This article is published in AL-QALAM Journal of Languages and Literary Studies, Vol. 1, Issue 1, December 2025 (A Publication of the Department of English and Literature, Federal University Gusau, Zamfara State, Nigeria)
THE REPRESENTATION OF THE
ALMAJIRAI PHENOMENON IN SONGS OF ALMAJIRAI
By
Isah
Ibrahim (PhD)
Department
of English and Literary Studies, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria
Corresponding
Author’s email and Phone No:isahibrahim580@gmai.l.com│08061563403
Abstract
This
study examines the figural representation of the Almajirai (Teen itinerant
Islamic scholars) phenomenon in Songs of Almajiri (2021), a relatively recent
poetry anthology, to demonstrate a specific instance of the pervading dynamics
and potency of the poetic mode in apprehending a disturbing socio-political
enigma of grave religious and social dimensions. The study deploys the critical
insights of close textual analysis to guide the interpretation of the selected
poems in the anthology; while purposeful sampling technique is administered to
select the relevant and appropriate number of poems to be analyzed in the
study. While the practice has been studied from different network of
discourses, the contention here is that it is when placed in its aesthetic
context, as it is the case in this study, that we can glean the inner dynamics
and nuances of the politics of Almajiranci (Itinerant Islamic scholarship) in
northern Nigeria.
Keywords: Almajirai,
Almajiranci Reader response, Northern Nigeria, anthology
Preamble
Almajiranci, represents the core
traditional itinerant school system of acquiring Islamic knowledge held in high
esteem among the Muslim communities in Northern Nigeria spanning about two
centuries. Almajirai, the adjective variant, on the other hand, is derived from
the Arabic word Muhajirun, which refers to Islamic itinerants
knowledge seekers. The practice enjoyed a burgeoning patronage and recognition
in the public domain not only among the Northern Nigerian Muslims faithful but
equally amongst the Muslims of different ethnic nationalities across southern
Niger Republic and Northern Cameroon. However, as a result of lack of robust
social capital and formal institutional structures to adequately cater for the
burgeoning Muhajirun and the defiant attitude of the
practitioners to change; the practice has significantly derailed.
The teen Almajirai, instead of becoming learned Islamic scholars with all what
it entails, eventually become street beggars to augment and provide for their
daily economic needs and that of their Mallams (teachers).In the process, they
became easy prey and recruits for all forms of nefarious acts. This compels the
outpouring of dissenting views and perceptions of the role, place and nature of
Almajirai in northern Nigerian social space among social critics, educational
administrators, policy makers and puritan Islamic sects among others. The
dominant view is that Almajirai are unfettered precariat youth, street urchins
and miscreants abandoned to their fate .While this view is essentially cogent,
many however, see it as elitist and anti orthodox Islamic beliefs. This largely
explains why the practice has persisted despite the calls and attempts by many
state governments as well as the Federal government to abolish or integrate the
Almajiranci educational system into the mainstream formal school system.
The Anthologized Poetic Perspectives of the Almajirai
Phenomenon
The anthology consists of sixty two (62)
poems written by forty three (43) poets spread across the country. While
prominent literary icons like Profs Asabe Kabir Usman and Musa Idris Okpanachi
feature I the anthology; most of the poets are however, upcoming ones with
strong flair for intervention on the socio-political; discourses on politics,
governance and issues bedeviling the society in general using the mainstream
media as well as the poetic mode. A sizeable number of these up starters, it
needs to be emphasized, are also social activists It is not surprising
therefore that a social phenomenon as street begging would attract their
attention.
The poem opener of the anthology goes by
the title “The abandoned soul”, reminiscent of Oswald Mitsheli’s The
Abandoned Bundle, which recounts the pathetic condition of an
unfettered child left in the debris heap to its fate in Apartheid South Africa.
