Abdullahi Bayero - Islamic Study Contribution

Islamic Study Contribution

Sarki Kano Abdullahi Bayero had a keen interest in Islamic education and he contributed morally and materially towards its development. As a result of this, Kano had many prominent Islamic scholars during his reign, including Shehu Muhammad Salga and his students Abubakar Mijinyawa and Umar Falke. He established the Shahuchi Judicial School in 1348 AH (1929), the first of its kind in Nigeria with Shaikh Sulaiman, his long term colleague, who initiated the idea as its first headmaster. The Kano Law School, which later became the School for Arabic Studies, grew from the Shahuchi Judicial School through the efforts of Waziri Gidado (Yahya 1986), who was then the Chief Islamic and Legal Adviser of the Sarki. He was also encouraged the showing of respect to the Shariffs by Shaikh Sulaiman (Paden 1973), his initiator into the Tijaniyya (a mystic brotherhood founded by Shaikh Ahmad Tijani of Algeria).

Sarki Kano Abdullahi Bayero was the first Sarki to perform the Hajj, hence he is popularly known as Sarki Alhaji. He was accompanied on this journey by his younger brother Galadima Abdulkadir and Ma’aji Mallam Sulaiman, who later became the first Walin Kano. It was during this Hajj trip that they first met Shaikh Ibrahim Niass of Senegal and they accepted him as their Shaykh. After the Hajj, Sarki Abdullahi visited Egypt where he saw many magnificent mosques. When he returned he began the building of the new Kano mosque, the first of its kind in northern Nigeria and still one of the most beautiful mosques in the area.