The Learner

Muhsin Ibrahim muhsin2008@gmail.com The North is largely in stasis because of our doing. We are too disorganised, unorganised, divided, and disenchanted with one another. Almost everything is either sectionalised (remember the Northeast Development Commission saga?) or interpreted based on one’s sectarian or political affiliation . Year in, year out, we debate on Maulud . In recent months, we argued over Sheikh Usman Bn Fodio, the dresses of Malam Kabiru Gombe and Bala Lau in Europe, the place of Stephen Hawking in the hereafter, and today, on the-yet-to-be-interred, late Sheikh Isyaka Rabiu. How sad and unfortunate! Known to many, the migration of discussion fora from physical to virtual space began in the mid to late 1990s , 1995 to 1999. The Hausa people of Nigeria were among the first to utilise the new platform in Africa, with the creation of websites such as Kano Online, Dantata Online, and Gamji . The South followed up a little later, I think, with sites like Naija Pa...

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...