Yesterday, I spent all my waking time with some really cool human who believes that I'm the type who documents all recurring questions in my life for the sake of automation.
Here I am thinking, why not. It makes a lot of sense. It feels a tad tedious each time I have to recount the story of how my name is Hafiz, despite the fact that I am not a Muslim.
So here is your answer, in case you ever wondered about title question. All subsequent inquirers will be redirected to this blog going forward; no stories please. There's absolutely no time to be answering such flimsy questions that never lead anywhere over and over again. Perhaps, it'd filter out those that don't really care to know, due to the extra work of opening a link and reading (something we Africans are renowned for loathing).
PROCEDURE
- Mum was born Christian (both parents Christian)
- Dad was born* Muslim (both parents Muslim)
- Mum married Dad
- Mum, for the sake of love and conjugal peace, was 'naturalized' to Islam by marriage
- I was born Muslim (both parents Muslim), so I get plastered with name: Hafiz
- Dad dies a little too early (due respects to the deceased). The Islamic pillar in the (nuclear) family concurrently and quite understandably, collapses
- Mum reverts to default state (Christianity) having no further support to continue in Islam; an adopted faith
- Alas! What is a ten-year old Hafiz to do but to tag along with mum. After much resistance (I and my big sis) due to our love for daddy, I finally started to attend (church) service in JSS 2. After a while, I was grateful I did not have to agonize about missed prayers or concatenate all my missed prayers into one long bout of tedium. I think I should record here that there was actually more than one religion switch at this turbulent phase of my life (Islam to Christianity, back to Islam and finally, Christianity)
It's not like I was doing that well in the Islamic faith anyways. I and my siblings had a way of always falling behind in our Islamic classes (ile kewu). While our peers were being celebrated for completing the Quran, we were perpetually stuck at learning a meager extract of the Islamic guide book called Tirah.
Name change attempt
Having taken this much pain to find out more about me, I consider it an obligation that I regale you with the story of my failed name-change efforts.
I had decided on exiting high school to grab the opportunity of a new (college) community to change my first name. So, as soon as I got into UNILAG, during registration stage, I started introducing myself as Gbenga. Problem is, I only remembered to do that about 10% of the time. The other time, I did not successfully catch myself before 'Hafiz' escaped my lips. Well, the rest is history as they say.
If you know me, you know how it turned out. I lost the battle due to my lameness; I wonder if I'm still that lame.
Well, there you have it. One more task automated, my current oga at the top would be proud of me. He's a sucker for automation. Lazy guy; yes, he says so himself, so who am I?
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* Dad was born before Mum
