Regional languagesPunjabi, Pashto, Sindhi, Gujarati, Balochi, Kashmiri, Turkish, Malay South Africa is a Christian majority nation with Islam being a minority religion, practised by roughly 1.6% of the total population.

The same Placaat was re-issued on 23 August 1657 by Governor John Maetsuycker probably in anticipation of the advent of the Mardyckers to the Cape of Good Hope.

On his release from Robben Island Tuan Sa'id settled at the Cape where he worked as a police constable – an occupation which gave him ample opportunities for visiting slave quarters at night to teach.

The second group of immigrants were merchants or traders ("Passenger Indians") that arrived from North India and settled in Natal, the Transvaal and the Cape.

[14] Darul Uloom Deoband was established in 1866 in the Saharanpur district of Uttar Pradesh, India, as part of the anti-British movement.

[15] The Islamic education system of the Deobandi movement, as well as the necessary components of social and political organizations such as Tablighi Jamaat, Sufism and Jamiat, are fully functioning effectively in South Africa, as they do in India.

Through the work of several spiritual personalities of the Deobandis, the tradition of Deoband's Tasawwuf (Sufism) has taken root in South Africa.

[citation needed] Most of the non-South African Muslims are urban dwellers and thus live in or near Cape Town, Durban, Port Elizabeth, East London, Kimberley, Pretoria or Johannesburg.

He believes that for some of the youth and women who were schooled in the politics of South African resistance and confrontation with the security forces of the former Apartheid state, the acceptance of Islam has become part of a radical rejection of a society based on Christian principles which are seen as having been responsible for establishing and promoting the Apartheid doctrine through the Dutch Reformed Church in South Africa.

Louis Farrakhan paid a visit to South Africa and was received by President Nelson Mandela and African Muslim communities.

1974), which had branches on many tertiary campuses, became less vocal and thus lost its grip on student activities; the MSA was thus replaced by Islamic societies that were either independent or affiliates of other Muslim organisations outside these institutions.

[18] Salmaan AlFaarsi was founded in 2020 with the vision of educating primarily the indigenous but not restricted to, about Islam and empowering them with financial literacy in order to stop them from being dependent on organizations.

Gauteng Muslim Shurah Council (GMSC) this is as results of a lot of dissatisfaction with the above organisations who are predominantly Indian and coloured and are viewed as colonising the black thought into indopak version of Islam.

[19][20] Besides political parties, a number of Islamic organisations operate in South Africa, looking after various aspects of Muslim life.

The Cape Town Ulama Board (CTUB) [21], a progressive voice whose activities deal with Government dialogue and religious verdicts [22].

[citation needed] There is also an increasingly large number of adherents to the Maliki madhab, composed mostly of recent West African and Maghribi Migrants.

The Malay Community has a much more varied tradition with graduates of Al-Azhar in Egypt, Umm-al Qurra in Mecca & other universities in Saudi Arabia & South Asia.

This religious cohesion is most obvious in the Indian and Coloured residential areas where Muslims live amongst, work with and attend school with fellow South Africans of Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Christian, atheist and agnostic beliefs.

The National Interfaith Leadership Council, which advises President Zuma, includes former Western Cape premiere, Erahim Rasool.

[33] In May 2023, Al Jamah political party, under the leadership of Ganief Hendricks, made an attempt to have Muslim marriages officially recognized by presenting a private members' bill to the Minister of Home Affairs.

[32] There are a number of Halaal certification authorities, who certify food, retail edible items and restaurants as Halal.

The most prominent Halaal certification authorities in South Africa are: The majority[citation needed] of South African Muslims attend mixed gender public schools, while some attend private (mostly Catholic or Anglican) schools, where they are exempt from prayer sessions and Biblical curriculum.

Imam Solomon returned to South Africa in 1992, and took up a seat in the National Assembly in Parliament following the first democratic elections in 1994.

He arrived in South Africa in 1860 as an indentured labourer and was given an honourable discharge by the colonial British authorities when he was discovered to be mystic.

Spirit Sundae features Muslim event coverage, personal profiles and discusses issues pertaining to the community.

[54] Critics claim widespread corruption among police and officials, including the black market sale of South African passports, had undermined counter-terrorism efforts.

[55] It was feared prior to the 2010 FIFA World Cup that extremists may have carried out attacks during the tournament and there were reports of Somali al-Qaeda, al-Shabab and militant run camps in neighbouring Mozambique.

[58] The council stated that they feared violence in response and that the drawing may put the security of the 2010 FIFA World Cup at risk from extremists.

Zapiro also noted the irony of being so harshly condemned by Muslims who often supported his pro-Palestinian drawing which angered his fellow Jews.

[57] The Council of Muslim Theologians (Jamiatul Ulama) succeeded in 2006 in preventing the Sunday Times from publishing a controversial cartoon of Muhammad by a Danish cartoonist.