THE PROBLEM IS NOT THE AL-MAJIRI, BUT...
THE PROBLEM IS NOT THE AL-MAJIRI, BUT...
By:
Nurudeen Dauda
May 14, 2020
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The problem is not the Al-majiri, the whipping child, or what he learns , the glorious Qur'an, but the inhuman condition subjected him to by the bastardized Tsangaya system.The Al-majiri child is a "victim" of his parent negligence whom he needs to be saved from. His parent must be boldly told to take full responsibilities of their child. The present system supports the abdication of basic parental responsibilities; such as : feeding, clothing, and sheltering etc.
We must tell ourselves the truth that, children are responsibilities place upon every parent, as such, we must encourage each parent to take full responsibilities of his child not to shift it to someone or to the world .
The ancient Tsangaya System which was without begging existed for many centuries even before the colonial conquest. It produced many leaders, scholars, judges, and businessmen , but the present day system only produces beggers on the streets.The practice now largely relies on "begging" which is quite different from the ancient times practice of the system which sustained itself through farming . It is now a system that shifts ones parental responsibilities to the world.
The modern Al-majiri is first exploited by his own parent who sends him to a Tsangaya school in a city with no "provisions " to a mallam who neither has a house nor a farm to cultivate . He is then further exploited by his mallam who now unlike before "depends"on him for his daily "meal".
There are some religious leaders who do not belief in sending their children to Al-majiri schools ,but to Egypt, and Sudan etc., whose only reason for depending the system is for the "maintenance" of their mass followership from the parents of Al-majiris. They will deploy all manners of arguement for their survival not the Al-majiri child.
The Al-majiri child is also exploited by the "middle" class families in the cities and towns of nowadays who have since found the system to be a source of cheap labour for domestic chores. The Al-majiris have since taken over laundry services in our homes for food. The Al-majiri fetched or drew water from the well.They were sent to refuse dump or asked to clear the gutter for food. The beneficiaries of these exploitation will raise louder voices in defence of the system for their continuous exploitation .
The ancient practice of the Al-majiri system in the Hausa-land was based on three beliefs :(1) The Qur'an is a Holy book which no one can learn it on a platter of gold, one must suffer to learn it, (2) No one can learn it under his parental comfort due to parental "pampering", and (3) There were few Qur'anic scholars found only in few places. However, the three beliefs above-mentioned for the Al-Majiri system if tenable then in the ancient times , it is no longer so now due to the passage of time.
The Almighty Allah has made his glorious book easy for us to read . Everyone knows that the Islamiyya pupils from their parents homes are really doing greatly in terms of learning the Holy Qur'an. There are thousands of pupils who memorized the Holy Qur'an from their parents homes.There are now scholars of the Holy Qur'an in every home.
The parents of nowadays send their children to the mallams in the cities who neither have accommodations nor farmlands to cultivate unlike in the olden days . The mallams in the cities of nowadays do not farm like those mallams of the olden days who stayed in their villages close to their farms . The parents of nowadays do not send grains, gifts and zakkats to the mallams for the upkeeps of their children just as the parents of the olden days used to do .
Some people have argued for the government takeover of the system. I do not belief that in a country whose government fails in its basic responsibilities of governance can sustainably build, shelter, feed, and clothes the Al-majiri schools, but unless if someone wants to continually deceive himself.
In my view, we must not fail in telling parents to take full responsibilities of their children just as the parents who educate their children from their homes or send them to boarding schools do.
May God bless Nigeria!