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SHEIKH
HARITH AL-AMIN MAZRUI
Lamu
district magistrate, honourary
Game Warden AND AN ISLAMIC SCHOLAR
Coastweek
- - Death of Sheikh Harith
al-Amin
marks the end of an era of decent and honourable men.
Sheikh Harith was a
gentleman's gentleman.
He had a long and an
interesting life with a distinguished career in the administration
when Kenya was a Colony, and the Coast a Protectorate.
His were the days when
corruption was a word that was anathema to civil servants and to all
honest men.
Because of his
integrity, Sheikh Harith was appointed an honourary Game Warden in the
Lamu District; he was also the local magistrate in the good old Lamu
of yore, and his knowledge of Islamic jurisprudence was enormous.
He could quote the Holy
Kuran with absolute ease on various issues and spoke with authority on
Al-Ghazali as well as Al-Bukhari, two of the greatest
Islamic scholars known to the West.
Sheikh Harith al-Amin
comes from a distinguished family of clerics.
His father, translated
and interpreted various chapters of the Holy Koran into Kiswahili and
was held in awe by all the learned scholars of his time.
He was half-brother to
Professor Ali Mazrui.
He will be sadly missed
by relatives and friends for his wisdom, gentleness, hospitality and
humourous demeanour.
- Nabeel
Mohamed Al-Afghani, Istanbul, Turkey.
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