23/05/2023
DANFODIO, JIHAD AND THE SOKOTO CALIPHATE.
Usman Ɗan Fodio pronunciation (Arabic: عثمان بن فودي, romanized: ʿUthmān ibn Fodio; 15 December 1754 – 20 April 1817) was a Fulani scholar, religious leader, a reformer, a revolutionary and a philosopher who founded the Sokoto Caliphate and ruled as its first caliph. Ɗan Fodio declined much of the pomp of rulership, he rejected the throne and continue travelling calling people to Islam.
Danfodio wrote more than a hundred books on religion, government, culture and society. His writings and sayings continue to be much quoted. At age 20, he was well educated in classical Islamic science, philosophy and theology, and also became a revered religious thinker. Using his writings, Danfodio criticized the ruling elite , condemning them for enslavement, worshiping idols, sacrificial practices, taxation practices, arbitrary rule and greed. He also insisted on the observance of the Maliki fiqh in commercial and criminal law. Usman also denounced the mixing of men and women, pagan customs, dancing at bridal feasts, and inheritance practices that are contrary to Islam.
SHORT BACKGROUND
Born in Gobir on 15th December 1754, Danfodio gave most of his life to scholarship. From his early age, he memorised the holy Quran through the instruction of his father and mother. Afterwards, he studied hadith under scholars in which he received qualifications in the six most sound canonical books of hadith (as-Sihah as-Sittah), ash-Shama’il al-Muhammadiyyah by at-Tirmidhi, al-Muwatta by Imam Malik and al-Jami’ al-Saghir by as-Suyuti. After mastering Arabic grammar, morphology and rhetoric plus getting qualification in tafsir (commentary) of the Qur’an, he became a jurist in the Maliki school of thought while also having deep knowledge in the rulings of the Hanafi, Shafi’i and Hanbali legal traditions. Dan Fodio wrote hundreds of works on Islamic sciences ranging from creed, Maliki jurisprudence, hadith criticism, poetry and Islamic spirituality. The vast majority of his books were written in Arabic and Hausa. However, close to 20 of them were written in his native tongue, Fulfulde.
He travelled to so many places in search of knowledge. He encouraged literacy and scholarship, for women as well as men, and several of his daughters emerged as scholars and writers. The most influential of his teachers is Jibril ibn Umar, a powerful intellectual and religious leader who is believed to have the highest influence on Danfodio.
PRE-JIHAD ERA
Sheikh Abdullah described the Pre-Jihad era ;
"_We remained there for about five years and it was a land where people’s ignorance was supreme; the majority of its people have not smelt the scent of Islam. They used to come to Shaykh’s gathering mingling with their women. He segregated them that mixing together was forbidden, after he had taught them the laws of Islam._ "
Islam was mixed up with superstitious beliefs, sacrifices to objects and spirit worshipping. In the Pre-Jihad Hausa society, the population of Muslims stood at 35-40% and true teachings of Islam could neither be seen in palaces or in courts. Societal administration was based on compulsion and notions of the ruler. Therefore, the level of dishonesty was so high in palaces and courts where there were illegitimate confiscation of the properties of the poor, unnecessary taxation, indiscriminate imprisonment without trial, misappropriation of public funds. Due to ignorance of the people of islamic teachings, there was a decay in morality and ethics. The mixing of opposite sexes, nudity, gambling and alcoholism became the order of the day. Women's right and laws of inheritance were overshadowed by societal practices.
Danfodio in his bookbook "Nurul Albab" classified the Hausa society into three classes. The practising Muslims, the non-practising muslims who still worship idols and those "who never for once in their life time breath in the breeze of Islam".
CALL TO ISLAM
At age 20, he set up his school in Degel and started calling to Islam. In 1774, Usman began his itinerant preaching as a Mallam and continued preaching for *twelve years* in Gobir and Kebbi, followed by further *five years* in Zamfara. Among Usman's well-known students include his younger brother Abdullah, King Yunfa, and many others.
Danfodio broke from the royal court and used his influence to secure approval for creating a religious community in his hometown of Degel that would, he hoped, be a model town. He stayed there for *20 years* , writing, teaching and preaching.
ASSASINATION ATTEMPT
By 1780/1790s, Danfodio's reputation increased as he appealed to justice and morality and rallied the outcasts of Hausa society. Due to his constant critism of the tyranny and oppression of the leaders and call for justice, Danfodio soon get massive followership among the people. It is at this point that the population of Muslims in the region moved from 45% to 60%. His followers cut across various ethnic and religious divides, most of them being Hausa peasants, slaves and even pagan fulani pastoralists who are tired of overtaxation, oppression, injustice and tyranny of the political class. Soon his followership moulded into a single religio-political movement.
Danfodio's growing popularity among the people (now called the Jama'a) was seen by the kings as a threat to their rulership and in 1979, *King Nafata of Gobir forbade Shaykh to preach, wear turbans and veils, prohibited conversions and ordered converts to Islam to return to their old religion* This was *highly resented* by Danfodio who wrote in his book Tanbih al-Ikhwan 'ala away al-Sudan ("Concerning the Government of Our Country and Neighboring Countries in Sudan") Usman wrote: "The government of a country is the government of its king without question. If the king is a Muslim, his land is Muslim; if he is an unbeliever, his land is a land of unbelievers. In these circumstances, anyone must leave it for another country".
In 1802, Nafata's successor Yunfa, a former student of Usman, turned against him, revoking Degel's autonomy and attempting to *assassinate Danfodio* Yunfa then turned for aid to the other leaders of the *Hausa states* , warning them that Danfodio could trigger a widespread rebellion. Danfodio survived Yunfa's assassination attempt and fled to Degel. However Yunfa and his army invaded Degel and destroyed it completely. Yunfa captured and arrested many of the followers of Danfodio .
