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A moving reflection on the life and legacy of Abdeyah da Costa, whose century-long journey captures the spirituality, elegance and moral world of Bo-Kaap Muslim life.
By ASLAM FATAAR
THERE are certain people whose lives illuminate far more than their own personal journeys. Their lives gather together the memory of a community, the spirit of a historical era, and the moral imagination of a people. Al-Ḥājjah Abdeyah da Costa of the Bo-Kaap is one such person.
At 100 years old, Oemie Abdeyah is one of the great living memory-keepers of Cape Muslim life. Born in 1925 on Dorp Street in the Bo-Kaap, her life spans a century, shaped by segregation, Apartheid, the democratic transition, globalisation and profound social change. Yet what makes her life truly remarkable is how she combined spirituality, groundedness, aesthetic elegance, cosmopolitan sophistication, entrepreneurial intelligence and generosity within a coherent moral world.
Her story is beautifully preserved in the biography Abdeyah da Costa: Faith, Fashion, Fortitude, authored by her nephews and niece, my friends, Salie Manie, Ashiek Manie, Tughfa Hamdulay and Faseeg Manie. The book preserves not merely the story of a beloved elder, but also the moral and social worlds that shaped generations of Cape Muslims.
Perhaps the most powerful way to understand Aunty Abdeyah’s life is through the metaphor of the ‘dihlīz’, a threshold space discussed in relation to Imām Abū Ḥāmid al-Ghazālī’s ethical and intellectual world. The dihlīz refers to the space between the intimate interior of the home and the wider public world beyond it.
The dihlīz is a space of cultivation, refinement, transition and preparation. It is where one learns to move from an inward moral life into the complexities of the world with dignity, confidence and ethical grounding. In many ways, the Bo-Kaap itself has long functioned as such a threshold world.
The Bo-Kaap as a threshold world
At the centre of Abdeyah’s life stands the house on Dorp Street. The house was never merely a building or an address. It was a living moral, spiritual, social and aesthetic world. Within it flowed Quran recitation, dhikr, salawāt upon the Prophet Muḥammad ﷺ, storytelling, humour, hospitality, neighbourly exchange, sewing, cooking, reading and conversation.
The adhān from nearby mosques was a steady, invigorating sound in daily life. Women assembled in spiritual gatherings. Neighbours came with food and stories. Children learned manners, values, refinement and social confidence through daily interactions.
This domestic world formed part of a much deeper Cape Muslim tradition cultivated over centuries by enslaved and exiled Muslims at the Cape. Through homes, mosques, madrasas, food traditions and communal life, they transformed historical suffering into worlds of spirituality, ethical conduct, learning, discipline, beauty and social care.
Aunty Abdeyah inherited this tradition through her family and community. Her father, Shaykh Mogamat Geyer Isaacs, cultivated a home centred around Quran, learning and dhikr gatherings. Her mother, Jawayer Isaacs, cultivated women’s spiritual circles and embodied a spirituality woven naturally into generosity, tenderness, hospitality and care.
And this is where the metaphor of the threshold becomes especially powerful. The house on Dorp Street did not produce narrowness or confinement. It produced expansiveness. It cultivated people capable of entering wider cosmopolitan worlds with dignity, confidence and relational sophistication.
Cloth, beauty, and cosmopolitan becoming
Within this domestic world, Abdeyah cultivated expertise in sewing, garment-making, fabric selection, style and presentation. Yet these were never merely technical skills. Through aesthetics and cloth, she cultivated judgement, business intelligence, social confidence and sensitivity to beauty. She understood elegance, texture, colour, aspiration and presentation. Cloth became a language through which she encountered the world.
From this threshold world of Dorp Street, she entered Cape Town’s garment economy at a time when opportunities for Muslim and black women were severely constrained by segregation and Apartheid. Yet through discipline, expertise, strategic acumen and relationship-building, she became a respected businesswoman navigating wider commercial and cosmopolitan worlds with confidence and grace.
Importantly, she navigated these broader worlds without losing her sense of grounding. Her cosmopolitan outlook was genuine, not superficial. It stemmed from a deep-seated foundation. She infused her commercial and social interactions with the moral integrity, dignity, spirituality and ethical assurance nurtured within her home.
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Lessons from a life of grounded grace
This may be one of the profound lessons of her life for younger generations today. In a world shaped by technological acceleration, artificial intelligence, ecological uncertainty and social fragmentation, Abdeyah’s life reminds us that true worldly confidence emerges from inner formation. Homes matter. Spiritual grounding matters. Ethical cultivation matters. Beauty, refinement, reading, relationships, craftsmanship and disciplined self-formation matter.
Perhaps this is the greatest gift of this beautiful biography. It preserves for future generations the story of a Cape Muslim woman who carried together spirituality, rooted cosmopolitanism, entrepreneurial sophistication, aesthetic intelligence, tenderness, dignity and courage.
Oemie Abdeyah da Costa’s life carries nūr and barakah. And through this important book, her light will continue illuminating generations to come.
Reference: Manie, S., Manie, A., Hamdulay, T., & Manie, F. (2026). Abdeyah da Costa: Faith, Fashion, Fortitude. Cape Town: ABC Press.
Aslam Fataar is a Research and Development Professor in Higher Education Transformation, Department of Education Policy Studies, Stellenbosch University.
- This article is based on a presentation delivered at the launch in the Bo-Kaap of Abdeyah da Costa: Faith, Fashion, Fortitude on May 17, 2026.
