Chapter 7 CONCLUSION
2.4 PRE-HAJJ RITES
2.4.5 THE ADHAN
the imam or shaykh who gives the final seal of approval, as it were, usually makes adu^a'. The adhan is also made before the pilgrims leave home"
However, since the rest of the text of this verse is not the same as the actual text of the adhdn, it is my view that this verse could not have been interpreted to refer to the adhdn that is made before the hajjis' departure from their residence
In Abu Bakr Effendi's progress report on the Cape Muslims that he submitted to Sultan
vAbd al-Hamld of the Ottoman Empire included the traditional practices of the Muslims including the adhdn that is made before the pilgrims' departure for hajj. However, in his Bayan al-Din, which includes a chapter on the hajj, he omits the Muslim traditional practices, specifically the adhdn. It appears that Abu Bakr Effendi did not wish to interfere with this particular practice of the MusUms at the Cape, though he addressed other practices, such as the ratiep, as well as the performance of the salah al-Zuhr (midday prayer) after salah al-Jumu^ah (Friday congregational prayer) - which were contentious issues at the time.150
Oral tradition has it that the adhdn was made at the Cape before the prescribed prayers, to announce the birth of the child and when there was a calamity in an area. For example, when there was a fire or a storm in an area near the masjid (mosque), the muadhdhin (announcer to prayer) would make an announcement from the minaret of the masjid to warn people not to attend the masjid. When people travelled by boat to perform the hajj, the adhdn was made from the pier as the boat set sail from the harbour. Currently, the adhdn is made at the residence of the hajji or at the airport, or even at the railway station, if the hajji has to board the aeroplane in Johannesburg. The tradition was intended to announce that a major event is about to take place, in this case the pilgrimage. In the 1940s, in the Bo-Kaap area, the adhan was occasionally made from the mosques, outside the prescribed prayer times. This was a specific announcement to the neighbourhood or
community that a congregant was leaving for hajj. Da Costa claims that either Tuan Guru or Shaykh Yusuf initiated this practice.
In the 19th century some hajjis failed to return home immediately after the hajj. The hajjis were at times away from their residences for more than a year, and travelling by sailboats and on camels from the Red Sea port of Jeddah, were both arduous and dangerous. Thus the adhan was made because of possible calamities such as storms, which the hajjis could encounter.152
"It is interesting to note that a much longer time was spent on the journey than was spent in Mecca itself, for sometimes a journey of six months or more would produce only a month of the actual hajj in Mecca and Medina. This merely points to the difficulty of travel in general in the early modern period. What's more the journey was expensive, even for those - the majority - who travelled as simply as possible".
Mawlana Sullaiman Karan, a senior member of the Muslim Judicial Council, confirms that the adhan is made to divert calamity. He said in the case of Imam Abdullah Haron who was arrested on 28 May 1969 under the Terrorism Act and who was found dead in his cell on 27 September 1969, the adhan was made when his body left the residence to be buried. 154
Photo: Muslim News 21 September '79 A young student of Imam Haron delivers the adhan while the women burst into uncontrollable sobbing at the appearance of the imam's bier in the street below.
The making of the adhan has been a pre-hajj tradition of the Cape Muslims and other communities for many years. This tradition, in all probabiUty emerged from Indonesia when the pioneers settled here at the Cape. Since then no one has debated the question whether the adhan is part of the hajj or not. To many it has been a long-established practice at the Cape and regarded as part of the hajj. The Cape pre-hajj tradition would have been incomplete if the adhan was not made at the harbour as Muhammad Jassiem describes in the Muslim Views.
" When in those days when the hujjdj travelled by boat, they would walk from their homes to the harbour, accompanied by the families, friends and neighbours.
In fact the entire Muslim community would join them on the walk. It was a fantastic sight seeing the crowd, dressed in white streaming down the streets.
When the "steamer" as it was then called, was about to sail, the hujjdj would throw down different coloured streamers, which were eagerly grabbed by the crowd. As the steamer slowly floated out of the harbour, the adhan would be heard, probably recited by a member of one of the families. The crowd left behind would not move until the boat was well out of sight".155
C«PC Moslems Embirkllll!.
Photo: National Library of Southern Africa Bidding farewell to pilgrims
Mogamat Adnaan Davis, better known as Dopey, reiterated that when his father departed for hajj, many people in Simonstown assembled at Jubilee Square to greet him. A family member made the adhdn at the square and at the quay, while the boat was leaving the harbour. When his father, who had worked on a boat for many years, boarded the boat, the siren of the boat went off, while a band was playing on the deck.156