The sword of truth: the life and times of the Shehu Usuman dan Fodio 9780810111158

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THE SWORD OF TRUTH

Northwestern University Press Series in Islam and Society in Africa GENERAL EDITORS

John Hunwick Robert Launay EDITORIAL BOARD

Ralph Austen Jonathon Glassman Carl Petry Lamin Sanneh Ivor Wilks

EDITORIAL ADVISORY COMMITTEE

Jamil Abun Nasr Rene Bravmann Louis Brenner Abdullah Bujra Allan Christelow Lansine Kaba Lidwien Kapteijns Murray Last Nehemia Levtzion David Robinson Enid Schildkrout Jay Spaulding Charles Stewart Jean-Louis Triaud

THE

SWORD OF TRUTH

THRH LIFE AND TIMES OF

THE SHEHU USUMAN

| DAN FKFODIO

: MERVYN HISKETVT

NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY PRESS Evanston, Illinois

Northwestern University Press Evanston, Illinois 60208-4210

Copyright © 1973 by Oxford University Press. Preface to the Second Edition copyright © 1994 by Northwestern University Press. Northwestern University Press edition published 1994 by arrangement with Mervyn Hiskett. All rights reserved.

Printed in the United States of America ISBN 0-8101-1115-2

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Hiskett, M.

The Sword of truth : the life and times of the Shehu Usuman dan Fodio / Mervyn Hiskett. p. cm.— (Islam and society in Africa) Originally published : New York : Oxford University Press, 1973. With new pref. Includes bibliographical references. ISBN 0-8101-1115-2 (pbk. : alk paper) : $19.95 (est) 1. Usuman dan Fodio, 1754-1817. 2. Fulani Empire. I Title. II. Series: Series in Islam and society in Africa.

[DT515.9.F8H57 1994] 93-50530

966.9'501—dc20 CIP

The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of the American National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI Z39.48-1984.

To THE MEMoRY OF W. R. H.

Preface to the Second Edition

The first edition of this book was published in 1973, some thirteen years after Nigeria became independent. The first attempt to establish a Nigerian government modelled on multiparty, Westminsterstyle democracy had failed. The civil war had been fought between 1967 and 1970, after which the military government, set up follow-

ing the collapse of the First Republic, retained power under the leadership of General Yakubu Gowon. The subsequent military coups, the return to democracy under the ill-starred Shagari administration, and then the return to military rule that followed, had yet to happen. The great Sharia debate and the Maitatsine uprising were all in the future. Much has been written since that date, and in the light of these developments, that takes account of the Fulani reform movement and jzhad beyond the point at which I left them, and that discovers fresh significances and emphases that were not fully evident at the time. The purpose of writing this second Preface is briefly to review this new writing. Although the book has been sufficiently well received to warrant

a second edition, it has earned one major criticism, the justice of which I have long been disposed to concede. That is that it was written from the point of view of the Fulani reformers and jihadists of

the early nineteenth century and presents both society and events

Vill PREFACE almost exclusively through their eyes. There is some truth in this and, indeed, such a viewpoint is reflected in the title The Sword of Truth.

Such a title implicitly recognizes the reformers’ claim that their movement represented “the truth” against falsehood. It is essential to an understanding of their endeavors that this notion, simplistic as it is, should be grasped, for it is central to Islam in Nigeria— indeed, it is central to Islam worldwide. I believe that The Sword of Truth faithfully set out and expounded the intellectual sources of the Fulani reform movement and the assumptions and principles that informed it. Consequently, I find no reason to revise the main text, and particularly chapters VII and IX, which many have found to be among the most useful parts of the book. Yet these chapters, perhaps above all others, have surely also underlined the fact that— as is so often the case in Islamic history—Allah has written all the sources. The non-Muslim, “pagan” point of view has been left largely untold. The brutality and intolerance of all “jihad of the sword,”

and especially that of nineteenth-century western Sudan, has been veiled by an assumption of moral righteousness, based on the Muslim claim of divine revelation and a written law, that leaves no place for an approach from the viewpoint of the victims. The stark intransigence of this stance has not diminished over the generations. It is

eloquently expressed by Shehu Umar Abdullahi, a contemporary northern Nigerian author who has written, “We are directed by the Messenger of Allah to hit with this [sword of jihad] who deviates from this [Qur’an].”’ Similarly, Ibraheem Sulaiman (unconscious of the irony) asserts, “Yet jihad is not inhumane: despite its necessary violence and bloodshed, its ultimate desire is peace, which is protected and enhanced by the rule of law.”” Inasmuch as the original edition of The Sword of Truth, in its desire

to present the reformers’ point of view, seems tacitly to accept and even approve such a stance, it surely falls short of true objectivity. It may also fall short in that it leaves the impression that Islam in Nigeria at the present time is the sole gift of the Fulani reform movement and jihad. Yet, as Ubah has shown, the British colonial policy of placing non-Muslim peoples under Fulani administration contributed powerfully to the further spread of Islam, now not by the

Preface 1X sword but by cultural attraction.’ The task of the first part of this new Preface is to set such imbalances to rights by drawing attention to what might be termed the “downside” of the reform movement and the jihad to which it gave rise. It will also draw attention to the heritage of Muslim fundamentalist absolutism for which, as is now

evident, these events have become a source of inspiration and an

admired exemplar. This seems to apply whether the Muslims involved came to Islam as a result of nineteenth-century reformist ardor or were drawn in less spectacularly by slower influences during the colonial period. Let us start by considering the other side of the coin. While Muslim reformers may condemn indigenous African social and religious systems as “barbaric,” “immoral,” or lacking in law,’ it is certainly not apparent to the non-Muslim observer that these societies were any less successful in terms of human contentment than those

based on the rigorous Islamic model demanded by the Muslim reformers. One could hardly expect that African rulers, let alone their subjects, would be converted from their ancestral beliefs overnight by the bald assertion on the part of the Muslim ‘ulama’ that Islam was the will of a true god of whom these folk had as yet no knowledge or experience. Yet this was precisely what the Muslim reformers of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century did

expect and demand. Such immediate and unconditional cultural surrender was implicit in the message of the Shehu Usuman dan Fodio to Bawa, the chief of Gobir and his successors, as The Sword of

Truth plainly demonstrates. For, while these chiefs were at least nominally Muslims, many of the people they ruled over were not. For them to have bowed to the reformers’ demands would have been politically disastrous. The goal of the reformers is succinctly expressed by Sultan Bello in his Infaq al-maystir, where he writes: “May God help us to pluck up the tents of the heathen from our lands, and set up the tents of the law.”” The understandable resistance of the Gobirawa to the Muslim threat to their institutions and way of life was seen by the Muslims as sheer infidel perversity and an attack on Islam. The failure of the “Hausa kings (muluk Hawsa)” to

respond to the “preaching jihad” was held to justify resort to “jihad of the sword.”

x PREFACE Unhappily, this uncharitable attitude toward non-Muslim African cultures has not changed over the generations among those northern Nigerian spokesmen whom some think of as Islamic radicals. If

anything, it has become more pronounced. Thus Shehu Umar Abdullahi, whose writings have become influential in northern Nigeria since The Sword of Truth was first published, writes: “Under [ ‘Abd Allah b. Muhammad’s] military leadership the Sokoto Jihad

Movement scored its first encouraging military victory against the forces of Gobir authorities which represented moral depravity, corruption, oppresion, infidelity and syncretism.” And he adds that the object of the jihadists was “the total destruction of all customs and traditions that were in conflict with the Shari’a.”° Reflecting the essential subjective attitude that informed the Muslim reformers in

their relations with the people of Gobir, he concludes: “People should therefore always support the truth against falsehood.” One may concede that it was inevitable that these nineteenth-century Muslim reformers should regard the truth as absolute, not relative. But the unqualified restatement of such a view by a late twen-

tieth-century Muslim goes far to explain the acute anxiety of Nigerian Christians in regard to Islam, and it at least partially explains the parallel absolutist response of some Christian evange-

lists. Following his hero, the Shehu’s brother ‘Abd Allah, Umar Abdullahi insists that the society of his own (present) day must be governed and conducted according to the rules and principles laid down by the second caliph of Islam, “Umar b. al-Khattab, in the seventh century A.D. Once again, it is not surprising that there is some

unease among non-Muslim Nigerians when confronted by such assertions.

Yet more indicative of the survival and, indeed, the further burgeoning of this lack of forebearance toward non-Muslim cultures which the jihad represented, is the work of Ibraheem Sulaiman, a widely respected northern Nigerian academic who teaches at the Centre for Islamic Legal Studies in Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria.

In the context of the jihad he asserts that “the downfall of earlier generations was their persistent inclination to reprehensible and evil customs which they had inherited from their ancestors.”* Thus, curtly, does he dismiss centuries of African culture which, it can be

Preface xi argued objectively, had produced many successful societies in western Sudan. Elsewhere he states: Islam has been emphatic that any aspect of culture that is inconsistent with the Sacred Law has no legitimacy and should not be considered binding on society. .. . Indeed, Islam does not accept that people should have customs or traditions other than religious ones; for if Allah’s way is a comprehensive way of life, what room is there for custom and tradition?

This clearly repeats in the 1980s Shehu Usuman’s principle of the 1800s, and often illustrated in The Sword of Truth, that the Sharia must replace indigenous customary systems, which Muslims, then as now, regard as sinful. It now becomes clear that as far as these northern Nigerian Muslim scholars are concerned, the absolutism of the jihadists has been

in no way diminished by the passage of time. In fact, the Fulani reform movement and the jihad have become for these Muslim activists an exemplary rehearsal for what today’s radicals would call “Islamic revolution.” It is interesting to note, for example, how Ibra-

heem Sulaiman uses the term kufr (unbelief) to describe all nonIslamic administrations. In so doing he echoes the practice of such diverse present-day spokesmen of the radical Islamic ethic as Kalim

Siddiqui, director of the Muslim Institute in London," or Alya Izetbegovic, the radical leader of the Bosnian Muslims." The current radical opposition to secularism and pluralism is vigorously expressed, for instance, by Shehu Umar Abdullahi: The concept of secularism as stated somewhere in this booklet is totally alien to Islam. In the Islamic state there is no separation between religious and worldly affairs. The two in Islam are indivisible. Both religious and worldly affairs are ruled, controlled and regulated by Islamic legislations. In other words, Islam enters into all facets of life of the muslim (sic) and the state and determines what they should be and how they should be.”

In the Nigerian context this amounts to an explicit rejection of the pluralism that informed earlier Muslim attitudes toward African cultures. In the twentieth century, democracy has become a further

xii PREFACE | object of disapprobation for such Islamic radicals, though of course

it was one that had not impinged on the awareness of the nineteenth-century reformers. But the underlying attitude of Muslims to

what is not (at least in their view) “Islam” seems not to have changed. Such inflexibility is, perhaps, the greatest problem facing

a would-be democratic and pluralist Nigeria; and, indeed, at the global level, it may be among the most intractable problems that face the non-Muslim world today. The question arises, then, to what extent this Islamic radicalism preached by activist individuals and by Muslim network organizations, which is clearly incompatible with secular pluralism, is representative of Nigerian Muslim opinion as a whole. Some have argued

that there are levels of Islamic ideological commitment in Nigerian society, and that it is therefore sensible to talk of “Muslim extremists” and “Muslim moderates.” Much has been written on this issue

since 1973, when such divisions—or the lack of them—were to some extent obscured by the rigor of early military administrations. For instance, Ryan, in a well-known article, postulates “minority and majority models” of Islam and regards the Shehu’s jihad as coming

near to creating majority Islam, but believes that the rise of the Niasséne Tijaniyya has created a more tolerant Islam, apt to coop-

doubtful. | erate happily even with non-Muslims." His scenario may well true of Ghana. But whether even the Tijaniyya has had a significant influ-

ence in favor of religious pluralism in northern Nigeria seems

Some light was thrown on this issue by the so-called “Sharia debate” that took place in the new Constituent Assembly set up in 1977 to discuss a new constitution for Nigeria. A proposal came from Muslim members to establish a federal Sharia court of appeal which would hear cases from courts of appeal in states that opted to retain (or establish) a Sharia court system for family law. This proposal was bitterly opposed by Christian members of the Assembly,

who saw this as a means of “opening the door for the creeping Islamization of the Nigeria state” and as conferring upon Islam a privileged status that other religions did not enjoy.'* The debate ended on this occasion in a compromise, fashioned largely by Yoruba Muslim members, which left many northern Nigerian Muslims

Preface xiii dissatisfied. The issue was aired with yet more passion in similar debates over a constitution for the Third Republic in 1989. On this occasion the then head of state, General Ibrahim Babangida, solved

the crisis by simply closing the discussion. There was a similarly sharp division of opinion between Muslims and Christians in 1986 over Nigeria’s proposed membership of the Organization of the

Islamic Conference (OIC), a body which Nigerian Christians regarded (rightly in my view) as an international organization for the promotion of Islam and the creation of Islamic states. Two facts stand out in the Sharia imbroglio. The first is that this was nothing new. The jihads of 1219/1804—c. 1227/1812 had been fought specifically to impose the Sharia from Borno to the Niger bend and beyond. There is thus a continuity between the reform

movement of the nineteenth century and the Sharia debates of 1976 and 1989, broken only by the interlude of British colonial gov-

ernment when the aspirations of Muslims were necessarily muted and restrained.

The second fact is that this debate throws doubt on the contention that there are significant variations in Muslim radicalism (at least in the northern part of the country), a view that is most comprehensively and optimistically argued by John Paden.” For these Muslims, whether they were traditional ‘ul@ma—influenced, as so many of their class were, by what was already being called “Islamic fundamentalism”—or westernized Muslim academics working in the new universities of the north and typical of a class who might be

expected to be “moderate,” were, with few exceptions, united in their support for the extension of the Sharia court system to the federal level. The same groups also strongly favored Nigeria’s mem-

bership of the OIC. At the height of these debates the Nigerian Christian constituency came up against a substantial phalanx of northern Muslim opinion that displayed little disposition to compromise. Muslims, for their part, found Christian opposition to a federal Sharia court of appeal a sign of anti-Islamic bigotry. There was certainly scant evidence of any moderating influence by the Tyaniyya whose influence had already diminished under the hammer of the ’Yan Izala, a fundamentalist tendency, founded under

the influence of the late Shaykh Abubakar Gumi, that opposed

xiv PREFACE both secular pluralism and the Islamic mysticism of the Sufi “ways” with equal vigor. As John Hunwick has pointed out, it was in the end an “ethnic”

rather than a religious factor that led to the uneasy compromise that eventually emerged. Largely through the efforts of Yoruba Muslims, it was agreed that, rather than a federal Sharia court of appeal, there should be a single federal court of appeal on which two judges learned in Muslim law would sit when cases involving Islamic law were being heard. What lay behind such efforts at fashioning a compromise were not considerations of Islamic belief but deep-seated cultural and historical factors that differentiated these southern Muslims from their northern coreligionists. We may therefore ask whether attempts to draw firm distinguish-

ing lines between “fundamentalist” and “moderate” Muslims in northern. Nigeria rests on anything more than the intensity of their respective brands of rhetoric, or on profound differences in aims and aspirations. Shehu Umar Abdullahi and Ibraheem Sulaiman certainly represent radical rhetoric at its fiercest. Yet it is not clear that many northern Muslims seriously dissent from the content of what they have to say, though some might deplore the tone in which they say it.

Nevertheless, not all northern Muslims see the Fulani reformers as divinely inspired messengers of Islam, and the Hausas they con-

quered as merely villanous pagans. We must consider here the antagonism that has persisted between Fulani overlords and Hausa talakawa (roughly “commoners”). It showed itself most strikingly in the politics of the zamanin siyasa—‘the time of [European-style]

politics’°—which preceeded independence in 1960 when the Fulani-led Northern Peoples Congress (NPC) fought for political power with the predominantly Hausa Northern Elements Peoples Union (NEPU). But this was an inter-Muslim quarrel, both sides lay-

ing claim to true religious orthodoxy and castigating its opponent

for betraying Islam. At no point did NEPU take up cudgels on behalf of non-Muslim Hausa (maguzawa) culture and history. Some have sought to demonstrate that there is in northern Nigeria such a nostalgia for the old Hausa culture as might challenge the Islam of the Fulani reformers, and Mahdi Adamu has been cited to

Preface XV demonstrate this."° This should not be pushed too far, however. Adamu elevates the Hausa contribution to northern Nigerian society, but it is their commercial contribution he lauds, not their preIslamic culture. Indeed, he presents the Hausas of the pre-jihad era as in every respect Muslims. He certainly does not see them as praiseworthy pagans.

Julie Lawson, in her important M.A. thesis, has undertaken a comprehensive study of differing perspectives on the jihad as illustrated in theses presented to northern Nigerian universities.'’ This valuable work relies on unpublished Ph.D. dissertations to argue that indigenous northern Muslims’ perceptions of the jihad “culmi-

nated in Ph.D.’s that attacked the jihads and the Caliphate head on.”!® However, while these unpublished theses are of considerable

interest academically, one wonders to what extent their authors’ somewhat unconventional views of the events of the nineteenth century have become influential among Nigerian Muslims, as the published works of Shehu Umar Abdullahi and Ibraheem Sulaiman have. They do represent a strand of Hausa feeling—perhaps similar

to the sentiment that informed the old NEPU. Nevertheless, the view of the jihad represented by Shehu Umar Abdullahi, Ibraheem Sulaiman, and the late Abubakar Gumi enjoys widespread support. Moreover, it has to be remembered that even these dissenting voices do not, in the main, take a dispassionate view of, let alone laud, the non-Muslim past. Indeed, for the most part they reject it with the same vigor as do the protagonists of the reform movement. But they do seek to establish the Hausa essential claim to true Islam before and independent of the Fulani jihad. Their argument is not just that the pre7jihad Hausa were commendable pagans forced into Islam by tyrannous Muslim jihadists (which may well be the view of non-Muslim students of the events of the nineteenth century), but rather that these Hausas were good Muslims long before the jihad

was unnecessarily and unjustly inflicted upon them, and that the

jihad need never have happened since the Hausa already had a long and admirable history of Islamic commitment behind them. Thus, in the case of the old NEPU-NPC struggle, the devotion of both sides to Islam was equal, but their interpretation of where the true Islam resides was different.

xvi PREFACE It is doubtful whether a serious and deliberate commitment to indigenous non-Muslim culture any longer exists in northern Nigeria, except in those areas of Jos and Plateau that the jihads failed to encompass. In fact, these areas are now predominantly Christian, having become prime targets of the Christian missionaries both during and after the colonial period, to the great displeasure of Muslims. There a strong attachment to older cultures does still exist; and this is very evident in the graphic art produced by a people who are now in many cases well educated and artistically sophis-

ticated. The Maguzawa of Hausaland who managed to escape the

jihad and retain their indigenous culture have now largely been won over, at least nominally, to Islam as a result of the Sardauna of Sokoto’s “Islamization” campaign of 1960-66. They perhaps still represent a dying alternative non-Muslim culture but no more than

that. Certainly they are not articulate in defense of it in the way Muslims are in their advocacy of Islam.

To sum up, there are indeed differences of emphasis among northern Muslims that boil down to distinct Fulani and Hausa per-

ceptions of the reform movement and jihad. But there is also remarkable solidarity between them concerning such central Islamic issues as Sharia, membership of the OIC, and the necessity to create an Islamic order in Nigeria. This leads me to question whether there is, in fact, any significant distinction to be made between socalled “fundamentalists” and “moderates.”

In 1973 one might have been forgiven for assuming that the progress of pluralist, multiparty democracy in northern Nigeria was" merely interrupted by the civil war and the Gowon administration,

and that the return to democracy after this interlude would, as Gowon intended, be lasting. Such a view would certainly have been optimistic but in no way unreasonable. Yet it has gone wholly awry.

For the return to democracy resulted only in the spectacularly unsuccessful Shagari administration, which collapsed in 1983, to be followed by a further period of military rule that is only now phasing itself out. Professor Jibril Aminu, Nigerian Minister for Oil and President of OPEC in 1991, himself of course a Muslim, gave it as his opinion that “democracy, and its present-day inseparable twin, market econ-

Preface XVil omy, are most likely to be the ruling order in most of these [African] countries by the end of the decade, if not sooner.”' In much of Africa this will surely prove true. Yet in the case of Nigeria

one wonders. As is already well known, opposition to secular, democractic pluralism, the universal adult franchise and the nation-state itself are all part of the platform of Islamic fundamentalists, whether they are Islamic Charterists of the Sudan, the Front Islamique de Salut of Algeria, or the British fundamentalists led by Kalim Siddiqui. All insist that Muslims may consent to be governed only within an Islamic state which is a constituent part of the worldwide Islamic umma. It is therefore not surprising to discover that Nigerian Muslim activists such as the late Shaykh Abubakar Gumi, Shehu Umar Abdullahi, and perhaps most effectively because of his undoubted scholarly skills, Ibraheem Sulaiman, all repeat this fundamentalist message in the Nigerian context. Throughout all the vagaries of Nigerian independence Ibraheem Sulaiman has steadfastly maintained the radical Islamic position in his prolific writings. Thus, in the aftermath of the Shagari debacle,

he wrote: “The failure of democracy, yet again, in the Nigerian political drama, reinforces the hard truth that the attempt by Nigeria to seek to establish herself on the ‘debris of western imperialism,’ as Professor Abdullahi Smith puts it, is an absolutely futile

exercise.”” He then called upon the head of state of the day, Muhammad Buhari, to “summon the courage to discharge the responsibility of government in accordance with the basic principles of Islam.” He praised the late Murtala Muhammad because “he started to give the Shariah its rightful place in Nigeria” and he concluded: It should be clear to every conscious mind, not least the Head of State himself, that all the past efforts to solve Nigeria’s problems without reference to Allah, without reference to the sacred Sharia and to Islam, have failed. Islam is Nigeria’s most important, most entrenched system of life: to bypass it and attempt to grab the untenable colonial system and institutions is self-defeating and a blatant display of blindness to our very history.”

XVill PREFACE Such views eleborate the message of members of the Muslim Students Society, as they paraded on the campuses of northern Nigerian universities in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Their banners bore the slogans in Arabic, Hausa, and English: “Democracy is unbelief! We do not want a constitution! We want government by the Qur’an alone!” It now seems clear that since the first publication of The Sword of Truth some twenty years ago, a conflict of ideas has come to full flush between, on the one hand, Nigerian Sunni Muslims yearning for what they conceive of as Islamic government and for whom secularism and pluralism are no more than ku/r (infidelity) and, on the other hand, secular modernists of the mainly Christian constituency, but with some muslim advocates, who embrace democracy, pluralism, and secularism and are determined to reestablish a multiparty political environment, based in adult suffrage in a federal Nigeria.

What the outcome will be it would be rash to predict. Some will

surely feel in their bones that the tide of democratic “progress” must in the end overwhelm by sheer force majeure what they see as the medieval nostalgia of Muslims. Others will maintain that what the fundamentalists utter is no more than the froth of rhetoric; and

they will look to the mediating efforts of Yoruba Muslims, what remains of the once influential Tijaniyya, and individual Muslim moderates to bring about a compromise. Yet others, myself included, will point to the example of the Sudan and to Algeria, as well as to the rumbling volcano of Islamic radicalism in northern Nigeria

itself, and conclude that such optimistic conclusions may be premature. They would argue that for better or worse Islamic radicalism in Nigeria is now too powerful to be countered even by the forces of secularism the non-Muslim constituency deploys—in fine that those who rely on Muslim “moderates” to carry the day are likely to be seriously disappointed. Only time will tell.

Mervyn Hiskett September 1993

Preface xix Notes I am grateful to my old friend and colleague, John Hunwick of Northwestern University, for his help and encouragement in getting this second edition published with a new Preface. Needless to say, I am solely responsible for the views expressed in it. 1. Shehu Umar Abdullahi, Reflections on the Political Thought of Shaikh Abdullaht Dan Fodio (Kaduna, 1984), 69. 2. Ibraheem Sulaiman, A Revolution in History: The Jihad of Usman Dan Fodio (London and New York: G. Mansell, 1986), 131.

3. C. N. Ubah, “Colonial administration and the spread of Islam in northern Nigeria,” Muslim World (1991): 81, il. 4, Abubakr Mahmud Gumi, (al ‘Aqida al-sahiha (Beirut, 1972], 79), writes of

British colonial rule: “Secondly, they built schools to teach destructive western culture and they began by teaching the children of the idolatrous infidels whose fathers walked the land naked, unaware of what morals, manly virtue and humanity might be. They placed them in sensitive government positions and they came to lord it over the Muslims whose brains had fallen asleep amid fantasies of superstition” [my emphasis]. 5. See The Sword of Truth, 96. 6. Abdullahi, Reflections, 21. 7. Ibid., 30. 8. Sulaiman, Revolution in History, 49. 9. Ibid., 58.

10. See, for example, his chapter in M. Ghayasuddin, ed., The Impact of Nationalism on the Muslim World (London, 1986). I]. See Alija Izetbegovic, The Islamic Declaration: A Programme for the Islamiza-

tion of Muslims and the Muslim Peoples (Sarajevo, 1990 [originally written in 1970}). 12. Abdullahi, Reflections, 46. 13. P. J. Ryan, “Islam and politics in West Africa: Minority and majority models,” Muslim World (1987): 72, i.

14. See J. O. Hunwick, “An African case study of political Islam: Nigeria,” Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, no. 524 (1992), 149.

15. I refer here to Paden’s paper “Religious identity and political values in Nigeria: The transformation of the Muslim community,” presented at the con-

XX PREFACE ference “Islam and Nationhood,” Yale University, Center for International and Area Studies, 12~14 November 1992. 16. In particular his book The Hausa Factor in West African History, (Zaria and

, Ibadan, 1978). 17. Julie Lawson, “Nigerian Historiography and the Sokoto Jihad,” M.A. thesis, School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, 1989. 18. Ibid., 16. 19. As reported in West Africa, 16-22 December 1991. 20. See Sulaiman, “The ‘Moment of Truth’ in Nigeria,” Impact International, 13-26 April 1984. 21. Ibid.

Preface to the First Edition

THE Arm of this book is to describe Shehu Usuman dan Fodio’s life and times as he, his contemporaries, and the generations that followed him saw them. I have tried, by avoiding gratuitous in-

terpretations simply to tell their story. But to follow this principle rigidly would often leave present-day readers who are unfamiliar with the culture and attitudes of a West African Islamic community in the early nineteenth century, puzzled and confused.

Thus I have sometimes felt justified in filling in the historical background, focusing attention on important developments, and interpreting possible motives at times when it seems to me the sources provide hints but do not explain fully.

I have made as much use as possible of accounts composed locally in Arabic and the vernacular languages of Hausaland. For it is through these that we can best understand how the people involved saw, and felt about, the events in which they participated. But they are many and, in a book that is necessarily limited

in size, only some can be quoted. Descriptions of the sources I have used will be found from time to time in the text and in the appended Short Bibliographical Essay.

XXii PREFACE CITATION OF SOURCES In the case of Arabic sources, I quote, where possible, from translations available, in part or wholly, in print. In these cases I indicate where the passage will be found by referring to the pagination of the journal or book in which the translation is contained. Otherwise, I use my own microfilm copies of MSS from private and public collections and give references according to the chapters (Bab) and sections (Fasl) of these MSS. Such indications are normally found in brackets at the end of quotations; occasionally footnotes are more suitable. A list of Arabic Sources follows this Preface.

The majority of Hausa sources exist only in manuscript. The question of the language of origin of certain of the poems presents a problem. Some are known to have been composed in the first instance in Fulfulde and subsequently rendered into Hausa. I have it on the oral authority of reputable Sokoto antiquarians that whenever a translator carried out such work, he invariably stated the fact in the colophon. Certainly this is so in a number of wellknown works, but one cannot be absolutely certain that all translators were as scrupulous as the tradition would have it. Yet in the absence of other evidence, one must respect it. Therefore, unless a poem carries with it a statement to the contrary, I treat it as having been composed originally in Hausa. There is, of course, another possibility: that certain poems were composed simultaneously in Fulfulde and Hausa and it therefore by no means follows that because a Fulfulde and a Hausa version exist, the later is a “‘translation” of the former. Also following this Preface is a numbered List of Hausa Poems in which the Hausa titles and provenance of all Hausa works mentioned in the book are given. The numbers that appear in brackets after certain quotations refer to this list; thus [1] indicates the quotation is from Abinda aka nufa zamanin Shehu, and so on.

In transliterating Arabic words into roman letters. it is cus* Where the sources state or imply dates according to the Islamic Hijra (Hegira) I give this first, followed by the A.D. conversion. Otherwise I give dates according to the Christian era unless there is a particular reason for giving both.

Preface XXill tomary to employ certain diacritical points and marks of elonga-

tion. The majority of those who read this book are unlikely to know Arabic, so they would not be helped by the use of this convention; while Arabists are unlikely to be unduly inconvenienced by its absence. These points and marks have therefore been omitted throughout the book, including the Bibliography, in the interests of economy. The Hausa glottal letters have also been omitted in personal names and place names, since the customary forms are more familiar.

Since about 1900 Hausaland has been part of a political and territorial entity officially designated the Northern Provinces of Nigeria, then later the Northern Region of Nigeria and, less correctly but commonly, Northern Nigeria. But with the establishing of the new states by the present Nigerian government, such forms become obsolete and the purely geographical northern Nigeria is now appropriate. I have used this form throughout this book, except in a few places where, for historical reasons, one or other of the earlier forms is obviously preferable.

THE ISLAMIC BACKGROUND One of the problems faced by the author of a book like this is that he must assume some background knowledge on the part of his readers, although the assumption is often unrealistic. The history of Hausaland, the life of the Shehu and his community, and the rise of the Sokoto caliphate all took place against the backeround of world Islam. They are as much part of Islamic history as are the early Arab conquests or the rise of the Ottoman Turks. They can be understood fully only within the context of Islam,

its political and, above all, its cultural history. This book obviously cannot provide all the necessary information. But what can be done is to offer a reading list that will provide it. It is with

this intention that I have compiled Section (A) of the Bibliography and I urge all those who study the history of Hausaland— and indeed of West Africa as a whole—to acquaint themselves as fully as they can spare the time with the history of Islam.

Meopham, 1972 M. H.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

‘THIS BOOK is based largely on field work done in northern Nigeria

from July 1966 to June 1967; and I am indebted in the first place to the School of Oriental and African Studies of the University of London for funds that made this possible; to the Institute of African Studies, University of Ibadan, of which I was an honorary member during my stay in Nigeria; and to the National Archives, Kaduna, for permission to use their collections and facilities. It is impossible to acknowledge all the help I received from so

many individuals in the course of my research. But I have a special debt to the following: Mr. Gordon Wilson, the General Manager of the United Africa Company in Nigeria, who helped me in countless ways to solve problems of accommodation and transport; and for his constant friendship during the many years of our common association with Nigeria. To Professor John Hunwick, of the Centre of Arabic Documentation, University of Ibadan, for the freedom of the Centre’s fine manuscript collections; to Malam Ibrahim Mukoshy, for generous assistance in tracing and

copying manuscripts; to Malam Mahmoud Kano, Alkalin Sumaila, who accompanied me constantly during my field work and

without whose help I should not have been able to familiarize myself with Hausa poetry; to Malam Muhammadu Dan Amu of Sokoto, at present living in Kano, whose knowledge of Sokoto

XXVI ACKNOWLEDGMENTS history and tradition was of constant assistance. In Kano I also received much help and kindness from the Madaki, Malam Alhaji Ahmad; and in Sokoto from the Waziri, Malam Alhaji Junaidu. Others who helped me on various occasions were Malam Haliru Binji and Malam Isa Kurawa.

I wish also to thank Dr. B. G. Martin and Dr. Humphrey J. Fisher, both of whom read the draft of this book and made numerous helpful suggestions; Professor D. W. Arnott, who has helped

me constantly with problems of Hausa; Mr. David Cowan, Dr. H. T. Norris, and Malam Hassan Gwarzo, who assisted me when I had difficulty with the Arabic; and Professor Hollis Lynch and Mr. James Amon of Oxford University Press, New York, for valuable editorial suggestions. I would also like to thank the Ministry

of Information, Cultural and Social Development for the North Western State of Nigeria for their kind assistance. But despite the patient help of all these friends and colleagues, all mistakes and shortcomings are my own. I also wish to thank Mr. Thomas Hodgkin, Professor D. W. Arnott and Malam Ibrahim Mukoshy for permission to quote from their unpublished seminar papers. Finally, my debt to Dr. Murray Last is obvious from the number of times I refer to his Sokoto Caliphate; likewise to Mr. S. J. Hogben and Mr. A. H. M. Kirk-Greene; and the late Mr. H. A. S. Johnston, to whose works I also refer frequently.

