Hassan Mamman And Sanusi Lamido: Birds Of The Same Feather?

By

Muhammad Sabon Sarki

ambabazaria@yahoo.co.uk

 

One Hassan Mamman aroused my curiosity after reading an article he wrote in the opinion page of the Daily Trust of Friday 20th May 2005 entitled; "ADVICE FOR SANUSI LAMIDO'S CRITIC, FATIMAH SULEMAN". The article was mainly concerned with questioning the competence of one Fatimah Hassan who posted an article on Gamji Web Site admonishing Sanusi Lamido. I observed that the article was culled from another publication (Amana) and this motivated me to read it believing that for an article to deserve being culled, especially by a highly rated paper like the Daily Trust, it must be top class. However, I was so disappointed by the contents at the end that I can’t understand why certain individuals do not appreciate the superiority of truth and objectivity over emotional outbursts and slander in their writings. Why is it difficult for us to be articulate and civil in our public writings?. Anyone who instictively picks up pen and paper to write all kinds of rubbish could surely could go to war defending wrong causes. I wonder why, despite all the good articles posted in Gamji web site joining issues with Sanusi on Jaafar, especially the excellent and well researched one written by Az-Zubair MK, Daily Trust should find the one be Hassan Mamman more appropriate as to take precedence.


Now to Hassan’s article. I would like to start with his conclusion where he states in Hausa as follows;“Shirun Malamai hasara ne ga al-umma amma maganan jahili alhairi ne gareta”, which means; the silence of its learned ones is a disaster for the society while the voice of its less illiterate members is a blessing to it. He holds this view and yet the entirety of his article was centered on intimidating the lady to shut off, questioning her competence in challenging intellectual giants and “world-class” writers like Sanusi because, as he points out to her “you definitely are not qualified to do that”! adding.....”you will only injure yourself and your little knowledge” he went on. On this ground alone this article should have gone to the trash basket instead of finding its way into the pages of Daily Trust. He also accused the lady of hero-worshipping Jaafar by insinuating that she “cannot afford to see or hear any body saying anything contrary to what he says or holds in believe”(sic) when all the lady did was only to draw Sanusi’s attention to the Qur’an and Sunnah which is a recommended practice in Islam especially when you see your brother straying. We can see no evidence of the blind defence or glorification which Hassan so lavishly employs in his defence of his idol, Sanusi. He points a finger at her and three, from the same hand, were pointing back at him! His (Hassan's) entire article was wasted vilifying and slandering the lady just like his idol Sanusi did on Jaafar (birds of the same feather?) without any concrete evidence or proof (please refer to ...Philosourpuss by Az-Zubair MK at Gamji.com). For example after prowling about without much to hold on to, he lashed out; “... I felt pity for your ignorance of the topic” without specifying where she displayed the ignorance. It appears to me and indeed to any discerning reader that the lady drew Hassan’s wrath because SHE, amongst a number of others, exposed Sanusi’s poor understanding of Islam (He lied, he distorted facts and he slandered Jaafar, all of which are great offences in Islam). He wants us to believe that his idol, Sanusi Lamido is an intellectual giant but no where in his entire article did he either demonstrate that fact nor could he convince readers why Fatimah should not admonish him.


Hassan refered to a fabricated hadith (it is actually a saying by one of the fuqaha) that commands the search for knowledge even to China. Can we then take it that his idol, Sanusi went to China to acquire the knowledge of philosophy and big grammar in order to show it off against his fellow Muslim brothers?.


Someone can be said to be a great writer if his writings had propound effect at uplifting the society in the area of his scholarship. Islam is a beneficial religion, sent down as a mercy to mankind. However instead of benefit Sanusi’s writings are increasingly becoming controversial, stirring up unnecessary divisions within the ranks of Muslims and causing rancor between them and their non-Muslim brothers.


This is contrary to the teachings of the holy prophet (S.A.W) which in effect advices that when you open your mouth to talk, or by extension, your pen to write, say something beneficial otherwise you stay quite.


Both Hassan and Sanusi wasted precious space in the cherished newspaper on frivolous matters that left readers more doubtful about their state of eeman than anything else. My candid view is that they are either not sufficiently grounded in Islam and its guiding principles, or they are playing out the scripts of sub-terranean forces presently very active in seeing to the destruction of Islam in order that their new world order, a world without religion, a world whose one and only God, Allah, is replaced this time not by Hubal, Lat, Manat, Uzza, Wudd, Yaguth, Ya’uq and Nasra, but by the George Bush, Tony Blair, Dollar, the Euro, Free Market Economy, G-8, EU and the Security Council.

 


      Muhammad Sabon Sarki 185 Minna Road Suleja