Review with Muhammad

The book contained twelve chapters in which the author took us down the Nigerian political history to enable us to understand the political dynamics he was about to discuss. The political stalemate which has to do with amalgamation of Northern, Southern protectorates and the Lagos colony that encompasses multiplicity of ethnic groups and cultures merging as one nation. President Goodluck Jonathan lamented on this juncture by saying; “If there was ever a single recipe for discord, none could rival the ingenuity of the Nigeria’s chef”. Decision points in two chapters discussed when and how he made tough decisions for the betterment of the state even when it had to do with him sacrificing his throne. He further narrated how the entire world responded with accolades towards such peaceful gesture. He further talked about the fight against corruption and the blame game associated with it. The women behind the president, his mother and of course his wife, Mama Peace and how she got the title ...

How could one jot down sounds void of words? The sudden tickles within the head, the uninvited flashes of thought, the glimpses of inspiration were all captured and scribbled as Wordless Sounds by Professor Yusuf Muhammad Adamu as narrated in these lines: “It all started in a dream The muse keeps coming The fingers keep its promise The pen keeps bleeding.” It was a twelve-month project, as each poem came with a date tag signifying the period of its conception (from May 19, 2020 to May 20, 2021). Prof. Yusuf Adamu is an author to reckon with, a scholar in its fullest meaning, a critic, and a blogger. This collection contains 73 poems and most striking part of it is the similar pattern of four lines that was maintained throughout the book which brought to light the author’s poetic brilliance and mastery of condensing complex messages. He opened the collection with an Escape: “At the edge There is cliff I wish I have wings.” You may not have wings, but flight is all you shall have in this...

The piece is accurately as described by BM Dzukogi; “Delicate, beautiful. Expressively ruthless lines.” It’s a poetry collection published in 2019 containing 116 poems that cut across many themes; uprightness, spirituality, romance, grief and some of the pressing national concerns, especially insecurity that caused turmoil in our education. One will carte away not just the sweetness of poetry, but wisdom, artistical constructions of expressions, close-to impossible imageries, breath-taking figurative expressions and tons of astounding vocabularies.  The author’s skill of playing with words is superb as one will inevitably get drawn in the amazing stream of legendary construction techniques therein. Since from inception, Malam Umar Dada Paiko expressed himself as a product of divine art in his dedication segment thus: “To Mother who Allah used to write me.” He further went ahead to unleash the conception of poetry in his How to Cook a Poem by saying:  “minds give thoughts finge...

This book was first published in July 2021 by Dar as-Sunnah Publishers and it was an English transcription of an Arabic manuscript that was written about eight centuries ago by Imam Al-Hafiz Ibn Qayyim Al-Jawziyyah titled Tuhfatul mawdood bi ahkaamil mawlood which translates as “a gift to the loved one regarding requirements of the newborn” Ibn Qayyim was an exegete, and legal jurist born 691AH in the village of Zar, near Damascus, Syria. He was described to have an intense love for knowledge, for books, for publications and writings since in his early age. He acquired deep understanding of books of the Salaf. He attained great proficiency especially in tafsir, hadith and usul. He was a student of many scholars notable among them is Ibn Taymiyyah for he studied under him for 16 years. He also had many students, prominent among them are Ibn Kathir, Adh Dhazabi, Ibn Rajab and two of his sons namely Ibrahim and Sharafud din. He authored over 60 works in the fields of Hadith, Seerah, Fiqh,...

Dr Benjamin Carson first became known internationally after leading a medical team at John Hopkins hospital, Baltimore in United States in 1987 to separate 7month old babies who were joined at the back of their heads since birth (Siamese twins). The 22hour long surgery took about 5 months of intensive preparation by a team of 70 personnel consisting of five neurosurgeons, two cardiac surgeons, five plastic surgeons, seven pediatric anesthesiologists and dozens of nurses and technicians. The disturbing moment during the surgery was when the hospital ran out of blood and none was available in the whole of Baltimore city. Eight members of the team volunteered to donate theirs, beautiful! But luckily, American Red Cross intervened after putting a call across with 10 units as required. Theresa Binder was the mother of these twins and her husband Josef, gave birth to them on 2nd February of 1987 in Ulm, West Germany and there were named Patrick and Benjamin. Theresa kept her hope alive despi...

126 paged text of Kleon is truly inspiring. The artistical features that married the simplicity of the message therein will hold you captive till you get to the end of it. It’s truly stuff that I personally never been told except through the book. It’s somehow a break from the norm as it emphasized that for one to be creative, first, must be a creative thief, somehow awkward right? But it’s indeed a fact. One must be skilled enough to steal the ideas of many, internalize them and give birth to their own masterpiece. Everyone must have learned, copied or steal from others. It is a book that every beginner in creative world would not be sufficient from.   Here are the 10 things Austin took us through: 1.        STEAL LIKE AN ARTIST Steal Like an Artist Austin argue that the concept of ‘original’ is but a vague as somehow, we mould our works after copying from others. “When you copy from one person, it’s plagiarism but when you copy from many, it’...