Religion

By Aisar Fagge

A renowned Kano-based Islamic cleric, Chief Imam of Ansarisunnah Mosque, Sheikh Aminu Daurawa, has paid tribute to the late Dr. Ahmad Ibrahim Bamba (popularly known as Dr. Ahmad BUK) who passed on on Friday morning, 7-1-2022 after a brief illness.

The Daily Reality has reported how the funeral prayer of Dr. Ahmad saw thousands of attendees amidst tears and condolences that were rained both online and offline.

At his Adabul Mufrad lesson, Sheikh Daurawa said, “This is the day we should all pray for him and may God reward him for his service to Islam. People know his with “ƙala haddathana.” He spent all his life seeking and imparting knowledge. Those of us that have been with him know the kind of struggle he had—in Madinah while seeking for knowledge and his coming to BUK since 90s.”

Sheikh Daurawa added: “Allah blessed him (Dr. BUK) with the patience to impart knowledge. He was able to spend over 30 years teaching Sahih al-Bukhari, Sahih Muslim, Abu Dawud, Tirmidhi, Nisa’i and Ibn Majah—these are the books called Kutubu as-Sittah. He also taught Muwaɗɗa Malik, Sunan Darimi and died while teaching Sharhus-Sunnah of Imam Al- Bagawy. We, therefore, have nothing to give to the doctor except to pray to Allah to accept all his deeds. And may Allah grant him Jannah.”

“His passing on on Friday where thousands of people attended his funeral prayer were indicators that he was blessed.”

The cleric recalled how Dr Ahmad facilitated in buying him his first car [Toyota], Gombe tafsir and gave him several gifts.

“Dr likes to see me wearing a turban. He rounded my head with it several times. There was also a time I went to him without it. He asked Prof. Ahmad Murtala to wear it for me,” Daurawa concluded.

Yesterday, Kano state, in particular, was rocked with the untimely passing away of the revered Sheikh Dr. Ahmad BUK aka “Ƙala Haddasana”. Social media was awash with condolences and prayers for Allah’s mercy on the deceased. In all my years on this space, I have never seen a single event that generated as much unanimous positive reactions from all quarters as this one. Experience has taught me that Northern Nigerian cyberspace is one of the most polarised places on the social media. Religious/doctrinal and political differences easily blind us to reason. Yes, Islam encourages us to speak good about the dead. However, seeing how the social media mourned the late Sheikh almost in unison makes me realise that indeed there is a big lesson to learn from this death.

The late Sheikh was one of the earliest Salafi scholars in Nigeria. In his many lectures, he confessed to have earlier been a follower of Tijjaniyya, which is arguably the biggest Sufi sect in the world. Despite his doctrinal leaning, the Sheikh commanded respects from all and sundry. The secret behind this is the fact that he never created bad blood with his rivals. In other words, the Sheikh was steadfast in his Salafi ideology while at the same time maintaining a cordial relationship with others. This is a rare character trait that we all need to embrace fully.

You can be a Salafi or a Sufi, an APC or a PDP fan, a Buharist or a Kwankwasite and so on. But learn to never burn bridges with others. You can hold different religious or political opinions. You can always disagree with others on different issues. But always try to disagree politely and learn to respect others’ opinions. Most of the animosities and tensions that characterise our existence are borne out of our seeming intolerance and in-your-face attitudes towards others.

I have come to the realisation that the outpouring prayers for Allah’s mercy and forgiveness on the Sheikh are not only the results of his teaching and mentorship but are also the consequences of his tolerance and thoughtfulness. When you live a useful life, your death would leave even your detractors with a void impossible to fill in. When you make tolerance your guiding principle, even your enemies would be left with no choice than to admire you, even if grudgingly. The take-home lesson is: be respectful of others regardless of existing differences.

May Allah SWT forgive the Sheikh and all others who have passed away before him.

