Description

This book is a biographical account of a prince, Shaykh Yusuf of Macassar, who was a scholar, sufi and freedom fighter. After performing pilgrimage he remained in Arabia to study the Islamic sciences. It was in Arabia, Yemen and Syria that he became a disciple of several Sufi masters. Subsequently he became the chief of the Khalwatiyyah Sufi Order at Macassar. On his return to the East Indies he proceeded to Bantam, Java where he was appointed to teach at the Royal Court of Sultan Ageng. He is credited with the spread of Islam in Bantam. The Sultan was at the time engaged in a protracted war against the Dutch who were attempting to colonise Bantam. Shaykh Yusuf led a guerilla war against the Dutch for several years. He was tricked into surrendering by the Dutch and was then exiled first to Ceylon and then to the Cape in 1994. Here he began to conduct "religious services" in slave lodges and private homes secretly at night and is, therefore, known as the pioneer of Islam at the Cape. He died in 1999 and was buried at Faure; his shrine has become a place of visitation by Cape Muslims. According to some accounts his body was exhumed and returned to Macassar where he was buried.