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BIOGRAPHY OF KHADI ABUBAKAR JAKADA 1924-2011

Early Life Abubakar Jakada was born in 1924 in Dawakin Tofa local government of Kano state. The fourth child of Mallam Bello Jakada and Malama Aishatu (Yaya). Education Like other Muslim children in those days, his education started at the age of 4 at Koranic schools in the Courts of Dawakin Tofa, Sumaila and Kano where his father was working. At the age of 12, Khadi Abubakar Jakada was enrolled into a formal school the Kano Judicial School in 1936. He graduated in 1940 and was enrolled in the celebrated Law School (now School for Arabic Studies: SAS) from 1940-1944. Some of his classmates at the Law School included his three lifelong friends and acclaimed Islamic Scholars, Mallam Isa Waziri, Mallam Nasiru Mustapha and Mallam Kuliya Alkali . In September 1962, Mallam Abubakar Jakada was awarded a five years scholarship to study Maliki Law in Al-Azhar University, Cairo, Egypt. He attended a six month Advanced Judicial Course May-November 1968 at the Institute of Administration, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria.

Khadi Abubakar Jakada when he was a student of Al-Azhar University, Cairo, Egypt

Employment Khadi Abubakar Jakada graduated from Law School on 7th April, 1944 and was appointed as Mufti and sent to the Dawakin Kudu local area court on the 14th April 1944. He was transferred to Wudil, November of that year where he worked until December 1951 when he was chosen among several of his peers as a transcribe to the then Emir of Kano. He worked as a transcribe (translating and writing the Emirs correspondences in Arabic, and translating those sent to the Emir in Hausa to Arabic and vice versa) until 1962 when he was awarded a Northern Nigerian scholarship and sent to Al-Azhar University in Cairo to read Islamic Law. His friends Mallam Isa Waziri and Mallam Kuliya Alkali were again among the recipients of that scholarship and they left together for Cairo on the 19th September, 1962. Abubakar Jakada graduated from Al-Azhar University with a degree in Maliki Law and Arabic Language on the 16th September 1967. He returned home that same year and was immediately assigned as an Assistant Education Officer and posted to teach Arabic Language in Teacher Training College, Wudil. He taught from 1967-1968. He was selected to be one of the first Federal Government judges and sent as an area court judge to Ririwai village in 1968. Spanning over three decades, Khadi Abubakar Jakada was transferred as a Sharia court judge to several other local area courts within Kano State before he finally retired as an Upper Sharia Area Court judge in 1981. Before his retirement, Khadi Abubakar Jakada had made a name as a renowned judge specialized in Mirath and Muamalat. He copied his court decisions daily in his own handwriting and kept personal duplicates of difficult cases he solved especially those related to inheritance and women issues. He became extremely sought after in the Islamic Judicial system of Kano in particular and in the Islamic Judiciaries of North Western states of Nigeria. His best and most popular years and contributions to Sharia Law in Northern Nigeria though, were made after his retirement.

Khadi Abubakar Jakada with some of his students

Contributions of Khadi Abubakar Jakada to Sharia Law in Nigeria: After retirement, he was immediately offered a teaching job at the highly acclaimed School for Legal Studies (later, Aminu Kano School for Legal Studies). He taught several subjects of Sharia Law in that college. He was best renowned as a specialist in the knowledge of Islamic Inheritance Law or Mirath and Islamic Reciprocity or Muamalat. Students from several universities in Nigeria specializing in Islamic Inheritance Law were referred to him for reference. Aside his classes at the Aminu Kano School for Legal Studies, Khadi Abubakar Jakada for thirty years held free classes at weekends to newly appointed judges at his home until the last two months of his life. He was witnessed to be giving advice to newly appointed judges on his death bed. Khadi Abubakar Jakada taught thousands of students over a span of 30 years (Bibliography of Khadi Abubakar Jakadas students 1981-2010 will soon be published). Included in his list of graduatants were numerous Grand Khadis, Professors in local and international academia and top Islamic Court Judges in Nigeria (A census of Khadi Abubakar Jakadas pupils is conducted currently, will be published soon and also be available on the internet).

Khadi Abubakar Jakada was selected to become the Chief Mufti of the Sharia Court of Kano state in 1997. His job as the Mufti included overseeing and advising judges and the Judicial Service Commission on difficult court cases. He was assigned the job of interviewing, setting examination questions, and screening/selection of new Sharia court judges in Kano. He was a consultant to the offices of Grand Khadis of Kano, Jigawa, Bauchi, Gombe, Yobe and Kaduna on issues of Sharia Law and his advice was highly sought by Sharia court judges of Nigeria. From 1997 to 2010, to avoid altercation and mistakes, the Grand Khadis of Kano and Jigawa States assigned Mallam Abubakar Jakada to oversee all issues of Inheritance related to deceased government workers and wealthy citizens of the states.

In 1998, Sheik Danladi Keffi and Professor Ibrahim Naiya of the Centre for Islamic Legal Studies met Khadi Abubakar Jakada for the first time and that led to the Centre to persuade Mallam Abubakar Jakada to translate Ihkamul Akhame ala Tuhfatul Hukkam into verbal audio cassettes for the Centre. The work took Mallam Abubakar Jakada two years and ended with the first verbal translation of that famous Gift for Judges and Administrators book. Sheik Danladi Keffi was full of gratitude when he said that Mallam Abubakar Jakada not only translated the actual work but introduced and narrated each stanza so well that the reader according to Sheik Danladi Keffi (Centre for Islamic Legal Studies: 17th March, 2019) .may need only the introduction and commentaries of Mallam Abubakar Jakada to understand the original text.

