Sheikh Abdullah Saleh Al-Farsy (1912-1982), interpreter and translator of the Holy Qur’an into Swahili language, was commemorated at an Islamic festival held earlier this week in cooperation with Iranian Cultural Center in Zanzibar city of Tanzania.

According to IQNA’s ICRO branch, the Palace Museum of Stone Town hosted the program for three days.

The opening ceremony of the program was attended by Seif Sharif Hamad, first Vice-president of Zanzibar and Sa’eed Ali Mubarak, Minister of Culture, Information, Tourism and Sport of the country as honorary guests.

Sheikh Hassan bin Ameir Al-Shirazy (1887-1986), a graduate of al-Azhar University, was also commemorated at the festival. He has authored many books in both Swahili and Arabic languages on Islamic issues.

An exhibition of painting and photos on Islam by Tanzanian artists was held on the sidelines of the three day festival as well.

Iranian achievements in various scientific, economic and cultural fields were also introduced at the program through a documentary titled “Iran-e Emruz” (today’s Iran) sent by the Islamic Cultural Center in Dar-es-Salaam to the festival.

Sheikh Abdullah Saleh al-Farsy was one among the international poets, scholars and Muslim historians in Zanzibar. His reputation extended as far as to Southern Somalia in the north and Cape Town to the south as well as Nyasaland (Malawi).

He memorized the holy Qur’an and large portions of Ahadith at a very young age. His strong desire for Islamic and secular education was insatiable.

The translation contains 542 pages and 142 pages of comments for the (non-Arabic) text. It was published in 1923 by the London-based Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge. The translation was written according to the so called Zanzibar Swahili.

Source: irib