Islamophobia: Ahmad Deedat's Son Martyred in South Africa

Late Yusuf Deedat

The son of Muslim great, Sheikh Ahmad Deedat, Yusuf Deedat, has  died of wounds he sustained after an attack on Wednesday 16th January. 

Reports had it that 65 year old Yusuf Deedat was shot in the head outside a court room in Verulam South Africa while in the company of his wife. The

assailant is said to have fled the scene after the shooting. 

Yusuf Deedat took after his father in the field of Da’wah in South Africa, even though; he was not as popular. 

This assassination accentuates the rise of Islamophobia in South  Africa.

On Thursday 10th may 2018, attacks armed with knives slit the throat of an imam and fatally stabbed two other Muslims in a Masjid in Verulam, the same city in which Yusuf Deedat was killed. The Masjid was also set on fire.

On Thursday 14th June 2018, a knife wielding attacker invaded a Masjid in Malmesbury, outside Cape Town, stabbed 3 three people to death and left another two fatally injured. The assailant was shot dead by police.

On Monday 25th February 2019, the Effingham Masjid in Durban was set ablaze in the early hours by unknown assailants. There were no casualties.

During the xenophobic attacks towards the end of 2019, two Masajid were burnt in just one week in Johannesburg. The Katlehong Masjid was vandalized on 4th September while the Himayatul Islam Masjid was burnt on 8th September. No suspects were arrested.

Muslims make up 1.5% of South Africa’s population of 58.7 million.

It is not known if the assassination of Yusuf Deedat will be swept under the rug like other Islamophobic attacks however, we can only pray for the best.

Sheikh Ahmad Hussein Deedat was born on July 1, 1918 in Bombay India and moved to South Africa in 1927 to be with his father. He passed away on August 8, 2005 in South Africa after nine years on life support. His wife, Hawa Deedat, passed away four months later (August 28 2005).

May Allah grant the Deedat family the best in this life and in the hereafter, Amin.