Al-Qalam 
By Nabeelah Shaikh
One woman’s passion of taking Islam to Khayelitsha has led to multiple people embracing the deen and taking their Shahadahs.
The Shahadah Festival was held in the Cape Town township on October 21 and since it was launched, has seen at least 27 people embracing Islam, with many more expressing an interest in taking their Shahadahs too.
This was all the dream of Nusaybah Nina Alexia Brazzo, an English-Sicilian revert, who embraced Islam in 2009. She immigrated to South Africa from England and has been inspired to do Dawah work based on her own experiences.
“I travelled around the world. I came from a very multicultural place. After being exposed to about 30 different countries and after two years of backpacking, I embraced Islam in June 2009.
That was my spiritual journey. I took my Shahadah in East London in England, where I’m from. Since then I’ve been on a beautiful journey in my deen,” said Brazzo.
She said it hasn’t always been an easy journey.
“When I was in England and I embraced Islam, it was very challenging. There’s a lot of prejudice against Muslims. After I visited South Africa, it just really consolidated my feelings and a sense of belonging that South Africa was my home after I visited here. I then migrated to South Africa in 2011,” said Brazzo. She came to organise the Shahadah Festival saying it was ‘divine intervention’ that made her do it.
“It was a jummah day last year, and a Shahadah Festival was coming up in Gauteng. One of the people who bought a ticket couldn’t attend and so one of the elders came up to me to ask me if I would like to go. I was honoured that I had been asked to attend. But I felt nervous because I didn’t know how to make Dawah. But they encouraged me to come along,” said Brazzo.
Perception
She said she had a wonderful experience and it changed her perception of what she thought Dawah was, and she felt quite empowered to know what her role was.
“I say this because of my unique life experiences and my background, but also being a woman. Most of the time, it’s the men who partake in Dawah. I was quite shy at first but observing and becoming part of conversations showed me the value that I contribute and my experience of spirituality from a woman’s perspective. It’s easier for me to go into people’s homes, especially if there are women in the home and there isn’t a husband around,” said Brazzo.
She said from her first experience of attending a Shahadah Festival in Gauteng, she had spoken to the Imam there and she said to him that she always wanted to do Dawah in Khayelitsha.
“He motivated me and said yes, do it. That planted the seed and as soon as I got back to Cape Town, I started the process of planning for the Khayelitsha project. From there, it’s been so amazing. The wealth of knowledge that I have from living in England, which is a Godless, secular society, and then traveling across Latin America and Asia, has enabled me to answer a lot of questions that people have about Islam. I was relatable to people,” said Brazzo.
She said what she found through her experiences is that we are often scared of rejection, but people’s hearts are so open in South Africa.
“They have great respect and great etiquette in listening, giving us an ear, and inviting us into their homes, and the way they serve us as travellers is amazing,” said Brazzo.
She said after all the planning, the Shahadah Festival in Khayelitsha was a resounding success.
“We had people from many different areas across Khayelitsha and other areas across provinces. People shared their Shahadah stories from different backgrounds. Young and old, men and women, in isiXhosa, Zulu, and English and I shared a poem of mine. Together I feel that we imparted the message that Islam is for everyone, irrespective of which culture you are from. We dispelled a lot of misconceptions and answered a lot of people’s questions about Islam,” said Brazzo.
Brazzo says she hopes it will be a catalyst for Muslims who live in Khayelitsha, in the whole of Cape Town, and in South Africa to start thinking about what proactive work can be done to spread Islam.
