An Obituary of Shaykh Abdallah Daudi Muhammad

Shaykh Abdallah Daudi Muhammad was born on 9th November 1980 in Dar El Salam, Tanzania. He reverted to Islam as a teenager and had a strong inclination towards reciting the Qur’an. From a young age, he was gifted with a melodious voice.

One of the local Tanzanian teachers of Qur’an recognised his talent and trained him to recite according the style of the late Sheikh Raghib Mustafa Ghalwash (Rahimahullah) (one of the masters of Quran recitation from Egypt). Sheikh Abdallah went on to study in Tarim (Yemen) and qualified in the science of Qiraa’aat. In 2010, he represented Tanzania at the international competition in Iran an took the second position. One of the Malaysian judges at the competition, Qari Dhulkifli Ali, was so impressed by the Qari that he invited him to Malaysia to teach at his school. He benefited many Qurraa in Malaysia, including Qari Muhammad Izzan. Shaykh Abdallah travelled extensively throughout the world to attend Qur’an events, including: Morocco, South Africa, Sudan and throughout the Middle East.

After his trip to Malaysia, he spent a 2-3 years teaching in the UK. Shaykh Abdallah resided in Birmingham and was involved in the teaching and propagation of the Qur’an. One of the main reasons why Shaykh Abdallah had He was invited to judge many local and national Qur’an competitions in Birmingham, Yorkshire and in London. Most notably, Shaykh Abdallah was one of the chief guest judges and guest of honour at the UK Qur’an Memorisation and Recitation Competition (organised by the National Huffadh Association UK) in 2018. Whilst residing in the UK, Shaykh Abdallah taught hundreds of students the art of Qur’anic recitation (both young and old) and dedicated his days in the service of the Qur’an. He was always very impressed with the array of talent in the UK and inspired several young Huffadh and Qurraa to further their Qur’anic studies. Just before covid (around 2019), Shaykh Abdallah to his home country (Tanzania) and continued his efforts in furthering the love of the Qur’an within his local and national communities in Tanzania.

I had the honour of spending some time with Shaykh Abdallah in the UK on several occasions. He was always surrounded with people of the Qur’an and he possessed immense love for Allah’s book. His character was impeccable and never once did I ever hear someone say a bad word about him. He lived a very simple life and was not one to chase after the world’s luxuries. He would always remind the youth that the best quality of a person of the Qur’an is to lead a humble and simple life. Shaykh Abdallah supported our organisation National Huffadh Association UK and encouraged us to always further our work both locally and globally. His gentle, soft and charismatic character was something that I had always admired. We would often exchange messages over WhatsApp and he would regularly send me his Qur’an recitations through voice and video clips.

On 27th April 2023, I was made aware of Shaykh Abdallah’s health deteriorating and found out that he was diagnosed with liver cancer. Two of his students from the UK (Qari Yahya Ali and Qari Younus Rahman) informed me of his health complications and immediately turned to me asking if we could support Shaykh Abdallah by funding the costs of his liver cancer treatment. Shaykh Abdallah travelled to India on 10th May to undergo his liver cancer treatment at a specialist clinic in Navsari. Alhamdulillah, with the help of the LaunchGood team in the UK, we started a crowdfunding campaign to help raise funds for Shaykh Abdallah’s liver cancer treatment and within 3 weeks, we had raised £8,000.

SubhanAllah, my last contact with Shaykh Abdallah was on 16th May 2023. I had messaged Shaykh Abdallah to confirm that we had transferred the funds into his bank account to help pay for the liver cancer treatment. Shaykh had sent a beautiful and heartfelt message of thanks to show his appreciation to everyone who had donated and supported his campaign. Little did I know that this would be our final conversation. Shaykh passed away in India on the morning of 23rd May 2023 aged 42. He leaves behind a family of five children and two spouses. To Allah we belong and to Him we will return. It was a shock to many who knew him personally and benefited from his knowledge, friendship and acquaintance.

Some key lessons we can take from the passing away of Shaykh Abdallah is the importance of connecting closely with the Qur’an and living a simple life. We must always strive to better our relationship with the Qur’an and aim to bring the teachings of this beautiful book into our lives. It is not enough to just memorise, recite or teach the Qur’an. The most important aspect of our relationship with the Qur’an is to understand and implement the teachings of the Qur’an into our daily lives.

May Allah have mercy on our beloved brother and teacher Shaykh Abdallah. May He grant Shaykh Abdallah the highest status of Jannah. May He grant ease, strength, patience and steadfastness to his family members. May Allah allow us to remain humble and sincere in all that we do in life. Ameen.