Renowned Kenyan public intellectual and political writer, Prof. Ali Mazrui, has died in the United States at the age of 81.
Reports say Mazrui, who was teaching at the Binghaminton University in New York until his death, had been down with illness for several months.
He was a leading pan-Africanist and scholar best known for his views on African politics and political Islam.
As a political scientist, Mazrui published many globally acclaimed books, including ‘The Africans: A Triple Heritage and Christianity’; ‘Islam in Africa’s Political Experience: Piety, Passion and Power’ and ‘Islam between Globalisation and Counter Terrorism’. In the latter, he wrote that Muslims were becoming increasingly entrapped in the danger of rising extremism and intolerance.
As an academic, his contributions to African scholarship have been described as immense. Kenya’s President Uhuru Kenyatta reportedly said Mazrui’s death had robbed Africa of one of its greatest scholars.
The deceased was named among the top 100 public intellectuals in the world in two separate reports published in the American Foreign Policy Magazine and the British journal, Prospect, in 2005.
He is survived by his wife and six children.