Relatives and friends yesterday gathered in Mombasa Old town to mourn renowned scholar Ali Alamin Mazrui who died on Sunday in New York in the US after a long illness.
Prof Mazrui hailed from an influential family that ruled Coast in pre-independence Kenya.
A relative and immediate former Chief Kadhi Sheikh Hamad Kassim Mazrui said the body is expected at the weekend at the 900-year-old Mazrui graveyard adjacent to Fort Jesus Museum at the heart of Mombasa old town.
"Prof Mazrui wished to be buried at the family cemetery established 900 years ago. Preparations to bring the body home begin on Wednesday," Kassim said.
Mazrui was born on February 24 ,1933, in Mombasa.
Family and friends yesterday remembered the renowned professor's humble journey to stardom from a makuti (palm frond) school structure at the Arab Primary School, now Serani Primary School, where he received his early education between 1940 and 1949.
His primary school classmate Prof Mohamed Hyder mourned Mazrui yesterday, describing him as an accomplished debater and excellent speaker and writer.
Mazrui later went to Arab Secondary School, the present Khamis Secondary School.
He was employed at the age of 15 as a cleric at the Mombasa Institute of Muslim Education (Miome), now Technical University of Mombasa (Tum).
While at Miome, he met the then governor of colonial Kenya Sir Philip Mitchel who was impressed by his brilliance. Sir Philip facilitated his scholarship to Huddersfield Technical College in England in 1955 and later University of Manchester where he obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree with a distinction.
He then proceeded to Columbia University, New York, for his Masters degree and later to England to pursue his doctorate degree at Oxford University.
Meanwhile, Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture Technology (JKUAT) acting Academic Affairs Deputy Vice Chancellor David Mulla said Mazrui was very passionate about the university and took every chance he got to hype it internationally.
"He never failed to talk about JKUAT outside Kenya and this put the university in the world map," Mulla told The Standard yesterday.
Mazrui was the chancellor of JKUAT.
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