I’ll sanitise Islamic praise singing – Sarkin Sha’irai

Kano-based Islamic singer Hafiz Abdallah was recently turbaned the Sarkin Sha’irai of the Ahbabu Rasullullah group. In this interview, the Islamic praise singer speaks on his new position and his determination to bring sanity to the industry. Weekend Magazine: How did you emerge as Sarkin sha’irai? Hafiz Abdallah: My selection to this position is just […]

Kano-based Islamic singer Hafiz Abdallah was recently turbaned the Sarkin Sha’irai of the Ahbabu Rasullullah group. In this interview, the Islamic praise singer speaks on his new position and his determination to bring sanity to the industry.

Weekend Magazine: How did you emerge as Sarkin sha’irai?
Hafiz Abdallah: My selection to this position is just the wish of Allah Ta’ala because I’m not associated with the royal family but even during the reign of the late Emir Ado Bayero, I was endowed with a similar title. This happened when one of the wives of the late emir authored a book on the life of Sayyidah Fatima, the daughter of the noble Prophet (SAW) and I was asked to summarise the book in a song and when I did, she said I should be turbaned the Sarkin Alkaluman Jama’an Annabi in 2013. And of recent, I was invited to a Maulud celebration in the emir’s palace and after the event, the emir, Alhaji Muhammadu Sanusi, gave me the title of Sarkin Masu Yabon Manzon Allah (SAW). I even objected to it because we already have the Sarkin Masu Yabo in the person of Malam Ibrahim Kaulahi but the emir said Kaulahi was renowned for writing but not singing but that I do write and sing at the same time. As for this one, when I first heard that my teacher and mentor Sheikh Sharu Sani Janbulo was to turban me as the Sarkin Sha’ira of the Ahbabu Rasulullah, I was baffled because I was not expecting it.
Despite all this, I want to state that I’m not better than the rest; it is just the grace of Allah Ta’ala who gives and takes away. Perhaps, I have been chosen because of the effort I have been putting in correcting the works of those writing and singing the praise of our beloved Prophet.
WM: Do you see this position as a challenge?
Abdallah: Yes, it is a big challenge on my part because many a times Allah Ta’ala would give His servants worldly things to see how firm they would remain on the right path. Sarki is the attribute of Allah Ta’ala, He lends it to some of His servants to see how they will shoulder it. So my biggest challenge is to be able to remain firm and not to be carried away knowing fully well that it is due to the blessings of our noble Prophet (SAW) that I’m endowed with it. Another thing is to see how I can mobilise the Islamic praise singers under the Ahbabu Rasulullah to work as one family so that we can achieve our goals of eulogising the noble Prophet (SAW) in the acceptable way.
WM: How do you intend to go about your stewardship?
Abdallah: We already have an enshrined system of leadership as contained in the history of Islam where the noble Prophet (SAW) was said to have run a system of consultancy among his honoured companions. I hope to copy this. Already we have members of the Shura (consultation forum) in the form of the Galadima, Waziri, Wambai, Ciroma. With them, we shall design how to coordinate the activities of praise singers in Nigeria. We shall have the representative of Ahbabu in each state of the federation. We shall also have representatives in local government areas. For example in each of the 44 local government councils in Kano we shall have a representative that will be coordinating the activities of Islamic praise singers in each local government. Under this umbrella, the praise singers in every ward will be taught how to praise the noble Prophet (SAW) correctly. You don’t just praise him the way you want, you have to follow the rules because of the importance of what you are doing. The noble Prophet (SAW) had once told the renowned Islamic praise singer of his time, Hassan ibn Thabit that one stanza of his poem is better than 70 strokes by the sword in a battle field. This is showing us the importance of Islamic praise singers. Thus we have to ensure that those doing it do it correctly.
WM: Some of those engaged in this profession do it without adequate knowledge, how will you address this problem?
Abdallah: First, we shall be having regular seminars to sensitise them on how to praise the noble prophet (SAW). We shall write guidelines to send to all the states in the federation so that our members will be well informed. We shall also establish a centre in each state for the censoring of lyrics. It will be coordinated from ward level to state and to national level. For the moment we are not so concerned about registration. What we want is to see the effort being put in by the individual in writing his songs. Through this effort, one will naturally reach the peak of his work. Our mission is to ensure that Islamic praise singers use the right words for praising the beloved Prophet (SAW).
WM: How will you deal with those that refuse to have their songs censored?
Abdallah: In Kano, we have the censorship board where films and writings are censored. So in this board there is the section that is censoring Islamic songs. We the members of the Ahbabu Rasullullah will ensure that songs written by our members are censored at our own level before even going to the state censorship board.
WM: Of recent there are some that are praising the noble Prophet through hip hop. Will you work with them?
Abdallah: Yes, I will work with them because we want our youth that enjoy hip hop to enjoy it listening to the praises of our beloved Prophet. Let them learn about him through hip hop. We cannot be isolated from what is trendy; the only difference is that we will say what is acceptable in respect of our beloved.
WM: Do you have any advice for praise singers and fans?
Abdallah: My advice to the praise singers is to be sincere in their works and they should aim at pleasing the Prophet (SAW) and my advice to fans is for them to be giving us motivation.