Sa'id Akhtar Rizvi

Sayyid Sa‘eed Akhtar Rizvi (Urdu: سيد سعيد اختر رضوي‎) was an Indian born, Twelver Shī‘ah scholar, who promoted Islam in East Africa. He was given authorizations (Arabic: Ijazah‎‎) by fourteen Grand Ayatullahs for riwayah, Qazawah, and Umur-e-Hasbiyah.

Biography

Rizvi was born in Ushri, Saran district, Bihar state, India, in 1927. His father was Sayyid Abul Hassan Rizvi and who was also a Maulana. He had five sons and two daughters. His second eldest son, Hujjat-ul-Islam wal Muslimeen Maulana Sayyid Muhammad Rizvi lives in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. He is the Imam of the Islamic Shia Ithna‘asheri Jamaat (ISIJ) of Toronto. He spoke Urdu, English, Arabic, Persian, Swahili and was also familiar with Hindi and Gujarati.

In 1959 he was appointed the Islamic scholar (Arabic: 'alim‎‎) for Lindi, Tanzania. In 1962, e conceived a plan for propagating Islam. His plan was proposed and approved at the triennial Conference of the Africa Federation in Tanga in 1964. and became the Bilal Muslim Mission. Rizvi was transferred from Arusha to Dar es Salaam in mid-eastern Tanzania. He then went to Mombasa in southern Kenya in 1976 and co-founded the Bilal Muslim Mission of Tanzania in 1968 and the Bilal Muslim Mission of Kenya in 1971. Through his mission he introduced correspondence courses in Islamic studies in English and Swahili. He traveled and lectured to university students in Africa, Europe, Canada and United States.

His funeral was held in Dar es Salaam with two scouts holding black flags in the cortege to the burial site. Officials and Scholars from several countries were present. The Islamic funeral prayer (Salat al-Mayyit) was given by his son, Muhammad Rizvi.

Rizvi authored over 140 books, some of them having been translated into many languages.

Suggested reading

• Outline of Shi'a Ithna-ashari History in East Africa by Marhum Mulla Asgharali M.M. Jaffer