His Eminence Sheikh (Dr.) Muhammad Kamalud-deen Al-Adabiy, MFR, OFR, ORSA (Egypt). D.Litt. (University of Ilorin), Scholar of Islamic Studies in Nigeria (FISN), was born at the Ara Agbaji compound in Masingba, Okekere area of Ilorin at the turn of the 20th century (1905). His father was Mallam Habibullahi, son of Sheikh Musa, and his mother was Alhaja Khadijah. His paternal grandparents are said to have emigrated from Katsina.
The young Muhammad Kamalud-deen grew up in a purely Islamic environment. He thus adopted the Muslim lifestyle. He received his Quranic education from Sheikh Ahmad Tijani and his son Sheikh Salahudeen in Ile Babaita, Ilorin State.At the same time, the great Arab scholar and well-known Sufi Sheikh Muhammad Al-Jami Al-Labib was already popular in Ilorin. The mystical Sheikh was popularly known as Sheikh Taj al-Adab.
He predicted a bright and promising future for the young Muhammad Kamalud-deen and therefore asked his father for permission to take him as a disciple. Mallam Habibullahi already loved his son and therefore could not part with him so easily. However, after persistent persuasion, he gave in to Sheikh Taj al-Adab’s request and finally allowed the young Muhammad Kamalud-deen to join the mystical Sheikh as a disciple.So on March 8, 1920, the young Muhammad Kamalud-deen was admitted to the Adabiyyah Shaykh Taj al-Adab school in Rajab. It should be noted that although the young Muhammad Kamalud-deen spent less than two years as a student of Sheikh Taj al-Adab, he acquired sufficient knowledge, skills and expertise in all areas of Arabic and Islamic studies.
This academic distinction gave him autonomy. Therefore, even after the death of his teacher Sheikh Taj Al-Adab in 1923, he did not turn to anyone else to continue his studies. In fact, he became just as popular, famous and famous as his Sufi teacher. Equally significant is the observation that the young Muhammad Kamalud-deen did not spend all the years he spent with Sheikh Taj Al -Adab studying textbooks; on the contrary, he often accompanied his sheikh on all his trips to and from Nigeria. Therefore, the fact that he quickly became a respected scholar is a special blessing often bestowed upon God’s chosen people. Equally important and relevant at this point is the fact that the young Muhammad Kamalud-deen acquired knowledge on how to conduct outdoor classes from his teacher, Sheikh Taj al-Adab. The young Muhammad Kamalud-deen demonstrated his expertise in this field of propagation of Islam and delivered his first public lecture in Ilorin during his teacher’s lifetime. This conference was held to the satisfaction of Sheikh Taj al-Adab and to the admiration of several thousand people inside and outside the city.
Earlier, young Muhammad Kamalud-deen gave his first lecture in Ihunbo, a village on the border between Oke-Odan in Nigeria and Ajase in Benin Republic. Both lectures were delivered when the young Muhammad Kamalud-deen was only fifteen years old. This event was quite unusual for such a young boy. A similar observation was made by the late Sheikh Adam Abdullahi Al-Ilori when he stated that Sheikh Kamalud-deen is “a special sign of Allah, a miracle of His time and a symbol of the miraculous deeds of His Sheikh Taj-al-Ilori.” Adab.
It should also be noted that Sheikh Taj al-Adab bestowed the title of “KAMALUD-DEEN” on the young Muhammad after he passed an examination in a book of popular law entitled “Ar-Risalah of al-Qayrawani”, in where he stood out among other students. The review was led by Sheikh Taj al-Adab himself. Furthermore, young Muhammad Kamalud-deen’s married life was initiated by Sheikh Taj al-Adab himself. According to the documents, Sheikh Taj al-Adab persuaded his father, Sheikh Imam Abdul-Qadir, to marry the young ‘Aisha (sister of Sheikh Taj al-Adab) to the young Muhammad Kamalud-deen, whose married life is another topic of discussion.
