LATE ALLARAMMA MALAM IDI NAKAMAKU: QURANIC MEMORIZER PER EXCELLENCE

By Ibrahim Sulaiman (Jama’are)

Permit me to begin this tribute with a personal anecdotal note.It was in circa 1993 my late maternal grandfather Malam Musa Nagari (d. circa 2017) took me to Malam Idi Nakamaku’s Makarantar allo (a traditional Quranic school) at Gandun Sarki quarters in Jama’are town and I was enrolled as a Titibiri (an elementary student) there. He (my maternal grandfather) bought a new allo (wooden slate used as a hand-held writing board by students) for me, I guessed from Jama’are weekly market. Though they were not age mates (surely), I realized that Allaramma Malam Idi and my Malam Musa Nagari were good friends. I was then already enrolled in Abdulkadir Ahmed Primary school (Zango Kanti Primary School as it then was known). I usually attend the afternoon session at Malam Idi’s school alone with his regular Almajirai (students) most of them from other towns and villages far and near Jama’are. That was a foundational journey I first had in Islamic studies. Sometimes my maternal grandfather Malam Musa Nagari will lead me to the school, hand me over to Allaramma and jokingly say ‘ ga dalibinka, Dan Izala’ (here is your students, member of Izala) that’s because my father was already a member of Izala (JIBWIS) since earlier 1980s. (On the implication of this statement and the struggle for religious space between Izala and other Sufi groups in Jama’are see my MA thesis ‘A History of JIBWIS/Izala in Jama’are, 1986-2015’ submitted to the department of history Bayero University Kano, 2022)That was the beginning of it. Since then whenever Malam sees me or I pass by him he will call ‘babban dalibi’ (a senior student) even though I stopped attending the school when I was at Titibiri level. Typical of him, he will ask ‘ya karatu’ (how’s studies) now referring to conventional schooling and conclude by ‘Allah yayi albarka’ (may God bless).As Malam no more, I will be missing his prayers. Whenever I’m in Jama’are I hardly pass by Malam without stopping and greeting him and he has always been generous enough with his usual prayers.Malam Musa Nagari and Malam Nakamaku have been a school for me. They have been a veritable source of inspiration. Malam Nagari though a grandfather, was a none nonsense type. We rarely exchange banters as typical of grandparents in Hausa/Fulani setting such as Jama’are. He was a displinenarian in real sense of it. Although we spend a lot of time together, at home, in farm and his vocation gini (house building) but that familiar with him did not breach any contempt as they said. Malam Musa Nagari once told me, and I know it was intentional just to inspire me. ‘Ibrahim, let me told. You can see my farms in their numbers? I only inherited one from my parents…’. This is a way of telling a teenager ‘be hardworking’!From Malam Idi Nakamaku I learnt the principle of goodwill. Though I left his school since and probably for Izala Islamiyya, Malam Idi has never stopped considering me his student, but with an adjective of baban dalibi. That’s has never been a source of concern for him, his was just to know the progress I was making even at conventional school level. Malam never ceases to ask such questions the last time we met was last year during Eid el- Kabir. To me, Malam Idi Nakamaku’s life epitomized an enduring lifelong commitment to promoting Quranic studies (what a blessed life!!!). It symbolizes selflessness and service for humanity and with total submission to the will of God. To me, we had in Malam Idi Nakamaku a reminiscence of typical classical eclectic ascetic life style defined by Zuhd (ascetism or self-denial to achieve Ridhal Allah that’s God’s pleasure) of early Sufi scholars that still endures to this century.The demise of Allaramma Malam Idi Nakamaku on the 4th day of March 2025 was a great loss and indeed irreparable one to entire people of Jama’are Emirate. May his soul and that of his good friend Malam Musa Nagari continue to rest in Janna til firdaus.Ibrahim Sulaiman (Jama’are) wrote from Abuja. ibrahimsulaiman193@gmail.com