Usman dan Fodio

Shaihu Usman dan Fodio (Arabic: عثمان بن فودي ، عثمان دان فوديو‎) (also referred to as Shaikh Usman Ibn Fodio , Shehu Uthman Dan Fuduye, or Shehu Usman dan Fodio, 1754 - 1817) was a writer and Islamic reformer. Dan Fodio was one of a class of urbanized ethnic Fulani living in the Hausa city-states in what is today northern Nigeria. Sheikh Uthman dan Fodio was a follower of the Maliki School in law and the Qadiri order in Sufism (the Sufi brotherhood that dates back to the 12th century). He lived in the city-state of Gobir until 1802 when he motivated by his reformist ideas led his Muslim followers out of the state. He wrote around one hundred books concerning his thoughts about religion, government, culture and society. He was strongly criticizing the Hausa ruling elite for their heavy taxation and unacceptable violation of the Muslim Law. He is considered an Islamic revivalist; he encouraged the education of women in religious matters, and several of his daughters emerged as scholars and writers. ^[8]

Training

Dan Fodio was well-educated in classical Islamic science, philosophy and theology and became a revered religious thinker. His teacher, Jibril ibn 'Umar argued that it was the duty and within the power of religious movements to establish the ideal society free from oppression and vice. His teacher was a North African Muslim alim who gave his apprentice a broader perspective of the Muslim reformist ideas in other parts of the Muslim world. Dan Fodio used his influence to secure approval to create a religious community in his hometown of Degel that would, dan Fodio hoped, be a model town.

Spreading Islam

However, in 1802, the ruler of Gobir and one of dan Fodio's students, Yunfa turned against him, revoking Degel's autonomy and attempting to assassinate dan Fodio. Dan Fodio and his followers fled into the western grasslands of Gudu where they turned for help to the local Fulani nomads. When he moved to Gudu he was proclaimed al-mu�minin (�commander of the faithful�) In his book Tanbih al-ikhwan �ala ahwal al-Sudan (�Concerning the Government of Our Country and Neighboring Countries in the Sudan�) Usman writes: �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 it is obligatory for anyone to leave it for another country�. ^[1]. In fact, Usman did exactly this when he left Gobir in 1802. After that Yunfa turned for aid to the other leaders of the Hausa states, warning them that dan Fodio could trigger a widespread Jihad. ^[4]. Eventually, he did and it was the first major Jihad for the series of Jihads which were surging during the 18th and 19th century across Sudan and the neighboring states. It was called the Sokoto Jihad and it took place in Hausaland.

Dan Fodio was proclaimed Amir al-Muminin or Leader of the Faithful.^[5] This, in effect made him political as well as religious leader, giving him the authority to declare and pursue a Jihad, raising an army and becoming its commander. A widespread uprising began in Hausaland. This uprising was largely composed of the Fulani, who held a powerful military advantage with their cavalry. It was also widely supported by the Hausa peasantry who felt over-taxed and oppressed by their rulers. After only a few short years of the Fulani War, dan Fodio found himself in command of the largest state in Africa, the Fulani Empire. His son Muhammed Bello and his brother Abdullahi were carrying out the Jihad and were taking care of the administration. Dan Fodio worked to establish an efficient government, one grounded in Islamic law. After 1811, Usman retired and continued writing about the righteous conduct of the Muslim belief. After his death in 1817 his son, Muhammed Bello, succeeded his as amir al-mu�minin or Sultan of Sokoto and became the ruler of the SOkoto Caliphate which was the biggest state south of the Sahara at that time. Usman�s brother Abdullahi was given the title emir of Gwandu and he was placed in charge of the Western Emirates, Nupe and Ilorin. Thus, all Hausa states, parts of Nupe, Ilorin and Fulani outposts in Bauchi and Adamawa were all ruled by a single politico-religious system. From the time of Usman dan Fodio there were twelve caliphs, until the Birtish conquest at the beginning of the twentieth century. Dan Fodio's uprising inspired a number of later West African jihads, including those of Massina Empire founder Seku Amadu, Toucouleur Empire founder El Hadj Umar Tall (who married one of dan Fodio's granddaughters), Wassoulou Empire founder Samori Ture, and Adamawa Emirate founder Modibo Adama.

