Library Weekly: Mohamed Hassan Abdulaziz (1932-2023)

Mohamed Hassan Abdulaziz, known as the 'father of Swahili and African linguistics', died on 10 July in his home in Nairobi at the age of 91. His book Muyaka: 19th Century Swahili Popular Poetry, offering the first edited collection of the most distinguished poet from 19th century Mombasa, Muyaka Bin Hajji al-Ghassaniy, has become the reference book that every student of Swahili literature in Europe and East Africa must have been asked to study carefully. Mohamed Hassan Abdulaziz is featured in an especially long Library Weekly, written by Annachiara Raia.

Photo: Mohammed Hassan Abdulaziz (left) at his farewell party on 6 August 2019. (© University of Nairobi; picture cropped).