‘The kind of dad Isyaku Rabi’u was’
At the sidelines of the funeral of late, great scholar and business mogul Khalifah Isyaku Rabi’u, some of the deceased’s children spoke about him. One of them, Alhaji Yusuf Isyaku Rabi’u, said he received the news with utmost shock. “It’s indeed a big tragedy and a great loss to the entire Muslim Ummah,” he said, adding that his late father was a multi-faceted person. “As a religious leader, community leader, philanthropist, business mogul and as a family man, on each aspect of his life, you will find him a person of impeccable character. His works and accomplishments speak volumes about his life.”
“He started as a businessman from scratch, and you can see what he became. In the area of religion, he served the Ummah throughout his life. He rose to the position of the Khalifah of Tijjaniyya Movement in Africa. He built so many mosques, schools from nursery up to university. He is the only person in the entire north that erected a whole university not for profit, but as a charity, dedicated to teaching and learning of Qur’an, and other aspects of Islamic knowledge.”
Yusuf added that as a family man, his late father’s relationship with his children was the warmest, noting that his late father would not take any unilateral decision without consulting with his family in any matter. “By so doing, he would make you feel important. That was the kind of father he was. Alhamdulillah, my late father has left lots of legacies and the best among them is knowledge. He singlehandedly built a university and gave it to the society as an endowment. Secondly, he built a number of Juma’at mosques within and outside Kano. Thirdly, He also built 60 houses, equal to the number of (Hizbs) parts of Qur’an and given them out as charity to memorizers of Qur’an. He equally built countless number of regular mosques, schools and houses all to ensure that he had made a positive impact on the lives of people.”
Another son, Alhaji Abdurra’uf Isyaku Rabi’u said it is difficult to describe the kind of person his father was. “Talking about Khalifah, it is only what you have seen or heard about him. There are lots of good things he did that only those who are very close to him know. This is indeed a great loss, but as we all know, from Allah we are and to him we shall all return. For Sheikh to spend over 90 years in such an accomplished life, we are grateful to God. He inherited his service to Qur’an from his father, late Sheikh Muhammad Rabi’u, who handed over the affairs of his Qur’anic school to him a few weeks to his (Sheikh Rabi’u) death and told him (Khalifah) to serve the Qur’an and serve those that have memorized it. And for about sixty years that has been his major preoccupation.”
Alhaji Hamidan Isyaku Rabi’u expressed gratitude to Allah: “Sheikh spent all his life in the service of Islam and humanity, and we are determined to continue from where he stopped. We pray to almighty Allah to forgive his shortcomings and make Jannah Al-Firdaus his final abode.”