Historical Roots and Modern Manifestations of Islamophobia in South Africa

Muslims have resided in South Africa for about 400 years, actively participating in all aspects of society both before and after the colonial period, as well as during and after apartheid.

The Status of Islam in South Africa

Although Muslims constitute only about 2% of South Africa's population, Islam is the second largest religion after Christianity and traditional African beliefs. The contribution of Muslims in political, economic, academic spheres, as well as in social welfare and charity, significantly exceeds their numbers.

Due to external appearances and mannerisms, Muslims are easily distinguishable and noticeable compared to followers of other faiths. This circumstance can reinforce the perception that there are more undocumented and illegally residing Muslims than official figures suggest.

Social Interaction and Migration

Many Muslims work as traders and retailers, being at the center of interaction with the overwhelming majority of Black Africans, especially in townships and surrounding areas, which is a historical legacy of apartheid laws and spatial planning. The arrival of a new wave of immigrants from the subcontinent and places like Somalia has also introduced a class of traders, both legal and illegal. These people have also opened their stalls directly in contact points with disadvantaged, unemployed Black communities that have not benefited from the demographic dividend since 1994.

This has also contributed to the narrative that Muslims, in particular, occupy local jobs and opportunities. Meanwhile, thousands of Israelis who were supposed to serve in various capacities in the IDF and participate in the Palestinian killing machine over the last 60 years have arrived in South Africa since 2024, yet not a word is said about it.

Attacks and Islamophobia

Dr. Imtiaz Sulaiman, head of the NGO 'Gift of the Givers', enjoyed respect for decades across all strata of South African society as a true patriot and defender of the underprivileged. However, after he spoke out against the Israeli genocide, coordinated attacks were launched against his integrity, patriotism, motives, and religion, including attempts to suggest that his funding comes from 'suspicious and tainted' foreign sources.

Attacks on the religion of the recently appointed Deputy Minister of Education bear similar signs of Islamophobia. Leaders of anti-immigrant movements deliberately and repeatedly use the phrase 'foreign funding' when mentioning local Muslim organizations to imply 'secret terrorist financing.'

Historical Context of Islam in Africa

Historically, the second wife of Prophet Abraham, Hagar, was an African princess whose son Ishmael is an ancestor of the Arabs. She is buried near the sacred Kaaba, the most revered place in Islam, which was built by Prophet Abraham and his son Ishmael. One of the wives of Prophet Muhammad, Mariya al-Qibtiyya, was African. When new Muslims in Mecca faced severe persecution, Prophet Muhammad advised them in 615 CE to migrate to Abyssinia, modern-day Ethiopia, to seek refuge with the Christian king Ashama ibn Abjar, whom the prophet described as a just ruler.

It is important to emphasize that Islam reached Africa as a point of migration earlier than it reached Medina, the second holiest site in Islam and the resting place of Prophet Muhammad.

Reasons for the Rise of Islamophobia

The question arises as to why there is a clear and undeniable increase in attacks on Muslims and a rise in Islamophobic messages on social media, and who benefits from this. An analysis of the types and models of messages on social media shows that this is not an organic process, but a coordinated action that exploits the wave of anti-immigrant, Afrophobic, and xenophobic sentiment sweeping the country.

A clear pattern has been observed: the portrayal of Muslims as 'others' intensified after the Israeli invasion and genocide against the people of Gaza, as well as after the case at the International Court of Justice against Israel. Historically, there has been a Zionist strategy to present the Palestinian struggle for liberation from the colonial settler structure as an 'Islamist terrorist movement' of 'others' against the civilized white Jewish nation defending Western values.

Redirecting attention from human rights issues and illegal land seizures has been one of the cornerstones of a widely funded, well-resourced, and pervasive Zionist propaganda machine. The normalization of demonizing Islam and Muslims easily fits into the current architecture of anti-immigrant surveillance.

Consequences of Demonizing Muslims

Muslims are depicted as foreigners, incapable of integration, economically competitive, and ideologically threatening. Islamophobic campaigns intensify precisely because solidarity with Palestinians has become too visible, too organized, and too successful in changing the public discourse in South Africa. Victories, such as the South African government's appeal to the ICJ, municipal divestment debates, and grassroots BDS campaigns attracting support from people of different races and religions, threaten those interested in maintaining the status quo regarding Israel.

The demonization of the Muslim community serves several purposes simultaneously: it discredits Palestinian advocacy by linking it to religious extremism; it diverts the energy of Muslim activists from external defense to self-defense against internal hatred; and it weakens civil society solidarity by making open support for Muslims on the Palestinian issue risky for non-Muslim allies.

It is evident that Islamophobia is used as a tool to silence Palestinian advocacy. Normalizing hostility towards Muslims within the country reduces international sympathy for Muslim affairs, which, in turn, benefits Israel. The most effective strategy is not to openly defend Israel, but to discredit the moral authority of Muslims on the Palestinian issue. If Muslims can be portrayed as a fifth column threatening the values and institutions of South Africa, their advocacy loses credibility. Demonizing the messenger delegitimizes the message.

Funding and Influence

Potential sources of funding, networking, and labor for Islamophobic campaigns may be foreign. The most documented link is money from the Israeli state flowing into Christian-Zionist advocacy in South Africa. The organization Proclaiming Justice to the Nations, based in the USA and an anti-Muslim hate group, received direct funding from the Israeli government to conduct events in Johannesburg and Cape Town, working in collaboration with local partners, including the South African Zionist Federation and the International Christian Embassy Jerusalem.

Israel also invests heavily in relations with African Pentecostal leaders through financial support and sponsored pilgrimages, using tours advertised as spiritual journeys to strengthen pro-Israel narratives. This same infrastructural model—money, access, narrative formation—could very well be a source of Islamophobia campaigns in the age of social media in South Africa.

History is full of devastating consequences and riots caused by the normalization of demonizing the 'other,' and the phrase 'never again' has become a cliché. The complicity of Western countries in the ongoing genocide of the people of Gaza and the general ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian people is so obvious that it mocks Western civilized norms and values. Silence is complicity. Upcoming municipal elections mean that silence will become the political currency of the day, and opportunities for employment, security, access to academic funding and grants, media engagement, and networking for many in media and academia will be accompanied by silence regarding rising Islamophobia, with some high-paid journalists, commentators, podcast hosts, political analysts, and scholars even supporting appropriate Islamophobic narratives.