Abu Bakr Effendi
Encyclopedia
Sheikh
Abu Bakr Effendi (1835–1880) was a Osmanli qadi
who was sent in 1862 by the Ottoman
sultan
Abdülmecid I
at the request of the British
Queen Victoria to the Cape of Good Hope
, in order to teach and assist the Muslim
community of the Cape Malays
.
Effendi was from the aristocrat
ic Quraishi
family from Mecca
. He is a Sayyid, direct descendant of the Prophet Muhammad
through Emir Zaid, son of Imam Zayn al-Abidin. Other imam
s in the Cape were mostly teaching the Shafi`i school of Islamic jurisprudence; he was a follower and the first teacher of Hanafi
school, for which he also established a madrassa in Cape Town
. He gained notoriety in 1869 after ruling that rock lobster
and snoek
, two staple foods in the Cape, were forbidden (haraam
). Many mistake him for being a Shafi'i on the basis of him being a Scholar of the 4 schools of Sunni islam, and being able to issue religious edicts according to each one.
He died after contracting from reportedly travelling to Dera Mozambique
, after having made several major contributions to Islam in South Africa
. He introduced the fez
for men, as well as reinstating the hijab
for women. More importantly, besides his role as teacher he also published the Arabic Afrikaans
"Uiteensetting van die godsdiens" ("Bayan ad-Din", or "The Exposition of the Religion") in 1877.
, Istanbul
, and Makkah.
Many mistake Sayyid Abu Bakr for being a Kurdish identity due to his place of birth. But his family was more cosmopolitan than that. One cannot belong to the Quraysh Tribe and a Sayyid
while also be a Kurd
. Abu Bakr is a descendant of the Imam Zain-ul-Abidin
, making him of Arab and Quraysh heritage. It is known the descendants and followers of Imam Zain-ul-Abidin migrated to Yemen and northern Iran after the persecution of the Imam and his son Emir Zaid, better known as Zaid ibn Ali.
According to the Travelogue of Omar Lutfi Effendi, while he and Abu Bakr traveled by sea. At a later age Omar Lutfi returned to Turkey where his descendants still reside. His Travelogue was translated into English from Ottoman Turkish by Turkish/American Islamic Scholar Yusuf Kavakci.
Many of Abu Bakr Effendi's descendants originate from his marriage to Tohora Saban Cook, the niece of the famous explorer Captain James Cook. They had 5 sons, Ahmad Ataullah, Hisham Nimatullah, Omar Jalaluddin, Muhammad Alauddin, and Hussain Fowzy. Fahimah his daughter was Abu Bakr's eldest child from a first marriage. The family continues to reside in South Africa, with some returning to Turkey, and many migrating to Australia. Some of Abubakr's sons continued in his footsteps of serving far and wide, with one son getting involved in South African politics but was suppressed by the White Apartheid Government. Some also served in the Ottoman Army and fought in the Hejaz against the Anglo and Arab nationalist uprising against the Ottoman Empire. There currently exists in Singapore
the grave of Abu Bakrs son who served as the Ottoman
Turkish
Ambassador to Singapore
. Abu bakr was looved
, by the Dutch. This suppression continued under the future Colonialist. Historical documents talk of his influence of introducing the Islamic hijab
and fez on the Cape Muslims. This was despite the fact that many other Islamic scholars had come to South Africa. He also attempted to break the Cape Muslim 'Clerical Order' which existed. Only those related to the previous imam were allowed to become the next in line, holding knowledge to themselves and wielding power over the common people. This is further related in the 1866 Disputes;
Over the years the Cape Muslim `clerical' order developed with the imams wielding appreciable power. The status of the imams, together with economic security and in many cases prosperity was due to the generous monetary donations and gifts by the congregation. Between 1866 and 1900, over twenty cases pertaining to masjid in the Cape peninsula were heard in the Supreme Court with regard to the positions of imams and their succession. Practically every masjid at the Cape in the 19th century faced this problem. (http://www.sahistory.org.za/pages/library-resources/online%20books/history-muslims/1800s.htm)
This would have thrown him into further dispute with the Cape Malay population. It is also related in the Travelogue of Omar Lutfi, that the Malay people although they had held onto their Islamic heritage where not able to correctly pronounce the Arabic words and text, and it had been "corrupted" (as Abu Bakr would have seen it) with some Malay words. Their practices also involved non Islamic traditional and tribal Malay practices which would have originated from their ancestral homes on the Indonesian and Malay islands. These practices still exist in Modern day Indonesia where some of the population generally practice Islam
but also practice spirit worship. Abu Bakr, again trying to change these practices would not have been popular with the locals.
