Indian and Muslim

Fatima Meer espouses many of the values and religious practices evident in the home of her childhood. Born into an 'extended' family in Durban, she is the daughter of Moosa Ismail Meer and his second wife, Rachel Farrell.

At the age of twenty, her father had come to South Africa, leaving his wife Khatija with her family in India. He joined his maternal uncle in Kimberley and it was here that he met Rachel, a fifteen-year-old orphan. They eloped, married and settled in Durban where Khatija joined them with her infant son. Rachel gave birth to Fatima soon thereafter.

My biological mother was white, being of Jewish and Portuguese descent. My 'other mother' was Indian. I never thought of her as a step-mother. In many ways she was a greater influence on me than my biological mother. I called her Ma and my biological mother Amina-Ma. After her marriage to my father, it was as though her ancestral roots never existed. She was given the Muslim name of Amina. Although baptised a Christian, she became a dedicated Muslim, spoke fluent Gjarati and affirmed the Indian customs of our home. My father, my two mothers and my eight brothers and sisters, as well as some aunts, uncles and cousins all lived happily together as part of a huge family household.

Meer speaks of the early religious influences on her life: "From an early age I was exposed to both ritual and rationalist Islam. Women are not required to attend the mosque, being expected to practise their rituals privately. My two mothers saw to it that I did just that. They made me read the Qur'an, say my prayers and attend Madressa." Her father had a far more rationalist approach to religion and she eventually adopted his outlook on things. "He created a milieu within which it became natural for me to question, on the basis of scholarly work and a careful reading of the Qur'an, many of the imposed practices of Islam. I soon came to believe that there is no contradiction between rational truth and Qur'anic truth. The one must find the other. Neither do I see an essential contradiction between being a modern woman and a Muslim."

Meer's father, who eventually became editor of Indian Views in 1910

(a post he held for an astonishing six decades) was highly respected in the Muslim community. He was at the same time regarded with great suspicion by the ulama (the Muslim clerics). Meer recalls that he usually attended Mosque only at Eid, and refused to wear the Turkish fez, which was customary Muslim attire:

He went about bare-headed and promoted public debate on Muslim ritual and practice, questioning the official teachings of the local ulama through the columns of his weekly publication and in the daily press. His rationalist interpretation of the Qur'an resulted in a direct confrontation with several leading ulama .

Things eventually got to the point where some of the ulama organised a hit-squad to deal with him. The broader Muslim community got to hear about this and they in turn arranged for his physical protection . . . Even at the height of this conflict my father never flinched in his loyalty to Islam as a faith and a moral practice. He insisted that he had as much right to interpret the Qur'an and the teaching of Islam as the ulama , challenging them to subject their views to rationalist debate and their interpretation of the Qur'an to critical enquiry.

The publication of his book, entitled Muslims and Non-Muslims caused another controversy, this time on the issue of Halaal food. He argued that meat only became unclean when offered to false gods.

Clearly influenced by her father, she insists that the 'two Islams' of her childhood, never created a serious tension in her life. "My father did not reject Islamic ritual, nor did he criticise those who practised it. He simply asked that people practise their rituals in a thoughtful manner. He taught me to do that and enabled me to realise from an early age that dogmatism in religion is a dangerous thing."

A critical reading of the Muslim tradition was, however, sufficient to enable her to rise above the patriarchal influences of the Mosque. "To the extent that Islam is an empowering faith that enables me to realise my talents and resources, I can do no other than challenge structures which restrain and oppress women wherever I encounter them."

Her concern is to keep a balance between spirituality and rational thought. "We cannot reduce the mysteries of life to our rational understanding of things. But neither can we live meaningfully

without a thoughtful appropriation of, and response to, religious belief."