Sherbanu Kassam Karim

Alijahbanu Sherbanu Kassam Karim

All Nicknames

• Maaji
• Sherubai

Town of birth

• Dar es Salaam

Country of birth

• Tanzania

Date of Birth

• 1916

Date of Death

• 29 November 1990

Place of Death

• Burnaby

Province of death

• BC

Country of death

• Canada

Name of Cemetery and plot no

• Forest Lawn Cemetery
• Burnaby

Place of longest stay

• Dar es Salaam

Where-City or Country

• Tanzania

Family tree

Parents

Jetbai Manji Merali

Kassam Karim Issani

Siblings

Habib Kassam Karim 1903

Jena Kassam Karim 1908

Partners

Abdulkarim Karmali Mohamed 1914–1973

Children

Amirali Karmali Mohamed 1971

Bahadurali Karmali Mohamed 1939–2008

Firozali Karmali Mohamed

Mohamed Karmali Mohamed 1946

Nizarali Karmali Mohamed

Shiraz Karmali Mohamed

Born in 1916 Dar es Salaam

Kassam Karim Issani(Born in Lalpur).

Jetbai Manji Merali(Born in).

Sherbanu Kassam Karim

Sherbanu Abdulkarim with great grandson Aly

Maaji will always be remembered for her calming and tranquil personality, quiet nature, tender and warm behaviour and above all, her silent service. She never raised her voice, and she was a living example of the saying of Hazrat Murtaza Ali that when giving charity, the left hand should not know what the right hand is doing.

She was regular in the practice of her faith and was deeply in love with God. She was well verses in the history of the Mahabharat and Ramayan as well as Vedic and Ginanic literature; she was deeply moved by the poetry of Sant Meerabai and would often be caught singing lines from the love poems of Meera and other Indic mystics. Maaji sung hundreds of Ginans by memory and would often sight their examples and meanings in day-to-day situations and settings. It is said that by just sitting in her presence; one would be healed of their pain. Bellow are some of her wise (and hilarious) sayings in Kutchi:

- પાંકે કુરો? (What’s it to us?)

- જે કરે, ઈ ભરે! (whoever does the crime will have to face the time)

- સિંહ કે ન ચોવાય કે ઇંજો મોંઢો ગંધાયતો (Never tell a lion that its breath smells)

- જે રસ્તો પાંકે નાં વિન્નુ હોએ, ઇંજો નામજ ન ખણાવાય (Don’t even consider the name of the path you do not wish to take)

- પાંકે કોઈ ચીજ ન ખપનો હોએ, તો મફતબી મોન્ગો! (If we don’t need something, even if it’s free it’s still too expensive)

- પાં સારા તો બધાય સારા (If we are good, then everyone else is good too)

- ઇલોકા જાણે, ને ઇલોકા જા કમ જાણે (Don’t poke your nose where it doesn’t belong!)

- કજીએ જો કારો મૂં (It’s the arguer whose image remains tainted)

- હકળો ગાંડો હુઓ, હકળો ઘેલો હુઓ, ને હકળો ડાયો હુઓ – ગાંડો ને ઘેલો મસ્તી કયરા, ને ડાયો પકળાઇવ્યો. (Once upon a time, there was a stupid guy, a dumb guy, and an innocent guy. The stupid guy and the dumb guy got into mischief, but it was the innocent guy that got caught!)