. In the spirit of this work, the Urdu title Khwāja

(also spelled Khawāja or Khwādja) denotes a Muslim saint. In classical Urdu, Khwāja refers to a lord, a master, an owner, a man of

distinction, a gentleman, a rich merchant, or the head of a household.

65 Al-Ṣiddīqī (Arabic, masc.; sing. fem. al-Ṣiddīqā), also spelled al-Ṣiddeeq, al-Ṣiddeeqi, al-Ṣiddiq, al-Ṣiddīq, al-Ṣiddique, al-Siddique,

al-Ṣiddiqui, or as-Ṣiddīqī; a distinctive patronymic that signifies a relation with Sayyidinā Abū Bakr al-Ṣiddīq (May Allāh, the One Who

is with those who believe, Forever Enfold Sayyidinā Abū Bakr al-Ṣiddīq with His Satisfaction).

66 Salāsil, Arabic, Farsi and Urdu for 'chains'; also spelled salasil or salaasil, the plural form of silsilah.

67 Bābu [sing. masc.], also Babu; on the Indian subcontinent, a title of respect meant for a prince, a noble, a man of distinction, a young

master, or a father.

68 Bin (Arabic; fem. bint), also ibn, ibnul, bnu, or simply b.; an honorific term of relationship specifically indicating paternal descent and

often the first element in a compound name; the ‘son of’, translated; also used to indicate someone’s date of birth.

69 Qāḍī (Arabic; fem. Qāḍiah; pl. quḍāh), a judge.

70 Khilāfat, Arabic, also spelled Khilafat; a certificate of authority; in the spirit of this work, authorization to oversee the local affairs of a

Ṣūfī order. A government that is run by Qur-ānic teachings is called a khilāfah and its ruler a khalīfah.

71 Pir (Farsi, Urdu; sing. masc.), occasionally spelled Peer, or Pīr; in the context of this writing, a Ṣūfī sheikh, an old man, a saint, a

spiritual guide, or a person in charge of a religious order.

72 Pasha (Farsi, Turkish; sing. masc.), 'baasha', and pronounced 'basha' in Arabic; an Ottoman provincial governor, or military

commander; a lord in ancient Persia; an Egyptian viceroy; in parts of Libya, the title of the person who represents the sultan; more

generally, someone of standing.

10

Sheikh Achmat Damon al-Shāfi’ī al-Qādirī al-Chishtī tries to carry on from where his predecessors had left off.

Dedicated in every respect, he has not realised the full extent of his influence.

Hajjī Omar Gabier is the most senior male member of the 'Ibaad-u-Ragmaan Qadiri Jamaa’ah. The President of

the Crescent Observers Society of South Africa, he has been in the saddle for ages. Of the ‘old school’ likewise, is

Hajjī Mogammad Mubariek Arend. Dr Igsaan Khan had learned from my father. Hajjī Mogammad Toyer Adams

al-Qādirī al-Chishtī is of the old guard. Leading from the front and deservedly so, he has a certainty of belief that

comes only with advanced spirituality. Hajjī Yusuf Latief brings his grandchildren to the dhikr. “True men built it

true”. Hajjī Ismail Adams of Lansdowne cannot do without adhkār. Plodding away is Hajjī Fareed Salie of

Maitland. He hails from the group’s earliest days. A seasoned dhākir as well, is Hajjī Ismail Davids. Hajjī

Abdullah Abrahams of Retreat looks on the group as being more than the sum of its parts. Deep in the trenches is

Hajjī Mogamat Toffar. He believes that with faithful perseverance comes reward. Hajjī Naafie' Taliep al-Qādirī

al-Chishtī is an old Jamaa’ah warhorse. Hajjī Yusuf Dramat lives in Kensington and rarely skips the weekly

Jamaa'ah recitals. The evergreen Hajjī Mogammad Samsodien is a Jamaa’ah ‘loyalist’. Filled with the joys of

adhkār is Hajjī Abu Bakr Tape. Hajjī Muhammad Jaffer also, is from among the ‘senior citizens’ in the Jamaa’ah.

Reciting with the assurance gleaned over the years, is Hajjī Mogammat Saliem Solomon. He has his finger on the

pulse of the Jamaa’ah. Hajjī Mogammat Saliem sees only goodness in Ṣūfī Islām. “Devoted to duty” is Hajjī

Mogammad al-Amien Bardien. Hajjī Mogamat Noor Fakier maintains his ancestral Qādirīyyah customs. Keeping

up his ‘hereditary’ practice also, is Hajjī Ismail Shira. Hajjī Yacoob Geyer keeps up his family traditions - he is the

son of Ḥāfidhah73 Ḥajja Fatiema “Ma” Geyer (1910-1995). Hajjī Ebrahiem Alawie is an incorrigible devotee. His

uncle, Hajjī Abu Bakr Dollie forms part of the Jamaa’ah backbone. Another elderly male is Hajjī Mogammad

Cassiem Waggie. Hajjī Mogammad Ganief Wagiet has an infectious tone. Wearing his Jamaa'ah affiliation like a

badge of honour is Hajjī Ismail Samaai. He is part of the Jamaa'ah nucleus. As helpful as ever are brothers, Hajjī

Abdul Sataar and Hajjī Moegamat Baderoedien Rayners. ‘Card carrying’ Jamaa’ah members, they appreciate the

solidity and the sense of togetherness that the 'Ibaad-u-Ragmaan offers. A co-traveller on the path is Hajjī Igsaan

Solomon. Like everyone there, Hajjī Goesyn Jakoet of Surrey Estate knows no better way of spending Saturdays.

Hajjī Marwaan Baker is an old soldier. Hajjī Mogamat Faysil Bassier al-Qādirī al-Chishtī is an ardent dhākir.

Hajjī Abdus Shakoer Damon is an older brother of the Sheikh. Some people are made for the Qādirīyyah dhikr.

Hajjī Abdurouf Kallis is a Jamaa’ah member of long standing. A convert to Islām and in high spirits, also, is Hajjī

Mogammad Amin Bunding. Hajjī Mogammad Fuad Ismail is an ‘old hand’. Hajjī Yusuf Noordien is a dyed in the

wool dhākir. Hajjī Ismail Boolay has a cheerful nature. His love for dhikr has grown with age. Hajjī Isgaaq

Hartley is a staunch Jamaa’ah adherent. Hajjī Muḥammad Yusuf Patel is in seventh heaven when he is with the

'Ibaad-u-Ragmaan. He clings to the group like ivy. Hajjī Ismail Adams lives in Belgravia Estate and is part of the

Jamaa'ah bedrock. Hajjī Ebrahim Slarmie sees dhikrullāh as a means of approaching Allāh, the One Who

Advances whom He Wills in degrees. A recent convert to Islām and setting an example through dhikr is Ebrahim

Ramsie. Hajjī Mogammad Hashiem Davids is a Jamaa’ah mainstay.

Ḥajja Layla Manie is the grande dame in the group’s ‘better section’. Sharing in adhkār year in and year out is

Ḥajja Sherifa Khan. She was born on Monday, 25 April 1921. Soaking her golden years with dhikrullāh also, is

Ḥajja Latiefa Nusterdien. Ḥajja Toghieda Abrahams leads the charge for the ‘glass vessels’. Ḥajja Mariam Adams,

Ḥajja Faldiela Meyer and Ḥajja Wardiyah Magerman are sisters. They seek God’s Mercy through dhikr. In the

Jamaa’ah frontline is Ḥajja Zainab Fakier. Ḥajja Zainab Manie is a Jamaa’ah die-hard. Her daughter, Ḥajja

Fowzia Manie brims with restless energy. Constantly in the thick of things is Ḥajja Mariam Bassier. Other

stalwarts are the sisters, Ḥajja Gadija Gamiet, Ḥajja Faiza Kriel and Ḥajja Zeitoun Davids. Their father, Hajjī

Gassant Petersen was an anchor of solidity in the Jamaa’ah - he had passed away in 1999 aged 95. Equally

undeterred are Ḥajja Koelsum and her daughter, Ḥajja Faldelah Toffar. Ḥajja Zuleigha Kazee and Ḥajja Gabieba

Viljoen, also, are always there. Ḥajja Moershieda Fisher holds onto the way by her molar teeth. Ḥajja Faiza Shira

is convinced of the excellence of dhikrullāh. Neither traffic nor merchandise can dissuade Ḥajja Gadija Kasu from

the remembrance of Allāh. Ḥajja Amiena Booysen and Ḥajja Salama Lakay find enchantment in ’ibādāt. Ḥajja

Gadija Adams is a dhākirah74 by instinct. Exact in her approach is Hajja Amina Omar. Always bright-eyed is

73 Ḥāfidhah, Arabic, sing., fem.; also spelled Ḥāfiḍhah. In the context of this work, a female who has committed the contents of the

Indefectible Qur-ān to memory.

74 Dhākirah (Arabic; sing. fem.), a female who engages in dhikrullāh.

11

Ḥajja Mariam Petersen. At the coalface is Ḥajja Amina Esack. Acts of goodness comes naturally to Ḥajja

Thuwaybah Carelse. Her sister, Shamsunisa Bester, has seen more group adhkār than most people. Ḥajja

Nabeweyah Isaacs is a Jamaa’ah torch bearer. Always dignified is Ḥajja Amina Majal. Neither trade nor

commerce can persuade Ḥajja Sumaya Majal away from the remembrance of Allāh. Ḥajja Najmunisa Abrahams

has been at it for many a year. Neither storm, nor wind, nor hail, nor rain will keep Ḥajja Kamiela Jacobs away

from the Qādirīyyah. Ḥajja Mymona Damon also, has seen her fair share of group adhkār. Toiling away is Ḥajja

Faizah Geyer. Ḥajja Fatima Isaacs never lets up. Of a rare stripe is Ḥajja Wasiela Isaacs. Ḥajja Zulfa Isaacs is an

implacable dhākirah. Ḥajja Yasmin Creighton is among friends when she is with the 'Ibaad-u-Ragmaan. In

praising Allāh , Ḥajja Asa Manie and Ḥajja Bahieja Keraan are kindred spirits - they’ve found happiness in

dhikrullāh. Strength of character impels Ḥajja Aziza Adams to acts of devotion. Adhkār is close to Ḥajja Zainab

Noordien’s heart. Ḥajja Madeneyah Isaacs and Ḥajja Sakeena Shira have the dash of females half their age;

dhikrullāh is their means of expressing their thankfulness to Allāh, the God of Limitless Glory. Ḥajja Rugaya

Davids is a Jamaa’ah veteran. Ḥajja Mariam van der Schyff recites with much heartiness. Ḥajja Asia de Vries

revels in praying to Allāh, the One Who Made the constellations in the skies. Participating in group dhikrullāh in

the mosque is Ḥajja Yashmina Toefy’s way of answering the call to the service of Islām. Ḥajja Gaironesa Adams

has been in the Jamaa’ah engine room for a number of years. Ḥajja Zainab Isaacs and her sister, Ḥajja Salama

Ganief love each other for the sake of God. They are wholly committed to the cause of adhkār. Scriptural evidence

persuades Ḥajja Latiefa Isaacs and her sister Ḥajja Foziyah Basardien to adhkār. Ḥajja Nawaal Waggie sees utopia

in ’ibādāt. High-spirited determination takes Ḥajja Nazla Salasa to dhikrullāh. Ḥajja Nadeema Khan has a knack

for adhkār. Ḥajja Latiefa Abrahams maintains that adhkār with the Jamaa’ah augments her quality of life. Ḥajja

Ḥajja Gadija Jardien and her daughter, Ḥajja Nawhal Jardien make dhikr because dhikrullāh is within their nature.

Ḥajja Rukea Samaai find contentment of heart in the remembrance of Allāh . She had a very good example in

her father Hajjī Abdus Salaam Levy (1915-2007). Ḥajja Rahma Baker attends come rain or sunshine. Applying a

‘heaven, or bust’ outlook is Ḥajja Wiedaad Ganief. Ḥajja Thaakierah Fagodien tries to live up to her first name.

