Shamima Shaikh
Encyclopedia
Shamima Shaikh was South Africa
's best known Muslim
women's rights
activist, notable Islamic feminist and journalist
.
’s Limpopo Province) just North of the Tropic of Capricorn
. She was the second of six children born to Salahuddin and Mariam Shaikh. Her first school years were in Louis Trichardt, until the family moved to Pietersburg, just over 100 km South.
After completing school in 1978, Shaikh studied at the University of Durban-Westville, which was reserved, under South Africa's apartheid laws, for students of Indian
descent. In 1984 she completed her Bachelor of Arts
Degree, majoring in Arabic and Psychology
. These were politically-charged years at university, and she got involved in the Azanian People's Organisation (AZAPO) for the next two years.
In 1985 Shaikh was elected to the executive committee of the Islamic Society of UD-W. On the September 4, 1985, she was arrested for distributing pamphlets that called for a consumer boycott of white-owned businesses in Durban. The boycott had been called by the Federation of South African Trade Unions
(Fosatu), the largest trade union
federation in the country and supported by the Muslim Students Association of South Africa (MSA), which had organised this particular pamphlet blitz. Shaikh spent the next few hours locked up at Durban's CR Swart Police Station (now Durban Central Police Station) with the president of the MSA, Na'eem Jeenah
.http://naeemjeenah.shams.za.org. This was their first meeting and they would marry 2 years later.
After completing her degree in 1985, Shaikh taught at the Taxila Primary and Secondary school in her hometown of Pietersburg (now called Polokwane). She married Jeenah on the 20 December 1987 and moved to Johannesburg
. She gave birth to Minhaj in September 1988 and to Shir'a in 1990.
Together with her fellow activists in the MYM, Shaikh was visible in 1989 and 1990 in the heightened political activity in Durban with campaigns against the Tricameral Parliament
elections for the "Indian" and "Coloured" race groups; the defiance campaign of the Mass Democratic Movement; marches; demonstrations; mass rallies and solidarity campaigns.
In 1993 Shaikh was elected the Transvaal Regional Chairperson of the Muslim Youth Movement, and was thus a member of its National Executive, only the second woman to hold such a position.
That was also the year that catapulted Shaikh into the limelight with her famous "women in the mosque" campaign. That Ramadan
, Shaikh and a number of other women linked to the MYM began to mobilise women to attend the tarawih
prayers at the 23rd Street Mosque in Fietas in Johannesburg
. This led to clashes between her and some of the members of the mosque committee and thrust her into the public eye.
Later that year, she became the first National Co-ordinator of the Muslim Youth Movement Gender Desk, a position that again put her on the MYM’s National Executive. She held the position until she resigned in the middle of 1996. Under Shaikh's leadership, the MYM Gender Desk rapidly became the most outspoken Muslim organisation on the question of Muslim women's rights and gender within the Muslim community and the leading organisation in the South African articulation of Islamic feminism
.
In her position as Gender Desk Co-ordinator, Shaikh organised various workshops, seminars and campaigns. She spearheaded the MYM’s "Campaign for a Just Muslim Personal Law", the "Equal Access to Mosques" campaign and various others.
Shaikh was very involved in the Muslim Forum on Elections – a coalition of Muslim organisations that was calling on the community to vote in South Africa’s first democratic elections in April 1994, and to vote for those parties "that had formerly been part of the liberation movement" – in particular, the African National Congress
(ANC) and the Pan Africanist Congress (PAC).
Also in 1994, Shaikh helped found and became the first chairperson of the Muslim Community Broadcasting Trust which applied for and was awarded a community radio licence for Johannesburg. She remained chair of the MCBT till her death.
She was also involved, from 1994, with the founding and establishment of the Muslim Personal Law Board of South Africa and was a member of the Board until it was unilaterally shut down by the United Ulama Council of South Africa.
That was also the year that she was diagnosed with breast cancer
. As a result, she had to undergo a lumpectomy
and radiation therapy
. A year later, doctors found that the cancer had affected her entire skeleton. For this she was treated with high dose chemotherapy
. After the cancer had thus disappeared, she had decided not to receive chemotherapy again, if the cancer recurred. She said she preferred to die with dignity and continue doing till the end what she loved rather than being sick in hospital.
