1T3V8392
tana baru cemetery. bo-kaap, cape town. heritage day 2016
bo-kaap, cape town, western cape- kramat of tuan sayeed alawie, in the tana baru cemetery
It is this extraordinary man, who after a prison sentence of 12 years could forgive his goaler and help him keep law and order in the very city to which he was banished. Such a man was Tuan Sayed Alawi. He became a policeman in Cape Town. He obviously had a motive in becoming a policeman. The job gave him access to the slaves, and hence an opportunity to teach them Islam.
Tuan Sayed Alawi was a citizen of Mocca in Yemen, the southern portion of the Arbian peninsula. There is no certainty as to whether he was brought here directly from Mocca, or from Indonesia where he was a missionary. Nonetheless, he and a fellow prisoner, Haji Matarism arrived at the Cape in 1744. They were classified as Mohammedaansche Priesters, who had to be kept in chains for the rest of their lives.
When Tuan Sayed Alawi died in 1803, he was buried in the Muslim cemetery at the top end of Longmarket Street. Those who loved him erected around his grave a simple wall. It was a structure very much Cape in origin, but symbolical of the simplicity of his life. The tombstone of Robben Island slate was wrapped with white cloth, stained with the oils of the atars and other scents which his devoted followers sprinkled on it.
*************
A Kramat is a shrine or mausoleum that has been built over the burial place of a Muslim who's particular piety and practice of the teachings of Islam is recognised by the community. I have been engaged in documenting these sites around Cape Town over several visits at different times over the last few years. They range widely from graves marked by an edge of stones to more elaborate tombs sheltered by buildings of various styles. They are cultural markers that speak of a culture was shaped by life at the Cape and that infuses Cape Town at large.
In my searches used the guide put out by the Cape Masaar Society as a basic guide to locate some recognised sites. Even so some were not that easy to find.
In the context of the Muslims at the Cape, historically the kramats represented places of focus for the faithful and were/are often places of local pilgrimage. When the Dutch and the VOC (United East India Company aka Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie) set up a refuelling station and a settlement at the Cape, Muslims from their territories in the East Indies and Batavia were with them from the start as soldiers, slaves and “Vryswarten" (freemen). As the settlement established itself as a colony the Cape became a useful place to banish political opponents from the heart of their eastern empire. Some exiles were of royal lineage and there were also scholars amongst them. One of the most well known of these exiles was Sheik Yusuf who was cordially received by Govenor van der Stel as befitted his rank (he and his entourage where eventually housed on an estate away from the main settlement so that he was less likely to have an influence over the local population), others were imprisoned for a time both in Cape Town and on Robben island. It is said that the first Koran in the Cape was first written out from memory by Sheik Yusuf after his arrival. There were several Islamic scholars in his retinue and these men encouraged something of an Islamic revival amoung the isolated community. Their influence over the enslaved “Malay” population who were already nominally Muslim was considerable and through the ministrations of other teachers to the underclasses the influence of Islam became quite marked. As political opponents to the governing powers the teachers became focus points for escaped slaves in the outlying areas.
Under the VOC it was forbidden to practice any other faith other than Christianity in public which meant that there was no provision for mosques or madrasas. The faith was maintained informally until the end of the C18th when plans were made for the first mosque and promises of land to be granted for a specific burial ground in the Bo Kaap were given in negotiations for support against an imminent British invasion. These promises were honoured by the British after their victory.
There is talk of a prophecy of a protective circle of Islam that would surround Cape Town. I cannot find the specifics of this prophecy but the 27 kramats of the “Auliyah” or friends of Allah, as these honoured individuals are known, do form a loose circle of saints. Some of the Auliyah are credited with miraculous powers in legends that speak of their life and works. Within the folk tradition some are believed to be able to intercede on behalf of supplicants (even though this more part of a mystical philosophy (keramat) and is not strictly accepted in mainstream contemporary Islamic teaching) and even today some visitors may offer special prayers at their grave sites in much the same way as Christians might direct prayer at the shrine of a particular saint.
