Scholar of Riyadha Mosque

Sayyid Muhammad bin Sayyid Ahmad Badawy popularly known as Shariff Dini, is the second born son of Sayyid Ahmad Badawy. He was born in 1908 in Lamu.

Shariff Dini spent most of his time in his youth with his uncle Sayyid Aidarus from whom he acquired a lot of knowledge on Islamic traditional medicine. Similarly, he studied other Islamic sciences from :

  • His father Sayyid Ahmad Badawy
  • Sheikh Al-Amin bin Ali Al-Mazrui
  • His elder brother Sayyid Ali Badawy
  • Sayyid Abubakar bin Abdulrahman Al-Husseiny(Mwenye Manswabu)
  • Sheikh Muhammad bin Ali Al-Maawy
  • Sayyid Muhammad Adnan Al-Ahdaly
  • Sayyid Muhammad bin Abdallah Al-Rudeiny
and many other scholars.

Since his early age, Shariff Dini was an Upright individual and as a result of this he earned a lot of respect from his peers and many other individuals who came to know him. His strictness in timekeeping was Legendary.

Shariff Dini become a very famous Muslim herbalist and his ability to cure many types of complex diseases earned him the title Doctor

He also possessed Excellent Management skills. He is credited to having been the first person who came up with the idea of out- sourcing Riyadha Mosque graduates to other Madrasas in the nearby villages of Lamu Islands and to other towns. In fact, he himself used to travel widely across Lamu Islands up to Somalia to streamline existing Madrasas and establish new ones . He sent his son Sayyid Ali (d. 2002) to teach in Kizingitini and afterwards sent him to Ndau where he started Madrasatul Jamaal. Later on he suggested Ustadh Harith Swaleh Al-Maawy be sent to Kizingitini as a replacement. He also opened Madrastul Islahi in Matondoni among others.

He spent most of his time attending to the sick, helping the orphans , the widowed and travelling to Propagate Knowledge.Shariff Dini had great love for poetry as he himself was a distinguished poet

He wrote a book in Arabic language titled Asrarul Hayat and has written some treatises on Islamic traditional medicine and Swahili poetry.Some of the books he also wrote were:

  • Dini na Siasa
  • Kamusi ya dawa za miti na matumizi yake
  • Dawa yako iko katika Chakula chako

Towards the end of his life, he suffered a severe stroke rendering him bedridden for a number of years. The great doctor and poet passed away in Malindi in the year 1986 and was buried in the cemetery adjacent to Masjid Shella.