of Sheikh Ali's parents and nothing to the standardized language of Europeans and others. This was truly a labour of love, with beauty and elegance evident in virtually every verse. In 1997 came Ruwaza Njema ('The Perfect Pattern'), a long poem in praise of the Prophet Muhammad, with exemplary annotations at the end of each chapter. The years which remained to him were spent in Muscat, Sultanate of Oman, the birthplace of his wife's parents. Had there been no revolution in Zanzibar and had the Al Said dynasty not been terminated it is conceivable that Sheikh Ali might have attained the highest office in the land, but it was not to be. Sheikh Ali's claim to fame lies rather less in the domain of politics, and rather more in the pages of his Swahili Quran. He was not the first to attempt such a task notable predecessors were Sheikh Amin bin Ali al-Mazrui and Sheikh Abdullah Saleh al-Farsy but it is Sheikh Ali's text which best displays the Swahili language in all its glory. Moreover, it was a task undertaken not lightly, and carried to its conclusion at a time of great personal distress. This, his memorial, will surely endure for as long as the language and the literature of the Swahili-speaking peoples survive. Sheikh Ali died in Muscat on Monday 20 March 2006, in his eighty-sixth year. Education Barwani graduated from Makerere University in Kampala, Uganda, in 1942. External links Online Quran Project includes the Qur'an translation by Ali Muhsin Al-Barwani. Obituary at coastweek.com Qur'ani Tukufu Holy Qur'an Swahili Translation 1919 births 2006 deaths Zanzibari politicians Zanzibari diplomats Government ministers of Zanzibar Tanzanian expatriates in the United Arab Emirates Quran translators Translators to Swahili Translators from Arabic Tanzanian people of Omani descent 20th-century translators Expatriates in Uganda Tanzanian expatriates in Kenya Tanzanian expatriates in Egypt