Nigeria: How Sheikh Dahiru Bauchi Was Arrested in Saudi Arabia
Ali Alkali
12 October 2009Kaduna — As a climax of the intense doctrinal war and verbal attacks between three of Nigeria's major Islamic groups, Darika, Izala and Shi'ah, that characterized this year's Ramadan preaching (Tafsiir), the renowned Islamic scholar, Sheikh Dahiru Usman Bauchi, was arrested by the Saudi Arabian security officials in Mecca while performing his Umrah (lesser Hajj) this year, LEADERSHIP gathered exclusively.
An eye witness, a Kaduna-based Islamic scholar, revealed that Sheikh Dahiru Bauchi was in the grand mosque of Ka'aba when Saudi security agents came in and took him away.
They had first gone to Sheikh Shariff Saleh of Maiduguri (Chairman of the Fatwah Committee of the Jama'atu Nasril Islam) and asked him if he was Sheikh Dahiru Bauchi, and he answered in the negative and pointed to the direction of Dahiru Bauchi, who was seated reading the Qur'an.
"They went to Sheikh Dahiru and asked for his international passport. After examining the passport, they asked him how he obtained a visa to Saudi Arabia when the authorities had given instruction that he should not be granted one. Sheikh Dahiru told them he was unaware of the authorities' instruction to blacklist him; and if they had any query they should direct it to their embassy in Nigeria."
In spite of the Sheikh's explanation, they took him away for further questioning.
LEADERSHIP gathered that Sheikh Saleh and other Ulamaa around immediately put calls to some high-ranking Nigerian government officials who were then in Mecca for Umrah and alerted them of the development.
A reliable source in the Nigerian Embassy in Jeddah revealed to our correspondent that the prominent Nigerians who intervened told the Saudi security agents point blank, "You are starting what you cannot finish. This man has at least ten million followers in Nigeria; and if the news of his arrest reaches them, they will blame it on Dr. Ahmad Gumi."
Dr. Ahmad Gumi, the son of late Sheikh Abubakar Mahmud Gumi, lives in Saudi Arabia and only comes to Nigeria yearly to conduct the Ramadan Tafsiir session at the Sultan Bello Mosque, Kaduna. And Sheikh Dahiru Usman Bauchi is known to have been accusing Dr. Gumi and his late father of being sponsored by the Saudi Arabian government to propagate an Islamic doctrine known as Wahabism in Nigeria and condemn Sufism practised by Darika disciples as unwholesome innovation in Islam that Allah will not accept.
Those who intervened, our source added, pointed to the danger of allowing a rumour to go round in Nigeria that Gumi had instigated Bauchi's arrest in Saudi Arabia, which could cause a serious sectarian clash between members of Darika and Izala groups. "If that happens, Nigerian government will hold the Saudi Arabian government responsible," they told them.
The Sheikh was released a few hours after the arrest.
LEADERSHIP tried for several days to reach Sheikh Dahiru Bauchi for confirmation and details, but his aides shielded him. His first deputy, Sheikh Umar Sulaiman, a Kaduna-based Islamic scholar, who spoke to the reporter, said, "I am among the people who accompany Sheikh Dahiru to Umrah every year. But this year I was unable to make the trip; so I cannot give you an eyewitness account of what happened to the Sheikh when he was there."
He, however, gave an insight into why the Sheikh might not want to talk on the issue. "I heard that something happened, because I learnt that Sultan Sa'ad Abubakar had called the Sheikh on the phone and pleaded with him to calm down and forgive whatever happened; and that he promised they would do something about it. But to this day, the Sheikh has not talked to me about it."
Sheikh Sulaiman added, "This year, it took a long time before Sheikh Dahiru was granted the Umrah visa. At a point, we even thought that he would not get it. But we never suspected that he was blacklisted. We thought the whole thing had to do with the Saudis' new policy that elderly people above 65 years of age will not be allowed to perform Hajj this year in order to minimise the risk of contacting or spreading swine flu. But, miraculously, the visa was granted at the last minute."
He asked LEADERSHIP to give him some days to get details from the Sheikh and permission to talk to the press on the issue. Several days later, however, his telephone always rang but nobody would answer it.
When the national headquarters of Jama'atu Nasril Islam in Kaduna was contacted, the Acting Secretary-General of the Muslims' umbrella body, Alhaji Abdulkarim Mu'azu, took our reporter to the overseer of the organisation, the Emir of Birnin Gwari, Bawan Allah, Alhaji Zubairu Jibril Maigwari, who can speak on behalf of Sultan Sa'ad Abubakar on all matters concerning the JNI.
Even though the emir declined to comment directly on the issue, he said the JNI was very worried about the way and manner Ramadan Tafsiir was being turned into an avenue for personal vendetta, competition for fame, popularity and wealth and instigating disunity among Muslims.
