Some people here are trying hard to sell sympathy by all means. . . Why should i condemn a whole region for the action of few misguided ones. Whenever is comforting them they will carve out 'middle belt' from the NORTH. When they want to condemn they will use WHOLE NORTH. Why not north east this or north west that?

This for me is the height of hypocrisy and smack of double standard.

If you fear your life then STOP going to the north. Personally, I will never live in ABIA state no matter what the benefit is. That means i shouldn't be bad-mouthing the whole Igbo because of fear being killed in Abia.

Look like zstranger said "If the heat is too much for you then get out of the kitchen"

let our conscience guide our actions and thought. Shalom!

maasoap:

I've been saying it in this forum that the issue of violence and almajiris in the North has more to do with their Culture than Islam. The culture that put male children on the streets as early as age of 5yrs. If religion is the main cause, why the Southern muslims are not like them. A kid that no parents provide food, cloth , shelter and education for. A kid that no parents make frantic efforts to locate and protect during impending or actual crisis. A kid that no parents miss. Even if the Nigerian govt is not responsible, it is still the parents' duty to cater for and protect their children. And the only body that can correct this cultural deficiency is ACF because it represents their culture. Thanks.

Very true. Islam is also practiced in Malaysia, Indonesia and may other countries that do not have these problems.

Very true. Islam is also practiced in Malaysia, Indonesia and may other countries that do not have these problems.

You see, these countries you listed modified or more appropriately, molded their own Islam to suite modern realities.That is why you often hear people say that Malaysia is not an Islamic state.This is because they believe that Islamic should be practiced while accommodating modern trends.And that is where the Nigerian or Northern Muslims got it wrong.They think that Islam is not part of the characteristics which define the society.They think that Islam can function in isolation with societal trends.And then, the result is chaos.

its is true what the poster is saying. u need to see this children. i came across a lot when i was serving. they are usually very dirty and hungry. while we were there, we wanted to teach them hw to read and write but their leaders stopped us from doing that becos they say we will brain wash their children. so hw can they have a life if they are not being pointed in the right direction.

Rhino.5dm:

Some people here are trying hard to sell sympathy by all means. . . Why should i condemn a whole region for the action of few misguided ones. Whenever is comforting them they will carve out 'middle belt' from the NORTH. When they want to condemn they will use WHOLE NORTH. Why not north east this or north west that?

This for me is the height of hypocrisy and smack of double standard.

If you fear your life then STOP going to the north. Personally, I will never live in ABIA state no matter what the benefit is. That means i shouldn't be bad-mouthing the whole Igbo because of fear being killed in Abia.

Look like zstranger said "If the heat is too much for you then get out of the kitchen"

let our conscience guide our actions and thought. Shalom!

see,the no we are talking here is just to much to only blame the "few disgruntled" you talk about.9m kids is no piss of cake,this shows a total neglect and non challance of the entire north to this menace.perhaps the majority enligtened should educate the disgruntled.

@Poster, a 90 % reflection of the true being and mind set of the alimanjiri's

@All, i pray this doesnt generate into a religious word-battle

my tots even while i was in kano.[i][/i]

How and why should these children be left to 'waste' all in the name of some sort of belief?? BECAUSE I LEARNT EVEN RICH PARENTS TAKE THEIR CHILDREN TO THAT SAME SCHOOL. Too bad.

Lets pray the Government bans this set of 'TIME-BOMBS'

Check out this report from CNN

Nigeria's Almajiri children learning a life of poverty and violence
RELIGIOUS VIOLENCE

January 07, 2010|By Christian Purefoy, CNN

A forlorn murmur of young voices echoes from a shack pieced together from rusted corrugated iron. Inside, more than 50 children with torn clothes and unwashed faces hunch over small wooden tablets or torn scraps of paper with sections of the Quran. Above them stands a 20-year-old with a small whip -- the children are here to memorize the Quran. They are the Almajiri. On the walls hang small bags with their few belongings. In these dark, cramped conditions, the children must study, sleep and eat.

