stormed into a masjid to arrest a
perpetrator during Jumma salaah
(prayer) over a traffic violation.
ISLAMOPHOBIA AND SAMNET
“HATE CRIME” REGISTER
We see and hear daily about the hate
crimes perpetrated against Muslims
the world over. Syria, Afghanistan,
Burma, Central African Republic,
Kashmir and Kenya, and as is a
natural, we live with the belief that it
will never happen to us.
On 6th August 2013, Mohammed
Fayaaz Kazi lost his life for being
Muslim, 17th February 2014, a brother
was called “Al Qaeda”, attacked and
beaten in Cape Town and a Muslim
woman was recently stopped at the
OR International Airport and
instructed to remove her hijab
(headscarf) in public, students at
schools are prohibited from entering
the premises if they wear their Islamic
attire or headgear and police recently
There have been anecdotal stories of
women being harassed, verbally
abused, hand gestures being shown
in them, called terrorists and
aggressive and rude behavior of
some motorists against Muslim
women are all different forms of
abuse and a violation of our rights.
Men wearing beards have also
reported being labelled and called
terrorists. We recall Hashim Amla
being referred to as a terrorist by a
cricket commentator on air.
SAMNET believes that a “hate” crime
register is required to document
these violations and crimes so that
we record and produce proper data
to provide to the relevant ministries,
authorities and chapter 9 institutions
so that the seriousness and attention
and political is attained to tackle
these issues and even a task force be
set up to look into the root causes of
these crimes etc.
NGOs, and community leaders to
work together across organisational
and other boundaries and to publicise
the need for and the availability of
the register at SAMNET and to
educate our people that even the
smallest abuse is unacceptable and
needs to be dealt with legally and
constructively.
The register of complaints and
incidences of the violation of Muslim
rights will allow us to take these
issues further. Your co-operation is
appreciated and all information
pertaining to this can be found on our
website or by contacting the SAMNET
office via telephone or email to report
all such incidents.
Regards
Dr Faisal Suliman
Chairperson
'Amr bin 'Al-'As (May Allah be
pleased with him) said:
I heard the Messenger of Allah ()ﷺ
saying, "When a judge utilizes his
skill of judgement and comes to a
right decision, he will have a double
reward, but when he uses his
judgement and commits a mistake,
he will have a single reward."
[Al-Bukhari and Muslim]