That same year, while battling cancer, she was appointed Managing Editor of Al-Qalam. Under her editorship, Al-Qalamhttp://al-qalam.za.net became the flagship of a progressive
expression of Islam in South Africa.
In April 1997 Shaikh performed the hajj
for the first time. After her return she and her husband began working on a manuscript about their hajj experiences. The result is "Journey of Discovery: A South African Hajj", published in 2000.http://shams.za.org/JoD.htm In August 1997, the Muslim community radio station, The Voice, was launched - with Shaikh at its head.
On the December 22, 1997, Shaikh completed her final public engagement. She delivered a paper, "Women & Islam – The Gender Struggle in South Africa: The Ideological Struggle"http://shams.za.org/itppaper.htm at the 21st Islamic Tarbiyyah Programme of the Muslim Youth Movement, at the As Salaam Educational Institute on South Africa's KwaZulu-Natal South Coast. Seventeen days later, on the January 8, 1998 / 9 Ramadan
1418, Shaikh died.
as well as the burial were attended by many women. In Pietersburg, dozens of women were present at her burial. She is survived by her husband and 2 children.
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
's best known Muslim
Muslim
A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...
women's rights
Women's rights
Women's rights are entitlements and freedoms claimed for women and girls of all ages in many societies.In some places these rights are institutionalized or supported by law, local custom, and behaviour, whereas in others they may be ignored or suppressed...
activist, notable Islamic feminist and journalist
Journalist
A journalist collects and distributes news and other information. A journalist's work is referred to as journalism.A reporter is a type of journalist who researchs, writes, and reports on information to be presented in mass media, including print media , electronic media , and digital media A...
.
Biography
She was born in Louis Trichardt (today South AfricaSouth Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
’s Limpopo Province) just North of the Tropic of Capricorn
Tropic of Capricorn
The Tropic of Capricorn, or Southern tropic, marks the most southerly latitude on the Earth at which the Sun can be directly overhead. This event occurs at the December solstice, when the southern hemisphere is tilted towards the Sun to its maximum extent.Tropic of Capricorn is one of the five...
. She was the second of six children born to Salahuddin and Mariam Shaikh. Her first school years were in Louis Trichardt, until the family moved to Pietersburg, just over 100 km South.
After completing school in 1978, Shaikh studied at the University of Durban-Westville, which was reserved, under South Africa's apartheid laws, for students of Indian
Indian subcontinent
The Indian subcontinent, also Indian Subcontinent, Indo-Pak Subcontinent or South Asian Subcontinent is a region of the Asian continent on the Indian tectonic plate from the Hindu Kush or Hindu Koh, Himalayas and including the Kuen Lun and Karakoram ranges, forming a land mass which extends...
descent. In 1984 she completed her Bachelor of Arts
Bachelor of Arts
A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...
Degree, majoring in Arabic and Psychology
Psychology
Psychology is the study of the mind and behavior. Its immediate goal is to understand individuals and groups by both establishing general principles and researching specific cases. For many, the ultimate goal of psychology is to benefit society...
. These were politically-charged years at university, and she got involved in the Azanian People's Organisation (AZAPO) for the next two years.
In 1985 Shaikh was elected to the executive committee of the Islamic Society of UD-W. On the September 4, 1985, she was arrested for distributing pamphlets that called for a consumer boycott of white-owned businesses in Durban. The boycott had been called by the Federation of South African Trade Unions
Federation of South African Trade Unions
The Federation of South African Trade Unions was a labour organisation formed in April 1979 to build non-racialindustrial worker's block committed firmly to strong factory floor organization. It was merged into the Congress of South African Trade Unions in 1985....
(Fosatu), the largest trade union
Trade union
A trade union, trades union or labor union is an organization of workers that have banded together to achieve common goals such as better working conditions. The trade union, through its leadership, bargains with the employer on behalf of union members and negotiates labour contracts with...
federation in the country and supported by the Muslim Students Association of South Africa (MSA), which had organised this particular pamphlet blitz. Shaikh spent the next few hours locked up at Durban's CR Swart Police Station (now Durban Central Police Station) with the president of the MSA, Na'eem Jeenah
Na'eem Jeenah
Na'eem Jeenah is a well-known leader in the Muslim community and the anti-capitalist and anti-war movements in South Africa. He is also an academic, author, and journalist.-Biography:...
