Brother Shabbir Hussein was
born on 18 April 1941 in a respectable
Rohingya family at Ponyolic
village under Buthidaung township,
Arakan,Burma. His father was late
Master Ahamadur Rahman and the
mother was late Salima Khatun.
Late Shabbir Hussein had his early
schooling at his native village, and
had his middle and high school
education at Buthidaung and Akyab
(Sittwe). Having matriculated from
Akyab Government High School in
1959 he joined Intermediate College
at Kyauk Pru; then he continued his
studies in Arts and Science
University of Rangoon from 1962
until he secured his B.A degree with
economics and political science in
1965. With a vision he attended the
Basic Military Training of the
University Training Crops (UTC) in
1962-65.
In his student life he participated
in various social welfare and
cultural activities and joined many
socio-political Organisations. He
was a Central Executive Committee
member of Muslim Students
Association (MSA) and Danya
Waddy Students Association (DSA)
at Kyauk Pru College from 1959-
1962. Late Shabbir Hussein was
General Secretary of the Rangoon
University Rohingya Students
Organisation from 1961 to 1964 as
well as Central Committee member of
the Rangoon University Muslim
Students Association (RUMSA) from
1962 to 1964.
After his graduation, Shabbir
Hussein joined the Ministry of Trade
Corporation in Burma and worked as
township trade manager until he
joined the underground freedom
movement of Rohingya Independence
Force (RIF) in 1969. He actively played
a key role when the members of the
RIF and Rohingya National Liberation
Party (RNLP) were working together in
the interest of the Rohingya people.
In 1973 the name of the Organisation
was changed to Rohingya
Patriotic Front (RPF), under the leadership
of late Mohammed Jafar Habib;
and served as a Central Committee
member in his various capacities,
including In-charge of Training
Centre, Secretary for Publicity and
Information and Secretary for Foreign
Affairs. In 1975 when substantial
quantity of youths and educated
Rohingyas who joined RPF went underground,
it was he who successfully
imparted them basic military training.
Almost all present day Rohingya
leaders got basic military training
from him. It will remain as a milestone
in the history of Rohingya freedom
movement.
In 1984 Shabbir Hussain became the
President of RPF. When RPF and a
faction of Rohingya Solidarity
Organisation (RSO) led by Nurul
Islam merged into a broad based
organization of the Arakan Rohingya
Islamic Front (ARIF), he was elected
as its Chairman, in the first Rohingya
National Council (RNC) convened in
1987; and he was elected Vice-
President in the next term.

It recalled me one instance from the history of Burma:
While the Burmese king Anawrahta(1044 - 1077)was ruling the Burmese people from Pagan the Mon king
Manuha was ruling the Mon people from Thaton, the than port city. An Arab ship was wrecked. And two young Muslim
brothers escaped from the jaws of the death with the help of broken planks. The abbot of the royal Buddhist monastery
found them at the seashore, took them to the monastery and adopted them. They were Byawi and Byatta. One day the
monk and the two Muslim brothers found a death body of a Muslim saint in the deep forest. The monk was furious
when he came to know that the death body of the saint [zawzi] was eaten by the two brothers. They grew up mighty with
the strength of fighting the elephants. The king was afraid of their strength and looking for a chance to kill them. He
had trapped Byawi as the daughter of the king’s Prime Minister was found in the arms of Byawi, Byatta escaped
to Pagan and took shelter at the court of the King Anawrahta. With the help of Byatta, King Anawrahta conquered
Thaton and Manuha was taken as prisoner of war. Byatta was married to a woman of Popa from where he had to carry
magnolia [sagawa] flowers seven times a day to the Palace at Pagan. He had two sons in the service of the king. With
their help the king won the battle with Chinese. On their returning journey from China, the two sons of Byatta, Shwe
Pyine Gyi and Shwe Pying Ngay were beheaded by the king Anawrahta because they refused to put bricks on the
construction of a Buddhist Pagoda as they were Muslims. It shows that from the very beginning the Burmese were
ungrateful toward Muslims.Anawrahta was killed by a mysterious mad buffalo.