Faizel Patel, Radio Islam News, 2014-09-30

The United Ulama Council of South Africa (UUCSA) has released a statement regarding the contentious issue of the “UUCSA”name.

In the statement UUCSA said it was formally constituted in 1994 under the guidance of Moulana Yunus Patel, Moulana Abdur Razzaq, Sheik Naziem Mohammed, Ml Yusuf Karan and Moulana Abbas Jeena.

The vision of these founding fathers was to provide a forum for Ulama of different persuasions to jointly engage and interact with Government on behalf of the Muslim Community of South Africa.

The founding members of UUCSA were:

• Jamiatul Ulama South Africa (formerly known as Jamiatul Ulama Transvaal – 1923)

• Jamiatul Ulama KZN (1955)

• Muslim Judicial Council (1945)

• Sunni Jamiatul Ulama (1978)

• Sunni Ulama Council (1992)

The following two organisations subsequently joined UUCSA bringing the total number of members to seven:

• Council of Ulama Eastern Cape (1999)

• Eastern Cape Islamic Congress (1996)

UUCSA had since inception made substantial contributions in its engagement with Government; it was invited to Parliament on the eve of the adoption of the Constitution to discuss issues relating to freedom of religion, it played a critical role in re-drafting Anti – Terror legislation in South Africa, it has also played a major role in drafting legislation aimed at the legal recognition of Muslim Marriages.

“UUCSA has in its twenty years of existence become a cohesive voice for mainstream Ulama formations in our country. At no time did it however claim to be the absolute voice of all the Ulama formations in our country.”

“UUCSA perhaps in its naivety did not register its name and logo with the Registrar of Trade Marks. It certainly did not expect anyone to usurp its identity and name,” said the statement.

The statement adds that it was however proved wrong when Ml A S Desai of Port Elizabeth fraudulently registered the name with the Trade Marks Office in 2013.

Subsequent to the registration he threatened UUCSA with legal action if it continued using the name.

UUCSA responded by launching an application out of the JHB High Court to expunge the fake UUCSA trade mark.

“Ml Desai justifies usurping the name on the basis that ‘UUCSA’ was formed in 1989 by senior Ulama of the country at a meeting held in Port Elizabeth at which he was appointed as secretary.”

“Incidentally, the ‘evidence’ he tenders in support of the ‘hijack’ is the same he used when he previously usurped the name of Jamiatul Ulama South Africa.”

If the belated UUCSA was indeed formed in 1989, why:

• Did no one hear of its existence from 1989 to 2013?

• Did it not publish or circulate a single statement in its name from 1989 to mid-2013?

• Is it unable to produce minutes of a single meeting since its alleged inception?

“It is strikingly odd that the very individual who had all along acknowledged the existence of UUCSA albeit through his disparaging and pejorative publications, realized after twenty years that the name really belongs to him.”

The public may be forgiven for thinking that this is no more than a petty spat over a name between two Ulama bodies.

The reality however is very different. The hijack of our name should be viewed against the backdrop of the advance of the voice of extremism in various hot spots around the globe.

Every country has its own brand of parochial extremists. South Africa is no different…. the brand of extremism in South Africa subscribes to passive aggression; it tries to bludgeon people into silence and conformity through its acerbic publications and through brazen deception.

This shameless impersonation and piracy is an attempt to expand the voice of extremism by giving it a veneer of respectability through the use of the name ‘UUCSA.’

This is not a fight for an appellation but rather a desperate attempt to spread a brand of Islam which:

• Asserts that it is the only sort committed to defending and reviving a puritanical and pristine version of the Deen

• Claims to be the only custodian of Haqq to the exclusion of everyone else

• Dismisses those who differ with its views as deviates or disbelievers.

• Campaigns by all means, fair or foul, against those who hold views contrary to it interpretation of the Deen

• Almost always focuses its attacks against fellow Muslims, especially the Ulama

Pursuant to the ‘hijack’ of UCCSA, several other UUCSA’s suddenly mushroomed, bearing the hallmarks of similar crudity and primitiveness.

Each one of them is now used to tout further division and confusion in the community. Recent instances of brazen deception include the following false public statements meant primarily to mislead the public:

• “In view of his flagrant rebellion against Authority – the Ulama of UUCSA – the Shuraa Council of UUCSA has relieved Moulana Yusuf Patel of his post, viz., the post of Assistant Secretary of our Middleburg branch. We are therefore compelled to inform the Muslim public that Moulana Patel has been expelled from UUCSA. Any statements which he may issue in our name should be regarded as fraudulent and criminal”

• “UUCSA (United Ulama Council of S.A.) hereby informs the Muslim Ummah of a revision in its former view on the Muslim Marriages Bill (MMB). Formerly, UUCSA, believing that the MMB proposal was in the interests of Muslims, had supported it. However, after in depth research and consultations with a wide variety of Muslim experts, religious and secular, we recognize the dangers to the Shariah posed by MMB.”

• “In our view there is no doubt in the fact that all commercially slaughtered chickens are Haraam. It is incumbent on Muslims to abstain from consuming the chickens. It is not permissible for Muslim traders to sell these chickens which are all Haraam.”

An ‘UUCSA’ website listed under the name of one Yusuf Nana was also registered as recently as 11 August 2014. A search as per the physical address that appears on its letterhead leads to a very opaque location in Vanderbijlpark. Even the mobile number of Yusuf Nana which is listed as 076 170 3280 draws a blank. When contacted by a staff member of one of the Radio Stations he denied having any association with the website.

The ‘name steal’ is part of a bigger agenda which is bound to politically and socially compromise the integrity and marginalize the Muslim community of South Africa.

It has already legitimised vulgarity and scorn in the name of religion.

“If we allow the ‘name steal’ to go unchallenged, we may inadvertently allow a chauvinistic brand of Islam to dominate the public space in South Africa!” said the statement.

(Twitter: @Faizie143)