Beacon Of Light ----------Mr. Justice Ismail Muhammed

Mr. Justice Ismail Muhammed was born in Pretoria, his parents were Indian merchants.He is one of the Memons who have raised the image of the whole Memon community. He has become number one in the field of judiciary of a country which till recently was under the yoke of apartheid.
The eldest son amongst six children, he matriculated in Pretoria, completed his B. A. at the University of Witwatersrand, and a year later he did his B. A. Honours in Political Science with distinction. He completed his law in 1957 and was admitted to Johannesburg Bar because the Pretoria Bar was reserved for Whites only. When arguing appeals in Bloemfontein he was forced to leave across the border before dusk because of the ban on the presence of Asians in the Province to stay over night. Mr. Justice Ismail built extensive practice and in 1974 he became the country's first Black Silk from whose ranks judges of the Supreme Court were traditionally chosen.

He concentrated on human rights and appeared in numerous trials on behalf of leading anti-apartheid activists. In spite of his seniority at the Bar he was passed over on several occasions for judicial appointments with the result that he served as judge in neighbouring countries instead. He was appointed to the Appeals Court in Swaziland and as a Judge of Appeals in Lesotho. He later became chief justice of Namibia. He also co-chaired the conference for a democratic South Africa which eventually negotiated a democratic

In 1991, he was appointed permanent judge of South Africa. Two years later he was appointed acting judge of the Appellate Division. In 1994, he was appointed by President Nelson Mandela to serve on the country's first constitutional court. Because of major heart surgery, he missed the appointment to be president of the constitutional court for which he was strongly tipped and had to accept its deputy presidentship.


He has published many articles in law journals and lectured on human rights and jurisprudence at several institutions and universities throughout the world. He was made an honorary professor of law at Wits University in 1960 and received honorary doctorate in law from the Universities of Delhi, India and Natal, South Africa.

On May 18, 1992 he was awarded honorary degree of Doctor of Laws which was awarded by the University of Pennsylvania along with another Noble laureate Dr. Penizias. Most US newspapers gave prominent coverage to the thought-provoking address by Mr. Justice Ismail Muhammad to the University of Pennsylvania on the occasion of his getting honorary doctorate of Laws. In 1996, he was appointed Chairman of South Africa Law Commission, a statutory body which reviews and initiates legislation in the country. At the end of 1997 when the Chief Justice Michael Corbett retired, and voting was held for electing the new Chief Justice, Mr. Ismail Muhammad got 15 votes whereas only one vote was received by a White Judge, Mr. Justice Hennie Van Heerden, that of the outgoing Chief Justice. Muhammad died of pancreatic cancer in Johannesburg on 17 June 2000, shortly after leaving the bench