CONTENTS

ABBREVIATIONS ~—- XXXI

ARABIC SOURCES ~—- XXXiil

LIST OF HAUSA POEMS = XXXv

I INTRODUCTION 3 The Early History of Hausaland 3 The Establishment of Islam in Hausaland 5 The Beginnings of the Islamic Reform Movement 7 The Fulani Caliphate of Sokoto 9 The British Conquest of Hausaland 12

II THE YEARS OF PREPARATION 15 The Shehu’s Early Life and Domestic Environment 17 The Community at Worship 26 The Shehu as a Young Manin Degel 30 Education and Intellectual Life among the Muslim Fulani:

The Schools 33 The Curriculum 36 The Teachers 39

III PREACHER AND MISSIONARY 42 The Early Period of Itinerant Missionary Work 42

XXVUI CONTENTS Increasing Involvement in the Politics of the Gobir

Court 46 The Nature and Purpose of His Preaching 49

The Preacher 56

IV THE SWORD OF TRUTH 59 Sufism in the Western Sudan 59 The Sufi Allegiance of the Muslim Fulani 60 The Sufi Revival of the Eighteenth and Nineteenth

Centuries 61 ‘The Shehu’s Personal Mystical Experiences 63

V PRELUDE TO WAR 40 The Gimbana Affair 71 The Act of Allegiance at Gudu_ 73 Popular Support for the Shehu 74 The Undercurrent of Islam 176

Slavery 74 ,

The Conflict of Interest between Nomads and Peasants 79

VI HOLY WAR IN THE WAY OF GOD 81 The Terrain of the Campaigns 81 The Two Armies 82 The Battle of ‘Tabkin Kwotto to the Battle of Alwassa,

November 1805 87 December 1805, to the Fall of Alkalawa, September

1808 94 1809-12: The Founding of the Fulani Empire 98 Reasons for the Muslims’ Success 100 The Shehu’s Hzjra and His Personal Contribution to

the Holy War 102

VII THE AFTERMATH 105 The Failure of Ideals 105 The Muslim Rebels 107 The Bornu Correspondence 109 The Sifawa Period 110 The Division of Authority and the Succession 113 ‘Abdullah b. Muhammad and Muhammad Bello 114

Contents Xxix VII THEOLOGIAN AND DOGMATIST 116 His Intellectual Assumptions 116 Some Important ‘Theological Works 118 The Debt to al-Maghili 120 ‘The Doctrine of the Renewer of the Faith 121 The Status of Sinners and the Nature of Unbelief 125 Religious Ignorance, Charlatanism, and Venality 128 The Relation of the Reform Movement to Wahhabism 131

IX FOUNDER OF THE STATE AND LAWGIVER 134 The Model 134 The Reformers’ Constitutional Theory and Practice 136 The Moral Basis of the Constitution 146

X EPILOGUE 150 “Canonization” and the Miracle Tradition 150 The Extent of the Reformers’ Achievement 152

The Intellectual Consequences of the Reform , Movement 156 The Conflict Between Islamic Teaching and African

Ideas of Life and Death 158 The Continuing Role of Sufism 161 The Legacy of Islamic Conservatism 163 Islam in the Recent History of Nigeria 165 A SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY A. Islam, General Background 170 B. West Africa 171 APPENDIX I: A SHORT BIBLIOGRAPHICAL ESSAY = 177

APPENDIX II: EXPLANATORY NOTES TO MAPS 185

INDEX 189 MAPS

I. Hausaland c. 1750, following p. 4 IJ. Main Battles and Offenses of the Jihad 1804-5, following P. 94

XXX Contents III. Main Battles and Offenses of the Jihad 1806-12, tollowing p. 94

IV. The Fulani Empires of Gwandu and Sokoto c. 1812, following p. 100

V. Northern Nigeria: States and Provinces, following p. 154

ABBREVIATIONS

ALS African Language Studies.

BSh Bayan al-bida‘ al-shaytaniyya BSOAS Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studtes.

BW Bayan wujub al-hijra CAD Centre of Arabic Documentation, Institute of African Studies, University of Ibadan.

CADRB Centre of Arabic Documentation Research Bulletin.

DH Diya al-hukkam. IM Infag al-matsur.

IN Ida‘ al-nusukh. IS Thya al-sunna.

JAH Journal of African History. JHSN Journal of the Historical Society of Nigeria.

KCh Kano Chronicle.

KF Kitab al-farq.

KFC Kano Field Collection. MES Middle Eastern Studies. NAK National Archives, Kaduna.

NI Najm al-ikhwan.

NUM Nasa’th al-ummat al-muhamimadiyya.

QD Qasidat al-daliyya.

XXXII ABBREVIATIONS

RJ Raud al-jinan. SI Siraj al-ikhwan.

SJS Shahuci Judicial School, Kano.

TI Ta‘lim al-tkhwan.

LW Tazyin al-waragqat.

US Usul al-styasa.

WG Wak’ar gewaye

WKS Wak’ar karamomin Shehu.

WW Wallahi, wallahi

ARABIC SOURCES

Bayan al-bida‘ al-shaytaniyya, quotations in BSOAS, XXV, 3, 1962.

Bayan wujub al-hira ‘ala al-‘tbad, SJS; also quotations from Hodgkin, ‘“The Radical Tradition” (op. cit., Bibliog.), originating from E]-Masri’s unpublished ed. and trans. Diya al-hukkam, private Xerox; Gaskiya Corporation, Zaria, 1956. Ihya al-sunna, SJS; also I. A. B. Balogun, ed. and trans., op. cit., Bibliog.

Infag al-maisur, Arnett, trans., op. cit., Bibliog. Ida‘ al-nusukh, ed. and trans., BSOAS, XIX, 3, 1957. Kitab al-farqg, ed. and trans., BSOAS, XXIII, 3, 1960. Najm al-tkhwan, SJS. Nasa’th al-ummat al-muhammaadtyya, quotations in BSOAS, XXV, 3, 1962.

Qasidat al-daliyya, NAK, C/AR8 Raud al-jinan, CAD /181. Siraj al-tkhwan, S]S and quotations in BSOAS, XXV, 3, 1962. La‘lim al-tkhwan, ed. and trans., MES, IV, 1. Lazyin al-waragqat, ed. and trans., Hiskett, Bibliog. Usul al-styasa, SJS.

Wird, Zaria, n.d.

— a. f : p, Civile a a Hy Fs.

ry y" > Ww -

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ws Ret, Sa AE als i

Fi . 2% ..w Z‘et ).Rear oS aete hd ke hire! 4Aa bgt PGR f4, ae 44‘a ‘# } :¥ : ¢ . “ i. = ow a ‘ ies + > = ys ecg th Ly +. id i 7 a . } strat git ; rg f ee , ’ “< x wn 4 . eS f b . D Sm ‘ wir, f =A * ‘ ey mo Se his F a , . ;% = P07 $oNig Ai.«ayot r4a%s "»hd y“4 4£’”‘yee 7leet meas Fe ‘4 .\ é;+ Sari *¥4 Wace ¥a iat Pe Ay =Pas .~~ >x BY 7,a Paty v1 -oF Panel ody ys “arda, .‘.ta 1% iy diy > {Reece eg “% he Ee , sh 6 iy , a Styes @ iwo “¢ 4 Fe id aot } ie he ee a9 wi ng , 7 » > ri * Pear Rian Ihoeas Ct ‘6 =z i . =oe f ~- tie a Ppeyait - : ak .ome eens i Sie toe aae :;oe a,: Pe ee ay % 4 has r ee ' " f lee Lee 3 A ;au4—, «sa? da ae eee. ae aS, gge aFT ;2a fte;» ry, ;‘;RE oe @ F 4f ee & Baw FM Pe : ; > ras) — a epee A & }Baer 5 € one... . . ss ASS eee otha eo ae cy: od ae f 4 Sy ” F % EL al CAF ASAE a sj OR Oh ‘ i 4 ° a | a eee ee a woe . oe ee :

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: : s ayr> j seg a? Las . \ ee Fe SS ; ,‘a)a ree ee ees Dll¥ aat i eh PaeT os cat Vee “:: y ss te »-« #Fee gt he“; ‘JFS ee ';‘cd aily ate es ¥ ’ ey | 4 a Ne . ag . CA sy “2 hy « . / ‘ “ > f Ne ‘4 neces ee / ; “ ee) 3iai - 2a *, — r :2 F

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ra tk aa y s teae ot ears -- ,$;": : . A Ps ‘die , wes 3 7 hs : ad, ara gee. Kj : ‘ i 1 ' Vf ; 3 "4 ; A “. . ey ey y he aie Aah. te pat ila the r . .

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f " ri PiSta re ateWb We eeaN ieLo) C #% ddWes ¢xA}. (Newest ath Mee aOe Mia Ee Aut pA : W¥y ' 7¢aad Se ?Ql al Ae SSI A eee Ai pin 24 ere CRN hae ah hsAAde PO aaeuncacites hae éCa : ‘ ‘

’by ‘yeM NP SCeee feadang ip giSes 4: Sa J'i’{‘0PORE >‘pian iLEE Pag? ag RE pal NA a ak Ss : zy st Suwe teYisrne dls oe a Btn xaeDa atees iat all A sh‘ Cae anaes , hy," SO RU OM bereoc"vila aes eae ae ae: ‘ "at a 7 . iy Line te t " vA . hag 4 aa. FM 2 Ey es | 5 ae fe a, me . re

a ; VERS Ge ain th eS RSF OLE TNE Re aera SRS igs get 7 "4

I Folio from an early copy probably circa 18) JO of the takhmis on Shehu

S$ /via amaIsa are dan Sa Gan enu. Usuman ’5 Ma’ "a by Sheh

LIST OF HAUSA POEMS

(1) Abinda aka nufa zamanin Shehu, Gaskiya Corporation Collection of unpublished MSS, Gaskiya Corporation, Zaria. (2) A mu gode Sarki, CAD /225.

(3) Arewa, Jumhuriya ko Mulukiya, KFC; also Wak’ok’in M. Sa’adu Zungur, Zaria, 1960 and 1964.

(4) Bakandamtyya, NAK, A/AR. (5) Bak’in mart, KFC; also Wak’ok’in wa’azt, Zaria, 1959. (6) Billaht arumu, NAK, D/AR1i6. (7) Chronicle of Sokoto, private collection of Alhaji Malam Muhammadu Dan Amu of Kano. (8) AHibatul wahhabi1, NAK, D/AR18. (9) Jiddul ajizt, NAK, D/AR1. (10) Kankandero, personal microfilm recorded in Birnin Gwari. (11) Kogi, NAK, G/AR8.

(12) Ma’ama’are, the private collection of Alhaji Nasiru Kano; also Zaria, n.d.

(13) Mahadi, Gaskiya Corporation Collection of unpublished MSS.

(14) Political verse, Ephemera, KFC. (15) Praise-song to Masaba, Sarkin Nupe, NAK, O/ARg.

(16) Sharifiyya, the private collection of Alhaji Malam Sayyidi Katsina; also Wak’ok’in wa’azt, Zaria, 1959.

XXXVI List of Hausa Poems (17) Sifofin Shehu, CADRB, II, 1, 1966. (18) Labbat hakika, Wak’ok’in Hausa, Zaria, 1957.

(19) Wak’ar gewaye, the private collection of Alhaji Malam Junaidu, Wazirin Sokoto; also Wak’ok’in wa’azi, Zaria, 1959.

(20) Wak’ar karamomin Shehu, ALS, XII, 1971, “The ‘Song of the Shehu’s Miracles .. .’” (21) Wak’ar mahdt, Gaskiya Corporation Collection. (22) Wak’ar Sa’idu, NAK, G/AR8. (23) Wak’ar yabon Sir Ahmadu Bello, Ephemera, KFC.

(24) Wallahi, wallahi, the private collection of Alhaji Ahmadu, Marafa of Sokoto.

(25) Yau kufuru ya zamna har bidva, the private collection of Professor J. Carnochan.

THE SWORD OF TRUTH

I INTRODUCTION

AT THE TuRN of the eighteenth to the nineteenth century a revolu-

tionary movement arose in Hausaland (now part of northern Nigeria) that was to have a profound influence on the subsequent history of the area. At its center was a man who bore the Hausa

name Shehu Usuman dan Fodio—the Shaikh ‘Uthman, son of Fodio. The movement he led, and the successful jzhad, or holy war, he fought to reform Islam in Hausaland, brought about 1mportant changes in this part of Africa. This book is about the history of his movement and the effects it had on the subsequent development of Hausa society.

THE EARLY HISTORY OF HAUSALAND The Hausas are not a tribal group. They are a community of people of various ethnic origins who speak a common language— Hausa. They emerged as a result of migration from the north into the western Sudan, probably in the tenth century A.D., although the sources, of which the most important is the Kano Chronicle,’ may be chronologically unreliable. These immigrants mixed with the indigenous inhabitants, who were pagan hunter-gatherers, and after the lapse of several generations established mastery over them. The hunter-gatherers at the time the immigrants arrived, 1 Palmer, Sudanese Memorrs (Lagos, 1928), vol. III. 3

4 THE SWORD OF TRUTH lived in dispersed hamlets, were organized on a clan basis, and were not subject to any central authority. But the immigrants built walled towns and set up city-states that controlled the surrounding countryside and thus territorial boundaries were acquired. By the first half of the fifteenth century Hausaland was partially under the control of Bornu—allegedly an Islamic state since A.D. 1085—to the extent that, during the reign of Dauda (1421-38), a Bornu prince arrived in Kano City at the head of a large army. He appears to have been a “Resident” representing the Bornu interest, and the Kano Chronicle suggests that tribute in slaves may have been paid to Bornu at this time. But by the end of the fifteenth century whatever power Bornu had over Hausaland had declined. ‘The enduring legacy of this period was the introduction of some Islamic words into the Hausa language, and Bornuese titles into Habe government; also, perhaps, some fragments of Islamic law.

By the sixteenth century a homogeneous people was in being, with a common language, and it is probably early in this century that they acquired the label Hausa.? According to their legends of

origin, seven true Hausa states had by then emerged—Kano, Daura, Rano, Katsina, Zazzau, Gobir, and Garun Gabas. ‘They were associated, through kinship ties and trade links, with seven others, known somewhat disdainfully as ‘‘the bastard seven,” who were not Hausa by blood but who followed a way of life similar to that of the Hausas. These were: Kebbi, Zamfara, Nupe, Gwari, Yauri, Yoruba, and Kwararafa.

In the sixteenth century the Saharan empire of Songhai extended its conquests into Hausaland. Kano, Katsina, and Zaria be-

came formally subject to it and paid tribute. But the power of Songhai lapsed and by the seventeenth century a warlike people from the Benue area, called the Kwararafa, had conquered part of Hausaland, including Kano. They in turn receded, and by the eighteenth century a number of virtually independent kingdoms had emerged, each under the discrete and arbitrary rule of a Hausa or Habe? chief. Some of these were nominally Muslims; 2 Skinner (op. cit., Bibliog.).

3 The term “Habe” is Fulfulde. It means “non-Fulani” and was used by

the Fulani to describe the pre-jihad rulers of Hausaland.

t3

ji]i. 2|,.t=>a719 ‘!f so{4.s !\\ \+?2>:i] Oo ,ce< |

]. t|i!rN :| fo) ,|:gg i5| | = ig A : \ 8 (O*. aa) = qo 1 2) >, S ,1°}© \ < \ ) \} OR i EN = 4 l = ONS of ===3¥ Dans

12 = ' s I< | O = sI1y¥ 4= t oo 3. cc a)«. Rhee +

‘ ed > Pa ~ ’ a at eee he, lot cé¥, me (io Ma 2 aie” EOS” mom,

FS& ae 5 atoa ~~GhFang ootP*i =wot, hd AAes eee Te*en — 2 ee.ae — eT a sa aera Z 4 ame, P Od WH, ee mieyp bm,a| genset pagan 4 riePy 2 *,piimios = vy

| Y toes . .

eg ati ge nealailabos an eX , , ed ot oe ni Toe ene. pom geecadkars toa ie 4 ReAs cs Da. Tm ~*~ spine. wewire ae 1De os,RSwh a Fo Pca SR el ae REE. 5 1? ei.

fie Vo % “ q Aa ee tet POS ale ‘oe A Sa AOS mi yt on / “bic ae ‘ % ae hat : Ae: ee i ‘ cd e. 3pis:’‘ere a, ”ys See es Oh nin CE RR-ue tg oy *“Da os ieye eo3a. *Ra 7 aa :©: y : " a e”ak —yy -ss Rey 9Sah: FeSee *™. & +at m4 ery a»:US "we 3tes Ss “=:ae Pthes, eed t. 7Cae : 5we F— deRp PN aktyAE *by? ier Py ‘ ty an LP iswe =«. “ioeT anebal PePcie ag aa ie . Py es . es . “Minn Wale OSL om‘~ ”hi.vad ;

‘ x . 4 4 e . ~y ~~ ? ’ f .< ip ; Re de )

,Sioa = eae pa Ld 8 meFO ee igS ; oeease ers = RS OSEug 3d ee a age ey eemE bot J

fs . ——. a. -¢oo ngage *gf] er~ me oe. a ox ‘ “e we 2Meee ’ tare ahee EO wale e0aee orifi oe. rt .2 oi nth ‘ “4 phat ~~ie ame?' a. ae. “ee a»ee Me eee, NY. amante a.:ah Psato. ee, o_o eon / POs ame, Amao*a a =4— aewht eeheaa oe ie Ps a Kay D » na ~~ jeep Sait eee Aa ey a ‘4 a, or. te eo * \. ~ ~\ eeree ery ae Ps ty. Rew ‘~ a =< - . “ “a —* - ?3“2¢ ~~ gn ~;; vs Saeee tereR,

ume: oe ato Sone it ala ws Lae b infin

Hilly country Z ryinamfara. o

cape.

RS’‘eeos hd ma ® 4 . , ene tg ‘ , ~s i 7oe-‘ se

Par oF

aad : nai : 7 r al) / tn dmg teall wb rabey 7 ee oy?ORE SKAIPM. ==t¥eia ee eeese a Pe St en

ee RR onsg SIR ET ene ee ee OO oe Ne eee eee, a

Rigas SAS Suse line 4 he. i Sar Piwine oe eS ah. boa a MAN SR one I Oa A Oe, oti SN Fe Nearaettialicdn linia e Sa ie iia ORI So

“es” aaa i eg, 2s eS =

IV Avvillage scene in northern Nigeria.

while the people of Kebbi remained in constant revolt, in the end

winning virtual independence of Sokoto. From the north they were constantly harassed by the Habe, who had been driven out but not destroyed, and who remained vigorously bent on revenge.

This situation had its effect upon the outlook and ethos of the Fulani, as well as upon their military dispositions. They became a closed, exclusive society whose members saw their survival not

only in terms of maintaining their frontiers; but also the strict orthodoxy of their religion and the hierarchical structure of their feudal organizations. Their hold, both physical and ideological, was firm enough over the towns within their empire, many of which grew up around the rzbats. In the more distant bush areas, however, it remained tenuous and large groups of animists continued to live in virtual independence. Yet so powerful was the appeal of Islamic culture that its influences penetrated even to

12 THE SWORD OF TRUTH these remote areas, and a process of Islamic acculturalization, as distinct from direct conversion and political allegiance to the Islamic state, became steadily more pervasive.

The first Fulani rulers were forceful men with considerable administrative ability. And during the period of their rule the nature of their government, and of society in general, was more in conformity with the Shari‘a, or Islamic legal and social code, than it had been under the Habe. In later generations, however, it became increasingly difficult to contain the dynastic and tribal rival-

ries that the jihad had pushed into the background; but which now began to emerge again to weaken the solidarity and strength of the empire. Nevertheless, the caliph’s moral authority proved sufficient to surmount these difficulties and the core of the empire remained intact. It was the situation that developed in the newly

conquered territories of the south that, in the end, proved the most dangerous.

Unlike the western, northern, and eastern borders, the southern

border of the Sokoto empire had always remained open. For the threat from the fragmented pagan tribes that inhabited the wooded country of the river Benue was negligible and the area offered scope for the more restless scions of the Sokoto dynasty to carve out new kingdoms and enrich themselves by slave-raiding. One who took ample advantage of such opportunities was Umaru Nagwamatse, a restless, turbulent son of Abubakar Atiku, the second caliph of Sokoto. In 1859 he established himself in the hith-

erto unconquered pagan enclave to the southeast of Sokoto and set up the emirate of Kontagora. He and his successors ruled as robber barons, nominally in allegiance to Sokoto, but in fact too powerful to be disciplined by the central authority. Together with their Nupe allies, they ravaged Gwariland and southern Zaria by constant, indiscriminate slave-raiding against Muslim and pagan alike, and Sokoto was unable to restrain them. It was their excesses that proved disastrous for the caliph, and not any action for which he himself was directly responsible.

THE BRITISH CONQUEST OF HAUSALAND While these events were taking place in Hausaland, certain developments in the game of power politics caused Britain and

Introduction 13 France, and to a lesser extent Germany, to find their interests clashing in West Africa. As the French pressed down southward from Senegal toward the river Niger in an attempt to enlarge their sphere of control, so the British, fearful for their commercial interests and of the political consequences of French expansion,

pushed north to forestall them. The situation that resulted faced the British representative in the area, Sir Frederick Lugard—an Edwardian soldier and administrator dedicated to the service of empire—with the need to establish some sort of control over the Sokoto empire that lay, as he saw it, like a no-man's land. across the area disputed by the European powers. Meanwhile, of course, other interests were concerned with West Africa: especially the missionaries. ‘Their pioneers—filled with evangelical zeal, burning to avenge the early victories of Islam over Christianity, and impatient to impose their gospel of personal salvation and their notions of civilization on the Muslims of the Sudan—established a mission on the lower Niger in 1857, within reach of Nupe and Kontagora. Then parties of their ardent young men, with considerable courage but less tolerance and understanding, pressed yet farther north, eventually reaching Kano in 1894, and again in 1900. There they hoped to set to and reverse what seemed to them the evil consequences of the work of the “ex-cowherd malam,” as one of them disdainfully dubbed the Shehu.® In the end they accomplished little among the Muslims—

although their conversions among pagans were more numerous and important. But what they did do was to bring back shocking accounts of slavery, of the alleged tyrannies of the Fulani rulers, and of the plight of the Hausa people sunk in medieval apathy and moral turpitude. Certainty there was some truth in these stories: but also much bias and exaggeration, arising out of the missionaries’ own dislike of Islam. True or false, the stories received wide publicity in England and they certainly seem to be reflected in the views British administrators and soldiers subsequently expressed about the Fulani rulers. Fortified—if one may judge from his own writings—by such par6W.R.S. Miller, Reflections of a Pioneer, London, 1936, p. 5. The Hausa word “malam” means one learned in Islamic sciences and literature. It is also a common Hausa title, equivalent to Mr.

14 THE SWORD OF TRUTH tial accounts, and no doubt sincerely believing himself engaged in a crusade against evil, Sir Frederick Lugard (later Lord Lugard) demanded of the caliph in Sokoto that he curb the excesses of his vassals in Nupe and Kontagora. The caliph was, in the first place, unable effectively to exert such authority. In the second place he

questioned Lugard’s right to interfere. He did not comply. Unhappily, at this point an officer on Lugard’s staff was killed by one

of the caliph’s henchmen.’ With this as his justification, Lugard took the law into his own hands. In 1903, in a series of sharp cam-

paigns, he defeated both the emir of Kano and the caliph in Sokoto and established a British protectorate over Hausaland: thus bringing to an end, after almost a hundred years, the rule of the Sokoto caliphate that the Shehu and his followers had established.

In fact, however, the administration Lugard now set up left the framework of Fulani government, if not its power, largely intact; and simply imposed upon it a degree of control exercised through British “Residents” and administrative officers. The consequences of this intrusion were complex: some, such as the establishment of internal security, good communications, and even urbanization, tended to help the spread of Islam; others, such as the curtailment of slavery, the introduction of new material goods, new ideas and patterns of behavior, were all inimical to the Islamic status quo. The result was that, while Islam received no permanent set-back, the older generation experienced change in its way of life, but the new generation grew up accustomed from the start to conditions

that differed considerably from what had been familiar to its fathers. Yet the memory of the Shehu and what he stood for was not expunged. His ideas and his Islamic ideology remained deeply embedded in the ethos of the Muslims of the Northern Region of Nigeria—as Hausaland together with Bornu subsequently came to be known. The heritage of the jihad went on working as a leaven in Hausa society, influencing moral, political, and intellectual attitudes down to the present day. 7 The notorious incident in which Captain Moloney was killed by the Magaji Dan Yamusa (see Johnston (op. cit., Bibliog.), p. 243 f., for an account of this). Dan Yamusa was in fact an official of the court of Zaria; but Zaria

owed allegiance to Sokoto. Muffett, Concerning Brave Captains (London, 1964), gives a controversial interpretation of the affair.

Il THE YEARS OF PREPARATION

Tue FuLani claim a romantic origin, from ‘Uqba b. Naf, the Arab conqueror of North Africa (d. A.D. 683), through his marriage with Bajjomangu, the daughter of a Christian “king”’—presumably a Christian Berber chief—who accepted Islam. Although there is nothing in their language to suggest they are ethnically _ akin to the Berbers, the historical truth behind this legend may be that the Fulani, as a result of their conversion to Islam, have long-standing lineage links with both the Arabs and the Berbers. By the late Middle Ages several clans of the Fulani had emerged.

The clan to which the Shehu’s ancestors belonged, the ‘Toronkawa, migrated from Futa Toro under their leader Musa Jokollo during the fifteenth century and settled in the city of Konni, north of present Sokoto, in the ancient Habe kingdom of Gobir. ‘The Shehu’s younger brother and one of his biographers, ‘Abdullah b. Muhammad, claims they were settled there before the coming either of the Tuareg or the Hausas.1 They were then driven out of Konni by persecution at the beginning of the eighteenth century, and they moved to Maratta under the leadership of Muhammad Sa’d, the grandfather of Shehu Usuman. Later, under the Shehu’s father, Muhammad Fudi—in Hausa, Fodio—they moved to Degel, which became their home and their headquarters until the events 1JIn BSOAS, XIX, 3, 1957, p. 560. 15

16 THE SWORD OF TRUTH of the jtzhad uprooted them and set them on the move once more.

But the Toronkawa were not the only Fulani clan involved in the jihad: other important neighboring clans were the Sullebawa, a partially sedentary group that settled in the area of Rikina; the Kebbi Fulani, who had customary nomadic rights in the Kebbi

area; and the Konni Fulani, who grazed the country around Konni. Farther afield were the Alibawa, in Zamfara, and the Kassarawa Fulani, located in the upper Sokoto valleys. Indeed, the Fulani clans, under their Ardo’en (Fulfulde, sing., Ardo), or clan leaders, were spread widely over Hausaland and enjoyed recognized status under the Habe chief in whose territory they pastured

their herds. :

Some of these clans adopted Islam. But they practised it imperfectly because its demands did not fit in easily with the nomadic

way of life. For instance, among the Fulani nomads women do much of the work, so the Islamic rule of segregation of the sexes was difficult to observe. Moreover, the performance of the timeconsuming rituals of ceremonial ablution and prayer, which have to be undertaken at set times of the day and night, was hard for people whose livelihood depended on constantly watching their flocks and herds. The Toronkawa, however, were no longer fully nomadic: though

they may still have owned some cattle as a sentimental reminder of their nomadic past. They had adopted Islam at an early date— possibly even before the fifteenth century, when they moved down

from Futa Toro. Then they began to establish for themselves a tradition of Islamic learning, gradually abandoning nomadism in favor of the sedentary, clerical habits of scholarship. In the course

of their migrations across Hausaland, they found themselves in the environment of “mixed” Islam described in Chapter I. But how much they participated in it is uncertain. Dr. Murray Last, who has written a history of the Sokoto caliphate, has suggested that Islam had by this time become quite widely disseminated among the local Hausa scholars who, being part of the society, “knew the limits of their position and were prepared to accept the status quo.” He believes that they, and not the Fulani, were 2Murray Last, The Sokoto Caliphate (London, 1967), “Introduction,” p.

Ixxvi.

The Years of Preparation 17 the court malams—that is, the Muslim literati who served the chiefs as scribes, astrologers, and so on—of the Habe era. Other recent researches tend to support this view;? and so, to some extent, does the evidence of a well-known Hausa historical chronicle, the Song of Bagauda.* Nevertheless, the ‘Toronkawa were not entirely cut off from the court of the chief of Gobir, in whose territory they dwelt, because, as will be seen, the Shehu became sufhciently involved in the court establishment to advise the chief in war; possibly, if oral tradition is reliable, to act as tutor to his son; and, certainly, to intervene in the succession. But these developments took place at a late date. Despite their entanglement in the final dynastic rivalries of the Habe of Gobir, the Toronkawa kept their distance from the court by living outside the capital, Alkalawa, in the scholar cantonment of Degel, a village near present Sokoto.

THE SHEHU’S EARLY LIFE AND DOMESTIC ENVIRONMENT The Shehu Usuman dan Fodio was born in the village of Maratta, on the twenty-ninth day of the Islamic month of Safar, A.H.1168/December 15, 1754.5 Later, his family moved to Degel, where he grew up.

His father and mother are both rather shadowy figures. His father, who was a teacher, a scribe, and the zmam, or religious leader, of his community, taught him reading and writing, and then how to recite the Koran. Beyond that nothing is known of their relationship, except that his parents, in common with the rest of the Degel community, believed him, even as a boy, to possess certain supernatural powers and to have control over djinns.§

But in his community mother and father were less important than the clan. For he belonged to what is termed an “extended family,” in which intermarriage linked all its members together 3 For instance, N. Levtzion (op. cit., Bibliog.). 4 BSOAS, XXVII, 3, 1964.

5 His full Arabic name was ‘Uthman b. Muhammad b. ‘Uthman b. Salih. Th name Fodio is a Hausaized form of a Fulfulde word meaning “learned man” ¢ “jurist.” It is sometimes found in the Arabic form Fudi, or as Fodiyo. 6 WKS, ALS, 1971, p.75, and alsoin RJ.

18 THE SWORD OF TRUTH in an organization that spread, like the branches of a tree, generation by generation. New blood could—and did—come into it. But because of the great importance of genealogy, an institution which has a quasi-religious significance for Muslims, the clan was never allowed to fragment. It formed a refuge of security as well as a base of power upon which its members could always rely. Murray Last’s massive genealogy admirably displays, in a graphic form,

the resources and orientation of the Fulani Muslims’ world in eighteenth- and nineteenth-century Gobir and Zamfara.’ And it 1s easy to understand how this living institution carried not only the seed of the clan but also its mores, attitudes, and aspirations. ‘The

Shehu’s subsequent career, the nature of his support, and even the composition of what subsequently became the Sokoto establishment cannot be fully understood without reference to this im-

--mense, vigorous family tree. |

The Shehu’s biographers recorded the things that seemed important to them.® But they have little to say about such matters as the kind of house he lived in; how many horses he owned— although we know he had at least one white mare—or how he spent his time when not studying or engaged in some other pious pursuit. No doubt these were matters of common knowledge in their community and therefore regarded as of no special interest. So, in trying to build up a picture of his life style one must rely on observation of similar communities at a later period and assume a continuity. This is reasonable, for there is sufficient evidence of continuity in many aspects of life among Muslims in Hausaland to warrant the assumption that the way the Shehu’s community lived in the second half of the eighteenth century was 7 Sokoto Caliphate, end papers. See also TW (M. Hiskett, ed. cit., Bibliog.), “Introduction,” p. 5 and compare with Last, according to whom Masirana is the son of Ayyub, not his father. This contradicts the testimony of ‘Abdullah b. Muhammad, as Last notes, but if true it corrects the discrepancy noted in my genealogy, where Rugayya who must have been of the ninth generation,

has an apparent gap in her line of descent. But in making ‘Uthman, the father of Fatima (wife of Muhammad), the brother of Hamm b. ‘Al rather than his son, Last again contradicts ‘Abdullah b. Muhammad’s evidence, this time given once in IN (BSOAS, XIX, 3, 1957, p. 561) and again in TW (ed. cit., p. 98).

8'These biographies are described in the Bibliographical Essay at the end

of this book.

The Years of Preparation 19 not substantially different from how similar communities were living a century later,® and even at the present day.

Although the Muslim Fulani still retained an affection for the nomadic traditions of their past, their largely sedentary way of life * caused them to adopt the same kind of living quarters and much of the economy of the nearby Hausas. As with the Hausas, their family group was a polygamous household which also included younger and unmarried brothers, elderly female relatives, and other kinfolk, according to the wealth and status of the compound head. The domestic complex was similar to the Hausa gida, or compound—and it is clear from the sources that it was in such a compound that the Shehu lived in Degel. It must have been an area of about half an acre enclosed by a rectangular wall, _ probably of sun-dried mud bricks, possibly of the bamboo-like guinea corn stalks or other suitable local materials. Within this enclosure were individual round mud huts with conical roofs. These roofs are built of corn stalk frames, skillfully thatched with _ reeds and feathered grasses, and finally lifted, like huge hats, onto the round wall of the hut. There they sit, anchored with ropes to large stones and effectively exclude even the torrential downpours of the rainy season. They are beautiful, functional works of rural craftsmanship. There was such a hut for each of the four wives allowed in Islamic marriage. Sometimes, but not always, a compound would contain a separate hut for the compound head, and according to the size of the extended family, huts for the other inmates. The Shehu’s compound at Degel probably taced west, in accordance with the traditional orientation of a Fulani cattle encampment.

In addition to the living quarters, the compound must have contained a stable area, sited just inside the main entrance, where

the horses, and perhaps camels, and even a favorite cow were tethered and foddered during the dry season when there was no grazing. A large communal grain store, built of mud and thatched like the dwelling huts, would have stood at the back of the compound. It held the unthreshed heads of guinea corn and bulrush millet that were the family’s main source of food. Other, smaller stores belonged to individual wives, each of whom had her own 9M. F. Smith’s Baba of Karo, (op. cit., Bibliog.) provides such an account.

20 THE SWORD OF TRUTH personal supply of grain which she used when entertaining visiting friends or kinfolk. Beside each dwelling hut there would have been a tall, full-bellied earthenware pot covered with a wooden

lid to keep out thirsty lizards, which held the daily supply of drinking water. Such pots are slightly porous and keep the water fresh and cool. We can imagine, too, that a few goats, sheep, and rams foraged around the huts, munching the sheaths and stalks of the corn heads, as the women stripped them before pounding. The rams were destined for the Salla festival, the annual Islamic feast of sacrifice. Until they met their fate, these rams, spindleshanked, gentle animals with long shaggy coats, were treated as pets and hand-fed with bran and the sweepings of corn grinding in order to fatten them. Here and there across. the compound rush mats may have been laid out, spread with peppers—a favorite condiment used in the household’s cooking—drying red and crinkled in the hot sun of the dry season, their pungent tang mingling with the smell of pounded grain that hung in the air. Against the walls of the huts stood cornstalk frames, hung with strips of meat, also curing in the sun to make a kind of biltong (Hausa, Ailishi), which was used as iron rations when traveling. In front of the huts slender graceful women swung long wooden pestles and pounded corn ‘in wooden mortars, or rinsed it in calabash basins. The old people squatted in the shade of the walls and dozed or watched the young children playing in the dust beside them. ‘These compounds were

lively, cheerful but not noisy, places. ‘Ihe women chatted or chanted songs as they pounded but seldom raised their voices, for any tendency to shrewishness was sharply checked by the menfolk.1° The children, too, played in quiet absorption, with toys of twisted grass or cornstalks; except for the bigger boys, who occa-

sionally chased boisterously around the huts. But they were quickly scolded into decorum; their noise disturbed the scholars at their work.!! Occasionally, amid the hum of human sounds a goat bleated plaintively as it was caught and turned on its back for slaughter, or a horse whickered restlessly from the stable area. Above this background rose a deeper, more persistent sound as the 10 See “The Song of Sa’idu” in M. Hiskett, Ph. D. thesis (op. cit., Bibliog.), p. 243 f., for an account of how a good Muslim wife should comport herself.

11 WKS, ALS, XII, 1971, p. 79. : .

The Years of Preparation 21 scholars intoned the Koran, read aloud from their law books, or delivered sing-song commentaries on the language of the sacred texts. Such compounds as these in Degel were polyglot places. ‘The mother tongue of the Fulani was Fulfulde. But many of them also

spoke Hausa, as, no doubt, did most of their slaves. ‘I'he ‘huareg tongue was also spoken by some, for ‘Tuareg women were married into the clan.!2 And the scholars, of course, all knew classical Arabic, the liturgical and legal language of their religion, which they read fluently and probably spoke among themselves from time to _ time.

