Sanusi L

Sanusi L. Sanusi And Shaikh Ja'afar : The Scale Of Comparison

Mansoor Isa Yelwa

I am not a writer, nor do I bear the hobby of being one. As a mere student, I don’t possess a free time for regurgitating discourses in the media. I rather prefer concentrating on my studies. But having seen what ‘mallam’ Sanusi wrote on April 27, I see it a sine-qua-non to clarify to readers, especially those that are wooed by Sanusi and his like, who is Sheikh Ja'afar and what is Sanusi.

I am sure that his eloquence in that ‘hand-out’ may baffle some. That is not astonishing for Allah says: “and among people is he whose speech pleases you in worldly life, and he makes Allah to witness as to what is in his heart, and yet he is the fiercest opponent.” (Q 2:204)

I don’t believe in defending the interests of individuals. However, cutting the nose of an individual like Sheikh Ja'afar to spite his face is tantamount to an attack against Sunnah. There fore I have to pay Sanusi in his own coin.

Albeit Ch.4 of the 1999 Constitution grants you freedom of speech, it may be flabbergasting to me, if you can misuse such ‘right’ to animadvert your Islam, if you are a bona fide ‘member’.

I will unveil the statue of Sanusi so that you can pellucidly understand the sharp distinction between him and Sheik Ja'afar. I will do that by giving responses to his points against the Sheikh. Some of his points stand symbols of dignifying testimonies of an ideal gentleman, while others are mere slanderous allegations and balderdashes. Ab-initio a point that stands a crucial testimony to the fact that Sanusi is neither with the ‘tsuntsu’ nor with the ‘tarko’, is how he tries to distinct the ideas of Islamic scholars (both past and living), from the idea of ‘modern politics’. This shows that he never discerns the scope of Islamic Law, which ideas are deducted from the divine laws of the Omni-scient, and which covers all generations. I wonder why the donkey years he spent in his ‘yaki da jahilci’ course in Sudan could not enable him understand that Islamic scholars touch all aspects of civilization in their researches and texts. He even mentioned Ibn Taimiya. His 'little knowledge' makes him hallucinate that the said Ibn Taimiya only wrote on ‘sufism’. That is why I said lost the ‘tsuntsu'. You will come to know how he also lost the ‘tarko’.

He was pompous enough that he reads and writes good English, such that Sheikh Ja'afar could not read and understand. He ignores the fact that perpetual use of an alienated language in worldly affairs is an apparent backwardness. In other words it is a perpetual new type of colonization. Why don’t you reflect civilized writers from technologically civilized nations like Japan, China, Germany etc, who succeeded in showing the need of using mother tongue in promoting science and technology? Or is English language among the legacy of your family? That could be so if you emerge from the family of Ado Bayero. Their family is renowned with the knowledge of both spiritual and temporal ideas. I mean, if Sanusi the senior were alive, could he also read your English? I think the issue of civilization does not lie in understanding other peoples’ languages. It rather lies in striving to bring benefit of any kind to your people. For example, our dear Prophet (SAW) could neither read nor write. Nevertheless history has never recorded an exemplary political and social change like his. And while Sheikh Ja'afar strives in propagating such Prophet’s ways, you only agitate the celebration of his annual birth day party.

You admitted inter-alia that Sheikh Ja'afar had kept a record by representing his country in Quranic recitation in the city where it was revealed. Conversely, you only represented your’s in English speaking in England. Whereas his pride lies in the Quran which is legacy of your family, yours lies in the language of your enemies.

Your assertion that Sheikh Ja'afar is sponsored by some Islamic organizations to propagate Sunnah, is built on ashes and has no bases. And if it were true, could you tell us who sponsors your trips to countries in Africa and Europe? The answer must be based on European (Christian) organizations.

Another good point you mentioned was that the Sheikh was born in Daura but settles in kano, a similitude of your settlement in Lagos. People may not understand the secret behind settlement of a Kano Emirate prince in the Yorubaland. I will disclose now.

Sanusi Lamido is a grandson of an impeached emir of Kano who was humiliatingly impeached by the government of Sardauna in 1963. A government that all the northerners unanimously concur on its fair dealing. I don’t need to disclose the circumstances surrounding the impeachment. This paved a way for the rule of a legible and competent Emir: His Eminence, Alh. Ado Bayero. As a Gausi, Sanusi used the lacuna of his less busy days to distribute free aljanna tickets to the hoi polloi. That is a typical philanthropy in Sufism. So Sanusi junior was once upon a time addressed as ‘prince’. Now that ‘ba shi ga tsuntsu ba shi ga tarko’ he opted to settle in Lagos to write and canvass in the media. For his stay in Kano cannot warrant him freedom debauchery.

Sanusi and co should concentrate on their political write-ups and leave Sheikh Ja'afar and co alone. Their da'awa is undefeatable. And for your information, ‘kan ka gani, san na baya.’ Similar threatening Sheikhs are on the way to the da'awa arena. If you are baffled in rage, Allah says: “ die in your rage”! (Q 3:119).