Mombasa Institute of Muslim Education (MIOME) was founded from capital raised by means of gifts of Kshs.100,000 from Sultan of Zanzibar and Kshs.50,000 by the Bohra Community of East Africa at the insistence of Doctor Sayedna Taher Saifuddin. Sheikh Mbarak Al-Hinawy who served as the Liwali (Governor) for the Coast of East Africa and Mombasa from 1941-1959 also had major contributions to MIOME’s development. As the Governor he was consulted by the Government about various aspects of the proposed school, including its charter. 

In his capacity, he represented the Sultan of Zanzibar and closely worked with the British colonial government. Sheikh Khamis was a generous and enlightened philanthropist who sought to assist local causes. In 1948, he donated thirty-four (34) acres of land where the institute was built and another six (6) acres where the Prof. Ali Alamin Mazrui Campus stands. It was Sheikh Mbarak Al Hinawy who secured this prime land in Port Tudor from his close friend Sheikh Khamis. Without this land, MIOME would not have become a reality.

When MIOME was opened in 1951, the Sultan of Zanzibar Sheikh Khalifa bin Harab and Sheikh Mbarak Al-Hinawy were the key guests in the occasion. Sheikh Mbarak Ali-Hinawy was the founding member of MIOME’s Board of Governors.

At its inception, MIOME was charged with the prime objective of providing adequate technical education to Muslim students of East Africa. In May 1951, MIOME enrolled its first batch of students to undergo a technical education programme that placed special emphasis on Electrical and Mechanical Engineering, Seamanship and Navigation, and Woodwork. 

At independence, the Board of Governors accepted that if the institute was to play a full role in the development of the education system of independent Kenya, then its doors needed to be open to any qualifying students of all creeds.