Travails Of Almajiri Children In Northern Nigeria

   Travails Of Almajiri Children In                             Northern Nigeria

The persistence of the almajiranci culture, whereby parents abandon their children to Islamic mallams or clerics who deploy them to the streets, clad in rags and begging bowls, seeking alms for food and money to survive have over the years led to an unending travail for the children.

Almajiri, as the children are erroneously referred to, originates from the Arabic word Al-Mahaajirun, which literally means a learned scholar – irrespective of gender – who searches for knowledge at home or in transit, displays high moral behaviour, and propagates the peaceful message of Islam. However, in Nigeria, we use the term to describe children who live on the alms they get from the streets. Ironically, a general characteristic of these children is that they have no form of education.

Basically, the act of child begging, according to the International Labour Organisation (ILO), is a form of forced child labour. While some pundit argues that child labour is a global menace and that no country in the world is immune to the problem. Available records show that about 215 million children, the majority of whom are in sub-Saharan Africa are child labourers in the world. ‘’Child labour infringes on the fundamental human rights of the child especially the rights to education, good health, and mental and physical development,’’ said a 2014 report by the United Nations Education Fund (UNICEF) the report further indicated that Nigeria has the highest number of out-of-school children (13.2 million) in the world, and the north accounted for about 9.5 million or 72 per cent of them.

Intensifying the campaign for the eradication of the almajiri system and the social maladies it breeds, the Sultan of Sokoto, Sa’ad Abubakar III, has in recent times said, “Almajiri system of begging is not representing Islam and must, therefore, be dissociated from Islam.‘’

The Sultan of Sokoto said that street begging by children has no basis in Islam and challenged those engaging in the act to find other means of earning a living.

Abubakar, who is also the president-general of Jema’atu Nasril Islam (JNI) stated further stated that “Islam encourages scholarship and entrepreneurship and frowns at laziness and idleness as exemplified by itinerant Almajiri.’’

It would be recalled that the advent of COVID-19 sorrowfully inundated us with news of how almajirai children got infected with the dreaded virus and how they crisscrossed across states easily.

 Mohammed, his aspiration like other Nigerian children is to become a doctor. Sadly, he has deviated from his dreams and is currently a bowl-carrying child roaming the streets in search of succour in any form.

According to him, “I want to be a doctor. I like to see them saving lives and treating the sick. I aspire to attend formal school but I am not opportune to do so. On a daily basis, we are taught some lessons in the Quran and our mallam further instructs us to go and beg for alms.”

He said he was taken to the Almajiri school seven years ago. Mohammed added that he has never attended a formal education but memorizes Quran on a daily basis and begs for alms for survival.

Corroborating Mohammed’s statement, Salisu Ibrahim, an almajiri child seen roaming across the street in One Man Village, a suburb of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) said they are on a daily basis asked by their Mallam to beg for alms.

Ibrahim who is looking frail added that they deserve a better life.

However, for those who reside in most parts of northern Nigeria, you don’t need an alarm clock to wake up for work as the loud chants of children begging for alms are enough to wake you up in states like Kano, Kaduna, Nasarawa, and Jigawa in the northwest to Maiduguri and Yobe in the northeast.

An Islamic cleric, Dr Sani Usman, explained that Almajiranci said the system of education was a noble system of education in the past but has over the years bastardised.

Usman said in its pure form Almajiranci can be traced to the 11th century before the British conquest of Nigeria. He noted that the almajiri system is said to have produced countless scholars of the Quran.

He, however, decried the poor standard of living forced on the Almajiri children in the country due to poor regulations of the system, calling for a concerted effort to redefine or abolish the system. He noted that in other countries the system has long been abolished.

He said, “There is a need to treat all humans with dignity. Most of the almajirai children are deprived of a normal and decent upbringing. These almajirai children between the ages of four and 15 are often abused by those extending hands of favour to them.

“The system encourages parents to leave their parental responsibilities to the mallam of an Islamic school. Almajiranci is a system of Islamic education practiced in northern Nigeria.

“Sadly, these children are deprived of a normal and decent upbringing, almajiri children who are usually little boys between the ages of four and 15, often get abused by those extending hands of favour to them.”

Speaking further, he said the concept of the system of education is called almajiranci, adding that the male gender seeking Islam knowledge is called almajiri, the female gender is almajira, and the plural is (almajirai).

He, however, said the Hausa word almajiri is derived from the Arabic word, “al-Muhajirun,” which refers to a person who migrated from his home in search of Islamic knowledge, which literally means a learned scholar who propagates the peaceful message of Islam.”The system encourages parents to leave parental responsibilities to the attached Islamic mallam,” Shehu added.

The fact is opinions differ as to how the original almajiri system began, but no doubt the idea has a noble origin. Basically, pupils are meant to be trained to become Islamic scholars but in turn, most of them now beg for alms on the street and struggle to cater for themselves, looking unkempt rather than learning under the watch and supervision of their Quranic teachers or mallam who lack the financial as well as the moral ethics to run the system.

Generally, some top Islamic scholars argue that almajiri culture epitomises child abuse, social exclusion, and chronic poverty in all ramifications. Many attempts to reverse the trend or put an end to such abuse of humanity have always hit a brick wall.

An Islamic scholar, Ahmed Adenihun, noted that most of the Mallam often lack the capacity to support the children nor make adequate provisions for their welfare and as a result of the level of negligence in the system.

“The basic rights of these children are abused by widespread exploitation becoming deeply rooted in a systematic nightmare of the almajiri children,” he said.

Also, the Islamic scholars agreed that almajiri education is Islamic as children can be sent far away to seek knowledge and acquire Islamic education, but begging for a living is totally against the scripture.

‘’I am not against sending out your children to acquire Islamic education, but you must do the necessary things by taking care of them, providing their basic needs such as food, health care, clothing among others,’’ said Adenihun, an Islamic scholar.

A Muslim faithful, Saheed Bello on his part said that the parents of the almajiri child are to be blamed for the scourge.

According to him, ‘’It is important to note here that what they are facing today is not their doing and instead of placing a bunch of blame and abuses on them, their parents deserve to be blamed and we must also condemn the practice.’’

He lamented that the streets are filled with abandoned male children all in the name of Islamic education.

Bello further decried that almajiri children are always looking dirty and rough on the street because they are abandoned by their parents who should take care of them.