After years of wrangling, applications, land restitution and objections, the Solomon Family Trust will open the new Constantia Emporium on Tuesday November 26. The 15 000 m2 shopping centre has 26 shops including Checkers, Woolworths, Clicks, MTN, various restaurants, banks, ATMs and office spaces. Construction began in August last year. “This is the new South Africa that we all dreamed of,” said Rashaad Solomon, a member of the Solomon Family Trust, as he walked around the complex, which is in the final stages of construction before its opening to the public. A number of black families were forcefully removed from Constantia by the apartheid regime, but so far only two families have been given land back – the Solomon family is one of them. They had occupied the land for 65 years before they were forcefully removed. (“Victory for Solomon family,” Constantiaberg Bulletin, January 31). Rashaad Solomon stands in front of the Constantia Emporium which will be opened to the public on Tuesday November 26. Rashaad, who was born on the land in 1945, said he still remembered the day he and his family were forcefully evicted from their farm under the Group Areas Act. They were placed in Crawford/Rondebosch East. “The unjust apartheid laws disturbed and dispersed a lot of families on this land to various parts of the peninsula. Getting this land back and going forward with this development has put the family back together. Now we are united in promoting this brand in Constantia,” said Rashaad. Shrif ...

Fatima Al-Fihri was born in the area that is known as Tunisia today. Her family migrated from their original home to the city of Fez in Morocco in the ninth century. Fatima’s family was blessed with prosperity. Her father, Muhammad bin Abdullah Al-Fihri, had become a successful businessman in Fez. Fatima and her sister, Mariam, were both well educated. After the deaths of Fatima’s husband, father, and brother in short succession, Fatima and her sister received a sizeable inheritance from their father’s wealth, which ensured their financial independence. Fatima and Mariam were visionary women. Observing that the local mosques in Fez were becoming overcrowded with the growing population of worshipers, many of whom were refugees from Islamic Spain, Mariam built the grand Al-Andalus Mosque in the year 859. Fatima founded Al-Qarawiyyin Mosque, which was the largest mosque in North Africa. The mosque she built was a large complex and within its walls a university was built, which is still a part of the mosque to this day. Source: https://aboutislam.net/family-life/culture/worlds-first-university-founded-muslim-woman/#.XeJ8jGQJm4o.facebook