Abu Bakr also followed and practiced according to the Hanafi
school of thought. Some mistake him to be a Shafi'i which is in error as he made many judgments and fatwas according to the hanafi school. He also taught and wrote the book the 'Bayanuddin' which is written on Abu Bakrs own rulings since he was a fiqh scholar, but has many similarities to the Multaqa. This error may have originated from some of Abu Bakr's statements made in court. His title was 'Mufti of the 4 Schools' so one could argue he was of the Hanafi, Shafi'i, Malaki or Hanbali School.
, it is an interesting and significant part of South Africa
's history, and serves as a valuable reference of the Afrikaans usage during that era in the Islamic neighbourhoods of Cape Town. It gives an invaluable insight into the use of Afrikaans in the so-called "Slams" (slang for Islamic) neighbourhoods of Cape Town in that period. It is also significant, since this community did not have Dutch
as mother tongue and were therefore mostly unaffected by its orthography
. As such this was the first book ever written and published in Afrikaans, although written in a modified Arabic script. It bears testimony to the slave origins of the language which was denied by the ruling white class, especially during the Apartheid Era.
The book, totalling 254 pages, follows the Hanafite law-school. It was divided into 8 parts, each dealing with a specific part of Islamic law:
Adriaanus van Selms, a Dutch
scholar and Semitic
researcher, published a transliteration in Latin Script of Abu Bakr Effendi's work in 1979. Since the original work presented spoken Afrikaans without using vowels, van Selms's biggest task was to decipher which Afrikaans words were being referred to. Effendi had also innovated new Arabic characters for several Afrikaans letters not found in the Arabic alphabet, the letter 'P' for example. What is interesting is that these innovated letters had to be unique, yet still recognisable by the population who where already schooled in traditional Arabic. Since this was a local modification to the language, used only amongst the Cape Muslim Community, it may have proved illegible for those familiar with traditional Arabic.
Sheikh
Not to be confused with sikhSheikh — also spelled Sheik or Shaikh, or transliterated as Shaykh — is an honorific in the Arabic language that literally means "elder" and carries the meaning "leader and/or governor"...
Abu Bakr Effendi (1835–1880) was a Osmanli qadi
Qadi
Qadi is a judge ruling in accordance with Islamic religious law appointed by the ruler of a Muslim country. Because Islam makes no distinction between religious and secular domains, qadis traditionally have jurisdiction over all legal matters involving Muslims...
who was sent in 1862 by the Ottoman
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
sultan
Sultan
Sultan is a title with several historical meanings. Originally, it was an Arabic language abstract noun meaning "strength", "authority", "rulership", and "dictatorship", derived from the masdar سلطة , meaning "authority" or "power". Later, it came to be used as the title of certain rulers who...
Abdülmecid I
Abdülmecid I
Sultan Abdülmecid I, Abdul Mejid I, Abd-ul-Mejid I or Abd Al-Majid I Ghazi was the 31st Sultan of the Ottoman Empire and succeeded his father Mahmud II on July 2, 1839. His reign was notable for the rise of nationalist movements within the empire's territories...
at the request of the British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
Queen Victoria to the Cape of Good Hope
Cape of Good Hope
The Cape of Good Hope is a rocky headland on the Atlantic coast of the Cape Peninsula, South Africa.There is a misconception that the Cape of Good Hope is the southern tip of Africa, because it was once believed to be the dividing point between the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. In fact, the...
, in order to teach and assist the Muslim
Muslim
A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...
community of the Cape Malays
Cape Malays
The Cape Malay community is an ethnic group or community in South Africa. It derives its name from the present-day Western Cape of South Africa and the people originally from Maritime Southeast Asia, mostly Javanese from modern-day Indonesia, a Dutch colony for several centuries, and Dutch...
.
Effendi was from the aristocrat
Aristocracy (class)
The aristocracy are people considered to be in the highest social class in a society which has or once had a political system of Aristocracy. Aristocrats possess hereditary titles granted by a monarch, which once granted them feudal or legal privileges, or deriving, as in Ancient Greece and India,...
ic Quraishi
Quraishi
Quraishi , is a family name that originates from Arabs in Saudi Arabia, particularly from the city of Mecca.- Lineage :...
family from Mecca
Mecca
Mecca is a city in the Hijaz and the capital of Makkah province in Saudi Arabia. The city is located inland from Jeddah in a narrow valley at a height of above sea level...