In order to escape persecution, Danfodio and his Jamaa followers fled towards Gudu.
In February 1804, Usman and his followers, carried out a hijra (migration) to the western grasslands of Gudu, where they turned for help to the local Fulani nomads to give them shelter. In Gudu, the Jama'a gave him the title Amir Al-mu'uminin ( Commander of the Faithful s) . By this time, Danfodio had assembled a wide following among the Hausa peasants, Fulani, and Toureg nomads. This made him a political as well as religious leader, giving him the authority to declare and pursue a jihad, raise an army and become its commander and soon there was widespread uprising/rebellion in Hausaland.
THE CALL FOR JIHAD
After Usman declared Jihad, he gathered an army of Hausa warriors to attack Yunfa's forces in Tsuntua to free the imprisoned followers. Yunfa's army, composed of Hausa warriors and Tuareg allies, defeated Danfodio's forces and killed about 2,000 soldiers, *200 of whom were hafiz* (memorizers of the Quran). Yunfa's victory was short-lived as soon after, Danfodio captured Kebbi and Gwandu in the following year.
The call for jihad reached not only other Hausa states such as Kano, Daura, Katsina and Zaria, but also Borno, Gombe, Adamawa and Nupe.
The success of the jihad inspired a number of later West African rebellions, including Massina Empire founder Sheikh Amadu, Toucouleur Empire founder Sheikh Umar Tall and Wassoulou Empire founder Samori Ture.
ESTABLISHMENT OF SOKOTO CALIPHATE
By 1808, Danfodio and his Jama'a had defeated the rulers of Gobir, Kano, Katsina and other Kingdoms. After only a few years , Danfodio found himself in command of the states . The Sokoto Caliphate had become the largest state south of the Sahara at the time. In 1812, the caliphate's administration was reorganized, with Muhammed Bello and Abdullahi Bn Fodio administering the western and eastern Governotorates respectively. Around this time, Danfodio returned to teaching and writing about Islam. Usman also worked to establish an efficient government grounded in Islamic law.
As boundaries of the caliphate are in the present day Cameroon, Burkina Faso , Niger and Nigeria. It is one of the largest empire in the 18th century.
POST JIHAD ERA
After the establishment of the Caliphate, there were decades of economic growth throughout the region, particularly after a wave of revolts in 1816–1817. They had significant trade over the trans-Saharan routes
After the revolution, all lands in the empire were declared "waqf" or owned by the entire community. However, the Sultan allocated land to individuals or families, as could an emir. Such land could be inherited by family members but could not be sold.
The establishment of Sokoto caliphate and the subsequent unification also mark the end of intertribal between the Hausa/Nupe/Kwararrafa states and established a single unified empire.
The government used the state treasury. Considerable numbers of scholars and the poor depended on the "great houses" for basic amenities like food and clothing. Food was prepared in the houses, which then acted like communal canteens. Clothing came largely from the payments from the other emirates in the caliphate and was redestributed to the community. This system helped Sokoto Caliphate maintain a large scholar community. Its commercial prosperity was also based on Islamic traditions, market integration, internal peace and an extensive export-trade network.
It is years after the establishment of the caliphate that the population of Muslims rose to over 80%
THE RISE OF SCHOLARSHIP IN THE CALIPHATE
Scholarship was a crucial aspect of the Caliphate from its founding. Sultan Usman dan Fodio, Sultan Muhammed Bello, Emir Abdullahi dan Fodio, Sultan Abu Bakr Atiku, and Nana Asma'u devoted significant time to chronicling histories, writing poetry, writing books on Medicine, Pharmacology, Ophthalmology, community medicine as well as Politics, Economy, to social and religious aspects.
The countless scholarly treasures left behind by scholars of different fields of knowledge became the main basis of intellectual contributions of the Sokoto Caliphate. The trio of Danfodio, Abdullahi and Bello wrote more than thousand books and made several verdicts on Social Medicine. Notable works which are still being quoted today include
1. Abdullahi Bn Fodio's Masalih al-insan al-muta’alliq bi-l-adyanwal-abdan (A guidance and teaching on Faith). In this work divided into two sections, the first ponders on spiritual aspect of a Muslim while the second was based on medicine.
2. The medical treaty of Abdullahi Bn Fodio ( _Diya’ al-umma fiadillat al-a’imma_ )
3. Muhammad Bello's "A book of guidance on Medicine" _Kitab al-rahma fi-l-tibbwa-l-hikma"_
4. Muhammad Bello's "A complete guide on prophetic medicine : a study of medical science in Islam". _Al-mawarid al-nabawiyyafial-masa’ilaltibbiyya and Ujalat al-rakibfial-tibb al-sa’ib_ "
5. Muhammad Bello's "A Portion on eye treatment", _Kitab al-tibb al-mu‘in al-musamma bi-tibbal ayn_ "
6. Muhammad Bello's "A message on the treatment of a kidney disease" _Risalat al-amrad al-kilyahwa‘ilajiha
_
7. Muhammad Bello's "Standing verdict on the treatment of piles". _Al-qawl al-manthur fi adwiyatillatal bathur_
8. Muhammad Bello's Kitab _al-qawl al-sinna_ , a book on locus plant.
9. Muhammad Bello's treaty on the treatment of worms ( A portion of a guidance concerning worm disease)
_Al Nubdhafiadwiyat al-didan._
Etc
FALL OF THE CALIPHATE.
The last Sultan of the Caliphate was killed by British colonialists in the second battle of Bormi (1903), and that marked the end of the caliphate. The caliphate spanned for approximately a 100 years. The area was divided among the British, the Germans and the French.
Later it was annexed into the protectorate of Northern Nigeria which later became part of the Nigeria.