Elderly people bring wisdom and stability to the Jamaa’ah. So do the middle-aged. Hajjī Faghmie Jacobs has a

natural affection for dhikrullāh. For many years part of the Jamaa’ah boiler room, Hajjī Shamiel Palmer’s

deportment suits the group’s sense of itself. Hajjī Abduragmaan Abrahams brings his larger than life bristle to the

discipline. Hajjī Bienjamien Abrahams gets things done. He is the public face of the Jamaa’ah. Hajjī Rashaad

Meyer and his family are ‘paid up’ Jamaa’ah members. Hajjī Shadley Adams is unbendable in his approach to

adhkār. Maintaining their family traditions are Hajjī Mogamat Allie Isaacs and his brothers Hajjī Fuad, Hajjī

Mansoer and Hajjī Mogammad Ashraf. They share common values. Their saintly father, Hajjī Achmat Isaacs

(1922-1998) had an aura that shone like a lamp. Staying the course is Hajjī Shamiel Thomas. Hajjī Mogammad

Amien Manan perpetuates the example of his late father. The bond that Hajjī Mogamad Fahldie Ganief has with

the Jamaa’ah has endured through thick and thin. Hajjī Taalieb, Hajjī Ismail and Hajjī Thaabiet Ganief are

following in their late father's footsteps. Hajjī Achmad Salasa, Magmoed Sedick and Hajjī Abdul Hamied

Mohamed strive in the obedience of Allāh through adhkār. Hajjī Rashaad Magerman is unflinching in his

application. Using his organisational skills to drive the ’Ibaad-u-Ragmaan Qadiri Jamaa’ah forward is Hajjī

Mogamat Faiz Isaacs. Hajjī Fazlur-Raḥman Phillips stolidly abides with the 'Ibaad-u-Ragmaan. Setting an

example through dhikr is Hajjī Faried Abass. Hajjī Ashraf Regal recites with the aplomb of his father, Hajjī

Mogammad Cassiem (1941-1992) and grandfather Hajjī Abdullah (1914-1978). Hajjī Ashraf’s maternal

grandfather, Hajjī Abdul Aziez Laatoe (1919-1975) was a Jamaa'ah person to the marrow. Such is the sense of

community of Hajjī Ebrahim Ismail al-Qādirī al-Chishtī, his wife Sharifa and their relatives, that they wish the

dhikr will last forever. Hajjī Nadiem Adams and his household have an innate love for dhikrullāh. Hajjī Mogamat

Davids is as regular as clockwork. His older brother, Hajjī Mogamat Ganief Davids is there without fail. Adhkār is

a labour of love to Hajjī Mahdi Soeker. Constant ’ibādāt have inclined Hajjī Suleiman Samuels and his son,

Mogammad Yaasin, toward on-going relationships. Hajjī Achmat Basardien and his family have a wholesome

appetite for the Qādirīyyah dhikr. Hajjī Mogamat Shaamiel Saiet is as dedicated as his late father. Shahied Bassier

and his family are going the distance. Hajjī Achmat Samsodien has dhikrullāh in his blood. Mogammad Noor

Isaacs lends vibrancy to the Jamaa’ah. ‘Heart and soul’ is Hajjī Dr Moegammad Shahiem Ganief. Hajjī

Mohammed Ali Guzgay is there on Imām Abdullatief ‘Bābu’ Purkar’s recommendation.

Equally important are the young people in the group. Before long they will have to carry forward the message of

Islām by sounding the call to the worship of the One, True God.

12

Having gone dormant twice in its history, the continued existence of the ’Ibaad-u-Ragmaan Qadiri Jamaa’ah has

on numerous occasions been threatened by factors such as:

(a) the twin-problem that Islām has always faced: enemies from without and hypocrites within,

(b) the splintering effects of the Group Areas Act of 1950 and forced removals,

(c) the consequences of the “bichaara”75 age and the prevalent mood of the period, where, in the 1950s and 1960s,

local Muslims were preoccupied with and would continuously argue and debate the religious issues of the day,

(d) the attacks by dogmatic secularists who were bent on driving religion from the public sphere,

(e) the inclination of indigenous Muslims in the 1960s and 1970s to frequent places of entertainment, such as

sports grounds on Saturday afternoons and cinemas in the evenings - there were many instances of those who

‘came to play’ and only a few cases of those who ‘stayed to pray’,

(f) an increasing demand for the Jamaa’ah to recite at more homes than the number of Saturdays in a month

allowed, giving cause for the near-fatal decision by Hajjī Abduragmaan da Costa to sanction the division of the

Jamaa’ah into two groups,

(g) the influx into the Jamaa’ah of people who were highly proficient in Arabic recital, thereby exposing a

weakness of, and simply replacing those less skilled,

(h) the mischief brought about by the insidious lies and false claims of pseudo-psychics,

(i) the lure of the festive season, where, during the 1970s especially, many people would go away on vacation

during December and January, thus temporarily depleting Jamaa’ah numbers,

(j) the division caused by the “‘live’ murshid76/‘dead’ ustādh” question in dhikr circles in the early 1970s,

(k) the dissuasive appeal of television soon after its introduction into the Republic of South Africa in May 1975,

(l) the havoc caused by legally unjustifiable and at times impractical proposals to alter the working format of the

adhkār by sometimes well-meaning people,

(m) the damage done by the unreasonable resistance from a few persons to religiously qualified suggestions aimed

at enhancing the level of the adhkār,

(n) the sad demise of Hajjī Abduragmaan da Costa and

(o) the attacks by gangsters on Cape Town mosques during 1997 and 1998.

Strangely, the Jamaa’ah had weathered the biggest storm more easily, namely, the long and drawn-out Wahhabī77

onslaught. These fundamentalist criticisms included branding group adhkār and visiting the graves of the awliyā-

75 Bichaara, creolised from the Malayu bicara, meaning discussion, or business and sometimes spelled bichāra. The word bicara is

derived from Sanskrit, where it denotes a plan.

76 Murshid (Arabic, Urdu; fem. murshida), a spiritual guide or teacher, in the context of this document.

77 Wahhabī (Arabic; also Wahabi, Wahabī, Wahabite, Wahhabi, Wahhabī, Wahhabist, Wahhabite), the purist, inward-looking group

within Sunnī Islām. Named after its founder, Imām Muḥammad ibn ’Abd Al-Wahhāb al-Tamīmī (1703-1792), Wahhabism is an extreme

ideology that clings to joyless, rigid beliefs and intense literalism. Wahhabism is at the opposite end of the spectrum of Islām to Ash’arī

and Māturīdī orthodoxy, and Ṣūfism. This variance is thus also known as the Wahhabite Salafī/Ash’arī divide, or as the Wahhabite

Salafī/Māturīdī variance. Imām Muḥammad ibn ’Abd Al-Wahhāb al-Tamīmī is widely considered the father of modern Islamist

ideologues. Most Wahhabīyyah consider Ṣūfism as a type of ‘folk Islām’ and believe, as an example, that aspects of Ṣūfī intercessory

norms compromise monotheism. The medieval Islamic theologian Sheikh Taqī ad-Dīn Aḥmad bin ’Abd Al-Ḥalīm bin ’Abdus Salām ibn

Taymīyyah al-Ḥarrānī (1263-1328) was a Wahhabī spearhead. Imām ibn al-Qayyim al-Jawzīyyah (d. 1350) served as a driving force in

Wahhabism. Sheikh ’Abd Al-’Azīz bin ’Abdallāh bin Bāz al-Najdī (1910-1999), Sheikh Muḥammad bin Ṣāliḥ bin Muḥammad al-

’Uthaymīn al-Tamīmī al-Najdī (1925-2001), Sheikh Abū Bakr bin Jābir al-Jazā'irī (d. 1999), Sheikh Muḥammad Nāṣir al-Dīn al-Albanī

(1914-1999) and Sheikh Muqbil bin Hadī al-Wādi'ī (d. 2001) were Salafī respondents. Their students further propagated their errant

creed. A fervent protagonist of Salafī dogma, Sheikh Bakr ibn ’Abdallāh abū Zayd ibn Muḥammad al-Najdī (1944-2008) was a student

of Sheikh Muḥammad al-Amīn ibn Muḥammad al-Mukhtār ash-Shanqītī (1907-1973). Sheikh ’Abdallāh ibn ’Abd Al-Raḥmān al-

Ghudayān (1924-2010) beat the drum for the inflexible Salafīyyah. He had learned from Sheikh ’Abd Al-’Azīz bin ’Abdallāh bin Bāz al-

Najdī and Sheikh Muḥammad al-Amīn ibn Muḥammad al-Mukhtār ash-Shanqītī. A Salafī flag-waiver, Sheikh Rabī’ ibn Hādī ’Umayr

al-Madkhalī (b. 1931) studied under Sheikh ’Abd Al-’Azīz bin ’Abdallāh bin Bāz al-Najdī and Sheikh Muḥammad al-Amīn ibn

Muḥammad al-Mukhtār ash-Shanqītī. Sheikh ’Ubayd ibn ’Abdallāh ibn Sulaymān al-Hamdānī al-Jābirī (b. 1938) was taught by Sheikh

Abū Bakr bin Jābir al-Jazā'irī and was a Salafī standard-bearer. Sheikh Muḥammad Ṣāliḥ al-Munajjid (b. 1960) took religion from

Sheikh ’Abd Al-’Azīz bin ’Abdallāh bin Bāz al-Najdī, Sheikh Muḥammad bin Ṣāliḥ bin Muḥammad al-’Uthaymīn, Sheikh ’Abdallāh ibn

’Abd Al-Raḥmān ibn Jibrīn al-Najdī (1933-2009) and Sheikh Ṣāliḥ bin ’Abdallāh bin Fawzān al-Fawzān (b. 1933). May Allāh, the One

Who Is Oft-forgiving and Most Merciful, Pass Over their failures.Wahhabīyyah, of late, would rather be called Salafīyyah. Present these

days in Muslim communities in most parts of the world, Wahhabī-induced Salafism has become more of a dry, stripped-down, Saudi-

supremacist state ideology than a set of religious beliefs. Wahhabite Salafism precludes inventiveness, as invention gives way to

innovation and “every innovation”, Wahhabīyyah argue flatly, “is going astray, and every ‘going-astray’ is in the fire”. They seek to

13

Allāh78 as heretical. It is ironic that Hajjī Nurudien Richards led the resistance against this attack by helping in the

revival of the Jamaa’ah during December 1984 - he was living in Riyadh, the heartland of Wahhabite79 thought, at

the time.

The group has had its share of false prophets. From time to time, some deluded fellow would claim leadership of

the Jamaa’ah. Once in a while, as well, a hapless human being would come along and declare that the break-up of

the Jamaa’ah was imminent. Then there is the derisive naysayer who furtively suggests that he understands that

“there’s a bit of trouble in the Jamaa'ah,” only to be told that the trouble does exist, but only in his head. For every

well-wishing person there is a detractor. Every so often, some luckless person would learn how things worked and

cast off with a splinter group. Several of these people, unfortunately, were blinded by ambition and had

overestimated their own importance. Many came back to the Jamaa’ah. Most of these issues went away through it

being ignored.

Through all of the above, and by the sheer beauty of adhkār, a great many Muslims have being swept along. An

equal number has been swept aside for every other imaginable reason. Most of those who took off went quietly; a

few left with a lot of noise. Someone who does not realise that the Hand of Allāh is over the Jamaa’ah might be

forgiven for thinking that the group is self-cleansing.

Imām Achmad Moos was the group’s first Ḥāfidh al-Qur-ān80. He had learned under Sheikh Muḥammad Ṣāliḥ

’Abādī Solomon al-Shāfi’ī (1911-1999) and had served as the Imām of the Sunni Muhammad Masjid in

Rondebosch East from 1969 until his death in 1986. Imām Mogammad Kasief Basardien forms part of the latest

brood of Jamaa'ah ḥuffādh81. He had studied under Sheikh Abdurraghiem Hasan Sallie (1944-2013) and Sheikh

Muḥammad Ṣāliḥ ’Abādī Solomon. On 28 June 2000, Muneer Manie had the appellation ‘Ḥāfidh’82 tagged in front

of his name. Hajjī Muneer had received his ḥifdh83 schooling from Imām Abduraghmaan Salie (b. 1948). Ḥāfidh

Mogammad Ridha Abass was ushered into the privileged group during 2006. Hajjī Mogammad Qaasiem Ganief

and Adeeb Bassier met the standards at the end of January 2009, having qualified under Sheikh Abdullah

Awaldien (b. 1964). Junaid Salie had achieved during March 2011. He had taken his love for the Immense Qur-ān

from his father, Hajjī Mogamat Shafiek Salie. Abduragman Isaacs of Mandalay also knows the Holy Book by

heart. He became of the select few on Sunday, 9 September 2012 after learning for nearly three years from Imām

Abduraghmaan Salie. Ḥāfidh Abduragman is furthering his Islāmic studies in Egypt. Yusuf Sedick qualified on 13

purify Islām from what they see as doctrinal and ritual corruptions. In Saudi Arabia, the king relies on the descendants of Imām Muḥammad ibn ’Abd Al-Wahhāb al-Tamīmī for the country’s religious policies, they in turn acting as protectors of al-Sa’ūd’s political

dominance. A pact in 1744 between Imām Muḥammad ibn ’Abd Al-Wahhāb al-Tamīmī and Muḥammad bin Saūd (d. 1765) began an

accord between their families that established the first Saudi state. This dynastic alliance was based on al-Sa’ūd lending its weight to the

religious authority of Imām Muḥammad ibn ’Abd Al-Wahhāb and his descendants, and al ash-Sheikh (ibn ’Abd Al-Wahhāb’s

descendants) supporting the political control of al-Sa’ūd. This agreement of mutual support continues to direct Saudi clerical and

political discourse.

