 | ||
The Tana Baru Cemetery is a Muslim cemetery where some of the earliest and respected Muslim settlers of South Africa were buried. The cemetery is located in Bo-kaap, Cape Town.
After religious freedom was granted to Muslims in 1804, the Batavian government assigned the first piece of land for use as a Muslim cemetery. It was called Tana Baru, meaning, New Ground. The Tana Baru is currently closed for use, but has always been regarded as the most hallowed of Muslim cemeteries in Cape Town. Within the cemetery is buried three prominent early Cape Muslim Imams, namely, Tuan Nuruman, Tuan Sayeed Alawse and Tuan Guru along with shrines erected to honour them.
History
There is archival evidence pointing to the fact that the area was used "unofficially" for burial of Muslims prior to the official land grant. In 1804, religious freedom was granted by the Batavian Administration that allowed those of the Islamic faith to build mosques and to allocate a burial site for Muslims in the Cape.
This first piece of land as burial site was acquired in the year 1805, and was granted to Frans of Bengal by the Raad der Gemeente in an effort to retain Muslim loyalty in the event of British invasion. Imaum Abdullah Kadi Abdus Salaam, who was pioneer of the Cape Ulema and Chief Imam was buried at the Tana Baru in 1807.
In 1998, The Tana Baru Trust was registered as a legal entity and Imam Abdurahman Bassier becomes its first Chairperson, but died some 6 years later, and was succeeded by Taliep Sydney.
Twelve new Trustees were elected at the AGM in 2008 and Faried Allie becomes the third chairperson of the Trust. Currently, Mogamat Shaheed Jacobs is the Chairperson after Faried Allie died on June 6, 2012.