The Muslim Judicial Council (MJC) has issued a fatwa (ban) ordering Muslims not to buy a CD produced and performed by a Cape Town couple because it contains a Qur'anic verse and the Christian 'Lord's Prayer' in the same song.
The fatwa was issued on June 8 by an MJC mufti (an Islamic scholar who is an interpreter of Islamic law), maulana Yusuf Karaan.
The music was soon afterwards banned from being played on the local Muslim community radio station, Voice of the Cape (VOC).
Now, Yusuf Ganief, former Cape Town Festival chief executive officer, who sings to music composed by his wife, Lynne Holmes-Ganief, are considering legal action against the MJC for what they claim is an "unconstitutional fatwa" because they feel proper processes were not followed.
Holmes-Ganief runs the record label Desert Rose, which produces classical and spiritual world music. Ganief is lead vocalist and the couple work with a core group of singers and musicians.
"We are slowly losing everything we've been working for. Shops have stopped stocking our music, CDs have been returned and invitations to perform have dried up," he said.
Ganief, who left his job to pursue a music career with his wife, has been forced to re-enter the job market following the ban.
Both had high hopes that their latest CD, The Awakening, released in April, would help promote Islam as a religion of peace. But this changed after a live performance of the track, called the Lord's Dua (the Lord's Prayer) at a conference in Cape Town earlier this year.
One of the senior members of the ulema (Muslim leadership) expressed concern about the track, which included both the Qur'anic verse, the Fatiha, with an original Gregorian version of the Lord's Prayer. Loosely translated the Fatiha means "the opening" and is one of the most important verses in the Qur'an.
The MJC subsequently issued a fatwa which stated that Islam frowned on music played with musical instruments.
The MJC also stated that it was wrong to put the Fatiha and the Lord's Prayer together because, as far as the council was concerned, the Fatiha is the word of Allah, whereas something quoted as being sacred words from the Bible was not. The MJC also said recording both together could be an attempt to join the religions.
The couple said they were not consulted by those who took the fatwa.
Ganief said he was "disgusted" that the CD had been lauded by Christians but not by his own faith.
"I am a bit disappointed in the Muslim community because the same community will rally for people who are treated unfairly in Palestine, yet none of them bother to defend or assist members of their community living on their doorstep. I wonder if those who have taken this fatwa ever considered the damage and suffering they have caused me and my family," he said.
Holmes-Ganief said she had not put music behind the Fatiha, but rather the element of wind sounds.
"Being in an intercultural marriage myself, I find it shocking that the Muslim leadership has issued this most unholy fatwa," she said.
Meanwhile, Voice of the Cape programme manager Munadia Karaan said the station had only banned their latest album and not the group or any of their other their work. The station's religious panel had taken this decision after considering the track and the fatwa.
"We are still playing the rest of their music; the work they are doing is phenomenal. If the track in question is not on the CD, we will have no problem promoting it," she said.
The couple's work has received praise from other quarters. In June Musica selected four Desert Rose albums as part of its Critics Choice list.
Father John Oliver, chairman of the Cape Town Interfaith Initiative said: "At every performance of the song hearts are opened, Christians and Muslims look at one other and say 'here at least we are one'.
"We trust that the VOC will reconsider its position and continue its own vision of promoting good interfaith relations."
The MJC could not be reached for comment.