[Beauseaccerce]

there is also an Abu Bakr Efendi who was sent to South Africa by the Ottamans way back under british rule. he was sent to assist the british in religious matters because of trouble between the shafis & hanafis.

this family is similar to ba Alawi family who also have thousands of ulama in this present day. you always find a few of them in the top ranking ulama of the world especialy in the shafi madhab. they took islam to 1/3 of the total muslim population & like you said a chain of scholarship from father to son since the nubuwa of Rasulullah SAWS as they are also ahlul bayt.

Yet, Islam isnt that much spead in the southern Africa like Christianity
You guys need to do daawa in Lesotho, Swaziland, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Angola and Namibia

The last generation did their job its up to you to win the hearts and minds of African hinterland where Christians dared to go

In the Turkish introduction to his first printed Arabic-Afrikaans book, the Shaykh of Knowledge Abu Bakr Effendi writes;


The majority of the Muslim inhabitants of Cape Town, Dalgoa Bay and the neighbouring towns were not conversant with the Arabic language, exceptions being a very few who were Arab immigrants and those who were of Arab descent. I realized that in order to make myself understood, I would have to master the language (Cape Dutch i.e. Afrikaans) spoken by the majority and I therefore set myself the great task of learning “Cape Dutch” to enable me to explain to them the Qur’aan and the meaning of the Arabic idioms necessary to carry out the basic rules of the religion, to translate the text and teach these people in their own language the true Islamic religion.

It was necessary to give them advice and, in many instances, I had to try hard to reform some of their bad habits and practices, which were contrary to the religion of Islaam. I experienced difficulty with a minority, who were reluctant to give up their bad habits and foul deeds, but the majority was eager to learn and follow the correct Qur’aanic laws and regulations for the proper observance of the Muslim religion. Some began to realize how the religious disputes they used to have prior to my arrival were futile and unnecessary in the absence of a guiding authority like myself on religious matters.

It was with the hope of guiding and helping these people, and of teaching them to be good Muslims, that I came to these shores from Istanbul, a journey of nearly 15 000 miles, to a strange country so far away, inhabited by people of different habits, and speaking a different language. I found to my regret that some of these people were very ignorant and so completely degenerate that religion had lost its significance. The knowledge which religion gives one was not thought of, and they were Muslims in name and theory only. Indeed they had but little knowledge of the Muslim religious rules and regulations necessary for the proper observance of Islaam. These then were the people I had to reform and teach, and having come to so far a country, I was determined to fulfill my mission.

I started by opening a Theological School beginning with books written in my own hand, dividing them into eight books on different aspects of the religion. I wrote the text (matn) in Arabic and the explanations (sharh) in Cape Dutch.
I then began teaching the Qur’aan to those of my followers with some education. In time I succeeded in training some of the more intelligent among them in the Arabic language, and in the essentials necessary for the proper observance of the Muslim religion. After some time and with much patience I could rely on a few of the more advanced pupils, to become teachers in their turn. I encouraged them to teach small groups under my supervision. Eventually I held them responsible to teach a given number of students in their own classes. I also opened a separate school for the women.

As the teachers and their pupils increased in number I realized the impossibility of continuing with only my hand-written books. I then decided to concentrate on two books only, namely “Bayaanu-d-diyn” and “MaraaSidu-d-diyn”, and to discontinue using the other six books. In the meantime in a personal message, I implored His Imperial Majesty the Sultan of Turkey to grant permission for the printing of the two books, which I had selected, in the Government printing works in Istanbul. My request was graciously considered, and permission was granted by His Imperial Majesty the Sultan, and the two books were duly printed in the Government printing house in Istanbul.

This gracious act by His Imperial Majesty was very much appreciated by the Muslim people of South Africa and Mozambique. In Mozambique there is a Mosque built by the famous Turkish architect Sinan Pasha by the order of Sultan Selim, where the special Friday prayers take place attended by the Muslim community of Mozambique, where I was present on many occasions. I was directed by His Majesty the Sultan to distribute some of these books among the people of Mozambique, so that the learned ones could teach the poor and ignorant ones.
In conclusion I beg to offer my prayers for His Imperial Majesty Sultan Hamid II, Sultan of Turkey, Persia, Arabia, and Sultan of Greece, Son of Sultan Abdul Majid, descendant of the House of Sultan Osman.
Further I thank the Almighty God (ALLAAH) for helping me to create an orderly Muslim community in these parts of the world.

The Shaykh of Knowledge
Abdullaah Abu Bakr Effendi Al-Qurashiy Al-Amjadiy (1876)

(Translated by Abu bakr Rushdiy, the author’s grandson 1960)

The book has three introductions. One in Turkish, one in Arabic, and one in Afrikaans.

to be continued inshaa allaah