By Hassan Isilow, IOL Correspondent

JOHANNESBURG, May 15, 2009 — Nearly 15 years after the end of apartheid, racism is still being practices in South Africa and regrettably by some Muslims of Asian backgrounds who reportedly discriminated against black Muslims.

"Whenever I stand to pray next to an Indian brother, he either refuses to stand shoulder to shoulder and to put our feet closer to each other or he moves to the next line," Mohammad Dlamini, a middle-aged South African-born Zulu Muslim, told Islamonline.net.

"If he prayed next to me, he would keep a gap, though this is not allowed during prayers."

Muslims make up some 1.5 percent of South Africa's 49 million population.

Black South African converts and Muslims from other parts of Africa are described as Coloureds, while those whose ancestors came as traders from South Asia are described as local Indians.

Abdi Igge, a black Muslim who emigrated from Tanzania 7 years ago, is stunned by racism within the multi-racial Muslim community.

"When you greet some Indian Muslims, they do not answer back," he told IOL.

He complains about being approached inside the mosque with questions about his religion.

"How can you ask someone dressed in a robe inside the mosque if he is a Muslim or not. Is that really fair?" asks an emotional Agge.

"While in Tanzania, I used to be struck by the indivisible unity of Islam that makes every Muslim a brother or sister irrespective of where he or she comes from."

Igge says racist elements in mosques are making him less committed to performing the Friday prayer.

Muslim scholars vehemently condemn the emergence of racist attitudes among the community as un-Islamic.

"Islam condemns racisms," insists Suleiman Dangor, a widely-respected professor at the University of KwaZulu Natal religious department.

"If it is true that this practice is being conducted in our places of worship against fellow Muslims then it should be immediately stop."

Disputed

Talib Eyesh, a young Muslim scholar, says he was once assaulted by some young Indian Muslims.

"They descended on me outside the Jamia mosque’s parking yard and started beating me while other Muslims looked on without helping me," the small bodied Muslim immigrant from Malawi told IOL.

He has since never performed prayers in any locally-owned mosque in Johannesburg.

Muslim immigrants in Johannesburg have constructed at least five big mosques where their communities conduct prayers regularly.

The Somali community, the biggest immigrant Muslim community in South Africa, has built three big mosques in Mayfair five kilometers west of the Johannesburg.

Other communities, including the Pakistanis and the Bangladeshis, have built their own mosques.

But Ahmed Jama Hassan, Chairperson of the Somaliland Community of South Africa, says he has never seen or heard of racism in the Muslim community.

"I have lived with local South African Indian Muslims for the past three years in Lenasia where I was conducting my business but I have never seen or even heard of any case of racism," he told IOL.

He says Indian Muslims rushed to help immigrant Muslims during the May 2008 xenophobic attacks that left over 60 foreigners dead and their property looted or destroyed.

"If Indian Muslims were racists as some claim they would have not contributed groceries and blankets to carter for the fleeing immigrant Muslims who were being hunted by locals accusing them of stealing their jobs," added Hassan.

"I think some of my black Muslim brothers have a problem of inferiority complex and should build their self esteem instead of accusing Indian Muslims who always help us during difficult times."

Sikander Mohammed, an official with the Islamic Information Services of South Africa and an Indian himself, admits receiving reports of racial segregation conducted by some Asian Muslims against black Muslims.

"It’s true that incidents of racism do exist in our society but it is minimal," he told IOL.

He said most of those conducting the evil practice were ignorant of the teachings of Islam.

Dlamini, the Zulu Muslim, says racism is a relatively new phenomenon in South Africa.

He recalls that during the time of the apartheid, the community was very distinguished because Muslims from all races and ethnicities treated each other as equal.

"I remember while living in Soweto during the apartheid era, I would sneak out in the morning and ride my bicycle to Lenasia where I worked at a Muslim-owned shop. The shop owners used to treat us very well," he recalls.

"I would pray with them without being looked down upon like what some Indians are doing now."

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