It's an ancient tradition. Poor families from rural areas across West Africa send their children to a network of Islamic boarding schools in the cities of northern Nigeria. Once here, often hundreds of kilometers from their families, they receive little education and no money. The Almajiri must beg to survive. Across the north, an afternoon break in classes sends the children flooding into the streets with small bowls to search for any scraps. Over the past few decades, the system has been overwhelmed and neglected And abused.

One young man sent by his family from neighboring Niger told CNN how the schools use him and other children as foot soldiers in religious clashes. Fearing for his life, he spoke on condition of anonymity, telling how he lost his arm in 2000 in religious violence that killed about 1,000 people in the northern city of Kaduna.

"I blame my Quranic teacher, who sent me to fight during the riots," he said.
"He has ruined my life."

In 2000, about 1,000 people died in religious violence, and hundreds more two years later, after the Miss World competition was to be held in Kaduna. Many of the perpetrators came from the Almajiri. The Nigeria-based Almajiri Education Foundation says on its Web site: " 'Almajiri' is a word borrowed from Arabic for someone who leaves his home in search of knowledge in Islamic religion. In the ideal situation, the communities should support these children as they leave their families to become a servant of Allah.

"Unfortunately this has not been the case," the foundation's site continues, "and many young boys are leaving their homes only to end up in the streets begging. They have no one to turn to."

Though there are no exact figures on the Almajiri, they are estimated to number in the millions. The only census ever taken was in Kano state, which found in 2006 that there were 1.2 million Almajiri in Kano alone. One researcher working with UNICEF estimates that 60 percent of the children never return home.

"We can see the manifestations in child begging, child destitution, child trafficking," said Muhamed Laden, a professor of law at Ahmadu Bello University.
"And then they're easily instigated for them to be involved as children in such conflicts that have largely been violent and very bloody in this part of the world."

The government is looking into monitoring and licensing the schools, but the National Council for the Welfare of the Destitute, which is piloting such a program, complains of too little funding. Council officials warn that the consequences of ignoring the children could be dire."They're a real threat -- a real problem -- to the society, unless you address this issue now," said Usman Jibrin, the council's president. "Otherwise, these children will one day take over control of this country -- in a very unpleasant way."
The children are a violent threat to Nigeria, but also its first victims.

http://articles.cnn.com/2010-01-07/world/nigeria.children.radicalization_1_religious-violence-religious-clashes-kano?_s=PM:WORLD

Nigeria's Almajiri children learning a life of poverty and violenceBy Christian Purefoy, CNN
January 8, 2010 12:49 p.m. EST

Children at Islamic schools in northern Nigeria are given no money to live on and are forced to beg.STORY HIGHLIGHTS
CNN's Christian Purefoy reports on claims of children being radicalized in Islamic schools
Children attending boarding schools in northern Nigeria neglected and forced to beg
Almajiri schools are now mostly run by radical Islamic sects
State crackdown on the schools has led to attacks on government buildings

RELATED TOPICS
Nigeria
Terrorism
Zaria, Nigeria (CNN) -- A forlorn murmur of young voices echoes from a shack pieced together from rusted corrugated iron.

Inside, more than 50 children with torn clothes and unwashed faces hunch over small wooden tablets or torn scraps of paper with sections of the Quran.

Above them stands a 20-year-old with a small whip -- the children are here to memorize the Quran.

They are the Almajiri.

On the walls hang small bags with their few belongings. In these dark, cramped conditions, the children must study, sleep and eat.

It's an ancient tradition. Poor families from rural areas across West Africa send their children to a network of Islamic boarding schools in the cities of northern Nigeria.

Once here, often hundreds of kilometers from their families, they receive little education and no money.

The Almajiri must beg to survive. Across the north, an afternoon break in classes sends the children flooding into the streets with small bowls to search for any scraps.

Over the past few decades, the system has been overwhelmed and neglected.

And abused.

One young man sent by his family from neighboring Niger told CNN how the schools use him and other children as foot soldiers in religious clashes.