78 Awliyā-Allāh (Arabic; sing. Walī-ullah), also spelled auliya-Allah, auliya Allah, auliyā-Allāh, auliyā Allāh, awliya'ullah, or awliyā

Allāh; ‘Friends of Allāh’, translated.

79 Wahhabite, please see Wahhabī.

80 Ḥāfidh al-Qur-ān, Arabic, also spelled Ḥāfiḍh al-Qur-ān. One who has memorised the contents of the Unaltered Qur-ān. The plural of

ḥāfidh is ḥuffādh. Also spelled Ḥafidh al-Qur'an, its feminine form is ḥāfidhah, or ḥafidhah, the plural of which is ḥuffādhah, or

ḥuffaadhah.

81 Ḥuffādh (Arabic; sing. ḥāfidh, fem., pl., ḥuffādhah, or ḥuffāẓah), also spelled ḥuffāḍh, or ḥuffaadh; in this context, males who have

memorised the contents of the Inerrant Qur-ān. Ḥuffādh trace the way in which they recite the Undamaged Qur-ān back through

generations of teachers to the Dauntless Messenger of Allāh himself.

82 Ḥāfidh, Arabic, also spelled Ḥāfiḍh. A Ḥāfidh al-Qur-ān (in the context of this work) is one who has memorised the contents of the

Unmodified Qur-ān. The plural of ḥāfidh is ḥuffādh. Its feminine form is ḥāfidhah, the plural of which is ḥuffādhah.

83 Ḥifdh (Arabic), also spelled ḥifḍh, or hifz on the Indian subcontinent; from ḥafadha ('to preserve'); the science of memorising the

contents of the Incontrovertible Qur-ān.

14

January 2013; he was a student of Sheikh Abdullah Awaldien. Parts of South Africa experienced an explosion in

Ḥuffādh numbers. Raeez Adams also has the Holy Book within his breast, having staked his claim as a Ḥāfidh al-

Qur-ān on 25 January 2015. The son of Ḥajja Suraya and Hajjī Mohammed Faaiz Adams, he had studied under

Sheikh Yusuf Agherdien (b. 1971). Allah, the One Who Endues with honour whom He pleases, has blessed those

people who bring their families to the dhikr every week through the accomplishments of their kin. Yaasier Davids

(b. 1992) forms part of the latest brood of 'Ibaad-u-Ragmaan Qadiri Jamaa'ah ḥuffādh. He had learned from

Sheikh Ismail Londt (b. 1974).

Arguably, the most well-known member of the ’Ibaad-u-Ragmaan Qadiri Jamaa’ah has been the late al-Shahīd84

Imām Abdullah Haron (May Allāh, the Eternal, be Compassionate Towards him). His task within the Jamaa’ah

was to read the closing du’ā'85 at the dhikr gatherings. Always with a spring in his step and a twinkle in his eye, he

brought vitality to the group.

The first so-called “masjid” dhikr of the ’Ibaad-u-Ragmaan Qadiri Jamaa’ah was held in 1965 in a packed al-

Jaami'a Masjid at 38 Stegman Road, Claremont, where Imām Abdullah Haron was the officiating Imām.

Annual Jamaa’ah recitals at al-Jaami'a Masjid commemorate the passing away of Imām Abdullah Haron.

Jamaa’ah dhikrullāh at al-Jaami'a Masjid on Saturday, 26th September 2009 recalled the fortieth anniversary of

his passing.

A steady human trickle has over the years knocked on the door of the Jamaa’ah, wanting to be Muslim.

The 'Ibaad-u-Ragmaan Qadiri Jamaa'ah tries to offer group adhkār as an alternative to social ills such as drug

abuse and gangsterism.

A healthy leaning towards orphan adoption exists within the group. Names are not mentioned here for reasons of

propriety.

They neither whirl, nor do they hold hands. By reason of its size, Jamaa’ah persons don’t position themselves in a

circular or semi-circular formation as is sometimes found among dhikr groups. During adhkār, its members sit or

stand in straight rows instead. Jamaa’ah individuals do not chit-chat. They don’t use musical instruments and

don’t light candles, or dim or down the lights when in adhkār. The group recites only in Arabic.

The previous generations of the Jamaa’ah consisted of mostly older people who were involved in the building

trade. The passage of time has largely changed this, where the average age of the Jamaa’ah membership has

actually decreased. Those who participate in the adhkār today come from all walks of life.

Jamaa’ah membership comes from all parts of the Cape Peninsula.

Apart from obvious exceptions like ’eid86, the ’Ibaad-u-Ragmaan Qadiri Jamaa’ah recites all year round. The

Jamaa’ah does not come together on nights like Laylat al-Mi’rāj87 or Laylat al-Barā’ah88 when these occur on a

84 Al-Shahīd (Arabic; pl. shuhūd, shuhadā, shuhada, or shuhadaa; fem. shahīda), also spelled al-shahid and pronounced ash-Shahīd, one

of the Beautiful Names of Allāh; a witness; in the context of this work, one who is martyred in the way of The Ever-Living Allāh.

85 Du’ā' (Arabic; pl. ad’īyyah), also spelled du’ā, du’a', du’aa', du’a, dua'a, du’â, du’â', or du’aa; supplication; a method of asking Allāh

for one’s needs; often done at the conclusion of prayer wherein the hands are raised, voicing the Name of Allāh, the Most Beneficent And

Most Merciful, thanking Allāh, reciting greetings on our Beloved Prophet Muḥammad , beseeching Allāh, Glorious Be His Praise, for

one’s requirements, again reciting salutations on our Composed Prophet Muḥammad , and again thanking Allāh, the Most Generous.

86 ’Eid, pl. 'ayād, or 'ayaad; the Arabic word ‘eid means ‘a festivity’, ‘a celebration’, or ‘a recurring happiness’. Starting on the 10th day

of Dhul Ḥijjah, ’eid al-aḍ-ḥā lasts four days (between the tenth and the thirteenth days of Dhul Ḥijjah). ’Eid al-fitr marks the end of the

Holy Month of Ramaḍān.

87 Laylat al-Mi’rāj (Arabic), also spelled Laylat al-Mi’raaj; the “Night of the Ascension”, 27th Rajab of every Islamic year.

15

Saturday, as most of the local mosques have activities of its own on these evenings. The group has become a

religious touchstone and part of the fabric of adhkār at the Cape.

The group had, during the apartheid era, held regular Saturday dhikr assemblies at those mosques that were most

adversely affected by the evils of the Group Areas Act. The Jamaa’ah had completed many trips of Islamic

da'wah89 to Masjid Munier in Spaanschemat River Road and Mahmud Masjid in Main Road, Constantia. In

response to forced removals, the Jamaa'ah took the standard of the Qādirīyyah Silsilah to the Quwatul Islam

Masjid in Loop Street, Cape Town. New territory was reached when the Jamaa'ah took the banner of Islamic

spirituality to the Noor al-Hamidia Masjid at 138 Long Street, Cape Town. A fresh frontier was arrived at when

the Jamaa’ah pressed on to Masjid al-Rashidin in Queens Street, Mowbray. For a few hours, Simon’s Town was

transformed from a sleepy coastal hamlet to a lively dhikrullāh hub when the Jamaa'ah collected at the Noorul

Islam Masjid, corner of Thomas Street and Water Lane. The Jamaa'ah went to Masjid al Jamia in Quarterdeck

Road, Kalk Bay, to glorify Allāh over and over again. A handful of Muslims at the Ghusnayne Masjid in

Myburgh Road, Diep River were spellbound by the fineness of the group's adhkār when the Jamaa’ah recited

there. Recitals at the Quloobul Moe’mineen Masjid in Goodwood Street, Goodwood helped to serve as a buttress

against apartheid. Visits to the Nur ul-Uthmania Masjid on Berg River Boulevard, and the Ouwal Masjid, corner

of Weiss and Breda Streets, Paarl, further helped the spread of adhkār.

Since being asked to do so by Imām Abdullatief ‘Bābu’ Purkar, the Jamaa’ah routinely recites at the Habibia

Soofie Masjid. Hajjī Abduragmaan da Costa and Imām Abdullatief were bosom friends. Imām Bābu demanded

respect through his humility and had ably led the large Habibia Soofie Darbār90 faithful for fifty seven years. He

had said to Sheikh Mogammad Riefaard: “Die Syiedie het die masjied gebou vir sulke ietse. Julle maak dhikr vir

Allah hier in die masjied terwyl ek nog lewe. Maak dhikr hier as ek ook nie die dag hier is nie.” [In English: “The

Sayed (’Abd Al-Laṭīf bin Qāḍī Muḥammad Yūsuf) had built this mosque for these type of activities. The Jamaa’ah

remembers Allāh here in the mosque while I am still alive. Carry on with it when I have passed on.”] Ever since,

the group regularly recites at the Habibia Soofie Masjid annual death commemorations of Sayed ’Abd Al-Qādir

al-Jīlānī91 al-Ḥasanī92 al-Ḥusaynī93 al-Ḥanbalī94, al-Sayed Gharīb Nawāz Mu'ain al-Dīn Chishtī al-Ḥanafī95 and

Khwāja96 Ḥabīb ’Alī Shāh al-Ṣiddīqī al-Chishtī (d. 6 Dhul Ḥijjah 1323A.H., May Allāh, the One Who Purifies

88 Laylat al-Barā’ah (Arabic), also spelled Laylat al-Barā’at; the “Night of (the) Emancipation”, 15th Sha’bān of every Islamic year.

89 Da’wah (Arabic; n.; pl. da’awāt, da’awat, or da’awaat), ‘Issuing a summons’, or ‘issuing an invitation’, literally; (the) call (to Islām),

in the spirit of this text. A Muslim who practises da’wah is called a dā’ī, or dā’ee; the plural form for dā’ī is du’āt, or du’aat.

90 Darbār, also spelled darbaar, or durbar; in Farsi, it means a court; in Urdu, it means a house, a dwelling, an area, the court or public

levee of a prince, an audience chamber, or the executive government of a native state.

91 Al-Jīlānī, also spelled al-Djilani, al-Djilāni, al-Geylani, al-Gilani, al-Gīlānī, al-Geylānī, al-Geylāni, al-Jailani, al-Jailāni, al-Jaylani,

al-Jaylānī, al-Jeelani, or al-Jilani; an ethnonym that tells of a person connected to the Iranian district of Jilan (sometimes spelled Gaylān,

Gilan, Gīlān, Jailan, Jaylan, or Jīlān).

92 Al-Ḥasanī, Arabic; an honorary patronymic indicating descent from Sayyidinā al-Ḥasan ibn ’Alī (624-670CE, May Allāh Bless him

and Give him Peace), the grandson of our Exemplary Prophet Muḥammad .

93 Al-Ḥusaynī, Arabic; an honorary patronymic indicating descent from Sayyidinā al-Ḥusayn ibn ’Alī (626-680CE, May Allāh Bestow on

him His Grace), the grandson of our Prudent Prophet Muḥammad .

94 Al-Ḥanbalī, also spelled al-Hanbalī, an identifier that explains an association with the Ḥanābilah school of Islamic jurisprudence that

is named after the lauded al-Imām Aḥmad bin Muḥammad bin Ḥanbal abū ’Abdallāh al-Shaybānī (780-855CE/164-241AH, May Allāh

rest his soul).

9595 Al-Ḥanafī, an Arabic identifier that shows an association with the Ḥanafīyyah school of Islamic jurisprudence that is named after the

knowledgeable al-Imām Nu’mān ibn Thābit ibn Zūṭā ibn Marzubān, also known as Imām Abū Ḥanīfah (d. 772CE, May Allāh always

Shower His Mercy on him).

96 Khwāja (also spelled Khaja, Khāja, Khawaja, Khawāja, Khawajah, Khawājah, Khawja, Khwādja, Khwaja, or Khwajah); in classical

Urdu, a lord, a master, an owner, a man of distinction, a gentleman, a rich merchant, or the head of a household.

16

whom He Pleases, Confer His Eternal Grace on them). This also represented a break from the Jamaa’ah reciting

‘within itself’, so to speak, to taking the adhkār to the Muslim populace. These events extend over a weekend and

attract thousands of people. Sheikh Mogammad Riefaard Manie was initiated into the Ḥabībīyyah97 branches of

the Qādirīyyah and Chishtīyyah Orders by master-dhākir Imām Bābu. Many Jamaa’ah males had followed

Sheikh Mogammad Riefaard’s example.