When the compound grew too big, some of the family. would separate from the original group and set up a neighboring unit,

still economically and socially integrated with the first. This might happen as a result of the family’s natural increase. But in scholar compounds like Degel one factor that led to the setting up of new compounds was the constant influx of students who

came to study under well-known teachers. :

Slaves, on whom the economy of the extended family largely depended, lived in separate slave hamlets (called, in Hausa, rinjojz;

sing., rinjt) near to but apart from the family compound; except for household slaves and concubines, who lived within the compound. The female domestic slaves performed the household. tasks, such as making soap or tending the children.4* They had a good deal of freedom and often practised trades and crafts on their own account. The heavier outdoor work was done by the rinji slaves. In addition to slaves, the chief men in the community had certain freemen as servants. These were usually young relatives who served them, probably in return for their educations. Husbands spent their time with their wives in strict rotation, usually two nights with each in turn. A man was forbidden by the Law to vary this routine. Each wife was entitled to her share of |. her husband’s company and he could not favor one above the other. With his concubines he could only spend the hours of daylight. His nights belonged to his wives. Nor could he favor his concubines with presents or attention above his wives; but even 12 Ibid., p. 83. This, and the incident referred to in note 13 below, took place in Gwandu; but they illustrate the community’s way of life. 13 Ibid., p. 99.

22 THE SWORD OF TRUTH Islamic laws are made to be broken—and many did!**

In the case of the Muslim Fulani of the post-jzhad period, the rinji slaves carried on the agricultural work by which the compound lived. They probably performed this service for the scholarly Fulani of the pre-7zhad era, although the sources are silent on this point. At any rate, they possessed slaves and the question therefore arises: how did they acquire them? Some no doubt were obtained by raids against neighboring pagan communities. But despite the tradition that alleges they had nothing to do with the court and its patronage, some of the scholars, if not the Shehu and his immediate circle, must have lived by their literacy. ‘This was a potentially remunerative skill, and payment was in kind. Horses, garments, and slaves were the traditional rewards to be expected. Such patronage must have contributed something to the scholar community; otherwise it is difficult to understand how it acquired and maintained a large enough slave force to allow the scholars sufficient leisure to follow their calling. For there is no suggestion in the sources that, like the Hausas, they engaged in trade. The social center of the compound was the entrance hut, a large

roofed porch set in the surrounding wall. (In Hausa it is called zaure.) Here the menfolk met to chat and take their evening meal together. Here guests were received. Only women and those closely

related to the inmates would expect to enter beyond the zaure into the compound proper. The zaure also functioned as a lecture room, as will be described later in this chapter.

Another aspect of the life of the community in Degel was its social intercourse with nomadic cattle-rearing kinsmen and the Muslim ‘Tuareg. Although largely sedentary themselves, they kept

in touch with the nomads, to whom they were often related by marriage; and there was much coming and going between such scholarly settlements as Degel and the rugage (sing., ruga), the cattle encampments of the herders. The Tuareg were probably even more mobile than the cattle Fulani, for they ranged not only across the savannah but also into the Sahara and the Fezzan. They, too, had evolved a tradition of Islamic scholarship. Unlike the sedentary Fulani, however, most of the Tuareg scholars were 14 See Tabbat hakika (Zaria, 1957), vv. 33 and 34.

The Years of Preparation 23 not based in settlements but continued to move with their stockrearing kinfolk. Thus it was common to find a Tuareg scholar, with only his tent to house his considerable library, moving con-

stantly up and down the trekking routes of the Sahara and the savannah. They were frequent visitors to Degel and, exceptionally, a few individuals may have settled there. With their habit of greater mobility, the influence of the Tuareg must have been important in linking the Fulani with the wider intellectual, social, and economic life of the Saharan hinterland. Some of these scholarly ‘Tuareg, for example, the Shehu’s teacher Shaikh Jibril b. ‘Umar, who will be mentioned frequently in this book, were also connected by marriage to the Fulani family tree and there seems to have been a real affinity between the two ethnic groups, occasioned by the common Islamic interest and, no doubt, the common nomadic tradition. However, not all the TDuareg were the

friends of the Muslim Fulani: some fought against them in the holy war, as will be seen.

The life of the scholarly Fulani was sedentary only in relation

to the habitual mobility of the nomads. In fact, although their firm base was Degel, they traveled widely. For a system of peripatetic schooling and master-seeking perpetuated something of the

old patterns of transhumance. For instance, in their youth and early manhood the Shehu and his brothers, having exhausted the intellectual resources of their immediate locality, ranged widely across Hausaland—and, in the case of the Shehu, as far as the > Saharan town of Agades—in search of the finest scholars of their day. But when they had completed these journeys, it was to Degel they returned, there to set about disseminating their new knowledge within their own community. Pilgrimage to Mecca also took certain fortunate members of the clan on the long overland jour-

ney to the Red Sea coast and then by ship to Arabia. It was a journey that lasted many years. Yet those who could not undertake it—and kinship obligations prevented many—watched the de-

parting pilgrims with envy, and their return from the holy cities of Mecca and Medina was eagerly awaited. The Shehu himself, 15 See H. T. Norris, Saharan Myth and Saga (Bibliog.), for an excellent account of the way of life of the Tuareg and of their Islamic folkloric background, which is also largely that of the Muslim Fulani.

24 THE SWORD OF TRUTH while still a young man, tried to set out on pilgrimage but was ordered to return home by his father. That he never visited the Prophet's tomb and birthplace was a lifelong regret.’ While the sedentary Fulani largely adopted the way of life of the surrounding Hausas, there were important exceptions. Naturally, their commitment to Islam precluded any participation in spirit-worship, the rites of which were an integral part of Hausa daily life. They also shunned such Hausa amusements as drumming, fiddling, dancing, profane song, and gambling and sought instead to spend their time in reading the Koran and in the recitation of pious verse.!” But their lives cannot have been spent entirely in religious exercises. They often rode out in groups around Degel: and sometimes farther afield to visit their more distant relatives in the cattle camps. For visiting between kinfolk was an important institution in their lives and, in the days before mass media communication, was a means of keeping in touch with their world.

There was much in their literary culture to add zest and color to their leisure hours. Above all, the men delighted to meet together in the zaures in the cool of evening and entertain each other with the colorful folklore of Islam—stories of the prophets in their Islamic guises.18 How Ibrahim (Abraham) broke the wooden idols and when cast into a huge bonfire by the tyrant Nimrod was saved by Gabriel, who turned the heart of the fire into a verdant garden, where Ibrahim reclined at ease while the flames roared around him. How Nimrod arrogantly tried to reach heaven in a chariot drawn by eagles and was punished by God who put a mosquito inside his head, where it buzzed for a thousand years. How the two proud angels, Harut and Marut, boasted they could not be tempted like mortal men. So God planted lust

in their hearts and they were seduced by Zuhra, the Islamic Venus, and now hang by their heels in Babylon till Judgment Day, as a punishment for their pride. Or else they told the story 16 See IN, BSOAS, XIX, 3, 1957, p. 564, and his many poems expressing this regret. 17 See Tabbat hakika, passim, and Ma’ama‘are.

18 Their familiarity with the Arabic Qisas al-anbiya’ (Stories of the Prophets) is evident from the frequent references to its incidents and personalities in their verse.

The Years of Preparation 25 of the Possessor of T'wo Horns, the Islamic Alexander the Great,

who set out on his search for the Well of Life and came to the land of Gog and Magog, at the end of the earth, where he built a wall of blocks of iron and molten brass to keep back these barbarians. Perhaps, too, they told the tale of the City of Brass, the fabulous city of the djinns, where the natural order of things was turned upside down—where men gave birth and beasts of burden rode their human masters.!® Here, too, were beautiful princesses, whom men braved the terrors of the city to woo. But they turned.

out to be painted corpses with eyes of quicksilver, a gruesome allegory of death in life.

But the most loved stories of all, which they told and retold, were those of the Prophet Muhammad. How, in the dust and heat of battle against the “Hypocrites” and unbelievers, cohorts of shining angels marched down from heaven, commanded by the archangels Mika’il, Azra’il, and Israfil, in bright armour, to scatter the infidels like leaves before the wind. And Iblis (Satan, Islam’s cult villain) boasted like a swaggering bully of what he would do in battle against the Muslims; and then fled in craven terror when the figure of Muhammad, resplendent in his swordbelt, appeared on the battlefield. Or how ‘Ali, Muhammad’s warrior son-in-law with his terrible sword the ‘‘Cleaver of Vertebrae,”’

stalked through the terrified ranks of the enemy and sliced off heads as a reaper cuts the corn: while Hamza, the doyen of Islam’s

martyrs in battle, wearing his plumed helmet, threw them into shame and confusion by the valour of his deeds.?°

Such stories as these fed their imaginations and took the place of the more bucolic pleasures of their Hausa neighbors. They also confirmed the Fulani in the mores and modes of thought of Islam. In other ways too their habits differed from those of the Hausas. For instance, the marketplace is a great social center for Hausa women and provides much of the companionship and gaiety in 19'The Alexander cycle and the City of Brass circulate in many different forms in Hausaland. See, for instance, Ruwan bagaja, a modern retelling of what is evidently a traditional adaptation of the search for the Well of Life, by Alhaji Abubakar Imam, OBE, Zaria, 1963. 20 A fine example of how such stories have passed into local folklore is the

unpublished “Song of Muhammad” by Asim Degel, a member of the generation that followed the Shehu.

26 THE SWORD OF TRUTH , their lives. But the Muslim Fulani forbade their womenfolk to go to market, for it breached Islamic seclusion. Instead, they sent their slaves. Fulani wives, too, could not work in the fields, draw water, or collect firewood. They were even forbidden to practise the kinship visiting which is so important an institution in the lives of most West African women. If they did go out to visit friends or relatives, they had to do so veiled, at night, and with the permission of their husbands; or travel in the company of kinsmen prohibited to them in the Islamic degrees of marriage.”+ Their lives cannot have been as gay and spirited as those of the Hausa women. But at least they were given opportunities for study that the Hausa women lacked. From this they certainly profited. For many of them became scholars and mystics equal in learning and piety with their menfolk, a state of affairs unusual elsewhere in the Islamic world of the day. This, then, was the domestic environment of the community in which the Shehu grew up. How did it conduct itself at worship?

THE COMMUNITY AT WORSHIP? The daily lives of the community in Degel, like that of all orthodox Islamic communities, revolved around the institution of prayer. ‘The Shehu and his age-mates learned its complicated rituals as soon as they were old enough to perform them. It remained their daily obligation and source of spiritual renewal for the rest of their lives. Five times in twenty-four hours the muezzin, or crier, would call

the community to prayer: at dawn, whereupon each adult male, and the women if they are pious, must perform the first prayer of the day, preferably during the period from dawn until a human hair can first be distinguished against the morning sky; then from midday until the moment a person’s shadow equals his height; in the late afternoon, until the shadow has lengthened to seven paces or twice a person’s height; at sunset, until a hair can no longer be seen against the darkening horizon and during the first third of 21 See note 10 above.

22T am indebted for this account of Islamic prayer to the works of two friends, Ibada da hukunci by Malam Haliru Binji, Zaria, 1959, and Jagorar mai salla by Sheikh Tayyib Idris, London, n.d.

I

The Years of Preparation 27 the night, before midnight, when the moon is in its proper station according to the time of year, in the qubba or center of the dome of the night sky. These are what are called the “Chosen Times”

when a Believer should pray, if possible. But if something unavoidable prevents him, other times, known as the “Necessary Times” are specified during which the prayer must be performed if it is to be valid.

The-muezzin’s call, which announces the beginning of each prayer time and is always in classical Arabic, is as follows: Allah is most great: Allah is most great.

I witness, there is no god except Allah: I witness, there is no god except Allah. I witness, Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah: I witness, Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah.

Hasten unto prayer: Hasten unto prayer. Hasten unto salvation: Hasten unto salvation. There is no god except Allah.

If it be the first, dawn prayer, he adds the words, “Prayer is better than sleep: Prayer is better than sleep!”

At the muezzin’s call the community rise from their beds, or stop work. Each person washes his extremities with clean water according to a fixed order and ritual to ensure ceremonial purity. But if a man has lain with a woman, or undergone certain other defilements, he must wash his whole body, paying particular atten-

tion to the part defiled. Then each performs prayer. ‘This is not the simple act of supplication of the Christian tradition but a careful sequence of bowing (each bow is a rak‘a) and kneeling (each act of kneeling is a sujyud) accompanied by recitations from the Koran, invocations and prayers that vary in detail according to the time of prayer; and which are all in classical Arabic. For instance, if it is noon prayer, the Believer will stand erect and face toward Mecca.?8, He will raise his hands, palms outward, to the level of his ears and say aloud, “‘Allah is most great” and repeat

silently “in the heart” the words, “I intend to perform noon prayer.”” Without such inward afhrmation his prayer is invalid. Then he will silently recite the Fatiha, the short, opening chapter of the Koran: 23 All the prayers are, of course, always performed facing Mecca.

28 THE SWORD OF TRUTH In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful, Praise be to Allah, Lord of the Created Worlds, The Beneficent, the Merciful, Lord of the Day of Judgment, Thee do we worship and Thee do we beseech for help, Guide us on the right path, The path of those upon whom Thou hast bestowed favours, Not of those against whom Thou art angry, nor those who go astray.

He will follow this with at least one other verse of the Koran of his own choosing, also recited silently. After this he will place his palms on his knees, with fingers splayed, as the Prophet used to do, bow forward from the hips and then stand erect (rak‘a). He then kneels down, sits on his heels and bends his trunk forward, placing his forehead and the palms of his hands on the ground. He sits erect again, having performed a suzud. He repeats the sequence a second time and then recites the Tahzya or “Greeting to

God”: , Greetings unto Allah, Pure deeds be unto Allah,

Good thoughts and prayers be unto Allah, |

Peace be unto you, O Prophet, and the mercy of Allah and His blessings,

May peace be upon us and upon the righteous servants of Allah, I witness, there is no god except Allah, who is One, without consort, And I witness, Muhammad is His servant and His Messenger.

He repeats the sequence of bowing and kneeling a third time, but without the “Greeting,” and then a fourth time. After this he sits _ upright and again recites the “Greeting,” closing with the words ‘Peace be unto you.” Or, if he wishes, he may recite a final prayer: I bear witness: that which Muhammad brought is true. And Paradise is true. And Hell Fire is true. And the Hour is nigh, there is no doubting it. And. that God shall raise up those who are in the graves. O God, save Muhammad, and the kinfolk of Muhammad. Be merciful

unto Muhammad and unto the kinfolk of Muhammad. Bless Muhammad and the kinfolk of Muhammad: as you saved and were merciful unto and blessed Abraham and his kin from among mankind. In truth, Thou art worthy of praise. Most Excellent. Peace be unto you.

Prayers at other times of the day and night vary from this only in

the number of rak‘a and sujud performed and in minor details

The Years of Preparation 29 of recitation. Failure to perform prayer in the correct manner and at the proper time invalidates it although there are special procedures prescribed to atone for tardiness or inadvertent errors.

Friday noon prayer must be carried out communally, in the mosque. The Believers line up in ranks, a few paces behind the imam, or prayer leader, who stands facing Mecca. As he goes through the sequences of prayer the congregation follows. Any prayer is considered more meritorious if performed in congregation and, especially among the Sufi orders, to one of which the Degel community belonged (see Chapter IV) afternoon prayer is

also performed as a group, behind an imam. |

This, then, was the ritual that punctuated every day and night of the community’s life, to the accompaniment of which the Shehu and his friends grew up. Whether living in Degel or away on their journeys these prayers had to be performed—even in war. Usually

they carried their clean water for ablutions with them in gourds or earthenware pots. But if this was not possible, the Law allowed them to cleanse themselves with clean sand or earth.

It is easy to understand how this common obligation to break up the day with prayer, and sometimes to pray together, created bonds of fellowship and common loyalty; and how, in conse-

. quence, Islam became identified with the clan. | Another important part of the community’s worship was the observance of the annual Islamic festivals. The first of these is the ‘Id al-fity (Hausa, K’aramar salla), “Feast of the Breaking of the

Fast.” ‘his follows the month-long fast of Ramadan, the ninth month of the lunar year. During this fast neither food nor drink may be consumed from sunrise to sunset; and the days are usually spent in devotional exercises. After sunset the fast may be broken, to be resumed again at sunrise. When Ramadan falls during the hot season, the fast is harsh and, like prayer, it binds the community together in a common act of sacrifice. The Feast of the Break-

ing of the Fast is a joyful occasion, when the community waits eagerly for the zmam to announce the appearance of the first sliver of the new moon, which proclaims the fasting month has ended. The other great festival is the ‘Id al-adha (Hausa, Babbar salla), “Feast of Sacrifice.” This takes place on the tenth day of the lunar month of Dhu al-Hijja, to coincide with the act of sacrifice on the

30 THE SWORD OF TRUTH annual pilgrimage. This is the day the gentle, friendly rams shudder beneath the sharp knives. Unlike a goat, the ram never cries out as the blade cuts his throat. Muslims admire his fortitude and many believe that, like the ram of Abraham's sacrifice, he goes straight to Paradise. When the slaughtering is done there is feasting and great jubilation. Long poems are recited in praise of the Prophet and special prayers are said in congregation, behind the imam.

‘ Another important festival that the Degel community certainly observed is that of the Mulid, the Prophet’s birthday. This occasion is celebrated not only by the recitation of praise-poems to the Prophet but also by the composing of new ones, for which the best poets win renown. These were the scenes of life, the rites of worship, and the festivals amidst which the Shehu grew up. They shaped his personality and served to identify him, deeply, with his religion and his clan.

THE SHEHU AS A YOUNG MAN IN DEGEL : The Shehu’s biographers tell little of his appearance. In oral tradition he is usually described as of medium height, with a light complexion; but at least one acount speaks of him as “a black man, without a beard, except a very small one.” He is also said to have been of slender build, unlike his brother ‘Abdullah b. Muhammad, who was a bulky black man.

When he reached early manhood his piety, exceptional intellectual ability, and charismatic personality began to attract disciples, particularly from among members of his own clan. Gradually he emerged as the leader of a group of young Muslim scholars with idealistic and reforming ideas. His relations with his companions, and with members of his household, were warm and friendly and he clearly inspired them with confidence and affection. He seems to have had a keen practical understanding of human psychology. He was certainly always prepared to use his religious authority to maintain conformity to what he regarded as proper standards. In the case of his womenfolk, particularly, he did not hesitate to take advantage of their simple credulity to enforce observance of the Islamic rule of the veil and segregation. For instance, he would not allow them to go out to market, or

The Years of Preparation 31 stray beyond the confines of their own compound. If they disobeyed him, he made sure some minor misfortune or inconvenience befell them, which he attributed to the djinns, punishing them at his command.”4 But he imposed his authority gently, with

humor and compassion, and never through bullying. Sometimes he used fear to serve his purpose: but it was fear of God, not of himself. On the other hand, and exceptionally in the conservative Islamic society of his day, he deplored the state. of ignorance to which women were normally abandoned and advocated that they

should receive a basic education in literacy and in religious knowledge. He actively encouraged his own daughter Asma to acquire this.”°

From his early manhood he lived with extreme simplicity, hav-

ing, for instance, only one pair of trousers, one turban, and one gown. He ate abstemiously and was disinterested in wealth and possessions, which he regarded as corrupting. He is said to have earned his food by twisting rope, an occupation he could carry on while reading or teaching.”6 In this disciplined and austere way of life he was, of course, deliberately following the example of the Prophet Muhammad, in the same way that Christian religious try

to live in imitation of Christ. His friends were men of his own kind—kinsmen, scholars, and visionaries who shared his interests.

They formed with him a close-knit community of intellectuals, somewhat arrogant, in the way of those who know the moral certainties; deeply contemptuous of the pagan scene around them; and working enthusiastically together to advance the literary culture upon which their religious ideology depended. _ In common with most Muslims of his day, the Shehu kept slaves.

But he did so with the same strict regard for the law governing this institution that he applied to all other aspects of lite. And he saw his custodianship of slaves as a paternal duty, as well as a 24 WKS, ALS, XII, 1971, p. 77; and also in RJ. 7 , 25 TW, p. 86 and WKS, p. 83.

26 See the unpublished Hadejia Chronicle, M. Hiskett, Ph. D. thesis, p. 526. But, of course, in a subsistence economy, in which money may have been of secondary importance, this was something of a gesture. There is an oral tra-

dition that Sulaimanu, the first Fulani emir of Kano, also earned his food in this way. The Shehu obviously could not have supported his considerable household of wives, concubines, and slaves by this means alone.

32 THE SWORD OF TRUTH right, firmly grounded in divine revelation. These people, some inherited, others who fell into his hands as a result of capture, were fully integrated into his community and, provided they fulfilled the obligations of their status, were treated with consideration and often with affection. They, in turn, were deeply attached to him. There are many accounts in the written sources and in oral tradition that tell how his slaves, when offered treedom, declined it because it would mean separation from him. It was not : a situation acceptable to the present-day moral conscience, but by the standards of the time it was just and strictly in accordance with the religious and social law of Islam. Among his associates were men of many different characters and abilities. Although they respected him deeply and came to believe in his God-given mission, they were not above quarreling among

themselves and displaying petty jealousies. He frequently established his authority and stilled discords by a kind of Socratic and enigmatic wisdom—in which, perhaps, the enigma was the more impressive element—whereby he appealed to their good sense and better feelings. ‘The following story, recorded in oral tradition, illustrates his style: Muhammadu Tukur [a holy man from Zamfara who wrote fierce verse about Hell Fire] was a pupil of the Shehu Usuman dan Fodio; but he

came already possessed of much knowledge. Then he increased his knowledge from the Shehu. On this account, the Shehu’s son and his younger brother, Muhammad Bello and ‘Abdullah b. Muhammad, became jealous of him because of his great learning. The Shehu said to them, “Suppose there is a concubine [who lives in the house] and a young slave girl who works outside, which of them knows the secrets

of the house?” They fell silent and made no answer. So the Shehu himself gave them their answer. He said, “Indeed, what Muhammadu Tukur knows is far beyond what you know [because you live apart, while Muhammadu Tukur lives here in-this compound with me].”’27

From his early days he was surrounded by books, or rather by

: the manuscripts his father and others copied laboriously from the precious texts that came in from North Africa and Egypt, or were

- brought back by pilgrims from the holy cities of Mecca and Me) dina in distant Arabia. He was also much given to meditation. It _ was his habit, after the day’s studies, to go off alone into the bush. 27 On the authority of Alhaji Malam Sayyidi, of Katsina.

The Years of Preparation 33 Here, no doubt, he pondered on the life and character of the Prophet Muhammad. And so profound an effect did this have on his imagination that he began to compose long poems in praise of the Prophet. Some of these were done in classical Arabic; others in

his mother tongue, Fulfulde. The first of them, in Arabic, was completed in 1774, when he was twenty years old.?® Here are its opening lines, in which he tries to convey his longing to visit the

Prophet’s tomb and thus achieve union with him in spirit. So great is his love for him that even the dust that once bore his hallowed footprints is sacred: Is there a way for me to Tayba [Medina], swiftly, To visit the tomb of the Hashimite, Muhammad, When his sweet perfume diffuses in its sheltered places, And the star of Muhammad urges on the pilgrims? I wept, and tears poured down like heavy rain In longing for this Prophet, Muhammad. I swear by the Merciful God, nothing graces me Save my desire to love the Prophet Muhammad. I am as one afflicted with longing for him, for whom it befell There is no joy in life without Muhammad. Through longing I almost flew to his tomb— There is no joy for me without a visit to my master— The sun of the forenoon, crown of right guidance, sea of generosity, There is no other good than following Muhammad, He is the most generous, his favours cover all mankind, nay, All God’s creation is beneath Muhammad. Were I to visit Tayba, I would achieve the height of my ambition, sprinkling myself with the dust of Muhammad’s sandal. [QD]

Although this poem was an original composition, it is deeply informed by the style and imagery of a long tradition of classical Arabic verse, and springs from the Shehu’s knowledge of Arabic literature. How, then, was this literary education achieved and what was the intellectual milieu in which his ideas developed?

EDUCATION AND INTELLECTUAL LIFE AMONG

THE MUSLIM FULANI: THE SCHOOLS His education, like that of his companions, took place in schools which, as the sources show, were the early equivalents of what are 28 TW, p. 85. The unpublished MS of the Shehu’s original composition, though unfortunately not his autograph, from which this quotation is taken,

is in NAK, C/AR8.

34 | THE SWORD OF TRUTH now known in Hausa as makarantun ilm1, schools of higher Islamic learning. These should not be confused with Koran schools, which

are really kindergartens where children learn to recite the Koran and nothing more. The makarantun tlmi are institutions of advanced education, covering the whole range of traditional Islamic

learning. It may be that they grew up in imitation of the Sufi seminaries which were so important in the cultural life of North Africa, particularly Morocco, during the seventeenth century. That such schools existed before the jthad is certain. For the Shehu’s brother, ‘Abdullah b. Muhammad, says: And many schools, I languished with desire to be present at them, In them there is attainment of the needs of one who 1s made desirous. And many generous ones among the learned, their generosity 1s milked; All of them are like the sea in giving [TW, p.g1]

while in several other places he refers to “‘schools of learning.’ No detailed account exists of how these schools were then conducted. But they can be studied as they function today. Many have a his-

tory extending back to the time of the Shehu and even earlier; and since they pride themselves on not having changed their traditional curricula and methods, it is reasonable to assume the schools that ‘Abdullah and the Shehu attended in the closing years of the eighteenth century were similar to those that thrive at the present time. Indeed, when I recently visited the school of Babban Malami, probably the best known in Kano City, the proprietor, now a venerable scholar of advanced age, assured me it was situated in the same compound in which it had been founded during the reign of Sulaimanu, the Shehu’s first appointee to the throne of Kano; that his (Babban Malami’s) ancestors down to his

father had taught there and that the practice of the school in all its detail was deliberately preserved as it was when it was first established. Therefore, the following description is offered as an example of how the schools probably functioned at the end of the eighteenth century. Babban Malami’s school was held in the entrance hut, or zaure, of his compound—a large, cool mud-building capable of accommodating about thirty students, who sat cross-legged, on rush mats and skins spread on the pounded mud-floor. Babban Malami faced the class, sitting upon a raised couch, about two feet high,

The Years of Preparation | 35 built of piled carpets and the cured skins of rams sacrificed at Salla festivals. On either side of him his texts were stacked, most of them locally copied manuscripts; but with a few printed books from Egypt and North Africa. Above him, in the wall, were two small niches to left and right, and in these were more texts not currently in use. Before him, on the floor, stood a small woodburning brazier; a shallow wooden tray filled with sand, in which he traced letters, numbers, and diagrams with his finger; an earth-

enware pot, used as a spittoon, into which he spat the kola nut which the Hausas and Fulani constantly chew. This arrangement —the couch, the stacked texts, the brazier, the sandtray, and the spittoon—was there in each of the several makarantun ilmt I visited in Kano, Zaria, and Sokoto and is surely a deliberate perpetuation of traditional furnishings. The proprietors of the schools are scholars recognized as experts in one or more well-known Arabic works. Typically, for example, al-Mukhtasar of Khalil (a legal work); al-Mu‘allagat (a collection of early classical Arabic verse); or ‘““The Twenties” of al-Fazzazi, a thirteenth-century panegyric to the Prophet. Students come, to sit at the teacher’s feet and receive instruction in their chosen texts,

not only from close by but also, in the case of certain famous schools, from as far away as Timbuktu.

The method of instruction in these schools varies hardly at all. The teacher reads a phrase or brief passage from.the Arabic text, then follows with a commentary in Hausa or Fulfulde (for certain schools are still the special resort of Fulfulde speakers), while the students listen, make notes, and occasionally ask questions. It soon becomes apparent that these vernacular commentaries are known by heart. For they are always delivered in the same rapid, recitative fashion as the text itself. Moreover, every word in the original Arabic is commented upon, even such phrases as salla ’llahu ‘alathi wa sallama, ‘““May God bless him and give him peace,” the cus-

tomary honorific to the Prophet, which must already have been familiar to everybody present. I was later assured that the com-

mentaries are not given ad libitum. They are handed down through isnad, or chains of authority, in exactly the same way as : other Islamic religious material, and the word-for-word integrity of the commentary is jealously preserved. It is, therefore, clear

36 THE SWORD OF TRUTH that, in addition to their main function of disseminating higher Islamic learning, a side effect of these schools has been to produce literary, or ‘““‘malamaic,” forms of Hausa and Fulfulde into which the ideas, imagery, and style as well as the vocabulary of classical

Arabic literature have been absorbed. The masu ilmz, as the students of the makarantun ilmt are known in Hausa, have become familiar over the generations with these learned versions of the vernacular languages. This has been important in influencing the vernacular literate verse-tradition which, as will be explained, the reformers exploited for the purpose of religious propaganda. Such was the educational environment in which the Shehu and his associates grew up. It was a system of higher learning, based on

master-seeking, which had evolved over many centuries in the Islamic world at large: It had taken root in Hausaland at an unknown date; but an early record shows it must have been established in Katsina as early as the seventeenth century. It was—and still is—medieval, in the sense that there has been a continuous tradition of scholarship throughout the Islamic Middle Ages, which

has not been interrupted, as the Christian tradition was, by the Renaissance. It was an education that gave rise to a minority culture, resting ultimately upon literacy in Arabic; and sanctioned by the transcendent authority of Koranic revelation. Moreover, it was wholly exotic in the African milieu in which it was set. For the monotheism of Islam, with its teaching that death is a final severance from the world, and a prelude to divine reward or punishment in the Hereafter, is very different from the indigenous African beliefs which involve veneration for ancestors and a cyclical view of life and death. Thus, although these scholars were Africans, born and bred in the Sudan, the culture they so enthusiastically espoused was not native to Africa. It stemmed from the

Middle East; and it had much more in common with the JudeoChristian tradition than with any African culture indigenous to

the Sudan. | |

THE CURRICULUM As for what this system gave to the individual men who devoted

their lives to it: it involved, in addition to the gifts of the spirit which a devoutly religious education bestows, a rigorous training

The Years of Preparation 37 in classical Arabic, in the course of which they became experts in the grammar and etymology of that language. ‘The first step toward this was to learn the Koran by heart, a task that, as was said above, the young Shehu carried out under his father’s direction. At the end of this stage of his education he was required to appear

before his father and other learned scholars to recite the sacred text without error and with the correct pronunciation and intonation prescribed for the task. Having successfully accomplished this, he entered fully into their clerical community. He then went on to study more advanced Islamic sciences, for instance, tafsir, Koranic exegesis or commentary. As a result of this

he became expert in interpreting the many mysteries the holy book contains, and learned the background stories against which its events and narratives are set. The next major branch of study he was concerned with was the

biography of the Prophet Muhammad, the story of his life and mission; the revelation of the Koran to him; the wars he fought against the unbelievers and how he finally overthrew paganism and established Islam in Mecca, the town of his birth. This story is to be found both in Arabic prose sources and in Arabic verse, in the form of poetic panegyrics addressed to the Prophet. Wellknown works of this genre the Shehu is known to have studied are al-‘Ishriniyyat (The Twenties) of the thirteenth-century Moroccan poet, al-Fazzazi and the Burda (The Cloak) of the Berber poet al-Busiri. Both tell the Prophet’s story in an allusive, rather allegorical style, making constant references to the mu‘jizat, the “evidentiary miracles” through which God singled out Muhammad as “The Chosen One.” Although cast in a formal style, they are often very beautiful and full of reverence and deep longing to express worship. There is no doubt this type of poetry, much loved by Muslim mystics, had a profound effect on the young

Prophet. |

Shehu and helped him to compose his own poetry in praise of the

Then he studied figh, Islamic legal theory, a discipline that —

covers not only criminal law and the laws of personal status, but also religious law and ritual. Thus he became an expert on how to apply the Shari‘a, the Islamic code of legal and social regulations, to criminal and civil cases—how to punish the thief and the

38 THE SWORD OF TRUTH murderer; how to administer the Islamic rules of inheritance—and also on matters of ritual such as the correct way to carry out ceremonial ablution and perform prayer. As well as the Law, the Shehu studied hadith, that is, the record —

of the deeds and sayings of the Prophet. This is a vitally important branch of Islamic knowledge. For its establishes the Sunna, or Way of the Prophet, upon which orthodox Islam is built. It was first recorded orally, during the first Islamic century, by the Prophet’s companions, and was later set down in writing, in classical Arabic, and much extended in succeeding generations. It covers every aspect of life and conduct known to the medieval Arabic-speaking world. By analogy it can be used as a guide for conduct at any time and in any circumstances. Hadith literature is vast, having accumulated through innumerable commentaries and recensions throughout the Middle Ages. But the most important collection, universally venerated by the Maliki school of Islamic law, to which the Shehu and his associates belonged, is the Sahih, The Authentic Collection, of the ninth-century scholar, al-Bukhari. This the Shehu studied under several scholars renowned in his day. The importance of this part of his education was considerable. For it is largely through the Authentic Collection that Muslims gain their understanding of what the early Islamic community over which the Prophet Muhammad presided was really like—an understanding that greatly influences their view of how society in their own place and time should develop. Moreover, many essential ideas that go to make up Islamic constitutional theory spring in the first instance from hadith. For example, such traditions as the following: The Prophet said . . . “Yo hear and obey [authority] is binding, so long as one is not commanded to disobey [God]; when one is commanded to disobey [God], he shall not obey.”

which establishes the theocratic nature of Islamic government: while from the following, The Prophet said: ‘““He who dislikes an order of his emir should withhold himself from opposition, for he who rebels against the king by a

span dies the death of unbelief.” . and others like it, arises its considerable authoritarianism. ‘Thus

The Years of Preparation 39 his training in hadith did much to formulate the Shehu’s ideas on what his own society should be like, and how it should be governed. Another Islamic science to which he must have devoted consid-

erable time was the study of the stars and planets. ‘his was particularly necessary for Muslims in the days before mechanical time-keeping. For it was by the sun by day and the firmament by night that they calculated the correct times for prayer which, to be performed correctly, had to be done facing toward Mecca. To accomplish this, too, a knowledge of the sky was necessary. Furthermore, the Muslim year is lunar and so the months change in relation to the constant solar seasons. Thus it is necessary for Muslims to be able to relate their months to the seasons, partly to match the farming with the lunar year and also to know the dates on which their various religious festivals fall. In all of this the Shehu became learned, through the study of certain Arabic texts which had become standard works among the scholars of his community, and he encouraged his daughter Asma to acquire such knowledge.?9 His son Bello was also an expert in this study and so, no doubt, were his other children.

