Alhaji Ibrahim Abaji: Painful exit of a generous scholar

It was actually a busy day for me on when I traveled to a nearby West African country and my phone number wasn’t going through because of trans-border telecommunications hitches. A very close friend of mine had sent me a text message informing me about the passing away of Alhaji Ibrahim Abaji, the amiable, lovable and religious man.
The text reads thus: “I’ve been trying your number for over an hour now. I am in Kaduna, Alhaji Ibrahim (Abaji) passed on this afternoon.” I was shocked to say the least not only because of that disturbing message, but with what I have in mind when I get back to Kaduna. I actually went to Alhaji Ibrahim’s house in Ramadan this year to greet him, but could not owing to the  his serious  illness nor could I see anyone at that hour. Then I promised to be back in two days time, only for me to learn of his demise.
Alhaji Ibrahim Alfa, famously known as Alhaji Ibrahim Abaji, was born in 1928 at Abaji town,   headquarters of Abaji Area Aouncil of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Abuja. He is the fourth son in a family of five. He acquired his early Islamic knowledge from Malam Musa at Unguwar Nupawa   and the prominent Malam Mansur Dan Yakubu at Unguwar Yelwa all in  Abaji. The latter was also my father’s Islamic teacher and foster father (may their souls rest in peace, amin).
Alhaji Ibrahim Abaji moved to Kaduna in 1968 and settled on Gumel Road, within Kaduna metropolis. He later moved to his   house at Kabalan Doki in 1984,   the street that was later named after him as Alhaji Ibrahim Abaji Road.
Alhaji, as he is fondly called, lived a very simple life. He was an Islamic teacher who spent the better part of his life   teaching Islamic religion to his children and pupils. This was due to the fact that it was what was bequeathed to him by his teachers, and he lived to uphold this and served as an example to the people he led.
I would live to always recall my first encounter with him about 12 years ago when we first came on a visit to Kaduna with my siblings. At first, whenever we came on a visit to Kaduna with my siblings, we were directly sent to his house. Alhaji told me how my father lived with them when he was a student. Alhaji was so happy to see me and my siblings. He was an uncle to my late mum. I remember the jokes he shared with us on the first day we visited him. He asked us whether we were at his place to take over his house, because we went there very early in the morning. We all laughed over it.
From Alhaji Ibrahim Abaji I was able to hear so many things about my relations, particularly late Sheikh Lawal Abubakar, the famous Kaduna-based Islamic preacher. Interestingly, it was the late scholar who directly sent us to Alhaji Ibrahim’s house after about three days in Kaduna. He told us that Alhaji was a very humble person, which both of them maintained a good relationship and he has known him for very long time right from when he was his neighbour. I was also made to know that my foster mother in Kaduna owned a house very close to that of Alhaji Ibrahim
Ever since then, I became close to Alhaji more than before, because he was very accommodating and friendly. I still remember the day I went to tell him about my admission into Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria. He was very happy and offered me useful advices that I will live to cherish. He told me to stay away from bad company and fear Allah in all I do, assuring me that I would find peace with myself that way. He once told me that failure is never an option in life and that if I want to be successful I have to stay focused.
Alhaji’s death is a loss not only to the people of Abaji where he hailed from, the people of Kabalan Doki where he lived and died but to the entire Muslim Ummah. Alhaji Ibrahim Abaji, while living harmoniously with his neighbours in Kaduna, never abandoned his base. He maintained a very strong contact with his base, helping the people in whatever way he could, even when he had relocated to a different place. That, many believe, was one of the reasons   he was honoured with the traditional title of Shaban Nupawan Abaji.
He was very close to the Ona of Abaji, Alhaji Adamu Yunusa, who is also the Chairman, Council of Chiefs in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Abuja. When he died, it was a big loss to the Abaji council prompting the Ona of Abaji to personally travel to Kaduna to visit  the deceased’s family and condoled with them.
As a simple man and a philanthropist, Alhaji Ibrahim trained his children and those of his siblings as well some of his younger cousins to be good people. He was as firm as he was encouraging and was always quick to acknowledge, if not reward, hard work and honesty. Among the people he trained were Engr Isah Abini of the PHCN; Alhaji Yahaya Ibrahim Suleiman, a transport officer at the Supreme Court; Alhaji Bala GMT, former Vice Chairman, Abaji Area Council and so many others from Abaji and beyond. His house is always filled with people from different walks of life as a testimony to his kindness. He left behind 16 children and 35 grand children, among them is Alhaji Salihu, a staff of the Nigerian Telecommunications Limited (NITEL).
May Allah SWT forgive his shortcomings and grant him eternal rest. May He also reunite us all in paradise, amin

Bilal, an Assistant Superintendent of Customs (ASC), can be reached at: [email protected]