Muzaffar Sheikh

Muzaffar Sheikh

Muzaffar Iqbal Sheikh (born April 4, 1940 in Sargodha, British Raj; died May 17, 2024 in Vestavia Hills) was a long-time history teacher at Vestavia Hills High School.

Muzaffar was the son of Faisal Din and Mehboob Begum Sheikh in what was then the British Punjab region. After the 1947 partition, Sargodha, in West Punjab, became part of the Dominion of Pakistan. In 1955 it was absorbed into West Pakistan. The Sheikhs migrated northward to Rawalpindi at the time of the partition, and Muzaffar attended a Catholic elementary school before graduating from the Muslim Islamia High School. He then earned degrees in political science and Persian at the Presbyterian Gordon College in Rawalpindi.

In 1962 Sheikh began working as an assistant works manager for the U.S. Agency for International Development in Quetta. Two years later he joined some of his family which had emigrated to the United Kingdom, and later followed his uncle to Alabama where he enrolled at Samford's Cumberland School of Law. There he met the former Linda Ann Cooke of Gadsden, and they were married in 1969. He was naturalized as a United States citizen.

Sheikh completed his juris doctorate at Birmingham School of Law and also earned a master's in education at Samford. He later attended Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia, and the Hebrew University in Jerusalem as Fulbright scholar.

In 1970 Sheikh joined the founding faculty of the newly-established Vestavia Hills High School. He primarily taught world history, but also taught Alabama history, American history, business law, and civics. He was the faculty sponsor for the radio club, and also the long-time coach of the Lady Rebels soccer team, which won a 6A state championship in 2001. He retired in 2005.

Sheikh and his brother, Waheed opened the Middle Eastern Bakery and Deli on 10th Street South in 1978, which closed after a few years. In retirement he worked with the Jefferson County Retired Teachers Association and as an accreditor for Islamic academies and other schools. He volunteered as a poll worker and coordinated the international food and dance program for the Vestavia Hills Dogwood Festival.

Sheikh died at home in 2024. He was survived by his wife and four of his five children, along with seven grandchildren. He was buried at Southern Heritage Cemetery in Pelham.

References

• "Muzaffar Iqbal Sheikh" obituary (May 2024) Dignitymemorial.com - accessed May 27, 2024