Family, friends, and community leaders gathered to launch Faith, Fashion, and Fortitude, a new book celebrating the life of Abdeyah da Costa, who turned 100 six months ago.
Speakers agreed that the book launch at the Bo-Kaap Hub, on Sunday, May 17, was a profound tribute to a living archive of Cape Muslim history.
Da Costa's niece, Tughfa Hamdulay, and nephews Salie Manie, Ashiek, and Faseeg Manie, penned her biography.
Da Costa, born at 49 Dorp Street on December 7, 1925, is a direct descendant of the revered scholar Tuan Guru, the father of Islam at the Cape (“Centenarian’s journey of faith and activism”, Atlantic Sun, December 11).
Speaker Sheikh Muneer Abduroaf, a senior lecturer at the University of the Western Cape Faculty of Law and a senior advisor to the Muslim Judicial Council (SA), said her life embodied the resilience of the local community, having navigated segregation, apartheid, and the changing landscape of her historic neighbourhood.
Abduroaf highlighted her spiritual connection and perseverance.
Awqaf South Africa’s chief executive officer, Mickaeel Collier, lauded Da Costa's immense contributions.
Awqaf SA is an independent, community-based charitable trust that promotes the Islamic concept of waqf (endowment).
Collier detailed her decision to designate her historic home as a waqf, a permanent charitable endowment.
Collier said that the role of women in Muslim history was often overlooked.
"Yet throughout history, women have been amongst the great builders of civilisation. Patrons of learning, protectors of our heritage, and founders of institutions," he said.
He said that Da Costa stands firmly within that noble tradition.
"Life reminds us that women did not simply witness history, but they, in actual faith, built it. And perhaps that is the greatest lesson of today, that legacy is not measured only by wealth, by status, and public recognition," he said.
Collier said that the house where Da Costa was born, raised, and still lives is where the first "tamat of the Quran", the successful completion or graduation of reciting or memorising the entire Quran, took place.
"This act ensures the property will continue to serve the community for generations, mirroring the foresight of historical Muslim women who built institutions like the first mosque in the area," he said.
He said that in South Africa, and in the Bo-Kaap in particular, the history of Islam does not live only in museums or in archives.
"It lives in the homes, in our kitchens, in our masajids (mosques), in stories past, from grandmother to grandchild, and in the quiet strength of people who carried faith and identity through some of the most difficult chapters of our country's history," he said.
The book forms part of Awqaf SA's leaders and legacies project, more than 50 published works dedicated to preserving the lives and memories of those who shaped society.
Co-author Tughfa Hamdulay said that Da Costa was an astute businesswoman and community activist, successfully building a thriving enterprise during a difficult era for Muslim women of colour.
She said that Da Costa was born in an era when "segregation was hardening, and colonial influence was dominant".
"Although our country was self governed, we were still part of the British Empire. And decades before the advent of formal apartheid Aunty Abdeyah was born into a society already structured by colonial segregation," she said.
"She refused to be confined by the proverbial walls built around her," she said.
Guest professor Aslam Fataar said the book was a vital document preserving the spoken history of the Cape Muslim community.
"By putting her stories into print, the authors have ensured that the hard-won dignity and cultural richness carried by Aunty Abdeyah and her generation will not be lost to time."
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