Bahá’í World/Volume 20/Mohamed Lamin Sumah
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MOHAMED LAMIN SUMAH
1961—1987
They that have forsaken their country in the path of God and subsequently ascended into His presence, such souls Shall be blessed by the Concourse on High and their names recorded by the Pen of Glory among such as have laid down their lives as martyrs in the path of God, the Help in Peril, the SelfSubsistent.
-Bahá’u’lláh1
0 MOTHER! Grieve not over the loss of thy son; rather pride thyself therein. Indeed this is an occasion for gladness and rejoicing, not for despondency and
SOI’I‘OW. —Baha’u’llah2
Mohamed Lamin Sumah (Fallah Sumah), nicknamed J amil, was born on 28 April 1961, to Pa Kabba Sumah and Madam N’mah Kamara of Thadie Village, Sierra Leone. He was from the Susu Tribe. As a child he attended Holy Cross Primary School in Lungi, and later Tomlinson High School in Songo. He was a very special youth. He had a friendly personality and was very honest, reliable and responsible. He was simple yet dignified and respectable.
Sumah was given the Message of Baha’u’llah in December 1984 by his aunt, Hawa Kamara, who had first invited the Bahá’ís to Thadie Village. In a little over two years he laid down his life serving the Faith as Sierra Leone’s first international pioneer.
As soon as he had accepted the Faith he had started studying the Writings of the Faith to deepen himself. In December 1984, he attended the annual Bahá’í school in B0, and in March 1985, he attended a teacher
training institute in Masongbo where he 1 Messages from the Universal House of Justice 1968—1973, (Wilmette: Bahá’í Publishin g Trust, 1976) p. 102.
2 The Bahá’í World, vol. XVIII, p. 9.
[Page 876]
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Mohamed Lamin Sumah
intensely studied the Writings including the Tablet of Ahmad, and the Tablet of the Holy Mariner.
He immediately began holding regular Bahá’í children’s classes in Thadie, and soon all those entering Thadie were greeted by children saying “Allah’u’Abhá”. He was the assistant to the Local Spiritual Assembly of Thadie for Bahá’í activities. Often he would use his own money to provide transportation for teaching trips. Even when he was in great need he would not ask for money. He opened localities and formed Local Spiritual Assemblies around Thadie and continued to consolidate them.
In 1984, a number of African countries had received a pioneering call from the Universal House of Justice. The National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of Sierra Leone had asked the Universal House of Justice if its community could be given the goal of sending one pioneer to Guinea, to which the House had kindly consented with the condition that the pioneer must know either French or one of the native languages. As soon as the goal was announced
THE BAHA’t WORLD
Muhamed Tamin Sumah wanted to volunteer. He knew Susu, a widely used local language, and was determined to learn French to teach more effectively.
Sumah first met Friday Ekpe, a member of the Continental Board of Counsellors for Africa, in May 1985. Mr. Ekpe travelled to Thadie several times to encourage Sumah to go pioneering.
In June 1985, the Chairman of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of Sierra Leone, Alusine Kabia, and other friends with the Bahá’ís of Thadie said farewell to Sumah. They were proud that their son was going to serve the Cause. After receiving his letter of credentials in July 1985, he travelled by boat to his pioneering post. It was a difficult trip. He had to spend 48 hours on a small island where he was given no food and had no place to sleep. When he arrived at his pioneering post he contacted the Bahá’ís. He was active in Bahá’í functions and taught the Faith. He earned his living by dying lappas (cloth). He always sent money he had saved, no matter how small the amount, to his parents in Thadie because he knew they were old and needed his help.
Sumah soon had to go back to Sierra Leone to obtain a valid passport, which was not an easy task, and he was anxious to return to his pioneering post as soon as possible. After the National Spiritual Assembly helped him obtain a passport, he was unable to leave right away because the Local Spiritual Assembly of Thadie needed his help with a social and economic development project. He was very excited to return to Guinea because the Faith had just been officially recognized in that country.
Before his departure, Sumah and his aunt stayed with Sadeh Ḥakíman and Abdul Karim Sillah. Every night after everyone went to bed they would stay up and study the Holy Writings. He loved reading the Bahá’í Scriptures, and studying them made him happy. Sumah said that the reason he became a Bahá’í was because when he read
IN MEMORIAM
the Holy Writings of the Bahá’í Faith he understood them, but when he read the Holy Writings of other religions he didn’t.
Sumah had a final meeting with the National Assembly of Sierra Leone in August 1986, during which they gave him encouragement for his teaching and consolidating plans in Guinea. He left Sierra Leone that same month, and friends had a letter from him dated October 1986. He wrote another letter to the National Spiritual Assembly. Aminata Turay and Shidan Kouchekzadeh [§__hidan Kfighikzadik] also visited him in Kindia where they taught the Faith.
On Saturday at 8:45 am. on 7 March 1987, he arrived in Conakry at Shidan and Susan Kouchekzadehs’ with a severe stomach ache and could barely walk. He was examined by a physician who said to take him directly to the hospital. He had acute abdominal pain which was probably appendicitis. They operated on him at midday. At about 7:00 pm, without ever regaining consciousness, his pure soul went to the Abhá Kingdom. One of the last things he said was to ask if one of the friends, to whom he had taught the Faith, was attending the meetings.
On Sunday seven Bahá’ís met with members of Sumah’s family. As one of his cousins stated emphatically that Mohamed was a Bahá’í, it was agreed that he would receive a Bahá’í burial. He was the first pioneer from Sierra Leone to fulfil a goal and also the first Bahá’í to have a Bahá’í burial in Guinea.
Sumah was only 26 years old. We pray that God will bless him and that he helps all of us from the Concourse on High to be firm in the Covenant and that the Faith will grow in Sierra Leone and Guinea.
O my God! 0 T hou forgiver ofsins, be stower ofgifts, dispeller ofafflictions?
Verily, I beseech T hee toforgive the sins of such as have abandoned the physical garment and have ascended to the spiritual world.
O my Lord! Purifi) them from trespasses, dispel their sorrows, and change their
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darkness into light. Cause them to enter the garden of happiness, cleanse them with the mostpure water, and grant them to behold T hy splendours 0n the loftiest mount]
—‘Abdu’l-Bahá
SADDENED NEWS PASSING MOHAMED SUMAH PIONEER GUINEA. ASSURE LOVING PRAYERS HOLY SHRINES PROGRESS HIS SOUL DIVINE WORLDS.
Universal House of Justice
SADEH HAKIMAN AND ABDUL KARIM SILLAH