.http://naeemjeenah.shams.za.org. This was their first meeting and they would marry 2 years later.
After completing her degree in 1985, Shaikh taught at the Taxila Primary and Secondary school in her hometown of Pietersburg (now called Polokwane). She married Jeenah on the 20 December 1987 and moved to Johannesburg
Johannesburg
Johannesburg also known as Jozi, Jo'burg or Egoli, is the largest city in South Africa, by population. Johannesburg is the provincial capital of Gauteng, the wealthiest province in South Africa, having the largest economy of any metropolitan region in Sub-Saharan Africa...
. She gave birth to Minhaj in September 1988 and to Shir'a in 1990.
Work
In 1989 Shaikh became involved with a Muslim community newspaper, al-Qalamhttp://al-qalam.za.net which was being edited by her husband. She also became increasingly involved in the Muslim Youth Movement of South Africa (MYM).http://mym.za.orgTogether with her fellow activists in the MYM, Shaikh was visible in 1989 and 1990 in the heightened political activity in Durban with campaigns against the Tricameral Parliament
Tricameral Parliament
The Tricameral Parliament was the name given to the South African parliament and its structure from 1984 to 1994, established by the South African Constitution of 1983...
elections for the "Indian" and "Coloured" race groups; the defiance campaign of the Mass Democratic Movement; marches; demonstrations; mass rallies and solidarity campaigns.
In 1993 Shaikh was elected the Transvaal Regional Chairperson of the Muslim Youth Movement, and was thus a member of its National Executive, only the second woman to hold such a position.
That was also the year that catapulted Shaikh into the limelight with her famous "women in the mosque" campaign. That Ramadan
Ramadan
Ramadan is the ninth month of the Islamic calendar, which lasts 29 or 30 days. It is the Islamic month of fasting, in which participating Muslims refrain from eating, drinking, smoking and sex during daylight hours and is intended to teach Muslims about patience, spirituality, humility and...
, Shaikh and a number of other women linked to the MYM began to mobilise women to attend the tarawih
Tarawih
Tarawih refers to extra congregational prayers performed by Muslims at night in the Islamic month of Ramadan. They are not compulsory; however, many Muslims pray these prayers in the night during Ramadan...
prayers at the 23rd Street Mosque in Fietas in Johannesburg
Johannesburg
Johannesburg also known as Jozi, Jo'burg or Egoli, is the largest city in South Africa, by population. Johannesburg is the provincial capital of Gauteng, the wealthiest province in South Africa, having the largest economy of any metropolitan region in Sub-Saharan Africa...
. This led to clashes between her and some of the members of the mosque committee and thrust her into the public eye.
Later that year, she became the first National Co-ordinator of the Muslim Youth Movement Gender Desk, a position that again put her on the MYM’s National Executive. She held the position until she resigned in the middle of 1996. Under Shaikh's leadership, the MYM Gender Desk rapidly became the most outspoken Muslim organisation on the question of Muslim women's rights and gender within the Muslim community and the leading organisation in the South African articulation of Islamic feminism
Islamic feminism
Islamic feminism is a form of feminism concerned with the role of women in Islam. It aims for the full equality of all Muslims, regardless of gender, in public and private life. Islamic feminists advocate women's rights, gender equality, and social justice grounded in an Islamic framework...
.
In her position as Gender Desk Co-ordinator, Shaikh organised various workshops, seminars and campaigns. She spearheaded the MYM’s "Campaign for a Just Muslim Personal Law", the "Equal Access to Mosques" campaign and various others.
Shaikh was very involved in the Muslim Forum on Elections – a coalition of Muslim organisations that was calling on the community to vote in South Africa’s first democratic elections in April 1994, and to vote for those parties "that had formerly been part of the liberation movement" – in particular, the African National Congress
African National Congress
The African National Congress is South Africa's governing Africanist political party, supported by its tripartite alliance with the Congress of South African Trade Unions and the South African Communist Party , since the establishment of non-racial democracy in April 1994. It defines itself as a...
