Cape Town from Tana Baru Cemetery by Mogamad Buffkins

PANARAMA TAKEN FROM THE BALCONY OF THE GALVAAN'S RESIDENCE. Tana Baru means open ground. It was granted as a burial ground for muslims in October 2, 1805 by the Batavian Republic Administration which was aimed at gaining muslim loyalty in the event of a British invasion. It was already in use in 1772 long before religious freedom was granted.Within its confines lie the pioneers of Islam in South Africa; men and women who made tremendous sacrifices under conditions of slavery to plant the roots of Islam in this country. The majority of them were slaves and political exiles forcibly brought to the Cape. Buried on the Tana Baru : Tuan Sa'id Aloewie, TuanNuruman, Abubakr Effendi(born in Khashnaw,Shehrizur,Kurdistan), Imam Abdullah Kadi Abdus Salaam best known as Tuan Guru (mister teacher) he was a prince from Tidore in the Ternate Islands and one of the first prisoners on Robben Island. Tuan Guru died at the age of 95. Seventeen years after his death in 1807, his madrassa had,according to the evidence of the Colebrooke and Brigge Commission of 1825, a total of 491 "Free Black and Slave Scholars". Imam Achmat van Bengalen took charge of the madrassa after Tuan Guru's death. By 1840 Islam had 6435 adherents at Cape Town, one- third of the total population of the colony. The colonial authorities closed the cemetery on January 15, 1886 and two days later on Sunday January 17,1886, 3000 marched from Woodstock determined to bury a young boy, Amaldien Rhoda, at Tana Baru, They broke through 1200 officers and buried the boy.They took the only course open to them- from 15 January 1886, they were without a burial ground.
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