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CT activist apologises for comments on Mufti AK

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By Tasneem Adams

Elsies River community activist Imraahn Mukaddam has issued an apology to Johannesburg based Mufti AK Hoosen, after he accused the alim of “having blood on his hands” in relation to last year’s attack at the Malmesbury masjid. Mukaddam, whose cousin’s husband was killed inside the masjid, made an emotional Facebook live video on the day of the attack, in which he called out the divisive rhetoric from some senior scholars in South Africa.

He alleged that Mufti AK Hoosen and controversial Port Elizabeth based cleric Mufti AS Desai was to blame for the sectarian tensions in the Muslim community.  Mufti Hoosen subsequently sued Mukaddam for R5 million and the case was then settled out of court. Mukaddam was urged to make a public apology.

“I apologise to the learned scholar for making this remark and I humbly ask for his forgiveness,” he told VOC Breakfast Beat on Thursday.

With the benefit of hindsight, Mukaddam admitted that he had been in an emotional state after hearing that close relatives were involved in the brutal attack. His cousin’s husband Ismail Bassa’s throat had been slit and his two nephews had been stabbed, although they survived.

The initial response was that the stabbing was a sectarian attack on the Malmesbury mosque, but it later emerged that a Somali national with mental health issues was the perpetrator. He was shot by police as he tried to escape the crime scene.

“It was just before Fajr in Ramadan (the day before Eid) when the attack happened. I was very upset…I was in an emotional state,” Mukaddam recalled.

But he said his anger was compounded by the fact that a document that pledged for peace, tolerance and cohesion in the Muslim community, called the Cape Accord, had been “voraciously attacked” by Mufti Hoosen and Mufti Desai. Furthermore, the Malmesbury attack came in the wake of another violent attack at the Shia mosque in Verulam in Durban in early May, in which one person was killed and two others injured in a stabbing. The suspects set the mosque alight and then fled the scene. Three suspects were subsequently arrested in October.

Mukaddam believes it cannot be ruled out that sectarian agendas within the Muslim community could have influenced these suspects to commit the murders.

“I was part of the Cape Accord and commented a lot. I also wrote to Mufti AK in an open letter after he declared that giving zakah to Sanzaf was unacceptable because they had endorsed the Cape Accord during that time,” he explained.

“So my state of mind was that I was very upset at all these issues in the Muslim community. The fact that a second mosque was attacked brought these frustrations to the fore.”

According to Mukaddam, the statement he made in the video was metaphorical and implied that Mufti Hoosen had contributed to the discourse within the community. However, he believes the Mufti took the statement literally and stated that he was implicated in the Malmesbury attack.

With his brutally honest approach, Mukaddam has a reputation for speaking out on various topics, ranging from the issues within the halal and haj industry to consumer matters.

“As much as I had an appetite to take this to the Constitutional Court on the basis of freedom of speech, I did not want to have the sectarian agenda dragged back into the public discourse, in a way that will cause more consternation. I’ve also matured in a way that I do not want to be seen to be at continuous loggerheads with the ulema.”

However, he still feels the entire saga opens up questions on how the ulema and scholars engage on controversial issues such as sectarianism and extremism. He believes the clergy must be held accountable for their actions.

“We need to have a code of conduct for the ulema as they are public leaders and have huge platforms such as the mimbar. They are using the mimbar irresponsibly by advancing sectarian agendas, spewing hatred from the mimbar and making controversial statements. We see the consequences of this where their followers are attacking others verbally.

“Our clergy have an important role in shaping the minds of young people. And when they fill these minds with garbage, it’s very difficult to erase. And this was the message I wanted to bring across on that morning [of the Malmesbury attack] and it is a message I will continue to preach.”

Mufti AK Hoosen told VOC News in a Whatsapp message that he accepted the apology but declined to come on air in response.

VOC

 


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