South Africa

       

     
 

1. In South Africa, many blacks convert to Islam  
[By Nicole Itano, Special to The Christian Science Monitor ]

Ethnic groups:

Kazakh (Qazaq) 63.1%, Russian 23.7%, Uzbek 2.8%, Ukrainian 2.1%, Uighur 1.4%, Tatar 1.3%, German 1.1%, other 4.5% (1999 census)
Languages:

Kazakh (Qazaq, state language) 64.4%, Russian (official, used in everyday business, designated the "language of interethnic communication") 95% (2001 est.)
Religions:

Muslim 47%, Russian Orthodox 44%, Protestant 2%, other 7%
Population:

17,522,010 (July 2012 est.)
country comparison to the world: 60 
 

The Islamic community of South Africa reflects the same diversity that characterizes the rest of the South African population.

2. South Africa: Many Muslims, One Islam
 [By IslamOnline(IOL)]

With over 40 million people, eleven national languages, nine provinces, and landscapes that cover the extremes of the deserts and savannas to the beauty of snow-capped mountains, South Africa truly encapsulates diversity.

The country’s biggest asset is its people—a rainbow nation with a rich and diverse culture. At last count, there were over 40 million people in South Africa . Of these, 76.7% classified themselves as African, 10.9% as white, 8.9% as colored, and 2.6% as Indian/Asian.
 

   
 

3. Islam spreads to South Africa  
[
By BRYAN PEARSON, Posted in Variety.com]

British-based Islam Channel, which has a deep reach into the Middle Eastern, Mahgreb and European markets, is pressing even further afield -- right to the tip of Africa.

Beginning February the channel, which promises to present an Islamic perspective and to dispel misconceptions people have about the faith, will broadcast across South Africa as part of the bouquet on pay satcaster DStv.

With around 1 million Muslims --2.5% of the population of around 45 million people -- the potential viewership is significant, said channel CEO Muhammad Ali.

4. Islam in South Africa  
[
By Muslimwiki]

Although history has recorded that the first influences of Islam was brought into Southern Africa overland by the Southern migration of Africans through the influences of Arab traders, the current Muslims arrived in two waves by sea from foreign lands in the main. The first wave of Muslims arrived as slaves of the then dominant Dutch power from the Colonies of Java and Malaysia in 1652 CE (1062 AH).    

   

5.  Muslim Refugees in South Africa
 [By IslamOnline(IOL)]

The political strife from the neighboring states such as Angola, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Rwanda, Burundi, Nigeria, Cameroon, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Somalia, Ethiopia, and Eritrea has caused many people to flee the threat of genocide with the hope of finding safety and asylum in South Africa. About 85 percent of these refugees are Muslim from the Great Lakes region and efforts are being made to incorporate them into the social fabric of the South African scenario for fear that they may be lost to Christianity.

 

6.  Academic research on Islam & Muslim in south Africa   [By Muhammad Haron, University Of Botswana]South Africa’s Higher Academic environment has radically changed since the apartheid years. Tertiary institutions have amalgamated, the departmental walls in some institutions have come down, and staff members have either been redeployed into other schools/units within the new system or retrenched. Traditional Departments of Arabic and Islamic Studies have been amongst the many that have been affected and this resulted in the
disappearance of these water-tight, ghettoized departments. Some staff retired, others were retrenched and others simply assumed newly created academic environments