About the book

Authored by Shafiq Morton and published by Awqaf SA as part its Leaders and Legacies series of book which tells the stories of South Africa’s political leaders and struggle stalwarts.

The kramats, a circle of Sufi saints, are dotted around the Peninsula and the Overberg. They are torch-bearers of Cape Muslim history. These are figures around whom people gathered during times of slavery and hardship for inspiration.

Exiled from the Indonesian archipelago to the Cape of Good Hope for resisting the Dutch in the 17th and 18th centuries, these pioneers carried the flag of Islam to the tip of Africa. They did this when the Statute of India, on the pain of death, forbade the practice of their religion. Hiding in the mountains, they ministered to their followers far away from the eyes of Dutch East India officials. After religious freedom was declared in 1804, other luminaries from the Muslim world would land on our shores.

Following in the footsteps of Dr Achmat Davids and Shaykh Yusuf da Costa, Shafiq Morton has excavated the history of these saintly figures. This is the first time that a comprehensive book has been written on the kramats, such a vital part of the Cape’s history.

‘… this work is an absolute necessity.’

Shaykh Fakhruddin Owaisi al-Madani

Lecturer of South African Muslim History, IPSA College and Madina Institute, Cape Town

‘This research is of profound significance to the broader Muslim community of South Africa.’