As I sit here in flight between London and Chicago I cannot help reminisce over our last twelve days in South Africa and four in Dubai. As part of a five-person ISCA delegation, our goal in visiting South Africa was to establish "diplomatic" relations with the Muslim community and to build working relationships with the ulama, the educational organizations and the masajid. Our tour could be classified as nothing short of a "smashing" success, in the British vernacular used in this country far to the south of the equator.

The lovely fall weather did nothing to hamper our visit. Despite the unexpected, unseasonable heavy rains which began the day of our arrival, causing nothing less than calamities in certain areas, we enjoyed the temperate, mediterranean climate as winds blew the clouds, thunder and lightning away, replacing it with warm sunny days and balmy long evenings.

Our stay in seaside City Lodge Hotel, was hosted by the magnanimous Hafez Abu Bakr Mahomed, a truly cultured and polished islamic personality of exceptional charm, intellect and with an amazing assortment of connections in the Muslim world. Hafez Abu Bakr, founder and director of Albaraka Bank of South Africa, made what would have in any circumstances been an excellent visit into an extraordinary one, filling our time in the relentless schedule with his illuminating analyses of everything from race relations to the details of Islamic banking. Always introducing ISCA Chairman Shaykh Hisham Kabbani, at the many events where he was the main guest speaker as "a sun of Islam", it can be said that Hafez Abu Bakr is truly a "son of Islam" one whose genius has heretofore been overlooked by the international Islamic community: a situation ISCA hopes to remedy by making him one of the premiere speakers at the 2^nd International Islamic Unity Conference coming up in August. This said, my understanding of Islamic society in South Africa cannot help but be colored by his fluent commentary and analysis during our time in his generous care.

First impressions are everything it is said, and this applied particularly well to our first impression of Islam in this vast country, in which the Muslims, up until 1984 were "second-class" citizens, along with all others of Indian origin, a step above the "coloreds" – people of mixed white and black origin, and several rungs up above the blacks.

Islam first came to South Africa in 1693, brought one might say ironically, by the Dutch, who were doing their best to eradicate Islamic teachings in their holdings in Indonesia, India and other colonized areas. It was one mujahid zahid shaykh, Yusuf Macassar, exiled first to Sri Lanka and then to South Africa, who first brought kalimat at-tawheed to Cape Town, the southernmost part of Africa. They placed him as far from the city as possible, but despite all effforts, people flocked to hear this dynamic believer speak. He is buried where he was imprisoned, and a beautiful monument is there at his grave, visited continually by Muslims from around the country who pray for his soul. 1996 saw his arrival commemorated in a huge Islamic conference, whose culmination was a parade of 150,000 Muslims through Cape Town’s streets accompanied by floats depicting Shaykh Yusuf’s arrival ship and assemblies of youth reciting praises of the Prophet (s), Barzinji and al-Burda.

Shaykh Yusuf Macassar was the first in a long procession of zahid, mujahid Islamic teachers, many of whom were slaves or prisoners, who both spread Islam and were the pillars of their communities, with their zeal and dynamism to uphold Islam and the Islamic way of life. Their graves are prominently marked throughout the country and their memories are kept alive in the mosques and madrasas they founded by the holding of remembrance ceremonies in which their lives and spiritual attainments are recalled. We attended one such ceremony in Durban: of Shaikh Soofie Sahib, who built a number of mosques, zawaya, and schools in both Durban and Capetown, and whose family has kept firmly to his precedent by becoming scholars of Islam and da`ees: mainstays of Islamic work in their communities. Our host that night was Shaykh Abdur Rauf Soofie and his studious son Fudayl.

Evening: program: Lecture by Shaykh Hisham Kabbani at Islamic Medical Association monthly meeting. Shaykh Kabbani with Shaykh Asif Hussaini ar-Rufa'i of Bosnia at Hafez Abu Bakr's seaside residence.

Muslims hold an enviable position: neither of the land nor alien to it, they are in a position to drive their own destiny in South Africa. It is clearly a nexus point in the history of Muslims of South Africa – the next five years may well determine if they will prosper as a religious community or disintegrate in the face of the ever-changing political and social scene. Our hope is that with some course corrections, and in the hands of capable foresighted and fearless leaders such as Abu Bakr Mahomed, Yusuf Lockat, Omar and Hassim Tar, Shaykh Abdur Rauf Soofie, Shaykh Seraj Hendricks, Professor Yusuf Da Costa, Shaykh Sa`dullah Khan and many other extraordinary Islamic personalities we have no space to mention, the strength and vitality of the Muslim commmunity will continue to grow and prosper.

Islamic activity in SA appears to be governed by three factors; the ulama, the businessmen/traders. In yesteryear the zahid shaykhs and awliya had tremendous affect on the Muslim population, invigorating their Islamic fervor and strengthening their Islamic identity. They have passed on, and their successors are trying to fill the void left by their spiritual presence, but this is largely in the past. However the legacy of these ascetic, mujahid practitioners of Islam has left its indelible mark on the heart of South African Islam as well as its mark on the land. This is seen in the mosques, a majority of which are abutted by the maqam of the wali that founded them. Recitals of mawlid, dhikr, and urs abound, filling the calendars with Islamic events throughout the year.

This spiritual legacy of the zahid shaykhs and teachers has created a powerful inspiration for their students, leaving the older generation a firm handhold which they grasp. However, the lack of qualified successors has often left a vacuum in terms of real-life examples, leaving the young people with only stories and history on which to build their faith. Thus we see a generation gap emerging in the land of contrasts – parents and grandparents who actually knew perfected exemplars of the din, and youth who are cut off from this reality and left grasping at stories and Islamic "theories".

