The Islamic presence in South Africa dates over three centuries. Islam has mostly been the private affair of Muslims who lived in harmony with non-Muslims in “Indian” or “Coloured” public spaces, and engaged with them in political struggles against various White minority regimes. Islam has been brought into the national public sphere more manifestly in democratic South Africa. The activities of the vigilante group People Against Gangsterism and Drugs (PAGAD) in the Western Cape, 9/11 and the “War on Terror”, and heightened salience of Islam as a religious …