Na'eem Jeenah

“What are the biggest media-attention grabbing legal battles in South Africa today,” a friend asked me a few days ago. Not being one to follow court sensationalism too carefully, I had to think for a moment before I responded. There was that major corruption case in Durban and the Mandela art scandal in Joburg.

“And in both cases,” he quickly added, “who are those involved?” But before I could put my brain back into gear, he answered, “Muslims! The only media attention that Muslims are getting in South Africa today is negative, because of the bad things we are involved in.”

Now I had to re-engage my brain. He was right, perhaps not in as absolute a sense as he made it sound. But, he was right. But Salim wasn’t one to be happy with just being right. He had to make his point, then analyse it, then add some juicy details to it and, finally, he would make a joke about it – usually at my expense.

So, he continued. Why, he asked, has he not heard angry statements at Muslim social occasions about the Muslims involved in these scandals. When Deputy President Jacob Zuma was accused of corruption, he said, Muslims had accused, tried and sentenced him at our dinner tables and weddings. But when it is Muslims who are involved, our responses are muted. Is it just because they are Muslims and we don’t want to criticise Muslims? Or is there a racial factor involved?

I thought carefully about the issue. But it was more than just these two cases that Muslims need to reflect on.

I remembered an incident from a couple of years ago. A friend of a friend had bought a car from a Muslim car dealer in the area where they both lived. Not long after, the car was impounded by the police because it was stolen. The car dealer was arrested. Almost immediately after, he was released on bail and, at the next salah, the hapless friend of a friend saw him at the masjid, in kurtha, topie and big beard, being greeted and embraced by everyone who wanted to know what had happened. He didn’t have the shame to go to another masjid or to hide his face. He came out and was hugged for it.

I also thought of a man I know who regularly beats his wife (I know of quite a few, but I’m referring to one in particular). All his neighbours know about it; they can hear the goings-on and have even intervened once or twice. Yet, he emerges from the masjid after salah and stands around smoking with and chatting to other musallies – most of whom know about his domestic violence record. He is treated as if he’s just one of the guys and what happens in his house is irrelevant.

Even worse, I remembered a number of cases where Muslim businesspeople have been arrested or charged for fraud, selling stolen goods, cheating SARS, union-bashing and worse, and the response of many other Muslims to them has been one of admiration. It seems that in such cases it’s not what criminal act you do that is relevant but whether you get away with it.

How many of us have laughed when told that a certain Indian township in Gauteng is a “free port” because one can buy all kinds of illegal items there – including, apparently, drugs and guns?

Remember the head of a big Muslim financial institution (which had the word “Islamic” in its name) who swindled Muslim investors – mosque committees, pensioners, orphans – of millions of rands? Whatever became of him, you may ask. Is he rotting in jail – as many of those investors would like? Is he in hiding somewhere? Has he skipped the country? Unfortunately, none of the above. He started another financial institution targeting the Muslim community (this time without the “Islamic” in the name) and merrily goes on with his life. He even joined the Tabligh Jamaat, so the story goes. He is as welcome in his masjid as before; some people even look on him as some kind of hero.

So whose fault is it that crime thrives in our country as it does? Why is the guy who hijacks someone’s car any worse than the guy who hijacks the life savings of a poor pensioner-widow? Who makes these criminals in the Muslim community into heroes? Why? What warped logic is it that makes us want to treat wife-batterers as if they are just normal people whose crime (and sin) we should just ignore as if it hasn’t happened?

Certain sections of the Muslim community are very fond of complaining about crime in South African society – as we all should be, since the levels of crime are definitely unacceptable. But what moral authority can we have to do this when we laud crime carried out by people from within our community?

Of course, in some of the examples that I have given above, the Muslim community is not unique. In general, in our country and in much of the rest of the world, certain types of crime are looked upon much more leniently than others. So-called white collar crime, fraud and corruption committed by business executives, are rarely punished with long-term jail sentences or other harsh forms of punishment. Petty thieves are often punished more severely. It seems that if you want to get away with a theft you should ensure you are first rich, then make it big, make it spectacular, and let most of the victims be poor people. Remember all the Enron-type scandals in the US?

That it happens in the rest of society and is there judged through such an immoral prism of double standards is no excuse for Muslims, however. There really is only one fact that Muslims should be cognisant of: there will be a day when I, as an individual, will stand before Allah and have all my actions exposed. Will I be able to defend myself on that day?

If we want to get rid of crime in our society, let us Muslims start in our own community. Let us loudly and openly shame those within our community that commit these crimes: the wife-beaters, the fraudsters, the tax-dodgers, the worker-exploiters, those who pay bribes to traffic police, who keep two sets of books in their shops. Expose them, shame them, refuse to deal with them, isolate them, let them not be welcome in our mosques and social occasions. And then sleep comfortably at night. Because as long as we have such criminals in our community and we allow their crimes to be covered up, we shouldn’t be sleeping comfortably!

June 2005
published in Al-Qalam

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Last updated: 07 September 2007