Scholar of Riyadha Mosque
Sayyid Alwy Badawy,famously known as Mzee Mwenye was the son of Sayyid Ahmad Badawy and Qamar Bint Muhammad Al'Amoody and was born in Lamu in 1926.Like his brothers,Sayyid Alwy was raised in a conducive Islamic environment where he grew up to be like his father and brothers,a pious man focused on disseminating knowledge&Propagating Islam
Sayyid Alwy learnt the Qur’an and Islamic sciences under:
- Sayyid Ahmad Badawy(his father)
- Sayyid Umar Bin Alwy Al A’ydid
- Mwalimu Abdallah Hasani
- Sayyid Muhammad Adnan Al Ahdaly
- Sheikh Muhammad Bin Ali Al Mua’wy
- Shariff Said Al Beidh
- Sayyid Ali Badawy
- Sayyid Muhammad Bin Ahmad Al Saggaf
- Sayyid Umar Bin Ahmad Al Saggaf
- Sheikh Salim Jumuan
- Sheikh Bwana Ali wa Rabia
- Mwenye Muadham wa Mwenye Amini
He spent some time teaching in Riyadha,where he offered classes along with his nephew Shariff Bahasan before he went on to assist his brother Sayyid Hassan in running Madrasatuh Najaah after their brother Shariff Khitamy moved to Mombasa.At Najaah Mzee Mwenye assisted Sayyid Hassan in the leadership.
With time,Sayyid Alwy built the Swafaa Mosque(1971) and incorporated it with Najaah where he and his brother Sayyid Hassan taught before the latter established Madrasatuh Badru.Swafaa Mosque grew under his leadership and with time it introduced Madrasah for females and a tailoring centre where students were taught the art.
In 1997,Swafaa Mosque started a Nursery school which was named after Sayyidati Fatima(A.S) and ran under the Integrated curriculum. This nursery was expanded to a Primary school,Swafaa Academy in 2005
Sayyid Alwy Mzee Mwenye spent most of his age teaching,about 60 years and thus produced quite a many students.Amongst them were some of his children and nephews.Some of his known students were:
- Sayyid Hussein Badawy and Sayyid Ahmad Ahmad Badawy
- Sayyid Ali Dini
- Ustadh Muhammad Al-Beidh
- Sayyid Muhsin Ali Badawy
- Sayyid Ahmad,Aidarus and Hussein S.Alwy
- Sayyid Umar Saggaf
- Ustadh Ahmad A.Khatib
- Sheikh Ahmad,Abdallah,Abubakar and Athman Khatib
- Sheikh Abdulkadir M Abdulkadir
- Ustadh Mahmud A Muhammad
- Sheikh Omar Abdallah Kirume
- Sheikh Ali Abdallah Khamis
- Sayyid Ahmad Manswab
- Sheikh Muhammad Badiamana
- Ustadh Twalib Mbarak
- Sheikh Abubakar Abdi
- Ustadh Muhammad Musa
- Sheikh Muhammad Dumila
- Sheikh Shafi Muhammad
Apart from having many students,he also travelled around Spreading Knowledge. Mzee Mwenye was Profound in Islamic Sciences(Fiqhi) and Literature,even wrote his own book.
Mzee Mwenye's fruitful life came to an end on 9th February 2008 and was buried at Swafaa.