The Habibia complex in Duine Road, Doornhoogte (or 'Thornhill Estate', as it was officially named) was the first

mosque and madrassah98 set of buildings on the Cape Flats. It is the largest, and by far the busiest Islamic centre

in South Africa. This institution, also commonly referred to as “Habibia”, “Habibia College”, “Habibīyyah”,

“Habibīyyah College” or simply “the College”, consists of a large mosque, four educational establishments, the

Imām's house, a caretaker's home, a large hall, an orphanage, a bookshop and a car park. A pretty garden adds to

the ambiance. Hajjī Husain Parker (b. 1947), Hajjī Hasan Paleker (b. 1961), Hajjī Abdul Majied Datay (b. 1950)

and Hajjī Nazier Mukuddem (b. 1952) regularly call the faithful to prayer. Imām Goolam Hoosain Parker (b.

1953), Ḥāfidh Mas'ud Aḥmad Kagee (b. 1967), Sheikh Muḥammad Luqmaan Kagee (b. 1983), Ishtiaq Parker (b.

1986), or Imām Abdul Kariem Parker (b. 1986) leads the formal Islamic Prayer. Habibia has few architectural

peers locally and has become an iconic landmark in this part of the world. Between the nursery school and the

mosque is the shrine that holds the holy grave of Maulānā99 ’Abd Al-Laṭīf, the son of Qāḍī Muḥammad Yūsuf, the

son of Qāḍī ’Abd Al-Raḥmān. The burial-place of Shāh Muḥammad Yūsuf Purkar al-Nizāmī al-Ḥabībī (d. 1936),

the brother-in-law of Maulānā ’Abd Al-Laṭīf and the father of Imām Abdullatief ‘Bābu’ Purkar, is adjacent to the

mazār100. [Imām Bābu had successfully resisted political and social pressures to anglicize his surname from

'Purkar' to 'Parker'.] Ḥadhrat Goolam Mohammed Ṣūfī Ṣāḥib al-Chishtī and Sayyidī (as Maulānā ’Abd Al-Laṭīf

was called) were the initial inspirations behind the construction of Habibia. Ḥadhrat Goolam Mohammed Ṣūfī

Ṣāḥib was the father-in-law of Maulānā ’Abd Al-Laṭīf. Both were descendants of Sayyidinā101 Abū102 Bakr al-

Ṣiddīq103 (May Allāh Grant them Peace in the Abode of His Mercy). The Habibia Soofie Masjid was built on

piety.

Two peacocks used to roam the grounds at Habibia and its surrounds.

The Qādirīyyah flag is hoisted on the Habibia grounds with the annual death commemorations of Sayed ’Abd Al-

Qādir al-Jīlānī; the Chishtīyyah flag is raised there at the time of the death anniversary of Sayed Gharīb Nawāz

97 Ḥabībīyyah, the sub-order of Islamic spirituality that traces back to Khwāja Bāba Farīd al-Dīn Mas’ūd Ganj-i Shakar al-Chishtī of

Pakpattan, Punjab (d. 664AH/1265CE), al-Sayed Qutb al-Dīn Bakhtiyār Kākī al-Chishtī of Mehrauli, New Delhi (1173-1235), al-Sayed

Gharīb Nawāz Mu'ain al-Dīn Chishtī al-Ḥanafī of Ajmer, Rajasthan, India (d. 1230CE), al-Sayed al-Sulṭān al-Awliyā al-Ghawth al-

A’ḍham ’Abd Al-Qādir al-Jīlānī al-Ḥasanī al-Ḥusaynī al-Ja’fārī al-Ḥanbalī (d. 561AH/1166CE) and Sheikh Nizām al-Dīn Awliyā al-

Chishtī of Ghiyaspur, a village outside Delhi, India (d. 1325) - May Allāh, there is no god but He, Treat them Kindly.

98 Madrassah (Arabic; pl. 'madaris', 'madāris', or 'madaaris'), a school, or centre of learning.

99 Maulānā (Arabic; lit., “master”; Farsi, Urdu, Bahasa Indonesia, Turkish) also spelled Maulāna, Maulana, Mawlānā, Mawlana,

Mawlāna, Mevlana, Mevlānā, Molānā, Molana, Moulana, Mowlaana, or Mowlana; literally, “our supporter”, “our protector”, or “our

friend”; in the context of this work, a title that is given to an Islamic scholar who has qualified in India or Pakistan, or someone who has

learned under a person from the Indian subcontinent. The titles Molvi, or Maulvi and Maulānā are often interchanged on the Indian

subcontinent.

100 Mazār (Farsi, Turkish, Urdu; pl. mazārāt), sometimes spelled mazaar, or mazar; also called a dargah; a shrine, sepulchre, tomb,

mausoleum, grave, or burial-place of a Muslim saint; a place of visitation, often with a dome over the grave.

101 Sayyidinā (Arabic; also Sayyidina, Sayidina, Sayiddunā, or Sayyedina; fem. Sayyidatinā) “Our master”. In Islām, an honorific title

assigned to a spiritually eminent personality such as an angel, a prophet, or a companion or family member of our Strong-willed

Prophet Muḥammad .

102 Abū, also spelled Abu or aboo, an honorific term of relationship; the 'father of', translated from Arabic. In the Arabic system of

nomenclature, a man’s name will sometimes include the name of his first-born son, prefixed by Abā, Abee, Abi, Abī, Aboo, Abū, Abu,

Abū’l, Abu’l or Abul.

103 Al-Ṣiddīq, Arabic, also spelled al-Ṣiddiq, as-Siddeeq, or as-Ṣiddīq; the distinguishing title given to al-Sayed Abū Bakr ’Abdallāh ibn

abī Quḥāfa al-Ṣiddīq al-Taymī (573-634CE - May Allāh, the One Who Accomplishes What He Wills, be Pleased with him).

17

Mu'ain al-Dīn Chishtī al-Ḥanafī (May Allāh, the One Who Has Preserved all things on record, Be Pleased with

them).

The ’Ibaad-u-Ragmaan Qadiri Jamaa’ah has also on occasion recited at the Ighwatul Islam Masjied at 22

Cornflower Road, Bridgetown, the Daar-un-Na'iem Masjid at 63 Castletown Road, Wynberg and at Azawiyah in

Perth Road, Walmer Estate. They had softened their hearts with the praises of Allāh at Masjid al-Munawwarah at

36 Concert Boulevard in Square Hill, Retreat. Concert Boulevard was renamed Joe Marks Boulevard on 22 April

2015.

Memorable evenings have been spent in adhkār at the Nur al-Latief Masjid in Kramat Road, Macassar. Macassar

has a Muslim-majority community where everyone knows everyone else. Fresh ground was broken by recitals at

the Ma’hadul Islam Masjid in Lapperts Street, Paarl. Longing that the One True God would open the locks on their

hearts through His remembrance, the group recited at the Nurul-Huda Masjid in Bo-Leeuwen Street, Cape Town.

The Jamaa’ah had gathered at the Hidayatul Islam Masjid at 29 9th Street, Kensington, set on taming their lower

selves. Recitals at the Mogammadieya Masjid at 68 Tennyson Street, Salt River, assisted the cause of adhkār.

Moral 'heavyweight' Imām Abduraḥmān Bassier (1923-2004) walked on air whenever the Jamaa’ah went to the

Boorhanoel Islam Masjid in Longmarket Street, Bo-Kaap.

Pushing back the lines of adhkār, the Jamaa’ah made dhikr at al-Azhar Masjid at 29 Aspeling Street in Cape

Town on the evening of Sunday, 15th December 1996. On Thursday, 26th December 1996, dhikr was performed

at Hazendal’s newly-built Masjied Khaleel. This mosque is situated on the corner of 12th Avenue and Downing

Street. As a salute to the seventy-sixth birthday of Sheikh Mohamed Salie Dien (1921-2010), and as a tribute to his

fortieth year as the resident Imām at the masjid, the Jamaa’ah, together with several hundred other people, recited

at the Masjid al-Salaam in St Athans Road, Gleemoor, on 4 January 1997. Saturday, 19th April 1997 first saw the

Jamaa’ah in adhkār at the Masjidul Baghrein in Bayview Road, Hout Bay.

Thursday, 8th May 1997 witnessed the acclaimed scholar of Islām, al-Sayed Muḥammad ibn104 ’Alawī ibn ’Abbās

ibn ’Abd Al-’Azīz al-Ḥasanī al-Idrīsī105 al-Makkī106 al-Azharī107 al-Mālikī108 al-’Alawī al-Shādhilī (d. 2004)

arriving on his first visit to the Cape. He swept all before him during his week-long stay. As part of the local

Muslim population’s welcome, and in the company of the learned Sheikh, the Jamaa’ah recited the Qadiri at the

Habibia Soofie Masjid on Saturday, 10th May 1997. More than two thousand people had packed the College to the

rafters. Just prior to the closure of the adhkār, the host, Imām Bābu, led an animated recital of the ashrakal109. He

“was in the Jannah” responded a delighted Sayed Muḥammad ibn ’Alawī al-Mālikī, when asked directly

afterwards by Sheikh Mogamat Amien Fakier for his opinion on the group’s method of adhkār. This coming from

a man who had practically grown up in the Masjid al-Ḥarām110. The house in which he was born and raised was

104 Ibn (Arabic; fem. bint), an equivalent of, and often used as the Arabic ben, bin, ibne, ibni, ibnul, bnu, or b.; an honorific term of

relationship; the ‘son of’, translated.

105 Al-Idrīsī, also spelled al-Idrisi, an admirable Arabic patronymic indicating descent from Sayed Idrīs ibn ’Abdallāh ibn al-Ḥasan (745-

791) of Morocco (May Allāh, the One Who Built the seven firmaments, have Mercy on him).

106 Al-Makkī, 'the Meccan', translated from Arabic.

107 Al-Azharī, Arabic, usually a postfix to the name of an al-Azhar University graduate.

108 Al-Mālikī, Arabic; also spelled al-Maliki; a tag that describes an attachment to the Mālikīyyah school of Islamic jurisprudence that is

named after the distinguished al-Imām Mālik ibn Anas al-Asbaḥī al-Ḥumyārī al-Madanī (d. 179AH, May Allāh Shower His Mercy on

him).

109 Ashrakal, a form of ṣalawāt on our Strong-minded Prophet Muḥammad . People rendering the ashrakal normally stand.

110 Masjid al-Ḥarām, Arabic, sometimes spelled Masjid al-Ḥaram, or Masjidul Ḥaram; the Holy Mosque in Mecca.

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situated next to al-Bāb al-Salām111. A towering author of unequalled prolificacy, Sayed Muḥammad ibn ’Alawī al-

Mālikī was the reformer of his time.

On the next Thursday evening, the Jamaa’ah collaborated with a smaller dhikr group, and in the presence of the

Sayed, Sheikh Muḥammad Ṣāliḥ ’Abādī Solomon and other ulema, in the performance of adhkār. This was done at

al-Masjid al-Quds in Boulevard Balu Parker, Gatesville.

Sheikh Mogammad Riefaard took bay’ah at the hands of Sayed Muḥammad ibn ’Alawī al-Mālikī. This had

connected Sheikh Mogammad Riefaard into the ’Alawīyyun and Shādhilīyyah Ṭurūq, and also into the branch of

the Qādirīyyah Silsilah112 that Sayed Muḥammad ibn ’Alawī al-Mālikī had earlier linked into via Maulānā

Muḥammad Ḍiyāʾ al-Dīn al-Qādirī (d. 1981). Maulānā Muḥammad Ḍiyāʾ al-Dīn Aḥmad al-Qādirī was born in

Sialkot, moved to Baghdad and settled in al-Madīnah al-Munawwarah in 1910. Sialkot became part of Pakistan at

the time of the partition of British-colonised India into India and Pakistan in August 1947. Maulānā Ḍiyāʾ al-Dīn

had gained khilāfat from ulema such as Maulānā Ahmed Raza Khan (1856-1921), Sheikh Aḥmad Shams al-

Maghribī113 (d. 1924), Sheikh Mahmood al-Maghribī, Maulānā ’Abd Al-Bāqi al-Farangī114 (d. 1943) and Imām

al-Qāḍī Yūsuf bin Ismā’īl bin Yūsuf al-Azharī115 al-Shāfi’ī al-Nabahānī116, 1849-1932.

Masjidul Ishraaq in 5th Avenue Grassy Park, for the first time in its existence, served as the gathering place for the

Qadiri on Saturday, 7 June 1997. On the evening of Saturday, 5th July 1997 and also for the first time there, the

Jamaa’ah recited at the Sunni Muhammad Masjid, at 11 Anglesey Street, Rondebosch East.

