Kramat Festival

‘Kramat Festival’ is a 15-minute documentary film by Yazeed Kamaldien, sharing the history and views about an annual gathering of Cape Town’s Muslim community at the shrine of Sheikh Yusuf. The latter was related to Indonesian royalty and is known for bringing Islam to the Cape. Sheikh Yusuf was detained by Dutch colonisers for resisting their occupation in his homeland. After being banned to the Cape, he taught Islam, which is still alive in modern-day South Africa. He is buried in Macassar, 45-minutes outside of central Cape Town, and named after Makassar where he was from in Indonesia. Muslims from different parts of the world still visit the kramat, or shrine, where he is buried. (Copyright of Yazeed Kamaldien, 2025)