The Sokoto Jihad

The Sokoto Jihad is one of the major jihads which swept across the region of Sudan which resulted in the emergence of a state (the Fulani Empire). Great number of Fulani led by Usman dan Fodio, were unhappy that the rulers of the Hausa states were mingling the Islam with aspects of the traditional regional religion. After 20 years of writing, teaching and preaching, he finally withdrew his people to Gudu in 1802 and after 2 years, in 1804, he rose up and overthrew the unjust rulers. In Islam Outside the Arab World, David Westerlung writes: �The jihad resulted in a federal theocratic state, with extensive autonomy for emirates, recognizing the spiritual authority of the caliph or the sultan of Sokoto.�^[3] That means that Usman achieved his goal to raise the Muslim law above the power of the government which is one of his main ideas in his written works. In Tanbih al-ikhwan �ala ahwal al-Sudan he writes: �As for the sultans, they are undoubtedly unbelievers, even though they may profess the religion of Islam, because they practice polytheistic rituals and turn people away from the path of God and raise the flag of worldly kingdom above the banner of Islam. All this is unbelief according to the consensus of opinions.�^[1]

Usman points out in his books many of the flaws and demerits of the African non-Muslim or Nominal Muslim rulers. Some of these are corruption on various levels of the administration along with absurdity and injustice regarding ordinary people�s rights. Usman is strongly criticizing the heavy taxation and obstruction created in the business and trade of the Hausa states by the law system. One can assume he was fighting for common equality according to the Muslim law which was inexistent before 1804.

It is astonishing how the call for Jihad from Gudu mnaged to spread throughout the whole county. The communication was carried along trade routes and rivers draining to the Niger-Benue valley, as well as the delta and the lagoons. The call for Jihad did not only reach other Hausa states such as Kano, Katsina and Zaria but also Borno, Gombe, Adamawa, Nupe and Ilorin. These were all places with major or minor groups of Fulani alims.

Nana Asma�u

One of the most prominent members of the caliphate was Shehu Usman dan Fodio�s daughter. She was very devoted to the education of the Muslim women and she was a writer herself like most of the rest of her family. She witnessed many of the Jihad wars and wrote about her experiences in the war in her books.Many of her written works are related to Islamic education; for much of her adult life she was responsible for educating women in their religion, Islam. She created a cadre of women teachers who travelled throughout the Caliphate educating women the students' own homes. Nana Asma�u was very well educated in the classics of the Arab world, and well versed in four languages (Arabic, Fulfulde, Hausa and Tamachek) which gave her a widespread reputation of a scholar and the opportunity to communicate with the whole sub-Saharan African Muslim World. David Westerlund wrote: �She continued to be a source of inspiration to the present day.� ^[3]

Primary sources

1.The Human Record: Sources of Global History, Fourth Edition/ Volume II: Since 1500, ISBN 0-6`8-04247-4 (page:233-236)
2. Asma'u, Nana. Collected Works of Nana Asma'u. Jean Boyd and Beverly B. Mack, eds. East Lansing, Michigan: University of Michigan Press, 1997.

Secondary sources

1.Encyclopedia Britannica Online

2.Islam Outside the Arab World by David Westlung (page:59)

3.Bivins, Mary Wren. Telling Stories, Making Histories: Women, Words and Islam in Nineteenth-Century Hausaland and the Sokoto Caliphate. London: Heinemaan, 2007.

Reference and Notes

4.A Continuity of the 19th Century Jihaad Movements of Western Sudan by Muhammad Shareef

5.Nigeria gets new Islamic leader:...Uthman Dan Fodio, who led a 19th Century jihad to spread Islam across northern Nigeria" BBC News

6.www.salaam.co.uk

7.Encyclopedia Britannica Online

8.African And Islamic Revival, John Hundwick

See also

• Fulani Empire
• Sokoto
• History of Nigeria

I did not see your post before, am not a frequent member. There was an event of SunniPath about NanaAsma�, very motivating and informative. I came to know there are so many sisters in US who are carrying out the tradition of teachings (Yan Taru) first started by Nana Asma�, masha allah.

It is not that people do not know about Africa and islam there, alhamdulillah. Shaykh Hamza Yusuf , who runs his institute in california has spent years in Mauritania, and has lots to talk about islamic culture and tradition in Africa ... hearing from scholars and prominent figures one gets a good picture.