LIFESTYLE

South Africa’s education challenges begin in the earliest years of life. Strengthening ECD, investing in practitioners, and adopting trauma-informed, developmental approaches are essential to disrupting inequality and rebuilding the schooling system. By PROFESSOR SIGAMONEY MANICKA NAICKER South Africa’s education system stands at a crossroads. Despite decades of...

The Ummah Tech Conference 2025 brought together innovators, scholars and community builders in Cape Town to explore how Islamic values can shape ethical, purpose-driven technology. By HASANAIN ABDULLAH Following the inaugural event in Johannesburg in 2024, the much-anticipated second Ummah Tech Conference was hosted at the Kirstenbosch...

His canvas was immense: medicine, writing, painting, teaching, community service. And on every part of that canvas, he left strokes of compassion, courage and creativity. By FARID SAYED This is the keynote address which was delivered on Saturday November 15 at the opening of the Arts for...

For students of Islamic history, community leaders and families seeking a trustworthy account that preserves love for the Companions and the Household together, is essential reading. Book review by MUAAZ YUSUF KALLA Deterring the Ignorant Aggressor from Transgressing Against Our Lady Fatima. By Muhammad bin Yahya bin...

'FIGO’s silence on the plight of Palestinian women is deeply troubling. It suggests a troubling inconsistency in the application of its ethical framework and raises difficult questions about whose suffering merits acknowledgment, and whose does not.' A Cape Town-based obstetrician and gynaecologist has written an open letter...

Participants attending this conference will benefit from industry experts and their insights which will help lay people make sense of the ever-evolving technological landscape. By HASANAIN ABDULLAH Following the successful hosting of the inaugural conference in Johannesburg last year, the much-anticipated second edition will be hosted in...

This book invites us to imagine differently, to write our own intellectual futures, and to forge education that is both African and Islamic. Review by ADNAAN ADAMS Living African Philosophy of Higher Education by Emeritus Professor Yusef Waghid. Springer Briefs in Education. ISBN 978-3-032-00390-4 Introduction: A philosophy...

By ASHRAF PATEL Will AI be socialised or monetised or even worse, weaponised? In September 2024, exactly a year ago, the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) adopted the UN Pact for the Future. Acknowledging the deep polycrisis of conflicts, climate change, and rapid artificial intelligence (AI) diffusion,...

‘This book restores a sense of intellectual dignity to a conversation that is often hijacked by slogans. It shows us that the Islamic tradition, when approached with sincerity and expertise, contains the tools to address modern challenges without abandoning its core.’ Review by DR MOHAMMED AMEEN ALLY...

Mahmudah Begum Jaffer’s Janubi Zakhrafa breaks new ground in Islamic manuscript illumination, blending sacred geometry with South African flora and identity. By SHAFIQ MORTON One of humankind’s most basic impulses has always been the urge to visually communicate meaning. From the 73 000-year-old San cross-hatches in the...