• About Us
Wednesday, August 17, 2022
  • Login
The Daily Reality
  • Home
  • News
  • Opinion
  • Politics
  • Entertainment
    • All
    • Sports
    Marrying money and today’s marriage industry (I)

    Marrying money and today’s marriage industry (I)

    Multi-talented Nigerian director, Biyi Bandele, is dead

    Multi-talented Nigerian director, Biyi Bandele, is dead

    Kannywood directors bemoan IGP’s order on police kits in films

    Kannywood directors bemoan IGP’s order on police kits in films

    Mo Farah says he carries fake identity

    Mo Farah says he carries fake identity

    Sound Sultan: Family releases posthumous album

    Sound Sultan: Family releases posthumous album

    Kogi Governor, Yahaya Bello, joins Buga dance challenge

    Kogi Governor, Yahaya Bello, joins Buga dance challenge

    Poetifying the North: Six years of Poetic Wednesdays poetry revival

    Poetifying the North: Six years of Poetic Wednesdays poetry revival

    Monstrous Madrid face Liverpool in UCL final after eliminating Man City

    Monstrous Madrid face Liverpool in UCL final after eliminating Man City

    Transition of Tashe

    Transition of Tashe

  • Local
  • Education
  • International
  • Kannywood
  • Entertainment
  • Religion
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • News
  • Opinion
  • Politics
  • Entertainment
    • All
    • Sports
    Marrying money and today’s marriage industry (I)

    Marrying money and today’s marriage industry (I)

    Multi-talented Nigerian director, Biyi Bandele, is dead

    Multi-talented Nigerian director, Biyi Bandele, is dead

    Kannywood directors bemoan IGP’s order on police kits in films

    Kannywood directors bemoan IGP’s order on police kits in films

    Mo Farah says he carries fake identity

    Mo Farah says he carries fake identity

    Sound Sultan: Family releases posthumous album

    Sound Sultan: Family releases posthumous album

    Kogi Governor, Yahaya Bello, joins Buga dance challenge

    Kogi Governor, Yahaya Bello, joins Buga dance challenge

    Poetifying the North: Six years of Poetic Wednesdays poetry revival

    Poetifying the North: Six years of Poetic Wednesdays poetry revival

    Monstrous Madrid face Liverpool in UCL final after eliminating Man City

    Monstrous Madrid face Liverpool in UCL final after eliminating Man City

    Transition of Tashe

    Transition of Tashe

  • Local
  • Education
  • International
  • Kannywood
  • Entertainment
  • Religion
No Result
View All Result
The Daily Reality
No Result
View All Result
Home Opinion

The voice of moderation and reason is lost: Tribute to Dr Ahmad Muhammad Ibrahim, 1940-2022

Admin by Admin
8 January 2022
in Opinion
3
The voice of moderation and reason is lost: Tribute to Dr Ahmad Muhammad Ibrahim, 1940-2022

Dr Ahmad Muhmmad Bamba

0
SHARES
1.3k
VIEWS
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter


By Kabiru Haruna Isa


“The death of a scholar is the departure of knowledge”.~Yahya b. Ja’far


In the afternoon of Friday, January 7, 2022, Dr Ahmad Muhammad Ibrahim, who was popularly and variedly known as Dr Ahmad Bamba; Dr Ahmad BUK; and Кala Haddasana, succumbed to the cold hands of death. Whoever attended the Muslim traditional funeral prayer did not need to specialize in Thanatology or the assistance of any thanatologist to decipher that his passing on has shocked not only the northern Nigerian Muslims but perhaps the entire Muslim world.

Hundreds and thousands of mourners from different nooks and crannies of northern Nigeria trooped to his mosque, Darul Hadith Masjid, at Tudun Yola quarters in Kano Metropolis to observe his Salat al-Janazah (funeral prayer). Based on my personal observation, the congregants comprised adherents of different doctrinal and ideological groups who were deeply touched by his death.

Dr Ahmad was one of the elder statesmen of the Muslim North who chose to be independent-minded, honest, forthright, focused and overtly apolitical. Those who grew up in Kano can vividly remember his educational sessions in the 1990s when he read a series of hadiths (narrative records of the sayings and customs of the Prophet Muhammad), which were aired on CTV (now Abubakar Rimi Television, ARTV), Radio Kano and other broadcast media.

What distinguished his educational sessions from those of other Islamic scholars were his sonorous voice, interactive dialogue, active learning process, and the constant prodding of his audience to debate jurisprudential issues. He created a convivial and liberal atmosphere for his students to either agree or disagree with his interpretations of holy texts without necessarily derailing from the subject matter, which demonstrated his deep knowledge of theological hermeneutics. 

