Scripting Black African Muslim Presence in South African Islam: A Quest for Self-understanding beyond the Moment of Conversion

Abstract

What does it mean to be forever framed as a Muslim cultural “Other”? And what kind of epistemic closure does such framing imply? The little that is written (academic and popular) about the Black African Muslim experience and encounter with Islam in South Africa often entraps this sector within the theme of “conversion to Islam”. This essay examines, therefore, the following question: to what extent does the theme and “narrative of conversion” perform a sort of racial coding that unintentionally writes off Black African Muslim identity as less authentic and therefore not fully Muslim? Taking as its data the available literature on the Black African Muslim sector, limited as it is, as well as selected pieces by a Black African Muslim writer and poet, the essay posits a reading that is attentive to Black African Muslim self-understanding, subjectivities and sense of self beyond the moment of conversion.