Should we send our little kids to almajiri schools?

Almajiri is someone, irrespective of gender, who searches for knowledge at home or on transit and displays high moral behavior. It is a word that emanated from the Arabic word almajir meaning “immigrant”. The name was given to Qur’anic pupils most especially in the northern states in Nigeria. Most of them left their hometowns usually […]

Almajiri is someone, irrespective of gender, who searches for knowledge at home or on transit and displays high moral behavior. It is a word that emanated from the Arabic word almajir meaning “immigrant”. The name was given to Qur’anic pupils most especially in the northern states in Nigeria.
Most of them left their hometowns usually to a popular teacher in another town or village to obtain sound Qur’anic education. This mostly happens among the poor who have no means of sponsoring their children’s education.
During the pre-colonial era, the almajiri system, originally called the tsangaya, was established under the Kanem Borno Empire, one of the oldest empires in the world extending from frontier of northern Nigeria across the Chadian region up to the border of Libya.
The system was funded by the state treasury and the state Zakkah funds, and was under the control of the emirs in the traditional government system that existed before the coming of the British.
Since Islam encourages charity, welfare for students, the community readily supported the Almajiri most of whom came from faraway places to enroll in the Islamiyya  schools. In return, the Almajiri offered services such as laundry, cobbling, gardening, weaving, sewing e.t.c as charity to the community that contributed to their wellbeing; hence they gave to society something in return.
In 1904, the British invaded and colonised northern Nigerian territories and took control of the state treasury; they killed and disposed the emirs who resisted foreign rule, while those who were subjugated lost control of their territories and accepted their new role as traditional rulers used only for indirect rule.
The British also refused to recognize the Almajiri education system as an important education system and abolished it’s state funding.
Circumstantially all the learned people who were at the helm of affairs in pre-colonial North fell in one swoop and were considered illiterate or uneducated, (at least to the government). With loss of support from the government and the helpless emirs, the Almajiri system thus collapsed like a pile of cards.
 The responsibility of the Almajiri was taken over by the local scholars who deemed it a moral and religious duty to educate those pupils for the sake of Allah.
Although there was scarcity of funds and overwhelming number of pupils to cater for, the system continued to flourish with the support of the immediate community and begging was still not the norm instead the Almajiri resorted to odd menial jobs to make ends meet.
With the increased level of poverty in the country, the care for the Almajiri became overwhelmingly burdensome for the malams who were left with no choice but to send these little boys out to beg from the goodwill of the society to make ends meet. Some of the malams began to impose on the Almajiri what they called “kudin sati” a form of weekly fee for the lessons he derived.
They were reassured that to beg was better than to steal. These boys  stormed into the society with no bearing, moving from street to street, house to house, vehicle to vehicle. They were everywhere markets, car parks, restaurants.
They became a burden as well as nuisance to the society, they sang, begged and prayed appealing to the mercy and good will of the people. It’s really sad when you see these Almajiri hungry, malnourished, wounded, rushing for flies infested leftover food; searching through trash for little morsels, just to stay alive. They consumed all kinds of food, fresh or stale. Their common food called ‘’jagals’’ which is stored by an almajiri over a number of days is a combination of locally made corn food (tuwo) pasta and boiled yam altogether in one bowl like fresh vomit.
They can roam about dirty, tattered, bare feet, pale with flies pecking on their cracked lips and dry faces, which is filled with rashes or ringworm. How can the Islam of these dirty boys be complete when the prophet (Muhammad) (SAW) clearly said “purity is half of faith.”
 They sleep on worn-out mats in uncompleted buildings. Goats may not find the small room where the almajiri and 15 others sleep conductive as there are no windows for cross ventilation and the walls have given room to cracks ‘looking as if it will fall the next minute.
The victims of neglect were also victims of exploitation. Many gave them a stipend or leftover food out of sympathy or exploiting them for menial jobs; some others abhorred them or hold them with contempt and even blamed them for their helplessness.
It is common to hear many scold them to go to school ‘or’ get a job or go back to your parent’’. It is clear that the begging confirming the word of  Rasullullah (SAW) who said begging is a distortion that disfigures a person’s face. (Abu Dawud 663).
Many eventually became traders, drivers, and so on. Those who could not make it are condemned to menial jobs, since they have no skills at hand.

Hauwa is a 300-level student of Mass Communication, University of Maiduguri.