Meet Zaria prince who turns Almajirai to graduates

Within the ancient walls of Zaria, Kaduna State, lays Madaka, where the name Umar Hafizi has contributed to the prominence of the area, as it connotes a celebrated Islamic scholar who has for the past 50 years mastered the art of Qur’anic memorisation and transmitting knowledge to students. The distinct management style of Hafizi’s Qur’anic […]

Within the ancient walls of Zaria, Kaduna State, lays Madaka, where the name Umar Hafizi has contributed to the prominence of the area, as it connotes a celebrated Islamic scholar who has for the past 50 years mastered the art of Qur’anic memorisation and transmitting knowledge to students. The distinct management style of Hafizi’s Qur’anic school (Tsangaya) attracts pupils (Almajirai) from different parts of the country. Therefore, Madaka, in particular, and Zaria, in general, get value and popularity on account of that.
In Malam Hafizi’s school, students don’t move around from one street to the other, bowl in hand desperately begging. The cleric provides everything for his pupils in addition to enrolling them into conventional schools. Apart from teaching his Almajirai, he shoulders the payment of their school fees, provides uniforms and materials needed. Because of his desire of combining Qur’anic education with Boko (Western education), Malam Hafizi’s Tsangaya is divided into sessions to allow the students time to go to conventional school. The first session usually begins at 5:30 or 6:00 am, depending on when the Subh (dawn) prayer was observed. This session lasts up to 7:00am, and the Almajirai get dressed and set out to different schools.
After returning, the next session begins by 4:00pm and lasts up to 6:00pm. Finally, the students would have their last session between 8:00pm and 10:00pm. In all these sessions, the students get only Qur’anic lessons. The idea of combining the Tsangaya education with Western one, which is now in its fifth decade, has produced exciting results for Zaria, Kaduna State and the country at large. Malam Hafizi’s Tsangaya is the first of its kind in Zaria and Kaduna State to have produced hundreds of university graduates who have excelled in different endeavours.
Neighbours, traditional leaders and other residents of Zaria have testified to the impact of the school on the lives of many children. The dedication of Malam Hafizi and his ability to defy all odds have turned around many souls who would have ended roaming about the streets begging for alms and food.
“It is the importance of the school that made many of us to volunteer rooms in our houses to accommodate some of the students. This is because the students are always large in number and Malam Hafizi doesn’t have the space to accommodate all of them,” Malam Danzumi Tijjani, a neighbor, said.
Tijjani added: “This man is a special gift for us. Apart from the accommodation assistance that we offer, he struggles to meet the needs of the students, ensuring that they do not go begging. One interesting aspect that makes the school unique is how he enrolls all his pupils in Western schools. Some of the former pupils are now influential in different fields, and are being useful to themselves as well as the country at large.”
Adding his voice to Malam Hafizi’s innovations, traditional title-holder of Chiroman Shantalin Zazzau, Alhaji Abubakar Ladan, said the entire Zazzau emirate is grateful to the Qur’anic tutor. “He is a cleric that tries, as much he can, to avoid any controversy. He is a scholar of repute and his innovation in Tsangaya School system in the past 50 years requires the commendation of all. We are proud of him in Zaria because he has touched the lives of many. He has also shown that those studying Qur’an can as well excel in others fields, especially science and technology,” he said.    
When in 1962 Malam Hafizi introduced the idea of not allowing his then 12 pupils to go begging, he had to endure stigma and his challenges were worsened when he resolved to enroll his Qur’anic students into Western schools. He said he was even accused of being an ally to anti-Islam elements. “I was accused of being sponsored by Israel to derogate the values of the Qur’an. People at that time felt that an Almajiri must beg to succeed. For them, enrolling an Almajiri into conventional Western school was an abomination. But I stood my ground. I did not see where the Qur’an prohibits seeking of useful knowledge. It even encourages that.”
When asked how he manages his hundreds of students, especially catering for their feeding and other essentials, he attributed that to the “help of Allah.”
“I engage in farming. Since Allah has seen my heart and intention, every year I produce enough grains to be enough for my large family and students. Since Allah has seen that we cannot survive on grains, because there are other necessities of life, He sent some people to come into our aid. Ja’afaru Sambo was the first person to appreciate my idea and decided on his own to be assisting me. Within a short time, people like late Group Captain Uthman Jibril came into the scene where he used to be sending bags of rice and other grains to me every month. There is another person, though he doesn’t want to be named but I feel it is a good work that people need to emulate; therefore there is no harm in mentioning his name. Nuhu Shittu always sends two bags of rice to me every month,” Malam Hafizi explained. “Zubairu Aliyu also sends money to me every month for feeding of my Almajirai and there is an NGO where Professor Na’iya Sada, present Deputy Vice Chancellor of ABU, is a member that is also assisting me every month. These contributions augment my farming and leads to the successful running of the school.”
Within its over 50 years of existence, prominent people are now recognising the school as their alma mater. “Though I cannot remember many of my students because of my age, but I can recall people like Alhaji Dauda from Damari, Alhaji Rufa’i, onetime commissioner in Abuja, Alhaji Balarabe, also onetime magistrate justice in Katsina, Malam Nuhu, a lecturer now in the University of Abuja, Ahmad Jamo of NNPC, Hadiza Dabo Lare, wife of a former governor of Kaduna State, Ahmad Tanko who is presently doing his Ph.D, among others.
