Dr Abdulrazaq Katibi of the Kwara State University (KWASU), Malete, has decried the decline in the rate of women authors of Arabic Literature in Nigeria.
Dr Katibi, a lecturer in Arabic at the Department of Linguistics, African and European Languages of the university, said women needed to be carried along in the development project.
He said this while speaking with newsmen yesterday in Ilorin, during the public presentation of his book, titled: “Women in Arabic Literature in Nigeria: Issues, Expression and Analysis”.
The author, who told newsmen that the lackadaisical attitude of women to Arabic literature prompted him to embark on this literacy work, observed that women were not carried along in Arabic literature like in other languages.
“As you know, literature is a good element in developing any nation. Many good nations, many developed nations have used literature to develop their entity in which Nigeria should also emulate.
“We should not leave Arabic behind in taking the Nigerian project forward,” he said.
Katibi, however, said some political, educational, social and religious reasons were responsible for this dearth in women authorship in Arabic literature in the country.
One of these, according to him, were the Europeans, who came to Nigeria with their own culture thereby relegating others, particularly Arabic, to the background.
“In term of socials, women have always been told they should be seen and not heard, thereby making their involvement in literature not felt,” he said.
Katibi also blamed Arabic scholars for marrying the best among their students, thereafter, neglecting the intellectual and literary potentials of the women.
“This makes Arabic language and Arabic literature not to flourish as they did during the time of Usman Dan Fodio.
“We should remember Nana Asmau was a wife, a mother and daughter, yet she still did all those kind of literary works and still excelled in those areas,” he added.
The author noted that women needed to be encouraged and recognised as veritable part of developmental project in any society.
Reviewing the book, Dr Saudat Abdulbaki of the Department of Mass Communication, University of Ilorin, said that the book has exposed a very wide gap in authorship of Arabic literary works in Nigeria.
“It has shown that we have more men in that field than women; it also shows that when we talk of Arabic literature, more men get to the top of their careers than women.
“I found the book very interesting and captivating to the extent that I never wanted to drop it until I read it to the end. It heightened my curiosity to notice the gap in Arabic literature when we talk about male female authorship.
“The big impact that the book has on me is that knowledge is the right of everybody and this is aptly defined in the Quran.”
Dr Abdulbaki, who is an associate professor of Mass Communication, urged women in the field of Arabic studies to strive to excel in documenting their expressions and thoughts in poetry, drama and prose so that the future generations could have something to rely upon.
Earlier in his remark, Alhaji Aliyu Badmus, who was the chairman of the occasion, said that Arabic language could go into extinction in the country if concerted efforts are not made by the teachers to encourage students.
Badmus, a proprietor of a private school in Ilorin, said the number of students offering the subject is abysmally low compared to other languages.
He urged parents to encourage their children to speak the language just as they speak English.
He also urged Arabic scholars to produce a simplified version of books that teach the language.