Fearing for his life, he spoke on condition of anonymity, telling how he lost his arm in 2000 in religious violence that killed about 1,000 people in the northern city of Kaduna.

"I blame my Quranic teacher, who sent me to fight during the riots," he said.

"He has ruined my life."

In 2000, about 1,000 people died in religious violence, and hundreds more two years later, after the Miss World competition was to be held in Kaduna. Many of the perpetrators came from the Almajiri.

The Nigeria-based Almajiri Education Foundation says on its Web site: " 'Almajiri' is a word borrowed from Arabic for someone who leaves his home in search of knowledge in Islamic religion. In the ideal situation, the communities should support these children as they leave their families to become a servant of Allah.

"Unfortunately this has not been the case," the foundation's site continues, "and many young boys are leaving their homes only to end up in the streets begging. They have no one to turn to."

Though there are no exact figures on the Almajiri, they are estimated to number in the millions.

The only census ever taken was in Kano state, which found in 2006 that there were 1.2 million Almajiri in Kano alone. One researcher working with UNICEF estimates that 60 percent of the children never return home.

"We can see the manifestations in child begging, child destitution, child trafficking," said Muhamed Laden, a professor of law at Ahmadu Bello University.

"And then they're easily instigated for them to be involved as children in such conflicts that have largely been violent and very bloody in this part of the world."

The government is looking into monitoring and licensing the schools, but the National Council for the Welfare of the Destitute, which is piloting such a program, complains of too little funding.

Council officials warn that the consequences of ignoring the children could be dire.

"They're a real threat -- a real problem -- to the society, unless you address this issue now," said Usman Jibrin, the council's president.

"Otherwise, these children will one day take over control of this country -- in a very unpleasant way."

The children are a violent threat to Nigeria, but also its first victims.

Abegi, wetin hapun to farming? Oil money makes people lazy, let's break this country up and see if they'll not go back to farming, as a northerner I can tell you that this story is a lie, you stop most of them on the street and they can't receite simple fatiha. Please let's not kid ourselves nigeria is a curruption driven economy and this kids and dem parents see everyone as a government ole and they try to get their share by begging, like most people

This is a pathetic system that is not part of Islam. Many people especially non Muslims often have the impression that it is sanctioned by Islam,
Question is why is it found only in northern Nigeria?.
It is a cultural problem of the northerners who only happens to be Muslims.
This is the true position of Islam on this issues:

KNOWLEDGE IN ISLAM

Islam is the religion of knowledge. The first aayah of the Qur’an to be revealed
enjoined reading which is the key to knowledge. Allah (SWT) says:
“Read! In the Name of your Lord Who has created (all that exists).
He has created man from a clot (a piece of thick coagulated blood).
Read! And your Lord is the Most Generous.
Who has taught (the writing) by the pen.
He has taught man that which he knew not”
[al-‘Alaq 96:1-5]
Allah (SWT) created man and provided him with the tools for acquiring knowledge,
namely hearing, sight and wisdom. Allah says:
“And Allâh has brought you out from the wombs of your mothers while you
know nothing. And He gave you hearing, sight, and hearts that you might give
thanks (to Allâh) [al-Nahl 16:78]
Because of the importance of knowledge, Allah (SWT) commanded His Messenger to
seek more of it. Allah (SWT) says:
“and say: ‘My Lord! Increase me in knowledge”[Ta-Ha 20:114]
Islam calls us to seek knowledge. The Prophet (PBUH) made seeking knowledge an
obligation upon every Muslim, and he explained that the superiority of the one who
has knowledge over the one who merely worships is like the superiority of the moon
over every other heavenly body. He said that the scholars are the heirs of the Prophets
and that the Prophets did not leave behind dinars and dirhams (i.e., money), rather
their inheritance was knowledge, so whoever acquires it has gained a great share. The
Prophet (PBUH) said that seeking knowledge is a way to Paradise. He (PBUH) said:
“Whoever follows a path in the pursuit of knowledge, Allah (SWT) will make a path
to Paradise easy for him.” (Narrated by al-Bukhaari, Kitaab al-‘Ilm, 10)
Islam calls us to learn all kinds of beneficial knowledge. Branches of knowledge vary
in status, the highest of which is knowledge of sharee’ah, then knowledge of
medicine, then the other fields of knowledge.
The best of all branches of knowledge are the sciences of sharee’ah through which
man comes to know his Lord, and his Prophet and religion. This is the knowledge
with which Allah (SWT) honoured His Messenger; He taught it to him so that he
might teach it to mankind:
“Indeed, Allâh conferred a great favour on the believers when He sent among
them a Messenger (Muhammad) from among themselves, reciting unto them His
Verses (the Qur’ân), and purifying them (from sins by their following him), and
instructing them (in) the Book (the Qur’an) and Al-Hikmah [the wisdom and the
Sunnah of the Prophet (i.e. his legal ways, statements and acts of worship)], while
before that they had been in manifest error”[Aal ‘Imraan 3:164]
There is no goodness in knowledge which is not confirmed by action, or words which
are not confirmed by deeds:
“O you who believe! Why do you say that which you do not do?
Most hateful it is with Allâh that you say that which you do not do”[al-Saff :2-3]
Knowledge brings a great reward. The one who points the way to something good is
like the one who does it. When the knowledgeable person dies, his reward with Allah
(SWT) does not cease when he dies, rather it continues to increase so long as people
benefit from his knowledge. The Prophet (PBUH) said:
“When a man dies, all his deeds come to an end except for three – an ongoing
charity, beneficial knowledge or a righteous son who will pray for him.”
(Narrated by Muslim, 1631)

