kramat, noun

/kraˈmat/
Forms:
Also karamat.
Origin:
Malay, ArabicShow more Adaptation of Malay keramat holy place or person, or (adjective) of a miraculous nature, sacred, from Arabic karamat, plural form of karama a miracle worked by a holy man other than a prophet.
In the Cape Malay community: an Islamic shrine, usually the tomb of a holy man. Also attributive.
Note:
Also occasionally called mazaar (see quotation 1984), a word found also in Indian English.
[1833 S. Afr. Almanac & Dir. 156A tomb of a celebrated Malay Priest, near the farm Zandvliet, is frequently visited by the Mahomedans, and where they perform Divine Service, or what is called Grammat.]
1883 ‘A Cape Colonist’ Cape Malays 10About twenty-five miles from Cape Town, near the mouth of the Eerste River, is a spot designated the Kramat, the grave of an influential priest who was buried there, and to whose shrine a visit is often paid by the Malays.
1900 W.W. Skeat Malay Magic 61There is usually in every small district a holy place known as the kramat.
1910 D. Fairbridge That Which Hath Been (1913) 270Near the sand hills and the sea lies the kopje on the summit of which is the little white mosque, the kramat, which marks to this day the resting-place of Sheik Yussuf.
1910 R. Juta Cape Peninsula 111There is a sepulchre which is called the ‘Kramat,’ or resting place of a holy man.
1926 C.G. Botha Place Names in Cape Prov. 87The Sheik, his family and a large number of followers were located near the place where he lies buried and [which] is now known as the Kramat.
c1936 S. & E. Afr. Yr Bk & Guide 466In 1930, the Malay community announced the discovery by revelation of a Kramat (burial place of a saint) at a spot about the high level road.
1944 I.D. Du Plessis Cape Malays 7This karamat is one of a series which stretches round the Cape peninsula to form a rough circle. Every Muslim believes that all followers of the prophet who live within this circle are safe from fire, famine, plague, earthquake and tidal wave.
1947 L.G. Green Tavern of Seas 136Followers of the Prophet listening to the reading of the Koran within the ‘kramat’.
1949 E. Hellmann Handbk on Race Rel. 591The vast majority live within a half-moon area bounded by these holy Karamats (shrines) to which pilgrimages by the Faithful are made. These tombs are on Robben Island in the north, Signal Hill, Faure in the East, Constantia and Oude Kraal in the South.
1969 Drum June 51With..1,000 South African political prisoners just a stone’s throw away, this ‘kramat’ for a political refugee from Java was sanctified with ceremony and prayers.
1971 Drum July 55The Karamat singers will chant the sacred Islamic music.
1984 Cape Times 17 Oct. (advt)The Cape Mazaar (Kramat) Society (Est. 1982) Wish to inform the public the abovenamed society is the only official body maintaining most of the kramats/mazaars including the kramat on Robben Island.
1985 S. Afr. Panorama Jan. 20The sheik’s kramat (sacred tomb) at Faure..is more greatly esteemed by the Cape Malays than any other in the Cape Peninsula.
1987 Flying Springbok Oct. 49A green-domed kramat.
1990 Weekend Argus 10 Feb. (Weekender) 4We would pass a Malay kramat where there were always vases of everlastings, stone jars containing strange concotions and cloth coverings.
1992 S. Afr. Panorama Nov.–Dec. 8Another regular visitors’ group is the Moslems who go there to worship at the Kramat, or sacred grave, of Abdurahman Motura, a Moslem leader who died on the island.
an Islamic shrine, usually the tomb of a holy man. Also attributive.
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krakeling, nounn.kranskoppie, nounn.
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