Today, my heart is overflowing with emotions. My beloved son, Muhammad, has just been matriculated into 100 Level, B.Eng. Aerospace Engineering at the Air Force Institute of Technology (AFIT), Kaduna. Watching him take this remarkable first step into his future fills me with both pride and nostalgia — it has taken me back more than 26 years, to the day I myself was matriculated into B.Eng. Water Resources and Environmental Engineering at Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, in 1999.
That moment in 1999 remains one of the most defining experiences of my life — and it was nothing short of a miracle. I can never forget how it all began. Just two days before my JAMB examinations, I fell seriously ill — struck by stomachache and diarrhea that left me weak and helpless. Somehow, I still managed to drag myself to the exam hall at Alhudahuda College. I struggled through English and Chemistry, barely touched Mathematics, and didn’t even open the Physics section. By all human reasoning, I had failed before I began.
But Allah’s mercy is beyond comprehension. When the results came out, I was stunned to see 30 points in Physics, and the other subjects making up an aggregate of 180 — the exact minimum score required for university admission. It remains one of the lowest JAMB scores ever admitted into ABU that year. Yet, with that “impossible” score, I made it into the second admission list of the 1998–1999 session.
And the story didn’t end there — with that humble beginning, I went on to graduate at the top of my class, another miracle that could only have been made possible by Allah’s grace. Indeed, my journey has been a living testimony of the saying, “From grass to grace.”
Looking back today, as I watch my son take his first steps on his own academic journey, I am filled with gratitude. Alhamdulillah for Allah’s unfailing mercy, for the unseen hands that lifted me when I could not stand, and for every stage of grace that has followed since.
I can humbly say that by Allah’s mercy, I have fulfilled all my life ambitions. Yet, my greatest joy today is to see my children beginning their own journeys with hope, faith, and purpose.
So, as I celebrate Muhammad’s matriculation, my heart overflows with dua — that Allah, the Most Merciful, grants him the same divine grace that carried me through, and blesses him to fulfill his ambitions just as I have fulfilled mine. And may this prayer extend to his 10 younger siblings, that each of them may find success, peace, and purpose in all their endeavors.
Indeed, when Allah decrees a thing, He only says to it: “Be,” and it is.
Alhamdulillah for His mercy, guidance, and grace that never ends.
