“Anything worth doing”, they say, “is worth doing well”. The event was the launch of a book on one of the great 20th century African scholars from Ilorin, Sheikh Muhammad Kamalu d-Deen Habeebu-llah Musa Al-Adabiyy. It was a privilege for this writer to be asked by the Vice-Chancellor (VC) of the University of Abuja, Abuja, Professor AbdulRasheed Na’Allah, to represent him at the occasion as the book reviewer. Given the fame and influence of Sheikh Kamalu d-Deen in the world of Arabic and Islamic scholarship, all roads in nigeria’s capital city, Abuja, were supposed to have led to the National Mosque, venue of the book launch, on Sunday January 14, 2023.
The event was forced to formally commence at about 1.30pm with a prayer led by Professor AbdulQadir from the Nasarawa State University, Keffi. This was closely followed with recitations from the Glorious Qur’an by two separate memorizers. The agenda proceeded with chanting of eulogies in praise of the Prophet Muhammad (SAW). One of the well-read students of Sheikh Kamalu d-Deen, Sheikh Abdullahi Jibril Sulaiman Al-Fulani Al-Adabiyy, treated the audience to a poetic session of literary feast.
Thereafter, the multi-lingual master of ceremony (MC) called out the Lead-Editor of the book, Sheikh Abdullahi Shehu Onisabi, to make his speech. The MC navigated so fluently between English, Yoruba and Hausa that this writer was prompted to declare, when it was his turn to address the audience, that he would speak in Yoruba tongue at the next event in honour of Sheikh Kamalu d-Deen.
To review the book, my first remark was to urge the audience to give all the credit to the person I was representing, Prof. Abdulrasheed Na’Allah, if the presentation met their expectations. And for any inadequacies, I sought to be blamed. The 370-page book titled “Tributes to Sheikh Muhammad Kamalu-Deen Al-Adabiyy” was edited by three scholars led by Sheikh Abdullahi Osinabi. Consisting of 29 chapters (15 in English and 9 in Arabic), the book is a comprehensive account of the life, scholarship, achievements, and enduring legacies of Sheikh Muhammad Kamalu d-Deen. A section in the preliminary pages of the book provides a concise summary of all the book’s 29 chapters.
While the book was dedicated to two distinguished students of Sheikh Kamalu d-Deen namely: late Prof Musa Ali Ajetumobi and late Alhaji Salman Mohammed Nuhu; Prof AbddulRasheed Na’Allah wrote the lucid foreword. Like a hybrid product, this book combines traditional features of a book and those of an academic journal or newspaper. For instance, sections of the preliminary pages contain features dealing with editorial board, editorial consultants and editorial comment, which are traditionally peculiar to journals and newspapers.
All the writers who contributed chapters are united in their individual account of Sheikh Kamalu d-Deen’s personality, teachings, ideals, values, philosophy of education, principles, and achievements. Born in 1904 (119 years ago) and died in 2005 (18years ago) at 99 years of age, one of the chapter contributors likened Baba Kamalu d-Deen to Imam Shafi’i and Imam Ibn Taymiyyah. While both Imams who were of Arab descent and primarily studied under Arab scholars in Arab societies became distinguished in their career as Muslim intellectuals and preachers at age 15, Sheikh Kamalu d-Deen achieved the same feat at 13 years of age even though he was of non-Arab descent and primarily studied under non-Arab scholars in a non-Arab society. It was not surprising that, as “a blue rose”, he became the first Grand Mufti of Ilorin.