“The earliest Cape Muslims were part of the involuntary migration of slaves, political prisoners and criminals from Africa and Asia that lasted from 1652 to 1834. Included in these people were ‘Mardykers’, the Malay servants of Dutch officials who were on their way back to the Netherlands from the East. Many of these servants opted to remain at the Cape”
page1, Pages from Cape Muslim History (Yusuf Da Costa and Achmat Davids)
Read more at:
http://cape-slavery-heritage.iblog.co.za/2008/03/31/the-muslim-exiles-another-part-of-the-creolisation-puzzle/
