HERITAGE SITE | AWWAL MUSJID

The Awwal Musjid is the first and oldest Musjid in South Africa. The first Muslims arrived in South Africa in 1654 but were banned from practicing Islam for 140 years. It was only in 1794 during the first British occupation of the Cape of Good Hope, that permission was granted for the building of a Musjid. It thereafter served as the main religious institution from 1804 to 1850.

• • The Musjid was built on land belonging to the freed slave Coridon from Ceylon (Sri Lanka). Imam Abdullah Kadi Abdus Salaam, better known as Tuan Guru, was a respected scholar from Indonesia who had been imprisoned on Robben Island. Upon his release, he initiated a madrassah at the site which became very popular among the locals who had no other place of learning prior to that. He was thereafter very instrumental in the development of the Musjid on the property and served as its first Imam once it was established. 

  • The Awwal Musjid has ever since its inception been a symbol of the struggle of Cape Muslims for the recognition of Islam and their freedom to worship.

  • After the establishment of this musjid, another eight Musjids were built in the vicinity over the next nine decades.

  • It is still a functioning Musjid today and houses a hand-written copy of the Quran which Tuan Guru penned while a prisoner on Robben Island.