DNK International By Our Reporter,Mombasa
Sheikh Juma Ngao is widely regarded as one of the most influential Muslim clerics to emerge from Kenya’s Coast in recent years.
He’s a figure whose voice carries weight in mosques, community forums and national policy spaces alike.
Sheikh Ngao was born and raised along the Coast in a religious family.
In a talk with Daily News Kenya-International in Mombasa recently,Sheikh Ngao said that he was brought up based on Islamic learning and Swahili culture.
The two above backgrounds he said shaped both his faith and his activism.
Now in his early 40’s, he represents a younger generation of Islamic leadership that blends scholarship, civic engagement and social advocacy.
His formal education includes training as a teacher, having studied History and Religious Studies at university level, which equipped him with skills in instruction, public engagement and community organisation.
Alongside secular training, he undertook classical Islamic studies under respected local scholars, grounding him firmly in “Sunni Islamic teaching and dawa”.
Over the years, he has taught, preached and overseen religious programs in several mosques across the Coast, becoming especially known for sermons that emphasise unity, moral discipline and social responsibility rather than sectarianism.
Sheikh Ngao’s public profile expanded nationally through his leadership roles in Muslim umbrella bodies, where he emerged as a consistent advocate for Muslim rights, inclusion in public institutions and peaceful coexistence.
He is also recognised for his work with national anti drug initiatives, where he has been at the forefront of campaigns against drug and alcohol abuse that have devastated many coastal families.
Through mosque forums, youth outreach, rehabilitation advocacy and cooperation with government agencies, he has repeatedly warned that drugs are “a silent invasion destroying the future of the Coast.”
Politically, Sheikh Ngao has maintained close engagement with leaders across the divide, not as a partisan mobiliser but as a community negotiator.
He has been associated with high level consultations involving senior political figures, including long time opposition leader,ex PrimeMinister the late Raila Odinga, particularly on matters of peace, elections and inclusion of Muslims in national discourse.
His influence lies less in electoral politics and more in shaping opinion, calming tensions and articulating coastal grievances in a language leaders cannot ignore.
What Sheikh Ngao said he stands for is clear,faith anchored in justice, leadership anchored in service, and a Coast region free from drugs, violence and marginalisation.
Among his most quoted sentiments is his insistence that “religion must heal society, not divide it,” a line that captures his enduring message.
To supporters and critics alike, Sheikh Ngao remains a cleric who stepped beyond the pulpit and turned belief into action, leaving a lasting imprint on the religious and social life of the Kenyan Coast.
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