Khoja Shia Ithna Asheris in Lamu and Mombasa 1870-1930 - A Book by Zahir Bhalloo

About Book

KHOJA SHIA ITHNA-ASHERIES IN LAMU AND MOMBASA, 1870-1930 a book written BY ZAHIR BHALLOO

Authors Note

A chance meeting outside Fort Jesus, Mombasa, with Cynthia Salvadori, author of the remarkable three volume We Came in Dhows, was what first inspired me to record stories and anecdotes about Ithna-Asheri pioneers at the turn of the century. Cynthia was fortunate enough to interview late Hussein Abdalla Jaffer and late Gulamali G.A. Datoo; scions of two pioneer Ithna-Asheri families of Mombasa. I decided to carry on where she left off and began to interview as many old members of the community as I could. Of course I never intended to nor indeed was it possible to record every story. The few I did are published here along with historical notes, photographs and newspaper clippings.

• Ramadan 1429/September 2008 - Mombasa, Kenya

History of Lamu

In about 1870, Dewji Jamal, a rich Ithna-Asheri merchant of Bombay and Zanzibar established a branch of his company Dewji Jamal & Co in Lamu which was then the chief port of Kenya. Besides this solitary venture there is no record of Khoja Shia IthnaAsheris on the island until 1880. The period 1880-1890 witnessed a large number of Ithnaasheri arrivals in Lamu. Most of the new arrivals came from Kutch or Kathiawad but some also came from older Khoja settlements along the East African coast like Bagamoyo, Zanzibar and Kilwa. When they arrived most were already “Ithna-Asheri” and it is likely that only a very small number of Khojas actually seceded in Lamu. Late Hussein Abdalla Jaffer, a great-grandson of Dewji Jamal remembers that while his grandfather Jaffer Dewji was in Lamu he often used to help Ismaili Khojas and invite them for religious majlises. After some time a number of them left the jamatkhana and joined the Ithna-Asheris.1 Dewji Jamal (from Hussein A. Jaffer) In 1883 seven sons of Kanji Asani left Jamkhambalia (near Jamnagar) in Kathiawad and arrived in Lamu after a forty day journey by dhow. Of the seven, five, Dewji Kanji, Daya Kanji, Panju Kanji, Samji Kanji, Ramji Kanji became Ithna-asheris. Each of the brothers established shops in Lamu town from where they carried out a flourishing import export business. A great grandson of Dewji Kanji, Jafferali Merali, who was born in Lamu in 1919, describes the family business: “At that time Lamu did a great deal of trade, with Mombasa, Somalia and direct to India. The dhows anchored off Lamu town, and the steamers anchored off Shela. One of our main exports was the doum palm mat bags that were used in Zanzibar for packing cloves. Another was mangrove poles which went to the Gulf countries. We imported mainly rice, sugar, wheat and spices.”2 In 1885 one of Dewji Jamal’s sons, Nazerali Dewji, arrived in Lamu with his family from Zanzibar. A handwritten letter by John Kirk, the British Consul in Zanzibar, to his deputy in Lamu announces the new arrivals: “I have been asked to mention to you that Nazerali Deoji [sic] and his family have gone to settle in Lamu, and to say that he is the Agent of Deoji Jamal [sic] of this place, a British Indian. Also I would say that the family of Deoji Jamal including his Agent now at 1 From an interview with Hassan A.M.Jaffer. 2 Cynthia Salvadori, “Muharram in Lamu from an interview with Jafferali Merali”, We Came in Dhows v.1 ( Paperchase Kenya Ltd: Nairobi, 1996), 30-31 3 Lamu have formally left the Khoja sect and joined that of the K.Shias. They are still however British subjects. For leaving the Khojas the family has sometimes been annoyed by their former coreligionists.”3 The ‘family’ mentioned in the letter probably also included two of Nazerali Dewji’s younger brothers, Nasser Dewji and Jaffer Dewji, who were sent to manage the branch of Dewji Jamal & Co on the island. In 1887 Nazerali Dewji moved to Mombasa to establish a new branch of Dewji Jamal & Co. Because Khoja Shia Ithna-Asheris arriving in Lamu came with their families by 1895 the population of Khoja Shia Ithna-asheris had increased to about three hundred. Initially the Ithna-asheris met at individual homes to perform the ‘majlis’, ‘matam’ and other communal observances. In 1896 Dewji Jamal bought land for building a mosque-imambara. The Jamat meanwhile established a fund to raise the capital required to erect the mosque-imambara. Nasser Dewji supervised the construction and played a leading role in the collection efforts.4 In the same year Jaffer Dewji left for Mombasa to manage the Mombasa branch of Dewji Jamal & Co. Soon after Jaffer Dewji’s departure the Lamu Khoja Shia Ithna-asheri community plunged into a decade of communal discord. The internal factionalism which gripped the Lamu jamat in those days was not uncommon. The jamats at Zanzibar, Mombasa and Dar-es-Salam all faced similar challenges. Often in such cases social conflict resulted in the acquisition of new land for use as a cemetery or the building of new mosques and imambaras. This in turn helped to meet the demands of an increase in the size of the community once the conflict was resolved and the jamat was again reunited. Khoja Shia Ithna-Asheri Mosque, Lamu, Kenya (Photo by Author) 3 Cynthia Salvadori, We Came in Dhows, 30. 4 In 1901 Nasser Dewji died onboard a German ship while returning from pilgrimage to Mecca and was buried at sea. 4 In Lamu shortly after the conflict began, one faction, with the help contributions from Zanzibar, built a temporary new mosque outside the 1896 mosque-imambara. This was later re-built in the 1900’s with contributions from Jivraj Khatau, Jivraj Meghji and others who had left Mombasa’s “Bustani” (see below) into the splendid mosque that can be seen today on the Lamu the sea front. When the Lamu jamat reunited, this mosque became its main mosque, while the top floor of the older 1896 mosque-imambara was now used exclusively as an imambara. In the 1920’s and 30’s the population of the Lamu jamat began to decline steadily. By the end of the Second World War most Khojas had migrated to Mombasa. One reason for the migration was that Mombasa had displaced Lamu as the chief commercial port of Kenya. Another reason was the lack of adequate higher education facilities in Lamu, though it must be said the community did make efforts in this regard when Jiwan Visram established a school-madrasa on the island in the 1890’s.