Aliyu Yakubu Yusuf

By Muhammad Sabiu

The national leadership of the Jama’atu Izalatil Bid’a wa Iqamatis Sunnah (JIBWIS) alias Izala, headed by Sheikh Abdullahi Bala Lau, has in a meeting held in Abuja on Wednesday asked its controversial national secretary, Dr Ibrahim Jalo Jalingo, to desist from discussing and publicising controversial issues.

This is coming amidst the criticism and bashing Dr Jalo receives, especially on social media, over his position that the parents of Prophet Muhammad (SAW) “would not be in Heaven.”

The Islamic organisation’s statement released through its Facebook page said the meeting was held by its top-ranking executive members. It has resolved to make it necessary for any member cleric to have a knowledge-driven discussion before publicising any controversial topic.

It also asked all its social media handlers to pull down any content that promotes the controversial thought of the secretary, adding that what is now required is prayer looking at the security challenges bedevilling the country. 

Many people describe Dr Jalo’s position as balderdash and disrespectful to the person of the Prophet (SAW).

By Hussaina Sufyan Ahmed

The President-General of the Nigeria Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs (NSCIA), Sultan of Sokoto, Sheikh Sa’ad Abubakar III, has called on Muslims all over Nigeria to watch out for the new moon of Jumada al-Thani 1443 AH on Sunday, January 02 2022.

He said in the press release:
“This is to inform the Muslim Ummah that Monday, January 03, 2022, which is equivalent to the 29th day of Jumada al-Awwal 1443AH, shall be the day to look out for the new moon of Jumada al-Thani 1443AH.

“Muslims are, therefore, requested to start looking for the new moon on Monday and report its sighting to the nearest district or village head for onward communication to the Sultan.” 

This statement was signed by Sambo Junaidu, Chairman, Advisory Committee on Religious Affairs, Sultanate Council, Sokoto State.

By Abdullahi Abubakar Lamido

A person who sponsors and takes good care of a single orphan is assured of a mansion in the choicest quarters of Firdaus at the centre of the Prophet’s Estate, enjoying their eternal life as a neighbour to the Infallible Master (sallalahu alaihi wa sallam). In the Hadith of Bukhari, the Prophet says, “The caretaker of the orphan and I will enter paradise like this, raising (by way of illustration) his forefinger and middle finger jointly, leaving no space in-between.”

A community flooded with orphans and vulnerable children with no access to food, clothing, shelter, education, and medicare; orphans whose neglect aggravate their vulnerability to all sorts of socio-economic dangers; should prioritise taking care of them. If competing in building mosques even where there is less need is to get paradise, why not also invest in this sure way to Heaven?

And, why not consider endowments for fighting hunger also? When a person asked the Prophet, what is the best act in Islam, the Prophet mentioned two actions: “To feed (others) and to greet those whom you know and those whom you do not know” (Bukhari). And the Prophet also counted “feeding others” among the surest ways to paradise, alongside spreading salam, strengthening kinship ties and night prayers. Why not, then also emphasise in our society, making endowments for feeding the needy and the millions of the malnourished and unnourished children as a guaranteed path to paradise? 

My honest opinion is that rather than rebuilding or redecorating some mosques, we need to invest more in empowering our imams and their followers. We can all see how the “imamdom” is gradually being saturated with incapable scholars leading ignorant followers in prayers within well-decorated mosques. As if we have forgotten that giving quality education and “beneficial knowledge” to people is itself a sustainable afterlife investment, one that may even often have more multiplier effects and trickle-down effects in terms of fetching rewards perpetually and building the Muslim community progressively.

If one sponsors a young man to become an Islamic scholar and imam, anytime this trained scholar preaches and teaches, the sponsor has a reward commission. And when the students of the imam teach or use the knowledge, the sponsor is assured of a commission. It continues in that way till “the end of history”! So, if the search for reward is what makes us race in building worship places, then so should building qualitative worshipers. We should, in fact, see the creation of generations of qualitative Muslims as a “blue ocean”; a virgin and highly underexplored otherworldly investment opportunity.  

