ZHUL-QI’DA 23, 1429 A.H.
TUESDAY NOVEMBER 18, 2008
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The metaphor between Almajirci and Bara
By UMAR MUHAMMAD INUWA (BAZ)
One Friday I went to the one of the Kano’s Juma’a mosque to pray, after the prayer concluded, a man stood in front of the crowd. The man was physically fitted and healthy, no sign of disability or deformity on him, asking people to help him, because he woke up without a single penny and nothing concerning food at his disposal, left for his family of four, as he claimed. The people sympathized and pity him, not only because of himself but also for the family that he left at home. The people started giving him some money ranging from N20, N50, N100 and even N200 as I noticed, even my self I was among the contributors to the man, who in my own assumption got at least N2,000 to N3,000 respectively. Paradoxically, after an Achaba (commercial motorbike) dropped me one day at one of the Kano busiest street, the same man stopped me and told me the same story that he told to the public at Juma’a mosque last week which I learned that, begging is that man’s business.
In another development, I’m walking with a friend, two women stood along side the street of Kwanar Goda in Kano Municipal area, asking people to help them for they don’t have enough transport fare to their destination. Those women were not Almajirai as their physical body shows, wearing well-ironed clothes and beautiful white hijab with a nice purse on their hands. Again, a friend of mine who we both saw them together, saw those women doing the same thing as a way of doing business. There is another segment that refers to as ‘Yan-Maula (professional beggars or white color beggars) whose business is roaming from office to office or house to house to tell lie or ask directly, those people are among the retirees or pensioners, politicians common people, etc.
It is not only Almajiri that is begging, hence, the bill that has been passed to National Assembly to eradicate Almajirci is not the phenomenon, it is better be to eradicate Bara (begging) as a whole, because Almajirci dates back several centuries as the way of learning before and after colonial administration in west Africa, particularly in Northern Nigeria.
The word Almajiri derived from Arabic word “ALMUHAJIRI” which literary mean “an immigrant”. In the technical term, it refers to “any body irrespective of sex move from one town to another or from one village to another in search of knowledge (mostly Quranic and Islamic) this is refers to ALMAJIRI. While Bara is a Hausa word for begging which is a process or approaches and technique of asking somebody for something especially in an anxious way, because he/she (beggar) wants or needs it very badly and beggar is a person who live by asking individual or group for any assistance in order to survive. According to the “Report of the Committee on Destitute, September 1987” define beggar as “a person who on account of poverty, deprivation, old age, mental and physical disability and laziness find themselves in a position whereby they have to beg in order to keep body and soul together”.
If we look down to the causes of Bara we may find out that Government and the community most join hand in collaboration to stop the menace. Among the causes of Bara are as follows:
Poverty or Economic Deprivation: quite a sizeable number of Nigerians are unable to earn a living by reasons of ill health or handicap when they are not supported by their relatives, governments or individual members of the public.
Unemployment: Certainly unemployment and unfair retrenchment of workers without due cognizance to its socio-economic implication also lead to some form of begging and destitution. Again, the current practice whereby some wealthy and greedy individuals acquire land on a massive scale leads to the displacement of ordinary farmers from their land. This pushes some of them to destitution and vagrancy.
Physical or Mental Disability: Perhaps the most important group of destituteness or beggars are those with physical deformity, the loss of eyesight, attach of poliomyelitis, deafness, accidents to limbs etc., constitutes the major cause of destitution and begging especially when they occur among the low income group of society. Secondly, the untimely death of a bread winner especially where the productive capacity of the rest of the family is limited for one reason or another, may lead to destitution and begging of some members of the family or all. (Inuwa 2006)
Ignorance and Superstitious Beliefs: Many destitute and beggars beg due to ignorance and strong superstitious beliefs shared by our society. For example, a blind person who does not beg is considered ungrateful to Allah. Also, a mother of twins who does not beg will not have a peace of mind throughout her life etc.
Laziness (able bodied Beggars): There are adults who have suffered no any form of physical or mental defects but beg either as a sessional or all period occupation. Some of them beg because of natural disasters affecting their source of income, such as fire disasters, draughts, floods, and inadequate or irregular income. They are those who beg because they are sluggish and regard begging as an easy way of getting money. (Inuwa 2006).
