Northern Nigeria: Between stereotypes and facts
to convince them to pay proved unsuccessful. Aisha (R.A) is amongst the top three narrators of hadiths and scholars are quick to mention the uniqueness of the hadiths she collected because of the special relationship she had with the prophet, so much so that she became a scholar and eminent jurist after his death. Nusayba […]
to convince them to pay proved unsuccessful. Aisha (R.A) is amongst the top three narrators of hadiths and scholars are quick to mention the uniqueness of the hadiths she collected because of the special relationship she had with the prophet, so much so that she became a scholar and eminent jurist after his death. Nusayba bint Ka’ab (R.A) another Sahabiyyah whose heroics on and off the battle field serves as a radiant example of uncommon valor and bravery.
It’s instructive enough that when the rasul was asked why there aren’t “any women prophets”, his responce was that “women already have motherhood”, indicating that Allah (SWT) considers motherhood as equal to prophethood or above it. Could there be anything more complimenting than that? The pioneering role of women in islam is also what lead Fatima Al Fihri to establish what is considered the very first university in the world, in Fez Morocco. Founded in the year 859 the university of Al Qarawiyyin is the worlds oldest continuously operating degree awarding university in the world by the Guiness Book of World Records.
Its difficult to explain how a people bequeathed such a beautiful, rich and complex history that is the union of northern culture and traditions and islamic ideals and principles could find themselves in the doldrums we are today. We’ve all seen the damning statistics and figures on education, poverty, VVF, Child mortality e.t.c in northern Nigeria. Yet some are trying to push the notion of a grand scheme at work to hold women back, why then are Almajirai only males. It’s supposedly educated women who should know about family planning, day care centers that engage in employing a child that should also be in school to look after their own babies while they acquire a degree.
If this isn’t reminiscent of slavery then I dont know what is. Long before Boko Haram started recruiting them to use as cannon fodder, politicians have used them to disrupt the rallies of opposition and other dastardly acts. We are leading in virtually every negative indices of development and these are realities which no one is today proud of and only serves as a constant reminder of our collective shame and failure as a people. Maybe our problems are simply a failure of leadership, but that argument doesn’t hold much weight when one comes to term with the fact that a leader must inevitably work within and exist in a certain political environment,under a set of laws. Simply put a leader is bound by a preexisting system of structural limitations, present and inherited challenges. To simply lump all this on the short comings of a gender which are numerous to say the least is just a convenient way of avoiding the complex and deep embedded nature of the problem ranging from institutional, cultural and historical.
Aminu is a medical intern and can be reached on twitter @aminbuhar and [email protected]