By A Correspondent
The Emir of Ilorin, Alhaji Ibrahim Sulu Gambari, has extolled the exceptional religious virtues of Dr Abdulhameed Shuaib Agaka, a community leader and cleric who died on Saturday.
Sheikh Agaka, the father of PRNigeria’s publisher and Editor-in-Chief, Malam Yushau Shuaib, was a prominent Islamic scholar and Chief Imam of Agaka in Ilorin Emirate of Kwara State.
He died at the age of 77 at a private hospital in Ilorin, after a brief illness.
Sheikh Agaka, a PhD-holder, was born into the family of Imam Shuaib Saeed, a renown Qur’anic teacher and Islamic leader.
Gambari expressed deep shock over his demise while hosting a delegation of the late scholar’s family at his palace on Monday led by Dawudu Agaka, Alhaji Hanafi Folorunsho Kawu, and the entire family of the departed cleric.
Urging the delegation to take solace in the reality that Sheikh Agaka lived a fulfilled, unblemished and righteous life, the emir said Kwara, and indeed Nigeria, have lost an iconic preacher of unrivalled acclaim.
According to him, the family of the deceased is one that is synonymous with ‘Islamic evangelism and crusade’ for several decades in Nigeria, as the late Abdulhameed remains one of the greatest Arabic and Islamic scholars produced by the emirate.
Gambari, while recalling how he benefitted from the Islamic preaching of Sheikh Abdulhameed, added that his mother also spent her tender age learning the Qur’an from the patriarch of Imam Agaka.
Meanwhile, the Chief Imam of Ilorin, Alhaji Muhammadu Bashir Solihu, has described the late Dr. Agaka as an exemplary scholar who preached tolerance, humility and peaceful coexistence towards a better society, while praying at the graveside of the deceased.
Speaking on behalf of the Forum of Arabic Scholars of Darul Markaz, Prof. Yusuf Lanre Badmus Yusuf also described the late Sheikh Agaka as a unique religious leader, who nurtured and supported several young religious scholars on the true teachings of Islam.
Prof. Badmus, a former Dean of the School of Postgraduate Studies at the University of Ilorin, said: “Dr. Abdulhameed Shuaib Agaka is not only an author of exceptional Islamic literature as a scholar, but he was a community leader and philanthropist who provided scholarships, including accommodation, for indigent students for decades, especially in Kano”.
The late Sheikh Agaka attended the School for Arabic Studies (SAS) in Kano, before proceeding to Bayero University, Kano, where he obtained a PhD in Qur’anic Morphology and Arabic Grammar.
He taught Arabic and Islamic Studies at the Kano Educational Development Centre (KEDC) between 1971 and 1974 and was at various times the Head of Arabic Studies Departments at School for Arabic Studies; Women Arabic Teachers College, and the Aminu Kano College of Islamic and Legal Studies, to mention a few.
PRNigeria’s publisher, Shuaib, was on a visit to his aged father in Ilorin when the Islamic scholar died after a brief illness.
(PRNigeria)
