By Usman Usman Garba
The Chief Imam of Saudi Arabia’s Central Mosque and also Dean of Arabic Studies at the Institute of Ummul Qura, Prof. Sheikh Hassan Abdulhamid Bukhari has commended Governor Abdullahi Umar Ganduje of Kano State for his massive contributions to the development of Islam in his state and beyond.
Prof. Bukhari made the commendation recently at Ante Chamber, Government House when leading some delegations to pay a visit to the governor in Kano.
In his words, the Chief Imam said: “Alhamdullah, we have heard a lot of things you have been doing to Islamic religion and other many things for the development of the religion. We are happy to hear that, and we are in the state to see by ourselves.”
He added that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is always ready to assist the state government in different areas of human endeavors as it has been doing so for years.
The delegation was in the state to conduct a seminar to some of the Khadis, Ulama, lecturers of tertiary institutions and universities among other members of the state, which is hosted by Bayero University, Kano.
The governor, in his words, stated: “There is a long relationship between Nigeria and Saudi Arabia which the state has a council for that.”
“We have a council here in Kano. We always relate any programme we have with Saudi Arabia. We started with the council so that we get the right information and the right procedure,” he added.
The governor also said that, in order to strengthen in relationship between Nigeria and Saudi Arabia, the state government has sent some of the Ulama for training for few weeks in Saudi Arabia.
He mentioned that: “We sent men who are involve in Da’awa, who are teaching Islamic education and Arabic. We sent them to Saudi Arabia for few weeks and under the guidance of the advisor of Religious Affairs.
“And we are also improving by sending women, in the first time, we sent 100 to Saudi Arabia who have Islamiyya schools. They are managing Islamiyya schools teaching children, and we are also planning to send women again.”
Dr. Ganduje, however, mentioned that, the state government has involved in Da’awa because there are people who are not Muslims and not Christians in rural areas.
“So we have foundation which is chaired by me for over 30 years, Ganduje Foundation. The main work of the foundation is to convert pagans to Islam, and we have converted over 20,000 pagans to Islam,” he said.
He similarly emphasised that the foundation provided Malams to the converts to teach them the practice of Islam by building Mosques and Islamiyya so that they should not go back to their paganism.
In the same vein, the governor informed the delegation team that the state government constituted a committee of Ulama who would guide some Imams of Friday Mosques to learn and correct their Arabic when it comes to teaching the religion or leading people to prayer in the state.
