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A Tribute to the Late Umaru Aliyu Muhammad Gusau By Dr. Abubakar A. Muhammad
Innaa Lillaahi Wa Innaa Ilayhi Raaji’oon. And so Umaru Muhammad has passed to the Beyond. May Allaah, [Subhaanahu Wa Taa’laah], forgive him all his sins and usher him into that resting place of Jannatul Firdaus, aamiin. The great Islaamic poet, Mallam Umaru Gwandu speaks of the Dunya [the world] with contempt. He calls it worthless, profitless, dangerous and deceptive. He warns: “Mu barta kula ga ‘Yar kadanna takaitatta gidan wahala; Gidan rashi da hasara na gidan hadari; Marudiya ta dadai neme take a gata; Kamar a kama ta tsere sai biya samaka; Ta gilma tarkon ta kowa kama bashi fita.”[We should not pay too much attention to that which is short and temporary [world]; the abode of hardship, the house of deprivation, calamity, and danger; it is deceptive, full of allure and temptation; but as you are about to grasp it suddenly it disappears leaving you with a mirage; that is how it anchors its trap and anyone caught in it is doomed].
Umaru Muhammad, even as a young man had heeded the poet’s warning about the deceptive life on earth. He was kind and generous to a fault. Umaru’s life style in Pittsburgh was remarkably unique from the average life style of a foreign student in the United States. His original career undergraduate study was engineering, perhaps with the idea of ending with graduate degree in Business administration so that he could help his father, General Aliyu Muhammad Gusau [rtd.] with his business transactions when Aliyu finally breaks away from his long and seemingly interminable public service in government. Alas! It was not to be. Umaru had to discontinue his undergradute studies in Pittsburgh because it was taking him far too long to make a good mark. Although he was intelligent, Umaru Muhammad simply found no time for himself while he was too busy helping other undergraduate and graduate foreign students in their various studies, especially his numerous friends from the Middle East. One of Umaru’s academic strengths was in computer sciences and from the late 1980s through the 1990s he was always busy helping everyone but himself to write their papers and other assignments. His father, General Aliyu Muhammad was understandably concerned about Umaru’s small pace of progress in his studies and had to do something to effect a positive change. I think Umaru was given the choice to finish up or return to Nigeria; for Umaru the latter would have been a disaster because going back to Nigeria he might have to explain to his brothers and sisters who were otherwise doing well in their studies why and how he failed to graduate. The choice of completing the studies which as far as Umaru was concerned was like a Hobson’s choice, had to be preferred because there was no other alternative for Umaru who I thought genuinely wanted to remain in the United States away for the glamour and attractions of his father’s enviable connections and position as National Security Advisor to the President. I had never discussed this matter with Umaru but I trust that his down to earth simple and humble mind was such that he saw his father’s position in Nigeria as a threat to the kind of easy and private life that Umaru Muhammad, or his circumstances in Pittsburgh, had worked out for himself. But even as the senior son of the National Security Advisor, Umaru Muhammad had gone through some financial difficulties, imposed on him partly as a way to get him get over with his studies. In-spite of such difficulties he was able to overcome his problems with a few, if any ruffles or embarrassment. Umaru Muhammad was not one to tell people his personal problems let alone ask for help, and that was true even among those of us whom he knew were his father’s teenage and adult friends. Because Umaru was frugal to a fault no one would accuse him of wasting his father’s wealth by living comfortably, indeed the opposite was true and in that I give credit to General Aliyu Muhammad who must have taught his son much earlier on how to live life.
