*Photo:Prof Iysa Ade Bello*
Protocols
The book I’m to review (A HOMEGROWN GLOBAL SCHOLAR OF THE DIVINE LEGAL SYSTEM, Festschrift in Honour of PROF. IYSA ADE BELLO) is written in honour of an erudite professor, an eminent scholar, a learned jurist, an astute administrator and a pragmatic leader with admirable quality of excellent human and resources management. Above all, a Chief Imam of tremendous goodwill and wide acceptability in the elite circles as well as among the rank and file of his local communities.
The book consists of 28 illuminating chapters authored by 42 distinguished contributors of fascinatingly different callings. Seasoned academics, senior lawyers and respected opinion leaders, who have proved their worths both locally and internationally. It was edited by a team of four distinguished Professors.
The array of themes covered is equally captivating. From Shariah and legal pluralism to Constitutional law and Human Rights. From medico legal issues to environmental sustainability and natural resources, and from financial and economic laws to governance and administrative challenges and the legal responses to all that. The book under review also contains chapters on interesting subjects of Islamic Studies as well as developmental and socio-cultural intricacies.
On Sharia and Legal Pluralism, several chapters of this book address the delicate balance of applying Islamic law within the multi-religious and multi-cultural framework of the geopolitical entity called Nigeria. A particular question was raised as to why should Customary Law, and not the Constitutionally recognized Islamic Personal Law, apply to Muslims in the South, even where they are in incontrovertible majority. Integration of Lagos State regulations with Islamic law principles for effective noise-pollution control is another fascinating topic under this rubric. On Constitutional Reform and Human Rights: The book offers critical assessments of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, arguing for a more participatory amendment process that reflects the interests of all segments of society, including the Muslim populace. It also provides a retrospective analysis of human rights protection in Nigeria, highlighting the systemic failures in protecting fundamental liberties of the citizenry. The chapters on Environmental Sustainability and Natural Resources address some of the pressing global and domestic challenges. Issues surrounding the environmental degradation, right to potable water under regional instruments, and the legal challenges arising from the management of natural resources in specific sub-nationals like Osun State were excellently discussed. Similarly, contemporary Medico-Legal and Ethical Issues received their fair share in this festschrift. For instance, Chapters Five and Eighteen of the book tackle modern ethical dilemmas, such as surrogate parenting and In Vitro Fertilization (IVF) as one method of Assisted Reproduction Technology (ART), analyzing all these through both the family law and Islamic medico-ethical lenses. Some other chapters also delve into the socio-economic drive of Awqaf (endowments) under Islamic Law, and the intersection of corporate taxation with divine legal principles, offering religious and ethical implications for modern financial systems. There is a Chapter dedicated specifically for Anti-Money Laudering and Combating the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT), which in my view successfully debunked the unfounded allegation of a symbiotic relationship between Islamic banks and terrorism financing. As succinctly put by the authors, “Convenience and opportunity are the determinants factors that a launderer takes into consideration, and not the nomenclature of the bank either ‘Islamic or Conventional”.
And now to the first chapter of the book, an Interpretative Academic Biography of the Honouree, a mouth-watering piece that creatively and dexterously x-rays the trajectory of academic and extra-academic exploits of Prof. Iysa Ade Bello: the Home Grown Global Scholar of the Divine Legal System. Yes, from Young Tajudeen Primary School in Agbangudu to Ansar-ud-Deen Secondary Modern School in Oshogbo, and later the Arabic Institute in Ibadan, the honouree is undoubtedly homegrown. That he is a global scholar is equally not in doubt at all. Trained in some of the world leading Universities, the prestigious Islamic University of Madinah, Saudi Arabia and the reputable University of Toronto, Canada. It is therefore not surprising to see a glocalize Prof Iysa Ade Bello, who always thinks globally, even while acting locally to solve the Nigerian peculiar challenges. He has recorded his name in gold through his meritorious services to the legal education, and particularly the divine legal education. To his enviable record, he established the Department of Islamic Law at Lagos State University and later pioneered the Common and Islamic Law degree programme at Osun state University. He has also served in two other Federal Universities, University of Abuja (Professor of Islamic Law & Jurisprudence) and Federal University, Wukari (Pro-Chancellor and Chairman of Council). What a remarkable achievement! Mentoring the younger generation of scholars is another sterling quality of Prof. Iysa Ade Bello who even in retirement continues to coauthor papers with junior colleagues. As recent as 2024, his joint paper with E.A. Johson on ‘Economic Impact of the Regulation of Nigerian Capital Market’ was published by the University of Benin Journal of Business Law. He is even more than that! According to Prof. T.M. Akanni, “Prof. Bello has, since returning to Nigeria, remained the unbeatable mentor, financier of ambitions, trans-generational destiny helper, and inimitable father figure as well as being a teacher of teachers across formal and informal realms, including spirituality”. (Chapter One, p.8)
Ladies and Gentlemen, what I have just revealed to you of the content of this book is no more than the tip of an iceberg. You can’t avoid reading the whole chapters, because as it is commonly said in a Yoruba adage “Gbaa mu, ko ran iba”. (A sip of medicinal concoctions never cures a fever).
Finally, the honouree had been a mentor and role model for me long before I ever met him in person. In the seventies of the last century, the honouree was among the selected Nigerian students/scholars who reviewed and edited the Saudi-commissioned Yoruba translation of the Noble Qur’an. By divine arrangement, I was also among the new set of Nigerian students/scholars selected for a second review and editing of the same translation two decades later in the nineties. In 2014, when I was being considered for appointment/promotion to the Professorial cadre (as a Reader) by the University of Ilorin, Prof. Iysa Ade Bello was a member of the panel that interviewed me and other colleagues from the Faculty of Law.
May Almight Allah reward the honouree handsomely, give him longer life and sound health for humanity to continue to benefit from his knowledge and wisdom.
And to the contributors to this excellent, insightful and thought provoking chapters, permit me to just echo the honouree’s words of appreciation “May your pens never run dry. May your scholarship continue to illuminate the world”.
*Prof. AbdulRazzaq AbdulMajeed Alaro, mni
Ikeja, Lagos
27th Day of Sha‘ban, 1447 AH/ 15th Day of February, 2026.