Outspoken Muslim cleric Sheikh Hassan Suleiman dies

Council of Imams and Preachers of Kenya (CIPK) Vice Chairman Sheikh Hassan Suleiman passed away on Sunday at his home in Guraya, Mombasa.

Sheikh Suleiman, aged 70 died. According to family members and colleagues at CIPK, the cleric had been suffering from kidney and heart problems for the last three years,

CIPK Organising Secretary Sheikh Mohammed Khalifa confirmed the death of Sheikh Suleiman, who has disappeared from public limelight for a while due to illness.

“He has been sick for a while and passed on few minutes ago. We have started burial arrangement which will take this (Sunday) evening,” added Sheikh Khalifa.

His body will be taken to Masjid Noor for special Muslim prayer for the dead before being laid to rest at Seif Halwa Muslim cemetery.

He will be remembered for publicly opposing radicalisation and recruitment of youth to join Al-Shabaab.

He opposed the campaign that was propagated by the late Sheikh Aboud Rogo and Sheikh Abubakar Sheriff popularly known as Makaburi in Mombasa and elsewhere around the Coast.

“I cannot dispute the presence of the word Jihad in Holy Quran but I would want to say categorically there is no Jihad in Somalia. I would be happy dying on my bed with my children and grandchildren around me than going there to shed blood of my fellow Muslims,” said Sheikh Suleiman in one of the many press conferences denouncing Jihad in Somalia.

Sheikh Suleiman survived an attempt on his life in February 2014 after rowdy radical youths stormed Tawba Mosque in Kisauni shortly after delivery Friday sermons.

The youths who were armed with knives and machetes attacked him and damaged his vehicle during bloody protests within Mombasa Island and Kisauni area.

They were protesting killing of Sheikh Ibrahim Ismael, who took over from Sheikh Aboud Rogo who was shot dead on Mombasa-Malindi highway.