Set in stone at the one end of a busy thoroughfare in Stellenbosch is the street name Banhoek; cast in concrete on

the corner directly opposite in the same street, is the name Banghoek. The Goejjat-ul Islam Masjid is situated in

this road. Stellenbosch is a small university town where old-fashioned values remain central to the way of life.

Three palm trees in front of the Goejjat-ul Islam Masjid reach regally into the Boland sky. Of all the mosques in

the South Western Cape, the mosque in Stellenbosch has the biggest car parks. Imām Nawawie Toefy (1936-2012)

was as pleased as Punch when the Jamaa’ah recited at the centennial commemorations of this mosque on

Saturday, 16 August 1997. Imām Nawawie had started as the Imām of the Goejjat-ul Islam Masjid in 1963.

The ’Ibaad-u-Ragmaan Qadiri Jamaa’ah recited at the Rahmaniyah Masjid in Sonata Street, Steenberg on the

evening of 23rd August 1997. The community came out in numbers. This was the first time that the Jamaa’ah had

spent an evening in adhkār at this mosque.

Long overdue, and also for the first time in its history, the Jamaa’ah made the Qadiri at the Auwal Masjid at 39

Dorp Street, Cape Town on the evening of Saturday, 13th September 1997. On Saturday, 15th November 1997,

the ’Ibaad-u-Ragmaan Qadiri Jamaa’ah was in attendance at the Darul Islam Masjid, corner of Gonubie and

Pluto Roads in Surrey Estate. Another milestone was reached at the Shukrul Mubeen Masjid in York Road, Wetton

when the Jamaa’ah spent the evening of 22nd November 1997 there in the remembrance of Allāh. Saturday, 6

December 1997 went to adhkār at Masjidul Mansur in Warden Crescent, Mountview.

Another Jamaa’ah ‘first’ was registered at al-Falaag Masjid in Bellville South, when the evening of Saturday,

21st March 1998 was devoted to adhkār there. Masjid al-Muqarram at 40 Maryland Street, Factreton, was first

111 Al-Bāb al-Salām, Arabic, at times spelled ‘al-Baab al-Salaam’; ‘the Door of Peace’; also known as ‘Bāb Banī Shaybah’, or simply

‘Bāb Salām’; the initial entrance to the Great Mosque in Mecca. The original doorway no longer exits.

112 Silsilah (Arabic; pl. salāsil), a chain (of spiritual transmission).

113 Al-Maghribī, an Arabic description which tells of a connection with the Maghrib region of north-west Africa.

114 Al-Farangī, a tag which speaks of a connection with Farangi Mahal (also spelled Firangi Mahal) in Lucknow, the capital of Uttar

Pradesh, India. (The Urdu word mahal in this context, means a mansion, palace, or living quarters.) 116 Al-Nabahānī, pronounced an-Nabahānī; an Arabic patronymic which tells of a connection to the Banī Nabhan in the Middle East.

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used by the Jamaa’ah on 5th September 1998. The initial recital at the Nur-al-Islam Masjid in Addison Road, Salt

River, took place the next week.

The Jamaa’ah extended its borders on Saturday, 3rd October 1998 when it recited at the Durban Road Mosque in

Worcester. Just hours before, they had made dhikr at the holy grave of Sayed Nasser at Rawsonville. (May Allāh,

the One Who Sends down pure water from the clouds, grant Sayed Nasser quietude in heaven.) Ladies had earlier

participated in the adhkār only at some of the named venues because of the lack of suitable facilities. This

restriction, by this time, had largely been removed.

Wynberg’s Yusufeyah Masjid was introduced to the Jamaa’ah on the evening of 17th October 1998, when the

adhkār took place in Mosque Road. On the following Saturday, Masjid-us-Saabierien in Primrose Park had its

initial ‘Qadiri’.

Redefining its boundaries, the group set about in the remembrance of Allāh on Saturday, 7th November 1998 at

the Nur-al-Islam Masjid in Terhoven Road in the Strand. A week later, an introductory recital was held at the

Galielol Raghmaan Masjid in Ellersmere Street, District Six.

Jamaa’ah women numbers were matching the men all of a sudden, as was evidenced the next Saturday at the

Jameah Masjid in Chiappini Street, Bo-Kaap.

If nothing else and although it is mainly on Saturdays, the Jamaa’ah has played its part in bringing a section of the

local Muslims back to the mosques. By reciting at al-Jamia Usmania Masjid in Bonteheuwel on 6 March 1999,

the Jamaa’ah further extended the sway of group adhkār on the Cape Flats. Onward to Cravenby Estate’s Husami

Masjid journeyed the Jamaa’ah on Saturday, 13th March 1999. A week later, it was the turn of Masjid-al-Rawbie’

in Merrydale Avenue, Portlands, Mitchell’s Plain. In a short time, Mitchell’s Plain became the biggest ‘coloured’

township and the community there grew into the single largest Muslim group of people in South Africa.

June 5 1999 fell to the Tennyson Street, Mandalay Mosque. Stretching its confines, the Jamaa’ah went to the

Malmesbury Mosque on Saturday, June 19 1999. Masjied-ul Jamaah in Sherwood Park received the group two

weeks later. Next came the Institute of the Holy Qur’an at 556 Lansdowne Road, Lansdowne. “I’ve listened fairly

attentively to the dhikr throughout the evening,” commented Sheikh Abu Bakr Abduraouf (b. 1954) in a lecture

after the dhikr, “and I could not detect even the slightest flaw within your recital,” he marvelled. Sheikh Abu Bakr

is a qārī117 of known repute. In the history of South African Muslims, the Abduraouf / Abduroaf family has

produced the most ulema.

Masjid-al-Saabirin in Link Street, Macassar, followed on July 24 1999. The Sunni Jumu’ah Masjid at 81 Beak

Road, Pelican Park first had its chance on Saturday, August 21 1999. Aiding the march of adhkār once more, the

Jamaa’ah went to the Owwal Masjid in Jasmyn Avenue, Belhar on 4th September 1999.

Redrawing its perimeters, the ’Ibaad-u-Ragmaan Qadiri Jamaa’ah pushed on to the George Mosque over the long

weekend of 25th September 1999. On Masjid al-Waqaf in Kimberley the Jamaa’ah converged by bus, car and air

the very next week in remodelling its brief once again. Enraptured by the adhkār, the former mining town’s

Muslim fraternity treated the Jamaa’ah to a glowing welcome, a warm stay and a hearty farewell. Imām Yusuf

Gallant (1927-2009) and his family too, were on cloud nine. “For more than ten years I have asked, and finally the

Jamaa’ah has come to Kimberley,” he beamed.

Broadening the base of adhkār once more, the Jamaa’ah came together at the Darul Qaraar Masjid at 66 Park

Road, Wynberg on 13 November 1999.

By reciting at the Nur-al-Islam Masjid in Heideveld on 25 March 2000, the group continued on its’ walk towards

Allāh .

117 Qārī (Arabic; pl. Qurrā', or Qārī’ūn), also spelled qari; in this context, one who recites the Mighty Qur-ān.

20

Remaking its charge yet again, the group went to Port Elizabeth for a dhikrullāh ‘marathon’ during April 2000.

While forging new ties, the Jamaa’ah reawakened old relationships. The dhikr helped to engender mutual

fondness among Muslims. In a large gathering on Friday, 28 April at Masjid-al-Saabireen, the friendly city was

handed its first taste of the Qadiri. The Jamaa’ah got together at Masjid-al-Taqwa the very next evening and

capped it all by accomplishing a full dhikr at Masjid-al-Abraar twenty-four hours later. Here, a grateful Imām

Goolam Mustapha Tiry (b. 1938) fought back the tears as he delivered a stirring vote of thanks.

A few Jamaa’ah members visited the holy grave of Sayed Abū Rāfi’ī' in Port Elizabeth on the Sunday morning.

(May Allāh, the One Who Is faultless in His Majesty, Attract Sayed Abū Rāfi’ī' to His Closeness.)

For Mīlād al-Nabī the Jamaa’ah further extended its limits, when it went to the Vredenburg Mosque on 17 June

2000. The Jamaa’ah hired a train for the journey.

The Jamaa’ah first found its way to Blackbird Avenue in Parkwood Estate when, on 8 July 2000, it recited at

Masjied al-Sabr. Foraying into Wellington on 5th May 2001, the Jamaa’ah met with a responsive crowd at

Masjidul Fatgh. From this time on, local mosques were locked outside of the regular prayer hours because of the

alarming incidences of theft.

On 23rd March 2002, the Jamaa’ah took the winsome sounds of the Qadiri to al-Masjid al-Nur 27 Dove Road,

Parkwood Estate, where Imām Moegammad Fareed Manie was the presiding Imām.

More than 15 Jamaa’ah people went on Ḥajj in 1997. In 1998, 36 persons went to the Holy Land of the

Pilgrimage. Twenty-one Jamaa’ah pilgrims had answered the call in 1999. The year 2000 had 25 Jamaa’ah

ḥujjāj118. Just eight people went during 2001. Two-thousand-and-two was a particularly good year for the ’Ibaad-

u-Ragmaan. The Jamaa’ah weaved yet one more colourful strand into the beautiful raiment of adhkār, as Sheikh

Mogammad Riefaard Manie al-Shāfi’ī al-’Alawī al-Shādhilī al-Qādirī al-Chishtī led more than a hundred people

from the group on the Ḥajj. It brought fresh meaning to the lives of many. Every day spent on the holy journey was

better than the one before - every moment sweeter than the previous one. Allāh, the God of the Sacred House, had

brought them to the Ḥajj in a plan so wondrously simple, so charming in its complexity, and yet so perfectly

balanced in its execution. They had received much in exchange for very little. The ’Ibaad-u-Ragmaan Qadiri

Jamaa’ah had remembered Allāh, and Allāh remembered them. “The Mercy of Allāh descends on the

Jamaa’ah,” Hajjī Abduragmaan da Costa had said.

On Saturday, 19 October 2002 the ’Ibaad-u-Ragmaan Qadiri Jamaa’ah went out to the plains calling to the

worship of Allāh , when Muslims at Masjidul-Huda in Hans Aschenborn Road, New Woodlands, Mitchell’s

Plain first sampled the Qadiri.

During July 2003, Sheikh Mogammad Riefaard Manie al-Shāfi’ī al-’Alawī al-Shādhilī al-Qādirī al-Chishtī

spearheaded a dhikrullāh drive to the central and eastern parts of South Africa. The Jamaa’ah travelled by rail,

aeroplane and road. Sheikh Mogammad Ganief Moos (b. 1951) went along. At Masjid al-Waqaf in Kimberley,

again, the group was heartily received on 2nd July. On Friday, 4th July, the group wet their tongues with

dhikrullāh at the Habibia Soofie Bhaijaan119 Masjid in 45th Cutting. Hundreds of people gave their all in adhkār at

the Habibia Soofie Masjid at Riverside in Durban the next evening. Visits to the holy graves of Ḥadhrat Aḥmad

Badsha120 Peer al-Qādirī (1820-1894), Ḥadhrat Goolam Mohammed Ṣūfī Ṣāḥib al-Chishtī and Ḥadhrat Shāh

Goolam Ḥāfidh al-Chishtī in Durban on Sunday, 6th July 2003, were extra icing on the cake. People of various

faiths frequented these shrines. (May Allāh, the One Who Guides To His Light whom He Pleases, Be Good to

these saints).

118 Ḥujjāj (Arabic; also hujaaj, hujaj, hujāj or ḥujjaaj; sing. Hajjī, or al-Ḥaj; fem. Ḥajja), Muslims who have performed the Pilgrimage

to Mecca.

119 Bhaijaan, also Bhaijān, Bengali for 'older brother'.

120 Badsha, king, translated from Farsi.

21

The ’Ibaad-u-Ragmaan Qadiri Jamaa’ah ventured onto unfamiliar terrain on 20 March 2004 when it went to

Saldanha Bay for adhkār. On Saturday, 15th May 2004, the group graced Masjidul Quran wa Sunnah at 111

Coronation Road, Maitland, to voice the Greatness of their God Most High.

The Muslims of Ashton warmed to the Jamaa’ah dhikrullāh on the occasion of their 16 April 2005 Islamic Day.

The Habibia Siddique Muslim Pipe Band, also, had travelled from Cape Town to regale the locals. Band members

were smartly dressed in green and white. The males wore red, bucket-shaped fezzes. A piper initiated a continuous

tone and a drumbeat started. Strains of bagpipe music charged the country air. Cane pounded on skin. By raising or

lowering the mace, the drum major cued the pipers and the drummers, as he marched with a swagger ahead of the

troupe. Excited children ran along the side of the road as the 'brigade' strutted through the streets.

Continuing the propagation of dhikrullāh, the Jamaa’ah gave their time to ’ibādāt at Masjid al-Bahr in Dennegeur

Avenue, Strandfontein on 9 July 2005.