BEGGING IN ISLAM

Islam abhors begging
The upper hand is better than the lower hand. The giver is better than the one who asks. Begging is not Islamic. If a person is in need, they should go to the local authority, the community center, to the mosque. They should be able to help out the person.
This is what the prophet said about begging:
1.The Prophet said, “Every man who shall beg in order to increase his property, Allah will diminish it.”
2.The Prophet said, “Verily Allah loves a Muslim with a family, who is poor, and withholds himself from the unlawful and from begging.”
3.The Prophet said, “Whoso opens unto himself the door of begging, Allah will open unto him the door of poverty.”
4.The Prophet said, “Verily it is better for any of you to take your rope and bring a bundle of wood upon your back and sell it, in which case Allah guards your honor than to beg of people, whether they give or not; if they do not give, your reputation suffers, and you return disappointed; and if they give, it is worse than that, for it lays you under obligation.”
5.The Prophet said, “Whoever hath food for a day and a night, it is prohibited for him to beg.”
6.The Prophet said, “Verily it is not right for the rich to ask nor for a strong, robust person; but it is allowed for the indigent and the infirm.”
7.A man asked Allah’s apostle: "May I beg from people, O Messenger of God, when necessitous?" The Prophet said, "Do not beg unless absolutely compelled, then only from the virtuous."
8.A man who has debts is allowed to beg until the debt is paid in full.
9.A man who has experienced a disaster which has ruined his home — such as with an earthquake or tornado — is allowed to beg until he able to work once more.
10.A man who is starving or in dire need is permitted to beg if three men speak of this need or express their agreement that this is appropriate for the individual. It is lawful for this Muslim to beg until able to work once more.
According to Hadith Muslim, "What is besides these in begging is unlawful and its owner eats unlawful things."

wrong! You can not modify islam, for those that actually study islam and not wait for half learnered mallams the way this coutries practice is the right way, most people here dont know much and people follow this mallams blindly without reading up, i studied in malaysia (not religious) and i promise you thats the way islam is according to the books, here when they tell you something they cant show you a book to back it up, which is why converts make better muslims cos they actually study the religion before joining.

chamber2:

You see, these countries you listed modified or more appropriately, molded their own Islam to suite modern realities.That is why you often hear people say that Malaysia is not an Islamic state.This is because they believe that Islamic should be practiced while accommodating modern trends.And that is where the Nigerian or Northern Muslims got it wrong.They think that Islam is not part of the characteristics which define the society.They think that Islam can function in isolation with societal trends.And then, the result is chaos.

