Alaro canvasses “balanced education” for proper development

A former Head of the Department of Islamic Law, University of Ilorin, Prof. AbdulRazzaq AbdulMajeed Alaro, mni, has urged parents and guardians to prioritise the spiritual well-being of their children and wards as the younger ones are stimulated towards the pursuit of preferred professional training.

Prof. Alaro gave this advice penultimate Sunday (March 3, 2024) while speaking at the graduation ceremony of Al-Hudah Islamiyyah School, Ilorin. The school is owned by a distinguished educationist and former Deputy Vice Chancellor (Management Services), University of Ilorin, Prof. Adedayo Yusuf Abdulkareem

The renowned specialist in Islamic financial services explained that unveiling  situations across the world have shown that members of the younger generations needed to be exposed to what he called “balanced education” for them to live a very useful life and contribute meaningfully to human development.

Prof. Alaro, who is a member of the Central Bank of Nigeria’s Financial Regulation Advisory Council of Experts, opined that for proper growth and development every human being needed to nurture his body and soul. He explained that while professional training would provide food for the body, the diet needed by the soul is solely obtainable from religious and moral teachings.

He added that the absence of either of the two may not only retard the desired development but may also lead to outright destruction of both the body and the soul.

While he explained that it is good for parents to devote substantial resources and efforts towards their children becoming great in life through Western formal education, he added that such training must be mingled with the inculcation of the right values, which religious education has in abundance, for such individuals to become useful to themselves and the society at large.

The renowned cleric-don warned that any form of education that is devoid of religious education would only lead to perversion.

Prof. Alaro, who is also a member of the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria-based National Fatwa Committee, said that when young children are exposed to religious and moral teachings right from infancy they would grow to become responsible citizens.

To buttress his position, Prof. Alaro recalled the case of a French-born Professor of Economics and ex-President of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Dominique Strauss-Kahn, who did not only lose his highly-coveted position ignobly but also consequently failed in his bid to become the President of his country simply because he couldn’t act rightly with a member of the opposite sex.

The award-winning legal luminary explained that if the ex-IMF Chief had gone through proper religious and moral instructions while growing up he would not have experienced what he went through as a result of his attempt to have forceful carnal knowledge of an innocent woman.

Prof. Alaro commended the former Deputy Vice Chancellor for establishing and nurturing the school, which he said would continue to produce remarkable future gentlemen and ladies like its proprietor.

He urged other serving and retired academics and public officers as well as privileged individuals to find a way of giving back to the society as exemplified in the establishment of the School by Prof. Abdulkareem, who is also a former Provost, Kwara State College of Education, Ilorin.

The event attracted dignitaries from far and near including the Deputy Vice Chancellor (Management Services), University of Ilorin, Prof. Suleiman Funsho Ambali; the Director, Centre for Peace and Strategic Studies, University of Ilorin, Prof. Abdilganiyu Ibrahiim Jawondo; a former Dean of the Faculty of Law, University of Ilorin, Prof. Abdulqadir Ibrahiim Abikan; the Director, Central Research Laboratories and Chief Imam, University of Ilorin Central Mosque, Prof. Nasir Abdussalaam and the Chairman, Education Committee, Ilorin Emirate Descendants Progressive Union, Mallam Shehu Ahmad Aliyu, who represented the Union’s National President, Alhaji Abdulmumini Ayo Abdulmalik, among several others.