Historical and spiritual continuity is one morecasualty inside and outside the house of Islam. Thetraditional stability of religions in general hasincreasingly come under strain in our fast-changingworld and the hyper-politicization of faith systems.We are globally witnessing a move to the religiousright and the rise of nationalist chauvinism. Thisnew faith-power nexus tends to displace precedingreligious histories and spirituality.

One way of recovering such lost origins is via literaryarchaeology. This book is one such attempt atfinding and restoring an authentic, lived spiritualhistory. In this case it is the history of SouthAfrican Islam and its founding persons, places andthings. Specifically, it finds and translates thetexts of one whom many would see as the father ofIslam in South Africa.

Biography and theology can combine to give us a clearinsight into the type of history and spiritualitythat was generated by the coming of Shaykh Yusuf tothe Cape and that was to leave a definitiveimpression on South Africa's history and its Muslimcommunity in particular, from the 17th century tothe present. Regarding the present, though, and asthese lines are being written, we are witnessing thevigorous establishment and institutionalisation ofmore puritan forms of Islam at the Cape, in SouthAfrica generally, and in the world as a whole.Perhaps this translation and re-introduction ofthese texts authored by the preeminent pioneer ofIslam in South Africa, can remind those who leantowards puritanism of the undiluted Sūnnī - Ṣūfīfoundations of the religion in this country.

A vital contribution of this work then is to place intocontext and perspective the aberration of puritanismand “militant” Islam, whose adherents have reduced arich and complex world religion to an instrument fornarrow purposes, therefore helping to generate thephenomenon of Islamophobia.

Shaykh Yusuf al-Maqassari is clearly an unapologeticSūnnī - Ṣūfī believer, activist and practitioner ofa balanced Islam with an authentic history andspirituality. It is authentic because it is sourcedin the pure teachings of the Holy Prophet, theSalutations and Peace of Allāh be upon him, andpassed down through generations of pious Islamicscholars and saints.