The Learner

Muhammad Muhsin Ibrahim @muhsin234 I wrote this rejoinder to counter the insults of Nana A’isha (R. A.) by a coterie of apparently sponsored Shiite members on the  Nairaland Forum  on 12th Dec., 2010. The recent spate of blasphemy against the virtues of the Prophet behoved me to reproduce the article here with a few changes. Based on numerous accounts of authentic hadeeths and undistorted historical sources, Sayyidat A’isha bint Abubakar (RA) was the favourite wife of the Prophet Muhammad (S.A.W). Some Muslim sects do, nonetheless, attack and accuse her with enthusiasm, backing their untoward actions on some free-emptied arguments and fabricated histories of what transpired after the death of her husband, the Prophet, between her and Sayyid Ali (RA). Besides, other Muslims – I am one of them – regard, revere and respect her in their best possible way; and she remains a role model for their women. The greatness of A’isha, to us, is nothing contestable, and hence one...

Muhammad Muhsin Ibrahim muhsin2008@gmail.com @muhsin234 Let me be categorically clear from the onset that I am not here to legitimise the president-elect, Muhammadu Buhari’s handshake with any non-maharam woman. The often cited instances of other Muslim leaders, among others, of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia doing the same is, at best, extraneous and at worst, clumsy.  No amount of words, logic, wisdom, etc, can make what’s already haram (forbidden), such as an unconditional body contact with a  non-maharam  woman by another man, halal (legit).  That is my understanding, firm belief and sturdy stand. Buhari’s action is, however, purely personal between him and his Creator, Allah. I am very sure that Buhari, being a Hausa-Fulani and Muslim, knows that. He would frown at anyone shaking hands with his wife, his daughter, or his female wards. He did not grow up seeing the same being done in his house or in his immediate environment. And yes, we didn’t elec...

Muhammad Muhsin Ibrahim @muhsin234 Wait, the pidgin I know? That’s for the uneducated folks only. Did you just say that? Then you are wrong. The importance of this debased language is far beyond what you think. This is not a new discovery. It’s a fact. That’s why many people campaigned for the pidgin (or, better, the c reole ) spoken in their countries to be formalised, standardised and even officialised. But that was  barely   achieved in a few nations, such as Papua New Guinea, the Philippines,  and Sierra Leon . Although India is far more diverse than Nigeria, many Indians are often amazed that we speak English among ourselves, and not ‘Nigerian’. They think there is a popular language used in the country by that name, the same way Hindi is in India. We only have Nigerian Pidgin English (NPE) spoken by a healthy minority, I would say, and scores of other languages. A detour: India’s  other names include  Hindustan  (the root  of Hindi, ...