The above-mentioned are among the causes of bara in our society, not only Almajiri (Student of Quran). What the Federal Government should do here is to copy from the Kano State Government for creating a parastatal under the ministry that is responsible for History and Culture if not in the Ministry of Education, for Almajirai and Alarammas as they (Government) are claiming to be a custodians of our culture, so, Almajiri system of learning is part of the Northern Nigerian Muslim’s cultures as the way of learning (but not bara).
Thus, like what Kano State Government is doing, is better for the Federal Government to copy, empower those Almajirai and Alarammas, create a social welfare for them, teach them modern methods of learning and teaching, organize a various seminars and workshops for them. Even the community has a role to play here for feeding and clothing them. If Federal Government can do this for at least four years, no any Almajiri would be seen swarm shopping centers, motor parks, patrol stations, restaurants, etc. looking for pittance for a living. Because 75% of the beggars were not from Almajiri system of learning, ranging from the professional beggars (Maroka and ‘Yan-maula) to common beggars on the streets.
Let me view the matter in an Islamic perspective, to see whether Bara is lawful or haram (prohibited) in Islam: -
According to Islamic view, it is not permitted for a Muslim to stay idle doing nothing to make a living; he should know that gold and silver were not dropping from the sky. Also it is not permissible for a Muslim to depend on charity or begging while he is able to earn a sufficient subsistence for himself and his family through his won efforts, the prophet Muhammad peace and blessing of Allah be upon him has made it haram (prohibited) for a Muslim to beg money from others without dire necessity, thus, losing his honor and dignity, he (the messenger of Allah) said: “ he who begs without needs is like a person holding a burning piece of coal in his hand” (reported Al-Baihaqiy and Ibn Khuzaimah).
The Messenger of Allah also says: “any one who beg from people in order to increase his wealth have his face scratched on the day of resurrection and will eat burning stone from Hell; so let him reduce it (punishment) or let him increase it as he pleases” (reported by Tirmidhiy). This means that, it is up to him to decrease his punishment by not begging and vice-versa. Bukhari and Muslim reported a hadith that says; the Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him said: “a person keep on begging until he meets Allah (on the day of Judgment) with no flesh on his face.
By such strong admonishing, the prophet peace and blessing of Allah be upon him intended to train the Muslim to safeguard his dignity, develop self reliance and be cleared of depending on others. As the prophet peace be upon him was aware of situation of necessity, he stipulated that if one is forced to seek financial aid from the individual, group or government out of dire need, he (the person) is blameless.
Nowadays people were begging in form of business, the so-called Maroka (ceremonial beggars) were identified as businesspersons wherever you see them. It is true that Allah (SWT) in the holy Quran ordained us to give charity to the one who ask and who doesn’t ask, but not who turns it as a “business”
So begging is the matter, not the Almajiri or Almajirci, it seems that the sponsors of the earlier mentioned bill on Almajiri, the distinguish Senators are giving the dog a bad name in order to hang it, because most of the people particularly from the North will view it as an effort to stop Quranic recitation or teaching which is not the motive of the sponsors of the bill. But if they term it as “Begging and Eradication of Child Destitution in Nigeria” without mentioning the word Almajiri, it would have been better. Unarguably, it is fact that the Almajirai Schools are abused to some extent by some Alarammas but it is clear that there are some that were not bad as it is being portrayed.
It will better if the bill was put to consider ways of harmonizing Western and Islamic education in a fusion of that will make it compulsory for all Alarammas to register their centers with an agency which will be responsible for providing teachers for western courses and help with the responsibility of standardizing the centers with best amenities, for well being of the students (Almajirai). It is fair that all should be educated, but we cannot blindly throw a blanket cover over highly sensitive issue that concern one’s faith or seeking knowledge to enable one practice his or her religion. Knowledge seeking is highly importance in Islam and thus, Almajirci is the traditional means of obtaining this knowledge. Importantly what this traditional method needs is social re-orientation inputs and welfare package to help sustain the students (Almajirai) that studying under this system of education.
* Umar Muhammad Inuwa (Baz) is currently on internship with Triumph Newspapers, Kano and can be can be reached at: umarinuwa2@yahoo.com
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