Muslim Portraits: The Anti-Apartheid Struggle, Goolam Vahed : book review

Abstract

Apartheid fell and the 'rainbow nation' emerged, with the release of Nelson Mandela in February 1990 and the subsequent free, and open, democratic elections across South Africa in 1994; these elections followed multi-party negotiations between multiple political organizations that had recently been decriminalized. Muslims played key roles not only during the formative period of post-apartheid South Africa, but also in the struggle against the apartheid regime. Even today, in the midst of South Africa's re-emergence onto the global scene and against the backdrop of transnational Islamic discourses Muslims - even as minorities - continue to influence the shaping of South Africa. This context provides the frame of reference for Vahed's work, which compiles various narratives and stories of Islamic leaders in the struggle to assert non-racial politics in South Africa.