| Fellow G L-ers, The late Brother Amadou Pembo was a truly generous person; his willingness to share knowledge with total strangers at no cost to the beneficiries seems to be the most common experience and tribute that has been paid to him. A sister of mine who is a keen researcher on Islam acquired Pembo's email address from a brother who had benefitted from Amadous Musa Pembo's online articles and contacted Amadou Pembo for reference. Amadou took her postal address and immediately posted her a number of interesting, authoritative books on Islam and Women In Islam. She was so grateful. Inevitably, they became good friends. As I was living in Glasgow at the time, she made my presence there known to Amadou who was also also a resident of the same city. Subsequently Amadou and I spoke several times over the phone and planned to schedule a mutually convenient time to share lunch or dinner at either's home. We subsequently met but it was not as we had envisaged; the one and only meeting that was destined between Amadou and myself was sheerly coincidental. It was a weekday. It was a wintery cold night. As was typical of Glasgow, it was also a rainy night. It was relatively quiet inside the 24-hour city-centre British-Pakistani-owned shop I was working. I was behind the counter with hardly any customers inside the shop. As I stood there getting bored, in walked a neither tall nor short Blackman. As soon as he walked in, he saluted us in a clear and calm yet authoritative tone. As Salaamu alaikum! His voice was immediately familiar to me as if it was someone's I had known for a long time. However his face was apparently strange to me as mine must been have to him. In almost unison with 2 of my colleagues who were both standing by the door way having one of their usual conversations in Punjabi or Hindi, we answered in the customary Moslem manner of greeting, Wa alaikum salaam. "African brother", one of my colleagues, Janghir said to me. I had told Jangir uncountable times that not every dark-skinned person is African as not every person with his pale-yellow skin colour is Asian. Since Jangir often insists that every blackman is originally from Africa, I let him win the argument. The African brother who walked in and greeted us perfectly did so in a voice that was quite familiar to me. I immediately scanned my personal memory database and got the search result "Amadou Musa Pembo". I waited at the checkout for the opportunity to test the accuracy of my answer. As I was the only person checking out customers in the shop on that dull sirene Glsagow night, I decided to bid my time to strike a conversation with the African brother who was selecting the items for his purchase. Within a minute or two, he appeared before me and placed his selection on the counter. As he was apparently older than me; he could have been in his late 50's or ealy 60's or thereabout, I said to him "Good evening Sir". Good evening, he replied politely. "It seems freezing out there", I continued while entering the costs and at the same time packing for him his selection in a carrier bag. "Oh yes!" he confirmed. A so soon as he spoke again, I had got the first confirmation from his voice that this African brother I was serving and conversing with is the same Musa Amadou Pembo. I announced to him the total amount due for his purchase and he gave me the money. As I was giving him back his change, I said to him "Sir", you must be "Amadou Musa Pembo". Oh yes, I am! he said seemingly perplexed as he took along a step or two back. He looked at me as if reviewing me for familiar features. But in no time he said, "Bailo!??" "Yes Sir, it's him, Bailo", I confirmed. Immediately I gestured for one of my two colleagues to come behind the counter and went round to hug my African brother. We embraced one another as if we were long-lost brothers who had met again after a long time. I then said to him thank you for everything. Thanks for nothing, he countered. By the entrance to the shop, the generous African brother and myself spoke for a few minutes and renewed our commitment to meet again. However it did not happen again because shortly afterwards I relocated to England. My work colleagues were stunned at the sudden and dramatic turn of my relationship with the African brother, who entered as a stranger and before leaving was a familiar African brother. After his departure, I had to explain for them to make sense of what had ulfolded under their eyes. I would love to to meet Pembo again but hopefully not so soon. Until my ultimate exit, I pray that the good, kind knowlegde-sharer that was Musa Amadou Pembo is welcomed in the hereafter to rest forever in peace. Bailo PS: Has anyone got a contact for his wife or any other member of the late Amadou Musa Pembo's family? --- On Sun, 5/9/10, A Jallow <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
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