Honouring Prof Is-haq Oloyede at 70 (II)

Thus, the two books for presentation today – the first, a “tributary” of tributes and, the second, a compendium of scholarly works – have been put together to put these issues in perspective. Unique about both publications is that the consortium of eight Kwara universities, led by the University of Ilorin, have ensured that entries […]

Thus, the two books for presentation today – the first, a “tributary” of tributes and, the second, a compendium of scholarly works – have been put together to put these issues in perspective. Unique about both publications is that the consortium of eight Kwara universities, led by the University of Ilorin, have ensured that entries in the two publications are not less or more than 70. Indeed, they could have been more since the world ‘worlded’ by the Oloyede phenomenon are like the waters in the ocean.

Thus, the figure 70 in both publications therefore now became a metaphor; a metaphor for the waters of comfort and compassion that have flowed from the Oloyede fountain. Figure 70 in both texts invariably became signifiers – the signified being the inexhaustible impacts and landmarks that Prof. Oloyede has recorded since the ‘beat’ started beating for him over 70 years ago.  

Titled ‘Islamics, Scholarship and Service to Society: A Festschrift for Is-haq Olanrewaju Oloyede’ and written in recognition of his grit and strength in the world of learning, this volume is a good scholarly work.

Experience as a scholar and reviewer of books has taught me that to do a review of a book is to open a conversation with it. In other words, every act of reading is a conversation; a conversation between the book and its reader. I have long discovered that all good books ‘talk’ to their readers; I made that discovery as a student of the Quran, of Islam and of global cultural studies.

Whenever you read the Quran, you are engaged in a dialogic encounter with the Quranic text; a text that is both authority and authoritative; a book that mediates the divine speech to you in order that you may become a partaker of celestial bliss and redemption. Thus, when you read the Quran, it talks to you; when you ponder its messages it listens to your concerns. 

Thus, a book that would command the attention of our mentor and teacher, the honouree of today, and by implication, our interest, is not a book that thinks for you, but the one that makes you think. We would not have gathered here today if today’s book for presentation would not challenge our ignorance. After all what is knowledge other than ignorance dispelled; what is prosperity other than the absence of poverty! 

Ladies and gentlemen, today’s book for presentation has a foreword and an introduction. Immediately thereafter, we begin to read about the entries that make up this volume. Unlike the Quran, this book does not have 114 chapters. Rather, it has 70. Yes.  Seventy chapters; chapters sectionalized into five thematic areas. They explore issues that are central to Oloyede’s intellectual pursuits: current topics in Islamics, in Islamic law and practice, in ethics, in theology and the connection between these fields and sustainable environment. Suppose you desire to dispel your ignorance regarding the role of Islamic movements in the Nigerian society, the intersection of religion and culture as well as the issues of law and jurisprudence. In that case, you have a veritable source of information to refer to in this book.

Some of the entries in this book also discuss the core values of the honoree of today particularly in relation to the issues of probity, honesty, transparency and his unmitigated and undiluted aversion and abhorrence for scum, scam and corruption. They commemorate him for his uncommon creativity, his innovation and the touch of excellence that he has brought to bear on the education industry particularly where he has been privileged to act as leader. The essays privileged interdisciplinarity and polyvocality even as their findings emphasize multivalency in what I would refer to as Oloyede’s epistemologies and reformist postures and strategies.

But is this book perfect? No. Indeed, the intendment of the editors and that of the contributors could not have been that of producing a classic. Thus, the book becomes perfect for and in its imperfections. Perhaps the ‘most fundamental’ is that there is no chapter in this volume that tells us about our honoree’s ‘imperfections’. Or are they not imperfections? I meant there should have been a chapter on our honouree’s aversion for mediocrity.

There should have been another chapter on his abhorrence of payola. Perhaps an entry should have been focused on his deprecation of malfeasance in private conduct. Is it not true that whenever Prof Oloyede gives you an assignment in the morning, he expects that you should have completed that same assignment since ‘yesterday’! Of what implications are these on his approach to public service, to productivity and to quality in human capital development?

The other day I tried to train one of my mentees using this method. I soon discovered that I was actually mistaken; he simply refused to pick my calls thereafter: “this man fit kill person”, he must have enthused! May Allah imbue our leaders with many more of the ‘imperfections’ that have made Prof Oloyede an icon of this age and stage! 

As I begin to wind down this review, a question suddenly appeared for my contemplation. I asked the book: “For whom has thou been written”? The book titled ‘Islamics, Scholarship and Service to Society: A Festschrift for Is-haq Olanrewaju Oloyede’ ‘responded’ saying: I have been written for, as the lawyers would put it, the learned and the unlearned; I have been written for men and women of ignorance who desire knowledge and enlightenment on Islamics; I have been written for men of knowledge who constantly say- rabbi zidni ilman wa fahman’.