. But astrology can be used for occult purposes of fortunetelling and divination—both of which good Muslims consider impinge on the prerogative of God. With this the Shehu would have nothing to do. Indeed, in his own writings he roundly condemned such practices and would allow astrology for only legitimate ends. The young Shehuralso studied Sufism, that is, Islamic mysticism,

through which devout Muslims seek, by gnostic exercises and ascetic disciplines, to become personally identified with God in a mystical union. As will be seen as the story of the Shehu’s life pro-

ceeds, Sufism, its ideology, and his own mystical experiences played an important part in moulding his character and propelling him toward his destiny as a reformer and a warrior “in the way of God.”

THE TEACHERS His teachers were chosen mainly from among members of his own clan and were often his uncles. One of these uncles, Shaikh 29 WKS, p. 83.

40 THE SWORD OF TRUTH ‘Uthman Binduri, influenced him considerably. For he imbued the young scholar with his own piety as well as with his somewhat magisterial reforming zeal. Of the relationship between them the Shehu’s younger brother, ‘Abdullah b. Muhammad, wrote: This shaikh of his was learned and pious, well-known for righteousness and the ordering of the right and the forbidding of the wrong, and for being occupied with what concerned him. He it was whom our Shaikh ‘Uthman [the Shehu Usuman dan Fodio] imitated in states and deeds. He accompanied him for nearly two years, moulding himself

according to his pattern in piety and in ordering the right and forbidding the wrong. [IN, p.563]

It is in such teachings as these that the seeds of the Shehu’s reformism lay; while the moral certainties of such attitudes account both for the strength with which he held his convictions and the resolution with which he pursued his goals. Another uncle, Muhammad Sambo, taught him a well-known legal text, al-Mukhtasar. ‘Abdullah’s account of their association throws more light on the methods and erudition of this scholarly community:

The Shehu used to tell me that our maternal uncle, Muhammad Sambo, son of the scholarly shaikh Muhammad b. Sa‘id . . . used to attend his reading of al-Mukhtasar. He was learned, having memorized most of what he had read, and it was he who read to them the commentary of al-Karashi [on al-Mukhtasar]. If [the Shehu] made a mistake, or let anything slip, this maternal uncle of ours would correct it for him without looking in a book. For he knew the commentary of al-Karashi by heart. [IN, p.563]

But the teacher who probably influenced him most was related

to him only by marriage. He was the Tuareg shaikh Jibril b. ‘Umar, who was mentioned above. Shaikh Jibril was an intense and zealous Muslim iconoclast, who held the most rigorous views _ concerning the status of sinners. He taught that disobedience to the Shari‘a, the Islamic legal and social ordinances, was a sin suffi-

cient to invalidate a man’s Islam and turn him into an unbeliever, destined for eternal punishment in Hell Fire. His views are likely to have evolved as a result of his long exposure to the teachings of the Wahhabis, a sect of reforming Islamic fundamentalists

who controlled the holy cities of Islam, Mecca and Medina, in

The Years of Preparation 41 Arabia, during the years Jibril spent studying there. ‘The Shehu undoubtely held him in great respect. For he wrote of him: “If there be said of me that which is of good report,/ ‘Then I am but a wave of the waves of Jibril’ UN, p. 566). It may be, however, that Jibril’s influence was as much provocative as informative because, despite his great veneration for his teacher, the Shehu rejected his extreme religious radicalism, arguing cogently against it in his own writings. Indeed, the Shehu’s humane recoil from such cruel doctrines illustrates one facet of his character: a certain gentleness and tolerance that made him aware of the frailty of human nature and unwilling to make too severe demands upon it. This side of the Shehu emerges in some of his early writings, in which he urges that the common people should not be blamed for failing to live up to doctrines they cannot reasonably be expected to understand; and also, perhaps, in the emotional warmth of his devotional verse, where worship, not censure, is the dominant theme. But it seems always to have been in conflict with a puritanical conscience and haunting awareness of sin, which drove him to strive, ever more earnestly, to live up to the ideals of Islam; and to insist that other people did likewise—aspects of character

that certainly seem to have received ample encouragement from

the men who taught him. During the first part of the Shehu’s career, before the jzhad, he was still able to reconcile these opposing tendencies and was, in consequence, an ardent, deeply sincere,

but gentle and moderate teacher and mentor of his community. However, the intransigence that he met with, and the fierceness with which his opponents reacted in defense of their own point of view, gradually hardened his attitudes. Even though he may not have desired war as a means of achieving his ends, he came increasingly to accept the necessity for it. Later in life, and de: pressed by the disappointments that afflicted him after the jihad, the iron of Jibril’s teaching entered more deeply into his soul. He then became stern and uncompromising, both to his enemies and to those of his own community who fell short of his own high ideals.

LiL

PREACHER AND MISSIONARY

His pEEP religious fervor and his long schooling had prepared the Shehu for preaching the faith of Islam. Gradually a sense of election began to burn within him and he became convinced he was

the Renewer of the Faith sent by God to revive and purity the religion of Islam, which had been allowed to fall into neglect by worldly rulers and careless self-seeking scholars. His companions, too, accepted him as the Renewer and believed in his mission.

THE EARLY PERIOD OF. ITINERANT

MISSIONARY WORK

The Shehu began his career as an itinerant Muslim missionary around 14774, when he was about twenty years old, and still pursuing his own studies. His brother, ‘Abdullah b. Muhammad, who accompanied him during most of his missionary journeys, left a careful account of this period of his life. He tells how they traveled to east and west, the Shehu “calling people to religion with his preaching, and destroying customs contrary to Muslim law” (TW, p.85). He first began to preach'in and around Degel, and ‘Abdullah records that people from the surrounding countryside came to him and remained with him as followers. In consequence,

news of his activities spread and his community became well known. 42

Preacher and Missionary 43 This success encouraged the Shehu, and so he and his companions decided to travel to the nearby kingdom of Kebbi. Here, too, he began to preach, calling the people “to reform of the faith, and to Islam and to good works, and to abandon customs contrary to them” (TW, p.86). Many answered his call, and ‘Abdullah tells how they “repented and travelled to him in groups when he returned to his country, listening to his preaching, and God caused

them to accept him for the first time’ (TW, p.86). By about 1780 his community had become substantial and its fame had spread. He moved from town to town, teaching and preaching as he went; but ‘Abdullah states he did not frequent the courts of the kings at this time. As he attracted more followers, however, and as the news of his activities became more widely known, he realized he must make contact with Bawa Jangwarzo, the chief of Gobir, no doubt because he anticipated the danger of his hostility, as well as the possible advantages of his support. He therefore set out for Alkalawa, the walled capital of Gobir, where Bawa held

court. |

Bawa Jangwarzo was a powerful and warlike chief. He had overcome the neighboring kingdom of Zamfara, imprisoned its chief, Abarshi, and then gone on to conduct constant raids on towns and villages in Zamfara and across the border into Katsina in search of slaves and booty. From the evidence of praise-songs and other sources, it is clear his power rested on his military successes, upon a network of kinship relationships with his courtiers, and upon the dispensation of patronage which attracted numbers of sycophantic hangers-on to his court, among them many Muslim literati who were less uncompromising than the Shehu. Like most of the Habe chiefs, Bawa made some claim to Islam. He even observed certain of its pubic festivals. But his adherence was incomplete and he continued to tolerate the traditional pagan cults among his subjects. The presence of the Shehu’s group of active Muslim reformers in his kingdom must certainly have embarrassed him. Many of his subjects—probably the majority—were still animists and the native beliefs and customs were deeply embedded in their way of life. He, as their chief, was responsible for maintaining their beliefs and customs. Had he agreed to the reformers’ demands to ‘“‘destroy customs contrary to Muslim law” he

44 | THE SWORD OF ‘TRUTH } would have undermined his own power base. Yet, as will be seen, the Shehu was too influential to be ignored. So Bawa tried compromise.

The Shehu, even if he understood Bawa’s difficulty, showed no disposition to make concessions. He demanded an outright alle-

giance to Islam in all its aspects; and couched this demand in unequivocal terms. For ‘Abdullah reports that “he travelled to the Emir of Gobir, Bawa, and explained to him the true Islam, and ordered him [to observe it] and to establish justice in his lands” (TW, p.86); and it follows from this that he was already confident in his own authority, which rested on increasing popular

support, as well as on his firm conviction that the hand of God protected him. The visit was successful to the extent that he was able to go on summoning the people to the faith because, as ‘Abdullah puts it, “it came about that those who did not fear God, feared to deny:his order because of his connection with the Sultan” (TW, p.86). So-it is clear that, at this point, before 1786,

Bawa still felt it wise to secure the Shehu’s friendship. The explanation may simply be that he had not yet fully realized the threat to his own authority that the Shehu’s growing following represented. Or perhaps he did not think the.time ripe for a con-

frontation. Also, his hostile relations with Zamfara may have made him anxious to gain allies and loath to invite trouble in his own kingdom. On the Shehu’s side there is no doubt there was a genuine desire to convert Bawa, not to fight him; although he was sufficiently far-sighted to seek other allies, should such pacific means prove, in the end, unsuccesful.

Having established relations with Bawa, the Shehu now felt sufficiently secure to travel to Zamfara, despite the tension existing between that kingdom and Gobir. There, for five years (A.H.1201/ A.D.1786-A.H.1206/A.D.1791) he continued his successful missionary work.

During this same period an incident took place which shows that Bawa had become doubtful about the wisdom of his friendly attitude toward the Muslims. For in A.H.1202/A.D.1787 or A.H. 1203/A.D.1788—‘Abdullah is uncertain—he summoned the Shehu

together with all the Muslim scholars of his kingdom, to attend his court. The overt reason was that they should take part in the

Preacher and Missionary 45 Islamic festival of ‘Id-al-adha.! But he secretly planned to kill the Shehu and his companions. For he now recognized the growth of the Islamic faction, and the power of its leaders, as a threat to his own position as head of the traditional cult. He had delayed too long, however. His rivals had become too strong.to be eliminated by multiple murder. In his Raud al-Jinan (Meadow of Paradise), one of the Shehu’s biographers, Malam Gidado, who later became

the vizier of Sokoto, describes how Bawa, having made up his mind to kill the Shehu:and the rest of the assembled scholars, remained for some time gazing sullenly at them, hesitating because of their number. Then one of his courtiers, sensing his dilemma, got up, went to him and said, “No one except God can do to this gathering what you secretly plotted to do.” Bawa then changed his mind and offered the Shehu a present. The Shehu refused and asked instead for certain concession that embodied greater freedom for his community. He also requested the freeing of Abarshi, chief of Zamfara, and other prisoners; and Bawa granted him all he asked.

The petition for the release of Abarshi is significant. It suggests the Shehu had become identified, to some extent, with the Zamfara interest in the course of his preaching there, and it may have been this as well as his growing influence that caused Bawa to turn against him. Other evidence suggests the Shehu’s missionary journeys were not confined to preaching; but that he formed certain political attachments, and was by now able to adopt an independ- —

ént attitude toward the Gobir chief, standing as a power in his own right between him and his enemies. For example, shortly after the ‘Id assembly, Bawa approached the Shehu, seeking advice in his campaign against the town of Maradi, which stubbornly resisted capture. The Shehu promised him victory “before he should dismount,” but forbade him to proceed beyond Maradi on pain of defeat. Bawa’s forces then quickly took the town and the “Meadow” tells how, after taking rich booty, the Gobir chief

turned to his captains and said, “We have seen what the Shehu has done. Now let us see what our spears can do!” His captains demurred, but he insisted and was defeated. He was killed in the battle or died shortly afterwards, during the years A.H. 1203-04 1"The festival on the tenth of the Islamic month Dhu ‘1-Hijja.

46 THE SWORD OF TRUTH (A.D.1789-90).? The most likely explanation for the restraint the Shehu tried to impose upon Bawa is that, in the course of his peripatetic preaching, and possibly through his links with Fulani clan leaders, he had established friendly relations with groups outside Gobir and felt obliged to balance this against the need to conciliate the powerful but aging chief. As will be seen, he tried to exercise a similar restraint over Bawa’s successor, Yakuba. Aiter five years in Zamfara, during which, in ‘Abdullah’s words, he “accomplished his mission,” the Shehu returned to Degel. From

here he set out for the kingdom of Kebbi, moving westward until he came to the river Niger. He preached in the Niger town of Illo and went back to Degel. Then he went to Zoma on the river Zam-

fara, and when “all had repented to whom God had ordained repentance’ (I'W, p.g6) he returned to Degel. Shortly after this he and his kinsmen learned of the return from pilgrimage of their

uncle, a famous scholar and teacher, Muhammad Sambo. This was an important event in their lives. For Muhammad Sambo brought back with him not only the latest news of what was happening at the center of the Islamic world but also a store of new learning acquired from scholars in Egypt and Arabia in the course

of his long journey to and from the holy cities, as well as new books not previously available in the Sudan. But when he reached

the Saharan town of Agades, he died. ‘Abdullah wrote a poem mourning him and deploring the loss of learning the community had suffered by his death. This happened in Ramadan of 1207/ April 1793.

INCREASING INVOLVEMENT IN THE POLITICS

OF THE GOBIR COURT ~ By this time Bawa was dead, and his brother Yakuba had succeeded him. It is clear the Shehu exercised some influence over him, as he did over Bawa. At the end of his brief reign, which lasted only four years, Yakuba set out to avenge his brother’s 2 Contrast Hogben and Kirk-Greene, p. 417 and Johnston, p. 38; and compare Last, Sokoto Caliphate, p. 7 (all cited in Bibliog.). I have adopted Last’s dates for the Gobir dynasty, since they are based on the authority of ‘Abd al-Qadir b. al-Mustafa, who wrote c. A.D. 1824 and is thus the earliest author-

ity, as far as I know.

Preacher and Missionary ; 47 death by attacking the town of Magami. Again the Shehu disapproved and sent his nephew Kaumanga to order him to turn back. According to the “Meadow,” Yakuba was about to obey but his courtiers persuaded him to go on. He sent “a commander of the Fulani” back with Kaumanga, to convey his refusal to the Shehu. The Shehu, in his usual enigmatic style, observed to this envoy, “Yakuba is done for, he will never return to his home again, if

God wills; but you will return, if God wills.” The prophecy proved true. Yakuba was killed at Magami. This story supports what has been suggested already: that the Shehu, exploiting the clan organization, had, by this time, set up a network of contacts outside Gobir and no longer felt obliged to serve only the Gobir interest.

By 1792 it became clear that the Shehu’s following among the common people, and in court circles, had become substantial. For ‘Abdullah says:

Now when I saw most of the country, the common people and the nobles, coming to the Shehu Usuman, profiting by his admonitions, and becoming influenced by his good manners, and entering into his community in groups, but did not see that in the majority of our tribe, though they were most fitted for it, I composed a qasida [ode] in Ha, which I called Risalat al-nasa’th, “Epistle of Advice,” and I sent it to them in order that they might ponder upon what was in it and hasten to help the religion of God Most High. [TW, p.g8]

The urgent tone of this appeal to the Fulani kinsmen is expressed in the following quotation from it, “Rise up, and call to religion with a call/ Which the common people shall answer, or the great’ lords” (TW, p. gg). It was effective. For ‘Abdullah goes on to say that a number of them rallied to the Shehu’s support, among them a scholar called al-Mustafa b. al-Hajj ‘Uthman who “tucked up his sleeves and composed quintains on the message, mixing them like water with wine, emphazing victory for what was in [the message| and acceptance of it” (LT'W, p.101). It is clear from this that the Shehu was now strengthening his alliances; and that the Muslims’ attitude was hardening into militancy. Yakuba was succeeded by his brother Nafata (referred to in the “Meadow” by his title, Bunu), c.A.H. 1209/A.D. 1794-95. Like

48 THE SWORD OF TRUTH Bawa he felt threatened by the Muslims and the nature of his in-

security is evident from certain restrictive laws he introduced against them. For instance, none but the Shehu was to be allowed to preach. No son was to be converted away from his father’s faith,

and all converts to Islam were to return to the belief of their

ancestors. Moreover, the wearing of turbans and veils—the distinctive Muslim dress—was prohibited. It is obvious from these measures that he was alarmed at what was by now a significant movement of conversion to Islam among his subjects. And his alarm, like that of Bawa, arose from the fact that conversion in-

volved not only a personal change of faith but also a shift of allegiance. For the chieftaincy of Gobir was identified with the pagan cults: but it was implicit in Islam that the head of state must be the imam or religious head of the Islamic community—in this case, of course, the Shehu. Thus every conversion involved a

shrinking in the chief’s authority and an accretion of power for the Shehu. The ban on the wearing of turbans and veils is especially significant. It is by these articles of dress that Muslim men and women can be identified—a kind of uniform, in fact. ‘The Muslims gained many of their converts through example—their impressive prayer rituals and their elitist bearing—and by depriving them of this distinctive dress Nafata sought to diminish the visual impact they made upon his subjects. Similarly, the ban on preaching was designed to muzzle the compelling rhetoric with which the Muslim preachers addressed their audiences, often in colorful and sonorous verse referred to earlier in this chapter. Finally, by making life more difficult for the converts, Nafata no doubt hoped to disenchant them with their new faith and then reintegrate them into the Gobir state. The attempt was unsuccessful. The relationship between the Shehu and Nafata only became more strained as a result of these restrictions, and they provoked the Muslims to greater militancy. According to the “Meadow” the deteriorating relations led to another attempt by the chief of Gobir to coerce the Shehu by force—and this time it was carried out. Nafata seized members of the Shehu’s family as hostages and then summoned the Shehu to appear before him, no doubt to demand that he discontinue his activities. But when the Shehu confronted him, a swelling on Nafata’s neck burst, and he

Preacher and Misstonary 49 had to be carried to his house. Yunfa, Nafata’s son, escorted the Shehu away. The Shehu told him ‘his father would die, and that he would succeed, all of which proved true.

Although the sources mention Nafata only in connection with this one incident, he actually reigned for about seven years, for Yunfa did not succeed until c.A.H.1216/A.D.1801. That the Shehu

was escorted away by Yunfa; and that he felt able to predict the succession, indicates that his contacts with the Gobir court during this period were still close. There had been no clean break; and the Shehu’s position remained ambivalent. For despite the increas-

ingly hostile actions of the Gobir rulers, he must still have been able to maintain his influence in what was probably a faction-

ridden court. It was said above that oral tradition credits him with having been tutor to Yunfa, and one source, the Hausa Chronicle,® says he also backed Yunfa’s claim to the succession

against his cousins. It seems probable that the support of his Fulani kinsmen, on which he was now able to rely, strengthened the Shehu’s position; while ‘Abdullah’s statement, quoted above, that he had allies among the nobility as well as among the commoners, points to the diversity of his alliances and the complex pattern of relationships within Gobir that he was able to exploit.

THE NATURE AND PURPOSE OF HIS PREACHING Over the course of the years, while these events were taking place, the Shehu continued to preach in Gobir, and in the surrounding kingdoms. What was the nature and purpose of this preaching? In his well-known work, Infag al-matsur* (Expenditure of What

Is Available), Muhammad Bello, the Shehu’s second son, and his successor as ruler of the Fulani empire, gives several long excerpts from his father’s sermons, from which the following quotations are taken. He would usually begin with the prayer of the founder of the Qadiriyya order, ‘Abd al-Qadir al-Jilani, “I give thanks to God, the Father of Creation.’”’ Then he would sometimes discuss the doctrinal bases of Islamic belief, explaining these difficult the3 Published in J. A. Burdan, Historical Notes on Certain Emirates and Tribes (London, 1900). 4 Translated into English in F. J. Arnett (op. cit., Bibliog.).

50 THE SWORD OF TRUTH ological concepts in simple, readily comprehensible terms. For example: All created things had a beginning and He who gave that beginning was God. We are enjoined to believe that He exists without beginning and without end. He is not like created things. He has no body and no semblance of a body. He has neither direction nor place. He is now even as He was before creation. He has no need or room for a helper. He is one by Himself with all His qualities and all His works. He is powerful with His own power. He wills by His own will. He knows by His own knowledge. He is living by His own life. He hears; He sees;

' He speaks . . . [IM, p.29] At other times he dealt with the obligations of worship—ablutions

and ritual cleanliness; the method of performing prayer; and the various ‘‘Pillars of slam,” such as alms-giving, fasting, and pilerimage. Sometimes he would discuss Sufism, that is, Islamic mysticism:

You know that the qualities of the soul are of two kinds. One kind are those of destruction; the other are those of salvation. ‘he qualities of destruction are: self-conceit; vanity; jealousy; envy; Covetousness; ostentation; vainglory; seeking wealth if it is for display; evil desire and evil thinking against Muslims. These are the qualities of destruction. They are in origin of evil character, and it is the duty of every Muslim to keep away from them, and cultivate the qualities of salvation, which also are ten in number. He shall make repentance to God; and purify his heart with good works; and be patient; and flee from worldliness; and trust in God; and leave his affairs to God; and be obedient to God’s commands; and desist from all wickedness; and fear God; and think reverently of God. These ten are the qualities of salvation. They are in origin all excellent. He who makes sure of them and does them, makes sure also of their lesser branches, if God wills [1M, p.37-38]

or paint a sulphurous picture of eternal damnation: He who doeth not what God has commanded and keeps not far from what God has forbidden, in truth he shall fall into the Fire. He shall dwell with the children of Fire. Their floor shall be of fire and the covering over their heads shall be of fire, and under their feet shall be a covering of fire. God said, ‘‘“He who is vain and hard of heart has

sinned, the fire of Jahannam is behind him, he shall be given the water of sores to drink, and shall be compelled to swallow it, and he shall not cease from swallowing it. . . . Those who commit idolatry shall have clothes of fire made for them, and hot water shall

Preacher and Missionary 51 be poured over their hands. All that is in them and the skin of their

bodies shall be melted away. With clubs of iron shall they be beaten .. .” (JM, p.38]

or a glowing one of the sensual pleasures of Paradise: Streams shall flow beneath them. They shall have clothes and wings of gold. They shall wear green clothes of soft satin and thick silks. ‘They shall recline on couches praising God for the reward given them. . . .

They shall lie on couches opposite to each other, and there shall be brought to them goblets of flowing drink that is white and sweet, with nothing in it to disturb the senses. . . . Also, there shall be women for them, pleasant to look upon, whose eyes are as large as a [dove’s|

egg that lies half hidden .. . (JM, p.41] . Was the Shehu seeking only to reform Muslims? Or was he also trying to convert those who had never accepted Islam? ‘The Arabic term mujaddid, ‘““Renewer of the Faith,”” by which he was known, certainly suggests his mission was to reform sinful Muslims rather than convert unbelievers. Moreover, his sermons were addressed to people who were familiar with Islam; but who frequently per-

formed its ritual incorrectly, rather than to animists to whom Islamic rites and doctrines were totally strange. Yet he must sometimes have made contact with simple pagans because, when referring to his missionary journeys to Zamfara, ‘Abdullah states that

“the majority of its people had not smelled the smell of Islam” (TW, p.86). No doubt his approach differed according to circumstances and the kind of people he was addressing. On the whole, however, he strove for the renewal of the Faith of Islam. His method was to seek out indigenous custom, attack it, and seek to replace it with Islamic practices—that is, to offer the Sunna, or “Way of the Prophet Muhammad,” as a substitute for the traditional mores and customs of an African society. This is clearly stated in ‘Abdullah’s eulogy to him: Many a Sunna have you brought to life, And many an error quenched while it was a live coal, burning fiercely,

And which conflicted with the Sunna of the joyous Prophet. [1W, p- 92]

As well as preaching, the Shehu was also writing during this period of missionary work. Over one hundred works are firmly attributed to him. But many of them are short and may be mere

52 / THE SWORD OF TRUTH transcripts of sermons and similar discourses. Also, it is not possible to date the majority of his writings, since only infrequently

is the date of composition given. Most are likely to have been . written during or after the jihad. But the long Ihya al-sunna watkhmad al-bid‘a (Revivification of Orthodoxy and Extinguishing of Innovation) was probably completed before 1793. The title of the book precisely states the Shehu’s primary purpose, from which

: all else derived. For it was his constant endeavor to revive the Sunna or orthodox way of the Prophet and banish “innovation” — a term which, in the context of Islamic theology, really means the syncretic practices whereby animist and pre-Islamic custom con-

tinued to thrive in the environment of mixed Islam. The “Re_ vivification” is moderate and restrained. In his introduction he emphasizes that the common people should not be subjected to excessive fault-finding, and that their weaknesses should not be unnecessarily exposed. They should only be condemned if their behavior is flagrantly contrary to the Koran and the Sunna. That it is contrary to certain important but secondary authorities is insufficient grounds for denunciation. This is a remarkably tolerant attitude, in view of the more rigorous judgments he expressed

later on in life. ,

The “Revivification” is obviously addressed to his literate followers and may have been intended as a guide for fellow workers in the mission field, since it assumes a basic knowledge of Islamic rites and beliefs. At any rate it was not intended for the common people, because at one point he quotes the rather Jesuitical dictum of the eleventh-century Islamic theologian, al-Ghazali: It is incumbent upon the common people to concern themselves with their acts of worship and their means of livelihood, and leave knowledge to the scholars. [JS, Mugaddima]

In the ‘“Revivification” the Shehu covers the whole field of Islamic theology and law, and touches on mysticism. His method is to take each aspect of belief and ritual—for instance, the articles of faith;

the institutions of pilgrimage and fasting; the rites of ablution and prayer, and so on—and devote to it a chapter, the first part of which sets out the orthodox practices while the second part lists the unorthodox” innovations,’ improperly but widely indulged

Preacher and Missionary 53 in. For example, he advocates a simple regimen of Sufi discipline for the common man, amounting to little more than the practice of good works. Then he goes on to list unlawful excesses associated

with extreme mystical fanaticism. :

The last section of the work is the Tanbihat (Concluding Remarks), in which the Shehu’s evangelical purpose, which brought him to Zamfara, clearly emerges. Here he emphasizes the duty of every Muslim who has achieved learning to go out and teach; and states that the sin of the scholar lies in neglecting to make practical use of his knowledge. It was a sin of which he himself was certainly not guilty.

The “Revivification” is a lengthy erudite work, which could only have been composed by one thoroughly versed in Islamic theology and law. It demonstrates well his priorities at this time, which were to strengthen Islam and drive out paganism by teaching and persuasion. It contains nothing of the mystical excitement or the anger of his later works. As ‘Abdullah records (TW, p. 85), the Shehu composed much

vernacular verse during his mission journeys, as an aid to his preaching. Some of it was in Arabic, like the ‘““Ode Rhyming in Dal” quoted in Chapter II, and most of the rest in Fulfulde. The poems he composed directly in Hausa are few—although his posthumous son, Malam Isa dan Shehu, rendered a number of his Fulfulde poems into Hausa. Much of what he composed is better described as versification than as poetry because it was intended for mnemonic and instructional purposes—verse accounts of the intricacies of Islamic inheritance or how to perform correctly the involved rituals of ablution and prayer. It seems dry stuff to the non-Muslim reader as well as being largely unintelligible on account of its cryptic and allusive style. But for the Muslim audiences for whom it was composed, it was very important. For upon such knowledge depended their justification on the Day of Judgment, and their hopes of Paradise. Here is a brief passage from one of his Fulfulde poems, the purposé of which 1s to instruct in the complicated rules governing the division of an estate under the Islamic law of inheritance: Male heirs generally are ten, Add five to them for specification,

BA THE SWORD OF TRUTH Begin with the son, the grandson, And the father, the grandfather, And then the full brother related through Mother and father, and the half-brother through the father, And the son of the full brother related through

Mother and father and then the son of the half-brother through the

father. And the half-brother through the mother who inherits by obligation, But he is not a lead to inheritance, know the purpose.®

In order to understand the importance of such apparently obscure and technical verse in the society for which it was written, the reader needs to know that among the Fulani inheritance had bilateral tendencies. Naturally, many of them, even when converted to Islam, were unwilling to abandon the old system. But to go on following it was to persist in paganism and, in the opin-

ion of the reformers, was a sin, like any other breach of the Shari‘a: thus, from their point of view, the whole question of inheritance was of immediate and urgent importance. But not all of his verse was so dry and didactic. In A.H.1206/ A.D.1791, toward the end of his mission in Zamfara, he composed another long poem, again in praise of the Prophet Muhammad,

and in Fulfulde. It demonstrates most clearly the source of his inspiration and the intensity of his feeling of dedication at that time. ‘The original, unfortunately, appears to be lost; but a Hausa version was made some years later by Malam Isa, his son, and this has survived.

The poet’s theme is his love for Muhammad, who is the most noble and perfect of men, the “Chosen One” of God. His own, unfulfilled longing for mystical union with him, through pilgrimage, leaves him with a sense of great loneliness. Praise to Muham-

mad then surges up in his heart and when he begins to utter it, his loneliness passes and he is filled with joy. So constantly do his

thoughts turn to the Prophet that all the sights and sounds of his daily life only serve to remind him of the time when he lived here on earth; and they create associations that take the poet back, in imagination, to Mecca and Medina. So, although his body has 5] am grateful to Malam Ibrahim Mukoshy and Professor D. W. Arnott for permission to quote from their unpublished seminar paper, ‘Aspects of Fulani Poetry.”

Preacher and Missionary 55 failed him, for it has never taken him to the holy cities, yet so vivid are the images his song evokes that it is as if he really has made the pilgrimage in his heart. After this, he goes on to talk about Muhammad’s many miracles, with an allusive nostalgia that conjures up the scenes and landscapes of Arabia in the Prophet's day. Then he goes on to mention the landmarks that are particularly associated with him (and which the poet can describe in detail, although he has never been there, from his reading of Arabic

literature). The whole poem is long, amounting to 106 stanzas, each of five hemistichs. It is in the following passage that he sets the scene: I am thanking God by His will, The All-Powerful who has created me by His power, Who has created all mortal creatures because He willed it, I am thanking God, may God’s blessing be For ever upon the Prophet, His Messenger. All mortal men, truly Ahmad [i.e. the Prophet Muhammad] excels

them,

The Most Excellent One, truly our Saviour upon the Last Day, Truly, it is Muhammad who is worthy to be chosen, Among those who have been exalted, truly he has been singled out, The Most Excellent One, the last of God’s prophets. My friends, I begin my praise in order to comfort my loneliness, Into my heart he keeps coming in, I am longing to see him, the Most Excellent of the prophets, Muhammad, Ahmad, for he excels them all. In my heart I sing his praises. With my body, every day, truly, I long to see Muhammad highly placed indeed, And my spirit, its food is praising him in truth, When I drink the waters of his praise, truly, I feel nothing except love for him.

Whenever I go out, the direction I am following Is that of the motion of my eyes, they are desiring the east, That they may succeed in seeing my Lord, the Prophet, When I go out, in whatever direction I turn my eyes, It is as if I see him, and hear him speak. It is as if you said, “Yesterday you spent the night there [in Medina], To comfort your loneliness, or perchance a day, It is as if you had found the time to go there,”

56 : THE SWORD OF TRUTH When I return it is as if I come from there, To him it is that I am going, or in search of him. When we have mounted and are setting out to fight for the Sunna, _ Itisasif he and I are together, and great is my joy, When I sleep for a while I will remember, Wait! For I have seen many things throughout my life,

: him,

It is as if I sit and look upon his face.

When I am silent my heart is not tardy,

In all my thoughts I desire to see him, :

When I hear the words, ‘Peace be upon you,” then I will remember Whenever I exchange greetings, it is as if he and I exchange them, It is as if I take his hand in mine. [12]

It was such verse as this, with its evocative reminders of the color-

ful folklore of Islam’s birthplace, that helped to establish the Shehu’s hold over the imaginations of the congregations who

listened to him, and to others who recited his poems. | His brother, ‘Abdullah, was also a fine poet and, in contrast to the Shehu, composed fluently in Hausa. It therefore seems likely — that, whereas the Shehu addressed himself mainly to those who © - wunderstood Fulfulde or Arabic, it was ‘Abdullah and others of the Shehu’s companions, for instance the Zamfara poet Muhammadu _ Tukur, who composed the message for the Hausa-speaking coneregations. Although, of course, the Shehu certainly knew Hausa well enough to make use of what others had written, even though he did not compose extensively in that language himselt.®

THE PREACHER

What impact did this man make upon his audiences, and wherein lay his success? Naturally, his companions describe him favorably and even idealize him; while hostile comment, if it was made, has apparently not survived. It is possible to read between

, the lines of their formal eulogy and gain at least some understanding of the human character beneath. 6 But a late authority, ‘Abd al-Qadir b. Muhammad al-Bukhari (fl. 1900), credits him with “knowing seven hundred languages: and it has been men-

tioned by the learned that the languages of the sons of Adam are seven | hundred”! (Tabshir al-ikhwan bi-akhbar al-khulafa’ fi sudan, folio 16 of my MS).

| Preacher and Missionary 57 Above all, the Shehu was filled with awe of God. This was the | root and branch of his faith and purpose. During the early part of his career, before the jihad, it was usually al-Rahman, “the Merciful God,” who did not place upon His servants more than

they could bear, who filled his thoughts. Thus in his preaching he , was more concerned to teach and to persuade than to censure. But

there is another aspect of Allah, the God oi Islam. He is stern, ' demanding, and All-powerful and will brook no rival to His power and majesty. This aspect of God, too, was always present in the Shehu’s mind as, in sadness and sometimes in anger, he surveyed the scene of polytheism and spirit worship around him. Not only did he grieve that men should thereby condemn themselves to burn in Hell Fire; he also deeply resented the affront to God which, with their sinful libations and sacrilegious incantations, they constantly perpetrated. Despite the tolerant understanding of human frailty that he displayed in the “Revivification,” this anger in clearly evident in the vigor and detail with which he described the eternal torments of the damned.

