Mohamed Said
JF-Expert Member
- Nov 2, 2008
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MAKTABA IMEPOKEA JARIDA LA KUMUENZI PROF. ABDALLA BUJRA (1938 – 2025)
Siku chache zilizopita alinipigia simu Prof. Mohamed Khalil Timamy kutoka Takaungu, Mombasa akaniambia kuwa anakwenda Malindi kuhudhuria kongamano la siku mbili lililotayarishwa na CODESRIA (Conference of Directors of Economics and Social Research Institute in Africa) kumkumbuka Prof. Abdalla Bujra.
Prof. Bujra alipata kuwa Executive Secretary wake wa pili wa taasisi hii.
(Msomaji niruhusu nitoke kidogo nje ya maudhui.
Takaungu ni kijiji nje kidogo ya Mombasa na ndipo kwao Prof. Ali Mazrui.
Siku nilipokutana na Prof. Mazrui Kampala mwaka wa 2003 kwa mara ya kwanza na kwa hakika hatukuonana tena nilimwambia kuwa nimefika kwao Takaungu na nimeuona msikiti wa Mazrui wenye miaka 400 pamoja na kisima chake bado kinatoa maji.
Prof. Mazrui alifurahi sana).
Prof. Khalil kanipa taarifa ile ya Kumbukumbu ya Prof. Abdalla Bujra kwani mimi na yeye kila tukikutana tutamzungumza Prof. Bujra na kusema kweli yeye khasa ndiyo anakuwa mzungumzaji na mie huwa msikilizaji na kuchukua ‘notes’’ kichwani kwangu.
Naamini si wengi wanamjua Prof. Bujra ingawa alipata kusomesha Chuo Kikuu Cha Dar es Salaam katika miaka ya 1970s.
Prof. Bujra ni gogo si kigogo.
Kwa nini hakufahamika sana ni historia ndefu inataka muda lakini kuna sababu kubwa mbili na mimi moja nimesoma katika jarida lake ni nyingine nimepata kutoka kwa Prof. Khalil.
Kwanza wanaomjua wanasema ni kutokana na tabia yake ya utulivu na pili ni kule yeye kuwa katika wasomi ambao wakipigwa vita na wakubwa wa dunia.
Tosheka na haya.
Mimi mara ya kwanza kumsikia Prof. Abdalla Bujra ilikuwa kutoka kinywa cha Shariff Salim Abdallah Salim (Sal Davis) wakati tunaandika kitabu cha maisha yake.
Nakuwekea kipande kutoka hicho kitabu ili uone mazingira ya miaka ya 1950 wakati vijana hawa kutoka Mombasa walipokuwa wanasoma Uingereza.
Sal Davis anaeleza alivyofika Manchester kusoma O level:
‘’Ali Mazrui was not there and was given an address and directed to go to Manchester.
I took a train from London to Manchester and there finally I met Ali Mazrui.
He was with two other people from Mombasa, Abdalla Bujra (later Professor Bujra working with the African Union in Addis Ababa) and Mohamed Abdulrahman known back in Mombasa by his nickname ‘Panya’ which in Kiswahili means ‘mouse’.
He was given this name because of his small built.
All of them together with Ali Mazrui were undergraduates at English universities.
Mazrui and I grew up together in the same house at Makadara.
This house belonged to my father Shariff Abdallah Salim.
Both Ali and I come from a very strong Muslim background.
Ali’s father Sheikh Al Amin Mazrui was the Chief Kadhi of Kenya.
Ali Mazrui was surprised to see how big I had become.
‘Salim you have grown this much I had bought some clothes but they won’t fit you.’
Ali Mazrui remarked. When he left for England, I was a little boy and now he was seeing me a teenager and in my full winter clothes, I must have looked much older than my age.
I stayed with Ali Mazrui for two months.
I slept in the same room with Mazrui and what I recall about him in those two months was that he used to read the whole night through.
Both Mazrui and Bujra were to marry white English girls.
I too came to follow their footsteps.’’
(Sal Davis: Reminiscences of the One and Only Kenyan International Pop Star)
Hii ndiyo ilikuwa mara yangu ya kwanza kulisikia jina la Prof. Abdalla Bujra.
Prof. Bujra ana mengi katika tasnia ya usomi bahati mbaya mimi sienei kumweleza katika mkondo huo.
Itoshe tu kusema kuwa Prof. Bujra alipewa Uraia wa Heshima na Meles Zewawi, Waziri Mkuu wa Ethiopia.
Ukimsikiliza Prof. Mohamed Khalil Timamy akimweleza Prof. Abdalla Bujra ndiyo utamwelewa.
Mimi nitasimama hapa na kuhitimisha kwa kusema kuwa Prof. Abdalla Bujra alikuja Tanzania na akawa Mkurugenzi wa Centre for Islamic Cultural Heritage Muslim University of Morogoro (MUM) idara hii ilikuwa Kilwa.
MUM ilianzisha idara hii ili kufanya utafiti wa utamaduni wa Kiislam Mwambao wa Pwani.
Maktaba imefarijika sana kupokea kutokea kwa rafiki yake Prof. Mohamed Khalil Timamy jarida hili lililojaa kumbukumbu ya msomi huyu mashuhuri kutoka Malindi.
