Former President Obama Pays Tribute to America’s Muslim ‘First Grandmother’ Who Has Died in Kenya Aged 99

Sarah Onyango Obama, the beloved step-grandmother of former president Barack Obama, passed away on Monday, just short of her 100th birthday.

Her official cause of death has not been disclosed, but she suffered a stroke in September and died during treatment at a hospital in Kisumu, a port in Kenya.

The former president tweeted yesterday: “My family and I are mourning the loss of our beloved grandmother. We will miss her dearly, but we’ll celebrate with gratitude her long and remarkable life.” He also included a much younger picture of him and Mrs. Obama.

Mrs. Obama, better known as “Mama Sarah,” was the last living grandparent of the former president. During the 2008 U.S. election, she defended the then-presidential hopeful against false claims that he was not born in the US and that he was Muslim.

Pictured: Azhar Azeez

Azhar Azeez, the former president and current board member at the ISNA, offered his condolences, as well.

“We are very sad to hear the news of the passing away of President Barack Obama’s grandmother Sarah Obama in Kenya,” he said. “We at ISNA would like to offer our deepest condolences to the Obama family in this moment of grief and we pray for the departed soul. May Allah SWT grant her paradise and fill her grave with His special mercy.”

Uhuru Kenyatta, the president of Kenya, also paid tribute to the iconic philanthropist.

“We have lost a strong virtuous woman. A matriarch who held together the Obama family,” she said. “She was a loving and celebrated philanthropist who graciously shared the little she had with the less fortunate.”

Throughout her life, Mrs. Obama carried out charity work by helping the hungry and the orphans. Her California-based organization, the Mama Sarah Obama Foundation, also took care of widows. Additionally, her work with the Safeguard Orphans and Widows Organization (SAWO) has helped support groups of women and children orphaned by HIV/AIDS. She did all of this in her home of Nyang’oma Kogelo.

She also created the Sarah Obama Community Library, where she established a Worldreader e-reading program as an educational tool.

Mrs. Obama will be buried today according to Muslim burial rites.