. He is a Sayyid, direct descendant of the Prophet Muhammad
Muhammad
Muhammad |ligature]] at U+FDF4 ;Arabic pronunciation varies regionally; the first vowel ranges from ~~; the second and the last vowel: ~~~. There are dialects which have no stress. In Egypt, it is pronounced not in religious contexts...
through Emir Zaid, son of Imam Zayn al-Abidin. Other imam
Imam
An imam is an Islamic leadership position, often the worship leader of a mosque and the Muslim community. Similar to spiritual leaders, the imam is the one who leads Islamic worship services. More often, the community turns to the mosque imam if they have a religious question...
s in the Cape were mostly teaching the Shafi`i school of Islamic jurisprudence; he was a follower and the first teacher of Hanafi
Hanafi
The Hanafi school is one of the four Madhhab in jurisprudence within Sunni Islam. The Hanafi madhhab is named after the Persian scholar Abu Hanifa an-Nu‘man ibn Thābit , a Tabi‘i whose legal views were preserved primarily by his two most important disciples, Abu Yusuf and Muhammad al-Shaybani...
school, for which he also established a madrassa in Cape Town
Cape Town
Cape Town is the second-most populous city in South Africa, and the provincial capital and primate city of the Western Cape. As the seat of the National Parliament, it is also the legislative capital of the country. It forms part of the City of Cape Town metropolitan municipality...
. He gained notoriety in 1869 after ruling that rock lobster
Rock lobster
Jasus edwardsii, the southern rock lobster, red rock lobster, or spiny rock lobster, is a species of spiny lobster found throughout coastal waters of southern Australia and New Zealand including the Chatham Islands. This species is commonly called crayfish or crays in New Zealand and in Māori...
and snoek
Snoek
-People with the surname Snoek:*Hendrik Snoek - Belgian show jumper*Paul Snoek - Belgian poetSnoek or Snook is used in various forms as the common name for several species of fish...
, two staple foods in the Cape, were forbidden (haraam
Haraam
Haraam is an Arabic term meaning "forbidden", or "sacred". In Islam it is used to refer to anything that is prohibited by the word of Allah in the Qur'an or the Hadith Qudsi. Haraam is the highest status of prohibition given to anything that would result in sin when a Muslim commits it...
). Many mistake him for being a Shafi'i on the basis of him being a Scholar of the 4 schools of Sunni islam, and being able to issue religious edicts according to each one.
He died after contracting from reportedly travelling to Dera Mozambique
Mozambique
Mozambique, officially the Republic of Mozambique , is a country in southeastern Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi and Zambia to the northwest, Zimbabwe to the west and Swaziland and South Africa to the southwest...
, after having made several major contributions to Islam in South Africa
Islam in South Africa
Islam in South Africa pre-dates the colonial period, and consisted of isolated contact with Arab and East Africa traders. Many South African Muslims are described as Coloureds, notably in the Western Cape, including those whose ancestors came as slaves from the Indonesian archipelago...
. He introduced the fez
Fez (clothing)
The fez , or tarboosh is a felt hat either in the shape of a red truncated cone or in the shape of a short cylinder made of kilim fabric. Both usually have tassels...
for men, as well as reinstating the hijab
Hijab
The word "hijab" or "'" refers to both the head covering traditionally worn by Muslim women and modest Muslim styles of dress in general....
for women. More importantly, besides his role as teacher he also published the Arabic Afrikaans
Arabic Afrikaans
Arabic Afrikaans was a form of Afrikaans that was written in Arabic script. It began in the 1830s in the madrasa in Cape Town. It is doubtful if 'Arabic Afrikaans' can be considered a language or dialect of its own.-Texts:...
"Uiteensetting van die godsdiens" ("Bayan ad-Din", or "The Exposition of the Religion") in 1877.
Early Life and times in South Africa
Abu Bakr was born in ancient province Shehrizur in Kurdistan. His father Molla Omar Al-Baghdadi an Ottoman Governor, was killed in a bedouin raid. He is known to have studied in the Madrassa originally set up by his ancestor Emir Suleyman for the people of the area. Further studies and teachings were in ErzurumErzurum
Erzurum is a city in Turkey. It is the largest city, the capital of Erzurum Province. The city is situated 1757 meters above sea level. Erzurum had a population of 361,235 in the 2000 census. .Erzurum, known as "The Rock" in NATO code, served as NATO's southeastern-most air force post during the...
