“I am a bona fide, original and authentic Hausa man from the historic city of Katsina, a son to a Hausa man and a Hausa woman. Thus I feel obliged to write about why Hausa marriages one often fail nowadays,”
“Hausa, being the largest and one of the most structured languages and communities in Africa, is threatened with foreign interventions to the extent that some of its ethics, norms and values are no longer honored and preserved.
“In the olden days, a girl usually got married at the age of 13 or 14 years , at most 16-18. With the gradual coming in of the Arabs who brought Islam, that culture then changes from tribal to an Islamic one. Later in the 20th century, after the fall of the Sokoto Caliphate in 1906, the English culture started to flourish. Conventional schools where built to train both male and female students. This way, the traditions of Hausa marriage have started to change.
“In the 1970-90s, what we now call nursery and primary schools were called elementary school, and it took nine years to complete the course. And the child had to be about 10 years of age to enroll. Thus, the marriage age of Hausa ladies has shifted from the average of 15 to about 20 years.
“By the 1990s, the ages of men and women wanting to enter a Hausa marriage have been (unwillingly) changed to be about 30 and 25 respectively.
“With the popular acceptance of tertiary education for both males and female, the age brackets have changed to about plus 5 years for both sexes.
“First of all, in my opinion, the Hausa marriage is struggling because of the altering cultural and religious values, because of the Western and social interventions.
“Secondly, the social and economic development sees an increasing number of Hausa people in the elites circles of Nigeria, and that also greatly helps in killing our marriage. Our very nature of easy acceptance and incorporation in a foreign society has helped to kill Hausa marriages.
“Thirdly, there is the use of religion to achieve our desires. Though Islam allows polygamy, this is not utilized efficiently in the Hausaland and among Hausa people. This is because of either arrogance or ignorance. A person with no job or a job that can support only one wife will end up having twenty children! I support polygamy because is allowed by Allah The Most High. But Allah said in Q4 v 3: “Marry women of your desires up to four if you can establish justice between them.” Also, Prophet Muhammad (S.A.A.S) said, “Oh you youths, whoever among you can support a wife let him get married.”
“Then, unlawful means and methods threaten the essence of the Hausa marriage. In Islam, a person is not allowed to even talk to a girl without her father’s consent and approval. Nowadays, dating and courtship among the Hausas occurs on social media platforms and market places. Lack of proper understanding is another factor, so is difference in showing caring and love to partner after marriage.
“And finally, the Hausa marriage has its beauties that we should cherish and love forever. The failures of our marriages can be remedied by going back to our Islamic and cultural norms and values.”
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