Nurudeen Ibrahim
Among the special gifts of this life is to be mentored and surrounded by people with good souls.
The Qur’an acknowledges great women of good legacies who lived in the past. The Holy Qur’an specifically mentions Asiya the wife of Fir’awn and also mentions Maryam the daughter of Imran among those important women who dedicated their lives for the service of Allah and the true religion.
The Holy Prophet Muhammad was also blessed with one of such great women and that was Khadijah the Greatest his beloved wife.
History will not forget Rabiat Al-Adawiyya the great mystic and Egyptians will not forget Sayyida Aisha and Sayyida Nafisa. Sayyida Nafisa was the female mentor and spiritual guide of Imam Shafi, founder of the Shafi’iy School of Islamic Jurisprudence.
Hajia B. Aisha Lemu was one of those important women in Nigeria that left great legacies and we still have a number of them living today.
It is not an exaggeration to mention that our mother who just left us, Alhaja Toyibat Gbadamosi of blessed memory, was one of such important great women that lived amongst us.
Alhaja Gbadamosi was a true believer whose journey to Islam according to what she told me was a divine call and true conviction. She despite her devoted Christian family embraced Islam wholeheartedly and sincerely. She strived to acquire true and deep knowledge of Islam and became an ambassador of this blessed religion of Islam just like her husband.
Alhaja Gbadamosi was a pride of Islam. She was a female scholar of Islam and her lectures and presentations would give you convictions.
Alhaja Gbadamosi was the lecturer that represented his eminence Professor T.G.O. Gbadamosi during my book launch in 2010 when i wrote my first book.
Her presentation was scholarly and this was acknowledged by eminent personalities in Islam that very day like Professor Daud Noibi, Professor Hussein Abdul Kareem, Dr. Jubril Oyekan and others.
Since then whenever Alhaja Gbadamosi saw me she would happily call me The Moon Man, a name she coined from the title of my first book.
Alhaja Gbadamosi was a woman of pleasant soul. She was a woman of tawakkul, a rare characteristic of a true Muslim. Whoever met Alhaja Gbadamosi would identify her with tawakkul. If you would like to learn practical Islam you would find it in Alhaja Gbadamosi. There are four of such mothers I have been blessed with as mentors who took me as a son. Her action was more than her words even though she would talk a lot but all what she would say would be golden and her Islamic legacies. On one occasion she narrated her presentation to me when the Iranian Embassy invited her to a remarkable program celebrating the memories of Fatima the blessed daughter of our Holy Prophet Muhammad. Alhaja Gbadamosi told me how she researched on the topic and made a wonderful presentation that amazed the Iranians even though Alhaja was a Sunni Muslim. This was one of so many occasions she had served as a good ambassador of Islam. How many of our women today can deliver a comprehensive lecture on any topic relating to Islam? It is even shameful when you call some women to make dua (prayer) at a gathering and they will laugh at themselves and say they don’t know how to make dua (prayer). Such women are not good ambassadors. This is unlike people like Alhaja Gbadamosi.
There is no doubt that Alhaja was very strict but she was positively strict, the type of strictness that we want in Islam. She would not tolerate nonsense, she would not tolerate misconduct and she would not tolerate any form of corrupt practice. She detested dirtiness or any form of untidiness especially in the Unilag Mosque, the reason some students may have problem with her. She told me how she inspected the mosque one day and she met dirty pot at the female section of the mosque. Not only just pot but other things that made the mosque dirty and untidy where as the Holy Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) said: “Allah is pure and He will not accept anything except what is pure.”
At the same time Alhaja was too charitable and full of hospitality. These are features of believers. Being a student of University of Lagos makes you find comfort and hospitality in the house of Alhaja Gbadamosi even of you were visiting for the first time without her having any prior knowledge of you.
Alhaja Gbadamosi would exemplify the true teaching of the Holy Prophet Muhammad on hospitality and taking care of guests perfectly to later.
Another unique feature of Alhaja Gbadamosi is that she was a woman of Maqasid. I mean Maqasid Sharia which is the Higher Objectives of Sharia and it focusses on two things:
1. Attracting Benefits to the Muslim or Community of Islam
2. Avoiding Harm to the Muslim or Community of Islam
Thus, Alhaja was highly rationalistic and she would think deep. The reason she was able to manage some important positions among organizations.
Alhaja Gbadamosi was full of heroism and selflessness. She embraced Islam to join in the development of the deen which she achieved to a great extent. For those who did not know, Alhaja was Mujahida and a mother of Dawah. She fought Jihad in her own way without gun or sword but with intelligence, wisdom and knowledge. She was an intellectual. She was Islam in practice. Her words are proportional to her actions. She was a woman of Tawakkul (total reliance on Allah), she loved the Prophet and dedicated her life to Islamic movement.
It is sad that we lost such a wonderful woman of good spirit. She fulfilled the assignment for which she came into this world. She left after she accomplished the divine task and she will always be remembered. Her dedication to Islam was unique and her support in every way to her beloved husband Professor Gbadamosi proved her as God-sent to Professor Gbadamosi just as Allah sent Khadijah to the Holy Prophet Muhammad (s.a.w.).
In the narration of the Holy Prophet Muhammad, the people are actually the witnesses of Allah in this life. Whatever they say out of sincerity about a deceased person tells us the state of the deceased and where he or she will end up, either Paradise or Hell. If the witnesses sincerely related good things about the deceased, then we should know Allah will be pleased with the soul. It is certain that if we give a thousand people the opportunity to talk about Alhaja Gbadamosi, we would not hear anything except what is good and pleasant.
As for you reading this, what will they say about you when you are gone? What have you contributed to Islam? How have you helped people around you? Are you a good ambassador of Islam or bad?
I am proud to identify myself anywhere and any time as a product of Alhaja Toyibat Gbadamosi because she was really a good person.
May Allah be merciful to Alhaja Toyibat Gbadamosi, beloved wife of our highly esteemed Professor Tajudeen Gbadamosi. May Allah bless her and elevate her status among the righteous women of Paradise. She was such a wonderful woman with good soul and a very good ambassador of Islam. Allahumma ighrir laha warhamha wa thaqqil meezaanaha wa alhiqha bis saaliheen.