Some may remind us that the Prophet’s first thing after hijra was to build a mosque. True. But that was first because there was none. And secondly, this mosque, as a primary symbol of Islam, was built for companions who were well educated in Makkah before migration, plus the Medinan community that was also educated by no other scholar than the great Mus’ab bin ‘Umayr.

In any case, the Prophet built the mosque because it was a priority by all standards; there was a need. And so immediately after that, he also paid attention to other developmental matters, including socio-economic priorities like establishing the Medinan Market (Suq al-Madinah). He also immediately began calling companions to “purchase” homes in Jannah through addressing human needs. That was how Uthman got an edifice in Jannah by purchasing the well of Ruma and dedicating it as waqf. That was how Abu Talha got Paradise by committing a waqf of his garden to benefit the needy and his poor relatives.

In fact, as recorded, most rich companions got their direct entry admission to Jannah through spending on human needs; Uthman bought and did waqf of the Ruma well, Umar dedicated the Thamqh garden for the poor, wayfarers and the rest, and the list goes. Little did we remember that in addition to doing a waqf of his mosque, virtually all the other waqfs of the Prophet were for welfare and socio-economic empowerment. 

We need to discuss whether building the Muslims and making them self-sufficient should continue to receive our philanthropic priorities or building mansions in the name of mosques – even where there is less need – which would mostly be populated by undedicated, hungry, dirty and largely ill worshippers. Building worship places is undoubtedly required, guaranteed key to paradise, ceteris paribus. It is, however, one of many means to getting admission to paradise. Why, then, should we not start to amplify other keys to paradise, especially those in some contexts such as ours that may appear weightier on the scale of Muslim priorities?

It is not in the interest of Islam to have dirty looking Muslims attending multimillion naira mosques. Islam wants educated, neat, tranquil, self-sufficient, qualitative Muslims whose worship is knowledge-based. So, when some philanthropists focus on building worship places, others need to invest in other equally rewarding endeavours. Wherever we have no worship place, it is a collective duty upon the community members to initiate one. However, where we already have one, we must prioritise other joint obligations; taking care of the orphans, the poor and widows being one of them. We can do it through building revenue-generating waqfs that can perpetually help the poor and everlasting generate rewards to the donor.

Abdullahi Abubakar Lamido is the Chairman Zakah and Waqf Foundation Gombe, Nigeria. He can be reached via lamidomabudi@gmail.com.

By Abdullahi Abubakar Lamido

Alhaji Halilu is a popular, wealthy businessman. Famous for his continuous investment in constructing mosques, people in his town, surrounding villages and neighbouring states came to know him as Alhaji Mai-Masallatai (roughly, the Mosques Builder). His main motivation is the authentic hadith that promises a house in paradise for anyone who builds a mosque for Allah.

Thus, whenever Mai-Masallatai is approached with a request for mosque construction, he gives an automatic positive response. Alhaji dedicated all his philanthropic budget to building mosques, with virtually zero allocation to any other act of charity. He never says no to a mosque request. Within some time, he had constructed mosques for almost all the communities within his town and neighbouring villages. His ultimate goal is to own wonderful castles in heaven, and, Alhamdulillah, he has got a guarantee for that in constructing mosques from an infallible mouth. 

Now, three things happened. One, as there are not many communities lacking mosques, people started requesting him to repair the mosques he built for them last five, ten or seven years; to rebuild their mosque, repair it, or buy them new sound system, new carpet for the mosque, electricity generator, or “solar” and so on. Mai-Masallatai gradually transformed into Mai gyaran Masallatai, from building mosques to redecorating and making existing mosques “befitting” and ultramodern.

The second trend then followed. Since Mai-Masallatai is not the only aspirant for paradise, other wealthy persons joined the mosque construction endeavour. As a result, the number of mosques increases – two or more mosques in an unnecessarily close distance. A  community that needs one mosque would request a second one for flimsy reasons; we have Sheikh XYZ, who should be an imam and has no mosque; why not get one for him so the society would benefit from his imamship! And any rich man who builds a new house would ensure that a mosque is embedded from the inception of the architectural design. So, each neighbourhood or street, and almost each “big” house, has a mosque attachment built by a person who wants paradise. Soon the third issue began to arise; imams scarcity.