Much like Muslims in America, the youth are dissatisfied. Learning in secular schools where the Muslim faculty, once strong is no dwindling, and Black History is replacing Islamic studies as a discipline, the Muslims, who are primarily of Indian, Malay or Indonesian descent find the same intellectual dichotomy as is felt in the US: secular knowledge is being imprinted on their minds as the truth and religion is relegated to the realm of anthropology by atheist and unbelieving professors. To combat this situation, nothing short of a powerful strategy, devised by the pious scholars and Islamic professors must be developed, integrating science with religious learning in a pragmatic fashion which takes account of the secular learning South African youth are receiving.

This is what the ISCA delegation proposed and demonstrated in practice lecturing to over a dozen classes of young people and their teachers, practically illustrating the strategy by combining Islamic teachings with the factual and theoretical approaches of modern medicine, chemistry and physics. These talks were accepted with acclaim, taped, broadcast and sold throughout the country. It is hoped that this visit by the Islamic Supreme Council of America, and the cross-fertilization it attempted will have a cross-fertilizing effect between South Africa and the US. The US needs the traditional Islamic fervor the older generation has maintained successfully over 300 years and SA needs some of the practical methods in education and da`wah.

The ulama direct policy,  tempered at times by the pragmatism of the businessmen who fund their work. A case in point is the disbanding of an Islamic radio stations in Durban due to the inflexible stance of some ulama regarding allowing women’s participation in the stations’ variety programs. This raised the hackles of other minorities who then caused the station’s license to be revoked, as they considered it unfair and in contravention of the government’s secular licensing policies. This took place with much public hue and cry, leaving the Muslims looking unnecessarily inflexible and bigoted. The Muslims of Cape Town have evidently more enlightened (or more pragmatic) ulama, as they have successfully established not one but two fulltime, 24x7 Islamic stations: Radio786 and Voice of Islam. And yes, they do allow women’s voices to be heard on these stations, in fact the wife of one of our hosts in Cape Town is an announcer on Radio786.

What one sees in South Africa is what I would call a "mature" Islamic minority. Built up not only by trade but under the watchful guidance of practicing, zahid ulama, Islamic institutions are very healthy in this nation. Islamic waqfs, madarasas and mosques are everywhere. They stand out as symbols of pride in a predominantly Christian nation. Though a minority of about 2%, it appears that Muslims are everywhere. This is due to the pride in their religion, evinced most outwardly by their adherence to Islamic garb: men and women.

When we arrived at the airport in Johannesburg, we were astonished to find a huge mass of Muslims, all in traditional Islamic dress. Upon questioning we found they were hujaaj returning from Hajj and ziyarat. Fielding contingent of 100,000 Hujaaj a year, South Africa is a nation with one of the highest number of hajjis.

I think of all the symbols of Islam which impressed me the most as to the sincerity and strength of the South African believers were the mosques and maqams. Not only to they seem to be everywhere, but the sense of pride one feels to walk into mosques which are built from the ground up with Muslims money, whose interiors are polished white, whose walls are adorned with ornate and lovely Quranic calligraphy and where the wudu stations are fountains, always clean, with a fresh towel for each person to use and toss in the bin, where the carpets are fresh smelling and clean and where the attendees come with lowered voices to jama’at is a sight one does not forget. These mosques are flags of Islam in a majority Christian nation.

Our sojourn in Capetown took us to a number of mosques, schools, businesses and maqams. This lovely city, situated between the mysterious and mystical Table Mountain and the majma` al-bahrayn, the confluence of the two oceans the Atlantic and the Indian, is a place filled with Islamic spirit and love for Allah and His Prophet (s). Every where we went we were greeted with joy at seeing a Muslim delegation from America. The hospitality we received, the huge turnout of attendees for talks and visits, the lavish dinners served at short notice (the Muslims in Cape Town had only three days notice of our coming) and the warm hospitality of our hosts demonstrated that the spirit of Islam is alive and strong in this southernmost city in the world.

We stayed in a home at the top of Lion's Head Mountain, with a vista looking out over the city and the Atlantic Ocean. The city center, bustles with daytime activity and the city has striven to make it safe at night for tourists and shoppers. The Great Mall on the wharf looks like something from San Francisco. As Muslims, we felt somewhat ill-at-ease walking about in traditional garb, but realized quickly that this is something "normal" here, unlike in the US where Islamic dress is seen as something foreign.

However to achieve this certains steps must be made now: Modernizing the approach to the youth iteaching Islam is essential. As the removal of apartheid laws was good for some elements of the community, in many ways it bodes ill for the Muslims. The segregation that resulted in Muslim hegemony and strength will now decay with the mixing of cultures and the strong introduction of elements foreign to lslam in the lives of the youth. As we saw ourselves. Many SA youth do not accept the status quo, and reject the approach (hidebound as it is it holds a great deal of benefit). Of the ulama who govern Muslim society. The traditional madrasa approach is effective in building up the Islamic knowledge and practice of the youth, and the success in this is apparent as we visited a number of private Islamic schools and academies. The youth excel at memorizing Quran and praise of Prophet (s). After Dhuhr prayer in the Soofie Sahib Madrasa in Cape Town, our hearts were moved to hear over 1000 voices reciting in perfect harmony the Praise of the Prophet (s) in melodious tones.