"To arrest this ugly trend, the JNI and northern emirs had invited all the Sheikhs from all the different Muslim groups before this year's Ramadan and urged for peace and reconciliation," he said. "The warring groups agreed on a cease-fire treaty. We even called chief executive officers of the electronic media, solicited their cooperation and asked them not to air any Tafsiir that contained attacks on other people's beliefs, no matter how much was paid for it or who sponsored it; because doing so is against the dictates of the laws that protect public peace. They promised us that they would edit the tapes and remove all abusive remarks that might violate the cease-fire agreement between the various Islamic groups.
"Unfortunately, both the Sheikhs and the electronic media executives ignored the agreement barely a few days after the commencement of the Ramadan Tafsiir.
"The situation took a turn for the worse with the emergence of half-baked new Malams eagerly yearning for recognition. This is because Daawah and evangelism, both in Christianity and Islam, are becoming a big-time show business in Nigeria. Pastors and Sheikhs now compete with one another over who rides the most expensive car, who builds the most exotic mansion and hobnobs with the rich and men in power."
Speaking with LEADERSHIP, Malam Ibrahim Alhassan, a 75-year old, Kano-based Islamic scholar, recalled that in the 60s and 70s, before anyone was allowed to mount a Mimbar or take a microphone to preach to the people, he must be thoroughly questioned by the Ulamaa Council of his area to ascertain the level of his understanding of the exegesis of the Qur'an, Hadith, jurisprudence and many other Islamic disciplines, as well as his profound understanding of the spirit of Islamic law, the times, and how to interpret Islam in that light. After passing the rigorous test, the Council would then recommend the Malam to the appropriate authorities for a "Grade C" license, which he must carry anywhere he was to preach, and the licence would be renewed and upgraded after a few years.
He added: "But now it is sad to note that the common religious phenomenon spreading like wild fire is 'Sheikhsm' (especially during the month of Ramadan), when every barely literate Muslim can declare himself a Sheikh, Aalim, Mufassir, and Mujtahid by conducting Tafsiir sessions at his street mosque. Anybody with a passing acquaintance with elementary books of Hadith and the ability to recite some verses of the Qur'an can proclaim himself Sheikh, grab the nearest available microphone, rush to the neighbourhood philanthropist to buy him air time on radio or TV during Ramadan, and start bombarding people with his egocentric opinions and ignorant ideas, as a result of which many genuinely committed Muslims, especially the youth, are misled.
"The recent Boko-Haram episode was a good case in point. And courtesy of these new 'Sheikhs', no Ramadan had, in recent years, witnessed more intense ideological war and verbal attacks between Izala, Shi'ah and Darika groups than this year's."
LEADERSHIP search revealed that a similar factional ideological schism between Darika and Izala groups took place in the late 70s and mid-80s. The factionalisation, threatening to tear asunder the unity and legacy Sheikh Usman Danfodio bequeathed to Nigerian Muslims, got many Muslims and northern Nigerian leaders very disturbed and forced the JNI and emirs to broker a truce between the Darika group under the leadership of Sheikh Dahiru Usman Bauchi and the Izala group under the leadership of late Sheikh Abubakar Mahmud Gumi.
On January 2, 1988, the JNI used the gathering it organised to raise fund for the rehabilitation of mosques and churches destroyed during the Kafanchan riot in 1987 to reconcile the warring factions. In front of over half a million Muslims in Kaduna, both Abubakar Gumi and Dahiru Bauchi were made to embrace one another and settle for peace. That reconciliation and public show of solidarity was acclaimed to be a great success. The verbal attacks ceased. Even in Mecca, whenever the two Sheikhs met, it was reported, they always took turns in leading congregational prayers.
After the death of Sheikh Abubakar Gumi, the same harmony existed throughout the years late Sheikh Lawal Abubakar was presiding over the Tafsiir at the Sultan Bello Mosque, Kaduna. Things changed afterwards.
LEADERSHIP asked the Emir of Birnin Gwari what the Muslims' umbrella body would do this time. With blood in his eyes, he said, "We will not allow this to go further and degenerate into a physical confrontation between the followers of the various groups. We are not waiting until the next Ramadan before we take action.
"JNI will soon set up a committee that will collect all the Tafsiir tapes submitted to radio and TV stations, listen to them and make a comprehensive list of all the abusive remarks and the dates they were made. Then, we will call the Malams and the media executives to explain why they violated the agreement. We are coming with Da'awah and Tafsiir guidelines that must be adhered to.
"We will also bring in the Nigerian Broadcasting Commission to use its laws and sanction any electronic medium and its executive that ignore our directives in the future. This country should not be set on fire just because some media houses want to earn advertising revenue.
"We will seek government assistance to involve the police and other security agencies to deal with violators. I want to assure Nigerians that in the interest of Muslim unity and national security, we will do everything possible to stop this madness."
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