Dr Ahmad Ibrahim: Exit of a revered scholar

From Ibrahim Musa Giginyu, Zahraddeen Y. Shuaibu and Muhammad Sulaiman, Kano

The death of Sheikh Ahmad Muhammad Ibrahim Bamba popularly known as Dr Ahmad BUK, or Kala Haddasana, will leave an everlasting memory in the minds of millions of people in the Islamic world.

He had imparted the knowledge and understanding of Prophet Muhammad’s sayings and traditions, especially among the Hausa speaking people of the North who were his major audience.

For this set of audience and others who have access to his teachings, either in the mosque where he delivers his lessons weekly or through various media platforms, his name was a household name.

He is death came at a time Kano State was still mourning the death of one of its prominent sons, the late Bashir Othman Tofa. 

The news of his death hit many unexpectedly, especially those who were at the last lesson he delivered a few days before.

Many were sceptical and were hoping that the story of the cleric’s death which went viral last Friday was a rumour.

However, it was later confirmed that the renowned Islamic scholar had died.

As the news of his death filtered through social media, thousands of video clips and audio recordings of his weekly Hadith classes, particularly the last one were shared and were on almost all known social media platforms.

Kano State and beyond were instantly thrown into mourning while people prayed for him for Allah’s mercies.

People got ready to observe the Juma’at prayer at Darul Hadith Jumu’at Mosque Tudun Yola and the funeral prayer for the Islamic scholar who had earned the respect of many through his teachings.

Dr Ahmad, known by many as Dr Bamba, died at the age of 82 on Friday at the Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital (AKTH) after a brief illness, living behind three wives, 30 children and many grandchildren.

His death shocked not only the people of Kano State but the entire Islamic global community.

Thousands of people from all walks of life, from within and outside Kano attended the funeral prayer and the late Islamic scholar’s burial (janaza) led by the Chief Imam of Bayero University Kano (BUK), Sheikh Abubakar Jibril, at late Ahmad BUK’s popular mosque, Darul Hadith, located at Tudun Yola, near his residence, in Kano metropolis.

Even at 82, late Dr Ahmed’s zeal for Islamic propagation didn’t slow down. He became more attached to his school than ever.

He translated the famous book of Hadith, Muwadda Malik, into Hausa. A work regarded as the best so far done in recent times.

His death brought back the memories of what he said at his last lesson less than a week before his death.

His famous Hadith lessons were held on Saturdays and Sundays at Bayero University Kano (BUK) old campus for decades and later at Tudun Yola when he established the Juma’at Mosque there.

In a video footage and audio recording of the last lesson he delivered, late Dr Ahmed Ibrahim was seen and heard telling the gathering in the mosque that the session will not be held the following week.

He said he and the people coming for the lessons needed to rest and somebody in the crowd reminded him that the day’s lesson was the 100th in Sharhus Sunnah, the Hadith book he was teaching. He was seen shaking his head in the video showing his surprise.

He, therefore, repeated that both he and the people coming for the Hadith lesson should rest as if he knew he would die. The Islamic scholar died on Friday, a day to the two days of rest he suggested.

A close ally of the late scholar Alhaji Ibrahim Gerawa, corroborated what was seen in the video, saying that late Dr Ahmed announced that there would be no class the following week and that students should go for break and that was the last they saw of him alive.

He said: “Just like that, Malam asked his students to go on a break as if he knew he was not going to make it to the next class as he died on Friday and his normal class is held on Saturdays and Sundays. 

“Ironically no one asked why Malam did that because it wasn’t his character to miss a class when he is in town. When I received the news of his death, I said to myself God is great and God knows better. May Allah accept his good deeds and forgive all his shortcomings”.

He described late Ahmed BUK as a man who minded his business, lived a modest life and wasn’t carried away by worldly things. 

According to him, the late scholar’s exit has indeed left a huge gap that only time will tell if it can be filled.

Gerawa also revealed that it took the late scholar 24 years to teach Kutub as-Sittah, the six books containing collections of Hadith (sayings or acts of Prophet Muhammad (SAW) compiled by six Muslim scholars), something which he said had never been done in Kano. 

He said late Ahmad BUK died while teaching the Book Sharhus Sunnah lesson number 100.

Many people, including Islamic scholars, described the death of the late Dr Ahmad as a huge vacuum that will be hard to fill.

A prominent Islamic scholar from the Department of Islamic and Sharia Law, Bayero University Kano, Prof. Sani Umar Rijiyar Lemo,  described the death of the Islamic scholar as a great loss to the entire Muslim world.

“This is a great loss to everyone not only in Kano or Nigeria but to the rest of the world. Dr Ahmad BUK was a great scholar, a man of his word; people have benefitted from his teachings over the years. 

“It is an open testimony that he had dedicated all his life to teaching Islamic doctrine. We pray to Almighty Allah to have mercy on his gentle soul and may paradise be his final abode,” he said.

One of his students, Malam Hafiz Abubakar Rogo, who was with the late scholar for over 30 years and also one of the Imams of Darul Hadith Mosque, said the death of Dr Ahmad was incomparable to any death as Islamic teaching had lost one of its finest scholars.

According to him, late Dr Ahmad’s simplicity knew no bounds as he always subjected himself to the level of followers, adding that the late scholar hardly led prayer because of his humility and prayed behind his students during congregational prayers.

He said: “I have been with Malam since 1992, over 30 years now. I have been one of his students from the early years. I was also the imam of his mosque for four years when he resided at orayi before he relocated here, Tudun Yola. 

“One of his unique characteristics is his simplicity in life that was why all the years he spent in BUK mosque he wasn’t the imam. He followed and he wasn’t keen on being followed during congregational prayers.

“Dr Ahmad contributed immensely to the propagation of Sunna (Islamic teaching) since the early 1990s. We are one of the legacies he left behind. I learnt a lot from his teachings and way of life.

“Despite the challenges Malam faced while he was a lecturer at BUK he remained steadfast toward what he believed in. I believe other imams of this generation should copy his methodology in their efforts to propagate Islam.”

Salisu Yahaya, a resident of Tudun Yola, who served late Dr Ahmad for 11 years said, they never had any issue with the late Islamic scholar adding that he always respected the people working with him, whether young or old.

He said: “I have been his houseboy for 11 years. He never shouted at me. He was a man of his word, never breaking a promise. If you worked for him he always paid your dues. Everyone knows Malam on how he stuck to the schedules”.

Prominent individuals that attended his funeral prayer and burial included the Deputy Governor of Kano State, Dr Nasir Yusuf Gawuna; Emir of Kano, Aminu Ado Bayero; Emir of Bichi, Nasiru Ado Bayero; and Kano Central Senator, Malam Ibrahim Shekarau, as well as Islamic clerics, religious leaders, students and representatives from the academia. 

Kano State Governor Abdullahi Umar Ganduje described his death as a great loss of a strong peacemaker and a compendium of Hadith knowledge.

In a statement by his Chief Press Secretary, Abba Anwar said the late scholar had deep ingenuity and originality in his teaching of the sayings of Prophet Muhammad, pbuh.

Similarly, the Kano State House of Assembly, in a statement by the Speaker, Hamisu Chidari, signed by the Press Secretary, Uba Abdullahi, described his death as a great loss to the global Islamic community. 

Late Dr Ahmed BUK  was buried at Dandolo cemetery around the popular Kabuga-Tal’udu area amidst a massive turnout which caused traffic holdup along many roads leading to Tudun Yola and the Dandolo Cemetary. May Allah grant him Jannah Firdaus.