Al-Huda Foundation
THE PROPHETS OF ISLAM
ABOUT
THE AUTHOR
Syed
Muhammad Hussain Shamsi was born on December 24, 1878 at Narowal, District
Sialkot, British India. He lost his
father at an early age. Even at a
young and tender age, he started to work to help his mother and younger sibs.
He left home for the tiny State of Jammu for education, about thirty
miles north of Narowal. He was a brilliant student of the oriental languages, English
and Biblical Studies. He scored the
second highest position in Biblical Studies in the Panjab University examination
for the entire region.
He
had a passion for the healing sciences, but the mundane need for survival took
its priority. After matriculation,
destiny took him to the newly opened territory of Kenya. He enrolled to work for the British Railways in Kenya.
Here he found himself to be one of the few educated people.
He saw a unique opportunity to serve a nascent Muslim Community in a
strange new land. He led the ritual
prayers for them, attended to their funerals, weddings and answered their
questions on Islamic Fiqh related to their daily lives.
He led and participated in several interfaith debates and dialogues about
Islam. All this essentially
stimulated him to remain up-to-date in Islamic and other non- Islamic
literature. In so doing, he built
up a large personal library of reference books which people borrowed to read on
their own.
He
was committed to education, propagation and the defence of his faith.
Towards this end, he started evening and week end schools for the young
and the adults, and initially used his own premises for most activities.
As
the community enlarged, he participated actively to build the first mosque in
Nairobi, and to employ an alim (a Muslim minister and a jurist) to carry
out the daily religious practices. However
he continued his services at a personal level throughout his life.
He
died in Mayo Hospital, Lahore on October 18, 1962 attended by his youngest son
who was a medical student at that time. His
passion came to fruition. He saw
his son in the Medical School and in his service by his bed side.
He was buried besides his father in their family cemetary at Narowal, Pakistan.