It is noteworthy that Mai-Masallatai and all his emulators live and do business within a Muslim community that has thousands of orphans who live in hunger, disease, illness and squalor. They coexist with hundreds of widows who survive in shabbiness, battling the spiritual ills, psychological traumas and socio-economic vulnerabilities associated with poverty, ignorance and starvation. They reside in neighbourhoods bedevilled with noise, air and dirt population, with zero consciousness of environmental challenges; where people often urinate and defecate in the open, at public passages and places as crucial as mosques and marketplaces and stadia. They live in communities that use firewood as an energy source but with near-zero interest in planting trees.

Mai-Masallatai builds mosques for communities where well above 80% of the people cannot correctly recite the Fatiha and are mostly ignorant of the basics of purification, ablution and prayer. The worship places are beautiful, “befitting”, and “ultra-modern”. But the worshippers are ultra-ignorant, extra-hungry and super-poor. While the mosques are decorated, the mosque attendants are neglected.

The community severely lacks qualified imams and doesn’t have a plan to train religious scholars or imams. Nearly all are accidental scholars and imams. Most imams are less qualified, semi-qualified, or simply unqualified. Those with minimum requirements have no access to any “on the job training” and retraining. They have no grounding in jurisprudence nor appreciation of the complexities of their time and place. They might know a little of actually elementary Islamic texts, but not of their context. They continue to recycle their khutbas, reading for their congregation – often with a lot of mistakes – imported sermons presented for the 20^th-century audience in Egypt or Morocco or Saudi Arabia or Algeria (depending upon the inclination of the imams), which are compiled in a collection of sermons or al-khutab al-minbariyya. The sermons are in Arabic, reread for an audience dominated by over 90% of people who do not understand Arabic except, perhaps, “Allahu Akbar”!  

Dear reader, to what extent is your community better than Mai-Masallatai’s? Should building worship places take priority over building the worshippers? Should we continue to construct “befitting”, “ultramodern”, and “world-class” mosques for largely poor, ignorant and confused Muslim communities? Should we, while, of course, building mosques where they are truly needed, not also prioritize producing a Muslim population that is religiously educated, morally upright, intellectually sound, socio-economic dignified and religiously conscious. What better serves the essence of the mosque as an Islamic institution: a beautiful building or an educated congregation? Should building mosques be the only priority in a village where there is not even a single person learned in the Qur’an and the jurisprudence of purification, ablution, prayer, fasting, and other rituals?

More questions are begging for answers. For example, what will be more critical between saving people’s faith through addressing their basic needs of life, thereby shielding them from the onslaughts of evangelism and other anti-Islamic missions on the one hand, and mere building a mosque where there are no qualified imams and scholars to teach them creed and worship on the other? Should we continue to have “comfortable places” for ignorant and hungry worshippers rather than building conscious and educated worshippers? 

Given the current religious and socio-economic realities of Muslims in Nigeria, what should be the focus and priority areas of intervention in terms of philanthropy? Please don’t mistake my position. No Muslims will disagree regarding the centrality of mosques as Islamic symbol numero uno. Where there is no mosque, it is a collective responsibility upon the Muslims to build one to the best of their ability. What, however, may need reflection is the question of when, where and why building a mosque should take primacy vis-à-vis other Muslim priorities and when not. Is it not imperative, for instance, for us to begin to remind ourselves that much as we can get a shortcut to paradise through building mosques, there are other philanthropic acts that not only guarantee paradise but even assure of a choice area and unmatchable edifice in Jannah?

Abdullahi Abubakar Lamido is the Chairman Zakah and Waqf Foundation Gombe, Nigeria. He can be reached lamidomabudi@gmail.com.