Publications/Conferences Attended/Conference Papers Khadi Abubakar Jakada wrote one book in 1982 titled Mirath. It was never published or made public, but the manuscript was edited by Sheik Danladi Keffi . The only copy was found in his papers after his death and will also be published and also downloaded on the Internet. Khadi Abubakar Jakada made several hours of audio recordings of his voluntary teachings at his home and also had translated several books on Mirath and Muamalatonto audio cassettes. These cassette recordings have now being downloaded onto CDs and will be made available on the internet and some university libraries soon. He also documented in his own handwriting several of his court cases. A plan is under way to compile and publish these manuscripts. He presented several papers organized by state judiciaries of North Western states of Nigeria and educational institutions. They include for example: “3 Days Workshop For Bailiffs he presented a paper titled Putting God First at Work or Sa Tsoron Allah a chikin Harkar Aiki. Kano, Kano State Judiciary, 25th May, 2009. “3rd Annual Judges Conference where he presented a paper title Criminal and Civil Procedures in the Sharia Courts. Centre for Islamic Legal Studies. Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria. 19-20th October 2001. “National Workshop on Harmonisation of Sharia Penal Code Discussant for the paper titled The Concept and Application of Hudud Centre For Islamic Legal Studies. Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria. 3-5th September 2001 National Conference on Sharia Criminal Procedure he presented a paper titled Criminal Procedure in Hudud Offences Shariaar Laifuffukan Haddi a Sharirar Musulunci. Abuja: March 2006.

The First Ever Digitisation of Tuhfat Al Hukkam in Hausa Language on Audio by Khadi Abubakar Jakada

Khadi Abubakar Jakada attended numerous conferences and contributed immensely to papers presented by scholars in several universities, colleges and centres of Islamic studies. It was during one of his paper presentations that he was noticed by the Centre for Islamic and Legal Studies, Ahmadu Bello University Zaria. He was approached by the Centre to make the first digital translation of the famous Tuhfat Al-Hukkam. Tuhfat Al- Hukkam (Presents to Judges and Administrators), a world renowned reference book on Legal Drafting in Islamic Law and Court Practices and Procedures was written by Abubakar Ibn Mohammad Ibn Muhammad Ibn Asim al Andalusi (760AH-829AH: 1359-1426BC). There are numerous translation of Tuhfat Al Hukkam but Khadi Abubakar Jakada was the first Nigerian Islamic Scholar to translate both the actual book and Sheik Mohammad Ibn Yusuf Al Kafis Ihkamul Akhame ala Tuhfatul Hukkamu into 57 verbal audio cassettes in Hausa language; thus digitizing that important judicial reference book for Sharia judges and students in Nigeria and other Hausa speaking communities. Khadi Abubakar Jakada was assigned to translate, with his own introduction and commentaries of the book by the then Director of the Centre for Islamic and Legal Studies, ABU Zaria, Professor Ibrahim Sulaiman and Sheik Danladi Keffi. The Centre also convinced Khadi Abubakar Jakada to translate with introduction and commentaries on audio tapes several other books on Sharia Law - which he did. His commentaries and introduction to his transliterations of Islamic law books and the audio tapes of his classes are regarded important contribution to Sharia court judges and Islamic law scholars in Nigeria.

Uniqueness Khadi Abubakar Jakada was an avid reader and very enthusiastic to share knowledge - hence his love for teaching. Though quiet in his young age, he later made name as a very down-to earth no-nonsense judge in his courts and a very shrewd teacher in his classes. He was very thorough and was said to, on several occasions; write court proceedings himself to avoid registrars mistakes and mischievousness. He was an avid reader of judicial reports of other judges and made commentaries and wrote his own reports on cases he thought were not treated correctly in other courts. His teaching skills were what made him a prodigy among his pupils. He was a natural teacher and a gifted scholar. A Jigawa State Grand Khadi and former student, Alhaji Sufyan remarked that There was no dumb student when Abubakar Jakada was teaching Every student loved his classes.. Khadi Abubakar Jakadas respect for keeping to time is legendary and he would not waste somebody elses time waiting for someone who did not have respect to keep to time. Time is Life he used to say.

Unlike people of his age, Khadi  Abubakar Jakada  strongly  believed in  the rights of women and was a staunch believer in women education.  Again, unlike several of his colleagues, Khadi Abubakar Jakada gave credence to western colonization which he said brought technology that improved the life of people as he knew it as a young man.    After the age of 70, Khadi Abubakar Jakada said he always thanked Allah for each next day he woke up alive; he used to tell everyone who would listen, that his life was done and he was ready to die; he shuts up anybody who wished him longer life after he clocked 70.   He died Monday, 19th September, 2011 leaving behind a wife and ten children  two of his children are professors.  He was 89 years old. 

Researched and Compiled: 2017-2019 by Professor (Mrs.) Ghaji Abubakar Badawi, CLN, MNLA, MALA,MLIASA