Umaru Aliyu Muhammad was patient, selfless, considerate, and was usually seeking for something else that others may not even care to want to know about. There was something in Umaru that told him you needed to know about this and that and that was one of Umaru’s premises in life. He would come to ask you about something he knew about just to get more information from you in case you got an idea, and that was what made him to be on top of the news. Although it was all right to hear from him about events without one going through the airwaves, yet it was never easy to get into his heart, may be because he knew that knowing people and trusting them were two different things. In hindsight, I just wondered if Umaru’s intelligence mode was the gene from his father, but I never undertook to examine this idea seriously. Although I had occasionally seen Umaru to be upset he was not one to show his anger visibly may be because he would rather be patient to remain as a friend than to show his anger and lose you. Umaru was very religious and was always concerned about the tenets of Islaam and how the rules apply in different situations. As my former student at the Islaamic Weekend School [Daarassalaam Mosque], I remember both his intellect and interest to learn the Islaamic Faith. Umaru Muhammad was known by majority of the Muslims and would not miss an opportunity to meet brothers at the Islaamic Center especially for the Jumu’ah prayers or at other occasions. Fashionable as it was even among some foreign Muslim students, Umaru was neither known to have a girl friend nor had he been a visitor to any nightclub in Pittsburgh. Obviously denial of such illicit life style and his good character came with his Islaamic Faith and home training. One of Umaru’s greatest assets was that he was not known to have ever declined to help anyone that sought for assistance in any form or shape and truthfully at any situation even as it might cost Umaru his time, energy, and interest. This was remarkable for a young man barely in his late twenty years of age.
For Umaru Muhammad the final painful push came when he was ordered to change both his initial career course and school, the University of Pittsburgh, and to study at Fairmont College, a relatively remote school. That was when I regrettably lost contact with Umaru Muhammad even though I knew he occasionally came over to Pittsburgh. The choice for Umaru was again a difficult one because his father was about to make the decision to have him either complete the studies or be forced out of the United States. I am not one to judge the merit of the decision that I eventually supported and applauded because after all Umaru was able to graduate in record time from that remote college. One would think that the son of an Army General deserved to go to Harvard, Cornell, Princeton or other Ivy Leagues to complete his studies rather than to transfer to an unknown school. But it worked and the theory of ‘out of sight out of mind’ [away form the destructions of Pittsburgh] produced results. It was remarkable that Umaru accepted the challenge and he was able to abide by his father’s wise decision. While Umaru Muhammad may not have made the high grades to transfer to an Ivy League school, his father’s connections in the United States could have made the difference, but General Aliyu Muhammad chose the other easier and better way. I happen to be one of those who thought Umaru might never finish his studies regardless of where he was to go. Part of this thinking came about because in my view it had already taken Umaru too long for undergraduate studies. I also thought Umaru perhaps belonged to the class of Illich’s de-schooling theory. Umaru knew a lot of things outside the school. Yes education is necessary but it could be easily attained outside the four walls of a school and I thought Umaru was comfortable with that theory. It turned out I was of course wrong. I give great credit to my good friend, Dr. Buba Misawa, political science professor at Washington and Jefferson College in Washington, Pa. who resolutely and patiently helped the young man to complete his studies with a Bachelor’s degree in economics and eventually returned to Nigeria to pursue a business career. Who could have known if Umaru Muhammad would ever had completed his studies on his own? It was therefore unfortunate that Umaru Muhammad, as a very intelligent, selfless, generous, and promising young man did not live long to accomplish so much for his family and his country in general. I trust given the opportunity Umaru would have made great contributions. The news of his sudden death, inevitable as it was, came to all of us in Pittsburgh and outside Pittsburgh as a rude shock indeed. But then regardless of our situation death comes our way with a bang no matter who we are and where we are: “Wherever you are, death will find you out, even if you are in towers built up strong and high.” [Qur’aan: An-Nisaa 4: 78]. It is certainly going to take all of us patience and fortitude to bear the loss of Umaru Muhammad but we shall never forget him as our bosom brother in Islaam and a great friend indeed and in need. I wish on behalf of all our friends and the Islaamic Community here in Pittsburgh to send our heartfelt condolences to General Aliyu Muhammad Gusau [rtd.] and all the family members for the untimely death of their son. I wish in particular to convey to you the condolences of my Arewa Muslim friends: Dr. Mahiru Shattima; Alhaji Muhammadu Buhari; Dr. Ibrahim T. Sani; Dr. Buba Misawa; Sanusi Garba Nadama and all our family members in Pittsburgh. May Allaah give you the patience, courage and strength of Faith to bear this irreparable loss. May He [Subhaanahu Wa Ta’aalaah] forgive Umaru Muhammad all his sins and provide for him a permanent abode and peace in Jannatul Firdaus, aamiin.
Dr. Abubakar A. Muhammad writes from the State of Pennsylvania, United States of America.
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