By Aisar Fagge

The Ulama Forum in Nigeria is greatly concerned and saddened over the perpetual killings of innocent lives going on unabated in Nigeria, especially in the North West of the country in recent times.

The forum disclosed this in its press release signed by its secretary, Engr. Basheer Adamu Aliyu, on Monday, December 13, 2021, and sent to The Daily Reality today, Thursday, December 16, 2021.

The statement reads: “Our hearts bleed over the dastardly and inhuman act of burning alive of 23 passengers in Sokoto state. Other equally sad losses of lives that were witnessed in Niger, Kaduna, Zamfara and Katsina states over the last one week are heart touching, frustrating and to say the least unpardonable. It is highly inconceivable how bandits and terrorists move about freely in the land, committing heinous acts and atrocities unchecked by the power of government and its security agencies.”

“The terrorists have desecrated all religious, human and universal values and indeed, they have lost their faith and humanity; they must be confronted head-on with might and power. We most strongly urge the Federal Government of Nigeria (FGN) to sit up to its responsibility of protecting the lives of Nigerian citizens. It would be recalled that in the year 2020, out of similar concern over the deteriorating trend of insecurity, the Ulama Forum had advanced nearly a dozen suggestions to the governments at all levels so as to curb the Boko Haram menace, banditry and other security challenges facing the Northern region.”

“It is sad to note that most of our suggestions were ignored and security situation in the country has been moving from bad to worse,” the Forum lamented.

“Based on the foregoing, we would like to once more urge the FGN to re-assess its security strategies and spending with a view to unfolding a more holistic and all-inclusive approach. We believe that divine intervention is a most potent weapon against the bandits, insurgents and their collaborators.”

“To this end, members of the Forum have resolved to devote themselves to alqunut (special prayer in times of turmoil) during each prayer session. Similarly, special prayers should be observed in Madaaris (Islamiyyah Schools) and other places of gathering.”

“We pray to Allah to give our leaders the listening ears to hear the cries of its weak, terrorised and terrified citizens, particularly in the North. May they have the wisdom, will, determination and ability to do the needful and ensure peace and security in the land. There is no power or strength save in Allah,” it concluded.

The release was endorsed by its members such as:

Prof. Mansur Ibrahim (mni), Sokoto; Dr. Bashir Aliyu Umar, Kano; Dr. Abubakar Muhamad Sani B/Kudu, Jigawa; Dr. Khalid Abubakar Aliyu, Kaduna; Prof. Muhammad Babangida Muhammad, Kano; Dr. Said Ahmad Dukawa, Kano; Prof. Salisu Shehu, Bauchi; Prof. Ahmad Bello Dogarawa, Kaduna; Amir Abdullahi Abubakar Lamido, Gombe; Dr. Ibrahim Adam Omar Disina, Bauchi; Prof. Ahmad Murtala, Kano; Sheikh Tijjani Bala Kalarawi, Kano;

Perhaps, it was the Mathew Effect that made Professor Kpareogi’s recent article on the plight of the Yoruba Muslims in their own lands so famous that it generated so much response as if, until the piece was made public, nobody was aware that Yoruba Muslims, who were in the majority in the Southwest, have been under powerful religious subjugation by the Yoruba Christians.

But even a casual observer will not fail to notice the recurring crisis across the Yoruba land over the use of Hijab by Muslim female children in the schools. Some of these sartorial choice crises trended long enough to attract the attention of everyone while some have to be settled at the courts. The infamous ruling by an Ikeja high court that because Christians would feel less righteous in the presence of Hijab wearing children, Muslim children should not wear Hijab to their schools, is still fresh in our memories. Delivering the judgement on 17th October 2014, Justice Modupe Onyearbor declared that “The non-Hijab wearing students will feel inferior to those who are putting on Hijab.” The judge, therefore, banned the use of Hijab for Muslim girls till an Appeal Court put aside that judgement.

