Cassim Sema, Date of Birth, Place of Birth, Date of Death
TweetCassim Sema
Founder of South African Madrasa
Date of Birth: 12-May-1920
Place of Birth: Newcastle, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa
Date of Death: 09-Jun-2007
Zodiac Sign: Taurus 
About 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 after an operation.
- He invited Mufti Ebrahim Smith and others in the beginning of the year and started the first Iftaa class which he conducted himself.His funeral was attended by almost 4 000 people.
- Hazrat Mufti Faiyaz Saheb whom Ml Sema appointed as the BUKHARI teacher lead the Janaaza Solah.
- Moulana was eighty-seven years old and had been teaching until the last year of his life.
Read more at Wikipedia