Jamiatul Ulama South Africa

The Jamiatul Ulama Transvaal has been criticised for its largely apolitical stance during the apartheid era. The organization, unlike its counterpart in KwaZulu-Natal, the Jamiatul Ulama KwaZulu-Natal was accused by more activist ulema at the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of not speaking out against the tricameral system, which denied black South Africans political power, while giving limited rights to Coloureds and Indians.

The organization owns and manages a community radio station called Radio Islam that broadcasts on the Witwatersrand. A complaint was made by a progressive Muslim organization to the Independent Broadcasting Authority in 1998 that the radio station was not allowing women to be heard on air. The station argued that Islam does not allow women's voices to be heard. The authority ruled against the station, and in response, the station collected a petition of 28 000 names from women, who it claimed, supported the decision to bar women from the airwaves. The station has since changed its policy and now has substantial participation from women.

The organization again made headlines in 2006 when it obtained an interdict against several South African newspaper companies in the Johannesburg High Court against the republishing of cartoons depicting the Islamic prophet, Muhammad. See: Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons controversy. This case raised important questions about the limits of freedom of expression in South Africa.