“Sometimes I’d see an expensive car parked by my mud house, and the owner would alight and tell me that he was one of my Almajirai that graduated in a certain year. I always feel fulfilled to see these people. It adds to my excitement as most of these students are still getting in touch with me. They visit me regularly, especially during Sallah and other festivities. Some of them are now financing the upkeep of my family and the present pupils in the school. This shows that they are appreciating my little role in their lives,” Malam Hafizi said with a smile.
At 76, Malam Hafizi said he is now in what he called ‘partial retirement’ since many of his children can memorise the holy Qur’an. “I am now relaxing. Had it been it is possible to retire from teaching the Qur’an, I would have said that I have retired. But I am now in partial retirement. Many of my children can memorise the holy Qur’an, hence they have taken over the tutoring of my Almajirai. I now only supervise. One advantage I discovered about merging Islamic education with Boko is that it leads to production of God-fearing children and adults. It is very rare to see somebody who can memorise the Qur’an and go about looting the treasury or engaging in crime,” Malam Hafizi said.
Without taking the path of teaching the Qur’an, Malam Hafizi would by now, perhaps, being counted among emirs and chiefs in Kaduna State. “I come from the ruling house of Igabi, in Igabi local government area of Kaduna State. My grandfather was once an emir of Igabi, so also my father. Right now, one of the sons of my elder brother is the emir of the area. Therefore, I am a prince who prefers the Qur’an than ruling,” he said.
The education sojourn of Malam Hafizi began around 1948 when he was about ten years old. “It was from Igabi that I moved to Zaria about 56 years ago. I came to Zaria after my search for Qur’anic education in parts of Borno and Yobe. I came to Zaria when Turaki Ali was a minister, because he is my brother. He was the one that gave me a house to live. Later on, he gave me the land that I built my own house on. I decided on my own to go for search of education in the East (Hausa people’s reference to the old Borno Empire, because of its prominence with Qur’anic knowledge). My mother left my father’s house when I was about two years old. That led to a predicament, being a large family house and I went through difficulty, so bad that at a point I was sleeping in a market. At that time there were wild hyenas all over. But because Allah has destined that I would survive to touch other people’s lives, the animals never harmed me. As it became unbearable, I decided to leave my family in Igabi. After engaging in many trades and visits to many towns in the country, I finally met my first Islamic teacher at Paki, now under Makarfi local government area of Kaduna State,” he said.
Malam Hafizi added: “One Nuhu, a cousin, dared me that I should go and learn the holy Qur’an if I can and the challenge pushed me. My mother, who had married another man in a different town, sold her goat and gave me four shillings for my transportation.” His first point of call was Paki, Makarfi local government area of Kaduna State where he met Alaramma Malam Uthman as his first Qur’anic teacher. “It was there I started my Qur’anic studies. I spent about one and half years there where I memorised four Juzu’i (each of the sixty parts of the Holy Qur’an). Having seen my dedication and intelligence, Alaramma Malam Uthman referred me to Nguru, in present day Yobe State, to one Malam Mai Kaulasan, who was then one of the renowned Qur’anic scholars in the area.
He added: “After visits to many scholars around different parts of Yobe and Borno states, I finally became one of those who can memorise the entire Holy Qur’an. One good thing that I still find difficult to forget was the accommodative culture of the Borno residents on Qur’anic students. At that time, every household used to bring a big bowl of food to the various Tsangaya (Qur’anic) schools, so, we don’t need to go begging.”
“After I completed the memorisation of the Holy Qur’an, coupled with the famine that befell the Borno area at that time, hardship forced me to remember that I have family relations in Zaria. So, I decided to return to Zaria. When I arrived, I went to Turaki Ali’s house. His mother sent me out of the house because of my shabby appearance. When I introduced myself as Umaru, the son of the emir of Igabi, she started crying.”
When Turaki Ali returned for weekend from Kaduna, he tested Malam Hafizi’s level of Qur’an memorization. “After spending some time in Zaria, I went back to my first teacher in Paki, because my ambition was to start writing the holy Qur’an and to set up my own Tsangaya School. When I solidified my Qur’anic memorisation, I decided to return to my hometown in Igabi. People at that time began to tease me, because of my antecedents, not knowing that I can memorise the Holy Qur’an. So, I decided to leave Igabi again to go to Birnin Kudu (Jigawa State) in order to realise my ambition. However, I was stopped at Kwadaro, a village in Soba local government of Kaduna State by one elderly man who has discovered my potentials. It was at that village, as Allah would have it, that I set up my first school. And it was there I got my first wife,” Malam Hafizi explained.
After some years, Malam Hafizi decided to return to Zaria with his little family. He settled at Turaki Ali’s house and later the Turaki gave him a piece of land where he built his own house, and the house is where the Hafizi clan is residing up till today. “I have seven children with my first wife and we are still together. Two of the children are deceased while five are still alive. After my first wife, I married three more. I now have four wives and sixteen children, out of which seven are graduates with some of them doing their Masters or Ph.D.
The only thing that Malam Hafizi wants his students and other well-wishers to help him accomplish is developing a Tsangaya School on the piece of land that he has acquired years ago. “I am proposing a formal school for Almajirai, but help is not forthcoming. I have a piece of land that I want to convert into school to leave it as a legacy. Perhaps help would come from somewhere, because I believe that there is always Allah’s hand in whatever I am doing,” he concluded.