This article approaches the position of the call to prayer (adhan or azan) in South Africa from the perspective of both legislation and case law. Although only an unamplified adhan has religious status in Islam, Muslim religious authorities (ulama) have since the twentieth century also approved of, and permitted, an amplified adhan. The adhan has been rendered in both forms from South African mosques (masjids) for some 223 years. However, the unamplified adhan has recently come under the legal and judicial spotlight when the volume of its rendering by human voice was restricted. In August 2020, after prior attempts at municipal level and mediation had been unsuccessful, a high court in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, ruled that the sound of the unamplified adhan emanating from a mosque located on the premises of an Islamic institution (madrassa) in the city of Durban should not be audible within the house situated on nearby property belonging to a Hindu neighbor. Wide media coverage reported that the ruling was publicly decried and met with criticism. The Madrassa lodged an appeal in September 2020 and the matter is ongoing. The High Court’s decision is binding in KwaZulu-Natal, a province where Hindus, as a religious minority, are concentrated. The article highlights that although the decision is not binding on similar courts in other provinces, its outcome may yet have far-reaching consequences for the adhan as a religious and cultural heritage symbol, and for religious symbols generally, because similar complaints have been lodged, albeit against amplified adhans, against several mosques located in major cities (Cape Town and Tshwane) of two other provinces where Muslims, as a religious minority, are largely concentrated. The article examines the adhan in the context of competing constitutional rights to religious freedom and property (neighbor law) in South Africa. The article proffers some recommendations for the way forward in South Africa based in some instances on the position of the adhan in several countries. It concludes that, ultimately, unamplified, unduly amplified and duly amplified adhans may all yet be found to constitute a noise nuisance in South Africa, if challenged and found to be unreasonable.
This chapter on South Africa critically analyses the evolution of the concept of the best interests of the child, and specifically how it pertains to the fields of care (custody), contact (access), guardianship and maintenance (support), which are all part of parents' responsibilities and rights, and impact on the legal position of Muslim children. This chapter compares and contrasts Muslim Personal Law (MPL) and practices pertaining to children with those of South African law in order to ascertain whether they comply with, conflict with or compromise the 'best interests' concept paramount in, and permeating, South African law in general and international and regional instruments. In doing so, the chapter reviews the position of Muslim children and the milestones in child law in South Africa prior to and since democracy with a focus on three pieces of legislation since democracy: the Constitution (1996), the Children's Act (2005) and the Muslim Marriages Bill (MMB) (2010).
Abstract. After 350 years of non-recognition, and following a protracted procedure, Muslim religious marriages and divorces are currently in the process of being directly and formally recognised in terms of South African law. A 2010 'code' of Muslim Personal Law has been framed that can satisfy and synthesise both diverse Muslim (ideological) perspectives and the relevant constitutional commands (guarantees of religious freedom and equality to all South Africans). One of the key objectives of the proposed legislation is to regulate the consequences flowing from the termination of such marriages through divorce. My paper provides an analytical overview of the legal consequences flowing from a Muslim divorce in the context of South African law, Islamic law and the proposed 2010 Muslim Marriages Bill and focuses on the post-divorce support and position of minor and dependent Muslim children. As such, it is limited to the areas of guardianship, care, access and maintenance.
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