Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji (Dr) Sa’ad Muhammad Abubakar.
The decision of the Sultan of Sokoto, His Eminence, Alhaji (Dr) Sa’ad Muhammad Abubakar, to opt out of the popular debate organized by the Kano State Government between Sheikh AbdulJabbar Nasiru Kabara, and a coalition of Clerics opposed to his interpretation of some sayings of the holy Prophet (May the Peace and Blessings of Allah be Upon him) claiming/accusing Sheikh Abdul Jabbar of degrading the Prophet’s personality and those of His pious Companions and which Sheikh AbdulJabbar denied the allegations and describes as, he only brings out fabricated Hadiths that injured or contradicted the Prophet’s infallibility and purity as transmitted by the books of hadith.
The Sultan, as the leader of the Muslim Umma is supposed to be an unbiased umpire and at the forefront of organizing such intellectual discoursses/debates on controversial matters regarding ideological differences, so that truth and or otherwise will be exposed, to save innocent Muslims from straying into the path of destruction.
As Muslims, we believe that ” Allah, will interrogate all His servants, who believed in Him and worshipped Him as instructed by His Messengers on the Day of Reckoning, and those who refuses to believe and worship Him before rewarding them by sending them to their final abodes in Heaven or in Hell. That is why the Day is called “Judgement Day”,
I am therefore appealing to His Eminence the Sultan to have a second thought on his decision as the spiritual Head of the Umma and as a leader who is supposed to give fair hearing and do justice to everybody as taught by Allah and His Prophet (SAW) no matter his understanding or interpretation of the religion, before passing any judgement or taking a stand in favour or against that person to avoid being influenced by a foreign country.
I equally wish to draw the attention of His Eminence the Sultan to the following Quranic verses:
“O you who believe, stand firm for justice even against your own selves” (Q4:135)
“O you, who believe, be upright for God, and (be) bearers of witness with justice!” (Quran 5:8)
“We sent Our Messengers with clear signs and sent down with them the Book and the Measure in order to establish justice among the people…” (Quran 57:25)
“… Indeed, Allah loves those who act justly.” (Quran 60:8).
“O you who have believed, be persistently standing firm in justice, witnesses for Allah, even if it be against yourselves or parents and relatives. Whether one is rich or poor, Allah is more worthy of both….” (Quran 4:135).
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“And approach not the property of the orphan except in the fairest way, until he [or she] attains the age of full strength, and give measurement and weight with justice…” (Quran 6:152)
“So whosoever argues with you (O Prophet) concerning the truth even after such knowledge has come to you, then say (to them), “come, let us call our sons and your son’s, our women and your women and ourselves and yourselves, then (let us) pray and invoke the Curse of Allah upon the liars”. (Quran 3:61)
I am at this point, urging the organizers of the debate to make sure that they invite the likes of the Emir of Lafiyan Bare-Bari, His Royal Highness Justice Sidi Bage (rtd), who is also a respected Jurist and believer of fairness and Justice, Erudite and globally acknowledged Islamic Cleric of international repute and Muhadith, Sheikh Sheriff Ibrahim Saleh al Husaini, Kaduna-based Islamic Scholar, Sheikh Halliru Maraya, Sheikh Maqari and scholars of the Ja’afari school of thoughts among others,; the Muslim Human Rights Lawyers should also serve as Observers of this historic, unprecedented and timely debate.
The invitation of the suggested personalities became necessary because their participation will add more credence to the scholarly and intellectual exercise which will go along way in shaping our thoughts on these contentious matters regarding interpretations.
I and many students of Islamic knowledge commended the courage and sense of fairness of the Kano State Governor, Dr Abdullahi Umar Ganduje for not succumbing to pressure from both internal and external forces to cancel the debate which is not new to Kano.
The decision by the Governor to go on with the debate will no doubt help in bringing sanity not only to Kano state, but the entire country, the population of which is not used to engaging one another in debates on scholarly issues with the view of unravelling the truth on issues regarded as controversial or ambiguous.
Similarly, discourses and debates among scholars is not a new thing in Nigeria and around the world of Islam. In the 70s, there was similar disputations on matters of ideology among scholars. An example of such debates was the one which took place between Sheikh Abubakar Mahmoud Gumi and others on ideology, Sufism and the Salafi beliefs to which the late Inspector General of Police MD Yusuf attended as the representative of the federal military government.