But throughout his life, even at his most magisterial, he drew men and women to him and won their affection. For he was a fine, devoted teacher, who conveyed his message eloquently to those who listened to him, and gained their confidence. As his son Muhammad Bello wrote of him:

It is known that Shehu, as soon as he was grown up, was a selfrestrained, religious man, of a nature that won confidence and friendship. People came to him from east and west. : . . He disseminated knowledge. He drove away unhappiness. . . . He made men to know things which it is difficult toknow . . . [JM, p.23]

He also possessed considerable personal charm and, in the manner of a devout Muslim who follows the example of the Prophet, was

unfailingly courteous and considerate of others. And he possessed that other quality of a good teacher: that he was always ready and willing to receive those who came to him, and to make them welcome. For Bello says: | Men came to him in such crowds that they jostled each other. He showed them a smiling face and kindly nature and was glad with them. He was patient and had pity on Muhammadans [IM, p.23]

and again: Ss 58 THE SWORD OF TRUTH

He looked pleased and smiled at them. Then he would call for silence. He was never wearied by them and never refused them. [/M, p-24]

The eagerness, sometimes the over-eagerness, that he aroused in his audience, is also evident from Bello’s account: He was worried, too, by some who were badly behaved. When he told them to be silent, when he stopped them asking a multitude of questions, they would not leave off asking. [JM, p.24]

He must, too, have had a most attractive smile. For his biographers constantly mention how, before preaching, he would look - across the ranks of his audience and smile at them, thus quietening the hubbub of their chatter. These, then, were some of the qualities of his leadership and, as Bello says, ‘““He found men obedient to him” (IM, p.23).

IV THE SWORD OF TRUTH

THE Arasic word suf originally meant “wool” and referred to the simple woolen garment worn by early Muslim anchorites. Thus sufi came to mean “ascetic” or “mystic” and was used to describe those who, in early Islam, strove to know God and His purpose through mortification of the flesh and, later, by abandoning the dry wrangling of the theologians for the felt, intuitive way of the mystic. The movement grew, as men became increasingly dissatisfied with dogmatic formalism; and soon the Sufi way of life be-

came firmly established in Islam. .

Then, as happens so frequently, reaction gave rise to extravagance; and Sufism became extreme in its total rejection of the idea that men can think their way through to the truth. In this situation, the life and works of the Muslim theologian, al-Ghazali, were decisive. From a turmoil of self-questioning and a crisis of belief and experience, he arrived at a compromise between the cerebral endeavors of thinkers and the intuitive leap of the mystic. Out of this a new kind of Sufism emerged, a mystic way of life that was

now reconcilable with orthodox Islamic teaching. It became the most important life force of medieval Islam.

SUFISM IN THE WESTERN SUDAN It is widely believed antong the Hausa people that Sufism was 59

6o THE SWORD OF TRUTH one of the gifts of Islam brought to them by the fifteenth-century Islamic missionary from North Africa, Muhammad b. ‘Abd al-

Karim al-Maghili; they received it eagerly and have pursued it with fervor ever since.

Whether or not al-Maghili was, in fact, the first to introduce it, Sufism began to take root in the Western Sudan from the early sixteenth century onwards, as part of the general diffusion of Andalusian and North African culture in which the Saharan tradition of Islamic learning—that is, the learning diffused from the medieval Islamic university of Timbuktu—had its origins. Muhammad

Bello claims in his Infag al-maisur that a certain al-‘Aqib b. ‘Abdullah al-Ansamuni al-Massufi, a scholar of the Saharan kingdom of Ahir, who flourished c.1543, was a noted Sufi. By the early seventeenth century Sufi ideas, and therefore almost certainly allegiance to specific orders, were firmly established in Hausaland. For the work of a Kano scholar of that era, Abdullahi Sikka, contains material that clearly shows the author’s mystic background.!

THE SUFI ALLEGIANCE OF THE MUSLIM FULANI By the Shehu’s day, Sufi mysticism had a considerable number

of influential adherents in the Sahara and the Hausa-speaking areas. Muhammad Bello states the Shehu received many of his salasil, or mystic genealogies linking him to the founder of the Qadiriyya and other Sufi orders, from his teacher, the Tuareg Shaikh Jibril b. ‘Umar. He, in turn, had received them in Egypt from the Sufi, Muhammad Murtada b. Muhammad al-Husaini alWasiti, a teacher well-known and respected in his day, particularly among the travelers who went to and fro between the Sudan and Cairo. Since Shaikh Jibril played such an important part in educating the Shehu, he must also have been influential in deepening his pupil’s commitment to mysticism. The Shehu’s early education included many important Sufi works: for instance, he studied the well-known al-Futuhat al-makkiyya (Meccan Revelations), of the Andalusian mystic, Ibn ‘Arabi, which gives an allegorical account of the Prophet Muhammad’s legendary ascension to heaven, and the works of the seventeenth-century Moroccan poet and mys1 Al-‘Atiyya lil-mu‘ti. The subject matter of this work is discussed in Hiskett, Ph.D. thesis (op. cit. Bibliog.), I, p. 1.

The Sword of Truth 61 tic, Abu ‘Ali al-Hasan b. Mas‘ud al-Yusi. As a young man he learned al-Fazazi’s al-Ishriniyyat (The Twenties). ‘This is a pane-

gyric to the Prophet that is one of the main exemplars for the “Imitation of Muhammad” and is basic to Sufi practice and belief. The theological works of al-Ghazali, the source of Sufism in western Islam, were also familiar to him; and it may well be that his own work, Ihya al-sunna (Revivification of Orthodoxy), echoes the title of al-Ghazali’s famous Ihya ‘ulum al-din (Revivification

of the Sciences of the Faith). It was from such books that the Shehu learned to be a mystic; and by the time he was in his middle twenties he was sufficiently advanced to teach the secrets of mysticism (Arabic, tasawwuf) to his brother, ‘Abdullah b. Muhammad. These secrets are too numerous and complex to be fully described here. Basically, they consist of litanies and prayers to be recited; and religious exercises, such as fasting and retreat, to

be performed, in order that the initiate may eventually win through to a mystic state, known as ma‘rifa, in which he becomes absorbed in God.

THE SUFI REVIVAL OF THE EIGHTEENTH AND NINETEENTH CENTURIES The influence and power of the Sufi orders at this time—that 1s, in the second half of the eighteenth century and the beginning of the nineteenth century—are difficult to assess; but certain facts are clear. It was a time of ideological turmoil in the Islamic world as

a whole. Many factors contributed to this: one was the decay of the Ottoman empire, the old, corrupted successor to Islam’s imperial dominion in its strength and prime; another, the increasingly assertive European intrusion into Islamic territories, which provoked a mood of Islamic militancy. Yet another, in part a reaction to these intrusions, was the rise of the Wahhabi movement,

referred to in Chapter IJ. This was an Islamic fundamentalist movement, whose adherents sought to impose radical reform on Islamic society. ‘They took as their ideal the early patriarchal Is-

lamic community over which the Prophet Muhammad and his immediate successors, the Patriarchal Caliphs, had presided. ‘They argued, fiercely, that contemporary Islam had diverged unaccept-

ably from that ideal. They complained, for instance, of the way

62 THE SWORD OF TRUTH — in which many late secondary theological and religious texts had ‘assumed an authority that belonged only to the Koran and hadith.

They objected. to the complexity of Islamic government which they contrasted unfavorably with the simple elective system that had been good enough for the early Muslims. They also objected to thé extreme reverence paid to walis, Islamic holy men, and to pilgrimage to their tombs, which they regarded as forms of idolatry.

The Fulani were not Wahhabis; although some scholars have suggested they were. But there may have been a link between . them and the Wabhabis to the extent that their reform movement can be explained as part of a general reaction to the stimulus of Wahhabism, partjcularly its challenge to mysticism, which the Wahhabis regarded as yet another unjustifiable accretion upon the simple faith established by the Prophet. ‘There is evidence that the various-Sufi tarigas (the word means “‘path” and may be trans-

lated as ‘order’ or “brotherhood” reacted to this attack by closing their ranks and advocating their own doctrines and way of life more militantly. Some digression is now necessary in order to explain this more fully. For it is important to understand the religious and ideological background against which the Shehu’s own beliefs and attitudes arose. During the second half of the eighteenth century, in and around the Azhar (the great teaching mosque of Cairo), there took place an energetic Sufi revival. New life was infused into such ancient

orders as the Qadiriyya, founded in the twelfth century by a saintly mystic called ‘Abd ‘al-Qadir al-Jilani, to which the Shehu

, and his companions belonged. But the revival did not stop here. _A number of new orders were founded: for instance the Tijan1yya, so called after its founder, Ahmad al-Tijani, who started it _ ¢.1780. So vigorous did this new foundation become that it spread into Hausaland during the Shehu’s lifetime. The parent order of

the Tijaniyya was yet a third tariga, called the Khalwatiyya, | which had, in the first instance, been the focus for the whole Sufi revival provoked, in some measure, by the Wahhabis’ challenge.? 2 See B. G. Martin, “A Short History of the Khalwati Order of Dervishes,” in Scholars, Saints and Sufis, ed. Nikki Keddi (Berkeley, University of Cali-

fornia Press), 1971.

The Sword of Truth 63 Strange as all these names may seem now, and remote and distant their arguments in the quite different ideological ferment of our

own times, they were supremely important both to intellectuals and to the common people of Islam in their day; and their repercussions spread all over the Islamic world. For the question really was: how should Islam face the crisis that beset it? a crisis caused by the stifling lethargy of the ageing Turkish empire and the thrusting encroachments of the arrogant, non-Muslim West. Did regeneration and hope lie in the stark, literalist simplicity and radical disciplines of the Wahhabis? Or were they to be sought through a rediscovery of the mystic’s way to God?

The Shehu and his associates were not directly affected by the decline of the Turkish empire; nor, as yet, by European imperial-

ism. Nevertheless, there is no doubt that they were exposed to these urgent and infectious new ideas sweeping out from the Azhar. For although he was a faithful adherent of the Qadiriyya, the Shehu knew and admired the doctrines of the Tijaniyya. He had also received the szlsila of the Khalwatiyya—that is, the mystic

genealogy of saints and holy men peculiar to that order—among those passed on to him by Shaikh Jibril. Certainly these two men, the Shehu and Jibril, must have discussed, within their circle of like-minded scholars, the clash of ideologies and the exciting currents of new ideas through which Sufism was increasing its hold upon the imaginations of Muslims all over the world; and was moving into an era of expansion in Africa.

THE SHEHU’S PERSONAL MYSTICAL EXPERIENCES From c.1789, when he was thirty-six years old, until the outbreak of the jihad in 1804, the Shehu experienced a number of visions in which, as he believed, he came face to face with the Prophet Muhammad and with ‘Abd al-Qadir al-Jilani, the twelfthcentury founder of the Qadiriyya order. The Shehu was a member of a Sufi community among whose members supernatural experiences were regarded, if not as com-

monplace, at least as the normal means used by God to demonstrate His direct interest in their affairs. Sufi devotees were constantly going to and fro between Hausaland and Cairo or Fez and

bringing back accounts of wonderful visions experienced by

64 THE SWORD OF TRUTH saintly personalities in the metropolises. ‘The Shehu had cordial relations with Shaikh al-Mukhtar al-Kunti, the leader of a Sufi community centered round Timbuktu, who also had visions. ‘The Shehu’s wife, ‘A’isha, was a devout mystic. So was his close friend

Muhammad Koiranga, who often acted as an intermediary between the Shehu and Shaikh ‘Abd al-Qadir al-Jilani—that is to say, in the course of the Shehu’s visions it was Koiranga who carried messages between them. The Shehu’s whole training in tasawwuf—that is, the practice of mysticism—as well as his social and intellectual environment led him to expect visionary experiences as a reward for his spiritual

discipline and endeavors. They were important to him because only through them could he be sure that his election really came from God; while the remembrance of them was the certainty upon which he relied in times of doubt, disappointment, and discouragement. Without the direct contact with the Prophet and ‘Abd al-Qadir al-Jilani that came through his visions, he remained just another learned scholar. But the visions, to use the metaphor his followers coined, “placed a cloak upon him,” the cloak of divine favor and of a duty he had to discharge under the scrutiny both of the Prophet and the saintly founder of the order. In short, the visions actualized the silszla, the mystic genealogy upon which the

whole mystic process rested, by involving its personalities as his advisers, and as guardians of the reformist community, at all the crucial moments in its progress toward fulfillment of its ideals. According to a short work, probably written late in his life, and

usually referred to as the Wird (Litany), because it contains his Sufi litany, the Shehu says he first began to have mystical expertences in A.H.1204/A.D.1789-90, when he was thirty-six years old: When I reached thirty-six years of age, God removed the veil from my sight, and the dullness from my hearing and my smell, and the thick-

ness from my taste, and the cramp from my two hands, and the restraint from my two feet, and the heaviness from my body. And I was

able to see the near like the far, and hear the far like the near, and ; smell the scent of him who worshipped God, sweeter than any sweetness; and the stink of the sinner, more foul than any stench. And I could recognize what was lawful to eat by the taste, before I swallowed

it; and likewise what was unlawful to eat. I could pick up what was far away with my two hands while I was sitting in my place; and IJ

The Sword of Truth 65 could travel on my two feet [a distance] that a fleet horse could not cover in the space of years. That was a favour from God that He gives to whom He will. And I knew my body, limb by limb, bone by bone, sinew by sinew, muscle by muscle, hair by hair, each one by its rank,

and what was entrusted to it. Then I found written upon my fifth rib, on the right side, by the Pen of Power, “Praise be to God, Lord of the Created Worlds” ten times; and ‘‘O God, bless our Lord Muhammad, and the Family of Muhammad, and give them peace” ten times; and “I beg forgiveness from the Glorious God” ten times; and I marvelled greatly at that. [Wzrd, pp. 1-2]

Ever since he was a young man the Shehu had practised spiritual discipline. For Malam Gidado tells how, while the Shehu was studying with Shaikh Muhammad Binduwa at Muza, he used to go out alone into the desert to meditate, returning to the village after evening prayer. These meditations later became formal retreats; and on one occasion at least, he observed silence and engaged in prayer for a whole year. His devotions were rewarded by

a vision of the Prophet. In the course of another vision, the Prophet commanded him to go into retreat for fifteen days, and on completion of this he was taken before the throne of God. This was the occasion he came face to face with ‘Abd al-Qadir al-Jilani,

who then singled him out as his representative on earth. The following is Gidado’s account of that momentous event (translated from the ““Meadow’’):

Then the Lord of Creation said to him: “J put you in the retreat of al-Ash‘ari,? which is fifteen days, not the retreat of al-Junaid,* which is forty days,’ and the Lord of Creation gave him a dhikr® and said to him: “Do not eat anything except what is required for bare sustenance during this period.” He did this. When the period was complete the Lord of Creation led him to the Merciful and all the angels of the Merciful were present and the Shaikh, the pole of the Qadiriyya order, the Chosen One, was present—and the words that testify to the presence will come in due course—and the Shaikh ‘Abd alQadir took our Shehu by the hand and sat him in front of him and said: “This man belongs to me,” and for this reason the Shehu Usuman said in his al-Qasida al-sudantyya [The Sudanic Ode]: “Our intermediary to Muhammad is the Shaikh ‘Abd al-Qadir.” [RJ] 3 A well-known theologian of Baghdad, d. A.D. 935-36. 4 A celebrated mystic of Baghdad, d. A.D. gio. > Sufi recitation.

66 THE SWORD OF TRUTH In the Wird the Shehu himself describes a similar vision; but adds

the important information that ‘Abd al-Qadir al-Jilani handed him the “Sword of Truth” to use against the enemies of Islam: When I reached forty years, five months and some days, God drew

me to him, and I found the Lord of djinns and men, our Lord

Muhammad—may God bless him and given: him peace. With him were the Companions, and the prophets, and the saints. Then they welcomed me, and sat me down in their midst. Then the Saviour of djinns and men, our Lord ‘Abd al-Qadir al-Jilani, brought a green _ robe embroidered with the words, “There is no god but God; Muhammad is the Messenger of God’’—May God bless him and give him

peace—and a turban embroidered with the words, ““He is God, the One.’”’6 He handed them to the Messenger of God—may God bless him

and give him peace—and the Messenger of God clasped them to his bosom for a time; then he handed them to Abu Bakr al-Siddiq, and he handed them to ‘Umar al-Faruq, and he handed them to ‘Uthman Dhu ’l-Nurain, and he handed them to ‘Ali~may God ennoble his face—and then to Yusuf—upon whom be peace—and Yusuf gave them

back to my Lord ‘Abd al-Qadir al-Jilani; and they appointed him to

act on their behalf, and said, “Dress him and enturban him, and name him with a name that shall be attributed exclusively to him.”

° He sat me down, and clothed me and enturbaned me. Then he ad-

dressed me as “Imam of the saints’’ and commanded me to do what is

approved of and forbade me to do what is disapproved of; and he girded me with the Sword of Truth,’ to unsheath it against the enemies of God. Then they commanded me with what they commanded me; and at the same time gave me leave to make this litany that is written upon my ribs widely known, and promised me that whoever adhered to it, God would intercede for every one of his disciples. [Wird, pp. 2-4]

This vision took place in A.H.1208/A.D.1794, and its militant symbolism suggests it was at this point he finally accepted the obligation to seek his goals, if necessary, by the sword. About this time he also made up his mind to move out of Gobir—that is to go on Aijra—and settle elsewhere. But ‘Abd al-Qadir al-Jilani ap-

peared to him again in a vision and forbade this. Later, in A.H. 1218/A.D.1803 or early 1804, he appeared yet again: this time he 6 This is possibly a reference to Koran, Surat al-tkhlas (Sura 1 12) and may

indicate that the whole of this short sura was embroidered on the turban. 7 Arabic satf al-haqq. ‘The word al-haqq is also one of the names of God; and the translation “the Sword of God” is also possible.

The Sword of Truth 67 gave him permission to move to a place called Gudu, under circumstances that will be explained in Chapter V. Some years before this decisive event, but squarely within the period of his visions, the Shehu had placed on record a clear testimony of his allegiance to the Qadiriyya. He had composed an ode in praise of ‘Abd al-Qadir al-Jilani. ‘Abdullah’s account of the

circumstances in which this took place indicates that it, too, marked a point of militant decision, particularly when one bears in mind the vision of the “Sword of Truth” which had preceded it by a few years: Then our Shaikh ‘Uthman [Shehu Usuman]—may God perpetuate the glory of Islam through him—when he saw the greatness of the community and their desire to break away from the unbelievers and commence holy war, began to incite them to arms, saying to them, ‘Verily

to make ready weapons is Sunna,” and we began to make weapons ready, and he began to pray to God that He should show him the sovereignty of Islam in this country of the Sudan, and he set this to

verse in his vernacular ode, al-Qadiriyya [“The Qadirite Ode’’], and I put it into Arabic in verses. [TW, p.105]|

‘Abdullah’s Arabic version is dated Rabi‘ al-awwal, A.H. 1212; that is between August 24 and September 22, A.D. 1797.

These experiences reveal the periods of high mental and emotional excitement the Shehu and his companions went through between 1789 and 1804. Indeed, a secular explanation could be that the tensions of their situation contributed something to their visions. But although, like other men of their times and persuasions, they were conditioned to accept the realities of visions and miracles, they were not wholly credulous. For they believed that lying visions could occur through the intervention of Satan or wicked djinns. On one occasion Koiranga appeared to the Shehu in a vision and announced that the Prophet wquld come to greet him. ‘The Shehu was uneasy about this and would not accept it as truthful until he had prayed for guidance. Then the Prophet did appear to him, so he believed, in circumstances that dispelled his doubts. Sometimes the visions are reminiscent of familiar Islamic mythology: for instance, the one described above in which “the Lord of Creation,” that is, the Prophet, “‘led him to the Merciful [God]

68 THE SWORD OF TRUTH and all the angels of the Merciful were present . . . ,” which certainly echoes the well-known story of the mi‘raj, Muhammad's _ legendary ascension to heaven. On this occasion, Muhammad was

conducted before the throne of God and found himself in the presence of the angels and the blessed in much the same way as did the Shehu. Also, as was suggested above, some visions betray the influence of the silsila, the mystic genealogy that every Sufi memorizes. For instance, the momentous vision of the Sword of Truth, in which not only ‘Abd al-Qadir al-Jilani and the Prophet

were present; but also the early patriarchs of Islam and the

Sufis. |

Koranic prophet Yusuf (Joseph), an important cult hero of the

, Why, and through what means, the visions occurred must remain a matter for conjecture. Fasting certainly played a part. ‘The Shehu is also known to have enjoyed kola nut, a caffein stimulant still commonly used in Hausaland, and it is possible that large quantities of this substance, taken in a fasting state, could produce hallucinations. But this is speculation and there is no evidence that he used kola, or any other drug, to assist the visionary process. On one occasion he observed the rule of silence for a year and this, too, culminated in a vision. He also practised recitation of a dhikr (certain verses of the Koran intoned over and over again), and in some subjects this is known to produce a hypnotic state. But whatever may have been the physical and psychological explanations for their occurrence, there is no doubt the Shehu and his companions believed in their visions: and it was this belief

that largely determined their actions. :

Apart from the light the visions throw upon the ambiance and proportions of the times and the society in which the Shehu lived, they are important for another reason. The supernatural intervention of the founder of the Qadiriyya occurred at every decisive moment in his career, and accompanied his translation from the role of peaceful preacher to that of militant leader of a reformist community. There can be no doubt about the militant symbolism of the “Sword of Truth”; nor that he believed himself divinely appointed, through the intermediation of ‘Abd al-Qadir al-Jilani, to carry that sword, if necessary, in holy war. The decision to go on Aura, out of Gobir, taken as a result of al-Jilani’s intervention,

The Sword of Truth 69 also points to this saint’s role in building up the community’s war-

like resolve. For emigration out of the territory of a ruler was traditionally a way of showing withdrawal of allegience and such action by a sizable community was tantamount to a declaration of war. It seems reasonable, therefore, to interpret the visions as symbolic of how Qadiri ideology became both the motive force and the rationale that induced in these reformers a militant attitude. This hypothesis 1s consistent with the general climate of heightened Sufi fervor which, as was explained above, was characteristic

of most of Islam at the turn of the eighteenth to the nineteenth century. So, while the particular circumstances obtaining in Hausaland at this time were obviously very important in bringing matters to a head, one may say that the Fulani reformers were, in some measure, carried along by an ideological tide that was in flood over the whole Islamic world of their day.

||V| PRELUDE TO WAR

AS THE SHEHU predicted when he paid his last visit to Natfata, Yunfa succeeded to the throne of Gobir: indeed, it seems certain the Shehu played a part in bringing this about by rallying certain

powerful courtiers to the young prince’s support, against his cousins.

There now followed a period when it seemed the breach be=_ tween Gobir and the Muslims might be healed. Yunfa at first showed great deference toward his benefactor and renounced the treacherous ways of his predecessors. For instance, he would come on foot to visit the Shehu in his encampment at Degel—a gesture

of considerable humility from a reigning chief toward a mere scholar—and he also listened to his advice on how the kingdom should be governed. But either he was dissembling or else he quickly came to realize, like Bawa and Nafata before him, that no rapprochement with the Muslim party was possible except at the expense of traditional authority. He therefore plotted to kill the Shehu. According to ‘Abdullah b. Muhammad Yunfa invited the

Shehu to the palace, and he went there together with ‘Abdullah and another friend called Umaru al-Kammu. The sources tell how ‘Abdullah was already suspicious of Yunfa and wanted to tax him with intended treachery, there and then. But he was restrained by

Umaru Alkammu, who advised him to let things take their course. During the audience Yunfa suddenly seized a musket, 70

Prelude to War m1 aimed it at the Shehu, and fired. Miraculously, as it seemed to those present, the weapon flashed in the pan and scorched the chief, causing him to leap back in alarm, to the grave satisfaction of his intended victim. This story, told by the usually reliable eyewitness, ‘Abdullah, seems intrinsically credible. Another version, given in Malam Gidado’s “Meadow,” tells how Yunfa had a pit

dug and lined with spears. He then placed a mat over it. When the Shehu came to sit on the mat he remained, to Yunfa’s ill-concealed astonishment, perfectly secure and the pit was later found to have been miraculously filled with sand. But this story is obviously the product of the miracle tradition that grew up around the Shehu after his death, although it may well describe a method often used by the chiefs for removing those who displeased them. After this the Shehu and his companions returned to Degel. It was not long before another incident propelled both sides nearer to the point of open war.

THE GIMBANA AFFAIR In the village of Gimbana, southwest of present Sokoto, on the river Zamfara, lived a community of Muslims under thew local leader, a Hausa scholar called ‘Abd al-Salam. They had, apparently, taken refuge in this village during the reign of Nafata who, it will be remembered, had introduced restrictive legislation against all Muslims in his kingdom. Accounts of what now happened vary in detail, but the basic facts are that ‘Abd al-Salam adopted an attitude of stiff-necked defiance toward the Gobir authorities. Yunfa, seeing this as the challenge to his authority he had always feared, dispatched a punitive expedition against the village. ‘Abd al-Salam and his people were taken prisoners and led

in chains up the Rima valley to Alkalawa, Yunfa’s capital, there to be enslaved. On the way they passed by Degel where the Muslim community, infuriated by the plight of their co-religionists, sallied out and attacked the escort. A sharp arrow fight ensued, in which the Gobir escort, taken by surprise, was driven off and the captives freed. ‘The Gobir soldiers now made as fast as they could for Alkalawa, where they indignantly displayed the Muslims’ arrows before Yunfa, to prove they had been attacked first. 1'This incident is recorded in detail in RJ and more briefly in WKS.

72 THE SWORD OF TRUTH Yunfa was furious and at once sent a message to the Shehu, ordering him to abandon his community and go into exile. The Shehu

refused to leave his people but replied that both he and they would leave Degel and emigrate to a place called Gudu, a distant ' village on the western border of Gobir. ‘Abdullah b. Muhammad describes this whole incident in the following passage: Then we returned to our country, and [the Sultan of Gobir] dispatched an army after that against the community of ‘Abd al-Salam, and it attacked them, and some of the Muslims were killed and some were taken prisoner, and the rest of them scattered in the country of Kebbi. Now this increased him in pride and arrogance, and he, and those who followed him from among the people in his country, unbelievers and evil-doers, began to threaten us with the like of that until the Sultan sent word to the Shehu that he should go away from his community and leave them for a far place, he together with his family alone. The Shehu sent word to him [saying], “I will not forsake my community, but I will leave your country, for God’s earth is wide!” Then we made ready to emigrate, and he sent word to the Shehu that he should not leave his place. The Shehu refused and we emigrated to

a place on the far borders of his lands, in the desert places, called Gudu. . . . Then [the Sultan] ordered the governors of his towns to take captive all who travelled to the Shehu and they began to persecute the Muslims, killing them and confiscating their property. [7 W, p. 108]

This attack on the community of ‘Abd al-Salam was the final straw. Yet accounts of it differ. ‘Abdullah, who already disliked and distrusted Yunfa, interprets it simply as a deliberate act of ageression on his part. But other sources suggest some misunder-

standing may have intruded, and that neither the Shehu nor Yunfa intended the affair to turn out as it did. According to this version, the attack on Gimbana was initiated not by Yunia but by a local commander; while the rescue operation by the Degel community was mounted by ‘Abdullah, without the Shehu’s consent or knowledge. Be that as it may, the resulting situation left

Yunfa no alternative but to order the Shehu into exile. ‘The Shehu, who is said to have been angry with ‘Abdullah for his hasty action,” sent a rather conciliatory answer, pointing out that, although he was taking his community with him from Degel, he 2 See Al-Hajj Sa‘id, Ta’rikh Sokoto.

Prelude to War 73 intended to remain within Gobir and thus within Yunfa’s jurisdiction.® It is clear from this that he now fully understood Yunfa’s

fear of a major withdrawal of allegiance among his subjects and the effect of this upon his authority: and sought to reassure him. The damage was done, however, and Yunfa, by now thoroughly incensed, prepared to teach the rebels a sharp and, as he hoped, final lesson.

‘The Shehu, fortified by the visionary intervention of ‘Abd al-

Qadir al-Jilani, now departed for Gudu on the twelfth of the Islamic month of Dhu ’1-Qa‘da, A. H. 1218/February A.D. 1804. He was preceded by a small party of his immediate friends and relatives, who went ahead to prepare a house for him. They carried with them his precious library which, of course, was not only the Shehu’s personal possession, but also a symbol of the community’s Islamic identity—a kind of Ark of the Covenant which was their source of guidance and inspiration.‘

THE ACT OF ALLEGIANCE AT GUDU® The Shehu was shortly joined by the rest of his community from Degel, soon to be swelled by parties of other Muslim refugees who arrived at Gudu, driven there by the persecution Yunfa now loosed upon them. For he: gave his provincial governors orders to harass all Muslims, wherever they were to be found. Before long there was a sizable gathering of people and it became clear some arrangements must be made for their defense and the running of their affairs. The Shehu gathered them all together and bade them elect an emir, that is, a commander, to lead them in war and govern them. Several candidates were proposed, among them ‘Abdullah b. Muhammad; none were fully acceptable. In the end the people insisted the Shehu himself be their leader. Tradition tells he was reluctant to accept the responsibility and only did so under persuasion. This is possibly the pious aiterthought of his biographers, to show how unworldly he was: but it may well have been true. For he was now fifty years old and although he had had some experience as a military adviser 3 RJ.

€On the authority of the Shehu’s daughter, Asma, in WG. > RJ, WKS,and TW, p. 108 f.

"4 THE SWORD OF TRUTH to the chiefs of Gobir, he had not, as far as is known, ever actively commanded in the field. Moreover, it seems clear from his career up to this point that, unlike ‘Abdullah, who was a natural fighter, apt to bring matters to a head, the Shehu preferred more subtle techniques. Despite his militant visions, he would rather have outpointed the Habe at their own devious game than fight them outright; and he may still have believed there was a hope of compromise that so warlike an appointment would destroy. Circumstances, however, dictated otherwise: persuaded by his followers, now in a belligerent mood, he accepted the allegiance offered him and became the commander of a rebel army, in open revolt against the authority of Gobir.

POPULAR SUPPORT FOR THE SHEHU When the Shehu first started to preach in 1774, converts began to respond to his call and to join him in increasing numbers until he found himself at the head of a substantial rebellious faction in Gudu. So it is now appropriate to inquire what were the reasons that caused these people to turn to a preacher of an exotic faith for hope and guidance, and to abandon their traditional rulerse The reformers’ criticisms of the Habe administrations were various and detailed. Some typical passages from their polemic writ-

ings are quoted in Chapter IX, where the Shehu’s attitudes *to constitutional and administrative matters are discussed. In general, he and his associates complained of the tyrannical and-arbitrary nature of Habe government and instanced such abuses as confiscation of the peasants’ cattle and beasts of burden, the exercise by the chief of a kind of drout de seigneur, which entitled him

to take his pick of his subjects’ daughters, and the widespread practice of bribery and judicial corruption. The question arises: was this a real comment on the social and political conditions of the day? Or was it merely pious rhetoric,

the stock-in-trade of the professional moralist? It is a difficult question to answer because there is so little evidence from the Habe side. ‘The Habe wrote no apologia. But they did leave some records of their rule, scant though they are—the kzrari, or praisesongs, which their singers addressed to chiefs and office-holders. These are illuminating. For the Habe singers were extolling their

Prelude to War 75 masters’ virtues and expressing their values; not justifying them. And the songs cannot therefore be considered as conscious propaganda. The picture that emerges from them is of faction-ridden courts in which courtiers vied for the favors of the chief, while the chief maintained his position by exploiting his office-holders, playing them off one against the other and distributing patronage. Among the praise-epithets addressed to him, wealth was outstanding, and generosity in distributing it as favors among members of his entourage. Also his ruthlessness in war. For he is frequently ‘‘the burner of villages,” the “forger of chains,” and the like. Even making allowances for the rhetoric and exaggeration in these songs, they still portray a situation in which som€ of the population must have had good cause for complaint. ‘They therefore suggest that the reformers’ accusations were at least partially justified. What is more, the reformers composed their attacks on the Habe partly as the immediate fuel of a revolution; and partly in retrospective self-justification. But, except perhaps in some late works of Muhammad Bello, they were addressing their contemporaries, not posterity. Unless they knew their accusations had the ring of truth, it was futile to make them. For there 1s no point in accusing the chief of making free with the peasant’s donkeys, or his daughters, if the peasant knows that no such thing has ever happened. So, while the Fulani no doubt squeezed the maximum propaganda value from Habe shortcomings, it is still reasonable to’ suppose, on the grounds of inherent probability as well as the evidence of the .praise-singers, that their criticisms were based on fact. What is lacking, however, is any information as to how the Habe and those of their subjects who remained faithful to them regarded behavior that, to the Muslim reformers, seemed crim1nal; but to them may have seemed simply the exercise of customary rights and duties. For instance, the drozt de sergneur, referred

to above, probably had a long traditional association with the rites of the bori cult, or with fertility rites. It may, therefore, have been resented only by a segment of the Habe subjects—possibly only by those who were already confessional Muslims. Likewise, the customary bribes and judicial corruption seemed much less

intolerable to those who understood the system than it did to the reformers, with their untypical attitudes based on a wholly

76 THE SWORD OF TRUTH wayward regard for the Shari‘a. While one can admit, therefore, that much of the factual evidence adduced by the reformers was truthful, it is impossible to assess the degree to which their indigna-

tion was shared by either the Habe nobility or their peasant sub-

jects. But one fact is not in doubt: it certainly was shared by some of them.

