Muhammadu Hambali Jinju

Who is Muhammadu Hambali Jinju?

A brief history of Professor Muhammadu Hambali Jinju by Abdullahi Muhammadu Hambali

Professor Muhammadu Hambali Jinju is a world-renowned linguistic professor with an encyclopedic brain. He was born in 1936 at Dioundiou (Jinju) in the Niger Republic. He died on June 25, 2013, in Niamey, the capital of the Niger Republic, after a prolonged illness lasting about two months.

Not only that, but he came from a large family of intellectuals and rulers, a descendant of Sheikh Ahmad Baba, a celebrated holy man and outstanding scholar of the University of Timbuktu.

Professor Hambali Jinju attended Ecole primaire Gaya, October 1944–June 1948 ; Ecole primaire Kalley October 1948–June 1949; College moderne de Niamey, from 1950 to 1955 (B.E.P.C. ); Cheik Anta Diop University (formerly known as the University of Dakar), November 1957–June 1960, where he obtained a certificate in law and a certificate in general literature); Cairo University, from 1960 to 1963: B.AMoscow State University, from 1963-1965: M.A; 1967 Ph.D. with 'Otlichno' (the highest distinction) on the theme (A Comparative Description of Literary Hausa Language and its Dialects). He was an assistant lecturer at Moscow State University from 1964 to 1967. He left Niger for Nigeria in 1971 due to a serious misunderstanding between his family and the government at the time. Furthermore, he worked with the University of Lagos from 1972 to 1974 as lecturer II, Abdullahi Bayero College (A.B.C.).A.B.U. Kano as lecturer I from 1974-1976 and Ahmadu Bello University, samaru, Zaria from 1976–1979 as senior research fellow and also from 1982–1984. He joined the University of Sokoto (now Utmanbn Fodio University), where he became a reader in 1985 and a full fledged Professor in 1987.

He was the one who named the University of Sokoto Usman Danfidio University by seeking consent from the school senate and emir Dasuki and the latter tried to give him a medal along with money, but he refused to collect and said "I did so for the sake of Allah". And he said the said university will permanently bear that name as long as it's in existence because of the nobility, erudition, greatness, and grandeur of Uthman bn Fodio.

He was the Director of the Hausa center, UDUS from 1984 to 1992 and the managing director of Sonitextil in Niamey, Niger Republic. He was also the coordinator of the translation of the seventh volume of the history of Africa into Hausa, compiled by Unesco.

In 1998, after his retirement, he went to his autochthonous village and settled there until his demise on June 25, 2013, where he lived for about two decades. He had good command of Hausa, Zarma/Djerma, Songhai, Arabic, French, Russian, English, Latin, and Greek.

One day while I was sitting with him, I asked him why his students respect him greatly and even call him dad. He said, "I didn't harm anyone of them because when I was a lecturer, I always did my best to assist them in order for their fate to be fruitful so that they'll be able to help people in their locality and elsewhere." And he added, "There are lectures that maltreat their students."

At this juncture, we will center on the considerable contributions he rendered to Hausa.

Let's quote his statements: "We must remove cupidity and fear from our minds in order to safeguard our dignity by protecting Hausa."

language and our cultural values in general.

We should fear nobody in this world. We should rely on Allah alone, the owner of heaven and earth. God is by our side. God is by our side. We'll doubtlessly succeed. We will succeed without any problems.

He was the first lecturer to deliver lectures to his students in Hausa and on Hausa in Nigeria.

Here are some of the pioneering books he wrote:

1) Vocabulaire technique et scientifique haoussa, Unesco, Niamey, 1968.

2) Mu kara karatu celth to, Niamey, 1968.

3) Mene ne ilmin harsuna, UNESCO 1968

4) Kalmomin kimiyya da fasaha na Hausa, UNESCO 1968

5) Sabon nahawun hausa, UNESCO 1968.

6) Grammaire haoussa UNESCO, 1968

7) Rayayyaen nahawun hausa, NNPC, Zaria, 1980.

8) African traditional medicine, NNPC, Zaria 1992.

9) Garkuwar hausa fa tafarkin ci gaba , huda-huda, Zaria 1990

10) Jagoran nahawun hausa, 1987.

11) Islam in Africa: Historico-philosophical Perspectives and Current Problems, translated into Hausa and French, A.B.U. Press, 2001.

He taught numerous far-famed professors viz:

1) Professor Salisu Ahmed Yakasai.

2) Professor Ibrahim Malumfashi

3) Professor Abdullahi Haruna Biriniwa

4) Professor Aliyu Muhammad Bunza

5) Professor Habibu Sani Babaura

6) Professor Sa'idu Muhammad Gusau

7) Professor Isah Mukhtar

8) Professor Yusuf Adamu

9) Professor Karaye

10) Professor Adamu Muhammad

11) Professor Ahmad Halliru

12) Dr. Kabir Gobir and so forth.

13) Prof Ainu

14) Prof. Ahmed Dangambo and many more

Professor Hambali Jinju led many national and international workshops on Hausa scientific and technological terminologies destined to make the Hausa language an effective implement of science and technology, in addition to his interests in ethnology, anthropology, sociology, history, culture, African medicine, and Egyptology.

He visited North and Central Africa and extensively traveled in West Africa. He is so popular in Hausa land, particularly in Nigeria and the Niger Republic.

May the most high and wise creator elevate his works, grant him augmentative illumination in his grave, and place him amongst the inhabitants of paradise. May we be among the beautified on the day of the resurrection, in the shade of God. Amin!!!

We will unrelentingly pray for the repose of his soul. +2348035984310.