Abdullah Haron

Abdullah Haron (8 February 1924 – 27 September 1969), also known as Imam Haron, was a South African Muslim cleric and anti-apartheid activist. He is best known for his anti-apartheid activism and subsequent death by the Security Branch of the apartheid-era South African Police Force in 1969. Haron was posthumously awarded the Order of Luthuli in Gold in 2014 for his "exceptional contribution to raising awareness of political injustices".

Early life and education Haron was born the youngest child from a family of five children. He was raised by his childless aunt on his father's side following his mother's death when he was still an infant. On 15 March 1950 he married Galiema Sadan and the couple later had three children.

After graduating standard 6 from Talfalah Primary School he travelled to Mecca to pursue Islamic studies, where he was taught by Sheikh Alawi al-Maliki. He returned to Cape Town after two years and continued his studies with Sheikh Abdullah Taha Gamieldien and Shaykh Ismail Ganief. He was influenced by the thinking of the Teachers' League of South Africa and the Non-European Unity Movement through family members who were members of the organisations. and went on to establish the community newspaper Muslim News (1960-1986). In the 1960s Haron met Pan African Congress (PAC) member and activist Barney Desai through whom he first contacted the PAC. In 1965 he was affected by the Group Areas Act and was forced to move from his family home on Jefferson Road, Lansdowne to Repulse Road in the demarcated Coloured neighbourhood of Athlone. Haron gave a number of speeches and sermons against apartheid policies and laws including a notable speech at the Cape Town Drill Hall on 7 May 1961 where he described the Group Areas Act as "inhuman, barbaric and un-Islamic". into his death ruled that he died from falling down a flight of stairs. Haron's family and attorney argued that he had "died as a result of a heart attack which was triggered off by trauma".

On 29 September, his funeral was attended by 40,000 mourners, with his coffin carried about to its final resting place in the Muslim cemetery in Mowbray. On the night of his funeral, the most destructive earthquake in the recorded history of South Africa struck, with its epicentre at Tulbagh in the Western Cape.

Visual artist Haroon Gunn-Salie has created several works as memorials to Haron, including the 2019 installation "Crying for Justice" in the grounds of the Castle of Good Hope, symbolising 118 unmarked graves, one for each person who died in detention during apartheid years. Judge Thulare said, “The Security Branch of the South African Police are held responsible for the acts and omissions leading directly to the death of Imam Abdullah Haron.”

A documentary about Haron's final years, The Imam and I, was created by his grandson, Khalid Shamis in 2011.