'The Tana Baru Trust was established for the protection, preservation, and conservation of the historic Tana Baru cemetery (meaning 'New Ground' in Bahasa Malayu) in Bo-Kaap, on the slopes of Signal Hill, in the shadow of the Noon Day Gun fired daily from Lion Battery, and nestled above the Bo-Kaap Museum, Wale Street Heritage Mural Wall, historic Malay Quarter cultural precinct, Schotchekloof Civic Centre in the Bo-Kaap, i.e. the cradle of Islam in South Africa.
The historic Tana Baru burial ground is the final resting place of the pioneer forebears of Islam at the Cape. This ancient urban cemetery, which is situated at the top of Longmarket Street in the heart of the inner city of Cape Town, was officially closed on the 15th January 1886, despite vehement and sustained mass public protest from the Muslim community at the time.
The oldewold Bo-Kaap enclave (literally 'Above the Cape') is the traditional home of the Cape Muslim community and hallmarked with unique built environment architectural gems (cobble-stoned streets, narrow lanes / alleyways, steep thorough-fares, mosques, minarets, and melodious muezzins) on the fringe of the City Bowl, with the historic Tana Baru cemetery as an eternal sentinel on the eastern slopes of Signal Hill.
The Tana Baru Trust was constituted in late 1998. Its forerunner, the Committee for the Preservation of the Tana Baru was formed in the early eighties as a direct result of the deep anguish the late Imam Abdurahman Bassier, resident Imam of the Boorhaanol Masjid in Longmarket Street at the time, felt and experienced when he witnessed the shameful desecration of the historic Tana Baru cemetery. The late Dr Achmat Davids, the cultural historian, who had done extensive archival research to prove that the whole of the Tana Baru was once the earliest burial ground for the Cape Muslim community, lent his support to the Preservation Committee and together with Imam Bassier and a few dedicated community workers, set about first arresting the desecration of this sacred heritage site and then instituting a restoration programme.
The Tana Baru Trust was the culmination of their sterling efforts to secure an official footing for the preservation and restoration of the oldest Muslim cemetery, generally accepted and recognised, in South Africa.'
the tana baru trust
1T3V8392
tana baru cemetery. bo-kaap, cape town. heritage day 2016
bo-kaap, cape town, western cape- kramat of tuan sayeed alawie, in the tana baru cemetery
It is this extraordinary man, who after a prison sentence of 12 years could forgive his goaler and help him keep law and order in the very city to which he was banished. Such a man was Tuan Sayed Alawi. He became a policeman in Cape Town. He obviously had a motive in becoming a policeman. The job gave him access to the slaves, and hence an opportunity to teach them Islam.
Tuan Sayed Alawi was a citizen of Mocca in Yemen, the southern portion of the Arbian peninsula. There is no certainty as to whether he was brought here directly from Mocca, or from Indonesia where he was a missionary. Nonetheless, he and a fellow prisoner, Haji Matarism arrived at the Cape in 1744. They were classified as Mohammedaansche Priesters, who had to be kept in chains for the rest of their lives.
When Tuan Sayed Alawi died in 1803, he was buried in the Muslim cemetery at the top end of Longmarket Street. Those who loved him erected around his grave a simple wall. It was a structure very much Cape in origin, but symbolical of the simplicity of his life. The tombstone of Robben Island slate was wrapped with white cloth, stained with the oils of the atars and other scents which his devoted followers sprinkled on it.
*************
A Kramat is a shrine or mausoleum that has been built over the burial place of a Muslim who's particular piety and practice of the teachings of Islam is recognised by the community. I have been engaged in documenting these sites around Cape Town over several visits at different times over the last few years. They range widely from graves marked by an edge of stones to more elaborate tombs sheltered by buildings of various styles. They are cultural markers that speak of a culture was shaped by life at the Cape and that infuses Cape Town at large.
In my searches used the guide put out by the Cape Masaar Society as a basic guide to locate some recognised sites. Even so some were not that easy to find.