alj_harem:

IBB, CIROMA , EMIR, SULTAN, SHEHU etc shame on u all

see how a typical northern almajiri is suffering and yet this people have done nor said anything about it

SOMETIMMES IT BEATS MY IMAGINATION HOW THESE MEN COME UP ON MEDIA TO TALK ABOUT LEADERSHIP. I THINK THE NORTH LACK GENUINE YOUTH ORGANISATIONS, BECAUSE THE REGION AS FAR AS I KNOW HAS NO FUTURE. EDUCATION; ZERO, DEVELOPMENT ZERO, ETC. IT IS A PITY.

maybe, they like it so they can use them for their violent ambitions as exemplified by the past crisis in the north.

No one have the right to blame people not even your parent for one's pedicament. what you turn out to be in life is either your doing or undoing,now he has come of age and have being able to realise some money from begging, nothing stop him from developing himself from the proceed of the daily beging or even geting involve in unskilled labour to better his own life, as you have abadone children in the north so you also have them in abundance in the south, west, east or where ever in nigeria, and i have seen many of such rising above their abadone status to become somebody one can reckon with in life. the difference is the value give to life.

But the buharis, babagidans, shagaris and all the emires and imams in the north should note that they have failed  their generation going by all this happenings in the north and as such they should

Its quite annoying when some individuals cant accept criticism without making it a racial or tribal issue, the issue on ground is about almajiri's and its predominant in the north. So if im proffering a solution by  saying 'elites in north are to blame and should endeavor to correct the anomaly ' whats wrong with that, i cant leave the south to come solve the problem but i can comment as a stake holder in Nigeria, if we talk of crime in Aba and you give a reasonable solution its all good, So lets have an open mind.
Bottom line the northern elites benefit from the present situation the have a bunch of hungry soldiers to use at any of their whims. You need to see them gleefully dole out food on Fridays to this hungry bands and the 'hailing' they receive (its a bit tempting to receive such reverence) , but it doesnt make sense. I'm speaking on the little i know- but what would it cost a Dangote to build a shelter to rehabilitate these boys and still provide the same islamic studies to them, or Ibb, or Atiku, Or the thousands of rich northerners?
As the article posted earlier said, "we are sitting on a keg of gun powder waiting to explode, the north would soon get too small for them to carry out their atrocities and they would spread out.

On the issue of cartels using kids to beg, its rampant in Lagos, they bring them in truck loads and use them to beg, they make remittance to certain Alhajis, i speak with facts on this.  After i got to know i vowed not to give cash to any beggar again, rather i occasionally package a nylon of biscuit, sweet and a drink which amounts to about N60 believing that no mallam some where can deprive the kid of it, but had to stop when i was warned that i could get lynched on suspicion of poisoning or trying to use them for rituals.  Its that bad that some years back when i and some friends started doing a charity program of offering drugs and clothes to beggars at ijora bridge, we were told some people come around to take and in some cases offer them peanuts to buy what we offered to them.

wrong! You can not modify islam, for those that actually study islam and not wait for half learnered mallams the way this coutries practice is the right way, most people here dont know much and people follow this mallams blindly without reading up, i studied in malaysia (not religious) and i promise you thats the way islam is according to the books, here when they tell you something they cant show you a book to back it up, which is why converts make better muslims cos they actually study the religion before joining.

I am not a muslim, but if what is done in Malaysia is how Islamic religion ought to be, then I have no problem with Islam.But then, why do other members of the Islamic community consider Malaysia a non Islamic state?

I've lived there and I can tell you malaysia ia a more islamic state than nigeria, they even have islamic police department, and they practice islamic laws but only on muslims, also which muslim comunity doesn't regard malaysia as an islamic state?

I've lived there and I can tell you malaysia ia a more islamic state than nigeria, they even have islamic police department, and they practice islamic laws but only on muslims, also which muslim comunity doesn't regard malaysia as an islamic state?

