File:Late Maalim Hussein Soud.jpg

English: Lamu Kiswahili Scholar

Maalim Hussein Soud was born in 1940 in Lamu town and began studying the Quran in 1947 under the tutorship of his father Sheikh Soud Maawiya. He enrolled in Lamu primary school in 1950 and he sat for his K.A.P.E in 1955. Some of his prominent teachers in Lamu include Mr. Mohamed Abdalla Swabir (the first headmaster) an Arab from Aden, Mr. Ahmed Mohamed Jahadhmy (Deputy Headmaster), Mr. Shariff Jawaad Jamaluleil (Islamic teacher), Mr. Salim Baakabe (later become headmaster) , Mr. Said Mbarak Twahir (Posted to the school as headmaster) and Mr. Ali Abubakar

He joined Arab Secondary School (Khamis Secondary School) In 1956 sitting for his Cambridge School Certificate in 1959 after which he joined Asian Central Teachers College for P1 course. On completion he was posted to Sir Ali Bin Salim Primary School, Malindi in 1961.

He married Hindu Hamid Al-Ubady, and was blessed with 6 children. Unfortunately Hindu died in 1979 in the infamous boat tragedy that capsized in Shella in which 40 people lost their lives. The body of Hindu was the only one never to be recovered from the sea. He remarried again in 1982 and was blessed with 6 more children. Out of his 12 children, one boy died in 2001 while in form III (Swalahuddin)

In 1964-1965 he attended an in service course and qualified as an S1 teacher. While on teaching practice he taught at Kabarnet Secondary in Baringo, and among his students were Benjamin Kipkulei (who later become a permanent secretary for finance and Joseph Cheruiyot who later became the chief Curator in Lamu Museum.

In 1967 he was transferred to Olkejuado Secondary upto 1969. In 1970 he joined Nakuru High on special assignment to teach Kiswahili language and Kiswahili literature (i.e Fasihiya Kiswahili)

Later on the same year he was transferred to Lamu Boys Secondary School (now known as Lamu Bujra Secondary school as Headmaster where he served from 1970 to 1992. In 1992 he was promoted to approve teacher status and became senior grade II headmaster. In 1993 he was transferred to Shanzu teachers college as senior lecturer. He retired in 1996.

Today he serves as the chairman of Amu Council of Elders and his many contributions to the Lamu society include: developing notes in the teaching of I.R.E syllabus from standard 1 to VIII; Contributed notes on the teaching of I.R.E Syllabus from Form I to Form IV

He has also written many books on Swahili culture in 2009 originally in Swahili and later translated into English 1n 2012. His latest book is “Sababu za Mafanikio: published in May 2019. He is an important resource person for many researchers on Swahili culture and language.