Abubakar
Gumi
Abubakar
Gumi
(1922–1992) was an outspoken Islamic scholar and Grand Khadi of the Northern Region
of Nigeria
(1962–1967), a position which made him a central authority in the
interpretation of the Sharia legal system in the
region.[1] He was a close associate of Ahmadu Bello, the premier of the region in the 1950s and
1960s and became the Grand Khadi partly as a result of his friendship with the
premier. In 1967, the position was abolished.
Gumi
emerged as a vocal leader during the colonial era, where he felt the practice of indirect rule had weakened the religious power of Emirs and encouraged westernization. Beginning in the 1960s, public conflicts
emerged between him and leaders of the Sufi brotherhood, some of whom
he later debated on television programs in the 1970s and 1980s. By that time,
he had managed to keep himself and his ideas in the spotlight by holding Friday
talking sessions inside the Kaduna Central Mosque. He used the sessions to revive his criticism of
established authorities based on his views of a back to the source approach or
the need to embrace a puritanical practice of Islam. He also criticized harshly
the involvement of mysticism and the resulting syncreticized practice of the Sufis.
Early life and education
The
Sheik was born in the village of Gummi to the family of Mahmud, an Islamic
scholar and Alkali (judge) of Gummi. His education started within the walls of
his family when he was a pupil of his father's Islamic teachings. He later went
to a school under the tutelage of a Malam called Musa at Ambursa, Sokoto province. There he was introduced to Fiqh and read books and praise
poems on the prophet. The first secular school he attended was the Dogondaji
Primary School, while in the primary school, he met the future 18th Sultan of
Sokoto, Ibrahim Dasuki and excelled in religious
duties. He was made Hakimin Salla (leader of prayer) and was delegated
responsibility for catering to the students religious activities. Within a
year, he was transferred to the Sokoto Middle School, where Ahamdu Bello was teaching, there he
was acquainted with Shehu Shagari, Waziri Muhammadu Junaidu, and Yahaya Gusau, the latter was a
co-founder of Jamaat nasr al-Islam, a prominent Nigerian Muslim organization.
After
completing his studies at the middle school, he went to Kano to study Law and was
trained as an Qadi. He started work as a scribe to Qadi Attahiru but he
soon became disenchanted with the specifics of his job. He gave private lessons
on Islam and tafsir as an escape from his
disenchantment.
Early career
In
1947, Abubakar Gumi, left his job as secretary to Qadi Attahiru and went to
teach at the Kano Law School, which he had previously attended. While in Kano,
he met Sheik Sa'id Hayatu, a man widely considered one of the most prominent
victims of colonial rule. Hayatu was the leader of the Mahdiyya movement and
had just returned from a forced sojourn in Cameroon. Abubakar became enthralled with the
teachings of the movement and briefly became a follower of the Mahdiyya
movement; he later married Hayatu's daughter, Maryam. However, she died after
giving birth to a son.
In
1949, he took a teaching job at a school in Maru, Sokoto. The school had a
famous tutor, Aminu Kano, who was the co-founder of
the Northern Teachers Association and proprietor of a few Muslim schools. Aminu and Gumi mingled and shared views on
the influence of the traditional society with the Islamic faith and also the
indifference or support given to the situation of Bida or syncretism by the Sufi
brotherhoods.[2]
He
left Maru to further his education at the school of Arabic Studies in Kano. On
completion of his studies, he became a teacher for two years at the school. He
also attended a school of education in Sudan.[3]
Conflicts
Abubakar
Gummi had reservations about the administrative and religious guidance of the emirate officials in Northern Nigeria. His first
dogmatic conflict with authorities was in Maru. The conflict dealt with the
practice of Tayammum. The chief Imam of the
Mosque in Maru practiced the act of washing with sand (Tayammum) before prayers
while Gumi argued that Tayammum was only applicable when water was not
available, and water was widely available in Maru. Gumi went further in his
challenge of the practice, by asking students not to show up for prayers until
the Imam reneged on practicing Tayammum. However, Gumi who had
earlier written a scathing attack on the Sultan of Sokoto, now found the Sultan interested in his
grievance with the Chief Imam of Maru. A commission of Inquiry was raised on
the issue with the support of the Sultan. However, Gumi's knowledge of Islamic
dogma was superior and so was his argumentative skills, the commission ruled in
favor of Gumi.[4] Having gained a small victory over the
Sultan, Gumi capitalized on the attention he got by writing a critical article
on the issue of Muslims, especially the Sultan, accepting British titles. By
then, he had begun to gradually challenge established beliefs and attitude to
actions among the Muslim Ummah.[citation needed]
Another
target of Gumi was the Jibril Martin led Ahmadiyya movement. The movement was an easy target
for Gumi, as some of the movement founder's views were at odds with fundamental
Islamic dogma, as the founder had labeled himself prophetic. Gumi's fears about the movement were later
fomented by the organizational skills of the Nigerian founder, the movement
gradually became involved in the Western Nigerian pilgrimage board and had established schools for pupils
in the South and was moving up north in his dissemination of the principles of
the Ahmadis. Gumi took on the challenge easily and the movement's northward
agenda was curtailed.
