AhlulBayt News Agency (ABNA): When Zulubhi Jack Ngobane passed away at the age of 105, he had made one request clear to his family before his death. He wanted to be buried as a Muslim.
According to Al Jazeera, hundreds of family members and community members attended his funeral in the rural area of Ngutu in the northern part of KwaZulu-Natal province in South Africa, a region where Christianity and traditional African beliefs predominate, and Muslims are considered a very small minority.
Ngobane had converted to Islam in his final years after observing the faith and devotion of his young grandson.
After his death, the family respected his wish. The funeral was conducted according to Islamic rites, and his body was then laid to rest in the family plot in the village cemetery. For a community with little familiarity with Islamic funeral rites, this ceremony was a new experience.
But this ceremony did not become a controversy, and this very difference has become increasingly significant in South Africa.
The Spread of Anti-Muslim Rhetoric in Cyberspace
In recent months, anti-Muslim rhetoric has become more prominent in South Africa's online space, intersecting with a heated national debate about immigration and anti-immigrant movements.
In some posts published on social media, Muslims have been accused of trying to take over South Africa, their belonging to the country has been questioned, and Muslim organizations have been accused of using charitable activities and poverty to convert black South Africans to Islam.
In one social media post, the humanitarian organization "Gift of the Givers" was criticized for causing annoyance by insisting on promoting Muslim beliefs in South Africa.
Another post claimed that most foreigners in South Africa are Muslims and that if you look, most countries facing war are Muslim countries, not Christian ones.
Others have accused Muslims of targeting impoverished communities and inviting them to Islam.
But in the green hills and villages of the Ngutu region, the picture is different.
The Peaceful Life of Muslims in Local Communities
Samukelisiwe Ngobane says that her first acquaintance with Muslims came through Indian shopkeepers in the town near where she lives.
She told Al Jazeera English, "We have never had any problems. Some people are curious about what they [Muslims] do, but there has been no problem."
When her brother, Kethukuthula Dlamini, converted to Islam as a teenager in 2012, it caused virtually no issue.
Dlamini, now 26 and one of the few known Muslims in his village, is so familiar to his neighbors that his Islamic attire is more often a subject of jokes than hostility. One neighbor jokingly tells him that he is wearing women's clothes.
Standing next to his grandfather's grave, he told Al Jazeera English, "In these communities, there is harmony and respect. People really respect my religion."
This contrast raises an important question: is South Africa really witnessing a rise in Islamophobia, or have social media made a marginal phenomenon appear much larger than it actually is?
A Small Community, but with Historical Roots
Muslims are a small minority in South Africa. The country's 2022 census counted the number of South African Muslims at less than one million, approximately 1.6 percent of the population.
However, South African Muslim leaders have provided higher figures, with some estimating the Muslim population to be between 2 and 5 million.
The presence of Islam in South Africa, however, goes back centuries. Muslims entered the Cape region through various routes, including slavery and political exile from parts of Asia and the Indian Ocean world during Dutch colonial rule from the 17th century. Muslims were present in the Cape region before the arrival of Sheikh Yusuf al-Makassari in 1694, who was a Muslim scholar and political exile.
Today, the South African Muslim community includes descendants of Muslims brought to the Cape region centuries ago, South Africans of Indian descent whose families have lived in the country for generations, black African Muslims, converts, and more recent immigrants.
Dlamini believes that efforts to incite people against Muslims do not primarily originate from rural communities.
He says, "The organized movement to create hatred against Muslims in South Africa is not at the local community level. If you look at those who are mobilizing people, they are not from the villages, but people in cities and hostels."
He adds, "Those behind this movement know the sensitive points. If you really want to create division, you use tribal rhetoric, and those you mobilize and incite are in the hostels, because living conditions there are not good."
South Africa has experienced waves of xenophobic violence several times since the end of apartheid, often with migrants from other African countries being the most affected.
Now the question arises whether some of this anti-immigrant rhetoric is also targeting Muslims.
There Is No Widespread Islamophobia
Thabisa Fakude, a political analyst and South African Muslim journalist, told Al Jazeera English that she believes concerns about widespread Islamophobia are overblown.
She says, "I would argue that there is no widespread, organized, or planned Islamophobia against Muslims in South Africa. We don't have that."
Fakude acknowledges the existence of anti-Muslim rhetoric in South Africa's cyberspace but believes it should not be automatically taken as a sign of Islamophobia across the country.
She adds, "It is true, but it is not just South Africa. It is a global issue... in South Africa too, yes, it is true. There will always be bigoted people, and some will be Zulu nationalists or other extreme nationalists."
Fakude also believes that Muslim communities must also confront accusations of racism and exploitative labor practices within their own communities and should not view every criticism as religious prejudice.
She says, "This is a storm in a teacup. What concerns me is this othering by Muslims who want to present themselves as victims and place themselves in this position. That is very dangerous."
What Begins in Cyberspace Does Not Always Stay There
Moulana Sulaiman Rawat, a South African Muslim religious leader, told Al Jazeera English that although most ordinary South Africans are not Islamophobic, caution is needed about the future.
He says, "At the same time, I think at the community level, South Africans are generally not Islamophobic, and there are various indicators to prove that."
However, Rawat warns that the rhetoric published in South Africa's cyberspace could gradually influence people's attitudes.
He says, "I don't think we should go to the other extreme and ignore this. We must understand that there are certain global political realities, and the Islamophobia project aligns with these global agendas. So if we are indifferent or negligent, what people are exposed to online can affect their mindset and way of thinking."
Rawat believes that sometimes Muslim identity is presented as a sign of being less South African, while from his perspective, such an assumption is incorrect.
He says, "I think they are deeply religious and deeply patriotic, and there is no contradiction between the two."
He adds that his children are fifth-generation South African Muslims of Indian descent.
Rawat states, "They no longer speak that language. They are as South African as anyone else."
In the rural area of Ngutu, Islam enters people's lives not through social media algorithms, but through a neighbor.
Dlamini's mother prepares halal food for guests. Dlamini had previously explained at a local gathering that Muslims also believe Jesus is a prophet of God.
The villagers listened attentively to his words and participated in singing hymns in Zulu in praise of God.
For now, the gap between online discussions and real life in communities like Ngutu remains significant.
But Rawat believes this should not lead to ignoring the possibility of deeper hostility developing in the future.
He says, "It is better to be preventative than to react later. This is a global reality and has existed for the past 20 years. That this situation could intensify in South Africa and have serious consequences may be unlikely, but it is not impossible."
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