Umar’s “the abandoned soul” seems to foreground the synopsis and
perspective of virtually most of the contributors in the anthology. This
concern largely is the lamentation of the precarious predicament of the
Almajiris as unfettered street urchins. The poem opens with a tacit
juxtaposition of the pathetic condition of the Almajirai vis- a- vis the
Western educated students. Unlike their Western trained counterparts, the
Almajiris were virtually abandoned to fend for themselves by the political and
social systems in the country. The persona openly decries that ‘The world
appears to be against them all’, in the manner They struggle
(for survival) while others prosper’ (p1). It is a picture of a trajectory
of lopsided social and political systems where the political system right from
the colonial era was structured to favor only western form of education at the
detriment of the Quranic school system; the white men found thriving when he
set foot in Africa. To make the matter worse, the affluent in the society do
not help the almajiri’s predicament. According to the persona, while the
Almajiris ‘…run around with reddened eyes, downcast and lost// the
well- dressed look down on them, as though they are pest”p1. This is, to
say the least, a clear juxtaposition of the helpless condition of the Almajiris
where they are depicted as readily frustrated and in abject poverty in contrast
to the affluent who perhaps exhibit their wealth in manner of their dressing to
taunt the alms beggars in a most condescending manner. The scenario depicted
above ultimately recreates an imagery of a society sitting on the keg of
gunpowder ready to explode, a clear case of the invitation of anarchy. The
abandoned souls, as the law of nature always dictates, will surely fight back
one day when they ascend the slightest opportunity. Accordingly, the persona
predicts that the abandoned souls will ‘…soon … acclimatize… to red hot evil
that eat away and never stops (p1). This line envisages an open-ended
repercussion of neglecting the Almajiris and underestimating their power by the
time they ascend the helm of affairs. The persona warms that:
A danger lurks, but the hosts look away underestimating
the power of aimless souls transformed from hope to
hate. “
…The new host will have no mercy, for they have cried
and no
one heard”. P1
The persona here reflects on the role some of the Almajiris
play in most social unrest in form of religious riots most especially in their
teens with no fear of the imminent danger of the repercussions of their acts.
They were easily maneuvered to form the forefront vanguard of most ethnic and
religious riots in especially Northern parts of the country.
Meanwhile, about seventeen (17)
poems bear the eponymous title of the collection simply titled “Almajiri” “Dan
almajiri”, or “Dan Malam”, etc. While they share similar or near similar titles
and treat the same subject matter, they however differ in their perspectives.
One of the poems of almost the same title is
Baba’s “Dan Almajiri” (p. 4). Although Baba’s Dan Almajiri is
a poorly knitted poem in terms of use of language and structural texture, its
strength lies principally in the manner it dramatically re-enacts the
predicament of the Almajiris. In the poem, the Almajiri who is the poetic-cum-
dramatic persona speaks! The persona dares the whole world to look at his state
of abject poverty and neglect. He declares that ‘I am nude, see me well in
kind/with chilly wind searing me rind’ p4. His nudity is,
however, further explained in the next stanza in an unequivocally vivid imagery
of abject penury. The persona laments that:
My undersized shirt moving like
A lobster in Tanganyika Lake
… Everyday in tattered clothes, aimlessly I hike
For a loaf of bread or some munch of
tuwo I strike p4
All about Almajiris, going by the
above, is impoverishment of means of livelihood. While they are not completely
naked, the clothes they wear are undersized and tattered implying a seeming
state of penury and neglect. They are in a state of complete uncertainty of
where there next ration of food will come from. When it comes, often rarely, it
is ‘a loaf’,’a munch’ or an ‘inedible left over’ meant to douse the scathing
hunger. The frightening undertone is however, not on the nature of the ration
they receive, but on how susceptible to committing heinous crimes they become
in return of the meager ration given to them. It is an open-secret that most of
the teenage Almajiris are lured into committing crimes by giving them chicken
feed of food ration or mere monetary token for them to ‘strike’.
The persona, in the toga of Almajiri,
indicts his parents by questioning their sense of reasoning and moderation for
sending them to this unfriendly itinerant school system. While their condition
in school is depicted here as precarious, brutish and bullish the most pathetic
of all, according to the persona, is that most of the Almajirai went to Quranic
School to ‘play hooky’ as in the end they learned little or no Quranic
education intended. The repercussion of such teeming semi-literate youths to
the society is better imagined.
In yet another poem in the anthology by Wakil
entitled Almajiri p11,the tone of the lamentation is equally
sustained and the thematic mien replicated. The persona confesses that he is
moved to tears by the dilapidated state of the Almajiri who goes in rags and
lives without shelter. The poet meanwhile regrets the lack of the wherewithal
to cater for the Almajiris. The poet declares that:
if I am this world
All the roofs I have
To make a hut for them.
And dismay the mirth of this sun p.11
It is obvious from the above that the
whole society generally neglects the Almajiris to their fate, a condition which
the persona prays to salvage. So, according to the persona, if he had the means
and the resources he will provide shelter for the Quranic pupils so as to shame
the mirthless scorching sun which dealt with them as a result of lack of
shelter. Shelter here as symbolized by “roofs” signifies the relative comfort
the Almajiris need to excel in their schooling system. It extends to their clothing,
accommodation, conducive teaching and learning environment, and not to say the
least, their feeding.