There were several other debates between Izala/Tijjaniya, Izala/Qadiriyya, Izala/Sufi, Tijjaniya/Qadiriyya, Shi’a/others etc.
In the same Kano of today, Muhammad Marwa and Kano scholars have done it under the watchful eye of the late Emir of Kano. Sheikh Nasiru Kanata and the Tijjaniya scholars severally disagreed on matters to which they debated.
There is also for the records a lot of such discoursses in the early years of the spread of Islam and Islamic knowledge among the great Islamic thinkers. Example of which was the one recorded by Imam Muhammad b. Idris al-Shafi’i (d. 204/820) who recorded debates on hadith in many of his exant works, including in a number of the legal-theoretical treatises that were transmitted, and are published alongside his major legal work Kitab al-umm.
One of them, the short treatuse Jima’al-ilm, present the essence of these debates held with groups of scholars whom al-Shafi’i considered opponents of hadith. It is consequently of central importance for understanding the contradictions surrounding hadith in Islamic intellectual circles at the beginning of the ninth century.
After a brief introduction, the work offers two sections: the first summarizes the views of those who rejected hadith altogether, and second presents the views of those who rejected only certain types of hadith, which al-Shafi’i term Khabar al-khassa (“reports of the specialists”). In another sections does al-Shafi’i mention the names of individual opponents or specify the school of thought to which they adhered.
Identification of thise opponents is thus foundational for understanding both al-Shafi’i and his ninth century intellectual environment, but prior scholarly attempts to identify them have been inadequate for the most part, resulting in misunderstandings of the debates concerning hadith and especially of the position of the Mu’tazila on such question.
Equally, in our own historical context, the founder of Sokoto Caliphate, Sheikh Uthman bin Fodio, his brother Abdullahi of Gwandu and his son Bello have all entered into debates with the disputing scholars of their time. Among the famous discours was the correspondence between the Sheikh, Sarkin Musulmai Bello and Shehu Muhammad Al-Amin Al-kanami of Borno on matters concerning the permissibility of Jihad on Muslims and other juristic matters.
While appreciating the exuberance and enthusiasm shown by the litany of scholars from the Salafiyya groups (Izala), the adherents of the Tijjaniya and Qadiriyya movements who fuelled the Amber’s of calls for the debate, accusing Sheikh Abdul Jabbar of misinterpretation and denigration of the sanctity of the Holy Prophet’s personality and those of His “pious” Companions, I called on the various security agencies to learn from Governor Ganduje’s formula by ensuring that they encourage other state Governors in the country to adopt this approach as a panacea for resolving trivial and contentious issues.
I believe that, if the security agencies will encourage the adoption of such approach, they would help in the entrenchment of Unity, religious tolerance and peaceful coexistence among the different adherents of various ideologies, particularly among Muslims who always are quick at not only excommunicating their fellow brothers in Islam for mere disagreements on slight and resolvable issues, but declaring the shedding of the blood of anybody that they seem to have difference of understanding of jurisprudential issues.
This misunderstanding and intolerance was the main reason we are still battling with the Boko Haram insurgency in the Northeast and it’s spill over security challenges all over the North. With lots of apologies to my brothers on the Salafi school of thoughts taught by Imam ibn Taymiyya al Harrani, magnified and institutionalized by Imam Muhammad ibn Abdulwahhab in whose teachings the Boko Haram had taken their inspiration should have taught us a lesson by now.
And on the other hand the vituperation and open castigation of the companions of the Holy Prophet (SAW), a matter that should have been reserved for scholarly discussions which caused the tension among the greater majority of Northern scholars who for centuries have taught us on the Ash’ari/Maliki school of thought resulted in the current situation.
The choice of Professor Galadanchi an equally erudite scholar as the moderator will definitely add more value to the discussion. Many other Islamic scholars from outside Kano should be invited, while as was done in the previous debates/dialogue, this one too should take place in the Emir of kano’s Palace.
Finally, I also hope that the dialogue will be aired live and throughout the world for eminent scholars around the world to watch and comment. I pray Allah to open our horizons to understand the true meaning of Islam, increase our scholars with lots of wisdom and make justice and fairness be always in our thoughts and actions for the pleasure of meeting Allah without fear of accountability.
Written by Zanna Boguma of Borno