• Two Memorise Qur’an in two years, one passes WAEC, awaits admission to UI
A short video clip where the trio of Saliu, AbdusSamad and AbdulMuiz were singing ‘waka’ – a popular Islamic-oriented Yoruba musical genre – in their dishevelled appearance became social media sensation sometime in July 2021.
It quickly went viral, especially among the Yoruba Muslim audience and later generated mixed reactions, with some netizens commending their sonorous voices, while others believed that they were too young to be using their God-gifted talent to beg for survival.
The scene, Muslim News gathered, happened at the Oyo town motor park in Oyo State, Southwest Nigeria.
As usual, just like many social media contents, the story of the three ‘waka’ kids would have only ended as a social media frenzy, generating traffic – the likes, shares, love, even the comments running into thousands, for the bloggers, without any meaningful impact in the children’s lives.
Like some few other stories, however, that short video clip turned their dreams into reality. They blossomed from adversity and their status transformed surprisingly from zero to hero.
Fortune smiled on them when a Lagos- based renowned Islamic scholar, Hon. Abdul Hakeem Abdul Lateef, popularly known as Hon. Iyepe, requested to see the children and offered to grant them scholarships.
That was the beginning of their rehabilitation. They were taken off the streets, relocated to Lagos to live under the custody of Hon. Abdul Lateef, a former lawmaker and ex-Commissioner for Home Affairs in Lagos State.
The trio plus two other students, Abdullah and Yusuf, from their previous madrasah in Oyo State, were enrolled into a private school for their Western education and a Quranic and Arabic school for their memorisation, where they committed the Qur’an to heart.
Two years after their video surfaced online, Muslim News can confirm that two of the three ‘waka’ boys, Saliu and AbdusSamad are now Huffadh, having completed memorisation of the Qur’an.
The remaining three continue with their memorisation as they combine it with Western education.
Hon. Abdul Lateef, one of the leading Muslim scholars in Nigeria who uses social media to preach the universality of Islamic messages to hundreds of thousands of his followers, confirmed the good news to his followers on social media.
On Sunday, September 2, he posted a 7-minute, 38 seconds video showing the transformation stage of the waka boys singing at motor parks two years ago to being celebrated as memorisers of the Noble Qur’an at Markaz Abdul Lateef Centre for Quranic Memorisation and Arabic Studies, otherwise known as Khalwatu Tanzeel, the madrasah he founded in Lagos.
The video, which has since gone viral, has garnered positive feedback from Muslims who showered encomiums on Hon. Iyepe, who was instrumental to their rise.
Hon Abdul Lateef, a former board chairman of the Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC), while speaking with Muslim News on Tuesday, September 5, thanked Allah for the opportunity to serve Him through the kids.
He also acknowledged the selfless effort of another popular Muslim preacher, Ustaz Ahmad Olanrewaju Alfulani in locating the boys, two years ago.
He said, “I saw their video on Facebook two years ago. They were begging for money, singing and entertaining people at Oyo motor parks. When I saw it, I posted it on my page asking for anyone who could help get them as I would be very happy to take care of them. I promised that I would grant them scholarships and take them through their university education and so on. I will also ensure the development of their spirituality in terms of their knowledge of the Qur’an and Islam generally.
“A popular scholar Ahmad Olanrewaju Alfulani was the one who volunteered to look for them. May Allah reward him. He was able to locate them. He also visited their madrasah where they were being brought up. We later discovered that the Alfa (Arabic teacher) in charge of the madrasah was not their father. He was only a guardian. The long and short of it is that we found three of them.
Alfulani however told us that the Alfa taking care of them also has two of them who are his own biological children. At the end of the day, five children – the three children (Saliu, AbdusSamad, AbdulMuiz) and the Alfa’s children (Abdullah and Yusuf) came, and I granted all of them scholarships. I registered them at Markaz Abdul Lateef and a private school nearby. One of them started from primary school, and the other four from secondary school. So, they were combining their studies with the Qur’an,” he said.
