Shittola

AS BABA DROPS THE GOWN: ACCOLADES TO AN ACADEMIC MENTOR This month of February 2018 is one of the months that will linger on for the rest of my life. It is the month when two of the most influential persons in my life bid farewell to Public Service. The first is my life mentor i.e my daddy, who retired from service with effect from the second of this month, the second is my academic mentor, Professor Yasir Anjola Quadri who is retiring today, 22nd February, 2018. Coincidentally both their exit in service is consequent upon the attainment of the maximum age. I intend to wholly dedicate this short piece to baba, my inept writing won't debar me from associating with the Professor of Professors. Baba as we fondly call this great  Professor of Islamic Studies with specialisation on tasawwuf(Islamic Mysticism) is a man of many parts that is inexhaustible to write except his creator. I remember in an attempt  to test my inept writing about him few years back on my Facebook wall, th...

AS DAD EXITS SERVICE TODAY: ACCOLADES TO A LIFE MENTOR "Retirement is supposed to be a great escape from the stress inherent in most jobs, a time to experience a fulfilling life derived from many enjoyable and rewarding ing activities". This quotation is culled from one of the works of the Canadian author, Ernie Zelinski. It is a germane quotation as it reflects what is happening today. It is indeed a great day which we shall always cherish as you officially retire voluntarily from service, consequent upon the attainment of the compulsory age of sixty in line with the Public Service Rule. Dad! We are proud of you. As a Pension Officer in the top Government Establishment in the State, I can confidently admit that you are among few Civil Servants whose required Length of Service almost coincided with the required Age in Service. You served your State assiduously and carried out your duties diligently without bias or prejudice. Dad! We are proud of you. From records, if not m...

ANNOTATED TRANSLATION OF HIS POEM ON BISMILLAH 1. By the secret of Bismillah illuminate our hearts, and give us a legitimate and purified sustenance. 2. The all-Hearing, the all-Seeing, O the Originator! Bestow on us knowledge by the secret of the exalted names. 3. The King, the Glorious, O the one who makes things clear, make clear for us all knowledge together with their meaning. 4. He is Allah, the Omnipotent, the Opener and He is our Lord. Open for us the gate of knowledge wherever we are. 5. The Kind, the Grateful, (Appreciative) the Independent enrich us, the Opener, the Provider, the Generous, be charitable to us. 6. The Kind, the all-Aware, the Guide, guide us, be kind to us by facilitating all difficulties and give us all our needs. 7. Your guidance is a right path and take us from Divine presence of annihilation to Divine presence of abiding. 8. You are Allah, O the Beneficent, the Provider for the whole world, quickly provide for us a provision from unexpected side. ...

HIS CONTRIBUTION TO THE TIJANIYYAH ORDER. One may align with Oladotun, the author of History of Islam in Offa, who opined that the Tijaniyyah brotherhood was introduced to Offa through the strenuous effort of Alhaji Popo in 1926. The functionality of the order in the town could no longer be sustained after the demise of the pathfinder owing to the non enthusiastic nature of his successor towards its proselytization. Thus, protégés resorted to doing the Tijaniyyah rites individually. It was consequent upon the return of Shaykh Jami'u to Offa around 1945 that the order resuscitated. It is noteworthy to say here that throughout the course of my research about Shaykh, no one admitted being initiated by him, instead they only pledged their allegiance to him owing to the spiritual prowess they envisaged in his personality. The more reason I prefer to refer to them as his loyalists. It was thus generally held that Shaykh did not initiate anyone into the Tijaniyyah order, instead, he dir...

HIS SUFI TENDENCY II An interesting fact worthy of admission is Shaykh's approach to Sufism. One wonders where one can conveniently fix him to. Going by Paden's categorization of the Tijaniyyah order, he succinctly categorised the order into two viz: the Traditional Tijaniyyah and the Reformed Tijaniyyah. One is apt to say that Shaykh did not fully fit into both though he claimed allegiance to the later than the former, the more reason why Solagberu regarded his tendency and approach to the order as distinct. As stated ab initio that Shaykh had been developing himself spiritually at a tender's age while he was studying he Qur'an at Offa, he later felt dissatisfied with this and decided to travel to Ilorin where he is optimistic to meet great Sufi Masters of his time in tandem with Ibn Khaldun's position where he said, "a scholar's education is greatly improved by travelling in quest of knowledge and meeting authoritative teachers of his time". Sufism...

HIS SUFI TENDENCY "Those who remember Allah(always and in prayers), standing, sitting, and lying down on their sides, and think deeply about the creation of the heavens and the earth(saying):'Our Lord! You have not created (all) this without purpose, glory to You! (Exalted are You above all that they associate with You as partners). Give us salvation from the torment of fire." (Qur'an 3:191) It is expedient to unravel the erroneous belief belief of some Muslims on Islamic perception of spirituality. Sufism is a great spiritual current which has its origin in the Shari'ah. Sufism, the anglicised word for Islamic Mysticism, according to Trimingham is a particular method of approach to reality, making use of intuitive and emotional spiritual faculties which are generally dormant and latent unless called into play through training under guidance. Trimingham further corroborates his stance on his definition of a Sufi as "anyone who believes that it is possible t...

HIS EDUCATIONAL BACKGROUND "Say: 'Are those who know equal to those who know not?' It is only men of understanding who will remember"(Qur'an 39:9) As aforementioned in the previous series that both Shaykh's parents were pagans hence they could not influence their child Islamic wise, also they did not want him to be influenced by western education, so they resorted to taking the young Shaykh to farm. However, this could no longer be sustained consequent upon the death of his father, Shaykh was thus put in the care of his maternal uncle, Mallam Lawal Adegoke, this man was the father of Alhaji Bello Yayi, the current Mufti of Offa. Since this man was a Muslim, he converted the young Shaykh to a  Muslim and renamed him Jimoh(How Yoruba people call Jami'u in those days) Shaykh's sojourn in the acquisition of knowledge started when he was in the care of this uncle. He started learning the recitation of the Qur'an from Mallam Ismail Jeje, the father o...