‘Adding Colour to the Rainbow Nation’ was the theme of this year’s Ilm-SA Conference, which sought to address the eradication of racism and poverty, and the role Muslims should play in this regard.

The theme ‘Adding Colour to the Rainbow Nation’ was evident from the very start of the conference, when Mrs Zuleikha Mayat delivered a heartfelt presentation on ‘Muslim contribution in Apartheid South Africa’. This theme weaved through both panel discussions on ‘Eradicating Racism in the Muslim community’ and ‘Poverty Alleviation in South Africa’. The individual presentations by the International guests complemented these panels by focusing on self reformation, developing spirituality and nurturing authentic leadership.

Shaykh Navaid Aziz proved to be very popular amongst the youngsters and his jovial nature left everyone smiling and motivated. Dr Anas Altikriti, a leading figure in the British anti-War movement spoke to the topic ‘Changing Western Perceptions of Muslims’. Prof Tariq Ramadan captivated all with his effortless moulding of the ‘intellect’ and ‘emotion’, reminding the audience to always ‘check their intentions’. He also recounted tales of his luminous grandfather, Shaykh Hassan al Banna, with parables like: ‘If we worked for people, we would have stopped a long time ago. But we serve the community to please Allah (SWT).’

Fatima Asmal, the director of Ilm-SA, was pleased at the outcome of the event: "Alhamdulillah the conference was successful and it was heartening to see so many brothers and sisters from Cape Town and Gauteng attend. More importantly the messages presented by our dynamic speakers - both local and international - were profound, yet at the same time practical and this is crucial, because knowledge without implementation is not our desired objective. We also felt that we exposed Professor Tariq Ramadan to a more mainstream audience - as someone of his calibre and ability to contextualise who we are as Muslim minorities should be exposed."