A Professor of Islamic Law at the Faculty of Law, University of Ilorin, Professor AbdulRazzaq Abdulmajeed Alaro has identified weak parenting and absence of good mentorship during the adolescent stage as major factors responsible for children’s waywardness in the society.
Professor Alaro disclosed this on Sunday (March 1, 2020) during a special Lecture organized by ‘The Right Path’ held at IMAN hall, New Yidi road, Ilorin, the Kwara state capital.
The lecture was specifically designed to honour Professor Abdulganiy Akorede Agbarigidoma and Professor Ahmad Abdulrahman Kakuri who have just been elevated to the professorial status as well as Dr Owoyale who has just bagged PhD, the trio are lecturers at the Al-Hikmah University, Ilorin.
He said a child needs good parenting at formative stage in order to be equipped with a solid foundation about how to live a good and exemplary life.
Alaro explained that when a child attains adolescent stage, such a child needs a good mentorship either by the parents or from people around him with whom he accords respect.
He said the mentor will serve as good moral compass for him during the adolescent stage, which is also known as trying period for the youth.
He said adolescent periods are the time children usually want to try everything either good or bad, saying that having a good guardian or assertive parents would prevent such a child from following the wrong path.
According to him, children that lack both good parenting and mentorship are those misbehaving and engaging in all manners of moral decadence in the society today.
Professor Alaro therefore described Professor Akorede Agbarigidoma as one of his mentors having known him for over two decades, saying that he knew Professor Akorede in 1999 when he needed a mentor in his life.
He admonished parents and guardians to bequeath their children and wards with sound Islamic education, describing it as the only knowledge that guarantees peaceful living both here and in the here after.
He said the third leg, after good parenting and mentorship, is a responsible child to the parent, pointing out that if a father misbehaved or messed up himself in the public, a good child will prevent further embarrassment by taking his father home honourably.
In his opening remarks, the Chairman of of the occasion, who is the former Grandkadi of the Kwara State Shariah Court of Appeal, Justice Soliu Olohuntoyin Muhammad (rtd) said Sunnah of Prophet Muhammad (SAW) has come to stay in the society.
He admonished all Muslim faithfuls to embrace Sunnah in it’s entirety. Said he, “We must all accept and embrace Sunnah. Acceptance of Sunnah is the right thing to do for all of us as Muslims”.
Also speaking at the special occasion included Dr Abdurafiu Jamiu of Department of Arts Education, University of Ilorin and Dr Kamaldeen Ajijolakewu of Department Microbiology, University of Ilorin who extolled the virtues of Dr Owoyale and Professor Kakuri respectively.
The trio were described as great Islamic scholars who have contributed significantly to the propagation of Islam and promotion of humanity in their respective callings.
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