“Inna Lillahi Wa Inna Ilayhi Rajeeun”
“To Allah we belong and to Him we shall return”
(Holy Qur’an, Surah Al Baqarah 2:156)
Alhaj Mujtaba Hussein Datoo (1955– 2021)
The Africa Federation Secretariat is deeply saddened to receive the news of the demise of Alhaj Mujtaba Hussein Datoo, which occurred in Los Angeles, USA on Friday night 30th July 2021, he was buried at Wadi-e-Hussain – Pomona, CA on Monday, 2nd August 2021.
Born in Zanzibar on 3rd February 1955, Mujtaba was the 4th child of the 6 children blessed to his parents Husein bhai Abdulrasul Datoo and Zainab bai Ahmed Lakha, both families originate from Zanzibar Island and are renowned for their communal, religious and social services for many decades.
He obtained his primary education in Zanzibar, at Sir Euan Smith (renamed Hallie Selassie Primary School after the revolution in 1964) and ‘O’ Levels education at St. Joseph’s Convent School in Dar-es-Salaam, he completed his ‘A’ Levels at Aga Khan Secondary School in Nairobi scoring top grades. He was granted full scholarship at the Columbia University in the USA from where he laid the foundation of his professional career in actuarial services. He held the professional designation Associate of the Casualty Actuarial Society and was a Member of the American Academy of Actuaries and a Fellow of the Conference Consulting Actuaries.
He practiced his profession in both public and private sectors in the USA over a span of four decades where he progressed to attain the leadership position in a leading international consultancy firm – AON Global Risk Consulting in Los Angeles, USA. He was a Director and Actuary, leading the public entity actuarial practice.
Late Mujtaba was a well-known speaker and excellent presenter who attended various Actuarial conferences and wrote articles and journals on the same. He took pride in his profession and promoted it within the Khoja Community, as this career was not being pursued by many from the Community during those years.
An Actuary and Business Consultant with over 30 years’ experience providing actuarial services within the insurance and risk management fields, spent over 10,000 hours just in the last decade preparing actuarial reports, and thus qualifies as an expert according to the 10,000-hour rule popularized by Malcolm Gladwell in his bestselling book Outliers.
His services to the Community is immense, he was one of the founding members of the World Federation of KSIMC. He served the North American Shia Ithna-Asheri Muslim Communities (NASIMCO) in various capacities since its inception and similarly in New York (SIJNY) Jamaat. He was a regular attendee at the meetings of these institutions and served as the President of the Caretaker Committee of NASIMCO in 2017. At the World Federation Conference held in May 2017, he was elected to lead the World Federation Electoral Commission for the term 2017-2020.
His skills and vast knowledge in constitutional matters, which was a result of his professional work, enabled him to contribute in drafting of legal documents and constitutions for a number of Jamaats in North America and the World Federation.
He was a keen supporter of the Africa Federation and moderated the Open Forum – “Vision for the Future” organized by AFED in Dar-es-Salaam in May 2014, a day before the AFED 75th Supreme Council Session.
He was a recipient of the following awards from World Federation:
- Outstanding Services Award to the WF” in 2017
- WF Lifetime Service Award in 2021 for his long services to the community.
He was the author of the Book – The Hajj – A Personal Journey, wherein he has shared his personal observations and experience of his Pilgrimage Trip in 1999. This book is quite popular amongst the intending Hujjaj to get firsthand information on what the spiritual journey entails.
Marhum was an intellectual, modest with extraordinary experience across many organizations. He was humble and dedicated person of jovial nature and a keen sportsman, his presence in any gathering would enlighten the mood of the function.
We convey our sympathies and heartfelt condolences to his siblings’ Mahmood bhai, Murtaza bhai, Masuma bai Dhalla and Raziya bai Versi and all members of the family.
We pray to Allah (SWT) to grant Marhum maghferat and place his soul amongst the blessed ones in the vicinity of Chaharada Masumeen (A.S.), and who continuously receive mercy and grace of Allah (SWT).
We request for a Surah-Al-Fateha for Marhum Mujtaba Datoo and all the Marhumeen.