In memory of Shaykh Dahiru Bauchi and Prof Siyan Abdulgaffar Oyeweso

Late Shaykh Dahiru Bauch, OFR, passed away on November 25th of this year. He was aged 98. The late Professor Oyeweso died in the early hours of December 2, 2025, at the age of 64. Shaykh Dahiru Bauchi was an Islamic scholar, a Sufi, a patron-saint among millions of Tijaniyyah sufi order; Professor Siyan Abdulgaffar Oyeweso was the Chairman of the Council, Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU). A generic scholar, late Oyeweso was a historian and an intellectual of no mean repute.

When death came calling, Shaykh Dahiru Bauchi transited to eternity, having been survived by around ninety children and great-grandchildren. Late Prof Oyeweso, on the other hand, only recently succeeded in being blessed with the fruits of his loins.  When death came calling, what mattered for them both was therefore less of earthly patrimony but more about eternal bequest. When death came calling, the plenitude of earthly possession regarding the heirs waiting to partake of the huge wealth left behind by Shaykh Dahiru Bauchi, nor the austere homestead left behind by the late Professor Oyeweso, counted for nothing! But wait a minute- how does it feel to die?

I presume that only the dead can answer this question. But contemplate that question more closely if you will, and you probably would have to ponder this too: do the dead have feelings? In Islam, the answer is Yes. Though the dead may be dead to this world, our world – the world of deceit, of befuddlement, of sophistry, they are actually alive (Quran 3: 169). As soon as they die, the dead transit into eternity, where life is free of accidents, of uncertainties. As soon as they die, the dead, particularly the righteous, seek a quick union with their Creator. It cries – “Qaddimuni! Qaddimuni!! (present me, present me quickly to my Lord)!

But for those who led a life of iniquity and unrighteousness, there would be a futile unwillingness to be brought to reckoning, to be brought face to face with the Almighty! They would not want to meet with the Almighty, their Creator; He, too, would have no desire to meet with them!

Again, how does it feel being dead? To attempt to answer that question is to answer this other question: what is the face of death? For the righteous, the face of death could be that of beauty, serenity, tranquillity and certainty. The day one of our mothers died, we beheld an unusual glow on her face. It was around fajr when death came caking; she was performing ablution when she took her last breath!

For the nefarious, the execrable and the corruptible, however, death is anathema, an abyss, a dungeon, a stockade. Contemplate his face, and you would probably not be struck by any unusual feelings. He had spent his life as if its eternity is here; he had failed to reckon with this day when the beat would come to a stop, and permanently too!

But how does it feel to die suddenly at the peak of life? Late Shaykh Dahiru Bauchi must have lived his life like the traveller at the boarding gate. He was ready for departure. But how does it feel being plucked suddenly from the tree of life like a flower? How does it feel being thrown from the boat of life into the ocean of non-existence exactly at that moment when things appear to be on an upward trajectory? Late Professor Oyeweso knew that death could come at any time. Ironically, he never knew that death had actually come until after he was woken up, in his grave, by angels Munkar and Nakir!! We never know we have fallen asleep until after we have woken up!

Know this as the truth- that the breath of life that you take every moment is actually that of death! Nobody ever knows when the bell will sound; nobody ever knows when the alarm bell will ring. Therefore, be prepared. Live your life like that of the passenger at the boarding gate of life, the boarding gate of death, the boarding gate of eternity, the boarding gate of paradise – for the believers, the boarding gate of hell for the unbelievers. Life – a currency that you know its value, but there is no way by which you can ever know when it will expire.

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