In the context of the Muslims at the Cape, historically the kramats represented places of focus for the faithful and were/are often places of local pilgrimage. When the Dutch and the VOC (United East India Company aka Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie) set up a refuelling station and a settlement at the Cape, Muslims from their territories in the East Indies and Batavia were with them from the start as soldiers, slaves and “Vryswarten" (freemen). As the settlement established itself as a colony the Cape became a useful place to banish political opponents from the heart of their eastern empire. Some exiles were of royal lineage and there were also scholars amongst them. One of the most well known of these exiles was Sheik Yusuf who was cordially received by Govenor van der Stel as befitted his rank (he and his entourage where eventually housed on an estate away from the main settlement so that he was less likely to have an influence over the local population), others were imprisoned for a time both in Cape Town and on Robben island. It is said that the first Koran in the Cape was first written out from memory by Sheik Yusuf after his arrival. There were several Islamic scholars in his retinue and these men encouraged something of an Islamic revival amoung the isolated community. Their influence over the enslaved “Malay” population who were already nominally Muslim was considerable and through the ministrations of other teachers to the underclasses the influence of Islam became quite marked. As political opponents to the governing powers the teachers became focus points for escaped slaves in the outlying areas.
Under the VOC it was forbidden to practice any other faith other than Christianity in public which meant that there was no provision for mosques or madrasas. The faith was maintained informally until the end of the C18th when plans were made for the first mosque and promises of land to be granted for a specific burial ground in the Bo Kaap were given in negotiations for support against an imminent British invasion. These promises were honoured by the British after their victory.
There is talk of a prophecy of a protective circle of Islam that would surround Cape Town. I cannot find the specifics of this prophecy but the 27 kramats of the “Auliyah” or friends of Allah, as these honoured individuals are known, do form a loose circle of saints. Some of the Auliyah are credited with miraculous powers in legends that speak of their life and works. Within the folk tradition some are believed to be able to intercede on behalf of supplicants (even though this more part of a mystical philosophy (keramat) and is not strictly accepted in mainstream contemporary Islamic teaching) and even today some visitors may offer special prayers at their grave sites in much the same way as Christians might direct prayer at the shrine of a particular saint.
'The Tana Baru Trust was established for the protection, preservation, and conservation of the historic Tana Baru cemetery (meaning 'New Ground' in Bahasa Malayu) in Bo-Kaap, on the slopes of Signal Hill, in the shadow of the Noon Day Gun fired daily from Lion Battery, and nestled above the Bo-Kaap Museum, Wale Street Heritage Mural Wall, historic Malay Quarter cultural precinct, Schotchekloof Civic Centre in the Bo-Kaap, i.e. the cradle of Islam in South Africa.
The historic Tana Baru burial ground is the final resting place of the pioneer forebears of Islam at the Cape. This ancient urban cemetery, which is situated at the top of Longmarket Street in the heart of the inner city of Cape Town, was officially closed on the 15th January 1886, despite vehement and sustained mass public protest from the Muslim community at the time.
The oldewold Bo-Kaap enclave (literally 'Above the Cape') is the traditional home of the Cape Muslim community and hallmarked with unique built environment architectural gems (cobble-stoned streets, narrow lanes / alleyways, steep thorough-fares, mosques, minarets, and melodious muezzins) on the fringe of the City Bowl, with the historic Tana Baru cemetery as an eternal sentinel on the eastern slopes of Signal Hill.
The Tana Baru Trust was constituted in late 1998. Its forerunner, the Committee for the Preservation of the Tana Baru was formed in the early eighties as a direct result of the deep anguish the late Imam Abdurahman Bassier, resident Imam of the Boorhaanol Masjid in Longmarket Street at the time, felt and experienced when he witnessed the shameful desecration of the historic Tana Baru cemetery. The late Dr Achmat Davids, the cultural historian, who had done extensive archival research to prove that the whole of the Tana Baru was once the earliest burial ground for the Cape Muslim community, lent his support to the Preservation Committee and together with Imam Bassier and a few dedicated community workers, set about first arresting the desecration of this sacred heritage site and then instituting a restoration programme.
The Tana Baru Trust was the culmination of their sterling efforts to secure an official footing for the preservation and restoration of the oldest Muslim cemetery, generally accepted and recognised, in South Africa.'
the tana baru trust