A Jamaa’ah adhkār drive was launched into the Overberg on Saturday, 28th January 2006. The group travelled

over Sir Lowry's Pass and through the scenic beauty of Elgin, Grabouw and Houw Hoek Pass to the Caledon

Muslim Society. A large banner welcomed everyone. Muslims from neighbouring towns had joined the activities.

Overberg traffic officers were on hand to assist. The local newspaper Caledon Kontrei Nuus covered the event.

The City Hall in Plein Street, Caledon, was used for their Islamic Open Day, as the prayer facility in Boyes Street

was too small. The rural hamlet came alive when the Habibia Siddique Muslim Pipe Band struck its opening

drones. A qaṣīdah121 band pleased the crowd. The ’Ibaad-u-Ragmaan Qadiri Jamaa’ah recited as if their lives

depended on it. Muslims there gasped for more.

After the dhikrullāh on Saturday, 11th February 2006, Maulānā Goolam Kootboodien Kagee al-Chishtī (b. 1939)

asked that the Jamaa’ah continues with adhkār at Habibia even when he had passed on. Maulānā Kootboodien

Kagee is the ‘elder statesman’ at the Habibia Soofie Masjid.

A Jamaa’ah session of remembrance was held at Masjidur Raghma, 15 Athlone Street, Garlandale, on 17

November 2007. On Saturday, 29 December 2007, the 'Ibaad-u-Ragmaan Qadiri Jamaa'ah set out for the

Sandvlei122 Mosque to lift up their voice in praise of God. Getting there was best tackled at that time of year, as the

flooding Eerste River regularly burst its banks during the rainy season, cutting most of Sandvlei and the

surrounding areas off from the rest of the world. Generations of Cape Muslims had referred to the part of the

Eerste River which flows through Macassar towards Sandvlei as the kali.123

Taking Islām forward once more, the Jamaa'ah made adhkār at Masjidul-Kowthar, 11 Laurence Dale Road,

Oakdene, Kuils River on 23rd February 2008. Where Jamaa’ah appearances were scheduled during the warm

months, mosques asked that recitals there start just after the ’Aṣr Ṣalāh124. Much to the delight of the town’s small

Muslim population, the group journeyed over Houw Hoek Pass on 22 March 2008 for the Hermanus mosque

Mīlād al-Nabī celebrations. On Saturday, 28th June 2008, the Jamaa'ah went about their business of polishing

their hearts through glorifying Allāh , when it collaborated in the Galielol Raghmaan Masjid centenary

celebrations. On 2nd August 2008, the ’Ibaad-u-Ragmaan brought Allāh, the One Who Adds to His creation what

He pleases, to remembrance with humility and reverence when the Jamaa’ah recited at the Sulaimaniyah Masjid

in William Street, Woodstock. Hearts at the Sunni Muslim Masjid in Harvey Road, Claremont were set at rest by

the remembrance of Allāh on 9th August 2008. On 15th November 2008, Jamaa’ah dhikrullāh charmed the rapt

Masjidul Ummah faithful in Ottery. Jamaa’ah dhikrullāh enthralled the Masjiedoel Taqwa community in Alleman

121 Qaṣīdah (Arabic; Farsi, Urdu and Turkish; sometimes spelled 'qaṣeeda', 'qaṣeedah', or 'qaṣidah'; pl. qaṣā’id), an ode that usually

eulogises a religious personality.

122 Sandvlei, variously called Zand vlet, Zandvlei, Zandvliet, Zandtvliet, Zandvleit, or Zandtvleit, a rural settlement in the South Western

Cape, South Africa.

123 Kali (Bahasa Indonesia, n.), pronounced karley, a large natural stream of water (larger than a creek).

124 ’Aṣr Ṣalāh, Arabic, offered before sunset, the obligatory mid-afternoon Islamic Prayer.

22

Road, Newfields Estate on 22nd November 2008. On 29th November 2008, a large crowd at the Dar al-Rahman

Masjid in Lavender Hill brought to mind the Greatness of God.

By going to al-Markaz al-Islami Masjid in Kalksteenfontein on Saturday, 24th January 2009, the ’Ibaad-u-

Ragmaan Qadiri Jamaa’ah redrew the lines of local adhkār.

Dhikrullāh at the Siddique Masjid on 21 February 2009 commemorated Sheikh Mogamat Amien Fakier’s fiftieth

year as the Imām there. The event was held in recognition of his learning and paid tribute to the services that he

had rendered to Islām. Sheikh Mogamat Amien Fakier (b. 1937) had studied in Makkah for eleven years and had

learned in the Masjid al-Ḥarām under preeminent Islamic scholars such as Sheikh Muḥammad al-’Arabī al-

Tubbānī (d. 1966), Sayed ’Alawī ibn ’Abbās al-Ḥasanī al-Makkī al-Mālikī (d. 1970), Sheikh Muḥammad bin

Nūr125 Ṣayf126 al-Muhairī (d. 1971 circa) and Sayed Muḥammad Amīn bin Muḥammad Amīn Kutbī127 al-Ḥasanī

al-Ḥanafī (d. 1404AH/1983CE). He had started at the Siddique Masjid in Salberau, Elsies River, South Africa

during February 1959. A descendant of Sayed ’Abdallāh bin Qāḍī ’Abd Al-Salām, Sheikh Mogamat Amien Fakier

al-Shāfi’ī has more than nine books to his name.

On 14th March 2009, the ’Ibaad-u-Ragmaan left a dhikrullāh footprint in Hex Park in Worcester when it went

there to recollect the Majesty of Allāh and to celebrate the birthday of our Holy Prophet Muḥammad (May Allāh

Bless him and Grant him Peace). The Jamaa’ah continued to entrench and spread Islām through adhkār when it

paid a visit to Masjid al-Furqan at 409 Lansdowne Road, Lansdowne in the Cape Peninsula on Saturday, 2nd May

2009. Promoting the Unity of God once more, the group extolled the limitless Glory of Allāh at the Masjidul

Ghiedma tiel-Islamia in Rondebosch East on Saturday, 27 June 2009. A recital at the Claremont Main Road

Mosque on Saturday, 3rd October 2009 brought the house down. The group beat a path to the Noorul Islam Masjid

in Milky Way, Ocean View on 28th November 2009.

On Saturday, 27th February 2010, the ’Ibaad-u-Ragmaan Qadiri Jamaa’ah went in search of the Pleasure of Allāh

by celebrating Mīlād al-Nabī at the farm called al-Salaam in Touw’s River. The small community there eagerly

gathered to remember Allāh, and to praise Him for having guided them towards Islām and having favoured them

with it. Adherents pronounced the Oneness of God, uttered His Greatness, praised Him and implored God for His

Forgiveness, Mercy, Guidance and Protection at the Ahmedi Sunni Mosque in Victoria Road, Grassy Park on

Saturday, 25 December 2010.

Setting out in the service of God once more, the group celebrated the birthday of His Refined Messenger with

the Ceres Muslim Jamaa'ah on Saturday, 12 February 2011. Congregants at Musjid Al Nur in Trichardt Street,

Ceres eagerly remembered Allāh while standing and sitting. As part of its’ weekly congregational gathering, the

Jamaa’ah kept watch over their souls on Saturday, 2 April 2011 at Masjid al-Qubaa' in North Pine. By this time,

the group had recited at most of the mosques in greater Cape Town.

Adhkār on Saturday, 17 September 2011 at the Nurul Islam Mosque at 134 Buitengragt Street, Bo-Kaap, reminded

participants of the events that surrounded the birth in Mecca of Sheikh Serag Makkie Johaar. The ’Ibaad-u-

Ragmaan Qadiri Jamaa’ah contributed its’ voice to the occasion. “You’ve taken adhkār to the next level,” Sheikh

Serag gushed to the Jamaa'ah afterwards.

The Jamaa’ah took to the road once again when it went to the Mīlād al-Nabī Celebrations in Chatsworth in the

Swartland on Saturday, 28 January 2012. On Saturday, 18 February 2012, the group added to their good works by

sharing in adhkār with the Masjiedur Rasheed congregants in Military Road, Coniston Park, Steenberg. They kept

the Presence of Allāh in their hearts on Saturday, 19 May 2012 when they recited at Masjidur Raghmaan in

Ryston Road, Hanover Park. Lavender Hill, Manenberg, Delft, Khayelitsha and Hanover Park on the Cape Flats

125 Nūr (Arabic, Turkish and Urdu; sing.) also spelled nur; light, ray of light, brilliance, lustre, refulgence, splendour, illumination.

126 Ṣayf, Arabic, also spelled ṣaif, masc.; pl., suyūf; sword.

127 Kutbī, an Arabic description which refers to a relationship with books and knowledge. In the context of this work, it shows an

attachment to knowledge and the keeping, printing and selling of books.

23

were notorious for gang fights and drug-related crimes. Religious duty obliged the group to recite at Masjidul

Fatgh in Old Strandfontein Road, Ottery, on Saturday, 8 September 2012.

The Jamaa'ah celebrated its fiftieth anniversary on Saturday, 24 November 2012 with adhkār at Masjidul

Ghiedma tiel-Islamia in Rondebosch East. Presentations on the group’s history by Jamaa'ah members in the hall

there added to the occasion. A delectable dinner was served.

By the end of 2012, small dhikr groups had evolved at a few of the local mosques. Mīlād al-Nabī groups were

finding its’ feet again.

The ’Ibaad-u-Ragmaan Qadiri Jamaa’ah repetitively mentioned the Name of God at the Hopefield Mīlād al-Nabī

Celebrations of Saturday, 19 January 2013, trusting that God Would Mention them in a gathering better than

theirs. Maulānā Mogamat Rifaat Carolus was overjoyed. The mosque on the corner of Duineveld Street and Skool

Street in Hopefield on the west coast had just been built.

As part of the group’s weekly dhikr program, the Jamaa’ah recited on 24 August 2013 at Masjidul Badr in Erica

Drive, Belhar.

On Saturday, 23 March 2013 they arranged themselves in ranks and declared the Glory of God at the Belgravia

Islamic Society Madrassah, corner of Salaam Street and 7th Avenue, Belgravia Estate.

From the ’Aṣr Ṣalāh on 21 December 2013, the ’Ibaad-u-Ragmaan went in search of the Face of their Maker at

the Masjid al-Anṣar, 67 7th Avenue in Belgravia Estate. Hajjī Mogammad Toyer Adams was at the helm, as the

Sheikh had gone on ’Umrah with his family and Imām Fatgie Manie would leave with his family for the Lesser

Pilgrimage on 25 December 2013.

Assisting the Mīlād al-Nabī Celebrations of Saturday, 25 January 2014 at Masjied ul Yunus in Heidelberg in the

southern Cape, the Jamaa’ah found rest in the remembrance of Allāh by glorifying Him, pronouncing His

Oneness, uttering His Greatness and praising Him.

Thankful for being part of the community of Islām, the group spent the evening of Saturday, 23 August 2014 in

adhkār at Masjidul Wadood, corner of Rosewood and Weltevreden Roads, Colorado Park, Mitchell's Plain.

Jamaa’ah Qādirīyyah dhikrullāh marked the official opening of Al-Raudah Masjid at 7 Nursery Way, Pinelands

on Saturday, 1st November 2014.

Drawing back the veil on spirituality yet again, the group celebrated Mīlād al-Nabī with worshippers at the newly-

built Langebaan Mosque on Saturday, 24 January 2015.

Muslims at the Nizamia Masjid in Tokai went into raptures on 16th January 2016 when the Jamaa’ah celebrated

Mīlād al-Nabī there. These celebrations involved venerating the status of our Discerning Prophet Muḥammad

and expressing joy at his birth.

On 20 February 2016, the Jamaa’ah enriched itself with adhkār when they recited at the Soofie Zia-Un-Nur

Masjid, corner of Joyce Street and Richard Crescent in Valhalla Park. They took to caring for their souls through

prayer when the group met on 26 March 2016 at Masjidul Kareem on the corner of 11th Avenue and Hanekam

Road in Eagle Park.

The ’Ibaad-u-Ragmaan Qadiri Jamaa’ah went on with scattering adhkār afar by commemorating Mīlād al-Nabī

at Masjid-us Saabiereen in Mossel Street, Mossel Bay on 24th December 2016.

The group kept up their religious service, when it recited from after the ’Aṣr Ṣalāh on 12 August 2017 at Masjid

Touhid, 13 Settler Street, Parow Valley.

24

After the dhikr of 9 December 2017 at Masjid al-Qubaa' in North Pine, Sheikh Achmat Damon said to everyone:

If I’m not here, Boeta (Mogammad) Toyer (Adams) will be the sheikh of the Jamaa’ah, followed by Hajjī

(Mohammed) Faaiz Adams and Imām (Mogammad) Fatiegh (Manie).