THE UNDERCURRENT OF ISLAM The Shehu was not the first to preach Islam. For several generations past, Muslim scholars in Hausaland had disseminated its

ideas and doctrines; while in the neighboring Sahara many preachers and holy men had proclaimed its message. ‘Their tombs

were there to be visited along the caravan routes—venerated shrines that glowed with miraculous light on the anniversary of the holy man’s death; from which, from time to time, he rose again to reveal himself to his privileged followers: and where his living power to heal still cured the sick. Traveling Berber Muslims, members of the tribes to which these holy men belonged, passed to and fro in the course of their journeys into Hausaland, commending the gospel of Allah and His Prophet to the peasants, nomads, and court officials among whom their business took them. Prosperous Muslim merchants came and went between the courts; and grave, mannerly scholars founded Islamic seminaries in the main cities. Pilgrims constantly returned to Hausaland from the holy places of Mecca and Medina, telling wonderful tales of the pilgrimage and of the vast concourse of the Faithful who gathered

for it. And these Hajjis, as the returned pilgrims were called, were able, through their baraka, or holiness, acquired in Islam’s sanctuaries, to manufacture charms and amulets to protect a man from arrow wounds and sword cuts, or cure the aches that screwed

his joints. Thus, among the Hausas and Fulani of Gobir, Zamfara, and Kebbi, as well as in the other Habe kingdoms, there must have been many, on the verge of conversion to Islam, who groped after half-understood doctrines and experimented, awkwardly, with the exacting rituals of Muslim prayer. For such people this meant a growing consciousness of an exciting new identity, a feeling of being different from the rest who lived by the old beliefs and still respected their hierarchies. It was surely to

Prelude to War 77 them that the Shehu’s preaching appealed, coming, as ‘Abdullah so often describes it, like a light in their darkness; making clear,

with a confident authority, so much that had been only dimly understood; assuring them of rights they had hardly hoped for; and imposing duties they were eager to accept. Such people were certainly not a majority among the Habe subjects. But they were enough. For it was not only his scholarly companions who gathered round the Shehu when he set up his first war camp at Gudu;

but also peasants and nomads in sufficient numbers to form an army, victorious in the first major battle of the jihad. So, to some extent, the popular support the Shehu received came from an Islamic undercurrent that ran through all levels of Habe society— the result of a slow process of Islamic acculturalization over preceding generations. It needed only his charismatic leadership to bring it to fulfillment. But this was not the whole story: another factor helped as well. SLAVERY

Slavery, or rather ‘the process of enslavement, was a particularly important factor in the internal situation in Hausaland that contributed to widespread discontent. It therefore served to integrate the other, more diffuse forces working for political and social change. As was related above, as late in the day as Yunfa’s reign a party

of Muslims was captured by a Gobir raiding party and enslaved. It is a reasonable assumption that one of the objects of Bawa’s constant wars, for which his sycophantic courtiers praised him in their songs, was to harvest slaves. Indeed, on two occasions the Shehu Usuman directly refers to the common practice of enslaving Muslims: once in an Arabic work entitled Masa’il muhimma (Important Matters), written in Degel in A.H. 1217/A.D. 1802— that is, two years before the jzhad—in which he complains of the illegality of selling Fulani as slaves, because most of them were Muslims; and again in a Fulfulde poem, Tabbat hakika (Be Sure of That), where he says, “And one who enslaves a freeman, he shall suffer torment /The Fire shall enslave him, be sure of that!” ‘Abdullah b. Muhammad, in a passage where he rebukes certain

of his kinsmen for consorting with the Gobir enemy, refers to

48 THE SWORD OF TRUTH them angrily as “the sellers of free men in the market” (TW, p. 122). Islam permits slavery, of course. But only the enslaving of in-

fidels, not fellow Muslims. This is what the Shehu and ‘Abdullah mean when they speak of a “‘freeman’’—one born of a free Muslim

father and not, therefore, of servile status. Whatever the pretensions of the Habe to Islam, they were certainly no respecters of the Shari‘a in this matter, and slave-raiding against Muslim communities was endemic not only in Gobir, Zamfara, and Kebbi but throughout Hausaland. For the Kano Chronicle, which tells the Kano story, gives ample evidence that here, too, the chiefs and courtiers raided at will. ‘The importance of this should not be exaggerated. Inter-tribal slave raiding had been going on in Hausaland for several cen-

turies before the reform movement and had not, as far as is known, produced a peasants’ revolt. If Sudanese society had learned to live with it for so long, why should it have been a contributing factor to the jihad of the nineteenth century? One reason is that the reform movement drew attention to this and other abuses of the Shari‘a, and so people became less willing to tolerate them. Another reason may be that about A.D. 1730 muskets became readily available in the Habe states.° ‘The possession of firearms by the privileged sarakuna—the courtiers of the Habe courts

—certainly gave them superior fire-power which made slaveharvesting among the ill-armed peasantry easier and more rewarding.’ And, of course, since slaves were the chief currency used to 6 See Kano Chronicle, Palmer (op. cit., Bibliog), IIT, where it is stated that muskets began to be imported into Kano from Nupe in the reign of Muhamman Kumbari (1731-43), while Babba Zaki (1768-76) was the first to establish a bodyguard of musketeers. 7 The efficiency of muskets in the Sudan has been questioned (H. J. Fisher

and Virginia Rowland, op. cit., Bibliog.) But it was with firearms that the Moroccans routed the Songhai at Tondibi in A.D. 1591; and it was in part their lack of firearms that caused the Mamluks to suffer defeat at the hands of the Ottomans at the battle of Cairo, A.D. 1517. The problem of the effectiveness of firearms is relative to the circumstances in which they are used, and the morale and armament of the opposition. The effect on the morale of Sudanese peasants of even one man struck down by a musket ball—the noise and smoke of the discharge, the bloody wound inflicted, the range of the weapon as compared with that of a bow and arrow—seems to me sufficient to justify the assumption that muskets conferred a significant advantage on those who possessed them. Also, I have seen the “Dane gun,” a locally made

Prelude to War 79 purchase muskets, the chiefs’ requirements of slaves must have increased. It therefore seems probable that slave-raiding from c.1730 onwards reached a level sufficient to provoke popular resentment such as had not been aroused by the less intensive activity of the preceding era. This cannot be proven because the evidence is in-

conclusive; but it is certainly suggestive. At any rate, there is no doubt that enslavement threatened many people in Hausaland at the time the Shehu was preaching in their communities. It was,

therefore, natural that they should try to escape the threat by seeking his protection. ‘Thus the particular factor of slavery reinforced the general undercurrent of sympathy for Islam as an attractive alternative to the, by now, centuries’ old domination of the Habe chiefs, and the animism they represented.

THE CONFLICT OF INTERESTS BETWEEN NOMADS AND PEASANTS Another factor was also important in rallying certain of the nomadic Fulani clans to the Shehu’s side. It was the conflict of inter-

ests between them and the agriculturalist populations among whom they lived.

Right across Hausaland the pattern constantly recurs of the Fulani clan leader and his followers enjoying the hospitality of a Habe chief in whose domains the clan has grazing privileges. Then he becomes resentful at the restrictions which the Habe chief neces-

sarily imposes upon the clansmen, to protect his own indigenous peasant subjects—restrictions concerning the use of water sources, penalties for grazing across arable land, and the like. As a result he seizes the opportunity to rise in sympathy with the Shehu, fights his own “holy war’ against his Habe host, ousts him, and emerges as a local emir within what eventually became the Fulani empire. One such typical instance occurred in western Hausaland, in the weapon after the pattern of a nineteenth-century smooth-bore flintlock musket, primed with locally made powder, and used by both Kanuri and Hausa hunters against antelope; and can testify to its considerable effectiveness in the hands of marksmen. Fynn (Crowder, op. cit., Bibliog.) has shown that the Asante used their firearms to good effect against the British during the Asante wars; so there is no reason to suppose that similar weapons were ineffective

against the primitively armed Hausa peasants and Fulani nomads of the eighteenth century.

80 THE SWORD OF TRUTH principality of Zabarma, in northern Kebbi. Here the emergence of a certain Abubakar Luduje as a victorious flag-bearer of the Shehu was preceded by much tension and some fighting between his Fulani herdsmen and the Zabarma peasants over grazing rights.’ Another well-documented instance occurred in eastern Hausaland, in the Habe kingdom of Hadejia. Here an anonymous Hadejia chron-

icler refers to the last of the Habe chiefs of that kingdom, Garba Abubakar, as one “who did not practice any segregation” and goes on to tell how the local Fulani clan leader pledged loyalty to him.°

From the context it is clear that by “segregation” the chronicler means discrimination against the nomads in favor of the Hausa peasants. That he mentions the matter at all suggests, first, that such discrimination was a common source of grievance among the nomadic Fulani and, second, that if Garba Abubakar did not practice it, his predecessors certainly did. His restraint did not save him. ‘The Fulani clan leader rallied to the Shehu’s cause. Garba Abubakar was driven out and his kingdom, in due course, became part of the Fulani empire.

In fine, the causation behind the jzhad and the nature of the Shehu’s support may be thought of as a mosaic: some of its pieces are by now clearly delineated, others only dimly discernible, and many more have yet to be discovered. Of the many factors involved, rising Islamic awareness, political and social discontent among the Hausa subjects of the Habe chiefs, general resentment against the consequences of slave-raiding, and tension between nomad and peasant were certainly important. 8 This and similar instances in Gurma and Kebbi are described in an excellent Ph.D. thesis by Saka Adegbite Balogun (op. cit., Bibliog.), chapter 11. 9 See p. 31, n. 26.

VI HOLY WAR IN THE WAY OH GOD

HIOWEVER MUCH the two chief protagonists may have wished, at the last moment, to draw back, war was now inevitable. For Yunfa

had to save his face; and the allegiance at Gudu placed the Shehu beyond the hope of further compromise. For victory or defeat, the Sword of Truth was now finally unsheathed.

THE TERRAIN OF THE CAMPAIGNS Before going on to discuss the campaigns that now ensued, it will be useful to describe the kind of country over which they were fought, and the two armies that fought them. The cockpit of the war was the area bounded on the west and north by the river Rima, by the river Zamfara in the south, and by the bifurcating streams of the Bunsuru and Gegere in the east (Map II). It is in the main a flat plain of scrub savannah, dry and dusty in the hot season, but bursting into green fertility with the rains. It is excellent country for cavalry, on which the Muslim Fulani largely relied, at least during the later phases of the war after they

had captured sufficient horses from the Habe to form effective cavalry units.1 But it is a vast country and offers limitless escape routes to defeated armies. It was thus difficult to clinch an initial victory won in the open; and command of the areas as a whole de1 Johnston (op. cit., Bibliog.), p. 45 et seq. 81

82 THE SWORD OF TRUTH pended on possession of the walled towns, which were both the

bases and the sallyports for armies operating in the field. The plain, particularly in Zamfara, is often broken by huge rocky outcrops, the immediate areas of which are strewn with boulders pro-

viding excellent cover. The heights themselves form natural

foot. :

strongholds, impregnable by cavalry and often difficult to scale on

Farther to the west, and closer to the Niger, the country becomes less dry, and large swampy areas occur; while to the east Lake Chad ultimately forms a huge swampy barrier.

Northwards, toward Azbin, the terrain rapidly loses even the scant vegetation of the scrub savannah and becomes the gravelly

plain of the Sahara. 7

To the south, toward Kontagora, and southeast, in Gwar, the scrub thickens into evergreen orchard bush, and the landscape becomes more hilly. This, too, is not good for cavalry, and the incidence of a tsetse belt yet farther south eventually imposes a severe handicap on horse-borne forces. For the blood-sucking tsetse fly transmits a fatal equine disease.

THE TWO ARMIES?

The two armies about to fight this war were not evenly matched. The Gobitawa and their allies certainly enjoyed superiority in numbers and, in the early stages, in weapons and equipment. Later, however, the Muslims largely overcame their initial inferiority by capture from the enemy.

The Gobir army was a mixed force. In addition to the levies of Hausa peasants available to the Gobir chief, it contained units of ‘Tuareg—experienced desert raiders but fickle and unreliable—Fulani hostile to the Shehu’s cause—and they too proved inconstant allies—and people whom ‘Abdullah calls “Nubians,” by which he means non-Hausa-speaking Africans, probably from 2For the account of the weaponry I am much indebted to D. J. M. Muffett’s excellent monograph in Crowder (op. cit., Bibliog.). The descriptions Muffett gives apply, of course, to the period of the Sokoto caliphate. But many weapons have Hausa names, which indicates they belonged to the Habe era. Moreover, TW amply confirms that the weapons and equipment described

by Muffett were used by both sides during the jihad. I am also indebted to A. D. H. Bivar’s Nigerian Panoply (Lagos, 1964).

| Holy War in the Way of God 83 countries east of Hausaland. Little is known of the leaders, except the names of some. ‘The Gobir war chief was a certain Waru Alk1yama, “Waru the Resurrection,” a reference to his reputation for

dispatching his enemies to await that event! The nickname proved double-edged: he himself was killed in the first major battle. —I'wo others, known only from a brief mention in the sources, were Kabuge, possibly also a punning nickname meaning “You strike down,’ and Namadagai, derived from a Hausa word

meaning “strong battle position,” thus “Always in the front line.” | One party of Tuareg was commanded by their chief, Tambari Agunbulu; the other, a contingent from the desert kingdom of Ahir, by their chief, Hamidu. The Fulani allies of Gobir were commanded by their clan leader, Manuri, who, subsequently de-

fected to the Muslim side. | }

The Muslim army consisted, firstly, of scholars, mainly but not exclusively Fulani, who certainly do not seem to have been softened physically by their clerical habits, for they fought fiercely and to the death. The remainder of the army was made up of FuJani clansmen and Hausa peasants. The Shehu was in suprémie command, although, as will be seen, he took little active part in the fighting. The armies in the field were commanded by his son, Muhammad Bello, his brother, ‘Abdullah b. Muhammad, and by

certain Fulani clan leaders, outstandingly Aliyu Jedo and

Namoda. Both sides used cavalry, archers, and infantry; although, as was

said above, the Muslims did not acquire cavalry until they had captured sufficient horses.in their first successful battles. The cavalry soldiers wore mail shirts or quilted jerkins, the Awalkwalt, or plumed helmet, consisting of an iron frame padded with quilting. Others, particularly the Fulani scholars, wore the malafa, a large straw hat with a wide brim that fitted over a tightly wound turban, which gave considerable protection to the head. They also wore leg armour of leather and mail, or quilting. Their horses were protected by lifidi, the quilted horse armour copied from North Africa. Saddles were high and peaked, rather like amedieval European tilting saddle, and to them were attached wangami, bucket-shaped fighting stirrups with sharpened edges, for slashing opponents. They carried hide shields or sometimes a

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86 THE SWORD OF TRUTH smaller targe. Their main weapon was the bugudun. a broadbladed thrusting lance. The lance arm was often weighted with stone bangles to add force to the down thrust. They also carried swords and sometimes a kulki, a club or mace. The Gobir cavalry

was richly caparisoned and appears to have had some parade ground training, for ‘Abdullah describes them as being drawn up

in properly sized ranks. Both sides carried their banners into battle, and the Gobirawa used drums to sound the charge. ‘The Muslims close-cropped the manes of their horses, no doubt to deny the enemy a handhold. The Muslim archers, who were Fulani clansmen and who seem to have been considerably more effective than their Gobir coun-

terparts, normally carried no protective armour and wore their traditional leather aprons. Their bow was five feet long and strung with rawhide, their arrows unfletched and effective at ranges up to about thirty paces. They may also have been potsoned, although this is contrary to the Islamic rules of war. ‘here was also a contingent of musketeers in the Gobir army. It is not clear whether the Muslims possessed firearms in any quantity.

Infantry, other than archers, were, for the most part, Hausa peasants. One or two may have carried shields or worn quilted jerkins but the majority wore no armour. They were dressed in loin cloths and a long indigo-dyed shirt gathered round the waist

with a belt or cord. They also carried a cotton or hair blanket, worn across one shoulder like a Scottish plaid. They had a variety

of weapons, but most relied on the Hausa gatari, a hatchet with a heavy, narrow blade, used both for agriculture and warfare, and on clubs and butchering knives. Some also carried short stabbing spears and swords. Swords varied in pattern according to provenance and the rank of the owner. A few were fine, Turkish sabers, with ornate hilts and curved blades decorated with arabesque engravings. Most were of the straight, double-edged variety, used for

thrusting into the groin or belly; but sometimes they were employed as slashing weapons against exposed heads or limbs.

Field medicine was essentially preventative: it consisted of charms and amulets—some pagan, some Koranic—worn by those who could afford such expensive safeguards, and there were specific preventatives against such hazards of battle as arrow wounds,

Holy War in the Way of God 87 sword and spear thrusts, and blows with blunt weapons. If these failed the treatment was cauterization.

Capture frequently meant death. If not, the best the captive could hope for was to be sold into slavery. This was also the fate of his women and children if they, too, were taken. The sequel to victory was plunder and the burning of crops and villages. The baggage trains consisted of slaves and beasts of burden, including camels. On river crossings these creatures were tethered

to the gunwales of large canoes and ferried across with their burdens. Both armies lived largely off the land but carried a form

of biltong and roasted sorghum grain which was crushed and drunk as gruel. The Gobirawa, however, at least in the early stages of the war, treated campaigning as a picnic and carried large quantities of luxury foods, while numerous concubines accompanied their baggage train.

THE BATTLE OF TABKIN KWOTTO TO THE BATTLE OF ALWASSA, NOVEMBER 1805

The campaign opened with punitive raids by the Gobirawa against Muslim villages, by which they clearly hoped to discourage the rebels and demoralize them by constant harassment. But this merely drove more of them into the Shehu’s camp. Soon the Muslims learned that Yunfa was gathering a large army to launch a full-scale attack against them. But the Gobir commanders lacked urgency. While their feudal levies gathered, the Muslims, wisely, decided to take the initiative. They seized the two fortified towns of Matankari and Konni, to the north of Gudu, thus establishing

their central strategy throughout the campaign—the seizure of

key towns. | In Rabi‘ al-awwal 1219/June 1804 the Gobir troops were ready

to march. They were a colorful cavalcade, with the cavalry in their gay saddle-cloths, their plumed helmets, and their long lances couched. But they were heavily encumbered with a “tail” of women and baggage that eventually fell into Muslim hands. Along their route they burned down villages and captured and slew the small bands of nomads who crossed their line of march, thereby persuading yet more people, nomads and peasants alike,

88 THE SWORD OF TRUTH to go over to their enemies. They made first for Gudu, which they

sacked. ‘Abdullah, who had been put in charge of the Muslim forces, correctly anticipated this move and evacuated the camp with those of his people who would follow him. Most did: but ap-

parently some refused to leave and must, therefore, have fallen into enemy hands. ‘Abdullah describes how he now shadowed the Gobir army for

four days, trying to bring it to battle. But the Gobirawa were unwilling to meet him on ground of his choosing.

In an attempt to get behind him and cut his line of retreat, the Gobirawa moved to the west of his army and took up a position near to Lake Kwotto (in Hausa ‘Tabkin Kwotto), on hilly ground with a covert of thicket to their front, which they were counting on to keep the Muslims at a distance. Beyond the thicket there was open ground which the heavy Gobir cavalry needed to ride down the Muslims. They then waited the night out, toasting spitted meats around their camp fires, regaling themselves noisily on fine wheaten cakes, ghee, and honey, and cocksure of an easy win in the coming battle. ‘Abdullah, having correctly guessed their plan, decided to fight

them at Lake Kwotto, confident in his own troops’ mobility and the good shooting of his archers. A night march brought him at dawn to the village of Gurdam, nearby. Here the whole Muslim army performed prayer, devoutly promising themselves to death or victory in the bloody business ahead. ‘Then ‘Abdullah drew up his

line of battle. A little before midday he attacked. He describes how the Muslim ranks began to advance, their banner streaming in the breeze “like an ogre in striped clothing.” The Gobirawa, drawn up as if on ceremonial parade, according to sizes, received them with a volley of musketry and arrows which apparently did little damage. The Muslims returned the fire and the Gobirawa, drums beating, charged. Both the Muslim left and right wings broke momentarily beneath the weight of the assault; but quickly recovered and joined the center, which held firm. The battle then developed into a bloody hand-to-hand struggle, waged with axes, swords, and short-range archery: And many a great man our hands flung down, And axes cleft his head, split asunder,

Holy War in the Way of God 89 And many a brave warrior did our arrows strike down, And our swords; birds and hyenas cover him! [TW]

By noon the Gobirawa had had enough: “they turned in flight . . . confused, like young locusts’ and took cover in the thickets until nightfall enabled them to make good their escape. Yunfa himself got away only with difficulty, fleeing down the val-

ley of the river Rima, clinging to the mane of his frightened horse, and leaving his baggage strewn all over the battlefield for the Muslims to pick up. So distraught and confused was he that he is said to have gabbled all his five prayers at once because he

dared not halt for long enough to perform each one at its appointed time. But this may be no more than a cruel gibe at a defeated enemy.? Many of the Gobir cavalry soldiers, equally panicstricken, were trapped in the very thickets they were relying on to keep off the Muslims, and the thorns tore their clothes to rags as they struggled to reach the open ground. The Muslims gave their dead the martyr’s burial: that is, they buried them unwashed and unshrouded, so that they might go straight to Paradise with the honorable wounds and dust of battle plainly visible upon them for the angels and the blessed to see. The enemy dead were left unburied, food for vultures and hyenas. Although Lake Kwotto was a resounding victory for the Muslims, its consequences were not immediately favorable to them. For its effect was to alarm the other Hausa chiefs and draw allies to the Gobir side. But, on the other hand, it denied the Gobirawa their objective, which was to destroy the Muslims in one, crushing, decisive battle. They now had to face a long war which, as it turned out, they did not have the will or the resources to sus-

tain; although they still remained a powerful and dangerous enemy for several years to come.

The Muslims, for their part, followed up their victory with a swift, successful thrust into the kingdom of Kebbi. At the same time they made a series of determined attacks on Alkalawa, the walled fortress capital that was the heart of the Gobir enemy. But this aggressive spirit did not win immediate success. ‘The Gobir3 What ‘Abdullah, who made the gibe, perhaps forgot was that if Yunfa bothered to say his prayers at all in such a plight, then he, too, must have been quite a good Muslim!

go THE SWORD OF TRUTH awa were still too strong. The campaign now developed in the central cockpit, the area enclosed by the rivers Rima and Zamfara and the streams of Bunsuru and Gegere, and settled down into a long period of fighting, in the course of which the Muslims suffered several defeats. The first of these was at Tsuntsua, in Ramadan 1219/December 1804. While investing Alkalawa they were harassed in their rear by hostile Tuareg, who took the opportunity of raiding their fam-

ilies in settlements left undefended by the needs of the siege. In an attempt to drive them off, the Muslim commanders dispatched a force against them, thus weakening their own army in front of Alkalawa—a situation of which the Gobirawa took prompt advantage. In a surprise attack they inflicted a severe defeat on the besieging army, killing many well-known Fulani scholars in the course of the battle. Final disaster was avoided only by the arrival of ‘Abdullah and his force, accompanied by the Shehu, riding back post-haste in an effort to save the situation. On seeing them the enemy, foolishly, retired. Malam Gidado, in his account of the affair, describes how the Shehu, a normally restrained and controlled man, was seized by fierce anger when he saw so many of his companions lying dead upon the field, and was for mounting an immediate attack on Aikalawa, to revenge them. His friend, Umaru Alkammu, wisely dissuaded him from such a rash action in their then weakened and disorganized state, and they turned instead to the sad task of burying the dead. Of this battle and their losses ‘Abdullah says, defiantly: Nothing grieved our hearts in religion Or in the world save the sadness of being far away, And the loss of noble loved ones who followed one another To the Gardens of Eternity at Kirari and ‘T’suntsua, If this makes Gobir and the Tuareg happy, ‘Then war has varied chances! Our place of returning is not the same! [TW, p. 116]

It was only the strange failure of their enemies to follow up _ this victory—a failure probably to be accounted for by the tendency of the Tuareg to be more interested in collecting booty than in clinching victory—that saved the Muslims from disaster.

Holy War in the Way of God 91 After this set-back the Muslims rallied and again laid siege to Alkalawa for about a month. But famine made them give up and they marched south, into Zamfara, where they set up a new headquarters at Sabon Gari, having won control of the area without serious fighting. From Sabon Gari they set out, in Dhu ’l-Hijja

1219/March 1805, to attack Birnin Kebbi, the capital of the Kebbi kingdom. The strategic importance of this city will be obvious from a glance at Map II. It lies near the confluence of the

Rima and Zamfara rivers and is the key to the control both of Kebbi and southwest Zamfara. The Shehu himself did not accom-

pany the army on this campaign but it was he who ordered the attack on the city. The force was commanded in the field by ‘Abdullah b. Muhammad. After a hard battle, Fodi, the king of Kebbi, was driven out of his capital, he fled north with his cavalry, leaving the Muslims to collect a rich haul of gold and silver, the richest booty they had seized in their campaign so far.

After this they turned east. A force under the Shehu's son, Muhammad Bello, moved up the Zamfara valley, occupying the Zamfara towns on both banks of the river and raiding into the neighboring state of Katsina. Finally, they found themselves confronting the fortress of Kanoma, a pagan stronghold and a hard nut to crack because it was sited at the top of a steep, rocky hill. On seeing the Muslims approaching, the Kanoma defenders came down

to intercept them in the plain and a fierce fight took place. Bello

tells us that the right wing fell back and was scattered by the Kanoma attack. The left wing stood firm, however, and a cavalry

charge scattered the enemy and sent them scurrying in retreat back up the hill to their fortress. The Fulani cavalry pursued them as far as they could and, when the slope became too steep, dismounted and scrambled on foot to the summit. They attacked the city walls for the rest of the day and bivouacked on the hilltop that night. At dawn they renewed the attack. At this point accounts of the battle begin to differ. Bello, who commanded, sim-

ply observes that they found the enemy had fled; and that the Muslim cavalry set out after them and took many prisoners. Another source, however, relates that their attack was beaten back and they were on the point of despair when a lucky incendiary arrow set fire to a thatched roof. ‘The fire spread and, terrified by

92 THE SWORD OF TRUTH the growing conflagration, the defenders abandoned their town and fled. Yet a third source attributes the fire to the Shehu’s m1raculous intervention.* Once again, a glance at Map II makes clear the importance of this victory. It secured the eastern end of the Zamfara and gave the Muslims a strongly fortified line right up the valley, with the two strongholds of Birnin Kebbi in the west and Kanoma in the east as pivots and sallyports on each flank; while by falling back to the south bank, where they also controlled the towns, they could put the river in front of them, if they wished.

But these hard-won military gains were largely nullified by other developments. ‘The Zamfara population, at first friendly, rapidly began to turn against the Muslims as a result of the tyrannical behavior of some of the Fulani commanders—a fact which Muhammad Bello, with remarkable frankness, admits in his Infaq

al-maisur (Expenditure of What Is Available). So they found themselves, short of food, with their right flank in danger from the hostile Zamfarawa and the Katsina Habe. This situation persuaded the Shehu to move his headquarters from Sabon Gari west to Gwandu because the western flank was now the more strongly held, and many of the Kebbi people were, at this point, still well disposed toward them. From Gwandu the Shehu began to prepare for yet another expedition against Alkalawa. The Gobirawa must have anticipated this, for the Muslims now received intelligence

from numbers of refugees fleeing south that a large army was massing in the north, consisting of Tuareg and other anti-Muslim elements in alliance with the Gobirawa. In Sha‘ban 1220/November 1805 this army marched south, down the Rima valley; then

struck east, catching the Muslims off balance at a Kebbi town called Alwassa. This was strategically correct. Had the Gobir commanders been able to prise the Muslims out of their Kebbi strong-

holds they would have deprived them of their strong base from which to launch the attack on Alkalawa and forced them to pivot 41M, p. 76; WKS, p. 85; RJ, f. 10. In the RJ account the place name is partly obliterated in my MS and could be “Kannu.” However, in the WKS account, which follows the same sequence as RJ—that is, the account of this incident follows immediately after the account of Gidado’s visit to Sulaimanu of Kano—the name is unmistakably “Kanoma.” It therefore seems preferable to read Kanoma in RJ, rather than Kannu.

Holy War in the Way of God 93 on the much less secure eastern flank. That their plan in the end

failed was due not to a wrong initial appreciation but to bad execution.

The news of the Gobir advance found the Muslims uncertain and confused. The tyrannous behavior of some of their commanders, and its unfortunate consequences, had already caused hard feelings among them. Now, at a council of war, some were for going out and intercepting the enemy: while the rest wished to stand and fight him on their own ground. To this latter school of tactics belonged ‘Abdullah and his nephew, Muhammad Bello. ‘The result was that they first advanced; then changed their minds and retreated; and finally advanced again. Muhammad Bello at this point wished to resign his command owing, so he said, to sickness; but the Shehu ordered him back into the battle.

There now ensued six days of ragged, untidy fighing during which it was sometimes doubtful whether the divided and demoralized Muslims could muster sufficiently numerous and determined forces to hold their adversaries at bay. ‘Tardily, on a Saturday, the Muslim commanders decided the best defense was attack, but they were routed by a Gobir counterattack. According to the usually sober and reliable Bello, a thousand Muslims died in that first encounter; the rest fell back on Gwandu. The next four days were spent in cavalry actions, in the course of which the Gobirawa

sent fighting patrols to probe toward the city of Gwandu, while Bello countered with defensive patrols of his own cavalry. The following Thursday the Gobirawa made up their minds to launch a major assault on the city. The Muslims, seeing them advance, made ready for battle. Then they gathered in front of the mosque and the Shehu came out and led them in prayer. After this they deployed in front of the city walls. The Gobir cavalry tried to break them with a pincer movement, one column striking them from the front while a second attacked from the rear. A third column advanced from the north to reinforce the frontal attack. The Muslims, after holding against the first shock, retired a little way in good order. Then they stood to fight, thereby drawing the enemy into the drenching volleys of the Fulani archers. This was too much for the Gobirawa, who broke and retreated. ‘The Muslim cavalry then charged their flank and rolled it up, whereupon

94 THE SWORD OF TRUTH the whole force fled in disorder, pursued by the victorious Mus-

lims. The Gobir captives in this battle fared badly. They were stoned by the Muslim women and then cast out in the sun to die miserably of thirst.

The Gobirawa lost this battle through initial indecision and a_ subsequent error of judgment. Their plan was sound. But they failed to clinch their first success and allowed the bulk of the Muslim army to retire to Gwandu. Their subsequent attack on that town was inept. For they overreached themselves and, in so far as the sources give a complete picture, apparently sent their cavalry too far ahead, unsupported by sufficient infantry. They were demoralized by the formidable Fulani archers; and Bello did not make the mistake of allowing them to retire at leisure but harried them all the way back to their own base in the town of

Gumbai. |

On the Muslim side the early indecision and wrangling were nearly disastrous. But once committed to battle the Fulani commanders fought intelligently. ‘Abdullah, no doubt with justice, claims credit for having rallied the initially demoralized forces. But it does appear that the real victor was Muhammad Bello. After the first set-back he handled his cavalry brilliantly: first, as defensive patrols, breaking up the Gobir probing attacks; then, flexibly, in the main battle, making full use of supporting archery; and, finally, in the classic cavalry role, which is to pursue and destroy. But even this victory, snatched out of defeat, did not solve all the Muslims’ problems. Like the Zamfarawa, many of the Kebbi

people now turned against them. But by the end of A.D. 1805 (A.H. 1220) they had stamped out this insurgency, and Kebbi was again under their control.

DECEMBER 1805 TO THE FALL OF ALKALAWA, SEPTEMBER 1808 Apart from the early fighting around Gudu, an offensive against Katsina and some raiding in the north conducted by the efficient

but brutal Fulani commander, Aliyu Jedo, the action so far had taken place within what has been termed the cockpit. There now followed a confused period, in which the war gradually -spilled outwards. ‘There were expeditions against Yauri and Borgu in the

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Holy War in the Way of God 95 south and Bauchi in the southea’st, while in the central theater fighing shifted from the western to the eastern side. In an attempt to cut the Gobirawa off from their Katsina allies, the Muslims now thrust eastward, across the border between Zam-

fara and Katsina, toward the town of Yandoto. This town had long been renowned as a center of learning, with a large community of scholars. Muhammad Bello, who commanded the expedition, hoped to win them over by persuasion, but they proved ob-

durate and so he attacked the town, which quickly fell. The : Yandoto incident is interesting because it shows that not all the

Islamic communities in Hausaland felt it in their interests to support the Shehu. The Yandoto community, one which had already achieved a modus vivendi with the Habe, saw the jrhad as a threat to their own position as the custodians of Islam in their area, and, clearly, they had not been infected with the spirit of

reform.

Farther north, in the town of Zurmi, a Muslim force was assembled in preparation for another assault on Alkalawa. It was under the command of a Fulani clan chief called Namoda, a noted war-

rior. Shortly after the Muslim victory at Yandoto, Namoda was attacked by an army of ‘Tuareg and Gobirawa under the command of the Tuareg chief Tambari Agunbulu, who struck out northeast

of his stronghold of Kiawa. The outcome of this was the major battle of Fafara. Muhammad Bello has recorded the prayer he uttered before this battle. It shows the intensity with which these ascetic warrior clerics believed in the righteousness of their cause and their special relationship with God; as well as their fierce resentment against the enemy: At this time I prayed to God and my prayer was answered. I said: “I

pray thee, O Lord, in my heart and openly by the blessing of the Prophet and the people of the Prophet, by his brethren, and by his followers, by all the prophets, by the Angels, and by the Saints, may God protect us all from evil, may God bless us with abundant prosperity to the end of our lives. O Lord, thou seest what our enemies are working against us. They are plotting against us by fraud. O God, turn their plotting on their own heads. O God, give the victory and the conquest to our people. ‘Tambari Agunbulu, may God destroy his army, may God put an end to them. May God help us, and make easy for us our affairs. May God defend us from being overcome in battle

96 THE SWORD OF TRUTH | by men. May God make easy for us the capture of the enemy’s towns.

May God help us to pluck up the tents of the heathen from our land, and set up the tents of the law.” [JM, pp. 88-89]

The battle was bloody but brief. It began with the Gobirawa advancing against the town of Zurmi. ‘The Muslims, unwilling to be trapped inside the town, came out to meet them in front of it, near the little stream of Fafara. After the first encounter the Gobirawa retreated and the Muslims, not allowing them to regroup, | * charged with their cavalry, again supported by covering volleys from their archers. This was enough. The enemy fled, leaving much booty on the field. ‘wo facts concerning Muslim tactics were dem-

onstrated in this battle, as indeed they were in the earlier battle for the city of Gwandu. First, their reluctance to accept siege

within a walled town and their preference for staking their chances on a pitched battle outside it. Second, their ability to use

their archers in close support of their cavalry, a tactic against which. their opponents seem to have had no effective answer.

