A man has revealed his surprise after visiting the library located in the Palace of the Emir of Kano, Muhammadu Sanusi II. According to him, the massive living room which doubles as a library - is not only gorgeous but a forest of books. According to reports, the Emir still has close to 14,000 collections in his house in London that he is planning to bring back home in Kano state.
Read what Nur Habib shared online after his visit to the exquisite library; I left the Emir's Palace here in Kano at about 9:35 pm. I went with my uncle and cousin this time around. And I went into sections of the Palace that I have never been to before. It was beautiful, especially at night. The renovations and reconstructions some grumbled about are well worth it in my humble opinion. We met the King in his new library at the Palace. A very exquisitely furnished large room with the most beautiful wood panelling and chandeliers I have ever seen. There were shelves on two sides of the room filled from the floor to the ceiling with books. Remember that family law he proposed one time? Well, the issue came up as His Highness rose to get a copy of a book on Islamic jurisprudence written ages ago where the recommended minimum age for marriage was surprisingly specified at 18. He then read from another book that listed the different age limits for marriage for both males and females in several Middle-eastern countries and across different Islamic sects. He said that he is still insisting that the minimum age limit can be debated, ranging between 15, 16 and so on, as many scholars argued for, but that he still prefers it to be set at 18 years old. But to insist that the institution of marriage cannot be regulated is not only disingenuous but absurd. The King then recounted a conversation he once had with a prominent scholar here in Kano where the Malam told His Highness that the problem with introducing something as new as the King is proposing is that the people will not welcome it. That they will "talk". The Emir laughed, as did we, when he said he replied the Malam saying that what will the people say other than what people like him tell them? If he tells them to accept it, they will not resist. Likewise, if he also tells them to reject it then that is what they'll do. Scholars have that power here. Sometimes more power than the government even. Anyway, work is still ongoing. The law is still being fine-tuned and all the different sides will meet up once again to find a final way forward. He even added that the Governor of Jigawa told him that they are already very willing to implement such a family law there. Discussions moved on to other subjects as I continued to marvel at the elegant beauty of His Highness' marvellous library. And I thought to myself, wait o, this man is equally a scholar himself. He is not just aping or making noise but he actually knows what he is talking about from the perspectives of religion, culture and the law. Another thing meeting him today reminded me of is that he is quite tall too. You don't really see it on TV or in pictures. Or when he's seated in all his kingly regalia on a throne. One last thing that he did that I found extremely remarkable was how he quickly recognized me. The first and last time I visited and met the Emir in private was sometime early or mid last year, I can't remember when precisely but I did make a post about it here. We had a brief conversation after I had introduced myself and I haven't met with the Emir one on one ever since. Yet, the man recognized me almost instantly. Considering the volume of faces he comes across almost on a daily basis, I found this to be very impressive. What a memory. |
Comments
Post a Comment