The sartorial choice struggle is, perhaps, the most glaring among the many struggles being fought by the embattled Muslim majority in the region, this is mainly due to publicity it is generating and the will to resist the subjugation by the new generation of Muslims who firmly believed in self-determination. The case of Barrister Firdaus Amata who refused to jettison her constitutional right on December 12, 2017, an action for which she was denied entry into the International Conference Centre by the Body of Benchers, highlighted one of such struggles.

Apart from the Hijab struggle, the most glaring inequality the Muslims are struggling with is the fact that despite being the majority in the region, not a single Islamic court exists in the whole region. They are forced to either take their cases to the imposed Christian common law courts or Customary courts. This is more worrisome given that Islamic courts existed in Yorubaland long before the arrival of the colonial armies who abolished them and imposed their own courts. Islamic courts existed since 1842 in that region, according to MURIC.

Even the Yoruba Muslim’s peaceful move to introduce sharia courts in Yorubaland through constitutional means was fiercely tamed by the Christians in that region. On May 27 this year, the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria (PFN) was eloquent in its submission that the introduction of Shariah Law in the South West should be ignored by the Senate.

Nothing highlighted how the Muslims in Yorubaland are struggling to free themselves from Christian subjugation than the declaration by some Muslim groups that they are not in support of the Oduduwa Republic as they will face persecution if actualized. This belied the widely believed notion that the Yorubas are homogenous and that religion plays a second or third role in their lives. It proves that for a long time, the Muslim majority were silenced into submission out of fear of “social ostracism”. Their passiveness was fully exploited by Christians and misunderstood by northerners.

Now that the passiveness is giving way to the rising tide of Islamic awareness in the region, things are getting clearer that the hyped religious tolerance in that region was indeed the domination of Christians over Muslims.
Ironically, this is coming just as some voices are maintaining a hyperbolic but erroneous assumption that the North is the den of religious intolerance even as facts are contradicting them.

Sheikh Nuru Khalid is among those who seemed to have fallen for this fallacy recently. In his clamour for Interfaith Dialogue, he recently claimed, among other things, that Interfaith Dialogue was necessary now given the bad light in which the terrorist organizations, like Boko Haram, are painting Islam and the high level of religious intolerance in the North.

If the Sheikh is right on Interfaith Dialogue’s effect on religious intolerance, he is very wrong on the Boko Haram claim. He is also very wrong in his charge that Muslims are to be blamed for religious intolerance in the region. Because of all the religious crises in this part of the nation, over ninety per cent were NOT caused by Muslims; they were just defending themselves.

Therefore, to insinuate that Muslims are to blame for religious intolerance in the country is insidious even if said in good faith, because it is a BIG lie.

It is flabbergasting to assume that had there been an Interfaith Dialogue, Boko Haram wouldn’t have happened, because among the reasons the terrorists have for fighting is what they called the systematic downplaying of religious teachings in order to please non-Muslims.

It is evident that both the terrorists and the Sheikh have agreed on the same erroneous definition of Interfaith Dialogue. Both seemed to give Interfaith Dialogue the definition of Syncretism. Many people speak about syncretism while they think they are discussing Interfaith Dialogue.

To differentiate between the two terms, just take the stands of late Nnamdi Azikiwe who said “We must forget our differences”, and that of late Sir Ahmadu Bello (Sardaunan Sokoto) who replied, “No, let’s understand our differences…” What Azikiwe said is syncretism while the stand of Sardauna connotes Interfaith Dialogue.

I don’t think anyone who knows that Muslims are the majority of the victims of Boko Haram or understood their mission will honestly insist that an Interfaith Dialogue would have been an antidote to their aggression.

Finally, while I am not saying (the Muslim) North is totally devoid of religious intolerance (this depends on your definition of the term), it is not true that we are the purveyors of intolerance, rather, we are at the receiving end of religious intolerance. This could be discussed in another piece.

Muhammad Mahmood writes from Kano.

By Aisar Fagge and Ahmad Hassan

Many students who go to university do not have the awareness and motivation to understand the need to have a personal vision and proper training on managing their time effectively.