Life in Lamu - From Interviews with Hussein Abdalla Jaffer Pardhan (AP)

Life in Lamu in the 1930’s was very simple. People would wake up in the morning and go for prayers. They would open their shops from 8:00- 12:00pm and then go home for lunch and to sleep. The shops would re-open again at 3:00pm until 6:00pm when people would go for maghrib prayers. After dinner some people would open their shops at half past eight to do book keeping until around 10:00pm when they would go to bed. The chairmen of the jamat in those days were Jaffer Panju, Hassan Walji, Molu Ramji and his brother Walji Ramji. Molu Ramji used to bring grain and other cargo from Mombasa and would export boriti (mangrove poles). Yes I remember Daya Kanji. He had a big shop in Lamu and was also into bringing cargo from Mombasa and shipping boriti and copra. Daya Kanji’s agent Abdulrasul Hirji Walji stayed in Faza where he would buy boriti. The Bohra Adamali Nurbhai and the Parsi Cowasjee were also in Faza. They used to come to Lamu once every six months for a hair cut. There was no electricity in the mosque; we had to use kerosene lamps. The imambara was upstairs. There were two ways of going up to the imambara; one way was from the bazaar and this was used by the ladies and the other was from the sea shore which was used by gents. Two staircases were built on either side. The local mullas were Mulla Jafferali Alibhai, Mulla Vallimohamed Merali Dewji, Mulla Mohammedali Nanji and Mulla Nanji Bhanji, who was a very old man at the time. The mullas would give waez and majlis in the imambara upstairs from the wooden minbar. Later on we used to have alims coming from outside Lamu. They would stay in the madrasa at the top which was converted into a guesthouse when there weren’t any children left. The purdah was strictly enforced in those days in Lamu. There was a wall with a wooden door in the middle of the imambara that was always closed. Next to the door was a window like the one in our mosque in Zanzibar. During niyyaz which was always at lunch time if the ladies needed anything extra they used to tap the window’s sill. Mwalimu Yusufu and Mwalimu Faraj used to teach the students Quran in the madrasa. On Thursday nights we would all go to the Chungani. Majlises were held there in the small building (now in ruins) with barazas outside. This building was built during the time of Molu Ramji. The oldest graves you can see in the Lamu Chungani today are of Daya Kanji, Damji Ramji, Molu Ramji, Walji Ramji, Alibhai Panju and Jaffer Panju.