In this series, we look briefly at the life and achievements of the Ulama and Mashaaikh of PE/Uitenhage. The profiling is in no particular order.
Name: Muhammad Hussein
Born: 1960 in Lilongwe, Malawi
Moulana Hussein is married with 3 children. He completed matric and primary Islamic education in Malawi. Among his teachers were Sheikh Idriss and Sheikh Ibadullah.
Moulana was a talented soccer player, competing in the Malawi premier league. He worked as a civil servant. In 1980, he was chosen with 4 others to get air force training in Israel. This was the turning point in his life as his father refused permission and asked him to study Islam instead.
Moulana entered Jamia Islamiya Newtown, Pakistan in 1983. He spent 9 years there, obtaining his BA and MA degrees in Islamic studies and completed the Iftaa course. Among his teachers were Moulana Habeebullah Mukhtaar, Dr Abdur Razaq Iskandiri, Mufti Nizaamuddeen, Mufti Razaul Haq and Moulana Abu Samee.
In 1992, Moulana AS Desai invited Moulana Hussein to teach in South Africa, an offer he accepted and started teaching Islamic studies in Musjidul Fuqara, Malabar under Mufti Siraj Desai. Among his students was Moulana Muhsin Mbotoli, Moulana Ihsaan Ahmed and a host of others. He taught Sharh Wiqaayah and Nahw and currently lectures in Hadith and Fiqh in Darul Uloom Abubakr, PE.
Moulana performed Umrah in 1992 and Hajj in 1997. He heads the Da’wah department of the Council of Ulama Eastern Cape and was instrumental in organising relief aid for Malawi as well locally as in the floods in 2006. He also spearheads welfare organization and distribution for the Council of Ulama via several initiatives.
Moulana Muhammad Hussein
Islamic Focus 45 May 2007
