Cassim Sema
{{Short description|South African Muslim scholar}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2021}}
{{Use South African English|date=July 2012}}
{{Infobox religious biography|religion=Islam
|name = Ml Cassim Mohammed Sema
|image =
|caption = Moulana Cassim Mohammed Sema
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|birth_date = 1920
|birth_place = Newcastle, Natal Province, Union of South Africa
|death_date = 2007
|death_place = Newcastle, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa
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|nationality = South African
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|denomination = Sunni
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Ml Cassim Mohammed Sema (12 May 1920 – 9 June 2007) was a South African Sunni Muslim scholar who established the first madrasa in South Africa and possibly the first madrasa that uses English as its medium of instruction. He was the founder of Darul Uloom Newcastle.
Biography
Ml Cassim Mohammed Sema was born on 12 May 1920 in Newcastle.{{cite web |author1=Darul Ihsan |editor=Faraz Abdul Moid|title=Reviving Islam in South Africa: Mawlana Cassim Mohammed Sema |url=https://www.ilmgate.org/mawlana-mohammed-cassim-sema/ |website=ilmgate.org |access-date=10 May 2021 |date=7 February 2016}} He graduated from the Jamia Islamia Talimuddin in the traditional dars-e-nizami in October 1942. His teachers include Yousuf Banuri.
Sema taught in Wasbank 23 years and returned to Newcastle in 1968 as the head of the Newcastle Muslim Community. During his career at Wasbank, he formulated a "madrasa syllabus" which was chosen by the Jamī’at al-Ulama Natal in 1967 as a single Madrasah syllabus for the Province.
Sema was trying to establish an Islamic institution with boarding facilities in South Africa, and succeeded in starting the first madrasa using the English medium "madrasa", the Darul Uloom in Newcastle on 13 May 1973. The madrasa is said to be the first Deobandi madrasa in South Africa.{{cite web |author1=Andrew Booso |title=[Book Review Essay] Brannon D. Ingram, Revival from Below: The Deoband Movement and Global Islam |url=https://themaydan.com/2019/10/book-review-essay-brannon-d-ingram-revival-from-below-the-deoband-movement-and-global-islam-reviewed-by-andrew-booso/ |website=themaydan.com |access-date=10 May 2021 |date=3 October 2019}}
Ml Sema passed away on 9 June 2007 and Mufti Faiyazur Rahim whom Ml Sema appointed as the Bukhari teacher lead the Janaaza Salah.{{cite web |title=About the founder Mufti Faiyazur Rahim Rahimahullah |url=https://www.jamiadurnacol.org/452104351.html |website=jamiadurnacol.org |access-date=28 December 2022 |archive-date=28 December 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221228091926/https://www.jamiadurnacol.org/452104351.html |url-status=dead }} His funeral was attended by 4000 people.
See also
References
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Category:People from Newcastle, KwaZulu-Natal