During the 14th Ordinary Conference held in Dar es Salaam in May 2014, the President of The World Federation, Dr Asgarali Moledina presented the President’s Recognition Award posthumously to Marhum Habib bhai Walji. The presentation was made to his sons Shiraz and Husein Walji while The World Federation Councillor and Vice Chairman of Africa Federation read the citation dedicated to the Marhum.
From left to right – Kassam Jaffer (Grandson of the Marhum and Secretary General of CoEJ), Shiraz Walji, Husein Walji (sons of Marhum), Dr Asgarali Moledina and Shabir Najafi
Marhum Al-Hajj Habib bhai Walji was born in early 1900’s in Jamnagar, India. From there he migrated to Mozambique before settling in Kampala, Uganda where he prospered financially.
Marhum beside being a philanthropist, was a brilliant fund raiser for community projects and supervised the construction of Imambara in Kampala.
Following the eviction of Asians in 1972 from Uganda, the Marhum settled in Reading and then Peterborough, where he continued to provide his services to the community. He was influential in acquiring the Hammersmith Imambara in London and continued being supportive to the Peterborough Jamaat and was again instrumental in installing Alims at various centres in the UK. He made great contributions in economic upliftment of our community both in the UK and abroad. In India especially, he has establishing various orphanages and a Hospital in Mawa, Gujrat.
His greatest legacy was that over forty years he assisted Hujjaj in performing their religious rites during Hajj.
Marhum has left behind a large family of 5 sons and 7 daughters – Hussein, Gulam, Mohammed, Shiraz, Varis, Zehra, Marzia, Esmat, Nargis (Marhuma), Shirine, Shamim and Nazma. From his offspring, he has 28 grandchildren and up to 32 “great” grandchildren.
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