Citizendia
Your Ad Here

Farid Esack (born 1959) is a South African Muslim scholar, writer, and political activist known for his opposition to apartheid, his appointment by Nelson Mandela as a gender equity commissioner, and his work for inter-religious dialogue. Islam in South Africa predates the colonial period and consisted of isolated contact with Arab and East African traders Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela (xolíɬaɬa mandéːla born 18 July 1918 is a former President of South Africa, the first to be elected in fully representative Gender equality (also known as gender equity, gender egalitarianism, or sexual equality) is the goal of the Equality of the Genders

Farid Esack was born into a poor Muslim family in the Wynberg suburb of Cape Town. A Muslim (مسلم pronounced Muslim, not Muzlim) is an adherent of the Religion Wynberg is a southern suburb of Cape Town, South Africa. It is situated between Plumstead and Kenilworth. Cape Town (Kaapstad Xhosa: Ikapa) is the second most populous city in South Africa, forming part of the metropolitan municipality of the While still a child, he and his mother were forcibly relocated as "non-Whites" under provisions of the Group Areas Act. The Group Areas Act of 1950 (Act No 41 of 1950 was an Act of parliament created under the Apartheid Government of South Africa that assigned Racial At age nine, Esack joined the revivalist Tablighi Jamaat movement, and by age 10 he was teaching at a madrassah (religious school). Tablighi Jamaat ("Conveying Group" ( Arabic: جماعة التبليغ, also Tabligh) is a Muslim Missionary and revival "Madrasa" and "Medrese" redirect here For the village in Azerbaijan see Mədrəsə. At the age of 15 he received a scholarship to pursue Islamic studies in Pakistan. This is a sub-article to Religious education, Academic discipline, and Islam. Pakistan () officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country located in South Asia, Southwest Asia, Middle East and 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. [1]

Although he found life in authoritarian Pakistan difficult, Esack spent eight years as a student in Karachi, completing the traditional Dars-i-Nizami program of Islamic studies and becoming a mawlana or Muslim cleric. (ڪراچي) is the largest city in Pakistan. It is the world's second largest city proper behind Mumbai in terms of population which exceeds 10 million Dars-i-Nizami is a study curriculum used in a large portion of Madrasahs (Islamic religious school in South Asia. As he noted in the introduction to his book On Being a Muslim, some of his fellow students later joined the Taliban in Afghanistan. The Taliban ( طالبان, also anglicised as Taleban; translation "students" is a Sunni Islamist, predominately Afghanistan /æfˈgænɪstæn/ officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan ( Pashto: د افغانستان اسلامي جمهوریت, Having grown up with Christian neighbors, Esack became critical of discrimination against Christians and other religious minorities in Pakistan. A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, a monotheistic Religion centered on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth

Returning to South Africa in 1982, Esack became involved with activities of the Muslim Youth Movement of South Africa. He, along with three other members, left the organization in 1993 and helped form the Muslim anti-apartheid group Muslims Against Oppression, which later changed its name to Call of Islam, which became an important affiliate of the United Democratic Front. The United Democratic Front ( UDF) was one of the most important anti- Apartheid organisations of the 1980s Esack addressed hundreds of protest meetings, formed ties with inter-faith opponents of apartheid, and became a leading figure within the World Conference on Religion and Peace. [1]

In 1990 Esack left South Africa to continue his theological studies. He holds a Ph. D. from the University of Birmingham, England, and pursued postdoctoral studies in Biblical hermeneutics at the Sankt Georgen Graduate School of Philosophy and Theology, Frankfurt a.M., Germany. The University of Birmingham (informally Birmingham University) is a British red brick University located in the city of Birmingham England is a Country which is part of the United Kingdom. Its inhabitants account for more than 83% of the total UK population whilst its mainland Hermeneutics may be described as the development and study of Theories of the interpretation and understanding of texts The Sankt Georgen Graduate School of Philosophy and Theology (German Philosophisch-Theologische Hochschule Sankt Georgen) is an academic seminary in Frankfurt am Main Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany ( ˈbʊndəsʁepuˌbliːk ˈdɔʏtʃlant is a Country in Central Europe.

Esack has also been involved with the organisation Positive Muslims, which is dedicated to helping HIV-positive Muslims in Africa. Human immunodeficiency virus ( HIV) is a Lentivirus (a member of the Retrovirus family that can lead to acquired immunodeficiency syndrome

In May 2005 Farid Esack delivered the second Mandela Lecture sponsored by the Netherlands Institute for Southern Africa, Amsterdam. Amsterdam (pronounced) is the capital and largest city of the Netherlands, located in the province of North Holland in the west

Esack is currently the Prince Al-Waleed Bin Talal Visiting Professor of Islamic Studies at Harvard Divinity School in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Harvard Divinity School is one of the constituent schools of Harvard University, located in Cambridge Massachusetts, in the United States. Cambridge Massachusetts is a City in the Greater Boston area of Massachusetts, United States. [2]

Books by Farid Esack

References

  1. ^ a b Helen Suzman Foundation, Profile of Farid Esack
  2. ^ Harvard Divinity School: Visiting Faculty: Farid Esack
© 2009 citizendia.org; parts available under the terms of GNU Free Documentation License, from http://en.wikipedia.org
 Dapyx Software network: MP3 Explorer | Ebook Manager | Zenithic