While the persona in the above poem wishfully craves for
the wherewithal to provide for the Almajiris and by extension a prayer for the
society to do the same, Waziri’s Almajiri (p.13) and Dan Mallam (p,14)
however, are a scathing mockery of what most Almajiris finally turned out to be
in the society. Amidst the harsh economic reality in the country, the
Almajiris, according to the persona, spend most of the time fending for
themselves to stay alive rather than focusing on their studies. The persona
concludes that:
The scholar you aim at
Turn out roaming
streets door to door
…wanting to bite and breathe (p.13).
It is an open sight to see Almajirai
during the day in groups trooping to eateries, markets and businesses begging
for alms. At nights, you see them going from door to door begging for food to
eat. One as such wonders what time of the day they use for their studies.
In his next poem Dan
Mallam (P.14), (another name for almajiri) the theme is equally
sustained. The Dan mallam “crawls in light and dark to howl/ to soothe
the seething owl” (p.14) herein, using the metaphor of owl to suggest
how the Almajiris scavenge for food in an attempt to quench the hunger
tormenting their …never satisfied belly… (p14).The owl
metaphor equally depicts the Almajirai as irritants and predators who know
nothing but to ‘prey’ for food. This poem however extends the travesty of the
Dan mallam to the scathing and pathetic reality of their condition: “in
the season (they) are taken to plough and sow” for the Malams “but
will not see (where) the silos go” (p14).
It
is a common practice that the Almajiris will be taken to Malam’s (teacher’s)
farms to work for him freely and may not have a taste much more less a bite of
the farm produce they harvested. While it is part of the tradition of the
teacher-student bond between the Almajiris and their Mallams, the persona
however, describes the practice as a form of exploitation.
Tojo’s Unsung Song Of
Almajiri,p17 equally follows similar trend of accentuating the plight
of the Almajiris. Tojo’s poetic oeuvre however, differs slightly. His is deeply
empathetic to clearly depict the nuanced condition of the Almajiris,as he
invites the readers to imagine themselves in the Almajiris’ shoes. ‘But for
the grace of Allah’ ,the poet persona goes fatalistic, it could
have been you wallowing in their …tattered clothes// fettered by poverty,
Turbaned by ignorance”. But as providence will have it, one is not part of
the apologetic system-the poet seems to suggest. While it is true some of the
Almajiris ended up without acquiring the requisite Quranic education; it is
however hard to believe the poet’s sweeping assertion that all the Almajiris
are ‘turbaned by ignorance’ a metaphoric caricature of the emptiness of the
learned Mallams .The poet however, indicts most particularly the socio-cultural
practice in addition to the parents and the Mallams behind the breeding of
these “poor guests of Allah”p17. While the persona does not come
out openly to suggest the panacea to the predicament of the Almajiris, he
however, tacitly suggest everybody to do the needful to avert being in the
fateful shoes of the Almajiris. The clarion call ultimately is for all and
sundry, and especially the government of the day, to institutionalize and
mainstream the educational system in line with that of the Western form of
education.
While most of the
poets in the anthology indict the Almajiri educational system as unworthy, and
therefore the bane of the Almajiris’ predicament, Yandaki’s “Almajirci”p20 glaringly
differs in terms of thematic focus. The persona, in the first instance,
concedes that there is an unending rot in the condition of the Almajirai that
requires urgent attention. The blame of the source of that rot however, should
be rightly located. The poet decries emphatically that we should not:
...condemn the system
…but the mother and father
That willingly send their child on a mission to read
With no provision for his daily bread p20.
It is clear that the unhelpful condition
of the Almajiri, going by the lines above, started in the manner the minors are
left to fend for themselves through reckless begging. There is always
temptation hovering around hungry, young Almajiris when left to provide their
daily needs. So, the persona opines that if the parents, in the first instance,
are genuinely serious about their wards to acquire the Quranic education, they
should provide for their basic needs and daily bread.
Furthermore, the
persona does not only indict the parents for shirking their responsibilities
but also the Mallams on whose care the Almajiris are left. The persona cautions:
don't condemn the system
but the imam that fails to reject parental
irresponsibility
claiming unattainable abilities
end up graduating liabilities
and jeopardizing Islamic dignity (p. 21.)
Thus far, the blame of the pathetic
predicament of the Almajirai on their schooling systems known as Makarantun
Allo, going by the thematic undertone of the Yandaki’s poem is misplaced. The
blame, according to the persona, lies squarely with the parents and the Quranic
school teachers but not the system.
