His death was coming. His eyes kept on rolling, exposing only the white part and then rolling back to normal. I held his hand. Sometime after that, his eyes rolled over and were never to roll back again. I placed my hand on his chest to check whether his heart was beating and I felt some vibrations. The man with us in the back of the truck told me that Ahmad had gone far. By that I thought he meant my brother had fainted. There was hope. It was after we had stopped at the hospital and the engine of the truck was turned off that I realized the vibrations I felt were those of the truck engine. I had lost the only elder brother I had. Even more than that, I had also lost an adviser, a role model, a teacher and a friend.
Malam Habibu, an employee of Bayero University, Kano would upon seeing us together say “Dogo da PA dinsa” meaning “The Tall man and his PA”. We were so close that I was called his PA. Several times Yaya Ahmad had asked me and my elder sister Yaya Sadiqa how we would feel if we never had an elder brother. He was the only one we had. I did not have an answer to that question at that time but now I do. It is terrible being without him as an elder brother.
Ahmad was born on the 15th of May, 1986 (7th Ramadan 1406) to our parents Bashir S. Galadanci and Hudallah A. Abba in Kano. When he was only two months old, he traveled with my father and mother to Boston, USA, where my father was then undergoing his postgraduate studies in Computer Engineering. He attended the Mary Lyons Early Learning Center Kindergarten School and later Jackson Mann Elementary School both in Boston, Massachusetts from 1989 to 1994. When my father moved to Centerville , Virginia , in 1994 he joined the Center Ridge Elementary School . At that time my sister, Sadiqa was 6 years old and in the first grade but I was only 3 years old so I had not started schooling yet. I was too young to remember our stay in USA but I recall that even at that time, Ahmad was quite tall and was a very loving elder brother; always playful but also very protective of his younger siblings.
We came back to Nigeria in 1995 and all three of us joined Rainbow School in Kano. Ahmad completed his primary education in 1998 and proceeded to Prime College, also in Kano. After graduating in 2004 with a very good WASCE result, he gained admission into Bayero University, Kano for a degree program in Computer Engineering. By his second year in Bayero University, he realized Computer Engineering was not what he really wanted to read. With this realization and with an interest in drawing and design right from childhood, he sought admission for a degree program in Architecture at the Kano University of Science and Technology, Wudil. He got admitted and started the program in 2006.
He started his Islamic education at the New England Islamic Center School at Quincy, MA. When we returned to Nigeria, our parents made arrangements for a teacher to come and teach us the Holy Qur’an. Later on, we proceeded to the Muslim Forum Islamiyya School situated in Bayero University Old Campus, Kano . It was at this school that Ahmad learnt to read the whole Qur’an. Later on, he started memorizing the Qur’an at home on his own. Upon learning that a person needs the guidance of a teacher while memorizing the Qur’an, he started to go to Gwani Ali Harun, a Qur’anic scholar and also a relative for such guidance. After my brother’s death, Gwani Ali Harun informed us that Ahmad had completely memorized the Qur’an. He did not just stop at memorizing the Qur’an. He went for lessons on Islamic subjects which covered Fiqh, Tauhid, and Hadith among others. He also read any Islamic writing he could get his hands on.
His interest in the Qur’an was great. I would say that he was a companion of the Qur’an. He recited the Qur’an frequently. Whatever little spare time he had, he used it in revising (muraja’ah) his memorization of the Qur’an. He would do it early in the morning, on his way to school, in between classes and every spare time that he had. His untiring efforts to memorize the Qur’an have taught me two lessons in life. First, with determination and commitment, anything is possible. Yaya Ahmad clearly demonstrated this in memorizing the Qur’an over a period of a few years while he was still pursuing his university studies. Secondly, he showed that time was a very precious commodity and every second of it needed to be used judiciously.
His respect towards his older and younger ones was also one of his remarkable qualities. His elders and teachers never complained about him. He had a great relationship with his friends and he always spoke with them in a polite way. He tried his best to give his younger ones the respect they deserved as well. He would always say sorry whenever he offended them and would say please whenever he wanted them to do something for him.
Some days after his death, a classmate of my late brother brought a certificate which showed that Ahmad was awarded the best level 300 architecture student of the year. This classmate of his informed my family that that was not the first time Ahmad had received this award. He had received it for every year of his study in Kano University of Science and Technology. Surprisingly enough, he had never informed anyone, not even our parents, that he had received these awards. I believe this was as a result of the humility he had. He was so humble that he never told another person he was better than him/her. He also never wanted to be praised.
I would say my late brother had so many likes but I would talk about only four.
First, he loved simplicity and always wanted to live a simple life without extravagance. He craved to have all the good qualities that were expected of a Muslim. He had several role models who were mostly Imams of the Holy Mosques of Makkah and Madinah. Among his role models were Imams Sudais, Shuraym and Hudhaifi. He tried his best to listen to or watch Tarawih prayers of such Imams during the month of Ramadhan. Secondly, he loved helping people. At home, he was always helping us. He was our editor, proofreader and translator whenever we did any writing because of the good vocabulary he had. (Unfortunately he is not around to edit this piece.)
Thirdly, he had a deep love for design. From a young age, he loved to design and draw all sorts of objects ranging from shoes to cars to airplanes. This translated into his love for certain particular brands that he felt were well designed and built. For example, he was very interested in the BMW especially the 3-series which I think was the thing he would have loved to own the most. He had a great love for reading. This covered everything he could get his hands on ranging from Islamic books to secular books to magazines. Because people close to him will see him reading, they were inspired and as such got this value instilled in them. As far back as I can recall, my late brother will always read a book on his bed before going to sleep.
Talking about his dislikes, I would say some of the things he disliked the most were innovations in Islam, extravagance, embezzlement, getting into matters that did not concern him and showing off. Yaya Ahmad had a very good nature and perhaps the greatest lesson from his death is that life is too short and we should all make the very best of it by utilizing every moment of it in the best possible manner. His life, Alhamdulillah, exemplified that. I also want to beg anyone that Ahmad might have offended in any way to forgive him. I believe when he asked me to forgive him at the time of his death it seemed as if he was giving me a message to extend to my family and everyone else. May Allah (S.W.T.) forgive him and grant him Aljannatul-Firdaus. May He reward us all with Jannah.
Galadanci, a student of the Department of Accounting, Bayero University, wrote in from Kano
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