Mass media approach
Sheik
Gumi made his first pilgrimage to Mecca in 1955 and was joined in
the journey by Ahmadu Bello. While in Mecca, he translated Islamic works in the
company of Bello and King Sa'ud. He also met and befriended many members of the
Ummah or Muslim community in Saudi Arabia, many of whom later became his
benefactors after the death of Ahmadu Bello in 1966. On returning to Nigeria,
he began to teach at the School of Arabic Studies in Kano and also at some
Muslim schools founded by the Jammat nasr al-Islam (JNI) which were situated
near the metropolis of Kaduna. A large part of
his teachings focused on the differences between tradition and Religion, and
how to understand and embrace an Islamic identity. He also wrote
interpretations of the Qur'an, mostly based on the Sunna and translated the Qur'an from Arabic to Hausa. This process led to the dissemination of the Holy book
to a larger Northern Nigerian audience and his views and message on fundamental
Islamic teachings began to find a wider audience.[5] However, his opposition to the dominant Sufi
brotherhoods such as the Tijaniya and Qadiriyya earned him constant criticism and was
usually attacked by some Muslims on his interpretations, he usually replied
that they should go on and make their own interpretations, if they don't like
his.[5] By the 1970s, he became a regular feature on
Television shows especially during Islamic events.
Rise of Izala and Islamic Fundamentalism
Main
article: Islamic
Extremism in Northern Nigeria
By
the late 1960s, after the death of Bello, Gumi's major Nigerian political
support and moderating influence was gone. He felt the new administration had
the political power to curtail his views, and in the process, he resulted to
consult his friends in Saudi Arabia for moral, dogmatic and financial support
to promote a Wahabbist interpretation of Islam
centering on the rejection of mysticism, return to puritanical Islamic teaching and rejection of the then
dominant Sufi brotherhoods. He also wanted to find mass support in his battle
with the brotherhood and what he felt was their hold on the political process.
Gumi, became more interested in ensuring political support for his ideas, based
on his perception that a political Muslim has the power to change the course of
lives of a larger number of people than publishing scholarly works or engaging
in private debates and gradually became more interested in political means to
achieve an Islamic reformist end. In the process, he became a supporter of women's rights to vote. By the early 1970s, to contest what
he felt was the hijacking of major Islamic political organizations by the
Fityan al-Islam, an organization founded in Kano by Mudi Salga, a leader of the
Salgawa network and who was opposed to some of the policies of the late Ahmadu Bello
and his Jamaat nasr al-Islam (the Association for the support of Islam). He
decided to start a movement and relied on his old students to spread his views
on Islamic dogma,[6] prodding many to take jobs at the JNI and enter into
legislative duties. He used his students as a foundation for the new movement
to challenge the Sufi brotherhoods and ensure a return of Islam to a
fundamental way. The rise of this movement Izalatul Bidi'a Wa Ikamatul Sunnah or Movement for the
Rivival of the Sunnah, popularly called Izala, heralded the radicalization
of Northern Nigeria.
Many
within the political cycles and Sufi Brotherhoods of Northern Nigeria held that Gumi was the principle that drove
a wedge between Muslims and non Muslims in Northern Nigeria, his
interpretations of the Hadith and Qur'an were based on
his own personal views and not the Sunnah, and that he was monopolizing the mass media for his personal views. He was also
criticized for his rebellious views on traditional authorities.[7]
Gumi
believed that Nigerian Muslims should never accept a non-Muslim ruler but also
advocated peaceful coexistence with non-Muslims. BokoHaram and other extremists
groups in Northern Nigeria find inspiration from Gumi's teachings[8]
Awards and honors
He
received the Commander
of the Order of the Federal Republicin 1987, he received the King
Faisal International Prize from Saudi Arabia for his translation of the Quran into Hausa language.[8]
Abubakar
gumi who was referred to as the father of izala as he usually mentioned during
his islamic teaching process,succeeded in overwhelming the establishment of the
1970s organisation by name izalatul bidi'ah wa iqamatussunah co-founded by one
of his prominent student whom gumi tutor in his previous job as a school
teacher at school of arabic studies (sas) in kano,though he also maintain his
membership in jama'atu nasrul islam (JNI) which favour him to proceed in his
islamic teachings at kaduna central mosque handed by the above mentioned
oorganisation JNI.
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