, Istanbul
Istanbul
Istanbul , historically known as Byzantium and Constantinople , is the largest city of Turkey. Istanbul metropolitan province had 13.26 million people living in it as of December, 2010, which is 18% of Turkey's population and the 3rd largest metropolitan area in Europe after London and...
, and Makkah.
Many mistake Sayyid Abu Bakr for being a Kurdish identity due to his place of birth. But his family was more cosmopolitan than that. One cannot belong to the Quraysh Tribe and a Sayyid
Sayyid
Sayyid is an honorific title, it denotes males accepted as descendants of the Islamic prophet Muhammad through his grandsons, Hasan ibn Ali and Husain ibn Ali, sons of the prophet's daughter Fatima Zahra and his son-in-law Ali ibn Abi Talib.Daughters of sayyids are given the titles Sayyida,...
while also be a Kurd
Kürd
Kürd or Kyurd or Kyurt may refer to:*Kürd Eldarbəyli, Azerbaijan*Kürd Mahrızlı, Azerbaijan*Kürd, Goychay, Azerbaijan*Kürd, Jalilabad, Azerbaijan*Kürd, Qabala, Azerbaijan*Qurdbayram, Azerbaijan...
. Abu Bakr is a descendant of the Imam Zain-ul-Abidin
Zain-ul-Abidin
Sultan Ghiyas-ud-Din Zain-ul-Abidin was a sultan of Kashmir in the present day Jammu and Kashmir state of India. Mohibbul Hasan has said that "Of all the Sultans who sat on the throne of Kashmir, Zain-ul-Abidin was undoubtedly the greatest .....
, making him of Arab and Quraysh heritage. It is known the descendants and followers of Imam Zain-ul-Abidin migrated to Yemen and northern Iran after the persecution of the Imam and his son Emir Zaid, better known as Zaid ibn Ali.
According to the Travelogue of Omar Lutfi Effendi, while he and Abu Bakr traveled by sea. At a later age Omar Lutfi returned to Turkey where his descendants still reside. His Travelogue was translated into English from Ottoman Turkish by Turkish/American Islamic Scholar Yusuf Kavakci.
Many of Abu Bakr Effendi's descendants originate from his marriage to Tohora Saban Cook, the niece of the famous explorer Captain James Cook. They had 5 sons, Ahmad Ataullah, Hisham Nimatullah, Omar Jalaluddin, Muhammad Alauddin, and Hussain Fowzy. Fahimah his daughter was Abu Bakr's eldest child from a first marriage. The family continues to reside in South Africa, with some returning to Turkey, and many migrating to Australia. Some of Abubakr's sons continued in his footsteps of serving far and wide, with one son getting involved in South African politics but was suppressed by the White Apartheid Government. Some also served in the Ottoman Army and fought in the Hejaz against the Anglo and Arab nationalist uprising against the Ottoman Empire. There currently exists in Singapore
Singapore
Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...
the grave of Abu Bakrs son who served as the Ottoman
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
Turkish
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
Ambassador to Singapore
Singapore
Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...
. Abu bakr was looved
Struggle of acceptance by the Cape Malay populace
Abu Bakr's life in South Africa was not easy. It is clear that the Cape Malay Muslims had suffered and lost some of their religious identity. This was due to their cruel deportation from their home countries, Southern India and the Malay ArchipelagoMalay Archipelago
The Malay Archipelago refers to the archipelago between mainland Southeastern Asia and Australia. The name was derived from the anachronistic concept of a Malay race....
, by the Dutch. This suppression continued under the future Colonialist. Historical documents talk of his influence of introducing the Islamic hijab
Hijab
The word "hijab" or "'" refers to both the head covering traditionally worn by Muslim women and modest Muslim styles of dress in general....
and fez on the Cape Muslims. This was despite the fact that many other Islamic scholars had come to South Africa. He also attempted to break the Cape Muslim 'Clerical Order' which existed. Only those related to the previous imam were allowed to become the next in line, holding knowledge to themselves and wielding power over the common people. This is further related in the 1866 Disputes;
Over the years the Cape Muslim `clerical' order developed with the imams wielding appreciable power. The status of the imams, together with economic security and in many cases prosperity was due to the generous monetary donations and gifts by the congregation. Between 1866 and 1900, over twenty cases pertaining to masjid in the Cape peninsula were heard in the Supreme Court with regard to the positions of imams and their succession. Practically every masjid at the Cape in the 19th century faced this problem. (http://www.sahistory.org.za/pages/library-resources/online%20books/history-muslims/1800s.htm)
This would have thrown him into further dispute with the Cape Malay population. It is also related in the Travelogue of Omar Lutfi, that the Malay people although they had held onto their Islamic heritage where not able to correctly pronounce the Arabic words and text, and it had been "corrupted" (as Abu Bakr would have seen it) with some Malay words. Their practices also involved non Islamic traditional and tribal Malay practices which would have originated from their ancestral homes on the Indonesian and Malay islands. These practices still exist in Modern day Indonesia where some of the population generally practice Islam
Islam
Islam . The most common are and . : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...
but also practice spirit worship. Abu Bakr, again trying to change these practices would not have been popular with the locals.
