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WAZIRIN ZAZZAU MALAM UMARU (1876 - 1939)

Started by _Waziri_, April 16, 2009, 10:20:12 AM

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_Waziri_

Assalamu Alaikum,

It was specifically on the 12th of April 2009, that we held a memorial celebrating the life of one of the most distinguished scholars of Northern Nigeria in the tradition of Islamic Scholarship before colonization of the region by the British in the late 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries.

Wazirin Zazzau Malam Umaru Muhammadu was born in the year 1876 in Kakaki, Zaria City to a scholar known as Alhaji Muhammadu who was the son of Malam Ibrahim Tsoho who was the son of Malam Abduljalil who was the son of Malam Salihu who was the son of Malam Sulaiman who was the son of Malam Mahmud, a prince of the 14th century Kanem Bornu Dynasty.

In a Phd thesis to the Azhar University, Cairo, Egypt, written in 1960 which discussed the intellectual tradition of Northern Nigeria, titled "Sakafatul Arabiyya Fiy Nijeriya, Min 1750 ila 1960, amul istiqlal" by Dr. Aliyu Abubakar. The family which produced Wazirin Zazzau Malam Umaru is described as a University of Islamic Jurisprudence and a breed, the like of which is rarely found maintaining the tradition of Islamic Intellectualism in the whole of the world of that time. Something close to this description is also given by Prof. Shehu Galadanci in his Phd Thesis, Harakatul lugga Al-Arabiyya, which carried the eulogy written by Wazirin Sokoto Malam Junaidu for one of the illustrious scholars from this family, Ma'ajin Zazzau Ishaq Muhammad who happened to be a younger brother and a student of Wazirin Zazzau Malam Umaru.

Wazirin Zazzau Malam Umaru was also the chief mentor of other scholars as Malam Yahuza Elzakzaky who wrote, Fathujjawad an exegesis on Irshadissaliki, a book on Islamic Jurisprudence also known as Askari.  Malam Musa Magajiya, the founder of the popular school in the 1940's at Unguwan Magajiya in Zaria City, was also his student and the popular Malam Muhammadu Sani and Abdurrahman of Kofan Doka Zariya City.

To the late eighties a student excelling in Islamic Jurisprudence in all qualified  learning centres, (Tsangayoyi) ,  across Northern Nigeria is described with the common expression " Ya san Fiqhu kamar Waziri Malam Umaru", meaning, "He knows jurisprudence as Waziri Malam Umaru".


Waziri Mallam Umaru Muhammadu lived as a Scholar, a Public Servant serving as Magatakartan Zazzau( Chief Scribe of Zazzau) in the 1920s, during the reign of Sarkin Zazzau Malam Aliyu Dan Sidi; as Alkalin Zazzau (The Chief Judge of Zazzau) in the 1930s during the reign of Sarkin Zazzau Ibrahim Dan Kwasau and later Wazirin Zazzau during the reign of the same king.

He died in the year 1939 on Wednesday 1st of March about two years into the reign of Sarkin Zazzau Malam Ja'afaru Dan Isyaku.

On the day of the memorial a eulogy in Hausa was recited over his soul which concluded in the following symbolic prayerful verses:


"...Jalla Sarki mun roko duka
Ka saka shi cikin rahamaniya


Allah Ya jikan shi da rahama
'Yan uwa dangi baki daya


Allah ba shi gida Aljanna can
Tun da ya yi wafati duniya


Allah raya iyalai nashi duk
Ya saka su a hanyar gaskiya


'Yan uwa mun gode bai daya
Da tuna shi a yau baki daya"




As the memorial coincided with the wedding of one of the grandchildren of the Waziri some of us rode colorfully on horses during the Hawan Angunci just to re live those glorious times and to get the glints of those flames from the great departed builders who founded our civilization.

In the recent future, a 90 paged book briefly reviewing the life of Wazirin Zazzau Malam Umaru Muhammadu, written by my humble self will be out in Hausa Language. In it I have tried to review the history of Kasar Zazzau, thus, Kasar Hausa and some events that happened during the life time of Wazirin Zazzau Malam Umaru Muhammadu. I have done that using post modern critical tools to read different meaning from those meaning carved out of the events by scholars in social anthropology like M. G. Smith who in 1960s wrote his famous book, Government in Zazzau.

Find attached to this the cover page of the book, some pix during the Hawan Anguci on the memorial day and keep a date with us as I pray with you for the soul of Wazirin Zazzau Malam Umaru Muhammadu and that of other Muslims before and after him.


Allah Ya jikan su baki daya!


Waziri

sdanyaro


_Waziri_


Dan-Borno

"My mama always used to tell me: 'If you can't find somethin' to live for, you best find somethin' to die for" - Tupak