A good story; Poor Presentation: Umar Ladan and Dexter Lyndersay’s Shehu Umar

                                — Ubaji Isiaka Abubakar Eazy

It has been a while since I read a play or wrote a review on one. So, you could say that I was a bit excited to have found Umaru Ladan and Dexter Lyndersay’s Shaihu Umar on my shelf. It is a play adapted from a novel of same title by Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa. Albeit the excitement of seeing the acts come alive on stage is incomparable, I derive pleasure in visualising the scenes and recreating the stage in my mind eyes.

In this play set at the period of early establishment of Islam in what is today known as northern Nigeria, the eponymous character; Shaihu Umar; is a young orphan born just a day after the death of his father. Fatimah, his mother, soon remarries into the household of Makau, the Chief warrior of the Village Chief. However, Kwatau; the Chief's younger brother; is envious of Makau's closeness to the Chief, so he frames Makau and gets him banished from the land. The chief grants Makau permission to leave with his family only if they agree to go with him. Makau leaves the land and settles in Markarfi where he meets success and soon sends a messenger to the chief to permit his wife and step son (Fatimah and Umar) to join him in Markarfi. Annoyed that the man he had tried to pull down has again risen to prominence elsewhere, Kwatau comes up with an evil plan to strike sorrow into the happy reunion, he arranges for Umar to be kidnapped and sold to slave raiders. From one slave raider to another, Umar finds himself in Kano where he is admired by his masters for his genteel nature. He is given out as a gift to AbdulKarim, a popular Egyptian slave trader who immediately takes a liking to the young Umar and promises to make a son out of him. Umar grows in Abdulkarim's household and becomes an Islamic scholar (Sheikh or Shaihu). However, he misses his mother and foster father. The rest of the play is about how he makes his return journey home to reunite with his mother and step-father. 

The plays emphasises a fundamental Islamic principle  of Divine protection. The play shows that Allah's protection is on all who remain faithful and ask it of Him. At the behest of his mother, Sheikh Umar's father had been steadfast in prayers imploring Allah's protection on his unborn child till his demise. This explains, perhaps, the presence of an invisible guardian (the Rauhani) who abides  with and guards Umar at all times. The Rauhani protects Umar in critical situations such as preventing a hyena from attacking a vulnerable Umar and providing a cover of protection in a terrible desert sand storm which claimed the lives of Abdulkarim and Sheikh Umar's companions.

Another important concept explored in the play is that of equality. The play admonishes the idea of enslaving other humans on the basis on being pagans or powerless. Humans are humans whether high or low born, Muslims or pagans. Sheikh Umar addresses the people of Kagara thus:

And now to your constant raid on pagan farmers

[the crowd is stilled] 

You know full well:

As God created you So He created them

Your raiding is for worldly possessions

Not for the sake of God and his Prophet.

You also know that we all leave this world

As we came into it--indeed we are true brothers. (50)

It is not surprising that this theme should feature in the plot as historical accounts exists to show that the father of the author (Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa) of the original novel; which the play was adapted from; was a slave who rose to prominence in the court of the Madaki (Hausa traditional District Head). Even after its abolition in the West, slavery in the Muslim world remained very much active for a longer time. Therefore, the play seeks to correct a societal ill using the story of Shaihu Umar. 

Most importantly, however, the play shows the profoundness of a mother's love. I cannot consider the eponymous character a hero in the play. He always had the aid of the supernatural and hardly struggled with the forces against him. But Fatimah is my heroine for being the mother who would not mind journeying to the end of the Earth to find her beloved lost son. She is sold into slavery and moved from one slave trader to another in Kano and Libya but remains unrelenting in the pursuit of her quest. You see, in Islam, love of mothers is fundamental. Muslims are encouraged to love and show absolute respect to their mothers for the path to paradise lies beneath the feet of their mothers. Fatimah shows the undying love of a mother to her child in her preparedness to travel far and risk dangerous terrains to find her lost son. Sheikh Umar also shows equal  dedication to his mother by longing to see her and worrying about her till he finds her. It is just quite emotional that Fatimah dies the very moment she finds her son who has now grown to become a sheikh. 

Lastly, there is the concept of justice for Makau thrives in  Markarfi after being banished from his homeland while Kwatau (although he later becomes the Chief) experiences shameful defeat in battle and repents of his evil ways. 

The story is narrated by the adult Sheikh Umar to a group of younger Islamic scholars under the tutelage of an imam in his homeland. The events of the past are brought in via a series of flashbacks as Sheikh Umar narrates it. I cannot help feeling that there is an overuse of the flashback technique, having sheikh Umar tell the story only to later follow it up with the actual actions felt a bit redundant. It begs the question of why show it if you have told it, or why tell if you have shown it? Such narrative style makes the play unnecessarily lengthy. Future productions should consider using a narrator or voice that tells the story without explaining the action. Where possible, make such a narrator disappear before the end of the drama or make them reappear at the final part. Drama is based on acts that should be in continuous flow to keep the audience engaged. Narratorial interruptions affect the flow of actions. 

Like I mentioned elsewhere, the life of Sheikh Umar is not challenging enough to arrest the attention of the audience. The presence of Rauhani makes it too easy for him. I would like to see this character removed and brought in at the denouement to explain some of the miraculous events in Sheikh Umar's life. To keep the audience wondering how Sheikh Umar escapes danger might somehow heighten the suspense. I understand that it is important to show the protection of the supernatural in the life of man, but where is the conflict if the supernatural is always there to keep man from struggle. I want to see  Sheikh Umar struggle with his antagonists, even reciting Quranic verses in difficult or extreme moments would have been something worthwhile.

I suspect the method of presenting the play might be in keeping with the original novel written by Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa (which, unfortunately, I have no access to at the moment), yet must the playwright realise that the theater and novel serve different audiences even when adapting a novel into a play. Hence, sticking to the original story as related in the novel should not supersede the interest of the theatrical audience.

The play bothers on the concepts of divine protection, equality, motherhood, and justice. However, certain aspects that ought to attest the audience’s interest are conspicuously missing. Would I like to see this play on stage? Of course, if only to check if my observations are correct. But would I like to reread the play? Certainly not.

©️ Ubaji Isiaka Abubakar Eazy 2026