The Publication
This book, a collection of academic and other essays in honour of a foremost Professor of Arabic in West Africa, Razaq ‘Deremi Abubakre, as he becomes a septuagenarian, is symbolic of the love he has cultivated over the years for Allah, for humanity and for scholarship. Rather than wait for tonnes of scholarly interventions still in the offing to be made, it is considered appropriate to have brief representative presentations now from select academics and postgraduate students, who are scholars in their own rights, to whose progress Prof. Abubakre has devoted his rich and inspiring academic career. Of course, his robust persona and public career as an Administrator are equally documented here as represented by the straight-from-the-heart tributes paid to him by those who have met him.
Without mincing words, if the personal cum professional life of Prof. Abubakre is anchored on a tripod, the legs definitely will be made of his unflinching love for Allah, which manifests in his dedication to Islam, his passion for hard work, intellectualism and excellence which shows in the quality and quantity of his products, both human (students) and academic (publications) as well as the sheer humanity of his personality that undergirds his integrity as a scholar, teacher, writer, critic, administrator, father, neighbour, mentor and leader. Therefore, Islam, Intellectualism and Integrity is deemed a fitting gift or symbolic token that reflects in a kaleidoscope such values dear to the ebullient Muslim leader, academic giant and complete gentleman. The book contains twelve selected chapters that border on giving Islamic perspectives on issues for the understanding of the readership, scholarly essays that engender such academic rigour that has defined Prof. Abubakre’s successful academic career and tributes that foreground his essential integrity, humanity and humaneness from far and near.
Apart from this introduction, which attempts to put both the personality and the publication in perspectives, there is a rich foreword, written by a scholar of international acclaim and Prof. Abubakre’s associate of about five decades, Prof. Muslih Tayo Yahya of the University of Jos. It is gratifying that his recollection of the “3 W’s” that their mutual mentor, Prof. M. S. El-Garh, taught them aptly underscores what the world has come to know of Prof. Abubakre, as attested to by the thematic tripod that defines the identity of this publication.
Intended to be handy, this book comprises twelve chapters or articles on a broad range of issues, apart from additional essays that pay tributes to Prof. Abubakre. The first chapter, which constitutes the crux of the book, “Intellectualism, Moralism and Humanism: R. D. Abubakre in Focus, by Prof. Hamzah Ishola AbdulRaheem of Kwara State University, is a probing analysis and academic overview of R. D. Abubakre’s scholarship both in biographical and bibliographical terms. From the early beginning of their encounter or the development of “Alfa Razaq” as a studious pupil to his status as a preeminent preceptor and prolific professor of high stature, the author digs deeply into the life and scholarship of Abubakre in a way few people can masterfully and insightfully handle. Prof. AbdulRaheem’s crosscutting foray into Prof. Abubakre’s works, from his PhD thesis to his inaugural lecture and his recent works, shows a remarkable devotion to and keen familiarity with RD’s human and academic profiles. In other words, the chapter provides a good summary of Prof. R. D. Abubakre’s career as a dynamic scholar of eclectic intellectual adventures.