On Saturday, 16th December 2017, the ’Ibaad-u-Ragmaan Qadiri Jamaa’ah helped Islām by celebrating Mīlād al-

Nabī at the Nur-ul-Islam Masjid in Brand Street, Bredasdorp. Completed during 2016, this was the southernmost

mosque in Africa.

On Saturday, 1st December 2018, the ’Ibaad-u-Ragmaan Qadiri Jamaa’ah got on with the business of mending

their souls and turning it away from all else but God by celebrating Mīlād al-Nabī at the Laingsburg Mosque in the

Central Karoo.

Saturday, 24 August 2019 had the ’Ibaad-u-Ragmaan Qadiri Jamaa’ah gathering at Masjid al-Khair, at 1

Weltevreden Road, Weltevreden Valley, Mitchell’s Plain for worship and the betterment of their souls. They

surrendered themselves in venerating Allāh, the One Who Knows all things, by reciting at the Rondevlei Islamic

Society, corner of Rooikrans Avenue and Yorkton Road, Grassy Park on Saturday, 31st August 2019. ’Ibaad-u-

Ragmaan dhikrullāh at al-Jaami'a Masjid in Stegman Road, Claremont on 28 September 2019 recalled the fiftieth

year since the death in detention of Imām Abdullah Haron. Reciting at Masjieddul Amier at 1 Waveren Street,

Ruyterwacht from the ’Aṣr Ṣalāh on 12th October 2019, the Jamaa’ah gave their all in pursuing the nearness of

their God Most High. Gathering together for Mīlād al-Nabī in a municipal hall in Laingville, St Helena Bay on

Saturday, 23 November 2019, the ’Ibaad-u-Ragmaan Qadiri Jamaa’ah praised and thanked God the Most High

for guiding them to Islām and for blessing them with the Valorous Prophet Muḥammad .

The ’Ibaad-u-Ragmaan Qadiri Jamaa’ah continues to travel the length and breadth of South Africa in adoration of

their Maker .

In extending their appreciation and further invitations to the Jamaa’ah as part of the closing address, it has become

accepted for the hosts at these places of worship to say: “This has been the first and not the last time that the

Jamaa’ah has made dhikr here.” Some ask that the Jamaa’ah return the very next Saturday. “My wish is that you

take this dhikr to the corners of the earth,” another would long for. “Thank you for bringing the light of adhkār

here,” is a common refrain. “May the ’Ibaad-u-Ragmaan Qadiri Jamaa’ah last until Yaum al-Qiyāmah,”128 others

enthuse. Some people wish that the Jamaa’ah would call on their mosques till the Day of Reckoning. Many

reserve the group’s services up to a year in advance. People that one has never come across speak of the group as

“our Jamaa’ah” - such has been its sway.

During the time of the Ḥajj, ’Ibaad-u-Ragmaan Qadiri Jamaa’ah litanies ring across the desert sands of 'Arafāt129

and Minā130.

Local political rallies that involve Muslims resonate with the Ḥasbunallāh poejie131 lately.

Activities commence with the Maghrib Ṣalāh132 at the various mosques. The Maghrib Ṣalāh is followed by

adhkār, the ’Ishā' Ṣalāh133, the continuation of the dhikr and the du’ā'.

128 Yaum al-Qiyāmah (Arabic), the Last Day.

129 ’Arafāt, also spelled ’Arafaat; the Plain of 'Arafāt is a desert expanse twenty two kilometres south-east of Mecca. Yaum al-’Arafah

(Arabic), the Day of ’Arafah, also called the Day of Wuqūf, the Day of Ḥajj, or the Day of Pilgrimage, occurs on 9th Dhul Ḥijjah of every

Hijrī year and takes place on the Plain of ’Arafāt.

130 Minā, sometimes called Mina, or Muna; a small town within the bounds of greater Mecca, situated about eight kilometres from the

central part of the Holy City.

131 Poejie, pl. poejies; spelled puji and meaning praise to Malaysians, colloquial Afrikaans for dhikr type.

132 Maghrib Ṣalāh (Arabic), the obligatory sunset prayer performed by Muslims.

25

Jamaa’ah numbers sometimes dwindle during the winter, especially among the aged and the sickly. Because the

Maghrib Ṣalāh is earlier and the evenings are longer during the colder months, the dhikrullāh is protracted in the

winter. An entire evening's proceedings last approximately three and a half hours in the winter and three hours in

the summer.

The length of the adhkār is also steered by auspicious occasions like Mīlād al-Nabī, where, on the Saturday

coinciding with the birthday of the Last Prophet Muḥammad 134, more than the usual number of ṣalawāt135 is

recited by the Jamaa’ah on our Beloved Prophet Muḥammad (May Allāh Convey His Peace and Blessings upon

the Holy Prophet).

The last Saturday evening of every month though, is taken up by the dhikr that is held at the dargah136 of al-Sayed

’Abd Al-Laṭīf bin Qāḍī Muḥammad Yūsuf bin Qāḍī ’Abd Al-Raḥmān al-Chishtī al-Nizāmī al-Ḥāfidhī al-Ḥabībī

al-Ṣiddīqī (1860-1916 - may Allāh, the Most Glorious, Be Pleased with him) at the Habibia complex in Rylands

Estate. Here also, the Maghrib Ṣalāh is performed in the mosque, followed by adhkār at the astānah137 of the

saint, the ’Ishā' Ṣalāh in the mosque, the continuation of the dhikr and the du’ā'.

The ’Ibaad-u-Ragmaan Qadiri Jamaa’ah has i’tikāfāt138 comprising tahajjud ṣalāh and witr ṣalāh139, and

dhikrullāh at the Habibia Soofie Masjid on the last five ‘odd-numbered’ evenings of the Holy Month of Ramaḍān.

This spiritual retreat starts after midnight when Ramaḍān is in the summer and at around 3a.m. when the Holy

Month of Fasting falls in winter. The tahajjud ṣalāh is led by ’Ibaad-u-Ragmaan Qadiri Jamaa’ah ḥuffādh. As

part of the dhikr, the group recites the voorwerk140 and the Quranic Chapter called ‘The Power’ twelve times. Then

they repeat the Arabic Allahumma innaka ’afūwwun karīmun tuhibbul 'afwa fa'fu 'annā forty one times.

Translated, this means: ‘O Allah, You are most Forgiving and love to forgive; forgive us.’ The group also sends

greetings and salutations on our Well-loved Prophet Muḥammad .

133 ’Ishā' Ṣalāh (Arabic), the compulsory Islamic nightfall prayer.

134 , the Arabic , ملسو هيلع هللا ىلص, or , reads Ṣallal-lāhu 'Alay-hi wa-Sallam and means May Allāh Convey His Peace and

Blessings upon the Holy Prophet. It is used to confer salutations on our Beloved Prophet Muḥammad . Attaching the title 'Prophet' in

front of his name, or addressing him as either the 'Messenger of God', or as the 'Apostle of God', forms part of Islamic decorum. Invoking

the Mercy, Peace and Blessings of Allāh, the One in Whose Hand Is All Goodness, on Islamic historical figures is a sign of respect and

forms part of common literary usage.

135 Ṣalawāt, sometimes used as Salams, Salâms, or Salāms; spelled selawat in Brunei; apart from this Arabic word being the plural form

of Ṣalāh and depending on the context in which it is used, ṣalawāt also means asking Allāh to convey greetings and salutations on our

Thoughtful Prophet Muḥammad . Ṣalāh is the regular Muslim prayer.

136 Dargah, sometimes spelled dargāh, dhargah, derga, or durgah; a royal court in ancient Persia; a Ṣūfī residence; also called a mazār

in many places within South Asia, where it would comprise the grave of a Muslim saint and some of the saint’s disciples, the living

quarters of the shrine’s spiritual head and his family and of visitors, a library and madrassah, and an area for adhkār. The burial place of

the saint often has a dome directly over the tomb, and is customarily a place of adoration.

137 Astānah, also spelled ‘astaanah’; means a “place of rest, or sleeping” in Farsi. To Afghanistanis, it means “a threshold”, or “an

entrance”. In Urdu, it is the “abode of a holy man”.

138 I’tikāfāt (Arabic; n.; also spelled I’tikaafaat), the plural form of i’tikāf (spiritual retreat). Please see I’tikāf.

139 Witr ṣalāh, Arabic, the final, voluntary night prayer of an odd number of raka’āt. A raka’a (Arabic, sing.) is a unit of the regular

Islamic prayer - a cycle of standing, bowing, standing again and prostrating twice.

140 Voorwerk, “front part”; lit., “front work”, translated from kombuis Afrikaans; also called an arwāḥ, arwaaḥ, arwaag, a gaajah, a Qul

khātam, or simply a werk (Afrikaans for “work”). A voorwerk entails the recital of certain Chapters and specific Verses from the Accurate

Qur-ān, ṣalawāt and other adhkār.

26

Some mosques took to doing qiyām al-layl. The 'Ibaad-u-Ragmaan Qadiri Jamaa'ah had led the way in having

organised activities of this nature in this part of the world, where these practices have since become commonplace

during the Holy Month of Ramaḍān.

The 'Qadiri' is also done annually in Macassar on the Saturday that corresponds with the Hijrī death anniversary of

Sheikh al-Islām141 Sheikh al-Khalwatīyyah142 Yūsuf bin ’Abdallāh of Macassar. Sheikh Yūsuf had departed this

world on 22 Dhul Qā’idah 1110AH (23 May 1699 - May Allāh, the Ever-Living, Be Good to him). Again, the

Maghrib Ṣalāh is performed at the Nur al-Latief Masjid, followed by dhikrullāh at the kramat143. The ’Ishā' Ṣalāh

and the rest of the programme are then completed in the mosque. The Nur al-Latief Masjid is within earshot of

Sheikh Yūsuf’s shrine.

A boat trip is occasionally undertaken by the Jamaa’ah to the holy graves of al-Sayed ’Abd Al-Raḥmān Matar al-

Dīn (d. 1755) and al-Sayed Bienjamien at Robben Island (May Allāh, the Most Clement, Ceaselessly Pour His

Forgiveness Over them).

The growth, composition and sheer size of the Jamaa’ah have meant that it is unrealistic to have the dhikr at

private homes, or at the mazārāt144 of the other saints of Allāh (May Allāh, the Source of all Truth, Always Care

for them). This is unfortunate, but unavoidable.

This consistent increase in numbers, together with the space constraints at the various venues, is continually

causing the ’Ibaad-u-Ragmaan Qadiri Jamaa’ah to exist in a state of 'forced migration'. This natural and

systematic progression has caused the Jamaa’ah to stop using the smaller mosques.

Various subsets exist within the Jamaa’ah, every branch teaching the religion of Islām to many people. Every

tributary has regular and abridged weekday evening dhikr sessions at the mazārāt of the awliyā-Allāh (May Allāh,

the Most Benevolent, Be Satisfied with them) and at various homes throughout the Cape Peninsula.

The various litanies recited by the ’Ibaad-u-Ragmaan Qadiri Jamaa’ah were handed down from generation to

generation by our pious Muslim forefathers. The most obvious demonstration of this is the universally-practised

voorwerk.

The Qadiri dhikr itself was formally structured by the Leader of the Saints, al-Sayed ’Abd Al-Qādir al-Jīlānī (May

Allāh, the One Who Has no partner, be Sympathetic towards him). It is contained within a book entitled

Giyarwee145 Sharīf146. Local Muslims also call it the Bismillah147 Surat148, or simply the Qādirīyyah Surat. The

141 Sheikh al-Islām, Arabic, an accomplished person eminently qualified to issue Islamic rulings.

142 Sheikh al-Khalwatīyyah, Arabic, a leader of the Khalwatīyyah (variously spelled Khalwatīyya, Khalwatī, Halwatīyya, Khalwatiyya, or

Khalwatiyyah). Al-Ṭarīqah al-Khalwatīyyah was founded in ancient Persia by Sheikh ’Umar al-Khalwatī (d. 1397 - May Allāh, the One

in Whose Hand is all bounties, Watch Over him and Save him from harm). The Celvetîyye, Halvetī, Halvetīyye, Helveti, Jelvetī, or Jelveti

Ṣūfī Order, shares the same spiritual chain as the Khalwatīyyah Ṣūfī Order. Sheikh Yūsuf bin ’Abdallāh was known in the Celebes by the

honorific title al-Tāj al-Khalwatī, or 'the Crown of the Khalwatīyyah'. A branch of the Khalwatīyyah Ṣūfī Order, called Khalwatīyyah

Yūsuf (and named after Sheikh Yūsuf - May Allāh, the Most Lenient, Pardon him and Raise his status in the hereafter), exists in many

districts of the South Celebes.

