Kenya’s great Shiite scholar passed away + Brief biography

News Africa and Arab countries

Tuesday, 11 January 2022

Sheikh Abdullahi Nasser, a prominent Kenyan Shiite cleric who played a key role in the spread of Shiism in Africa, passed away at the age of 90.

Sheikh Abdullahi Nasser, a prominent Kenyan Shiite cleric who played a key role in the spread of Shiism in Africa, passed away at the age of 90.

The deceased was a member of the General Assembly of the AhlulBayt (a.s.) World Assembly and spent half a century of his blessed life promoting the teachings of the Quran and the AhlulBayt (a.s.) and proving the legitimacy of Imam Ali (a.s.) and the school of the AhlulBayt (a.s.).

The Jamaat-e-Islami Mombasa (KSI) announced the details of the funeral of the late Haj Sheikh Abdullahi Nasser as follows:

“Today, Tuesday, January 11, 2022, at 16:15, the funeral prayer will be held in Al-Hasanin Mosque. Then, the funeral will be held, and the believers will move to Ganjuni Cemetery, along the road of Archbishop Makarios, next to Ganjuni Beach Hospital, Mombasa. Attendees are required to follow the Covid-19 health protocols.

A brief biography of the late Haj Sheikh Abdullahi Nasser Jumaa

Abdullahi Nasser Jumaa was born in 1932 in Mombasa, Kenya. His family was known as the cradle of scholars, poets, and teachers.

After religious studies, as a preacher and teacher he promoted and taught Islamic teachings, and simultaneously was active in literary, media and political fields.

As a young man, he was an activist in the Kenyan independence movement from British colonial rule from 1957 to 1963, and after the movement won, he attended a historic constitutional conference at London’s Lancaster House, set up for independence from the British Empire.

From 1965 to 1973, he worked as a Swahili language editor with Oxford University Press in Nairobi, and from 1974 to 1977 he was the director general of the Oxford University Press office in East Africa.

A former prominent Mombasa Sunni preacher and scholar, Abdullahi Nasser converted to Shiism in 1975. In an interview, on the reasons of his conversion to Shiism, he said,” I became acquainted with the virtues of Imam Ali (a.s.) and gradually felt that Ali ibn Abi Talib (a.s.) is the greatest Muslim after the Prophet Muhammad (p.b.u.h). Then, I received the book Al-Ghadir, written by the late Allameh Amini. After reading the first volume, I realized the legitimacy of the Shiites. Then I went to the Shiite Mosque, and after that I read a lot of books and finally, I became a Shiite.”

After becoming a Shiite, by writing numerous books during his blessed life, Haj Abdullahi Nasser played a lasting role in spreading the teachings of the AhlulBayt (a.s.) and educating many in Kenya and neighboring countries.

He established the seminary of Imam Ali (a.s.) in Mombasa, in which, hundreds of clerics from Kenya and neighboring countries were trained in the highest levels of knowledge and religion and spread Islamic and Shiite teachings among their people.

Also, over the past few decades, with his vast knowledge of the Islamic history and the principles of Shiite beliefs, the prominent scholar held numerous debates with Wahhabi scholars in Kenya and defended the school of AhlulBayt (a.s.).

The late Abdullahi Nasser wrote more than 25 books and pamphlets about Islam and Shiism in Swahili, some of which have been translated and published in English and Rwandan. Among the valuable books he wrote on Shiite beliefs are the following:

- The Shiites and the Quran

- The Shiites and Hadith

- The Shiites and the Companions

- The Shiites and piety

- The Shiites and the Imamate

The book “Shia and Taqiyya” is one of his prominent works in response to a book published forty years ago by Moheb al-Din Khatib, entitled “General Lines” in Arabic, and 10 years ago as “Roots of the Shiite Religion” in Swahili, which had raised doubts among Muslims in Africa. In “Shia and Taqiyya”, the late Abdullahi Nasser deals with the concept of Taqiyya from the Shiite point of view. About his book he said, “Given the doubts that have arisen about the issue of Taqiyya in Africa, I considered it necessary to prepare this book and make it available to the public, so that, firstly, the doubts that has arisen can be removed, and secondly, the people can become familiar with the concept of Taqiyya.”

This book has four chapters which are as follows:

1- What is Taqqiya?

2- The problems of the Shiites during the time of the Umayyads and the Abbasids;

3- Taqiyya from the Sunnis point of view;

4- Taqiyya from the Shiite point of view.

Also, the series of Sheikh Abdullahi Nasser’s speeches in the form of cassettes and audio-visual files is still distributed among the Muslims of Kenya, especially in the Indian Ocean coast areas. These speeches have been one of the motivating factors for the natives of Africa to convert to the religion of the AhlulBayt (a.s.), and turn them away from extremism and takfiri ideas.

During his life, the Wahhabis and their affiliates carried out many activities against him and tried to turn him away from Shiism through bribery and threats, but they failed.

The late Abdullahi Nasser was for a time the representative of the city of Mombasa in the Kenyan parliament and was very popular among the people.

He also served as a member of the General Assembly of the AhlulBayt (a.s.) World Assembly in this international non-governmental organization, and by participating in various national and regional meetings and conferences, he influenced Islamic intellectuals and scholars in East African countries.

Self-respect, dignity, moderation, and abundant moral virtues made this divine and insightful scholar a spiritual role model for young people.

In the last years of his blessed life, he was translating and interpreting the Holy Quran into Swahili, and finally, after a lifetime of research and promotion of the teachings of Thaqalayn (Quran and Ahl al-Bayt), he passed away on Monday, January 11, 2022.

His body was buried in Ganjuni Cemetery in Mombasa after the funeral by mourning believers.

“Indeed, we belong to Allah and to Him do we indeed return” (Holy Quran 2:156)

To read the message of condolence of the AhlulBayt (a.s.) World Assembly on the demise of the late Haj Sheikh Abdullahi Nasser, click here.

AhlulBayt (a_s_) World Assembly biography Kenya scholar Shiite