Giving Birth to Quintuplets: Fivefold Joy or Fivefold Challenge? -By Abdulkadir Salaudeen

Giving birth and having children are the most important fruits of marriage. Marriages have gone sour, and in extreme cases, have been dissolved for their inability to bear fruit. Though it is possible for some to marry without planning to have a child, it is rare and unnatural to find couples who don’t intend to have a fruitful marriage. In other words, it is unnatural, until recent times, to marry and wish to be childless.

There are things that amaze me when a man and a woman come together in a union called marriage to procreate and contribute to the continuation of human existence. Some marriages are blessed with many children—boys and girls. This is common. It is also not uncommon to see marriages produce only boys or girls.

Some marriages produce few children, not because couples don’t plan to have more, but because Providence limits what they can have. Some plan for one or two, and they get what they desire.

Yet, some aren’t lucky to have children, despite wanting them badly. They struggle a lot and even go out of their way, but to no avail. This isn’t due to a curse or unforgivable sins. It is because the Unquestionable Giver of the fruit of the womb chooses not to give them for reasons best known to Him.

Amazingly, while some couples struggle to procreate, others are tired of it. Except in extreme cases where wombs are removed, some couples unintentionally keep procreating despite family planning. If a woman isn’t tired after giving birth to eight children, she probably won’t expect quintuplets – five babies born at once. This is what happened in Kano State on Wednesday.

A mother of eight, Hafsatu Yusuf, gave birth to quintuplets at Murtala Muhammad Specialist Hospital in Kano. That makes her a mother of thirteen. In the traditional agrarian economy of the African precolonial era, this is fivefold joy. This is a great blessing. It is not blessing in disguise but apparent blessing that would be envied by well-wishers. In those days, a household blessed with quintuplets, after having eight children, added more assets. It was a good omen, a badge of pride, and a sign of prosperity.

This is the reality of that age. Is this the reality of our modern industrial age? Most people wouldn’t think twice – they would say no. An emphatic NO. We have reached a stage where children are seen not as assets but as a burden. When news of Hafsatu and her quintuplets broke, many thought the father – a tricycle operator – must have run, fearing the burden in a battered economy where it is hard to feed oneself, let alone many mouths.

If children are blessings from God and many yet-to-have couples are supplicating day and night to have them, how would any sane father run from such blessings?

Hmm! Whoever thinks like this isn’t a Nigerian living in Nigeria, especially under Tinubu. If not for religion and the faint fear of God that still lingers (lurks somewhere) in the hearts of Nigerians, many parents would prefer to sell their children rather than keep them in order to survive on peanuts that barely feed them, let alone their kids.

I love having many children. But giving birth to quintuplets – in addition to the ones I have – would apparently, if not definitely, be a fivefold challenge more than a fivefold joy. While I will thank God for the gift, it will take strong courage – like the one displayed by the new father of quintuplets – and strong faith in God not to run.

The good news is that the Kano State Government has taken responsibility for their care and welfare, including the mother. However, the sad news is that the mother of thirteen passed away due to severe postpartum bleeding. I imagine the joy the quintuplets would have given her after many challenges of nursing and sleepless nights if she had lived to witness their growth. Unfortunately she is no more. May the Almighty have mercy on her as she rests in earth.

The quintuplets, three boys and two girls, are said to be in stable condition and receiving medical care. I pray they survive in good health.

Any lesson learnt? Yes. Many lessons. I will mention a few among others. One, God doesn’t consider economic condition when gifting children. If I have observed correctly, triplets, quadruplets, quintuplets, sextuplets etc are more common among the poor than the rich. If my observation is wrong, the fact remains: economic condition doesn’t determine God’s decision to make marriages bear fruits or not (and the number of children He blesses a marriage with).

Two, our souls are in our Creator’s hands. He takes them at will, not as we choose. The mother of thirteen would have chosen to nurse her quintuplets if given a choice. Death wasn’t her choice, considering the fact that the government has promised to take care of her and her babies.

Three, ability and/or inability to procreate is a strong argument for God’s existence — the hidden God but whose unilateral decisions manifest in our existence and the existence of all creatures. How can a sturdy, wealthy and handsome man marry a beautiful and lovely lady but can’t procreate? Yet, a prostitute discards babies like trash into a dump site because she doesn’t need them.

Let’s think of it this way: how can a stupendously wealthy man struggle to have a child while a wretched man has more children than he can care for? That is God’s work; we must humble ourselves.

In conclusion, with T-Pain or without T-Pain (in adversity or prosperity), children are blessings, and should be seen as such, from God. Whoever is gifted should thank God. Whoever is not given should remain firm and be faithful. God knows what we do not know and is Powerful. He says in the Qur’an, Chapter 42 v 49-50:

“To Allah belongs the kingdom of the heavens and the earth. He creates what He wills. He bestows female (children) upon whom He wills, and bestows male (children) upon whom He wills. Or He bestows both males and females, and He renders barren whom He wills. Verily, He is full of Knowledge and Power.”

May these quintuplets survive and thrive. May Almighty God provide for those who desire to have children but have not.

Abdulkadir Salaudeen 

salahuddeenabdulkadir@gmail.com