Gulamhussein Bhaloo Kurji

Mukhi Gulamhussein Bhaloo Kurji

Town of birth

• Zanzibar

Country of birth

• Tanzania

Place of Death

• Zanzibar

Country of death

• sultanate of Zanzibar

Name of Cemetery and plot no

• Khoja Ismaili Kizingo Cemetery
• Zanzibar

Place of longest stay

• Zanzibar

Profession or occupation carriedout for the longest period in life

• Business

Where-City or Country

• Zanzibar

Family tree

Parents

Bhaloo Bhai Kurji

Children

Hassanali Gulamhussein Bhaloo

Khati bai Bhaloo Kurji

Leila Bhaloo Kurji

Sakar (Saku) Bhaloo Kurji

Sakar (Totli) Bhaloo Kurji

Suleman Bhaloo Kurji

Born in Zanzibar

Bhaloo Bhai Kurji(Born in).

"The spending of excessive money on charity was not rare in the Ismaili community. Some rich businessmen tried to raise their religious status by generously giving money to their religious institutions.

Gulamhusein Baloo seems to have been more a religious spender than a businessman. He inherited from his father a house worth Rs 20,000 and also property worth $20,000. The Trustee of his case stated that “the insolvent appears to have been very free with money”.

Just before his bankruptcy was filed in 1910, he went to Mumbai (then Bombay) to see his spiritual leader H.H.(Aga) Khan and spent Rs 2,000 on him. In addition, he appears to have presented him a chair with gold fittings worth Rs 3,000. Gulamhusein was Mukkim (Mukhi-an Ismaili lay priest) "in the local JamatKhana and spent almost Rs 5,000 towards the fund of his Jamat [Mosque of the Ismailis, G.O.]. These irresponsible expenses, from a business point of view, finally led to his deteriorated position."

Oonk, Gijsbert - Settled Strangers- South Asian Business Elites in East Africa 1800-2000 Sage (pg 108) (Zanzibar High Court # 2/197.)