You may not have lived there more than i do.I mean other Islamic countries.

The Poster got it very right and every speaker has spoken well.

I expect government (GEJ preferably to boost his record) to pick up this children and put them in welfare homes to feed, clothe, educate and teach them the QUR'AN they want to learn .

The government can afford it, if they can't, allowance of all northern Senates and Reps including State government's federal allocation should be deducted to fund this institution. After all, they are their children and that is what they are expected to do with funds given to them.

The more the project cost, they more funds that should be deducted from their allocations and allowances. We will see that they (the Northern leaders) will be at the fore campaigns against careless abandoning of children in the name of Qur'an which leads to Almajiris.

We all know, they deceive these people only to divert their attention from money they steal in order to keep them in darkness and also to use these Almajiris for selfless fights.

when life is meaning less to someone (Almajiris) you want to do anything even to lose the life and take many along with you.

isleman:

The Poster got it very right and every speaker has spoken well.

I expect government (GEJ preferably to boost his record) to pick up this children and put them in welfare homes to feed, clothe, educate and teach them the QUR'AN they want to learn .

The government can afford it, if they can't, allowance of all northern Senates and Reps including State government's federal allocation should be deducted to fund this institution. After all, they are their children and that is what they are expected to do with funds given to them.

The more the project cost, they more funds that should be deducted from their allocations and allowances. We will see that they (the Northern leaders) will be at the fore campaigns against careless abandoning of children in the name of Qur'an which leads to Almajiris.

We all know, they deceive these people only to divert their attention from money they steal in order to keep them in darkness and also to use these Almajiris for selfless fights.

when life is meaning less to someone (Almajiris) you want to do anything even to lose the life and take many along with you.

brilliant!

chamber2:

You may not have lived there more than i do.I mean other Islamic countries.

maybe not but i do know that muslim nations see malaysia as an islamic state, which is why they got one of the very few islamic universities in the world, i am sure you know that! (in gombak) and they are also members of the organization of islamic nations.

But they are very good @ harrassin n stoning female corpers during crisis, destroy cars, shops n houses. Bullshit. After d post election violence, i said that will b d last tym i'll give any almajirin money or show any bit of sympathy. Mtcheeeeew

nonsense
sey na onli dem dey surfaaa
cm south con c as pple dey surfa;no food,house,cloth,etc
abegiiii leave dis useless xcuse

The issue of begging (Almajiri) has nothing to do with Islam. It is just that some parents do not want to take responsibilities for their children and it is very unfortunate. Another factor is poverty,excessive poverty! You will be suprised to know that these children wearing over sized clothes, walking without shoes are doing much better than in the confines of their parents homes (materially but a child needs the love of his parents). We have a problem in the north,a serious one which we need to address and its true the earlier the better.

na so oo!!!

POOR people wanting to have sex = Almajiris in both North and South of the country.

Help your self. No more "God help us"

Reform necessary.

If it continue like this, one day some sharp almajiri guys will lead other almajiris against their leaders.

WE ARE HERE ARGUING WHILE ZAMFARA STATE GOVT IS ENACTING AND STRENGHTING ALIMANJIRI SCHOOL TYPES AS WE TALK. THE NEWS HAS IT.


I THINK ITS PART OF NORTHERN-ISLAM OR AM I WRONG??

@OP: thats some civilized almajiri , good for adoption!

It really isnt as simple as 'almaji problems' the ethnic battles we have is composed of a number of factors. The noks in ghana are equally uneducated but dont wreak havoc like that.
Besides I personally know hausa's that are very well to do and have fought ethnic battles as well.
Our problem is far beyond illiteracy, we also have illiterate yoruba's and illiteracy is far more deadly in SS, where parents douse acid on thier children because of poverty.
Egotistical ideals further divide our society, what we really need is ethnic co-operation so we all eventually understand each other and learn to respect individual cultures.

ibedun:

POOR people wanting to have sex = Almajiris in both North and South of the country.

Help your self. No more "God help us"

u sounds as if they are here   they cant read talkmore of browse.