Fafara was the decisive battle of the war. It opened the way to Alkalawa. For it cut the Gobirawa off from their Katsina allies and also deprived them of the support of the Tuareg, who after this decisive defeat decided they had had enough and made a separate peace with the Muslims. ‘Abdullah refers contemptuously to their leader as ‘‘a dying flame’’ and warns them not to allow him

again to “kindle his fire with sin among you” (TW, p. 124). The Gobirawa were now pinned down in Alkalawa. They held out for nearly two years, but in the end three Muslim columns converged

on them from north, east, and west. In the Islamic month of Sha‘ban, 1223/October 1808 the city fell to a Muslim assault. Yunfa, surrounded by his bodyguard, made a last stand inside his palace, where he and they were overwhelmed and killed. Since the battle of Alwassa and its victorious sequel at Gwandu, the Muslims had been waging war on the diplomatic as well as the - military front. The Shehu had by no means been idle in Gwandu while his commanders were fighting in the field. He had sent letters to the leaders of the various Islamic communities in Katsina, Kano, Daura, and elsewhere, calling on them to support the setting-up of an Islamic state in accordance with the Sunna, or “Way

of the Prophet.” He also reminded them that the coming of the

Holy War in the Way of God 97 Mahdi—the Islamic messiah who was to introduce the millennium

—was near. The psychological effect of this was considerable. For ) Muslims believe they have a duty to reform and purify Islam in preparation for the advent of the Mahdi. The leaders responded to his call, took an oath of allegiance to him and accepted the obligation to wage holy war. This was a turning point. It meant that the Shehu’s authority was no longer confined within the areas his armies had conquered; but was now accepted by Islamit com-

munities throughout Hausaland. Thus the main elements of an

Islamic state, owing allegiance to an imamate centered at Gwandu, were already in being several years before the founding of Sokoto, which later became the capital of the Fulani empire. The outbreak of holy war in these other Habe kingdoms also tied down forces the Habe chiefs might otherwise have sent to the aid

of Gobir and her allies. The move recalls the earlier skill the Shehu had shown in winning political support during his period of missionary work in Zamfara and Kebbi. It was after he had won for them this accession of material and moral strength that , the tide turned, finally, in the Muslims’ favor. This was not the Shehu’s only contribution. As was said above, Alwassa marked a time of indecision and disagreement among the

Muslim commanders, a disagreement that went deeper than just how to fight a battle. It is clear from the sources that at this time— from the setting up of their headquarters in Gwandu to the fall of

Alkalawa—morale was often low. Many Fulani leaders seem to have lost sight of their moral goals and allowed their campaigns to degenerate into mere plundering forays. ‘This had the result of antagonizing the people of Zamfara and Kebbi, both of whom were initially well disposed to the jzhad. Bello made no bones about accusing certain of his associates of tyranny. ‘Abdullah, disheartened by these same corrupted motives and depressed by the loss of many of his friends, abandoned the community and set off

in Sha‘ban 1222/October 1807 intending to go to Mecca on pilgrimage: When my companions passed away and my alms went awry, I was left behind among the remainder, the liars Who say that which they do not do and follow their own desires. [LW, p. 121]

98 THE SWORD OF TRUTH He stopped in Kano, however, and thought better of his decision. But he did not return at once. He was persuaded by the people of Kano to write a book to guide them in setting up an Islamic government after their successful revolt against the Habe chief of that city. The result was his well-known Diya al-hukkam (Light of the Jurists), which subsequently became one of the chief sources of

authority for the administration of Islamic law in the Fulani empire.

Meanwhile, back in Gwandu, the situation was made yet more difficult by the outbreak of an epidemic of fever—probably meningitis. The Shehu himself was stricken and there was fear for his life. Happily, he recovered; but the illness left him weak and ailing. Frail as he now was, there is no doubt it was the leadership and charisma of this remarkable man, now over fifty years of age,

that held the Muslim community together during this difficult period. His daughter Asma, who has described how she and the rest of the people felt at that time, constantly dwells on the love they felt for him and on their conviction that he was divinely inspired. Their morale came nearest to breaking when they thought he was about to die.

1809-12: THE FOUNDING OF THE FULANI EMPIRE The conquest of Alkalawa ended the campaign in Zamfara and Gobir. But not the war. Fighting continued in several of the other Habe kingdoms. In A.H. 1224/A.D. 1809 ‘Abdullah seized a num-

ber of towns on the west bank of the Niger by the application of the military doctrine that attack should always start from the least expected quarter: and that the overcoming of a seemingly impassable natural obstacle will usually ensure surprise. Here is how— with some poetic licence as well as a genuine conviction of the reality of divine assistance—he describes his dramatic attack across the flooded Niger: They thought that the river would prevent our army from crossing; The devil with his suggestions deceived them! They saw multitudes to their right and to their left, To east and west, and it was a steadfast army With which was the prayer of the Shehu, Making wide roads through the desert, ringing out clearly.

Holy War in the Way of God 99 O one who asks our news of their river, Take the truth concerning it, and write it on the scrolls! When we came to the river it obeyed, parting To the staff of divine assistance, all its creatures obedient, Its water creatures were turned on their backs, Their teeth and their fangs broken; They became for us as food offered to a guest . . .

After this he went on to subdue the pagans of Gurma, on the west bank of the river, and he gives a gruesome account of his victory: . . . a victory for us through our spears and our arrows, And our swords in their bellies, and in their heads. Their children and their women taken prisoner, And their men were slain with the axe After the spreading of our carpet on their crops,

And after our horsemen had shattered their shields. [TW, p. 126]

In A.H. 1225/A.D. 1810 Aliyu Jedo campaigned successfully in Nupe, where one of the Shehu’s flag-bearers, Malam Dendo, became the de facto ruler. ‘Abdullah comments sourly:

Then after that the armies followed each other to the country of Nupe in consecutive years, conquering many fortresses on each occasion, killing and taking prisoner, and giving safe-conduct to some of the unbelievers if they asked for it. Then they broke their pact, and thus the unbelievers are accustomed to break their pact every time, and they do not fear God. [TW, p. 130]

In the same year some headway was made in Bornu. But the initial Fulani conquests were largely won back by the Shaikh AIKanemi, whom the sultan of Bornu called in to help him. Bauchi fell to Buba Yero, another Fulani leader, and was then divided into two emirates, one of which, Gombe, in the east, went to Buba Yero himself, while the western half went to another of the Shehu’s flag-bearers, Yakubu. The country of Gwari, in what is now southern Zaria, was subjugated by Muhammad Bello, and its captive chieftain paraded, Roman fashion, in chains: Then shortly after their return Muhammad Bello . . . collected an army for [war against] the country of Gwari, whose people were iniquitous unbelievers who raided the countries of Islam. No king had ever conquered their country because it had many fortresses, castles, hills and wadis. Muhammad Bello travelled with his armies until he

100 THE SWORD OF TRUTH reached their country, and he conquered their fortress by the help of God, and killed and took prisoners. Their king was taken prisoner and brought in chains among the captives; and praise be to God for that! [TW, p. 130]

Zaria, Hadejia, and, in due course, Adamawa were also con-

quered and passed under the rule of Fulani emirs. | In A.H. 1227/A.D. 1812 the Shehu divided what was at that moment the Fulani empire—that is the early conquests in the Gobir, Zamfara, and Kebbi area—between his son, Muhammad Bello, and his brother, ‘Abdullah. Bello was given the eastern half

while the western half, with Gwandu as its headquarters, was given to ‘Abdullah. Muslim control was thus firmly established in the heartlands and was steadily extending into the surrounding areas. As his daughter Asma puts it in a poem entitled “The Song of the Wandering”: Nupe, and Songhai and Yoruba and even Bornu, There in the west everyone feared him, His victory extended in every direction, There at Illo they overcame the king of the kola-nuts! [19]

REASONS FOR THE MUSLIMS’ SUCCESS What were the factors that led to the Muslims’ success? Above all, their superior ideological motivation. They were fighting “in the way of God.” They had little fear of death in battle. For they believed that for this they earned the martyr’s reward of immediate translation to Paradise: thus ‘Abdulalh speaks of those who

“fulfilled their vow in death . . . /And they gained the Gardens of Paradise and beautiful women and fine silks” (TW, p. 119). Much of their vernacular poetry also told them, in glowing descriptions, of the warm, sensuous joys that awaited them there: Fine clothes will be brought, laid out for the Believers, that we may mount Horses and camels, clothes of silk,

We shall be taken to dwellings .. . The youth shall have seven towns, filled with the dark-eyed maidens, Seventy becoming gowns shall clothe each damsel, She shall have ten thousand slaves to do her bidding,

As often as she desires to embrace her husband They will embrace for full seventy years,

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Epilogue 155 but which were certainly the implant of the Muslim intelligentsia

of the reform period, became important expressions of protest, and sometimes of real sanction, against too great a lapse from the ideals of the founding fathers. For Hausa poetry is full of political criticism, couched in the same terms as those used by the vernacu-

lar poets of the first generation of reformers, but now no longer aimed at the Habe but at the corrupt officials and slack rulers of

the late Fulani era. One notable example is the poet Muhammadu Na Birnin Gwari, who flourished c.1850. He lived his life against the background of the Nagwamatse, a breakaway dynasty of the Sokoto house that terrorized southern Hausaland by their

indiscriminate slave-raiding against pagans and Muslims alike, during the second half of the nineteenth century. He has gone down in Hausa memory as the champion of the peasant against the tyranny of unjust Muslim rulers:® Do not act proudly because of this world, Do not strive for wealth, Act politely, follow the example of the great scholars, you hear, Do not despise the people of this world, People of the bush and of the scattered villages, Do not practise confiscation as the courtiers do, Galloping, galloping upon their ponies, They seize by force from the peasants and leave them With nothing save the sweat of their brows. [6]

Another poet, the Imam Muhammadu of Daura (fl. c.1g00), addressed the Fulani administration of his day as follows: Know that tyranny will be darkness on the Day of Resurrection, It is the word of the Messenger of God, Muhammad, Spread out justice as a carpet in east and west, South and north, everywhere, for the community of Muhammad, What of your bodyguards and harem servants and your concubines, And the women of the palace? Come, listen to what will benefit you, Thus also the cavalry soldiers and the musketeers, The footmen? Listen, that you may obtain benefit, And your grooms and the shield bearers, all, And the fan bearers? Do not disobey Muhammad. 3 His poems are sometimes published in the Hausa language press, e.g. in Gaskiya ta fi kwabo of September 24, 1965.

156 THE SWORD OF TRUTH And you, the king’s courtiers, stop going round the towns Confiscating the people’s property with evil acts, Riding on horses in order to peer into the compounds, This is unlawful in the community of Muhammad. [11]

As was explained in Chapter [X, one consequence of the reform

movement was to perpetuate the learned class in the position of an elite and invest it with greater authority. Men such as Mu-

hammadu Na Birnin Gwari and the Imam of Daura—who

achieved eminence in this elite, and who were sometimes even accorded the status of walis, or holy men, by the common people—

were the guardians of the reform tradition. Their reputation for sanctity made them largely immune from official wrath. Their influence on popular opinion was such that their rebukes could not be easily disregarded by those whose legitimacy rested on their claim to an historical link with the Shehu. This has remained true until quite recent times. For, while the NPC* establishment of northern Nigeria certainly had its following of subservient malams, much telling criticism was leveled at it by disgusted pietists who accused it of wordliness and abuse of power. Indeed, the present author frequently heard the view expressed by serious Muslims of all ages that the military coup of January 1966 which overthrew the NPC government was the judgment of God. The presence of these Muslim pietists in the society, their concept of themselves as the custodians of Islamic social and political integrity, and the readiness of the people to listen to them are as much consquences of the reform movement as are its more obvious achievements.

THE INTELLECTUAL CONSEQUENCES OF THE REFORM MOVEMENT If in the fields of administration and the law the reformers’ success was incomplete, in the intellectual and cultural field it was much more thorough. The dissemination of Islamic learning before the jihad had created a small, scholarly class, highly literate and articulate in classical Arabic. But the influence of Islamic learning among the majority of the preliterate, Hausa-speaking population seems to have been confined to some coloring of the # Northern Peoples’ Congress, the political party in power until the military coup of January 1966.

Epilogue 157 : folklore and popular magic, and doctrinal adherence to Islam was

tenuous. One result of the reform movement was to create a

written poetry in the vernacular languages. At first this was pro-

duced in Gobir and Zamfara, circulated in manuscript and recited publicly. Unlike the earlier, indigenous Arabic literature, it was readily communicable to the Hausa-speaking population, who were able to understand it in recitation. With the setting-up of the Sokoto caliphate, it expanded greatly, as part of the growth of Islamic literacy that took place after the jzhad. It came to be produced in many different centers in Hausaland, at first still in manuscript; but recently, and to an increasing extent, in printed editions. Also, the recitation of this poetry by pious beggars is a

daily event in every town and village of northern Nigeria. The intellectual importance of this is considerable. First, it created literacy in the vernacular language—particularly Hausa, in which the bulk of the vernacular verse is now written—whereas this had prevously existed, as far as is known, only in Arabic.® Second, it meant that the great store of knowledge preserved in the Arabic

literature of Islam now became available to a much wider audience of Hausa speakers. For the poetry drew its ideas, its im-

agery, and its content from medieval Islamic eschatology, historiography, belles lettres, and other genres of Arabic literature. For instance, there was an extensive Arabic literature on Islamic as-

trology and this became one of the most popular subjects for Hausa verse. The result was that new notions of timé-reckoning and cosmology came to exist side by side with, and sometimes to replace, the local systems of the preliterate era. Fortune-telling, Islamic rain-making, knowledge of Koranic charms, and other occult skills were no longer transmitted only orally. They now be-

came available to all who could acquire the ability to read the modified Arabic script in which Hausa is written.® Similarly, the > There was certainly a vernacular literature in the Berber language as early as the first half of the seventeenth century; but I know of no firm evi-

dence that either Hausa or Fulfulde was written down to any significant

extent before the lifetime of the Shehu Usuman dan Fodio.

6It should be observed that they also required a fairly fat purse because, while religious literature in general was—and still is—circulated freely as a pious obligation, texts on astrology and Islamic numerology change hands at quite high prices because, of course, the knowledge they contain has a substantial salable value.

158 THE SWORD OF TRUTH Islamic form of verse chronicling was adopted by the Hausa poets

and was used to tell the stories both of local dynasties and of world history. ‘Thus for the Hausas the world’s horizons were expanded, and so were its complexities. Oral history, which could be

revised and altered to accommodate current social and political needs, was in part replaced by written history, a more static and demanding yardstick for the conduct of society. Finally, not only did the reformers introduce the Islamic Shari‘a as a written code of law applicable to the whole empire: they also composed vernacular verse that made its provisions widely known among the common people. This tended to promote legal uniformity and helped to make the governed aware of their rights. In fine, literacy in the vernacular, with its advantages and disadvantages, was the legacy of the reformers. It helped to change Hausa society from one in which Islam was the possession of a few coteries of scholars, learned in Arabic, to one in which confessional adherence to Islam was widespread. Some measure of Islamic cultural influence even penetrated groups, such as the Maguzawa or pagan Hausa who successfully managed to resist full conversion to Islam.

This process did not take place all at once. It built up over several generations; and the stable conditions created by the colonial period had something to do with it. But the final result, that is apparent in the nature of Hausa society at the present day, stems ultimately from the reformers’ efforts to realize their goals.

THE CONFLICT BETWEEN ISLAMIC TEACHING AND AFRICAN IDEAS OF LIFE AND DEATH Another aspect of the cultural impact of the reform movement is the new view of life, death, and an after-life it introduced to the African society of Hausaland. Many different cults and belief systems occur in Africa. In general, however, the African view of life and death is cyclical. Death is not a total separation. The spirits, though unseen, remain close to the people and places where they

belong. Often, they are believed to return as the souls of newborn children. Gerald Moore quotes a traditional Yoruba poem that straightforwardly expresses this idea: If a father has begotten a child— However long it might take,

Epilogue 159 The child may yet beget the father. If a mother gave birth to a child, She can still be reborn by the child. [Africa, XX XVIII, 1, 1968, p. 61]

Similar beliefs are present in the pre-Islamic bori cult of the Hausas which, of course, was by no means extinguished by Islam. For ‘Tremearne writes: The next world is evidently a replica of this, since the families are together and live in houses, and souls there have the same anxiety about

what is to be left to them as do mortals here. . . . Animals go to it too, and the inhabitants die a second time. Souls may transmigrate from one human body to another, especially in the case of members of the same family . . . [op. cit., Bibliog., p. 118].

Also characteristic of many African cults is the absence of any strongly held notions of divine punishment and reward. Death is not seen as the prelude to eternal bliss or damnation. On the contrary, it is often the function of the dead to administer the sanctions that discipline the living. There is no doubt that Hausa beliefs originally conformed to this general African pattern. And it is clear from the reformers’ writings that they were still widely held by the common people

before the jthad. Through the vernacular poetry, which was largely if not exclusively, the creation of the reformers, a complex

and alien set of beliefs, probably Babylonian in the first place, then Judaeo-Christian, and finally Islamic, but certainly indigenous to the Middle East not Africa, was implanted among the Hausas. These beliefs were utterly different from what has been described as native to Africa. They insisted, first, that death was a total and final separation from this world: You will never hear his name again, save now and then, occasionally, Never again will you see him on the face of this earth, He has crumbled completely into the soil, he can hear nothing. [16]

They then asserted that the dead must face the interrogation in the grave, conducted by the two terrible angels, Munkar and Nakir: Nakir, he and Munkar, will come to question you With clubs and whips and cudgels of iron, If you have done good, go, you will find abundance, If it is evil you have done, go, you will suffer torment. [10]

160 THE SWORD OF TRUTH And they must experience the Resurrection and the terrors of the Day of Judgment: From the torments and the grave and the Resurrection and Hell Fire,

Save us... . [5] Finally, they must suffer the innumerable torments of the damned: Seven thousand and seventy wells there are, all of red fire, They are taken to fiery sepulchres, some are bound in fetters,

There will be thirst and hunger, there, there will be no water, not even the stale water in which the grain is washed, They will weep tears until they weep black blood, Their sweat will pour down like the stream from a roof guttering. [5]

Or forever dwell amidst the delights of Paradise: © With the women of Paradise they will be joined,

And God has made them fair-skinned and beautiful, and He gives them to the young men of Paradise, When they smile they are yet more fair, And their beauty exceeds the sun, nay, the moon, in its light. There will be fine food and ornaments, all laid out, And couches, carpets and many adornments, gathered together, And they shall wear gowns of matchless beauty, They shall wear many gowns and the one shall not hide the colour of the other, I swear, if the loins of one of these houris of Paradise were to descend to earth, The world and all that is in it would perish [overcome by their brightness]. [g|

It is unnecessary to stress the contrast between these two sets of

ideas. What is important is that, before the reform era, such exotic teachings were accepted only by a tiny Muslim minority literate in Arabic; and, possibly, by their few illiterate converts: although, as was said in Chapter V, they may have been more or less tamiliar within a wider circle of half-hearted animists. After the jzhad, and as a result of developments to which the Shehu’s charismatic leadership was crucial, they became widely accepted throughout Hausa society. Now, they are the confession of the majority of the Hausa people. Of course, this is not to say the victory of the exotic ideas over the indigenous was complete. On the contrary, the bori cult—that is the spirit-possession cult of the

Epilogue 161 Hausas—still thrives alongside Islam. Bort medicine competes with both Islamic and. western medicine; bori magic is still frequently resorted to; and certainly notions of a spirit world existing along-

side the human world still play a large part in the people’s lives. Nevertheless, compared with other areas of West Africa, the acceptance in Hausaland of Islamic ideas concerning life and death is substantial; and few would question that the Hausas are now, in this respect, predominantly an Islamic people.’

THE CONTINUING ROLE OF SUFISM Also a legacy of the reform movement is the extent to which the

Sufi sects, particularly the Qadiriyya and the Tijaniyya, play a part in the life of the society. The Qadiriyya was, of course, present

in Hausaland before the jzhad. But so closely has it now come to be associated with the name and memory of the Shehu that one must believe its growth and dissemination were greatly stimulated

by his life and the process of canonization that followed his death. The Tijaniyya did not reach Hausaland until near the end of the Shehu’s life. But, as is shown below, its adherents, too, have

sought to identify the order with the personalities of the jihad. Both orders, therefore, seem to draw their present strength from the general identification of the Muslim population of Hausaland with the reform movement and the ideology that stemmed from it. Ihey are now widespread throughout northern Nigeria. Congregations of votaries are constantly to be seen at communal worship in the compounds and along the sidewalks of the cities and villages; while many of the schools of Islamic higher learning—the makarantun tlmi—have obvious allegiances to one or the other of them. Some northern Nigerians believe that, at the end of his life, the Shehu embraced the Tijaniyya. This is unlikely. Nevertheless,

so great was the veneration that his memory commanded that Tijanist leaders a century after his death were claiming him and certain of his companions as qutbs or “‘poles’ of the order. For 7 Dudley, op. cit., Bibliog., p. 143, states that 65 per cent of northern Nigerians are Muslims. The 1952 census figure is 70 per cent. But a substantial proportion of the non-Muslim population of northern Nigeria consists of recent immigrants from the former Western and Eastern Regions: thus the proportion of indigenous northerners confessing Islam is still higher than these figures suggest.

162 THE SWORD OF TRUTH example, Aliyu dan Sidi, the well-known Tijanist emir of Zaria (1903-20), who fell foul of the British missionary Walter Miller, mentioned briefly in Chapter I of this book, and was deposed at his insistence, concluded a long panegyric to Ahmad al-Tijani as follaws: O God, for the sake of the secret that you have concealed in alif, lam, mim,8

For the sake of what you have done in Taha,‘ for the sake of Tijani, I call upon the great ones, Shehu, son of Fodio, And Muhammadu Tukur, the helpers of Tijani. [8]

As was suggested earlier in this chapter, Sufi allegiances play an

important part in the political life of the people of northern Nigeria. The Qadiriyya is associated with Sokoto. It is supported elsewhere by those who, from religious conviction, Islamic conservatism, or personal motives, identify themselves with the claim to leadership of Sokoto. But. in Kano and Zaria the ‘Tijaniyya is strong, having in both places been adopted by the ruling house. This reflects the tendency of these two powerful emirates to chate at the overlordship of Sokoto. Similarly, the Tijaniyya attracts a number of Hausas who find in its more liberal attitudes a means of expressing their ethnic opposition to Fulani elitism. Yet such is the continuing veneration for the Shehu that, far from rejecting him as the founder of this elite, the present-day adherents of the

their patron.

Tijaniyya generally follow Aliyu dan Sidi in adopting him as But the old Qadirism remains powerful. The Shehu’s status as a wali, a miracle-working holy man, and his mystic genealogical link with the founder of the Qadiriyya, ‘Abd al-Qadir al-Jilani, have both continued to provide the Fulani hierarchy’s strongest claim to legitimacy. For example, Abubakar Atiku, a Sokoto poet and scion of the ruling house, who flourished c.1g00, wrote a poem

listing the rulers of Sokoto, in which he stresses the divine right this genealogy confers: 8 Letters that precede the opening verses of certain chapters of the Koran, e.g.,ch. 2:1; ch. 3: 1, etc., and are believed to have mystical significance.

9The name of chapter 20 of the Koran which, being composed of letters that do not constitute a word, is also believed to have a secret meaning.

Epilogue 163 The Shehu, the Renewer of the Faith, to the country of the Sudan God gave him, that he should perform good works, By his blessedness we obtain dominion, The Shehu, the Renewer, here is his line, He came, he obtained his genealogy, Both he and ‘Abd al-Qadir al-Jilani, Both are Sharifs,!° hold to this clear explanation, 10 Descendants of the Prophet Muhammad.

He who would argue, let him look at the book of genealogy, Only see it there, you will set aside doubt. [7]

This same powerful persuader has remained effective, even in recent times. For a modern poet wrote the following lines in prop-

aganda verses supporting NPC, the political party of which the late Sir Ahmadu Bello, a descendant of the Shehu and formerly premier of the Northern Region of Nigeria, was the leader. First, he invokes Sir Ahmadu’s real genealogical link with the “‘saint”’ Shehu Usuman: Sardauna, Ahmadu Bello, praise be to Allah, Descendant of the saint, Usuman, who does not sleep, The high-ranking one, Sir Ahmadu Bello, is the light, The Alhaji [pilgrim returned from Mecca] who removes the darkness of hypocrisy.

And then the mystic genealogy by which he is linked, through membership of the Qadiriyya, to ‘Abd al-Qadir al-Jilani: We pray the Glorious God, the King in truth, NPC, may it have mastery over Nigeria, For the sake of Sidi ‘Abd al-Qadir al-Jilani, Your rule will last until the appearance of the Mahdi. [23]

Certainly, before the military coup of 1966, the great majority of Qadirite devotees still accepted the implied claim that the genealogy that links his descendants to the Shehu and through him to the founder of the Qadiriyya order, carried with it the automatic right to political authority. Thus the early canonists of the Sokoto community did their work well. THE LEGACY OF ISLAMIC CONSERVATISM As was said above, the malams are an elite group given power by the reformers. Not only do they act as the guardians of reform.

164 THE SWORD OF TRUTH which in an Islamic context can be a progressive function: they are also the custodians of orthodoxy. Therefore, when a conflict between Islamic orthodoxy and a changing world arises, they act as a conservative influence. This became evident when the society was faced with the new ways of life, the new material goods and

' the new ideas introduced during the colonial period. For instance, the new secular education introduced by the colonial power did not consort well with traditional Islamic ideas of the purpose of learning. The malams’ possession of their own literate education system certainly made them less responsive to secular education than were the pagan and preliterate societies in West Africa who, in general, seized it eagerly. Also, the results of cultural exchange

that appeared among young Muslim Hausas and Fulani after they had been in contact with European and Christian coastal Africans were usually fiercely resisted by the pietists. The following poem, composed c.1930, is an early example of the resistance to any change in the established way of life: Today unbelief is established, and also innovation, ) Well, as for us, we have no use for this in our time, This that I am about to say, there is no jesting in it, Now I am going to warn you, O people, Whoever heeds it, he will be happy,

Whatever article of their clothing, if you wear it, I tell you that you may understand, If you pray a thousand times you will not be vindicated— And the same applies to the maker of hurricane lamp globes— Your short trousers together with your tight-fitting trousers, Whoever puts them on, his unbelief is wide. Whoever wears suits with buttons, he has apostatized, He has no religion at all, only pride, His state is the state of the makers of silver dollars,

They are beyond our power to imitate. One should not wear shirts with collars,

Whoever wears them, his unbelief is wide, Khaki and pyjamas, whoever it 1s Who wears them and prays in them, he has committed a crime, Here they are, three things, do not use them, All of them, avoid them, without arguing, For to use them 1s not right, you have seen them,

Epilogue 165 Towel and washing-blue, and powder, whoever uses them, Certainly on the Last Day the Fire is his dwelling. [25]

And he goes on to condemn such impious innovations as the use of walking sticks, flashlights, and the learning of the English language! No doubt this was an extreme view. Nevertheless, a deeprooted hostility to change was characteristic of the malam class. It was the reformers who made these malams the guardians of public morality. While there is certainly an important and forward-looking element in Hausa Islamic society at the present day, the traditional malams still exercise considerable influence over public opinion. Their power in northern Nigerian society, whether beneficial or otherwise, is a consequence of the reform movement.

ISLAM IN THE RECENT HISTORY OF NIGERIA The swing toward an Islamic identity had other important results that showed in recent political and social happenings. When the British took over the Northern Provinces of Nigeria, as present northern Nigeria was at first termed, its cultural and commercial links were with the peripheral Islamic areas to the north and east. Certainly, important trade links connected Hausaland with the West Coast too; but these were only some of the traditional trade outlets of the area. The coming of the British, and the building of the railway from

the coast inland, changed this situation almost overnight. The Northern Provinces became economically almost wholly depend-

ent upon the coastal trade area, because this was what the new colonial economy dictated. But the cultural allegiances were less easily changed. Throughout the colonial period there was a small but continual exodus of young men to the great educational centers of Islam—the Azhar in Egypt; Ma‘had al-‘Ilm in what is now

the Republic of the Sudan; the Zaituna Mosque in Tunisia and other well-known centers of learning in the Islamic world. ‘These contacts, which at times assumed a political significance that troubled the colonial administration, kept alive a spirit of pan-Islam-

ism. This, in turn, became characteristic of latter-day northern Nigerian politics. It found expression in the energetic Islamic revival of the 1950’s, that drew its inspiration from the jihad and

166 THE SWORD OF TRUTH the ideals of the reformers.1! Thus, whereas nationalism in West Africa as a whole tended toward the ideal of African unity and

looked for leadership to such personalities as the late Kwame Nkrumah, northern Nigeria, while conscious of the aspirations of its substantial non-Muslim minority, was nevertheless much intrigued by the example of the Republic of the Sudan, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, the emerging North African states and, in a lesser degree, Egypt.!2 To this extent it was an odd man out in the

politics of West African independence. And the less than halfhearted commitment of traditional Muslim leaders to the nationalist and pan-Africanist hopes of non-Muslim Nigerians—particularly those in Lagos and the former Eastern Region—caused great frustration. This situation, complicated though it was by presentday attitudes and by the experience of the colonial era, had some of its roots in the heightened Islamic awareness brought about by the reform movement.

Another effect of the northern sentiment of Islamic awareness was that it colored the tone of Nigerian politics. The reformers’ society was a closed one in the sense that it deliberately excluded non-Muslims, except as slaves or as tribute-paying subjects to the Islamic state. Thus the Shehu could write: “That

which has been specified is the separation between infidels /And Muslims, on the authority of a clear ruling” (1); and in this he was simply repeating a Koranic injunction. His grandson, Sa’idu dan Bello, wrote some thirty years later: “Let us thank God, the Lord of

office, the Unique/The King who shows no mercy to the unbeliever”’ (22), and he goes on: ‘““A man who has no knowledge [of Islam], he is a mere creature of the bush/He can have no wish to live among men” (22). The praise-songs addressed to chiefs of a

later period are also full of ethnic and religious hostility toward pagan peoples who surround the Muslim Hausa: 11 See Murray Last, “Aspects of Administration” (op. cit., Bibliog.), for a

discussion of this.

12°The younger generation of northern Nigerian Muslims who grew up during the period between the ending of World War II and the granting of

independence, were strongly drawn to Egypt, and much influenced by Egyptian anti-imperialist and pan-Islamic propaganda. The older generation, more conservative, distrusted Egyptian secularism and disliked the evidence of cultural Westernization that was so apparent in Egyptian society.

Epilogue 167 Even if you go as far as Egypt, A chief like him you will not find, There is none like Masaba, Burner of pagan villages, there and then, There is none like Muhammadu Abubakar Masaba. [15]

But the British introduced large numbers of Christian Africans from the west coast of Africa into northern Nigeria. Since Hausa Muslims were historically unfamiliar with African Christianity, they tended to regard all the newcomers as arna—pagans—a term that carried all the dislike and distrust of the Arabic word kafir. They naturally found it difficult to adjust to a situation in which these people, so recently their ethnic and religious enemies, frequently enjoyed privileged positions in organizations designed to serve the needs of the colonial administration. ‘This gave rise to severe ethnic and social tensions that were eventually reflected in the politics of northern Nigeria and were, inevitably, expressed in terms of Islamic solidarity and xenophobia. ‘Thus a modern political propagandist could still write, c.1g50:* O Chief Abdullahi, help us, You have the Chiroma Sanusi to spread knowledge, Protect your whole community, In order that our country shall remain for ever a monarchy,

Kano City and Fage and Tudun Wada, ,

Villages, wattle and daub huts, Do not let the pagans enter into them To spread the poison of republicanism

Another wrote: [The Christians] are lying in wait in order to strike us, So that we may fall in the uninhabited bush. ‘They will deceive us because we have no eyes,

They are rubbing shit in our eyeballs, Flies crawl all over our food, If we say we want to make things better, they rebuke us, It is greed that deceives you, you fool! [14]

Yet another said bitterly of the non-Muslim intruders: “The North is like the poisonous sasswood tree/He who thinks he can 13 Malam Sa’adu Zungur in Arewa, Jumhuriya ko Mulukiya?, Wak’ok’in M. Sa’adu Zungur (Zaria, 1960, 1964).

168 THE SWORD OF TRUTH come and sit comfortably in its shade will find himself mistaken” (14). At first, the violent potentialities of this situation were largely—

though not entirely—contained by the colonial administration. But when this gave way to independence in northern Nigeria, the society was left to cope with only its own resources. Despite the efforts of constitution-makers and the introduction of a democratic system of central government, the basic framework at a provincial level was still that of the Fulani empire. So, often enough, were the attitudes of the people (although certainly not of many enlightened and dedicated Muslim officials who tried sincerely to make a secular democracy work). The structure was not able to take the strain. The result was widespread civil disturbance and loss of life in northern urban centers, which reached a terrible crescendo in September and October of 1966. It is easy to exaggerate the role of Islamic xenophobia in bring-

ing this situation about. There is no doubt such a sentiment existed, as the verses quoted above make clear; and it must have inflamed passions at this critical time. But there were many other causes, of which the xenophobia was only an expression. Prominent among them was the northerners’ fear of domination by a | technically more advanced and alien ethnic group—a fear that had been given some substance by the military coup of January 1966. And, of course, whereas the Islamic xenophobia of the political verse had been aimed at all non-Muslim political opponents regardless of ethnic origins, the violence of 1966 was directed specifically at Ibos.

The Nigerian civil war, which broke out in July 1967, has been widely represented as a religious war between, on the one hand,

the Muslim Hausa and Fulani, and on the other, the Christian Ibo of the former Eastern Region. This interpretation was favored

by the propagandists and international supporters of the selfstyled Biafra. It was natural that, in a war situation, such a potent

propaganda line should be exploited for all it was worth. It is, however, a misleading oversimplification.

In the first place, it is rather obviously contradicted by the fact that the Federal commander-in-chief was himself a Christian, as was a large proportion of the troops he commanded—for instance,

Epilogue 169 the Christian Yoruba. But the error goes deeper than that. By the time the civil war broke out the long-standing religious dichotomy into Muslim and non-Muslim had been overtaken and submerged in many more immediate causes of tension. There was, first, the

inter-regional economic rivalry and, particularly, the desire to control the nascent oil industry. This goes far to account for the alliance between the Islamic north and the mainly Christian Yoruba against the Christian Ibo of the east. Then there was elitist in-fighting between and within the main political parties, which gave rise to alliances and antagonisms that had nothing to do with religious affiliations. There was also military anomie—a contagion, no doubt, from elsewhere in newly independent Africa —and the scramble for survival that the first coup set off within the officer corps. Beneath all this lay the inadequacy and imbal-

ance of the constitutional structure bequeathed by the recently departed colonial administration. Far from aggravating the traditional cleavage between Muslim and non-Muslim, this situation cut right across it and, to an extent, healed it. For it imposed a new pattern in which more urgent problems of self-interest and survival made the old religious divisions irrelevant.

It is true that the reform movement of the Shehu Usuman dan Fodio, which had, in many ways, a strengthening and unifying influence on Hausa society, also made it harder for the Islamic north to accept the large non-Muslim population that flowed into it during the colonial period; that the political and social tensions this gave rise to were often expressed in terms of religious antagonism and that northern pan-Islamism conflicted with southern pan-Africanism. But for the civil war neither the reform movement in particular, nor Islam in general, bears a responsibility exceeding that of any other of the many factors which made up the complex causation of that tragic event.