Even though a Salafi, Dr Ahmad was a bridge-builder between Sufis and Salafis in northern Nigeria ostensibly due to his old age, maturity, accommodation and toleration. He always tried as much as possible to avoid deployment of insulting and libellous language to either demonize or hereticize those whose doctrines differed from his.

To err is human. As a human being, he might have wronged others, especially during his formative years, but he personified moderation and toleration as a fully accomplished and elder-scholar. Muslims will surely miss his fatherly voice of moderation, reason, truth and honesty. 

Despite his erratic temperament, Dr Ahmad was a forgiving person who never intended to hold animosity beyond the grave. I remember my personal interaction with him when Malam Babangida Namadi introduced me to him sometime in 2020. I pleaded with him to document his life narrative as some scholars did, such as Shaykh Abubakar Mahmoud Gumi in his autobiography, Where I Stand.

Dr Ahmad responded that he had a lot of stories to pass on to the younger generations based on varied phases of his life, bitter and positive experiences, social networks, scholarly itineraries and odysseys, family life, marriage counselling, pedagogy, university and national politics, truce and reconciliations and intra-faith relations. He further said that he would never write an autobiography because many people offended him and had already forgiven them; therefore did not want anything that would trigger his emotions.

The death of Dr Ahmad has created a vacuum that will take time to be filled because of his dedication and contributions to scholarship and the study of hadith in the Muslim world. To produce a scholar of his calibre is not an easy task, especially in the 21st century when young people exhibit hedonistic tendencies and many societies experience a systemic educational decline.

I will conclude with a famous quote of Umar “the death of a thousand worshipers is easier to bear than the death of a scholar who has knowledge of what Allah has permitted and forbidden”.

It will take us a long time to come to terms with the departure of Dr Ahmad. May Allah admit him into Jannatul Firdaus, amin.

Gmail: khisa.his@buk.edu.ng Department of History Bayero University, Kano.

Tags: Dr Ahmad Muhammad BambaIslamKano StateNigeriaSunnah
Previous Post

Beyond Pantami’s tears

Next Post

Death is the key to life

Next Post
Death is the key to life

Death is the key to life

Comments 3

  1. Lukman Abdulkarim says:
    7 months ago

    May Allah grant him jannatul firdaus. This is powerful.

    Reply
  2. Abdulmalik Umar Dala says:
    7 months ago

    May Allah grant mallam jannatul firdaus

    Reply
    • Abubakar Aliyu says:
      7 months ago

      May Allah grant him Jannah

      Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recommended

Kogi Governor hosts Liberia’s Vice President to dinner in Abuja

Kogi Governor hosts Liberia’s Vice President to dinner in Abuja

7 months ago
BREAKING: Dhul Hijjah crescent sighted in Saudi Arabia

BREAKING: Dhul Hijjah crescent sighted in Saudi Arabia

2 months ago

Popular News

    Connect with us

    Facebook Twitter
    The Daily Reality

    The Daily Reality

    The Daily Reality is an online news medium with a physical address in Kano State, Nigeria. As our name suggests, we aim to be realistic and truthful to our readers. Moreover, we are an independent, non-partisan company. Thus, we will always do our best to be fair, factual and accurate in our journalism.

    Follow us on social media

    Category

    • Business (23)
    • Education (183)
    • Engausa (6)
    • Entertainment (23)
    • Health (36)
    • International (102)
    • Kannywood (22)
    • Lifestyle (30)
    • Literature (25)
    • Local (194)
    • National (185)
    • News (797)
    • Opinion (729)
    • Politics (179)
    • Religion (109)
    • Science (12)
    • Sports (18)
    • Technology (36)
    • Travel (4)
    • Uncategorized (3)
    Nigeria Civil War: Conspiracies and interest of the World Powers

    Nigeria Civil War: Conspiracies and interest of the World Powers

    17 August 2022
    Nigeria Jubilee Fellows Programme: Advice to three applicant categories

    The English teacher who failed kinds of nouns

    17 August 2022
    The imperatives of Nigeria’s war against poverty (I)

    The imperatives of Nigeria’s war against poverty (I)

    17 August 2022

    © 2022 The Daily Reality - Powered by EasyLife Creative Studio.

    No Result
    View All Result
    • Home
    • News
    • Opinion
    • Politics
    • Business
    • National
    • Entertainment
    • International
      • Kannywood

    © 2022 The Daily Reality - Powered by EasyLife Creative Studio.

    Welcome Back!

    Login to your account below

    Forgotten Password?

    Retrieve your password

    Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

    Log In