Mombasa businessman Mbarak Bashatir at Seif Halwa Kikowani cemetery on Thursday / BRIAN OTIENO

UDA secretary general Hassan Omar at Seif Halwa Kikowani cemetery on Thursday / BRIAN OTIENO

UDA secretary general Hassan Omar has called for calm following the death of Chief Kadhi Sheikh Abdulhalim Hussein on Wednesday evening.

Sheikh Hussein, who was buried in Mombasa on Thursday evening, held the Chief Kadhi position since July 2023, taking over from Sheikh Ahmed Mudhar, who retired after 12 years of service.

Chief Justice Martha Koome, through the Judicial Service Commission, is expected to name a new Chief Kadhi following a lengthy legal and administrative process.

The JSC is expected to first declare the position vacant, after which it will advertise the position.

The commission will most likely appoint the senior most Kadhi to serve in an acting capacity while the next substantive office holder is sought.

Those who wish to be appointed will then apply for the position, after which a shortlist will be made, and then invited for public interviews.

The JSC will then select a suitable candidate, who will be gazetted and become the new Chief Kadhi.

On Thursday evening, Omar said the JSC should, without any influence, be left to do its work.

“We all know what the process is. He [Chief Kadhi] is a judicial appointee,” he said.

He, however, said there is a traditional role of the Chief Kadhi as a leader of the Muslim community, whose role should be respected.

“So we are quite certain that she [CJ Koome] will make the right choice, much as there is the expectation of the Muslim community, and continue to entrench the institution of the Kadhi’s Court,” Omar said.

Speaking after the burial of the Chief Kadhi at Seif Halwa Kikowani cemetery, Omar warned the Islamic law cannot be changed based on circumstances and opinions of contemporary society.

The UDA secretary general said the new Chief Kadhi must uphold the actual structures of the Quran.

Any circumvention, he said, would be an affront to the Quran.

“There cannot be a Supreme Court that tries to overturn the Quran. There can never be a Supreme Court that tries to rewrite the Quran," Omar said.

“The judicial overreach by these courts of justice today is quite appalling in wanting to interfere with all aspects, some which they are not experts on.” 

He was referring to the June 30 Supreme Court ruling that allowed children born out of wedlock to Muslim fathers to inherit their property.

According to Islamic law, a child born out of wedlock can only inherit from the mother and not the father.

“It is an affront to the Muslim community. It is an unnecessary aggravation of emotions. They must review that judgment,” Omar said.

He said not everything that the Supreme Court says is lawful according to Islamic law.

His sentiments were echoed by Mombasa businessman Mbarak Bashatir, who said all Muslims should condemn the ruling.

“We cannot allow that. This is Islamic law. An out of wedlock child cannot inherit. We cannot change the Quran,” Bashatir said.

He said Kadhi courts were established specifically to deal with matters that touch on Islamic issues and for a secular court to allow things forbidden in the Quran is like challenging the Quran, and thereby challenging Allah.

Bashatir said the death of Sheikh Hussein is a blow to the Islamic world as he would have given wise counsel on the matter.

The ruling was delivered while the Chief Kadhi was in India for treatment.

“We ask Allah to bring us another Chief Kadhi who will be able to defend Islam and continue with the path that our late Chief Kadhi left,” the businessman, who is eyeing the Kisauni MP seat, said.

Bashatir said Sheikh Hussein was an exceptional scholar, a man of great distinction, humility and jurisprudence.

He said because he has left an indelible mark in the Islamic world, Kenya was a better place because of him.

“We hope his replacement will be just as him or even better, if that is possible,” Bashatir said.

INSTANT ANALYSIS

The controversial Supreme Court ruling stems from a prolonged case in which a woman sought to exclude three children born by her late husband from his previous relationships with two other women from inheriting his estate. The High Court and Court of Appeal had allowed the children to inherit their deceased father’s estate. The woman sought the Supreme Court’s help to try and overturn those rulings.