Malam Abdullahi Abubakar Lamido of the Department of Economics, Bayero University, Kano, made this observation while presenting his papers in a lecture series organized by Al-Istiqama University, Sumaila (AUSU). Speaking about the first paper titled “My Mission in Life,” Lamido said:

“Well, essentially, the essence is to help the students with the necessary tools with which they can plan and organize their life, from developing their personal life vision; what they want to achieve in their own life, and what they want to achieve in the university.

“When we say vision, we mean how to help them develop a multi-dimensional vision that covers all the essential aspects of their life – spiritual, religious, social, economic, financial, political, family and educational life,” he added.

Lamido’s second paper was about how students manage their time where he said:

“One of the greatest assets that one needs to move towards greatness is to master the art of time management. I gave them some tools that can help them pragmatically in organizing their time. We use the “Big rock concept” and Brain Tracy’s “Eat that frog and so on.”

When commending the management style of the Vice-Chancellor of Al-Istiqama, Lamido commented thus:

“When I heard about the appointment of Prof. Salisu Shehu as the VC of Al-Istiqama, I concluded these people are serious. Because whoever knows Prof. Salisu Shehu knows him as a man of seriousness, a man of vision, a man of commitment, a man of dedication, a man of mission, a man of good character, a man of scholarship and an accomplished administrator.”

Two students attending the event explained the impact the lectures had on them.

Ibrahim Bashir, a student of Medical Laboratory Science, said, “My mission as a student of Al-Istiqama is to become a medical laboratory scientist and memorize Holy Qur’an.”

Fatima Muhammad from the Department of Nursing said, “Today’s activities are very motivating and educative as well. I have learned the difference between the vision and mission in life and how to use time accordingly.

“As a student of Al-Istiqama University, my vision is to become a professional nurse that is going make a difference out there – someone who is going to help the society and also the people from my state, women especially.

“People are complaining in the hospital that the nurses lack good manners, nurses harassment and others. I know showing sympathy to people in need of medical services is good.”

Other scholars who presented various papers related to their fields include Eng. Bashir Adamu Aliyu, Barrister Ahmad Yarima Misau, Dr Abubakar S. Usman, Dr Halima Rabiu Abdullahi and Dr Muhammad S. Usman from their respective institutions.

Many academics, religious and traditional leaders, as well as members of the Muslims Students Society of Nigeria (MSSN), graced the occasion.

By Aisar Fagge

On 3rd November, 2021, a delegation from the Al-Azhar University, Egypt visited Al-Istiqama University Sumaila (AUSU) for partnership, staff training and establishing a centre for Arabic sign language that no any Nigerian university has. Explaining to the Daily Reality about this development, The VC of Al-Istiqama University, Prof. Salisu Shehu said:

“You know universities in the world thrive on partnership and collaborations. You need to come to abreast with international best practices in university education. And it is only through collaboration and partnership you get that. You need to mutually interdependent on one another. And it is on this basis we get some form of partnership with Al-Azhar University. As it were, Al-Azhar University is over one thousand years old. It is our big mother.”

“We are moving towards a memorandum of understanding with Al-Azhar University, and they are going to help us in a number of ways: one of which, for example, is that we want them to give us training, to train some of our staff on Arabic sign language.”

There is a problem with Muslim deaf people when it comes to Arabic language and reciting Qur’an especially in their prayers. Lamenting about this lingering issue, the VC affirmed that:

“Muslim deaf people in Nigeria don’t read Arabic, they don’t read the Qur’an, they pray in English. Because what is taught in our school is only English sign language. So even when you write Hausa to them they don’t understand, let alone the Arabic language.”

“So we need to get Arabic sign language and, we want to make Al-Istiqama University, insha Allah, a center for the production of deaf people that are literate in Arabic sign language so that they will be able to read Arabic and Qur’an. Not the usual English they are taught.”

“So we have requested Al-Azhar University to support us in terms of training so that can establish a center for Arabic sign language in order to promote braille literacy,” he concluded.