(ANC) and the Pan Africanist Congress (PAC).
Also in 1994, Shaikh helped found and became the first chairperson of the Muslim Community Broadcasting Trust which applied for and was awarded a community radio licence for Johannesburg. She remained chair of the MCBT till her death.
She was also involved, from 1994, with the founding and establishment of the Muslim Personal Law Board of South Africa and was a member of the Board until it was unilaterally shut down by the United Ulama Council of South Africa.
That was also the year that she was diagnosed with breast cancer
Breast cancer
Breast cancer is cancer originating from breast tissue, most commonly from the inner lining of milk ducts or the lobules that supply the ducts with milk. Cancers originating from ducts are known as ductal carcinomas; those originating from lobules are known as lobular carcinomas...
. As a result, she had to undergo a lumpectomy
Lumpectomy
Lumpectomy is a common surgical procedure designed to remove a discrete lump, usually a benign tumor or breast cancer, from an affected man or woman's breast...
and radiation therapy
Radiation therapy
Radiation therapy , radiation oncology, or radiotherapy , sometimes abbreviated to XRT or DXT, is the medical use of ionizing radiation, generally as part of cancer treatment to control malignant cells.Radiation therapy is commonly applied to the cancerous tumor because of its ability to control...
. A year later, doctors found that the cancer had affected her entire skeleton. For this she was treated with high dose chemotherapy
Chemotherapy
Chemotherapy is the treatment of cancer with an antineoplastic drug or with a combination of such drugs into a standardized treatment regimen....
. After the cancer had thus disappeared, she had decided not to receive chemotherapy again, if the cancer recurred. She said she preferred to die with dignity and continue doing till the end what she loved rather than being sick in hospital.
That same year, while battling cancer, she was appointed Managing Editor of Al-Qalam. Under her editorship, Al-Qalamhttp://al-qalam.za.net became the flagship of a progressive
Progressivism
Progressivism is an umbrella term for a political ideology advocating or favoring social, political, and economic reform or changes. Progressivism is often viewed by some conservatives, constitutionalists, and libertarians to be in opposition to conservative or reactionary ideologies.The...
expression of Islam in South Africa.
In April 1997 Shaikh performed the hajj
Hajj
The Hajj is the pilgrimage to Mecca, Saudi Arabia. It is one of the largest pilgrimages in the world, and is the fifth pillar of Islam, a religious duty that must be carried out at least once in their lifetime by every able-bodied Muslim who can afford to do so...
for the first time. After her return she and her husband began working on a manuscript about their hajj experiences. The result is "Journey of Discovery: A South African Hajj", published in 2000.http://shams.za.org/JoD.htm In August 1997, the Muslim community radio station, The Voice, was launched - with Shaikh at its head.
On the December 22, 1997, Shaikh completed her final public engagement. She delivered a paper, "Women & Islam – The Gender Struggle in South Africa: The Ideological Struggle"http://shams.za.org/itppaper.htm at the 21st Islamic Tarbiyyah Programme of the Muslim Youth Movement, at the As Salaam Educational Institute on South Africa's KwaZulu-Natal South Coast. Seventeen days later, on the January 8, 1998 / 9 Ramadan
Ramadan
Ramadan is the ninth month of the Islamic calendar, which lasts 29 or 30 days. It is the Islamic month of fasting, in which participating Muslims refrain from eating, drinking, smoking and sex during daylight hours and is intended to teach Muslims about patience, spirituality, humility and...
1418, Shaikh died.
Death
In 1996, Shaikh suffered a relapse of cancer and passed away on the morning of January 8, 1998 at her home in Mayfair. One of the four funeral prayers performed for her was led by her close female friend, Farhana Ismail, with women and men following - as per Shaikh's request. Further, her funeral services at a Johannesburg Mosque and at the Claremont Main Road Mosque in Cape TownCape Town
Cape Town is the second-most populous city in South Africa, and the provincial capital and primate city of the Western Cape. As the seat of the National Parliament, it is also the legislative capital of the country. It forms part of the City of Cape Town metropolitan municipality...
as well as the burial were attended by many women. In Pietersburg, dozens of women were present at her burial. She is survived by her husband and 2 children.