Cassim Sema

Moulana Cassim Mohammed Sema (12 May 1920 – 9 June 2007) was the founder of the first madrasa in South Africa and possibly the first madrasa that uses English as its medium of instruction. He also played an immense role in the establishment tabligh as well as da'wah among the non-Muslims of South Africa.

Moulana Cassim Mohammed Sema was born in Newcastle. At the age of five, he commenced his education at Oswald's School in Newcastle. However, his education was terminated after the completion of standard six. Moulana completed the recitation of the Qur'an and studied Urdu under Moulana Hafiz Shamsuddin. Thereafter, he commenced the memorisation of the Qur'an under Hafiz Aminuddin, under whom he completed seven ajza. He then memorised two more ajza under Moulana Ali Ahmad Ansari. Moulana Mia of Watervaal Institute was an inspiration to Moulana when he visited Newcastle in 1935 and told Moulana to either study medicine or become an 'Alim abroad. Moulana chose to become an 'Alim and departed for India on 23 October 1935. There, he enrolled at Jami'a Islamiyya in Dabhel and completed the Alimiyya course. He eventually graduated in August 1942 at the age of twenty-two and decided to return to South Africa, where a post as a teacher awaited him in Mia's Farm. Unfortunately, World War II started and the operation of passenger ships terminated due to the risk of Japanese attacks. However, due to demand, a steamboat called Tilaawa was arranged to transport passengers to Africa. On 23 November 1942, it departed from Bombay with 1 000 passengers and 300 crew members. En route, it was attacked by Japanese torpedoes and sank. Moulana and 124 passengers were the only survivors. They were transported back to Bombay. Moulana was then employed by Majlis-e-'Ilmi in Simlak, where he taught Athar al-Sunan. He passed a year in Simlak, preparing his own meals and occasionally leading salaah at the masjid. Moulana left India and arrived in South Africa on 5 February 1944. He received a number of job offers, but accepted the offer from Wasbank. He taught in Wasbank and passed two years in the formulation of a madrasa syllabus.

In 1949, Moulana started to propagate Islam within the African communities of the Msinga Reserve. Over a period of ten years, nine hundred people converted to Islam. On 30 October 1960, the first da'wah ijtima was held in Wasbank, after which a building that housed a masjid and madrasa was built in the Makhakhane area. Moulana was part of the first Tablighi Jama'ah of South Africa. In 1961, they travelled to Malawi for the first ijtima of southern Africa. He was instrumental in organising the first South African ijtima in Ladysmith later in 1961. A few months later, he travelled with the first South African jama'ah to India for four months. On his return, he was arrested at the Makhakhane Masjid because he had broken an apartheid law which stated that Indians were not allowed into African areas. He was fined and, for the next ten years, forced to fight for the protection of the Makhakhane Masjid, which the government wanted to destroy. During this period, da'wah and nightly madrasa sessions continued secretly. Then a masjid was established in Tugela Ferry, which the government also wanted to demolish. However, the masjid survived. Also, despite the oppressive laws of apartheid, Moulana regularly preached Islam at the Msinga Reserve. After twenty-three years of service in Wasbank, Moulana returned to Newcastle in 1968, becoming the principal of its madrasa. He lectured every Friday in Urdu, but shifted to English as the younger generation arrived. In 1967, the Jamiatul Ulama Kwazulu Natal met to devise a single madrasa syllabus for the entire province. Moulana's syllabus was chosen. Thereafter, Moulana worked with the Jamiatul Ulama KwaZulu-Natal for a year. He then established a furniture-manufacturing store in Alcockspruit, which was eventually closed due to new industrial laws.

Moulana passed a few months as the principal of the madrasa and imam of the masjid of Glencoe, while negotiations in the purchase of land for a madrasa were finalised. Moulana had been attempting to establish a madrasa with boarding facilities since 1946. Eventually, in 1969, the building that had housed St. Dominics Academy, a Roman Catholic convent, which had been vacant for fifteen years, was bought for R 83 000. Darul Uloom Newcastle was opened on 13 May 1973. Moulana then decided to travel to the Indian subcontinent for a 40-day jama'ah before officially establishing the madrasa. In Pakistan, Moulana met his former teacher, Moulana Yusuf Binnori, who devised the curriculum of Darul Uloom Newcastle. Moulana then travelled to India and returned to South Africa thereafter. Classes at Darul Uloom Newcastle started on 9 September 1973 with nine boarding students. For the first three years, Moulana taught alone while his wife cooked the students' food and washed their clothes. The first jalsa was held on 4 December 1977, during which the first batch of students graduated from a three-year 'Alim course. However, in 1983, the first students completed the new six-year course. Moulana Cassim Mohammed Sema died on 9 June 2007. His funeral was attended by almost 14 000 people. Moulana was eighty-seven years old and had been teaching until the last year of his life.