A’ashura – O Husain!

Contributed by Mohamedarif Suleman (Dar es Salaam, Tanzania)

“I learnt from Husain how to achieve victory while being oppressed”

– Mahatma Gandhi (Indian statesman)

“The best lesson which we get from the tragedy of Karbala is that Husain and his companions were rigid believers in God.  The victory of Husain, despite his minority, marvels me!”

– Thomas Carlyle (Scottish historiam and essayist)

“In a distant age and climate, the tragic scene of the death of Husain will awaken the sympathy of the coldest reader!”

– Edward Gibbon (English historian and MP)

“If Husain had fought to quench his worldly desires…then I do not understand why his sister, wife and children accompanied him.  It stands to reason, therefore, that he sacrificed purely for Islam”

– Charles Dickens (English novelist)

About the author

Mohamedarif is a marketing professional and educationalist with a penchant for writing as a hobby since childhood. As he experimented writing about sporting events at first and then current affairs, he quickly developed a skill for observation of his environment and began to write on reform topics, especially in connection with the community. To further feed his pursuit of writing, he founded several newsletters and bulletins at his school and at the Husayni Madrasah in the 1980's, all the time learning from others already in the field not just about writing, but also about pre-press and production processes. He was also the editor-in-chief of the Knowledge Magazine in 1995–1996. A decade later, importing a flurry of ideas into his new home, Nairobi, he first founded a two page community newspaper then became a regular writer of the Friday Faculty before establishing the Community on Friday, a fully fledged Madrasah magazine in 1996. And while his writing at the community continued, he simultaneously started writing for a business weekly, pairing in with his newfound role as a marketing professional. During his time in Nairobi, he wrote several speeches for sitting chairmen and presidents while also giving some himself, developing his concurrent role as a public speaker and trainer.

With changing times and a decrease in advertising sponsorship, as well as a fall in overall readership, Mohamedarif transformed this publication into an electronic blog. Thus was born the Community on Friday in its present format.

Leave a Reply