Missionaries in South Africa

Missionaries in South Africa

Missionaries in South Africa started making more acknowledgeable appearances in the area during the nineteenth century. [1] Christian missionaries were creating schools in Natal for the Indian children who lived in the area. [2] They continued progressing and creating more schools in other cities as well. [3] When the Hindus and Muslims starting moving into these areas, they saw competition. [4] Among the Christian missionaries were protestants, Calvinists, and Roman Catholics. [5]

It did not take long for the Muslims and Hindus to overcome their competition of the Christians. [6] The neo-Hindu groups such as the Arya Samaj started traveling to spread their religion, making it difficult for the Christians to continue seeking lost souls in the areas of South Africa. [7] A few years after the Arya Samaj began spreading, another Hindu group called Maha Sabha who had a larger scale of identities in religious matters emerged and began spreading through South Africa. [8]

Just as the Christians and Hindus were spreading their religions throughout South Africa, so were the Muslims. The Sufi Sahib was the group of Muslims under Ghumlam Muhammad. [9] This man, along with his followers, was able to convert the Indian migrants of Natal and the area surrounding to fall under the Muslim religion and language. [10]

Each of the religions has progressed over time. They continue spreading and adding more people to their religious groups. Schools are still continuing to be created or maintained by the religious groups.

Each of these religious groups had and is continuing to have a significant impact on South Africa. Instead of just remaining as a mainly Christian area, other religious groups came in, giving the people “more options” to choose from. The Christian missionaries have helped translate Bibles into the South African language(s), as well as teaching them how to read. [11]

When looking at the people of South Africa, they may all look, act, and seem the same, but they are very diverse in religious affiliations.

QUICK FACT: “Islam is the religion of 1.5% of South Africans, Hinduism that of 1.2%, African traditional belief 0.3%, Judaism 0.2% and other beliefs 0.6%. In terms of population groups, Christianity is most common among white and coloured South Africans, being the faith of 86.8% of the people in both groups.” [12]

End Notes

1.    Green, Nile, “Islam for the Indentured Indian: A Muslim Missionary in Colonial South Africa,” Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London 71, no. 3 (2008): 530, accessed June 19, 2015, http://www.jstor.org/stable/40378804.

2.    Ibid.

3.    Ibid.

4.    Ibid.

5.    Daniel, Philip T. K., “Review: Early American Merchants and Missionaries in South Africa,” The United States Experience in South Africa: 1784-1870, 25, no. 2 (April 1978): 92-93, accessed June 19, 2015, http://www.jstor.org/stable/4185780.

6.    Green, Nile, “Islam for the Indentured Indian: A Muslim Missionary in Colonial South Africa,” Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London 71, no. 3 (2008): 530, accessed June 19, 2015, http://www.jstor.org/stable/40378804.

7.    Ibid.

8.    Green, Nile, “Islam for the Indentured Indian: A Muslim Missionary in Colonial South Africa,” Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London 71, no. 3 (2008): 531, accessed June 19, 2015, http://www.jstor.org/stable/40378804.

9.    Ibid

10.  Ibid.

11.  Gilmour, Rachael, “Missionaries, Colonialism and Language in Nineteenth-Century South Africa,” History Compass, 5, no. 6 (September 2007): 1, accessed June 19, 2015, http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com.ezproxy.liberty.edu:2048/doi/10.1111/j.1478-0542.2007.00472.x/abstract.

12.  “South Africa: fast facts,” Media Club South Africa, accessed June 19, 2015 http://www.mediaclubsouthafrica.com/landstatic/82-fast-facts.

Image #1: Jayden, “South Africa,” PB Works, accessed June 19, 2015 http://year52012.pbworks.com/f/1352363261/South%20African%20Religion.jpg.