Farid Esack

Farid Esack
Born	(1955-03-08)8 March 1955 Wynberg, Cape Town
Citizenship	South Africa
Alma mater	University of Johannesburg
Occupation(s)	Scholar, writer, political activist

Farid Esack(born 1955 inWynberg, Cape Town) is aSouth African Muslimscholar, writer, and political activist known for his opposition toapartheid,his appointment byNelson Mandelaas agender equitycommissioner, and his work for inter-religious dialogue.

Early life

Esack was born into a poorMuslimfamily in theWynbergsuburb ofCape Town.While still a child, he and his mother were forcibly relocated as "non-Whites" under the provisions of theGroup Areas Act.At age nine, Esack joined the revivalistTablighi Jamaatmovement, and by age 10 he was learning at amadrasah(religious school). At the age of 15 he received a scholarship to pursueIslamic studiesinPakistan.By the time he left for Pakistan in 1974 he had also become the local chairman of an anti-apartheid group, National Youth Action, and had been detained several times by security police.

Esack spent eight years as a student in atJamia Uloom-ul-Islamiawhere he was a classmate ofMaulana Abdul Aziz.where he was completing the traditionalDars-i-Nizamiprogram of Islamic studies and becoming amawlanaor Muslim cleric. As he noted in the introduction to his bookOn Being a Muslim,some of his fellow students later joined theTalibaninAfghanistan.Having grown up withChristianneighbors, Esack became critical of discrimination against Christians and other religious minorities in Pakistan.

Later life

Returning to South Africa in 1982, Esack became involved with activities of theMuslim Youth Movement of South Africa.He, along with three other members, left the organization in 1984, and helped form the Muslim anti-apartheid group Muslims Against Oppression, which later changed its name toCall of Islam,which became an important affiliate of theUnited Democratic Front.Esack addressed hundreds of protest meetings, formed ties with inter-faith opponents of apartheid, and became a leading figure within theWorld Conference of Religions for Peace.Esack founded Call of Islam with Adli Jacobs and his cousin,Ebrahim Rasool,who later became the Premier of the Western Cape and the South African ambassador to the United States. From 1984 to 1989, Esack was the National Coordinator of Call of Islam. This fulfilled his ambition of uniting the two halves of his personality – the religious with secular activism. He addressed rallies, conducted political funerals, and participated in inter-faith organisations opposed to apartheid. He became an important leader in the World Conference on Religion and Peace. An interesting image is of him marching, Qur’an in hand, under the banner of the CPSA flag.

In 1990 Esack left South Africa to continue his theological studies. He holds a PhD from theUniversity of Birmingham,England, and pursued postdoctoral studies in Biblicalhermeneuticsat theSankt Georgen Graduate School of Philosophy and Theology,Frankfurt, Germany.

Esack has also been involved with the organisationPositive Muslims,which is dedicated to helpingHIV-positive Muslims in Africa. Positive Muslims programs include prevention, lobbying, and research activities, but the main focus of the organisation's work is counseling and support for people living with HIV/AIDS.

In May 2005 Farid Esack delivered the second Mandela Lecture sponsored by the Netherlands Institute for Southern Africa,Amsterdam.

In 2007-2008 Esack was thePrince Al-Waleed bin TalalVisiting Professor ofIslamic StudiesatHarvard Divinity SchoolinCambridge, Massachusetts.

Esack served as a Commissioner for Gender Equality in South African and has taught at the Universities of Western Cape, and Hamburg, the College of William & Mary and Union Theological Seminary (NY) and at Xavier University in Cincinnati. He is currently a professor ofIslamic Studiesat theUniversity of Johannesburg,South Africa.

He is head of the South-African branch ofBDS.He was responsible for the boycott ofBen Gurion Universityby theUniversity of Johannesburg.

In 2013, Esack said that BDS distanced themselves from the singing of "shoot the Jew" in song during a protest at Wits University's Great Hall. "We unequivocally distance ourselves from the singing of this song and its sentiments. Also, to tarnish all Jews with the Zionist brush is racism regardless of who does it. Racism is racism and racism is abominable." Esack also bemoaned the advantage the incident had given the organisation's detractors. "It is unfortunate but not unexpected that supporters of Israel will focus on the singing of this song," he said. "The purpose and context of the protest were and remain the larger struggle against Israeli apartheid, Israel's illegal occupation and its violation of Palestinian rights."

In 2015 in the wake of 132 deaths caused by terror attacks in France, Esack lashed out at Western powers that had waged war on Muslim countries and that supported the invasion of Muslim countries. "I am not praying for Paris; I am not condemning anyone. Why the hell should I? I had nothing to do with it," "I am sickened by the perpetual expectations to condemn. I walk away from your shitty racist and Islamophobic expectations that whenever your chickens come home to roost then I must feign horror". "Stop supporting and funding terror outfits, get out of other people's lands and continents, stop outlawing peaceful resistance such as Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) Movement, to occupations, abandon your cultural imperialism, destroy your arms industry that provides the weapons that kill hundreds of thousands of others every year". "The logic is quite simple: When you eat, it's stupid to expect that no shit will ever come out from your body. Yes, I feel sorry for the victims on whom the shit falls. But, bloody hell, own it; it's yours!"

In 2018, South African PresidentCyril Ramaphosagranted Esack theOrder of Luthuli(Silver) for "his brilliant contribution to academic research and to the fight against race, gender, class and religious oppression. His body of work continues to enlighten generations of fledgling and established academics".

Books by Farid Esack

• The Struggle.(1988)ISBN0-620-12519-5
• But Musa went to Fir'aun! A Compilation of Questions and Answers about the Role of Muslims in the South African Struggle for Liberation.(South Africa, 1989)ISBN0-620-14105-0
• Qur'an, Liberation and Pluralism: An Islamic Perspective of Interreligious Solidarity Against Oppression.(Oxford, 1997)ISBN1-85168-121-3
• Islam and Politics(London, 1998) OCLC 67856723
• On Being a Muslim: Finding a Religious Path in the World Today.(Oxford, 1999)ISBN1-85168-146-9
• The Qur'an: A Short Introduction.(Oxford, 2002)ISBN1-85168-231-7
• The Qur'an: A User's Guide.(Oxford, 2005)ISBN1-85168-354-2

Further reading

• Singhai, Arvind, and W. Stephen Howard.The Children of Africa Confront AIDS: From Vulnerability to Possibility.(Athens, Ohio, 2003)ISBN0-89680-232-9