Nine Years of Anguish for the Killers of Sheikh Ja’afar

Exactly nine years ago on Friday the 13^th of April, 2007 a renowned Islamic scholar, Sheikh Ja’far Mahmoud Adam was assassinated. The murder took place in Muntada Jumuah mosque located in Dorayi quarters of Kano.

It was in that early morning when the Sheikh was leading the subh prayer that the assassins numbering about five drove to the mosque. They shot at his chest and stomach and killed two people who attempted to stand in their way.

The 47 year old Sheikh was immediately rushed to Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital (AKTH) where he died before he could receive any medical attention. According to the people who took him to the hospital, Sheikh Ja’afar kept repeating the kalimah until his last breath. Thus the Sheikh has many virtues. He died while observing subh prayer on a Friday which very few people achieved in history. Again, he died with the kalimah which all Muslims believe that anybody who has it as his last word in this life will enter paradise.

Born in Daura, Katsina state in 1960, Sheikh Ja’afar completed his memorization of the Quran in 1979. In 1984 he enrolled as a student in the higher Islamic section of Government Arabic Teachers College Gwale in Kano city and upon completion in 1988 he secured an admission at the prestigious International Islamic University Madinah where he studied Quranic Sciences until 1993.

 As a young man, Ja’afar Mahmoud Adam actively participated in Qur’anic recitation competitions and once represented Nigeria in the International Quranic recitation competition in Saudi Arabia where he took the third position after being the best in Nigeria. He was also an active participant in the activities of Izala group before his journey to Medina. However, Sheikh Ja’afar was unknown to many before his return from the Holy city in 1993. His unmatched eloquence coupled with an outstanding mastery of Qur’anic interpretation attracted many students to him from within and outside Kano as soon as he started his lessons in the famous Gadon Kaya mosque which he founded after his return. Within no time, Mallam neutralized the influence of nearly all the Islamic scholars in Kano as none attracted followership like him. With Sheikh Ja’afar in town, people began to challenge Darika scholars, a thing hitherto impossible in the ancient city.

The influence of Sheikh Ja’afar was not limited to Kano. There was hardly a Muslim community in Northern Nigeria where Sheikh Ja’afar was not invited to speak. Sheikh Ja’afar attracted large crowds wherever he went and outshone any scholar or emir whenever they had to meet at a public occasion.

Sheikh Ja’afar was not territorial. While many scholars are not interested in bringing peers close to them, Sheikh Ja’afar introduced other scholars, some of whom were thought to be more learned than him to give lessons along with him in his mosque. Not only did he do that, he always extolled their virtues in public. That sincerity further garnered even more respect for the late Sheikh. 

While the North-west gave birth to and housed Sheikh Ja’afar, North-easterners requested the Sheikh to be spending the Holy month of Ramadan in their midst, and he obliged. Thus, until his death the Sheikh always spent one out of every twelve months in Maidugri where he gave lessons in Tafseer every day.

Like any human, Sheikh Ja’afar had his shortcomings. Many people were disappointed when they came to visit Sheikh Ja’afar and did not get the kind of reception they got from other scholars. The fact, however, is that Mallam Ja’afar was a good time manager and unlike many other public figures had no time for gossip or idle talk.

But who killed Sheikh Ja’afar? The answer is simple; his enemies or better still people who considered him an enemy. And there were many of them. No one will lead an outstanding life like that of Sheikh Ja’afar without making enemies.  This piece is not meant to speculate on the possible killers of the Late Sheikh as that has been done many times with many believing that the sophistication with which the murder was carried out could only be the handiwork of Government.  In fact, on April 12, 2009 two years after the assassination, an online news medium linked a former governor of Kano state to the murder of the erudite Sheikh. The police had on a number of occasions come out to clear some influencial people in Kano from the murder of Sheikh Ja’afar. But they fell short of identifying the actual killers.

Another question is, have the killers of Sheikh Ja’afar achieved their aim? Certainly no, whatever it is. Sheikh Ja’afar became even more popular after his death and his recorded tafseer lessons are still broadcast at least weekly by over 50 broadcasting stations in Nigeria and neighbouring countries. If the killers killed him because they saw him as a potential security threat, they must have realized by now that peace cannot be achieved by murdering innocent people and nemesis will never allow any nation that condones the murder of people like Mallam Ja’afar to have peace.

Published in Blueprint Newspaper of Wednesday 13th April, 2016