Sheikh Alhaji Mohamed Sanusi Tejan (January 19, 1950August 17, 2016) was a revered

Sierra Leonean Sierra Leone,)]. officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country on the southwest coast of West Africa. It is bordered by Liberia to the southeast and Guinea surrounds the northern half of the nation. Covering a total area of , Sierra ...

Sunni Sunni Islam () is the largest branch of Islam, followed by 85–90% of the world's Muslims. Its name comes from the word '' Sunnah'', referring to the tradition of Muhammad. The differences between Sunni and Shia Muslims arose from a disagr ...

Muslim Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...

preacher A preacher is a person who delivers sermons or homilies on religious topics to an assembly of people. Less common are preachers who preach on the street, or those whose message is not necessarily religious, but who preach components such as a ...

Islamic scholar In Islam, the ''ulama'' (; ar, علماء ', singular ', "scholar", literally "the learned ones", also spelled ''ulema''; feminine: ''alimah'' ingularand ''aalimath'' lural are the guardians, transmitters, and interpreters of reli ...

, Islamic

theologist Theology is the systematic study of the nature of the divine and, more broadly, of religious belief. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of analyzing the s ...

architect An architect is a person who plans, designs and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...

, and the former Chief Imam of the Jamiatul Atiq Masjid. Sheikh Sanusi Tejan was one of the most highly influential and one of the most highly knowledgeable Muslim Scholars in Sierra Leone. He was highly knowledgeable of the

Quran The Quran (, ; Standard Arabic: , Classical Arabic, Quranic Arabic: , , 'the recitation'), also romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a revelation in Islam, revelation from God in Islam, ...

, the

Hadith Ḥadīth ( or ; ar, حديث, , , , , , , literally "talk" or "discourse") or Athar ( ar, أثر, , literally "remnant"/"effect") refers to what the majority of Muslims believe to be a record of the words, actions, and the silent approval ...

Muhammad Muhammad ( ar, مُحَمَّد; 570 – 8 June 632 Common Era, CE) was an Arab religious, social, and political leader and the founder of Islam. According to Muhammad in Islam, Islamic doctrine, he was a prophet Divine inspiration, di ...

, and

Islamic Jurisprudence ''Fiqh'' (; ar, فقه ) is Islamic jurisprudence. Muhammad-> Companions-> Followers-> Fiqh. The commands and prohibitions chosen by God were revealed through the agency of the Prophet in both the Quran and the Sunnah (words, deeds, and e ...

, primarily the Maliki jurisprudence of

Sunni Islam Sunni Islam () is the largest branch of Islam, followed by 85–90% of the world's Muslims. Its name comes from the word '' Sunnah'', referring to the tradition of Muhammad. The differences between Sunni and Shia Muslims arose from a disagre ...

. He traveled extensively across Sierra Leone preaching about the Quran and the

Sunnah In Islam, , also spelled ( ar, سنة), are the traditions and practices of the Islamic prophet Muhammad that constitute a model for Muslims to follow. The sunnah is what all the Muslims of Muhammad's time evidently saw and followed and passed ...

of Muhammad. Sheikh Sanusi Tejan was the Chief Imam of the Fourah Bay Mosque from 1996 until his death on August 17, 2016. Sheikh Sanusi Tejan was the

Muezzin The muezzin ( ar, مُؤَذِّن) is the person who proclaims the call to the daily prayer ( ṣalāt) five times a day (Fajr prayer, Zuhr prayer, Asr prayer, Maghrib prayer and Isha prayer) at a mosque. The muezzin plays an important role ...

of the Fourah Bay Mosque from 1989 until 1996, when he became the Chief imam. He gave Islamic lectures as special guess in several mosque and many Muslim occasions across Sierra Leone. He appeared on Radio and television preaching the teachings of

Islam Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic Monotheism#Islam, monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God in Islam, God (or ...

. He was also an architect and he was a long term employee of the Sierra Leone Ministry of Works in the 1970s and 1980s during

Siaka Stevens Siaka Probyn Stevens (24 August 1905 – 29 May 1988) was the leader of Sierra Leone from 1967 to 1985, serving as Prime Minister of Sierra Leone, Prime Minister from 1967 to 1971 and as President from 1971 to 1985. Stevens' leadership was ofte ...

and

Joseph Saidu Momoh Major General Joseph Saidu Momoh, OOR, OBE (January 26, 1937 – August 3, 2003) served as President of Sierra Leone from November 1985 to 29 April 1992. Early life and education Joseph Saidu Momoh was born on January 26, 1937, in Binkolo, B ...

presidencies. However, he later resigned so to concentrate entirely on preaching and spreading the teaching of

. He was the most senior teacher at the prestigious Fourah Bay

Madrassa Madrasa (, also , ; Arabic: مدرسة , pl. , ) is the Arabic word for any type of educational institution, secular or religious (of any religion), whether for elementary instruction or higher learning. The word is variously transliterated '' ...

Islamic school, a school he himself attended under the teachings and guidian of the highly influential

Salafi The Salafi movement or Salafism () is a reform branch movement within Sunni Islam that originated during the nineteenth century. The name refers to advocacy of a return to the traditions of the "pious predecessors" (), the first three generat ...

Sheikh Alpha Sulaiman Carew. Sheikh Sanusi Tejan began studying the Quran at the Age of two, and he memorized the entire Quran at the age of twelve. Sheikh Sanusi Tejan was born and raised in a deeply conservative religious Muslim family from the Oku people (Sierra Leone), Oku community in

Fourah Bay Fourah Bay is a neighbourhood in Freetown, Sierra Leone. It is located in the East end of Freetown. Ethnicity and religion Fourah Bay is an overwhelmingly Muslim majority neighborhood. The Oku people, an ethnic group predominantly of Yoruba desc ...

, a conservative Muslim neighborhood of

Yoruba The Yoruba people (, , ) are a West African ethnic group that mainly inhabit parts of Nigeria, Benin, and Togo. The areas of these countries primarily inhabited by Yoruba are often collectively referred to as Yorubaland. The Yoruba constitute ...

descent in Freetown, Sierra Leone. His father Alpha Abdul Karim Tejan was a Muslim Scholar himself. For secular education, Sheikh Sanusi Tejan attended the Tower Hill Municipal Primary school in Freetown and the Methodist Boys High School also in Freetown. When Sanusi Tejan died im August 2017, his funeral service was attended by many of Sierra Leone"s Islamic preachers, civil servants and politicians, including then opposition leader

Julius Maada Bio Julius Maada Wonie Bio (born 12 May 1964) is a Sierra Leonean politician, and the current president of Sierra Leone since 4 April 2018. He is a retired brigadier general in the Sierra Leone Army and was the military head of state of Sierra Leo ...

, the current President of Sierra Leone.

References

External links

* http://www.thesierraleonetelegraph.com/fourah-bay-community-mourns-the-loss-of-imam-sanusi-tejan/ {{DEFAULTSORT:Tejan, Mohamed Sanusi 1950 births 2016 deaths 21st-century Muslim theologians Oku people Sierra Leonean imams 20th-century Muslim theologians People from Freetown