Abubakar Gumi

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Grand Khadi
Abubakar Gumi
Movement
Izala
Main interest(s)Tafsir al Quran and so many other books
Notable idea(s)Tafsir and Fiqh
Notable work(s)Raddul azhan ila ma'anil kur'an
OccupationScholar, Teacher and judge
Muslim leader
Influenced by
ChildrenAhmad Abubakar Gumi, Hamza Gumi, Mustapha Gumi, Abdulkadir Gumi, Abbas Gumi, Sadiya Gumi, Badiya Gumi

Abubakar Mahmud Gumi (7 November 1924 – 11 September 1992)

Islamic scholar and Grand Khadi of the Northern Region of Nigeria (1962–1967), a position which made him a central authority in the interpretation of the Shari'a legal system in the region.[3] He was a close associate of Ahmadu Bello
, the premier of the Northern region in the 1950s and 1960s and became the Grand Khadi. In 1967, the position was abolished.

Gumi emerged as a vocal leader during the

Sufi brotherhood, some of whom he later debated on television programs in the 1970s and 1980s. By that time, he kept his ideas in the spotlight by holding Friday talking sessions inside the Kaduna Central Mosque (Sultan Bello Mosque). He used the sessions to revive his criticism of established authorities based on his views of a back to the source approach or the need to embrace a puritanical practice of Islam. He also criticized harshly the involvement of mysticism
.

He has a large number of children, however his most popular child happens to be Dr

umm Al-Qura University in Mecca, Saudi Arabia where he obtained his PhD
.


Gumi is a follower of the

Qur'an
)

and other books like (hullu nizam ala nuzuul isa).[4]

Biography

Early life and education

Gumi was born in the village of Gummi now a local government area in

Muslim
organization.

After completing his studies at the middle school, he went to Kano to study Law and was trained as a Qadi. He started work as a scribe to Qadi Attahiru but he soon became disenchanted with the specifics of his job. He gave private lessons on Islam and tafsir as an escape from his disenchantment. He lost his father in 1937 while he was at the middle school. He got married 3 years later to Maryam in 1941 when he was just 19.[2]

Early career

In 1947, Abubakar Gumi left his job as secretary to Qadi Attahiru and went to teach at the Kano Law School, which he had previously attended. While in Kano, he met Sheik Sa'id Hayatu, a man widely considered one of the most prominent victims of colonial rule. Hayatu was the leader of the Mahdiyya movement and had just returned from a forced sojourn in Cameroon. Abubakar became enthralled with the teachings of the Mahdiyya movement and briefly became a follower; he later married Hayatu's daughter, Maryam. However, she died after giving birth to a son. Abubakar Gumi's first son wasn't Ahmad Abubakar, but Dr Hamza Abubakar, a medical doctor currently practicing in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, followed by Maj. Gen. Abdulkadir Abubakar (rtd.) and two elder sisters--one married to late Justice Muhammadu Bello, former chief justice of the federation, and the other married to Sheik Sunusi Gumbi, a well-known Islamic scholar and student of Abubakar Gumi.

In 1949, Gumi took a teaching job at a school in Maru, Sokoto. The school had a famous tutor,

Muslim schools. Aminu and Gumi mingled and shared views on the influence of the traditional society with the Islamic faith, and also the indifference or support given to the situation of Bida or syncretism by the Sufi brotherhoods.[5]

He left Maru to further his education at the school of Arabic Studies in Kano. On completion of his studies, he became a teacher for two years at the school. He also attended a school of education in Sudan.[6]

In 1957, he became an interpreter for the Northern Nigeria government on Saudi Arabia matters.

Conflicts

Abubakar Gumi had reservations about the administrative and religious guidance of the

Sultan of Sokoto, now found the Sultan interested in his grievance with the Chief Imam of Maru. A commission of Inquiry was raised on the issue with the support of the Sultan. However, since Gumi's knowledge of Islamic dogma was superior and so were his argumentative skills, the commission ruled in favor of Gumi.[7] Having gained a small victory over the Sultan, Gumi capitalized on the attention he got by writing a critical article on the issue of Muslims, especially the Sultan, accepting British titles. By then, he had begun to gradually challenge established beliefs and attitudes to actions among the Muslim Ummah.[citation needed
]

Another target of Gumi was the

prophetic. Gumi's fears about the movement were later fomented by the organizational skills of the Nigerian founder, the movement gradually became involved in the Western Nigerian pilgrimage
board and had established schools for pupils in the South and was moving up north in his dissemination of the principles of the Ahmadis. Gumi took on the challenge easily and the movement's northward agenda was curtailed.

Mass media approach

Sheik Gumi made his first pilgrimage to

Tijaniya and Qadiriyya earned him constant criticism, and he was attacked by some Muslims on his interpretations; he usually replied that they should go on and make their own interpretations, if they didn't like his.[8]
By the 1970s, he became a regular feature on television shows, especially during Islamic events.

Rise of Izala and Islamic Fundamentalism

Main article:
Islamic Extremism in Northern Nigeria
Abubakar Gumi at elderly ages.

By the late 1960s, after the death of Bello, Gumi's major Nigerian political support and moderating influence was gone. He felt the new administration had the political power to curtail his views, and in the process, he resorted to consulting his friends in

radicalization of Northern Nigeria
.

Many within the political cycles and Sufi Brotherhoods of

Northern Nigeria held that Gumi was the principal who drove a wedge between Muslims and non-Muslims in Northern Nigeria; that his interpretations of the Hadith and Qur'an were based on his own personal views and not the Sunnah; and that he was monopolizing the mass media for his personal views. He was also criticized for his rebellious views on traditional authorities.[10]

Gumi believed that Nigerian Muslims should never accept a non-Muslim ruler, but he also advocated peaceful coexistence with non-Muslim groups.[2]

Awards and honors

He received the

King Faisal International Prize from Saudi Arabia for his translation of the Quran into the Hausa language.[2]

Abubakar Gumi who was referred to as the father of Izala as he usually mentioned during his Islamic teaching process, succeeded in overwhelming the establishment of the 1970s organisation by name Izalatul Bidi'ah wa Iqamatussunah co-founded by one of his prominent student whom Gumi tutor in his previous job as a school teacher at School of Arabic Studies (SAS) in Kano, though he also maintain his membership in Jama'atu Nasrul Islam (JNI) which favour him to proceed in his Islamic teachings at Kaduna central mosque handed by the above-mentioned organisation, JNI.

See also

References

  1. ISBN 90-04-10494-1
    .
  2. ^ a b c d "Obituary: Sheikh Abubakar Mahmud Gumi". The Independent. 1992-09-15. Retrieved 2022-09-29.
  3. ISBN 0-8157-6817-6
  4. ISBN 978-90-04-10494-5
    .
  5. ^ Lomeier p 48-50.
  6. ISBN 0-8101-1037-7
  7. ISBN 0-8101-1346-5
  8. ^ a b Paden p 61.
  9. ^ Lomeier p 209
  10. ^ Lomeier p 210.
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