City

Saints and Tombs of Cape Town

10 sourced records · 8 verified locations

The atlas holds 10 sourced records for Cape Town; every record is published with scholarly review and a citation chain. Breakdown: 6 Scholar · 4 Saint.

Map of Cape Town

8 / 8 places

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Records in Cape Town

Scholar

Tuan Guru (Imam Abdullah ibn Qadi Abdus Salam)

A scholar of the Tidore (Ternate Islands, Indonesia) nobility, exiled by the Dutch to Robben Island in 1780. A hafiz, he wrote copies of the Qur'an and a work on Islamic jurisprudence from memory while imprisoned. Freed in 1793, he settled in Cape Town and founded the Auwal Mosque (1794), the first mosque in South Africa, and its first madrasah. He died in 1807 and was buried at the Tana Baru cemetery in Bo-Kaap; his kramat is among the most revered shrines of the Cape Malay Muslim community. Sources: Cape Mazaar Society; South African History Online; Auwal Masjid archive.

Cape TownDied 1807View

Saint

Sheikh Yusuf al-Maqassari (Cape Town Kramat)

A Khalwati sheikh born in Makassar (Indonesia), chief qadi and adviser to Sultan Ageng Tirtayasa, who led the Banten resistance against the Dutch. Exiled to the Cape in 1693 and settled on Zandvliet farm (today Macassar), his teaching gave rise to the Cape's first Muslim community. He died on 23 May 1699. His remains are reported to have been returned to Makassar in 1705; nonetheless his kramat on the Faure hillside is preserved as South Africa's foremost shrine — the burial itself is disputed, the kramat being the site of pilgrimage. (His birthplace record is filed separately under ID/Makassar.) Sources: SA History Online; Cape Town Museum; Cape Mazaar Society.

Cape TownDied 1111 AHView

Saint

Sheikh Abdurahman Matebe Shah

One of the last sultans of the Malacca Sultanate; after resisting the Dutch he was exiled to the Cape in 1667 and settled in Constantia. Among the earliest Muslim saints brought to the Cape, he won many enslaved people to Islam through his teaching beside the stream where he performed his ablutions and prayers. He died in 1682 and was buried at the gateway to Klein Constantia; his kramat is one of ten declared national heritage sites in 2021. Sources: Cape Mazaar Society; SA History Online; SAHRA gazette (2021).

Cape TownDied 1682View

Saints and Tombs of Cape Town

Map of Cape Town

Records in Cape Town

Tuan Guru (Imam Abdullah ibn Qadi Abdus Salam)

Sheikh Yusuf al-Maqassari (Cape Town Kramat)

Sheikh Abdurahman Matebe Shah

Nearby cities

Sayed Mahmud

Sheikh Noorul Mubeen

Tuan Sayed Alawie

Tuan Nuruman

Tuan Matarah (Sayed Abdurahman Motura)

Sayed Jaffer

Sheikh Abdurahman ibn Muhammad al-Iraqi