LATE PROF. BADMAS AND MY FATHER’S WISH

My father, like many of his contemporaries, did not initially appreciate the importance of Western education. He belonged to an era in which skepticism led many Muslim scholars and faithful adherents to deny their children access to European education and lifestyle. In my own case, after I graduated from primary school in 1987/88, I was made to understand that as the end of my journey in Western education.

However, in 1992, an attempt was made to alter the course of my life by my maternal grandfather, Alhaji Zubayr Ajadi Danmeigoro. With his cattle business, he was reasonably wealthy and expressed his readiness to sponsor my secondary school education, believing that my Kewu (Islamic knowledge) would be strengthened by the addition of Western learning.

The pressing question in my heart then was: How do I convince my father? At the time, my father had the habit of completing his adhkār in the mosque after the Ṣubḥ prayer. Unless I had a genuine reason, I was expected to wait until I carried his ablution kettle and followed him back home. We were often the last to leave the mosque. On several occasions, after arriving home, he would relax comfortably on a sofa in the parlour, and that would be my opportunity to take my leave freely.

On this particular day, as he settled on the sofa, I deliberately sat on the floor to signal that I had an important matter to discuss. I narrated my grandfather’s decision to sponsor my secondary school education, explaining that it was intended to complement and strengthen my Islamic knowledge with another field of learning. At that point, my father immediately sat upright and asked, “se bi iru ti Badimosi? ” (Is it going to be like that of Badmas?) Without hesitation, I replied in the affirmative. He then responded with “Alḥamdulillāh,” and from that moment onward, he never again criticized the acquisition of Western education.

Some years later, my father confided in me that he had always admired the harmonious combination of Islamic and Western education in the lives, conduct, and preaching styles of two individuals in particular: Prof. Badmas and Prof. A. G. A. S. Oladosu.

When I later saw Prof. Badmas seated in the boardroom of the Department of Islamic Studies and Sharīʿah, Bayero University, Kano, serving as the external examiner for my PhD thesis, my mind immediately returned to this story. At the end of the exercise, when I was given the opportunity to express my gratitude, I recounted the experience. The moment became deeply emotional when I concluded by stating that, “Unfortunately, my father, whose wish is gradually becoming a reality, did not live to witness these events.”

May Allah forgive my father and reward him for his noble wish. May He also forgive and reward Prof. Badmas for helping to make that wish a reality. May Allah grant them both Jannatul-Firdaws.