Towards Making A Documentary On The Late Imam Abdullah Haron

Abstract

Making a documentary about a Muslim iconic figure in post-Apartheid South Africa can be a long and hard process. Intentions and goals have to be strongly set and kept, to allow one to carry on amidst financial difficulty, and apparent community support. This article is an account of my personal journey through the making of a documentary on the late Imam Abdullah Haron. I speak of the Imam in his community, the visual documentation of the Imam’s life, my personal experiences as a filmmaker from London in South Africa, and the development of my relationship with this man. It is concluded that this visual medium should be appropriated by Muslims in order to aid storytelling, and to give an accurate representation of their identity, rituals and beliefs to the rest of the world.

INTRODUCTION

In this article I will be discussing the process and pitfalls of the production of a documentary around a South African icon - Imam Abdullah Haron. A temporal and spatial account of the Imam’s context will serve to introduce the man, his ideals, his generous gifts to the community, and his death. I then pose the questions, which have been most pertinent in the process of developing and editing the documentary. I will attempt to explain the reasons for venturing into such a project and the obstacles and rewards associated with it. Furthermore, I will talk about filmmaking in South Africa and what I believe should be the Islamic response and contribution to this field.

THE CAPE MUSLIM HERITAGE - A LEADER IS BORN

Eleven years on from the fall of the unjust Apartheid regime in humanity’s most turbulent century to date, South Africa now speaks of freedom, progression, pride and rainbows. Also because of its somewhat isolated history and geographical location, South Africa is hailed, unofficially, as a fairly insular society. Within this rainbow nation is a particular and unique community borne of oppression long before Apartheid officially clenched its ugly fist. The ‘Malay’ Muslim community of Cape Town emerged from noble roots in Java, Indonesia. Enslaved artisans and craftsmen brought over by the Dutch and tried as insurgents and political prisoners, Prince Yusuf of Macassar, although not the first Muslim in the Cape, led the initial fight against oppression. This was to pave the way for a history of uprising against injustice by a powerful minority of people who, along with their chains and hopes, also brought their culture to the Cape.

Born in 1923 in Cape Town, Abdullah Haron grew up an orphan under the shadow of Apartheid, an ultra conservative Islamic community, a multitude of siblings and a stern aunt. He became the youngest and most forward-looking Muslim cleric in South Africa after his appointment as Imam of Stegman road mosque, Claremont, in 1955. Introducing politics into the religious arena, allowing women to play a role in the running of his mosque and empowering the youth with a conscious platform. As well as theistic progression, Haron was an avid cinemagoer, lover of stylish fashion and music - having bought a piano for his daughter and encouraging her to play it. Influenced by his teachers and a strong compassion for the suffering around him, he worked tirelessly in the townships, fostered friendships with activists and revolutionaries and began speaking out against the regime in the early Sixties, one of the only dissenting voices from his community. Along with thousands of others, Haron and his family were forcibly moved from their homes in the affluent suburb of Claremont when the notorious Group Areas Act was introduced. On his return in 1969, from a journey to Mecca and Europe, Haron was promptly arrested by the security services under the terrorism act of 1967. He was held, incommunicado, for 4 months before being pronounced dead on the 27th of September 1969. Thousands mourned his death at the largest funeral ever seen in the Cape at the time.

QUEST AND QUESTIONS

The documentary, which I am in the process of compiling and editing, attempts to explore the relationship the Imam had with his contemporaries, as well as the myths surrounding his personality and death. Given that the Islamic community of the Cape has always been apparently close-knit and supportive of each other, why did the Imam feel the need to reach out overseas to get help from people such as the late Canon Collins and the IDAF in the UK? What was the reason for the lack of support from his community? Why did he not stay abroad when he was warned time and again that going back to South Africa could mean certain death? What exactly did he travel for in any case, was it funding or perhaps even training individuals for ‘jihad’, and to what extent did the Imam know he was being closely watched and followed on his travels by the notorious special branch?

The film will open up the dynamic of the Cape Muslim. It talks of a community who have had to consistently bear the brunt of the oppressive stick since their inception in the Cape. In the Apartheid years, due to forced groupings, this community were relatively unable to integrate where possible. It could be argued that this was a cause of discriminatory attitudes towards the whites, blacks and underprivileged of the time. It shows how, although Islamic ideals towards integration and ‘colour-blindness’ are essential to the foundation of the religion, the embedded racist attitudes of Apartheid were, and are, still prevalent in the Cape Muslim community today.

A staunch James Bond fan, an avid sportsman and a great lover of music, we will look at how Haron married his position as a husband and a father with his role as religious and political leader and the consequent impact that this had on his wife and family. How does one sustain such a relationship as well as striving to literally save the world with a smile on your face?

A VISUAL DOCUMENTATION

The film will visualise the legacy of the Imam as well as exploring the role taken, and given, by the late community leader during his life. What is aimed at is to produce a portrait of a man who contributed to the anti-Apartheid struggle, whom many people in and around Southern Africa currently know of, but know very little about. The film will explore the roots of the Imam’s heritage in order to contextualise the Cape Muslims and how the legacy of rising up against oppression has always been a theme in their tumultuous history. I will look at the impact this had on Haron’s theological and political stances. In addition I will look at the global situation at a time when the recurrent theme was precisely