Siku chache zilizopita alinipigia simu Prof. Mohamed Khalil Timamy kutoka Takaungu, Mombasa akaniambia kuwa anakwenda Malindi kuhudhuria kongamano la siku mbili lililotayarishwa na CODESRIA (Conference of Directors of Economics and Social Research Institute in Africa) kumkumbuka Prof. Abdalla Bujra.
Prof. Bujra alipata kuwa Executive Secretary wake wa pili wa taasisi hii.
(Msomaji niruhusu nitoke kidogo nje ya maudhui.
Takaungu ni kijiji nje kidogo ya Mombasa na ndipo kwao Prof. Ali Mazrui.
Siku nilipokutana na Prof. Mazrui Kampala mwaka wa 2003 kwa mara ya kwanza na kwa hakika hatukuonana tena nilimwambia kuwa nimefika kwao Takaungu na nimeuona msikiti wa Mazrui wenye miaka 400 pamoja na kisima chake bado kinatoa maji.
Prof. Mazrui alifurahi sana).
Prof. Khalil kanipa taarifa ile ya Kumbukumbu ya Prof. Abdalla Bujra kwani mimi na yeye kila tukikutana tutamzungumza Prof. Bujra na kusema kweli yeye khasa ndiyo anakuwa mzungumzaji na mie huwa msikilizaji na kuchukua ‘notes’’ kichwani kwangu.
Naamini si wengi wanamjua Prof. Bujra ingawa alipata kusomesha Chuo Kikuu Cha Dar es Salaam katika miaka ya 1970s.
Prof. Bujra ni gogo si kigogo.
Kwa nini hakufahamika sana ni historia ndefu inataka muda lakini kuna sababu kubwa mbili na mimi moja nimesoma katika jarida lake ni nyingine nimepata kutoka kwa Prof. Khalil.
Kwanza wanaomjua wanasema ni kutokana na tabia yake ya utulivu na pili ni kule yeye kuwa katika wasomi ambao wakipigwa vita na wakubwa wa dunia.
Tosheka na haya.
Mimi mara ya kwanza kumsikia Prof. Abdalla Bujra ilikuwa kutoka kinywa cha Shariff Salim Abdallah Salim (Sal Davis) wakati tunaandika kitabu cha maisha yake.
Nakuwekea kipande kutoka hicho kitabu ili uone mazingira ya miaka ya 1950 wakati vijana hawa kutoka Mombasa walipokuwa wanasoma Uingereza.
Sal Davis anaeleza alivyofika Manchester kusoma O level:
‘’Ali Mazrui was not there and was given an address and directed to go to Manchester.
I took a train from London to Manchester and there finally I met Ali Mazrui.
He was with two other people from Mombasa, Abdalla Bujra (later Professor Bujra working with the African Union in Addis Ababa) and Mohamed Abdulrahman known back in Mombasa by his nickname ‘Panya’ which in Kiswahili means ‘mouse’.
He was given this name because of his small built.
All of them together with Ali Mazrui were undergraduates at English universities.
Mazrui and I grew up together in the same house at Makadara.
This house belonged to my father Shariff Abdallah Salim.
Both Ali and I come from a very strong Muslim background.
Ali’s father Sheikh Al Amin Mazrui was the Chief Kadhi of Kenya.
Ali Mazrui was surprised to see how big I had become.
‘Salim you have grown this much I had bought some clothes but they won’t fit you.’
Ali Mazrui remarked. When he left for England, I was a little boy and now he was seeing me a teenager and in my full winter clothes, I must have looked much older than my age.
I stayed with Ali Mazrui for two months.
I slept in the same room with Mazrui and what I recall about him in those two months was that he used to read the whole night through.
Both Mazrui and Bujra were to marry white English girls.
I too came to follow their footsteps.’’
(Sal Davis: Reminiscences of the One and Only Kenyan International Pop Star)
Hii ndiyo ilikuwa mara yangu ya kwanza kulisikia jina la Prof. Abdalla Bujra.
Prof. Bujra ana mengi katika tasnia ya usomi bahati mbaya mimi sienei kumweleza katika mkondo huo.
Itoshe tu kusema kuwa Prof. Bujra alipewa Uraia wa Heshima na Meles Zewawi, Waziri Mkuu wa Ethiopia.
Ukimsikiliza Prof. Mohamed Khalil Timamy akimweleza Prof. Abdalla Bujra ndiyo utamwelewa.
Mimi nitasimama hapa na kuhitimisha kwa kusema kuwa Prof. Abdalla Bujra alikuja Tanzania na akawa Mkurugenzi wa Centre for Islamic Cultural Heritage Muslim University of Morogoro (MUM) idara hii ilikuwa Kilwa.
MUM ilianzisha idara hii ili kufanya utafiti wa utamaduni wa Kiislam Mwambao wa Pwani.
Maktaba imefarijika sana kupokea kutokea kwa rafiki yake Prof. Mohamed Khalil Timamy jarida hili lililojaa kumbukumbu ya msomi huyu mashuhuri kutoka Malindi.
