Story from Saleh INUWA, Kano
The eminent panel of Ulamas set up by the Kano State Government to conduct a thorough Mukabala (dialogue) between it and Sheikh Abduljabbar Nasiru Kabara over some of Sheikh Kabara’s previous preachings and pronouncements against the Holy Prophet (PBUH) ended in Kano under a tense atmosphere with tight security provided by all arms of security agencies in Kano.
The objective of convening the dialogue under professor Salihu Shehu was to give the cleric an opportunity to defend and prove his contentious viewpoints as requested, which the government of Kano State accepted his request and therefore, set up a committee to draft a blueprint for the successful conduct of the dialogue.
The government received four representatives from the Ulamas to participate in the dialogue, they were drawn from Kano Islamic Scholars Council, the session was conducted under the chairmanship of professor Salihu Shehu director centre for Islamic Civilization and interfaith dialogue Bayero University, Kano.
A total of six questions and answer sessions were held with the equal allocation of time to both sides, the main question by the representatives of the Ulamas revolves around the use of vulgar, inappropriate and defamatory language which Abduljabbar Nasir Kabara was accused of in his teachings, summons and preaching.
Audio recordings were played quoting him employing those wordings after which he was asked to respond by way of showing where he sources them from authentic books.
According to a communique drafted by three eminent scholars, Dr Mu’azzam Maibushira Bayero University Kano, Yahaya Umar, Director Archives and Publication, Council Affairs Directorate, Government House, Kano, Nazir Tanko Kyaure, Under Secretary, Kano State Ministry of Information, they observed that in each case, Nasiru Kabara complained that the time allocated for him to give answers was inadequate for him, thereby avoiding the questions or issues raised, ending up in introducing unrelated issues.
The Kano State Government had earlier served both parties, the audio recordings that were to be the focal points of the questions before the date of the debate and they were played to the hearing of all at the venue.
The panel arising from the conduct of the dialogue, the following observations were made;
- The debate/dialogue was conducted in a peaceful atmosphere.
- Each question was allocated five minutes on the first instance, 10 minutes for explanation and 10 minutes for response and then five minutes each for the conclusion. This was the case in every round of the six sessions.
- All the Ahadith Abduljabbar Nasir Kabara were found to be wrongly translated and interpreted, while some were weak.
- None of the representatives of the coalition of the Ulamas was satisfied with each of the responses by Abduljabbar Nasir Kabara.
Observation/Recommendation
The Chairman of the Session, Professor Salisu Shehu passed a verdict at the end of the debate that it is clearly established that the several questions raised in the six rounds of the dialogue by the coalition of the Ulama to Abduljabbar Nasir Kabara were not satisfactorily answered, instead he mixed up the issues going off track and introducing irrelevant topics.
On the strength of the above, the chairman implored the state government to take the next necessary line of action in order to ensure peace, law and order in the state.
The Honourable Commissioner for religious affairs, Dr Muhammad Ahmad Tahir called on both parties to shun any inflammatory comments capable of setting the fragile peace in the state.
At the end of the debate/dialogue, the chairman, presenters and the discussants commended the state government under His Excellency Dr Abdullahi Umar Ganduje OFR, for accepting to conduct the dialogue with a view to give a fair hearing to Abduljabbar and Council of Ulamas.
Abduljabbar Kabara went to the venue with 500 books to defend himself.
