I am blessed with 70 children, several grandchildren - Usman

Sheikh Dahiru Usman Bauchi, 92, one of the most prominent clerics in Bauchi State, is the Deputy Chairman, Fatwa Committee (Islamic Scholars’ Committee of the Supreme Council of Islamic Affairs in Nigeria). Usman, who is also the leader of Tijjaniyya Movement, shares his life story with ARMSTRONG BAKAM

How did you become a Muslim scholar?

I am Fulani and I was born on June 28, 1927, which is equivalent to Wednesday 2nd Muharram, 1364 of the Islamic calendar. I schooled under my father’s tutelage or guidance as my teacher, and received or embraced the Tijjaniya Movement through him. My father similarly embraced the movement through one Alhaji Gwani Abba. And it was from my father I learnt to memorise the Holy Quran. Later, my father instructed me to go anywhere and search for more knowledge or further my Quranic education in the land. Based on the advancement of knowledge, I acquired outside my father’s tutelage, some Quranic teachers used to call me ‘Gwani’ or ‘Gangaran’, which means champion or guru.


It was in this process that I came across the global leader of the Tijjaniya Movement, named Alhaji Ibrahim Kaulaha, who was a Senegalese. So I followed the sheikh and learnt everything from him; he is a man that is known worldwide. I married my first wife in 1948, and as I am speaking with you now, I am blessed with about 70 children and several grandchildren and great-grandchildren, all of whom are competent in Quranic education.

How did you know your date of birth?


Well, I grew up with my parents and it was from them that I got to know when I was born. They told me and that was how I knew the year.

Who were your parents?

My father and mother were Fulani. My father was from Bauchi while my mother was from Gombe, but at that time, both the present day Bauchi and Gombe were not separate states. My father’s name was Alhaji Usman Adam and he was from a village called Kwankiyel, in Darazo Local Government Area of the state. My mother’s name was Maryan Suleiman and she was born at Nafada in the present-day Gombe State. At that time, the first baby of any married woman would be delivered at the mother’s house or mother’s parents’ house, which means that preparatory to the time the woman would give birth, she would have been taken to her parents’ house where she would be delivered of her first baby. So in that respect, I was born at Nafada village, north of Gombe town.

Punch