Makala...
Unatonesha kidonda.
Kila shughuli mji huu wa Dar es Salaam wakiwarehemu masheikh jina la kwanza ni la Sheikh Hassan bin Ameir.
Saigon Club kila mwaka inafanywa khitma na jina la kwanza huwa la Mufti Sheikh Hassan bin Ameir.
Mwaka wa 2004 nilialikwa Zanzibar University kutoa mada kuhusu Sheikh Hassan bin Ameir.
Nilifungua mhadhara wangu kwa mukadama huo hapo chini baada ya Bismillah Rahman Rahim:
''The name of Mufti Sheikh Hassan bin Ameir like the names of many other Muslim patriots is omitted from the political history of Tanzania.
[1]
There is no place in the official history in which his name is mentioned even in passing.
Hassan bin Ameir’s name began to feature in early 1980’s when Muslims privately began to research and document their role in the independence struggle as a reflection to their marginalisation in distribution of power.
As a result of this Sheikh Hassan bin Ameir’s name soon came to the fore and was associated not only with politics and equal power sharing between Muslims and Christians but also with efforts by Muslims to build educational institutions.
Having accomplished his role as a patriot and a symbol of mass mobilisation under TANU during the struggle he resigned from politics soon after Tanganyika achieved its independence in 1961 and through his organisation Dawa’t Islamiyya concentrated on serving Islam and Muslims.
This shift was to create an unprecedented confrontation between himself and the then President of Tanzania Julius Nyerere.
On the order of the President, Sheikh Hassan bin Ameir was arrested for ‘subversion’ and deported to Zanzibar and the EAWMS of which Sheikh Hassan bin Ameir was among its leaders declared an ‘illegal’ society.
In its place BAKWATA was formed to replace the EAMWS.
The reverberations of this clash between these two giants of titanic magnitude are being felt as we speak today likewise the vacuum left by the EAMWS has not been filled.
Consequently the political climate and relations between Muslims and the government was not to be the same again.
In the same breath relations between Muslims and BAKWATA to say the least has been lukewarm.
Muslims perceive BAKWATA as a puppet organisation and just to mention the name leaves a bad taste in the mouth.
To refer to a Muslim as a BAKWATA Muslim is like calling a Christian a disciple of Judas Iscariot who betrayed Jesus for thirty pieces of silver.
As to Nyerere, history is yet to judge him.
But one can not be knowledgeable to all this in the absence of the political history of Sheikh Hassan bin Ameir.
There are however, contrary voices disputing Sheikh Hassan bin Ameir’s political carrier.
These voices are originating from some of his students questioning his role in politics.
Students of Sheikh Hassan bin Ameir prefer to remember him as a brilliant ‘ulamaa’, an outstanding translator of the Qur’an
[2] and not as a politician.
Sheikh Hassan bin Ameir’s ‘silsila’ goes back to Sayyidna A’li b. Abu T’alib and Rasuli Lahi (SAW).
Understandingly his students do not want to taint this with what they perceive as ‘trifles’.
But reality and history takes exception to this.
This stand if allowed to flourish would wipe out and obscure an important period in Sheikh Hassan bin Ameir’s life and hence erase a significant chapter in the nation’s history.
Along with it, the country will also lose his thoughts, teachings and aspirations, which made him what he is in the history of Tanganyika.
We will also not be able to uncover the forces behind marginalisation of Muslims.
This information is vital to Muslims and has to be accessible to all and sundry.
The truth however still remains that Sheikh Hassan bin Ameir was in deed a politician who played a leading role in Tanganyika’s struggle for independence.
[3]
Muslims or his obedient students should be the last persons to question Sheikh Hassan bin Ameir’s political carrier.''
Mhadhara mzima huo hapo chini:
Seminar on The Role of Educated Youth to Muslim Society 27 th February – 4 th March 2004 ORGANISED BY ZANZIBAR UNIVERS...
mohamedsaidsalum.blogspot.com
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