Hauwau El-Yakub’s Allah Sarki Dan Almajiri is
a eulogy of a sort of the Almajiri as they survive the hard trappings
of life as itinerant knowledge seekers. The persona describes Almajiri as the “homeless
boy” and “motherless” who is always “roaming around”. As
he moves around he chants “ko dan qanzo, ko dan dago dago ne”, a
popular begging chant used by the Almajiri to emotionally appeal to their
benefactors. The chant downplays the Almajiri as a humble person with no choice
of what to eat but eats even the remnants and the leftovers. Every day life,
according to the personae, is a hell let loose for them as they have to let do
with the harsh routine of life. The persona expresses that:
As dams sip through
And the arid envelopes you
Shivering like a wet cock
With a whip on your back the day before
Allah sarki dan almajiri
The everyday routine
of life to the Almajiri across the harsh weather is fractured with uncertainty,
lost, and depressed. Like other poets in the anthology, El-yakub’s “Allah
Sarki Dan Almajiri” equally blames the parents squarely for the
unfortunate predicament of the Almajiris. The scenario as usual is that most of
the Almajiris are sent to urban areas from the rural areas (Kauye).So the norm
as enected dramatically by El-yakub is that whenever Almajiri is asked about
the whereabouts of their parents the answers remain the same as rendered below:
where is your Mama
Tana qauye
where is your Papa
Yana qauye
This tough little boy is ready for life
Allah sarki dan almajiri
As enacted above, the Almajiri is
left to fend for himself in the process becoming tough and hardened. The
parents, as far as they are concerned, believe that life in the city is
luxuriant and therefore a befitting abode for their children forgetting that
not all that glitters is gold. El-yakub, in like manner of the other poets,
accused all those that matter; ranging from the parents, the Mallams, the
constituted authorities and the society at large to make life better for the
Almjirai but derelict. The need to cater for the Almajiris fell on deaf ears as
a result of the “negligence of those in charge/ that has turned a blind eye
on your (Almajiris) plight.” (p.25).
Another poem of similar title which is
last to be considered in the Almajiri title stable is by Hamisu Shehu titled “almajiri”.
The poem reenacts the picture of the Almajiris as a lonely wanderer of a sort
in the manner of El-yakub’s. It is a picture of a teenager forsaken and
deserted by all and sundry his parents and the larger society inclusive.
Shehu’s first stanza minces no words in describing the Almajiri as “the
forsaken lad sends to a strange land/ Roaming the streets chanting “Allah
baku mu samu” .Quite often, the whereabouts of the Almajiri at some point
in their itinerary sojourn are not known to their parents too. Equally true are
the teachers who teach their wards. This act seems not palatable with the forms
of teaching and learning for instance, with the western form of schooling.
In her titled poem simply ‘My Identity’, Usman in a short
and compacted poetic lines expatiate on the source of the complexity of his
woes to the condescending name given to him by the society. The poetic person,
who is the Almajiri himself, is bewildered and befuddled by the impact of his
naming historically foisted on him and the approval of his parents. To him, it
is:
A name decreed by my
culture
A name ordained by
my society
A name approved by
my parents p38
The persona grieves that the condition
of his status in the society could be as a result of this name which he
‘detests’ and ‘… so much hate’p38.
While most of the poets in the anthology
titled their respective poems directly or indirectly to the Almajiri scourge,
Okpanachi however, stood aloof. His poem is titled ‘Without a name’ a veiled
reference to the fluid identity of the Almajiri in the socio-political sphere
of public consciousness. The Almajiri may not have a visible and socially
esteemed status because he was ‘… born a traveler (and)
… belongs to the garbage and …the suitcase/in the hands of the people p73.The
persona subsequently discloses his true identity despite his nameless status.
He says:
I am the coded scar
of bullies
My hands are callous
from
Whip,fire and stones
The mosaic of the
Quran
Are
written in the weal of my back p73/74
Coded scar of bullies herein alludes to the teaching method
of the Quranic schools in the North where school pupils are mercilessly whipped
when they fail to memorize a given portion of the Quran. The wisdom, so it
seems, is that fear of being flogged would make one to brace up to learn the
portion assigned to him. But according to the persona, that is not the case.
The whipping ended up making the pupils to be ‘callous’ and hard at heart.
Conclusion
The scourge of the Almajiranci phenomenon as it persists most
especially in the Northern part of thecountry has been a disturbing one. While
many reasons were attributed to its continued existence, this study however
mapped out three cogent ones as pointed out by the selected poets in the paper.
Significantly parents are largely to blame for the continued proliferationof
the phenomenon. Most of the poets in the anthology suggested that if the
parents refused to send their wards, the Mallams will not force them to do so.
It is also obvious that Almajiranci is not on the priority list compared to
Western education, some of the poets allude to this fact as the reason behind
the predicament of the Almajiranci phenomenon. The last source of the
derailment of the phenomenon is the society at large which encourages the
practice on the hand and abuses it on the other.
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