Saliu, AbdusSamad commit Qur’an to heart
Speaking further, Hon Abdul Lateef said, “Within their short stay at Markaz Abdul Lateef, two of the children have already committed the Qur’an to heart. While Saliu completed his memorisation long ago, AbdusSamad attained the feat a few days ago.
They also combined Western education with the Qur’an learning. Saliu, it was learnt, passed all the subjects in his Senior Secondary Certificate Examination (SSCE) and is poised to gain admission into the prestigious first-generation, University of Ibadan (UI).
AbdusSamad is still in Senior School 2, while others are at various stages of their basic education.
“For the Western education, we added private coaching classes to update their knowledge in line with the standard required in Lagos State syllabus,” Hon. Abdullateef said.
To celebrate their feat, Hon Abdul Lateef disclosed plans to host an elaborate walimah (graduation ceremony) alongside other graduands who have memorised the Qur’an at Markaz Abdullateef at a date to be announced later.
“The walimah we celebrated recently was just to mark their departure from the school. Though their family members came to witness this too, there will be a bigger one soon, in shaa Allah.”
We ensure they visit their families
Muslim News gathered that all the children were accommodated at the hostel of Markaz Abdul Lateef.
The founder said the children became so close to him and his family that they did not want to leave even on Eid (festivals).
“We’ve become so close that when it was time for Eid, I forced them to travel to meet members of their families. They didn’t want to leave. We ensure they visit their families and get in touch with them regularly,” he noted.
Hon. Abdul Lateef speaks on what motivated him
The notable preacher said what motivated him to support the children was obedience to the commandment of Allah.
He noted that the trend of singling out only one’s biological children for care and training is destroying society.
“What motivated me to do this is obedience to Allah. The instruction of Allah is to leave no one behind. When Allah instructed us to train children, the teaching was not for our children alone. What is destroying our society is that we focus on our children alone. Eventually, the untrained children will make life miserable for all the trained children and their parents.
“In Islam, there are four key elements to success. You first acquire. When you acquire, you use, then pass on and also persevere in the face of trial. So, when you acquire knowledge, then you pass it on. Passing it on is what led to all these. Even if you have money, you use it and then you extend the goodness to others.
Qur’an Chapter 4 verse 36 explains to all the people that you should extend the hand of goodness to the orphans and the needy. The children qualify as orphans and needy. I think all of us should just obey the commandments of Allah. So, there is no difference between them and my children.
“Remember one young lady too who was filmed hawking on the street and reciting the Qur’an, she is also in the madrasah. So, there are a number of them there, from different places. And they are doing very well. We are giving them a combination of Islamic and Western education which their parents could not afford and that was responsible for their migrant life style. Alhamdulilah.”
Hon. Abdul Lateef urged parents to take the Islamic education of their children seriously, noting it is what makes them valuable people in the society.
“My advice to parents is that there are two basic forms of education. A child doesn’t need to become a lawyer or a medical doctor. The child can be a fashion designer. All of these professions are interdependent. Without one, the other cannot exist. But there is a fundamental exclusion which is obligatory, compulsory upon everyone; that’s the knowledge of the Qur’an and Islam. It’s compulsory. That’s what gives you value.
“No parent should deny their children this knowledge in the name of not being able to afford expensive Islamic schools. There are scholars around your area with little or even nothing, who are ready to positively impact your children. I didn’t attend a private school. I was not brought up by rich people. I was brought up by farmers. It’s just about guidance. Parents should have zero tolerance for out-of-school children. Whether public or private school, you just have to be somewhere.”
The ex-NDIC boss also charged well-to-do people in the society to eschew focusing on their children alone for training and education.
He says that action poses a danger to their children in the future.
“More so, I want people to understand that our focus shouldn’t be only on our children. Some people can train as many children as possible. But unfortunately, the interpretation they have given to their responsibility is that it is only their children. Other children in the family are of no concern to them. If you don’t take care of these children, you are endangering your children.
“This is also to advise everyone who has a role to play in the life of any child — whether as a teacher, an ustadh, an Imam, a community leader, or head of the family — teach them manners, selflessness, contentment, honesty. There are lots of values these children learn when they come to the school. We should pay attention to these values.”
