Abadin Tadia Tjoessoep, more commonly known as Sheikh Yusuf or Sheik Joseph, was an Indonesian Muslim of noble descent. He was also known as Muhammad Yusuf al-Maqassari. In 1693 he was exiled to the Cape of Good Hope, South Africa, which resulted in his establishing Islam in the Cape.
The Coming of Sheik Joseph
Sheikh Yusuf's tomb in Macassar
South Africa is a Christian majority nation with Islam being a minority religion, practised by roughly 1.6% of the total population. Islam in South Africa has grown in three different phases. The first phase brought the earliest Muslims as part of the involuntary migration of slaves, artisans, political prisoners, and political exiles from the Dutch East Indies to the Cape Colony from 1652 to 1800. The second phase was the arrival of indentured labourers from British India to work in the sugar-cane fields in Natal from 1860 to 1911. Of the approximately 176,000 Indians of all faiths who were transported to the Natal province, almost 7–10% of the first shipment were Muslims.
Islamic texts in the Nizamiye Mosque in Midrand
Mosque in Cape Town
The Auwal Mosque, oldest mosque in South Africa, constructed in 1794; 230 years ago (1794)[citation needed]
The Palm Tree Mosque, second oldest mosque in South Africa; building constructed in 1788 (236 years ago) (1788), and established as a mosque in 1807; 217 years ago (1807)[citation needed]