YUNUS Emre Institute held the third of their seminars series of City and Civilization on Thursday, November 30, 2017.
In this talk of the series, Sami Fortune gave seminar on the history and culture of Cape Malay Muslims living in South Africa. It was told that the origins of this community, which voluntary and involuntary migrations, came from various ethnic groups and that the cultural and linguistic elements of a Malay were combined with Islamic elements. The influence of the Ottoman Empire on the Malay language was discussed in this period by drawing attention to the pressures on them and their cultural diversity in the process of liberation from these pressures due to these karma identities.
Fortune said that the Ottoman influence started with Ebu Bekir Efendi coming to Cape Town, saying that the first girls’ school for Malay Muslims was opened by Ebu Bekir Efendi, and that this school and other Ottoman schools started to be educated. He also explained that there were significant changes in local clothing and that the Ottoman fezinin was part of the Malay clothing. Fesin also stated that he this clothing was used by Malay Muslims until the end of the 20th century.
In the question-answer section after the speech, the researchers answered the listeners’ curious questions and thoughts.