Abu Bakr also followed and practiced according to the Hanafi
Hanafi
The Hanafi school is one of the four Madhhab in jurisprudence within Sunni Islam. The Hanafi madhhab is named after the Persian scholar Abu Hanifa an-Nu‘man ibn Thābit , a Tabi‘i whose legal views were preserved primarily by his two most important disciples, Abu Yusuf and Muhammad al-Shaybani...
school of thought. Some mistake him to be a Shafi'i which is in error as he made many judgments and fatwas according to the hanafi school. He also taught and wrote the book the 'Bayanuddin' which is written on Abu Bakrs own rulings since he was a fiqh scholar, but has many similarities to the Multaqa. This error may have originated from some of Abu Bakr's statements made in court. His title was 'Mufti of the 4 Schools' so one could argue he was of the Hanafi, Shafi'i, Malaki or Hanbali School.
Uiteensetting
From 1862 to 1869 Effendi had studied the local language use and then proceeded to compile the book. Printed by the Turkish Ministry of Education in IstanbulIstanbul
Istanbul , historically known as Byzantium and Constantinople , is the largest city of Turkey. Istanbul metropolitan province had 13.26 million people living in it as of December, 2010, which is 18% of Turkey's population and the 3rd largest metropolitan area in Europe after London and...
, it is an interesting and significant part of South Africa
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
's history, and serves as a valuable reference of the Afrikaans usage during that era in the Islamic neighbourhoods of Cape Town. It gives an invaluable insight into the use of Afrikaans in the so-called "Slams" (slang for Islamic) neighbourhoods of Cape Town in that period. It is also significant, since this community did not have Dutch
Dutch language
Dutch is a West Germanic language and the native language of the majority of the population of the Netherlands, Belgium, and Suriname, the three member states of the Dutch Language Union. Most speakers live in the European Union, where it is a first language for about 23 million and a second...
as mother tongue and were therefore mostly unaffected by its orthography
Orthography
The orthography of a language specifies a standardized way of using a specific writing system to write the language. Where more than one writing system is used for a language, for example Kurdish, Uyghur, Serbian or Inuktitut, there can be more than one orthography...
. As such this was the first book ever written and published in Afrikaans, although written in a modified Arabic script. It bears testimony to the slave origins of the language which was denied by the ruling white class, especially during the Apartheid Era.
The book, totalling 254 pages, follows the Hanafite law-school. It was divided into 8 parts, each dealing with a specific part of Islamic law:
- ritual cleansing (pp. 2–66)
- ritual prayer (pp. 66–219)
- religious tax (pp. 219–258)
- fasting (pp. 258–284)
- slaughtering of livestock (pp. 284–302)
- religious prohibitions (pp. 302–344)
- drink (pp. 344–349)
- hunting (pp. 349–354)
Adriaanus van Selms, a Dutch
Dutch people
The Dutch people are an ethnic group native to the Netherlands. They share a common culture and speak the Dutch language. Dutch people and their descendants are found in migrant communities worldwide, notably in Suriname, Chile, Brazil, Canada, Australia, South Africa, New Zealand, and the United...
scholar and Semitic
Semitic
In linguistics and ethnology, Semitic was first used to refer to a language family of largely Middle Eastern origin, now called the Semitic languages...
researcher, published a transliteration in Latin Script of Abu Bakr Effendi's work in 1979. Since the original work presented spoken Afrikaans without using vowels, van Selms's biggest task was to decipher which Afrikaans words were being referred to. Effendi had also innovated new Arabic characters for several Afrikaans letters not found in the Arabic alphabet, the letter 'P' for example. What is interesting is that these innovated letters had to be unique, yet still recognisable by the population who where already schooled in traditional Arabic. Since this was a local modification to the language, used only amongst the Cape Muslim Community, it may have proved illegible for those familiar with traditional Arabic.