A NIGHT WITH SHEIKH UMAR PAIKO

© Ibn Abdillah As-sudaisiy Al-Iloori

It was with great pleasure that I met this noble scholar, Sheikh Umar Dada Paiko (Muhibbu Aslu) حفظه الله yesternite at Nicon Luxury, Abuja. The first time I saw him was a day before my nikāh when he came for a lecture at University of Ilorin Permanent Site. My brother and mentor, Ibn Ya'qub An-Naijiree came to attend the wedding. He informed me of the lecture and we went there together. Since then, I fell in love with his lectures. I had listened to quite a number of them. I used to wait for Da'wah Nigeria to send those short clips from him and several other scholars of Sunnah. May Allāh continue to bless them.

One of things that Sheikh has better than many of his contemporaries is oratory and clarity in presentation. He teaches the Deen in a way that it will be easy for the slowest learner to understand. Despite the fact that some hosts were waiting for me, I sat with him for some time and I benefitted so much from his knowledge. Indeed, spending time with scholars is full of benefits, no matter how little.

I had earlier seen him in the afternoon performing Salat. He was so calm in it despite being qasr (shortened prayer). I had to wait for a longer time. When I couldn't bear it any longer, I left him believing I will see him later. Allāh is Great, I later met him in one of the lifts in the night and introduced myself. He was happy to see me. I had been his Facebook friend for long and we had interacted through the blue app a number of times. I quickly went to my room to get copies of 'Halāl Sex and Intimacy' and 50 Common 'Bid'ah (Religious Innovations) in our Contemporary World' to be presented to him. This is what I try to do whenever I meet any of our scholars, so that they can read the books and make their corrections for further review. I used the opportunity to inform him of my current project, Polygyny with Mercy and the need for his scholarly and fatherly contribution.

In our conversation, Sheikh told me he had the accident that has kept him on crutches for some years on his way back from a lecture in Ilorin. There are many trials in the course of da'wah. Our scholars are sacrificing a lot. May Allāh سبحانه وتعالى continue to bless and reward them.

May Allāh reward Sheikh Paiko on his efforts in calling to the truth. May Allāh grant him sound health and prosperous years ahead.