Ali Mazrui

Abstract

On the occasion of the passing of Ali Mazrui, Rashied Omar, imam of theClaremont Main Road Mosque in Cape Town, South Africa, invoked probablythe most appropriate verse of the Qur’an to memorialize him: “God bears witnessthat there is no god but Allah, and so do the angels and those possessedof knowledge, standing firm on justice. There is no God but Allah, the Exalted,the Wise” (Q. 3:18).There are many who testify to belief in the unity of God, and fewer whoaccept its corollary, the unity of creation and the unity of humanity. There aremany who qualify for the description of possessing knowledge by virtue ofqualifications obtained in institutions of learning, whether Islamic or other. Itis, however, the third angle of this triangle – the triangle of belief, knowledge,and justice – where the world experiences a deficit. Standing for justice is thepoint of the triangle that is least populated, or if it is populated, it may well bepopulated in the absence of understanding the implications of belief in theunity of God or understanding the dynamism of knowledge. Mazrui will beremembered for epitomizing the completeness and perfection of this goldentriangle, for indeed his knowledge was founded in his unflinching commitmentto tawḥīd (unity) and this, in turn, impelled him toward utilizing his intellectboth for identifying the sources of injustice in the world and positingtheoretical and practical solutions towards justice ...