Mumin was born in 1931 in the northwestern town of Zeila, then a part of the British Somaliland protectorate.
After holding minor administrative appointments in Kolhapur and Savantvadi in India, Cox was posted to British Somaliland, which was then administered from India, as Assistant Political Resident at Zeila.
Zeila |
Smaller towns include the former Afar Region capital of Asaita in Ethiopia and smaller ports along the coast such as Tadjoura in Djibouti and Zeila in Somalia.
According to the medieval historian al-Makrizi, Emperor Dawit I in 1403 pursued the Sultan of Adal, Sa'ad ad-Din II, to Zeila, where he killed the Sultan and sacked the city.
It was visited by Richard Burton the explorer in 1854, who described it as "a mound of rough stones surrounding an upright pole" near the cemetery, decorated with "the remains of votive banquets, broken stones, dried garbage, and stones blackened by the fire" showing how he was "properly venerated" as the current favorite saint of Zeila.
He was stopped at Zeila, then part of British Somaliland, by J.L. Harrington the British district officer, who told him that on account of the war he could not proceed, and in any case it would take six weeks to reach Addis Ababa.