Sayed Moegsien bin Alawie al-Aidarus

Sayed Moegsien bin Alawie al-Aidarus was born in Hadramawt, in the mountains of southern Yemen, a descendant of the Prophet, peace be upon him. As a young man he moved to Mombasa in Kenya, where he married Mariam, who had come from Hyderabad in India.

In 1909 he came to Cape Town to teach. He stayed for ten years, returned for a time to Mombasa, and in 1927 came back to the Cape to continue his work. Here he married Khadija Kamrudien Parker, and they had a daughter.

Many stories are told of him. The best known describes a visit to Rhodes Zoo, when doubters challenged his standing. He asked to enter the lions' enclosure, and the leader of the pride lay down at his feet and placed its paw on his hand. Companions also remembered taking the ferry to Robben Island and finding him already at the shrine of Sayed Abdurahman Motura, deep in dhikr.

He is remembered above all for identifying the kramats of Sheikh Noorul Mubeen at Oudekraal and Sayed Jaffer at Bakoven, and for his devotion to Shaykh Yusuf, whose kramat at Faure he visited often. He is buried in Mowbray cemetery.