In the 1960s, thirty-four men in the whole of Cape Town carried the Quran in their hearts, and Imam Fuad Samaai knew every one of them by name.
“The chain is made in the maktab, or it is not made at all.”
In 1973 he was one of eight students in the first intake of South Africa’s first Darul Uloom, in Newcastle. There, Mawlana Qasim Sema (Allah have mercy on him) gave him the instruction that set the course of his life: the chain of transmission (isnad) begins in the maktab, the children’s Quran school, so give your life to that. Fifty years later, two thousand children and dozens of teachers sit in his care.
In this episode of Rooted, Shaykh Irshaad Sedick asks him the question few have asked: Did it work? And does a chain of transmission still mean anything in a world where anyone with a phone can claim to know?
What follows is living memory, the huffaz of District Six and the respect they showed one another, Imaam Naeim Moerat (Allah have mercy on him) still teaching children at his bedside at ninety-four, the majlis of Shaykh Abdul Fattah Abu Ghudda (Allah have mercy on him), and the friendship of Mufti Taha Karaan (Allah have mercy on him), whose students he addresses directly at the close.
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Chapters:
0:00 The Attitude We Teach Our Children
0:38 Thirty-Four Huffaz — Meet Imam Fuad Samaai
2:47 Does the Chain Still Mean Anything?
3:14 Newcastle, and Mawlana Qasim Sema's Instruction
7:24 "Like a Washing Machine" — What a Darul Uloom Is For
11:27 The Huffaz of 1960s Cape Town
14:22 Hifz Then and Now — the Missing Link
21:09 When a Hafiz Walked into a Room
23:58 Imaam Naeim Moerat — Seventy Years of Teaching
31:07 Newcastle 1973 — the Treasure Lesson
35:02 The Mufti's Method — Fatwas and Memory
44:39 Four to Six Hours of Reading, Every Day
45:47 The Barakah of a Physical Kitab
49:56 The Maktab Mission, Fifty Years On
55:49 One Syllabus for Twelve Towns
59:23 Do We Value Islamic Education?
1:02:17 The Finance Trap and the Teacher's Sacrifice
1:11:51 The Names History Must Remember
1:24:45 In the Majlis of the Great Ulama
1:31:03 Mufti Taha Karaan and Advice to His Students
1:41:33 Become a Uniting Force — At Least Teach
Rooted is the interview series of Isnad Academy. Its premise is simple: authentic Islamic knowledge is carried by an unbroken chain, from teacher to student, back to the Messenger of Allah (Allah bless him and give him peace).
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Rooted podcast, Isnad Academy, Imam Fuad Samaai, Shaykh Irshaad Sedick, Cape Town huffaz, maktab education, madrasah, Darul Uloom Newcastle, Mawlana Qasim Sema, Mufti Taha Karaan, isnad, hifz, Quran memorisation, Islamic scholarship South Africa, Cape Town ulama