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Ahmed Abdallah Mohamed Sambi

Ahmed Abdallah Mohamed Sambi
Sambi.jpg
President of the Comoros
In office
26 May 2006 – 26 May 2011
Vice President Ikililou Dhoinine
Idi Nadhoim
Preceded by Azali Assoumani
Succeeded by Ikililou Dhoinine
Personal details
Born (1958-06-05) 5 June 1958 (age 58)
Mutsamudu, Comoros
Political party Independent
Spouse(s) Hadjira Djoudi
Profession Businessperson
Religion Islam
Nickname(s) Ayatollah

Ahmed Abdallah Mohamed Sambi (Arabic: أحمد عبدالله محمد سامبي‎‎, born 5 June 1958) is a Comorian Islamic leader and politician, and former President of Comoros. He is popularly known as 'Ayatollah'. After easily winning the 14 May 2006 presidential election with 58.02% of the national vote, Sambi was inaugurated as President of the Union of the Comoros on 26 May 2006. It was the first peaceful transfer of power in the history of the Comoros.

Sambi was born in Mutsamudu, on the island of Anjouan. He is a father of seven children including two named Intisware and Fatoumat. He owns factories which produce mattresses, bottled water and perfume - a key Comorian export. He lives above a shop called The House of Mattresses in Mutsamudu, the capital of Anjouan. He also set up a television station called Ulezi (education).

He is of Hadhrami ancestry, descending from the Ba 'Alawi family of Hadhramaut (now part of Yemen). Therefore, he is a descendant of Ali al-Uraidhi ibn Ja'far al-Sadiq and hence a Sayyid.

He was educated in Islamic studies in Sudan, Saudi Arabia and Qom, Iran. According to the Tehran-based Tabnak news agency, while Sambi was there he studied under Ayatollah Mesbah Yazdi. Despite his Sunni background, Sambi's time in Iran and his penchant for turbans earned him the nickname "The Ayatollah of Comoros".


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