20/02/2025
Dr.Sheikh Muhammad Rashad Abdulle
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Dr_Sheikh_MuhammadRashad_Abdulle, a noted Oromo scholar, expert in Oromo and Somali languages and researcher died on May 25, 2013 in the city of Dire Dawa, Ethiopia.
He was 79. He has been battling an undisclosed illness for sometime.
Sheikh Muhammad Rashad, who translated the holy Quran to Afan Oromo, was mostly known for his captivating narration and translation of Quran and Hadith from Arabic
to Oromo.
Born in 1934 to Oromo parents in near Jarjare village, Sheik Muhammad Rashad studied in , according to his autobiography published online.
His father, Kabir Abdulle Kabir Mummaya Umar Jarra Jiloo Dirba Aleloo Mayyuu Limmoo was a farmer and Imam, according to the short biography.
After studying Quran at a local madrasa, the only son of 6 siblings, the young Rashad went to Hirna, Fadis, and Harar towns for further studies.
Frustrated by mistreatment of Oromo people by feudal landlords and determined to make the Hajj pilgrimage, Dr. Rashad left Harar in 1951 for Mecca through Jijiga and Zeyla arriving overnight on foot in Djibouti. Which was then a French protectorate. Along with four others, Dr. Rashad was then smuggled across to Yemen nearly escaping death when the owner of a boat they contracted dropped them off near a shore because they didn’t have a proper passport. After three months of treacherous walk across Arabian Desert barefoot, at times
without food, Dr. Rashad reached his destination in Mecca with his nephew Ismail Ali later that year. In 1952, after a brief stint working as a daily laborer in Medina, making the Hajj, and visiting prophet Muhammad’s grave.
Dr. Rashad went to Oman, Jordan to study the Quran. Upon visiting , one of the most sacred sites in Islam.
Dr. Rashad wrote about praying to Allah to grant him knowledge so that some day he could help spread Islamic teachings to his
homeland.
From Oman he walked to Damascus, Syria where