SHAYKH ABDUS-SALAM ONIWIRIDI (BABA ARUGBO) OF PAKATA, ILORIN: SHORT BIOGRAPHY

SŪFĪ HEROES AND HEROINES

SHORT BIOGRAPHY OF SHAYKH ABDUS-SALAM ONIWIRIRDI (BABA ARUGBO) OF PAKATA, ILORIN

 Written by: Dr. Abdur-Razzaq Mustapha Balogun Solagberu

Published by: The Establishment of Nasr al-‘Ilm African American Islamic Institute (AAII), Apalando Branch, Ilorin, Nigeria - 2011. 

Source: 'Sūfī Heroes and Heroines' section from the Magazine titled;[Voice of Muassasah (A Quarterly Magazine of Muassasatu Nasr al-‘Ilm International), No.13 Muharram, 1432 A.H./January 2011]

Shaykh Abdus-Salam Oniwiridi commonly known as Baba Arugbo was son of Muhammad al-Awwal son of Abdul-Qadir ibn Ahmad Rufai ibn Salih, born at Ile Onile Compound, Ita-Ogunbo, Ilorin in Kwara State between 1816 and 1817, his mother was Rahmatullahi.

He started his education with the learning of the Glorious Qur’an from Mallam Shaykh Muhammad Nafiu of Ile Kewu and within few years he completed the learning of the Glorious Qur’an. He continued to further his education by enrolling at Madrasat of Shaykh Samraqandi of Ile-Oniwasi compound, near Dooba compound at Pakata in Ilorin, where he acquired further knowledge in Arabic and Islamic Studies. The zeal for traveling and seeking knowledge took him to Kano where he spent some years seeking knowledge before returning to Ilorin his hometown.

At the age of 30 years, i.e. in 1849 C.E. Shaykh Abdus-Salam decided to perform holy pilgrimage to Makkah and Madinah. He took along with him his wife Sayyidat Salamat bint Abubakar a relation to Shaykh Abdul-Qadir Solagberu. He spent 10 years in Makkah and another 10 years of Madinah, before he eventually came back to Ilorin.

HIS SŪFĪ LIFE

Shaikh Abdus-Salam was initially initiated into the Qadiriyyah order by Ash-Shaykh Samraqandi of Ilorin when he was studying under him. During his stay in Makkah after the performance of hajj, he came across as Sūfī master named Sheikh Zakariyyah al-Ansārī who initiated him into the Tijaniyyah order. With this, he abandoned his first order, i.e. Qadiriya. He later renewed his initiation in Cairo under one Sharif Abdul-Azeez before he later returned to Ilorin in 1874. He later visited Fez, Morocco, where Shaykh Ahmad at-Tijani, the founder of the Tijaniyyah order flourished.

The first Tijaniyyah Zawiyyah in Ilorin was constructed by Shaykh Abdus-Salaam Oniwiridi in 1884 or 1896. By the time he left Makkah and Madinah, he took along some soil of the holy sacred places to Ilorin which he mixed with the local soil to construct the Zawiyyah, especially a spot tagged as corner of Arugbo. The place was made sacred to the extent that when there was need to reconstruct the building, the spot was not demolished, rather it was renovated.

The arrival of Sheikh Abdus-Salam Oniwiridi in Ilorin marked the beginning of another form of hostility against Shaykh and Sufi order (Tijaniyyah) he brought. Shaykh Abdus-Salam therefore met great opposition from the people including some scholars and jurists.

The then Balogun Ajikobi  named Biala was one of the strongest antagonists of the shaykh.The major reason why Shaykh Abdus-Salam was opposed because he was alleged to have brought up an unpopular Sūfī order which was considered as new comparing it with the Qadiriyyah order which was the Sūfī order of the Monarch.

Balogun Ajikobi Biala threatened to arrest Shaykh Oniwiridi had he failed to abandon the Tijaniyyah order, but before he could carry out his threat, he was removed as Balogun Ajikobi and a new Balogun Ajikobi named Ajape was appointed.

The Removal of Biala as Balogun Ajikobi was counted as a part of miracle for Sheikh Abdusalam and the Tijaniyyah Sūfī order. The newly installed Balogun Ajikobi had good working relationship with the shaykh.

With passage of time, things changed in favor of Shaykh Abdus-Salam Oniwiridi to the extent that he had attracted the attention of many people who either became his student or disciples/followers. Some even took him as a spiritual consultant. And due to the conducive atmosphere, he constructed the first Tijaniyyah Sūfī Zawiyyah in Ilorin in 1896 C.E. at Pakata.

The first and early sets of disciples and followers of Shaykh Abdus-Salam Oniwiridi included the following: Sheikh Abū Bakr Assanī, his son Shaikh Sa’adu-Deen An-Nahwī, Shaykh Ahmad at-Tijānī and Shaykh Abdur-Rahmān an-Nahwī, all of Ile Oni Nahwu. Others include Asuyuti Ile-Onimasa Kuntu, Mustapha Nda Rabi, Abu-Bakr Alore, Abu-Bakr Kadi Solagberu, Bagadosi Isale Gaā, Ahmad Oja-gboro, Shaykh Ahmad Kokoro kan, Murtadah Alaya, Shaykh Uthman Ayerimisa, Shaykh Oniwiridi, Abdullah Elega and Al-Hajj al-Kaleem.

Two major works “Tanbihu-l Ghafilīna تنبيهالغافلينand Mustafīdī مستفيديare ascribed to Shaykh Abdus-Salam.

Shaykh Abdus-Salam did not give himself any title, he even detested the title Shaykh or Al-hajj. The people therefore considered his age being an old man usually addressed him as my “Baba Arugbo” meaning “old man” and since then, it became the title of the family. People also referred to him as "Baba n Zawi" meaning "the man of the sufi zawiyyah".

Shaykh Abdus-Salam Oniwiridi died on 1302 A.H/1942A.C.E after spending 126 years on earth. He was succeeded by his first son, Shaykh Abdul-Hamid Abdus-Salam, and after his death in 1973 Shaykh Ibrahim Abdus Salaam (b. 1908) emerged as the new Khalifa and Baba Arugbo.

Shaykh Ibrahim ibn Abdus Salaam (1908-2013)

Incumbent Khalifa

Shaykh Abdus-Salam Oniwirirdi's gravespot

Article Written by: Dr. Abdur-Razzaq Mustapha Balogun Solagberu

Published by: The Establishment of Nasr al-‘Ilm African American Islamic Institute (AAII), Apalando Branch, Ilorin, Nigeria - 2011. 

Source: 'Sūfī Heroes and Heroines' section from the Magazine titled;[Voice of Muassasah (A Quarterly Magazine of Muassasatu Nasr al-‘Ilm International), No.13 Muharram, 1432 A.H./January 2011]

 Further Reading:

 QASIDAH AT-TAWBAH (ODE OF REPENTANCE) {A View on the Sufi Concept of Tawbah (Repentance)}, by Shaykh Ibrahim Niasse

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