AMINU GARBA RANO

Professor of Arabic, neighbourhood imam and teacher of Kano's gentlest Quran class

He taught for forty-one years and was never once late. Neighbours in Unguwa Uku said you could set your watch by Malam Aminu Rano's walk to the mosque, a measured stroll with his prayer beads in one hand and a student's exercise book in the other.

Born in the old city of Kano in 1941, Aminu memorised the Quran by the age of twelve under a teacher who had a reputation for patience. He later enrolled at Ahmadu Bello University in Zaria, one of the early cohorts in Arabic and Islamic Studies, then took a master's at Al-Azhar University in Cairo. Returning to Kano in 1972, he taught at Bayero University for more than three decades, rising to professor and supervising scores of postgraduate students in classical Arabic literature.

Beyond the lecture hall he was the imam of his neighbourhood mosque for twenty-six years, known for short, thoughtful khutbahs and for greeting every child by name. On Saturday mornings he ran a free Quran class in his compound, where more than four hundred children learned to recite. He would not accept payment, only that each pupil promise to be kind to their mother.

He loved masa with miyan taushe, the poetry of al-Mutanabbi, and the quiet of a long evening after Isha. His family remembers an enormous library, a battered green Peugeot 504 he refused to replace, and a laugh that surprised people because it arrived so rarely and so fully.

Malam Aminu died peacefully at home in February 2025, after a short illness, surrounded by his family. He leaves his wife of fifty-six years, nine children, thirty-one grandchildren and generations of students who still recite as he taught them. Allah ya jikansa.

“Teach the child to recite, but first teach the child to be kind.”