The Jamiatul Ulama Transvaal now the Jamiatul Ulama South Africa (''Council of

Muslim Theologians This is a list of notable Muslim theologians. Traditional theologians and philosophers Ash'aris and Maturidis * Abu al-Hasan al-Ash'ari * Abu Mansur al-Maturidi * Abu al-Yusr al-Bazdawi * Abu al-Mu'in al-Nasafi * Ibn Hibban * Ibn Furak * Abu M ...

''), headquartered in

Fordsburg Fordsburg is a suburb of Johannesburg, South Africa. It is located in Region F of the City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality. Fordsburg is a residential suburb, although housing numerous shops and factories. Today, Fordsburg is a major ce ...

Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu language, Zulu and Xhosa language, Xhosa: eGoli ) (colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, Jo'burg or "The City of Gold") is the most populous city in South Africa. With 5,538,596 people in the City of Johannesburg alon ...

, was founded in 1923 to serve the

Muslim Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...

community of the (now defunct)

Transvaal Province The Province of Transvaal (), commonly referred to as the Transvaal (; ), was a province of South Africa from 1910 until 1994, when a new constitution subdivided it following the end of apartheid. The name "Transvaal" refers to the province's ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

. It publishes a weekly online newsletter.

Activities

It currently operates in the provinces that formerly made up the Transvaal, as well as in the

Free State Province The Free State ( ; ; ; ; ), formerly known as the Orange Free State, is a province of South Africa. Its capital is Bloemfontein, which is also South Africa's judicial capital. Its historical origins lie in the Boer republic called the Orang ...

, and is one of a number of national

organizations in South Africa. The organization has been characterized as

fundamentalist Fundamentalism is a tendency among certain groups and individuals that are characterized by the application of a strict literal interpretation to scriptures, dogmas, or ideologies, along with a strong belief in the importance of distinguishin ...

and

Deobandi The Deobandi movement or Deobandism is a revivalist movement within Sunni Islam that adheres to the Hanafi school of jurisprudence. It was formed in the late 19th century around the Darul Uloom Madrassa in Deoband, India, from which the nam ...

, and it is widely perceived as having links with the

Tablighi Jamaat Tablighi Jamaat ( , also translated as "propagation party" or "preaching party") is an international Islamic schools and branches, Islamic religious movement. It focuses on exhorting Muslims to be more religiously observant and encourages f ...

. Large number of Muslims subscribe to decisions regarding

fiqh ''Fiqh'' (; ) is the term for Islamic jurisprudence.Fiqh
Encyclopædia Britannica ''Fiqh'' is of ...

(Islamic law) in the region where the organization operates. It also has significant influence on the running of many

mosque A mosque ( ), also called a masjid ( ), is a place of worship for Muslims. The term usually refers to a covered building, but can be any place where Salah, Islamic prayers are performed; such as an outdoor courtyard. Originally, mosques were si ...

s and

madrasa Madrasa (, also , ; Arabic: مدرسة , ), sometimes Romanization of Arabic, romanized as madrasah or madrassa, is the Arabic word for any Educational institution, type of educational institution, secular or religious (of any religion), whet ...

s in the region.

Controversies

Apartheid-era

The Jamiatul Ulama South Africa has been criticised for its largely apolitical stance during the

apartheid Apartheid ( , especially South African English: , ; , ) was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. It was characterised by an ...

era. The organization, unlike its counterpart in

KwaZulu-Natal KwaZulu-Natal (, also referred to as KZN) is a Provinces of South Africa, province of South Africa that was created in 1994 when the government merged the Zulu people, Zulu bantustan of KwaZulu ("Place of the Zulu" in Zulu language, Zulu) and ...

, the Jamiatul Ulama KwaZulu-Natal was accused by more activist Islamic scholars at the

Truth and Reconciliation Commission A truth commission, also known as a truth and reconciliation commission or truth and justice commission, is an official body tasked with discovering and revealing past wrongdoing by a government (or, depending on the circumstances, non-state ac ...

of not speaking out against the

tricameral Tricameralism is the practice of having three legislative or parliamentary chambers. It is contrasted with unicameralism and bicameralism, which are both far more common. No national government is currently organized along tricameral lines. The ...

system, which denied black South Africans political power, while giving limited rights to

Coloureds Coloureds () are multiracial people in South Africa, Namibia and, to a smaller extent, Zimbabwe and Zambia. Their ancestry descends from the interracial mixing that occurred between Europeans, Africans and Asians. Interracial mixing in South ...

and

Indians Indian or Indians may refer to: Associated with India * of or related to India ** Indian people ** Indian diaspora ** Languages of India ** Indian English, a dialect of the English language ** Indian cuisine Associated with indigenous peoples o ...

Radio Islam

The Jamiatul Ulama South Africa owns and manages a community radio station called ''Radio Islam'' that broadcasts on the

Witwatersrand The Witwatersrand (, ; ; locally the Rand or, less commonly, the Reef) is a , north-facing scarp in South Africa. It consists of a hard, erosion-resistant quartzite metamorphic rock, over which several north-flowing rivers form waterfalls, w ...

. A complaint was made by an organization to the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa in 1998 that the radio station was not allowing women to be heard on air. The station argued that Islam does not allow women's voices to be heard. The authority ruled against the station, and in response, the station collected a petition of 28,000 names from women who it claimed supported the decision to bar women from the airwaves.

Muhammad cartoons controversy

The organization again made headlines in 2006 when it obtained an interdict against several South African newspaper companies in the

Johannesburg High Court The Gauteng Division of the High Court of South Africa is a superior court of law which has general jurisdiction over the South African province of Gauteng and the eastern part of North West province. The main seat of the division is at Pretoria ...

against the republishing of cartoons depicting the Islamic prophet,

Muhammad Muhammad (8 June 632 CE) was an Arab religious and political leader and the founder of Islam. Muhammad in Islam, According to Islam, he was a prophet who was divinely inspired to preach and confirm the tawhid, monotheistic teachings of A ...

. See:

Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons controversy The Muhammad cartoons controversy (or Muhammad cartoons crisis, ) began after the Danish newspaper published twelve editorial cartoons on 30 September 2005 depicting Muhammad, the founder of Islam, in what it said was a response to the deb ...

. This case raised important questions about the limits of freedom of expression in South Africa.

References