My grand father Gulamhussein Walli Dharsi was born in Zanzibar in the year 1887 and he died in Zanzibar in the year 1961 on 23rd Ramdhan. He was one of the seven siblings. My grand father married a lady by the name of Fatma Dhedar. Unfortunately, she passed away when my father was very young. It must be tragic to grow up without a mother. My grandfather out of his infinite wisdom decided against remarrying lest the children suffer under a “matri maa” step-mother and so he brought them up on his own.
My grandfather decided he wanted to be a Doctor and go to India to study, however his father encouraged him to join the business which he did. In 1923, upon return from Ziyarat to Iraqi his father breathed his last. My grand father commonly known as Mulla Gullamhusein or Janab Salsabil remained in business with his brothers up to the year 1930. He developed a personal library which consisted of about two thousand books at the time of his death. He was a permanent subscriber of the monthly magazines: ‘Islah’ (Khajwah), ‘Shia’ (Khajwah), ‘Al-Waez’ (Lucknow) and ‘Muslim Review’ (Lucknow). Using the pen name of ‘Salsabil’, he wrote important articles on various topics in Gujarati and English and got them published in the magazines: ‘Rah-e-Najat’, ‘Noor-e-Iman’, ‘Chaud-vhin-Sadi’ and ‘Muslim Review’. He devoted his entire life in studying Islam and disseminating the message of Islam.
In the year 1942 he started a monthly publication on religious topics under the name of ‘Salsabil’. Haji Mohamed Jivraj (Mahrumbha) was appointed the editor. Most of the articles appearing in this publication were written by Mulla GulamHusein. The readership of the magazine was vast and traversed the entire world. The subscription to the magazine helped him to keep afloat. He also was the editor of the weekly newspaper “Zanzibar Samachar” from 1938 till the time of his death. He had deep affinity towards Azadari and showed keen interest in developing Islamic courses and propagation of Islam. He developed contacts and friendship with the leading literary and religious figures of the time which included: Allamah Kantoori, Haji Gulam Ali Ismail (Haji Naji),and Muayyan-ul-Islam ValiMohamed Moamin . He authored and published the following notable books in Gujarati:
1.Biography of Allamah Kantoori
2.History of the Mausoleums of Kerbala
3.Islam and the Caliphs of Islamic Government
4.The Outstanding Memoirs of Ahl-ul-Bayt
5.Shaheed-e-Kerbala
6.Biography of Imam Jaffer Sadiq (a.s.)
7.The Famous Prophets of the World
8.Chehlum
With his death in 1961 on 23rd Ramadhan , the publication SALSABIL ceased to exist and it was a turning chapter for my father.
DHARSI 