ALARAMMA ABUBAKAR RIBAH, REVIVING TRUE
ISLAMIC SCHOLARSHIP WITH A MODERN TOUCH
by
U. S. Machika
Many
scholars have written a lot about Northern Nigerian ‘Almajiri System of
Education’. Recently, the Federal Government waded into this sanctified
traditional Islamic scholarship. Rich analyses of the later bastardized
traditional Islamic System of Education abound in many bodies of knowledge.
There is indeed very little more to add. The intent here is to share a
practical, exemplary and sanctified traditional Islamic scholarship with a
little touch of modernity, which I witnessed on Friday, the 15th
January 2016 in Ribah, the Headquarters of Danko Wasagu Local Government Area
of Kebbi State. Madarasatul Darul Qur’an Ribah, under the distinguished leadership
of Alaramma Abubakar Muhammad Ribah graduated 135 pupils, 99 male and 36 female
on that day.
It
was a normal traditional Qu’anic graduation ceremony. Convocation, at whatever
level, can be pictured graphically. On invitation, the first ray of thought is
to ask, “would there be fund raising?” If no, then just go there, eat and merry
with the celebrants and have a good time. This was quite different. There was
no fundraising, there was no merriments but it was a lifelong unforgettable
experience. The ceremony afforded me the opportunity to have a rethink over the
Almajiri System of Education. There is no doubt that the Almajiri System of
Education as practiced today in the Northern Nigeria had been completely
bastardized from the sound system it was operating in the pre-colonial
period. There is no iota of doubt that the Almajiri system is today in a
pitiful state. I found one exception in Madarasatul Darul Qur’an in many
scores.
It is
difficult, very rare to find a truly traditional model of ancient Almajiri School
in Nigeria today. The closest I ever found is Alaramma Abubakar Ribah’s
Madarasatul Darul Qur’an. Let me illustrate by presenting the components of traditional
Almajiri System of Education.
The word ‘Almajiri’ emanated from the Arabic word AL-MUHAJIRIN. From the
Islamic perspective, Prophet Muhammad (P.B.U.H) uses the word to refer to the companions
who migrated with him for the sake of Islam from Mecca to Medina. The word Muhajirun
later came to refer to those seeking for knowledge, by moving from one place to
another in search of the knowledge like the founding Islamic Scholar crisscross
the breadth and length of the then Islamic world searching for Hadith and other
Islamic knowledge from outstanding, renowned Scholars of the day. This was what
the Quranic schoolteachers of the ancient Nigerian society and their pupils
tried to emulate. Thus, in Northern Nigeria, Almajiri is a Hausa word, meaning
immigrant. It refers to children sent from their homes and entrusted into the
care of Islamic teachers, wherever they were to learn the Islamic studies.
In that
glorious past, begging was never part of the Almajiri system of learning. Nor
were the learners reduced to doing menial jobs for survival. Pupils then lived
with either parents or under the Islamic Scholar entrusted with the pupils and
the community partake in augmenting the needs of the schools within the
immediate environment. In other words, members of the communities and the
parents of the learners maintained the Almajiri System of Education. The
teachers and students also contribute towards their upkeep through farming and
other Self-Reliant Skills. “Bara” as it is known today, is completely
unheard of and was not part of the component of the Almajir System of Education.
The
elites collectively attributed the collapse of the Almajiri System of Education
to the colonial masters. There is no doubt that the British, 100% deliberately
abolished support for the Islamic education. It was 100% catalytic in the total
collapsed of the Almajiri system to its present state. The question is how long can we continue to blame the British? How soon
will we own up to our collective negligence in allowing the system to remain in
its present form? And, for how long will it take us to restore the system back
to its pre-colonial preeminence? For example, the society at governance
level and the parents at the family level cannot be absolved from this
collective negligence, because they abdicated their obligations of properly
caring for and educating their children. This is certainly the genesis of the
predicament of the Almajiri system today.
Today, the mere mention of the word Almajiri, the picture evokes unkempt
and hungry looking children of school age clutching plastic plates and begging
for alms to many minds. In its present form, many have concluded
that the system as it is presently practiced has outlived its
usefulness. The argument presented to substantiate such claim is that the
system lacked good teachers and that it operates in an unhealthy environment.
As a result, the schools produce half-baked semi-illiterate Qur'anic Malams
with attendant consequences to the learners and to the larger society.
The
solution to this saw the emergence of “Islamiyya Schools”. While, this truly
excluded the ‘ugly’ side of Almajiri System of Education, with many
innovations, it does not actually substitute the traditional Almajiri System of
Education. Many of the components of the Traditional Almajiri System of
Education are missing in the Islamiyya System. The danger of neglecting and failure to put corrective measures to
Almajiri School need not be over emphasised. The dangerous doctrines inculcated
into our young lads has cost Nigeria untold hardship. Unquantifiable lost of
lives and properties as a result of such negligence is known to all. The
pitfall is, it should be either properly redressed, or many abusive tendencies
with ugly attendant consequences will continue to haunt our society.
It
must be noted that the Almajiri System of Education is an unalloyed “Teacher
Centred Learning”. The wisdom behind this Islamic method is providing leadership
at all societal strata. Unfortunately,
the Islamiyya successfully migrated from the "Teacher Centred Learning” to
“Pupil Centred Learning”. While the Islamiyya System has greatly encouraged the
spread of Islamic knowledge, the component of leadership provided by the
Almajiri Islamic Scholar is thinning by the day.
This
was what impressed me at the Madarasatul Darul Qur’an Ribah’s graduation
ceremony. The school has all the components of the Traditional Almajiri System
of Education intact. And a perfect innovation that replaces the component of
“learning trades and other skill” by the learners with western education. All
the ‘ugly’ trends of the present day Almajiri system were systemically removed
and placed on checked. Here are the
structures of the Madarasatul Darul Qur’an Ribah.
Let me start by
asserting that Almajir system revolves around an outstanding and renowned
Islamic Scholar. Take this component out and the system collapses like a pack
of cards. This might mock the government’s attempt to form Almajiri schools. The
government Almajiri schools can never be a true Almajiri system of Education,
rather another form of western education. A cluster of teachers, no matter
their level of education cannot substitute a known, respected Islamic Scholar
as the arrowhead of propagating Islamic scholarship and providing exemplary
leadership as in the Almajiri System of Education. While for western education,
the “Child Centred Learning” outshines the “Teachers Centred Learning”, Islam
challenges every ‘learned’ – Scholar to pinpoint the authorities underpinning
his sources of knowledge. While certificates confirm western education, the
scholars one studied from certify Islamic knowledge. This is an element, which even Islamiyya schools hardly have. Of course,
it is totally absent in the Almajiri schools established by government.
If Nigerian government, Islamic Scholars and indeed the society in
general truly want to address the issues of Almajiri and the security
challenges facing Nigeria, then the Madarasatul Darul Qur’an Ribah
need to be replicated. We would revisit Alaramma Abubakar Muhammad Ribah’s
Madarasatul Darul Qur’an Ribah, but for now, the aim is just to present a point
of discourse.