143 Kramat, a creolised derivative of the Arabic word karāmāt (demonstrations of miracles by someone other than a prophet). Depending

on the context in which it is used, this kombuis Afrikaans word alludes to a Muslim saint, or the small building that holds the holy tomb

of a Muslim saint. Also called a dargah, mazār, or qubba, the mausoleum often has a dome directly over the grave.

144 Mazārāt (Urdu; sing. mazaar, or mazār), also mazaaraat; shrines, sepulchres, tombs, graves, or burial places of Muslim saints; places

of visitation, often with domes over the graves.

145 Giyarwee, variously spelled Giyaarwi, Giyarhween, Giyarhwīn, Giyarwi, Giyarwī, Gyarhawin, Gyarwee, Gyarween, Gyarwi,

Gyarwī, or Igyarween; from the Urdu giyara, giyarah, gyara, gyarah, or igarah, meaning 'eleven'. Giyarwee alludes to the eleven

honorific names of al-Sayed al-Sulṭān al-Awliyā al-Ghawth al-A’ḍham ’Abd Al-Qādir al-Jīlānī al-Ḥasanī al-Ḥusaynī al-Ja’fārī al-

Ḥanbalī (d. 561AH/1166CE - May Allāh, the One Who Created the mountains as pegs, be Understanding of him).

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surat that was used by Sayed Moegsien bin Salīm al-’Aydarūs149 is extant. An English translation by Maulānā

Ismail Abdul Razack (d. 2003) exists. Maulānā Ismail Abdul Razack taught at al-Azhar University and had

translated Islamic works from Arabic to English.

The Qādirīyyah Ṣūfī Order in this part of the world is as old as South African Islām. Oral tradition relates that the

Qadiri was brought to Cape Town by al-Sayed Maḥmūd of Muscat Road, Constantia and further clandestinely

carried out among the slave population and political exiles of the era. (May Allāh, the One Who Sends the winds

as heralds of glad tidings going before His Mercy, Gather Sayed Maḥmūd al-Qādirī to His Presence.) Under the

leadership of al-Sayed ’Abd Al-Raḥmān Matebi al-Qādirī of Klein Constantia (May Allāh, the Most Perfect, Be

Gentle with him), Islām and adhkār had managed to stay alive at the Cape. Hajjī Abduragmaan da Costa had said

that the Qadiri method of the Jamaa’ah was styled along the manner as practised by Sayed ’Abd Al-Raḥmān

Matebi. A fine qārī, Sayed ’Abd Al-Raḥmān did it as handed down from Sheikh Junayd bin Muḥammad al-

Baghdādī150 (830-910CE). Sheikh Junayd gave his allegiance to Sheikh al-Sarī al-Saqaṭī151 (769-867CE), who

took bay’ah at the hands of Sheikh Ma’rūf al-Karkhī152 (d. 815CE). Prominent in the Qādirīyyah Silsilah and

blessed with uprightness by the sack-full, they were some of the leading lights of Islām. Sheikh Ma’rūf al-Karkhī

had established a spiritual connection with Sayed ’Alī al-Ridhā153 (d. 818CE), who owed his filial loyalty to Sayed

Mūsā al-Kādhim154 (d. 799CE). Sayed Mūsā al-Kādhim was the son of Sayed Ja’far al-Ṣādiq155 (d. 765CE), who

was the son of Sayed Muḥammad al-Bāqir156 (d. 733CE). Sayed Muḥammad al-Bāqir was the son of Sayed ’Alī

Zayn al-'Ābidīn (d. 713CE). Sayed Zayn al-'Ābidīn was the son of Sayyidinā al-Ḥusayn ibn ’Alī ibn Abū Ṭālib (d.

680CE). Imām al-Ḥasan al-Baṣrī157 (642-728) also, was linked to Sayyidinā ’Alī ibn Abū Ṭālib (d. 41AH/661CE).

May Allāh, the One Who Blots Out sins and Forgives again and again, excuse these holy persons their errors.

Sayyidina ’Alī ibn Abū Ṭālib, May Allāh Honour his face, had pledged bay’ah with our Distinctive Prophet

Muḥammad .

The Wird158 Al-’Adhīm (the Majestic Litany), which is also called the Ḥasbunallāh poejie, was brought to Cape

Town by Walī-ullah159 Shaykh ’Abdallāh bin Qāḍī ’Abd Al-Salām (1712-1807). Buried in the Tana Bāru160, Qāḍī

146 Sharīf (Arabic, Farsi and Urdu; masc. sing.), in this context, 'of high rank', 'exalted', 'eminent', 'honourable', 'noble', or 'possessing

glory'. The plural form of Sharīf is Shurafā’a'; its feminine form is Sharīfa.

147 Bismillah, Arabic for 'In The Name of Allāh'.

148 Surat, also spelled soerat and creolised from the Arabic 'sūrah' (meaning 'chapter'), a Cape Muslim word for 'book'.

149 Al-’Aydarūs, an Arabic eponym which shows a link to the ’Aydarūs, a branch of the Bā ’Alawī clan in the Yemen.

150 Al-Baghdādī, an Arabic classification for ‘of Baghdad’.

151 Al-Saqaṭī, pronounced as-Saqaṭī; an Arabic epithet that tells of someone who is strong and courageous.

152 Al-Karkhī, an Arabic classification that depicts a relationship with the district of Karkh in Baghdad.

153 Al-Ridhā, pronounced ar-Ridhā; an Arabic epithet which describes a person who has won God’s Favour, or one with whom God is

Satisfied.

154 Al-Kādhim, an Arabic epithet ascribed to 'the one who controls his anger'.

155 Al-Ṣādiq, pronounced as-Ṣādiq; Arabic, ‘the trustworthy’, translated.

156 Al-Bāqir, Arabic, a shortened form of Bāqir al-'ilm, which means ‘he who opens knowledge’, or ‘he who discloses knowledge’.

157 Al-Baṣrī, Arabic, meaning ‘from Basra’ in Iraq.

158 Wird, Arabic, from warada ('recitation'); lit., 'watering hole'; to Aṣfīyya, the daily rehearsal of specific, voluntary adhkār. Its Arabic

plural is awrād, awrâd, awraad, auwrād, auwrâd, or auwraad. This word has a similar meaning in Urdu and in the language of the

Afghanistanis.

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’Abd Al-Salām is otherwise known as Tuan161 Guru (May Allāh, the Omniscient, Caress him with His

Tenderness).

The Ism162 Al-Laṭīf163, or ‘Yā-Laṭīf, Yā-Allāh’ poejie was popularised at the Cape by Walī-ullah al-Sayed Moegsien

bin Salīm al-’Aydarūs (d. 1934 - May Allāh, the Omnipotent, Shine His Radiance On him).

Every Jamaa’ah person has a ‘favourite’ poejie. A son may like a certain litany because his father leads its recital.

Others prefer a part of the adhkār because of its depth of meaning. Many of the ladies favour those poejies164 that

sound the most musical. Some members are fond of a distinct section of the dhikrullāh through their associating it

with a joyous event. Mothers hum their babies to sleep with Jamaa’ah poejies. A few tend toward particular

litanies for reasons that are difficult to put one’s finger on.

Some of them sway gently with the rhythm of the adhkār; others shed tears at the mention of God’s Name. The

’Ibaad-u-Ragmaan Qadiri Jamaa’ah chant like slaves, because that’s what they are - slaves of Allāh .

The Sheikh either directs by example by reading the introductory sections of the book himself, or he may delegate

the lead for the rest of the Jamaa’ah to respond in unison and in melodious, moderate tones.

He usually entrusts the voorwerk to Hajjī Mogammad Toyer Adams, Hajjī Bienjamien Abrahams, Hajjī Taalieb

Ganief and Hajjī Mohammed Faaiz Adams. Every litany is started without pause or interruption. Introducing the

various segments of the surat is usually charged to Ḥāfidh Mogammad Qaasiem Ganief, Hajjī Dr Dawood da

Costa, Hajjī Irefaan Sydow, Hajjī Mogammad Fatiegh Manie, Hajjī Mogamad Liegaaj Ganief, Hajjī Suleiman da

Costa, Hajjī Riedwaan Cassiem and Hajjī Mogammad Yunus Kippie. Hajjī Mohammed Faaiz Adams hardly puts a

foot wrong in his recital. Up to the task is Muazzam Kippie. Ḥāfidh Yaasier Davids recites with the poise of his

teacher, Sheikh Ismail Londt. Hajjī Mogamat Shafiek Salie, Hajjī Ismail Ganief and Ḥāfidh Muneer Manie are left

with completing the sequence. The surat passes without pause from the Sheikh to every one of them and back to

the Sheikh, in turn. Herein is the only weakness in the group’s approach - the Jamaa'ah responds as a unit, but not

everyone gets a chance to lead the recital. This is a reason why some people drop out. The Sheikh tries to deal with

this difficulty by sharing the lead recital of particular poejies among more than one Jamaa’ah person.

In order to finish at a reasonable time, the group does not recite the Allāh Allāh, or Maulānā yā Maulānā

qaṣā’id165 from the beginning of December till the onset of winter. The ashrakal is ‘brought’ mainly at the time of

Mīlād al-Nabī for the same reason.

People like Hajjī Mohammed Faaiz Adams and Hajjī Taalieb Ganief usually present the poejies. The Sheikh also

directs the reading of the poejies to Hajjī Achmat Fish, Hajjī Ismail Solomon al-Qādirī al-Chishtī and Hajjī

Riedwaan Achmat. The people who lead the presentation are selected by the Sheikh and his two deputies. The

Sheikh also lets the younger qualified people lead the poejies. Sheikh Achmat Damon al-Shāfi’ī al-Qādirī al-

Chishtī reads the du’ā'. The Imām of the mosque then addresses the Jamaa’ah. Otherwise, the Sheikh leaves it to

either Imām Mogammad Kasief Basardien, or Imām Mogammad Ismail Davids al-Qādirī to deliver a short lecture

on Islām.

159 Walī-ullāh (fem. walīya-ullāh; pl. awliyā-Allāh), also spelled waliullah, wali-ullaah, wali-u-llah, wali ullah, or walīyyullah; a ‘friend

of Allāh’, translated from Arabic.

160 Tana Bāru (Javanese), meaning New Ground, the defunct cemetery on the corner of Longmarket and Stadzight streets, Bo-Kaap.

161 Tuan, sing. masc., mostly obsolete, a Javanese title of respect; ‘Master’, or ‘Mister’ in English.

162 Ism, Arabic, n., pl., asmā, name.

163 Al-Laṭīf, (Allāh) the Benevolent, translated from Arabic.

164 Poejies, please see Poejie.

165 Qaṣā’id (Arabic, Farsi and Urdu; sing. qaṣīdah), odes that usually eulogise religious personalities.

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’Ibaad-u-Ragmaan Qadiri Jamaa’ah recitals have on numerous occasions been broadcast on national television

and over local radio stations. A greater number of recordings have been done privately. Audio and video cassettes

containing these recitals are sold at local bookstores. A compact disc version exists. Jamaa’ah videos are on the

internet. Digital video disk (DVD) copies of the Jamaa’ah involvement at the Habibia Soofie Masjid Centenary

Celebrations of August 2005 are in circulation. Jamaa’ah engagements are publicized in local newspapers and on

internet web sites. The group features on several social media platforms. Audio streaming and video streaming of

every Saturday dhikrullāh are broadcast 'live' around the world. Such are the demands on the group from mosques,

that there are not enough Saturdays in the year. These facts notwithstanding, so keen is the Sheikh on protecting

the sincerity of those in the group, and such is the willingness of its members to recite without fanfare, that, apart

from these pages, the achievements of the Jamaa’ah have gone largely unsung. One can sense that its story is just

starting to unfold.

Within the group, long-serving people often give thanks for being part of the ’Ibaad-u-Ragmaan.

Many good Muslims, too numerous to mention, have passed away as members of the Jamaa’ah. Deserving of their

place at the high table of religion, they’ve gone on to reap what they had sown of adhkār.

We pray that Allāh, the Author of Peace, Grants that the Jamaa’ah will, until the Last Day, always have in its'

midst people well versed in the religious sciences and that the ’Ibaad-u-Ragmaan Qadiri Jamaa’ah will grow in

its' pursuit of knowledge and the remembrance of Allāh, the Sublime, Inshā-Allāh. Their story lends credit to the

human spirit. Long may they hold fast, all together, by the rope that Allāh stretches out for them. May they

strive in the Religion of Allāh until the rising of the Hour. Never may they tire of dhikrullāh. That Allāh, the God

of Abounding Kindness, May always Draw them closer to Himself and repeatedly Fan these peace-loving people,

their children, and their children’s children, with His Tranquillity, and Rain on them His Mercy.

Tuesday, 28 January 2020