Qualla: Palm Tree Mosque https://qualla.com/palm-tree-mosque en-us © 2026 Bendyline Mon, 20 Jul 2026 10:21:25 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_m/k/3/v/p/palm-tree-mosque-wp/hero-small.webp Qualla: Palm Tree Mosque https://qualla.com/palm-tree-mosque Palm Tree Mosque: Introduction https://qualla.com/palm-tree-mosque/ Photo credit Reem Al-Kashif, CC BY-SA 4.0. Walk down Long Street in Cape Town and you might miss it. The Palm Tree Mosque -- also called the Church of Jan van Bougies, or the Dadelboom Mosque -- does not announce itself with a towering minaret or grand facade. Its door sits lower than the sidewalk, its sash window barely reaches street level, and a date palm grows beside it. These are not design choices. Long Street has been raised over the centuries, and the building has stayed where it was, sinking into its own history. It is the oldest substantially unaltered building on one of Cape Town's most famous streets, and it carries the story of enslaved and free Muslims who built a second home for their faith when the first one could not hold them all.

Read more: Palm Tree Mosque on Qualla

Image: Reem Al-Kashif | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Mon, 09 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/k/3/v/p/palm-tree-mosque-wp/k3vp-palm-tree-mosque-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full Palm Tree Mosque: A House Before a Mosque https://qualla.com/palm-tree-mosque/ Photo credit Discott, CC BY-SA 3.0. The building's origins have nothing to do with religion. The land once belonged to Hermanus Smuts, who received a grant bounded by Long, Leeuwen, and Keerom Streets in 1751. After his wife died in 1754, portions were sold off. The property passed through a series of owners -- J. ...

Read more: Palm Tree Mosque on Qualla

Image: Discott | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Mon, 09 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/k/3/v/p/palm-tree-mosque-wp/k3vp-palm-tree-mosque-a-house-before-a-mosque.mp3 0:06 2 full Palm Tree Mosque: The Split That Multiplied Faith https://qualla.com/palm-tree-mosque/ Photo credit Unknown photographer, Public domain. In 1807, a dispute tore through the congregation of the Auwal Mosque, South Africa's first mosque, located in the Bo-Kaap. The disagreement centered on who should succeed as imam. Rather than let the conflict destroy the community, a portion of the worshippers broke away and esta...

Read more: Palm Tree Mosque on Qualla

Image: Unknown photographer | Public domain

]]> Mon, 09 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/k/3/v/p/palm-tree-mosque-wp/k3vp-palm-tree-mosque-the-split-that-multiplied-faith.mp3 0:06 3 full Palm Tree Mosque: A Street Rises, a Building Remembers https://qualla.com/palm-tree-mosque/ Photo credit Janek Szymanowski, CC BY-SA 3.0. The Palm Tree Mosque's most distinctive feature is accidental. Over two centuries, Long Street has been graded and raised, while the mosque stayed at its original level. The result is a building that appears to be sinking into the earth -- its sash window now sits at knee height,...

Read more: Palm Tree Mosque on Qualla

Image: Janek Szymanowski | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Mon, 09 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/k/3/v/p/palm-tree-mosque-wp/k3vp-palm-tree-mosque-a-street-rises-a-building-remembers.mp3 0:06 4 full Palm Tree Mosque: Faith Rooted in Resistance https://qualla.com/palm-tree-mosque/ Photo credit Discott, CC BY-SA 3.0. The Palm Tree Mosque cannot be understood apart from the broader story of Islam at the Cape. The Muslim community in Cape Town was built by people who were enslaved -- brought from Indonesia, India, Madagascar, and Mozambique by the Dutch East India Company -- and by political ex...

Read more: Palm Tree Mosque on Qualla

Image: Discott | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Mon, 09 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/k/3/v/p/palm-tree-mosque-wp/k3vp-palm-tree-mosque-faith-rooted-in-resistance.mp3 0:06 5 full