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Arnold, T. W., and A. Guillaume. The Legacy of Islam, Oxford, 1931. Brockelmann, C. History of the Islamic Peoples, London, 1949. Gaudefroy-Demombynes, M. Muslim Institutions, London, 1950.

Gibb, H. A. R. Arabic Literature, London, 1926. ,

—__——— Mohammedanism, Oxford, 1949. ——_—— Modern Trends in Islam, Chicago, 1947.

Guillaume, A. Islam, London, 1954. Hazard, H. W. Atlas of Islamic History, Princeton, 1952.

Hiskett, M., and Sheikh Awad Muhammad Ahmad. The Story of the Arabs, London, 1957. Hitti, P. K. History of the Arabs, London, 1946.

Holt, P. M., Anne K. Lambton, and Bernard Lewis. The Cambridge History of Islam, 2 vols., Gambridge, 1970. Lane, E. W. Arabian Society in the Middle Ages, London, 1883. Lewis, B. The Arabs in History, London, 1950. MacDonald, D. B. Development of Muslim Theology, Jurisprudence and Constitutional Theory, London, 1903. Nicholson, R. A. The Mystics of Islam, London, 1914. —__———— The Idea of Personality in Sufism, Cambridge, 1923.

Von Grunebaum, G. E. Medieval Islam, Chicago, 1953. Wiet, Gaston. Introduction 4 la littérature arabe, Paris, 1964. Zolondek, L. Book XX of Ai-Ghazali’s Ihya ‘ulum al-din, Leiden, 1963. 171

172 THE SWORD OF TRUTH B. WEST AFRICA Adeleye, R. A. Power and Diplomacy in Northern Nigerta 1804-1906, London, 1971.

—_—— et al. “Sifofin Shehu: An Autobiography and Character Study of ‘Uthman b. Fudi in Verse,” CADRB, II, 1, 1966.

Alhaji Hassan and Shuaibu Na’ibi. A Chronicle of Abuja, trans. Frank Heath, Ibadan, 1962. Arnett, E. J. The Rise of the Sokoto Fulani, Kano, 1922, containing an English version of Infag al-maisur and ‘History of Sokoto.” Arnott, D. W., and Ibrahim Mukoshy. “Aspects of Fulani Poetry,” Seminar on Islamic Influences on the Literary Cultures of Africa, unpublished seminar paper of the Centre of African Studies, SOAS, University of London, 1968.

Bakri, Al-. Description de l’Afrique septentrionale, trans. De Slane, revised edition, Paris, 1965.

Balogun, I. A. B. “A Critical Edition of the Ihya al-sunna wa tkhhmad

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_ Battuta, Ibn. Travels in Asta and Africa, trans. H. A. R. Gibb, London, 1963.

Bello, Sir Ahmadu. My Life, Cambridge, 1962. Bivar, A. D. H. Nigerian Panoply, Lagos, 1964. ——— “The Wathigat Ahl al-Sudan: A Manifesto of the Fulani Jihad,” JAH, II, 2, 1961. —_—_—., and M. Hiskett. ‘“The Arabic Literature of Nigeria to 1804: A Provisional Account,” BSOAS, XXV, 1, 1962. Bovill, E. W. The Golden Trade of the Moors, London, 1958. Burdon, J. A. Historical Notes on Certain Emirates and Tribes, London, 1909.

Crowder, Michael, ed. West African Resistance, London, 1971. Dudley, B. J. Parties and Politics in Northern Nigeria, London, 1968. Fisher, H. J. “Islamic Education and Religious Reform in West Africa,”

chapter in Education in Africa, ed. R. Jolly, 1969.

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Hiskett, M. “Material Relating to the State of Learning among the Fulani before Their Jihad,’ BSOAS, XIX, 3, 1957. ———— “Kitab al-farq: A Work on the Habe Kingdoms Attributed to ‘Uthman dan Fodio,” BSOAS, XXII], 3, 1960.

____—. “An Islamic Tradition of Reform in the Western Sudan from the Sixteenth to the Eighteenth Century,” BSOAS, XXV, 3, 1962. —___. “The ‘Song of Bagauda’: A Hausa King List and Homily in Verse,” Part 1, BSOAS, XXVII, 3, 1964; Part 2, BSOAS, XXVIII, 1, 1965; Part 3, BSOAS, XXVIII, 2, 1965. —__—_—— ed. and trans. “Tazyin al-waraqat ot ‘Abdullah b. Muhammad,” Ibadan, 1963.

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Africa,” Seminar on Islamic Influences on the Literary Cultures of Africa, Centre of African Studies, SOAS, University of London, 1968, unpublished.

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Hunwick, J. H. “A New Source for the Biography of Ahmad Baba alTinbukti (1556-1627),” BSOAS, XXVII, 3, 1964. —___—— “Notes on a Late Fifteenth-Century Document Concerning ‘alTakrur’,” African Perspectives, ed. C. H. Allen and R. W. Johnson, Cambridge, 1970.

174 THE SWORD OF TRUTH Johnston, H. A. S. The Fulani Empire of Sokoto, London, 1967. Kati, Mahmoud. Tartkh al-Faitash, trans. O. Houdas and M. Delafosse, Paris, 1913.

Last, Murray. The Sokoto Caliphate, London, 1967. —_——— “A Note on Attitudes to the Supernatural in the Sokoto Jihad,” JHSN, IV, 1, 1967. —__—— ‘‘Aspects of Administration and Dissent in Hausaland,” Africa, XL, 4, 1970.

—__—— and M. A. Al-Hajj, “Attempts at Defining a Muslim in Nineteenth-Century Hausaland and Bornu,” JHSN, III, 2, 1965. Levtzion, Nehemia. Muslims and Chiefs in West Africa, Oxford, 1968. Lugard, Lady. A Tropical Dependency, London, 1906. Lugard, Lord. The Dual Mandate in British Tropical Africa, London, 1922.

Martin, B. G. “Unbelief in the Western Sudan: ‘Uthman dan Fodio’s “Ta‘lim al-ikhwan,’” MES, IV, 1, 1967. ——_——. “A Short History of the Khalwati Order of Dervishes,” in Schol-

Press, 1971. |

ars, Saints and Sufis, ed. Nikki Keddie, University of California Masri, El-, F. N. ‘““The Life of Shehu Usuman dan Fodio before the

Jihad,” JHSN, I, 4, 1963. . ———— ed. and trans. Bayan wujub al-hijra, unpublished, University of

Ibadan. Miller, W. R. S. Reflections of a Pioneer, London, 1936. Mischlich, A., and J. Lippert. Beztrdge zur Geschichte der Haussastaaten,

| Berlin, 1903, containing Hausa Chronicle. Moore, Gerald. ‘The Imagery of Death in African Poetry,” Africa,

| XXXVIITI, 1, 1968.

Muffett, D. J. M. Concerning Brave Captains, London, 1964. ———— “Nigeria—Sokoto Caliphate,” in West African Resistance, ed. Michael Crowder, London, 1971. Norris, H. T. Shingtti Folk Literature and Song, Oxford, 1968. ————. Saharan Myth and Saga, Oxford, 1972.

Palmer, H. R. Sudanese Memoirs, Lagos, 1928, III, containing the Kano Chronicle.

Skinner, Neil. “The Origin of the Name ‘Hausa,’” Africa, XXXVIII, 3, 1968.

Smith, H. F. C. “The Islamic Revolutions of the Nineteenth Century,” JHSN, II, 1, 1961. Smith, M. F. Baba of Karo, London, 1963.

Smith, M. G. “Historical and Cultural Conditions of Political Corruption among the Hausa,” Comparative Studies in Society and History, VI, 2, 1964.

———— “The Beginnings of Hausa Society, A.D. 1000-1500,” The Histortan in Tropical Africa, ed. R. Mauny et al.

A Selected Bibliography 175 _____ “The Social Functions and Meaning of Hausa Praise-singing,” Ibadan, No. 21, 1965.

Tapiero, N. “Le Grand Sheykh Peul ‘Uthman ibn Fudi,” Revue des Etudes Islamtiques, 1963.

Temple, C. L. Native Races and Their Rulers, reissued, London, 1968. Tremearne, A. J. N. Hausa Superstitions and Customs, London, 1913; new edition, London, 1970.

Trimingham, J. Spencer. A History of Islam in West Africa, London, 1962.

192%.

—_—— Islam in West Africa, London, 1959.

Umari, Al-. Masalik al-Absar, trans. M. Gaudefroy-Demombynes, Paris,

Waldman, Marilyn R. “The Fulani Jihad: A Reassessment,” JAH, III, 1965.

Willis, J. R. “Jihad Fi Sabil Allah—Its Doctrinal Basis in Islam and Some Aspects of Its Evolution in Nineteenth-Century West Africa,” JAH, VUll, 3, 1967.

APPENDIX I A SHORT BIBLIOGRAPHICAL ESSAY

THIS BOOK depends largely on two sets of primary sources: first,

the classical Arabic manuscript literature of Hausaland and the western Sudan, the bulk of which-was produced during the nineteenth century, by the first and second generations of the Fulani reformers. Second, the verse literature in Hausa and Fulfulde (the language of the Fulani). This, too, was largely produced during the nineteenth century, and by the same scholarly community responsible for the Arabic literature. The majority of these Arabic and vernacular sources are still untranslated and they exist only in Arabic and vernacular MSS, or sometimes in printed texts produced locally in Nigeria. The titles of all those from which I have quoted, or to which I have referred, and their provenance, are given in the Arabic Sources and List of Hausa Poems at the beginning of this book, except occasionally, when it has seemed more appropriate to mention works of minor reference in the footnotes.

In addition to these primary Arabic and vernacular sources, I have used works by European writers, among them several scholarly works based on recent research. These I shall describe in the course of this essay.

For the Shehu’s early life; his domestic circumstances and the growth of the miracle tradition, I have mainly used Malam Gi177

178 THE SWORD OF TRUTH dado dan Laima’s RJ, “Meadow of Paradise,” and Malam Isa dan Shehu’s WKS, “Song of the Shehu’s Miracles.’’ Malam Gidado’s work is a prose composition in classical Arabic—at present untranslated and available in manuscript only—which he compiled late in his life. It is the first definitive account of the Shehu’s mira-

cles. Malam Isa’s WKS is in Hausa and in verse. It is what is known in Arabic literature as a manzuma, that is a versification based on a pre-existing prose work which in this case is Gidado’s RJ. It follows RJ closely. But because it is more succinct and has

now been published in an English translation (see M. Hiskett, ALS, XII, 1971, Bibliog.), it is sometimes more convenient to refer

to it or quote from it than from the longer, and sometimes rambling, RJ. The account of the Shehu’s education depends mainly on IN, “Depository of Texts,” by his brother, ‘Abdullah b. Muhammad, which is specifically concerned with this matter. But the account

has been supplemented by TW and IM. The section on his preaching relies mainly on Muhammad Bello’s JM, “Expenditure of What Is Available,” who devotes part of his work to this. I have quoted from Arnett’s translation. This is sometimes inaccurate in detail; but not sufficiently so to invalidate it for the descriptive

purposes for which I have used it. Also, it is available in English translation for those who wish to locate the quotations in context.

The description of the Shehu’s mystical experiences and the prelude to the holy war both rest on a fairly wide range of sources.

Most important among them are TW,IM, RJ, his own Wird and Asma’s WG, “Song of the Wandering.” Asma was the Shehu's daughter. Her poem, which may have been composed originally in Fulfulde and later translated into Hausa, tells the story of her father’s hijra from the time of the flight to Gudu down to his death. It obviously idealizes the portrait of the Shehu; but contains a wealth of detail which contributes to building up a factual account of his career. So far it exists only in vernacular MSS and a printed text, and no English translation is available. For the chapter on the holy war I have largely relied for the battle scenes on TW. ‘Abdullah b. Muhammad’s work is remarkable for the vivid and colorful accounts it gives of these battles and they well display the author’s zest for the business of war. Equally valuable—but in a rather different style—is Muhammad

A Short Bibliographical Essay 179 Bello’s IM. His descriptions of the battles are more detached. Where ‘Abdullah delights in describing how their arrows “tore the shield’ and that “. . . our friends were our bows and our quivers/Our spears and our fine-edged swords,’ Bello is concerned to tell in a drier, more analytical style, how his right wing broke but rallied again; how he turned the enemy’s flank, or cut him off by the expeditious use of cavalry. In short, ‘Abdullah’s TW reflects the fine, aggressive spirit of the lusty fighter. Bello’s IM shows the keen, flexible intelligence of an excellent tactical commander.

In describing the weaponry of the two armies I have used, in addition to TW, IM, WKS, and WG, Mr. D. J. M. Muffett’s excellent monograph in Crowder (op. cit., Bibliog.), and Dr. A. D. H. Bivar’s scholarly Nigerian Panoply (Lagos, 1964). Muffett’s descriptions apply, in part, to the period of the Sokoto caliphate, not

the jihad. But many weapons have Hausa names which indicate they belong to the Habe period. Moreover, TW amply confirms that the weapons and equipment described by Muffett, as well as by Bivar, were used by both sides in the holy war. Details of such matters as baggage trains, campaign logistics, the behavior of the

armies in victory and defeat, and other incidental information | have been gleaned from TW,IM, RJ, WKS, and WG. The record of the Shehu’s period in Gwandu and in Sifawa depends on the major primary sources already mentioned. But WG,

WKS, and RJ were especially useful. My views on the Shehu’s state of mind in the aftermath of victory rest on numerous tell-tale passages in his Arabic works, such as that quoted at p. 110; on the full text of WW and also on a strong oral tradition among Sokoto antiquarians that maintains he was deeply grieved at the death of so many of his companions in the jthad.

In discussing theological and legal aspects of the reformers’ doctrines, I use a number of Arabic texts, all by now familiar to scholars concerned with West African history. Most important are

IS, BW, and KF. Others of the Shehu’s works are identified as quotations from them occur. I have also referred to DH, ‘Abdullah b. Muhammad’s “Light of the Jurists,”’ since this sets out most

comprehensively the complex constitutional theory to which the reformers, including the Shehu, subscribed.

In addition to these major Arabic and Hausa sources, there

180 THE SWORD OF TRUTH circulates in northern Nigeria a large quantity of more recent and topical Hausa verse ephemera, essential for an understanding of

the social and political*history of Hausaland. Little has as yet been translated or published in English and the bulk of such material used in this book exists only in manuscript, stencilled copies, or locally printed Hausa texts. Much of it was recorded on microfilm in the course of field work and second copies of these microfilms have been made by CAD, in whose archives they are now deposited.

Among the accounts of the nineteenth-century travelers in Hausaland, those of Clapperton and Barth are essential for an understanding of the century that followed the jzhad. Later descriptive books in English on the history of Hausaland fall into two categories. First, late nineteenth- and twentieth-century works by individuals—administrators, missionaries, soldiers, and the like —personally involved in the affairs of Hausaland. These are to be regarded as primary sources in so far as their authors were active in the events and developments they describe. Second, works based on recent research by present-day scholars.

Works of the first category have to do not with the Shehu's career and the jzhad, except indirectly. But they do bear on the history of the post-jihad period described in Chapters I and X. Also, they are essential for those who wish to read further in Nigerian history. ‘There are many such works. Those I describe here seem to me most typical in conveying the persuasions and perspectives of the era in which the authors flourished. Missionary views and attitudes toward Islam in Hausaland are expressed most articulately in Reflections of a Pioneer (London,

1936) by Walter Miller, a Christ-filled evangelist who made his way to the country in 1900—and when he got there could see only “the arrogance, bigotry and self-confidence, together mixed with supreme ignorance, of the rulers of the peoples of these Moslem states” (Reflections, p. 23) and who believed “‘their isolation from the world was almost hermetic, and only the merest breath of in-

formation stole through the few, not quite closed doors’ (ibid. p. 23). Yet he loved Hausaland and, according to the principles that seemed right to him, devoted his life to serving her people. His opinions, and those of others who thought like him, cannot

A Short Bibliographical Essay 181 be ignored, since they exerted a strong influence on the view of Hausaland that was received throughout the English-speaking world.

The relevant chapters of Lord Lugard’s substantial Dual Mandate in British Tropical Africa (London, 1922) are certainly essential for an understanding of British official attitudes toward the Fulani administrations, as well as his concept of his own role in northern Nigeria. And, like the opinions of the missionaries, Lugard’s opinions did much to shape the public attitude toward Hausaland, and to Islam and the Fulani reformers in particular.

This intense and dedicated man, with his magisterial sense of duty and uncritical.conviction of his own righteousness, believed: It was the task of civilization to put an end to slavery, to establish Courts of Law, to inculcate in the native a sense of individual respon-

sibility, of liberty, and of justice and to teach their rulers how to apply these principles; above all, to see to it that the system of education should be such as to produce happiness and progress.” [Dual Mandate, p. 5]

and was hotly indignant that ‘‘chiefs live in luxury at the capital, surrounded by slaves, eunuchs and concubines” (ibid., p. 232). He was, nevertheless, the architect of the tolerant system of Indirect Rule which protected—even cosseted—the Islamic way of life in the colonial aftermath of the occupation. Also important—and very readable—is Lady Lugard’s A Troptcal Dependency (London, 1906). Under her maiden name, Flora Shaw, she was the colonial correspondent of the London Times and her influence on public opinion was therefore considerable. She subscribed to a romantic notion of an Islamic golden age in the Sudan and then a fall from grace. . .. [For] in the reigns of the later Askias [kings of the medieval Saharan kingdom of Songhai] the strenuous spirit of heroism, which had marked the rise of that dynasty, was dead, and the aspiration to live on a higher plane of civilization . . . had given place to nothing more noble than a love of luxury. [Tropical Dependency, p. 283]

But there was nothing fanciful about her energetic lobbying in support of her husband’s forward policies in Nigeria. For she argued, in the end successfully, that

182 THE SWORD OF TRUTH . . . the true solution of the problem of European relations with uncivilised Africa lay in accepting, not in abandoning, the responsibilities of civilised administration. [ibid., p. 365]

Her book gives a revealing insight into the mood and assumptions of part of British liberal and humanitarian opinion at the beginning of the present century.

Then there is C. L. Temple’s Native Races and Their Rulers (1918; reprinted London, 1968). This is the work of a senior administrative officer in the Northern Provinces in the early days of the British Protectorate. It contains much that now seems arrogant;

but then seemed merely obvious. There is also much humor and compassion in it. And what it also shows most clearly is how British

officials came to understand more fully the Islamic culture of the Hausa people; how they developed a sympathy for it; and how, in consequence, they found themselves increasingly at variance with the powerful, militant missionary interest, whose spokesmen

roundly condemned the British administration’s system of Indirect Rule on the grounds that it both tolerated and perpetuated Islamic institutions which they wished to see summarily removed or else deliberately left to decay. Among the second category of books in English that deal with Hausa history, the following are outstanding: Dr. Murray Last’s

Sokoto Caliphate (London, 1967). This is a meticulously documented account of the setting-up of the caliphate; and the subsequent history of the Sokoto vizierate. It is particularly valuable for its exhaustive bibliography of Arabic sources, and for its exemplary scholarship.

S. J. Hogben and A. H. M. Kirk-Greene, The Emirates of Northern Nigeria (London, 1966), is a work of almost encyclopaedic detail that recounts the received histories and traditions of all the emirates of Northern Nigeria as they existed at the time of writing. It is invaluable for its wealth of factual information; and for its convenience as a reference work.

H. A. S. Johnston, The Fulani Empire of Sokoto (London, 1967), records the history of the Sokoto empire down to the beginning of the colonial period. Its especial value is that, in addition to the use it makes of published Arabic sources in translation, it is based on a number of oral Hausa sources; and upon the “historical files” of the early British administrators.

A Short Bibliographical Essay 183 R. A. Adeleye’s Power and Diplomacy in Northern Nigeria 1804-1906 (London, 1971) excellently analyses the sources of power and weakness within the caliphate and describes the forces that lay behind the British occupation. These are the basic secondary sources in English for a further

study of the Sokoto empire and the history of Hausaland. But a number of other useful works are listed in the Bibliography. A substantial amount of comment on special aspects of Hausa history is to be found in articles in learned journals. It is not practical to list them all; but the more important items will be found in the Bibliography. In particular, the contributions of M. A. AlHajj, H. J. Fisher, J. O. Hunwick, Murray Last, B. G. Martin, F. H. El-Masri, M. G. Smith, and John R. Willis are essential reading.

The importance of world Islam to the understanding of West African history was stressed in my Preface. ‘The list given in Section A of the Bibliography is not comprehensive but lists some standard and established works. For an initial introduction to Islamic history Hitti’s History of the Arabs (London, 1946) is still the most convenient. The late Professor Arberry’s books are the best introduction to Sufism. MacDonald Development of Muslim Theology, Jurisprudence and Constitutional Theory (London, 1903) remains the standard work in the field of law and theology. Arabic literature, so important a factor in building up the ideology of the Fulani reformers, is conveniently treated in Gaston Wiet’s Introduction a la littérature arabe (Paris, 1964). René Basset’s La Bordah du Cheikh El Bousiri (Paris, 1894) is an excellent translation for those who wish to know more about the genre of Prophetic panegyric.

Finally, the most recent authoritative work on special aspects and areas of Islam is, of course, the fine Cambridge History of Islam.

APPENDIX II EXPLANATORY NOTES TO MAPS

ALL THE Maps in this book are diagrammatic. Although roughly to scale, they are not cartographically exact.

MAP I: HAUSALAND .1750 | The exact boundaries of the Habe states during the second half of the eighteenth century cannot be defined with complete confidence because, as far as I know, no maps dating from that period exist, to which one can refer. Other records are not sufficiently detailed to build up a firm picture. The following notes record incidental information I have been able to cull, mainly from Hogben and Kirk-Green, from Johnston (both cited in Bibliog.), and also from TW. This I have used to try to fix at least some of the boundaries. In some cases, no doubt, territorial limits were indeterminate. But the known fact that the Habe chiefs demanded customary tribute from those who crossed their territories implies that fairly precise boundaries must have been recognized.

Gobir: This state probably included the site of Birnin Zamfara during the second half of the eighteenth century because this walled town was sacked by Babari of Gobir in 1755 or 1760.

Zamfara: The border between Zamfara and Katsina during the second half of this century lay near Kiawa, where several battles between the Gobirawa, invading Zamfara, and the Katsinawa, allied with Zamfara, took place (Hogben and Kirk-Greene, p. 166).

In fact, Zamfara at this period was virtually under Gobir control 185

186 , THE SWORD OF TRUTH and enjoyed independence only in the remote southern areas. Katsina: This state probably held Maradi until the reign of Bawa Jangwarzo of Gobir, who captured it c.1789 with the Shehu’s help. Rano: According to Johnston (p. 10). Rano was absorbed into Kano by the fourteenth century. It is thus doubtful whether it should be considered as an independent state at c.1750. Bornu: Gombe was under the control of the Jukon or Kwararafa and not of Bornu at the time it was captured by Buba Yero (Hog-

ben and Kirk-Greene, p. 466). Thus the southern boundary of Bornu probably lay north of Gombe but south of Biu. Zaria (Zazzau): Johnston (p. 166) states that his chiefdom contained

the principalities of Kajuru, Kauru, and Fatika in Hausa times (i.e. during the Habe period); but that Kagarko, Lere, and Durum were not added until the Fulani period. Thus the eastern boundary of the Habe chiefdom is established fairly exactly. In the south, the area of present Abuja must have been at least partially under Zaria’s control, since Abu Ja, the successor of Makau, ousted

by the Fulani, was able to found the present town c.1825 and set up his court there. ‘The probable southern boundary of the Habe State therefore lay between the site where Abuja was later built and Kagarko.

_ Yaurt: Bin Yauri was the ancient capital of this state. Bussa was still probably in Borgu; but near the site of a Hausa encampment in the war of c.1750 between Borgu and the Habe (Hogben and Kirk-Green, p. 579) and thus a border town. The retainers of the Habe chief of Yauri pursued Mungo Park as far as Bussa in 1806, in order to claim the customary gift Park’s messenger failed to deliver. It seems, therefore, that they regarded the area as far west as Bussa as falling within their jurisdiction. They certainly had freedom of movement there.

Borgu: Kaiama and Wawa were Borgu towns; therefore the eastern boundary must have lain between them and a line Bin Yauri-Bussa. The river Niger is the obvious natural boundary (see Yauri above). I therefore adopt it as the probable eastern limit of the state of Borgu. But Hogben and Kirk-Greene appear to regard Agwarra as lying within Yauri (p. 255); although its present site is on the west bank of the river. Arewa, Illo, Zabarma: Local tradition maintains that these were

Explanatory Notes to Maps 187 small independent principalities in the period before the jthad, associated ‘with but not subject to their bigger neighbors, Kebbi, Gurma, and Borgu. Nupe: Raba and Gbara were the rival capitals of western and east-

ern Nupe. I know of no information that establishes its eastern boundary, separating it from the Kwararaia. Kebbi: In the sixteenth century Kebbi extended westward across

the Niger as far as the border of Songhai and included much of Hausaland to the east. By the end of the eighteenth century it had shrunk considerably. Since ‘Abdullah b. Muhammad refers to expeditions across the Niger as taking place in Gurma country, it seems likely that the Niger represented the western border of Kebbi

on the eve of the jihad. |

Pagan Enclave: This area, which in the next century became the emirate of Kontagora, was inhabited by stateless pagan tribes independent of the Habe.

MAPS II AND III: MAIN BATTLES AND OFFENSIVES OF THE JIHAD These maps deal only with the campaigns originating directly from the headquarters of the Shehu or his subordinate commanders. The campaigns in the Habe states of Kano, Zaria, and so on, instigated by him but under independent command, are not shown. The exact start-points of the various offensives, whether Fulani or Habe, are not always clear from the sources. Unless there is other evidence, I assume that Fulani offensives started from the Shehu’s headquarters; or from 1809 on, from Sokoto; except in the case of

Aliyu Jedo, who is known to have had his own headquarters at Iname. For the Shehu’s hijra I have used Malama Asma’s Wak’ar gewaye (Song of the Wandering), which gives more detail than that shown in Dr. Last’smap (Soko Caliphate, p. 25).

MAP IV: THE FULANI EMPIRES OF GWANDU AND SOKOTO .1812 Kebbi: This state eventally established its independence from the Fulani; but in 1812 its territory was still in dispute.

188 | THE SWORD OF TRUTH Azbin: Contrast Johnston’s Map 2, in which this area is included

within the Sokoto empire at its height. It appears to me from Arnett, “History of Sokoto” (in Arnett, op. cit., Bibliog.), p. 28, and other sources, that the state of Ahir was allied to, but not part

of, the Fulani empire c.1812; and that the boundary between Sokoto and Ahir was indeterminate. But since Birnin Konni was the most northerly walled town permanently occupied by the FuJani, it is probable their direct control did not extend far beyond its northern hinterland. Maradi: The boundary between this Habe rump kingdom and the Fulani empire was constantly in dispute. But since the Habe were driven from Dankama in 1805 by Umaru Dallaji the dividing line between the Habe kingdom of Maradi and the Sokoto empire probably lay just north of Dankama. Bornu: The eastern boundary of the caliphate fluctuated consider-

ably in the course of fighting with Bornu. It eventually settled along the eastern borders of the emirates Hadejia/Katagum/ Gombe. The Benue and Gongola River Area: Keffi was the most southerly

salient of permanent Fulani occupation at this time. To the east of it the Bauchi Plateau was never finally pacified and Adamawa was

_ hot conquered for many years. To the west, Nupe remained in dispute until it finally succumbed to Malam Dendo. Kakau, the fugitive Habe ruler of Zazzau, took refuge in the country around Zuba and here contrived to maintain a precarious independence. He died in 1825 and was succeeded by his brother, Abu Ja, who founded Abuja and thus established a Habe enclave within the

Fulani empire. Kontagora was disputed territory until Umaru Nagwamatse set himself up there in 18509.

Gurma: The western boundary of Gwandu was indeterminate at this time. But it does not seem that Fulani control extended far beyond the hinterland of Ilo. Borgu: ‘This state quickly threw off whatever control the Fulani at first succeeded in imposing and remained thenceforth an independent kingdom. Fulani control c.1812 seems to have amounted to no more than a precarious hold on the west bank of the Niger, below Yauri.

INDEX

Abarshi, 43, 45 Adeleye, R. A., 145, 183

‘Abbasid dynasty, 135, 138; jurists, Africa, North, 5, 6, 15, 32, 166;

136, 137 West, 13, 166

‘Abd al-Qadir al-Jilani, see Jilani African nationalism, 166 ‘Abd al-Qadir b. Muhammad al- Agades, 5, 23, 46

Bukhari, 56n Agali, 102

‘Abd al-Salam, 71-73, 107, 114 Agunbulu, Tambari, 83, 95

‘Abd al-Wahhab, 131 Agwarra, 183

‘Abdullah b. Muhammad, 15, 30, Ahir, 83, 120, 188 32, 34, 40, 42, 43, 44, 47, 56,67, Ahmad al-Tijani, 162

71, 72, 73, 83, 86, go, 93, 96, Alexander the Great, 25 103, 105, 107, 108, 109, 111, Al-Haj, M.A., 129n, 183 113-15, 128-29, 140, 146, 185 et Alhaji Abubakar Imam, 25n passim; at Tabkin Kwotto, 88- Alhaji Malam Sayyidi, 32n

89; his crossing of the Niger ‘Ali, the Prophet’s son-in-law, Is-

river, 98-99; his attitude to lamic Caliph, 25, 134, 135n miracles, 150-51; his TW, 178- Alibawa Fulani, 16 7g; his views on war, 101-2; in Aliyu Jedo, 83, 94, 99, 109, 139, 187

Kano, 98 Aliyu dan Sidi, 162

Abu Bakr, Islamic Caliph, 134 Alkalawa, 17, 71, 89, 90, 91, 95, Abubakar Atiku, Caliph of Sokoto, 97, 102; fall of, 96

12 Alwassa, 92-94, 97 Abubakar Atiku, poet, 162 amir, see emir

Abubakar Luduge, 80 Amir al-jaish, 139

Abuja, 186, 188 Aquinas, ‘Thomas, 117

Adamawa, g, 100, 188 Arabia, 23, 32, 41, 46, 131 189

190 | Index Arabic, classical, 21, 37, 186; litera- civil war, the Nigerian, 168-69

ture, 6, 7, 101, 157, 177-80 Clapperton, Hugh, 137n Arabs, 15

Ardo (Ardo’en), 16 Dankama, 188

Arewa, 186-87 Dauda, 4

Arnett, F. J., 7n, 49n, 188 Daura, 96; Zangu, 9 Arnott, D. W., and Ibrahim Muko- Degel, 15, 17, 19, 21, 22, 23, 24, 26,

shy, 54n 29, 42, 46, 71, 102

Asma, 31, 39, 98, 100, 102, 103, 111; Dendo, Malam, gg, 188

her WG, 178-79, 187 Dingyadi, 102

Azbin, 187 Dudley, B. J., 161 Azhar, the, 165 Durum, 186

Babban Malami, 34 Egypt, 5, 6, 32, 35, 46, 126, 165,

Bajjamangu, 15 9, 166 Bauchi, 188 emir, 140 Bawa Jangwarzo, 43-46, 186

Bello, Sir Ahmadu, 163 Fafara, 95-96 Benue river, 9, 12, 188 Faitha, the, 27

Berbers, 15, 76 Fatika, 186

Biafra, 168 Fazzazi, al-, 35, 37, 115

Binduri, ‘Uthman, 40 figh, 37; see also Islamic law ~ Bin Yauri, see Yauri Fisher, H. J., 78n, 183

Birnin Kebbi, 91, 92 Fodi, 91

Bivar, A.D.H., 8n, 82n, 179 Fodio, see Usuman dan Fodio

Bodinga, 113 French, the, 13

Borgu, 94, 186, 187 Fulani, 5, 7, 11, 16, 108; archers, bor cult, 75, 160-61 86, 93, 94; empire, 9, 103, 139,

Bornu, 4, 5, 9, 14, 99, 186, 188; cor- 168; household, 19-26; literary

respondence, 109-10, 111 culture, see Islamic folklore,

British, the, 13; conquest of Hausa- Islamic education and learnland, 13-14, 124; admunistra- ing, Fulfulde literature; ori-

tors, 13, 14, 183 gins, 15-16; reform movement,

Buba Yero, 99 156-58; rulers, 12; womenfolk, Buhari, 115 20, 21, 25-26 Bukhari, al-, Sahth of, 38 Fulfulde, 4n, 21, 33; literature, Bukwium, 103 157n, 177 Bunsuru, 81, 90 Futa Toro, 15, 16 Burda, the, 37 Burdon, J. A., 49n Gao, 120 , Busiri, al-, 37 | Garba Abubakar, 80

Bussa, 186 Garun Gabas, 4 Gbara, 187

Caliphate, the Islamic, 134-36 Gegere, 81, 90 Christian, Africans, 167; missionary genealogy, 18; mystic, 64, 68

views of Islam, 13, 180 Germany, 13

Index 191 Ghazali, al-, 52, 117 Hiskett, M., 8n, 18n, 20n, 130n, Gibb, Sir Hamilton, 131n 148n, 178

gida, see Fulani household Hodgkin, Thomas, 119n, 148n

Gidado dan Laima, 45, 65, 71, 111, Hogben, S. J., and Kirk-Greene, 114, 141-42, 151; his RJ, 177- 46n, 182, 185, 186

78 Huizinga, J., 149

Gsimbana, 71-73, 107 Hunwick, J. O., 183 Gobir, 4, 15, 17, 18, 44, 48, 66, 68, 74, 98, 100, 107, 139, 157, 185, ‘Id al-adha, 29, 45

186; army, 82-86, 88, g2; cap- ‘Id al-fitr, 29 Lives, 94; commanders, 83 1gma‘, 1347-38

Gombe, gg, 186, 188 Illo, 100, 186-87, 188 Gongola river, 188 zmam, 29, 48, 113, 135

Gudu, 72-74, 88, 119, 178 Jname, 102, 187 Gurma, 9, 99, 103, 187 Indirect Rule, 153, 154, 181 Gwandu, 92, 96, 98, 103, 111, 113, Isadan Shehu, 53, 151, 178 139, 140, 179, 188; Gobir at- ‘Ishriniyyat, al., 35, 37, 115

tack on, 93-94 Islam: establishment in HausaGwariland, see Gwarl works on, 183

Gwarl, 4, 12, 82, 99-100 land, 5-6, 14, 76-77; general Islamic astrology, 7, 39; education

and learning, 8, 16, 156-57,

Habe, 4, 5, 11, 74-75, 141; chiefs, see also. makarantun 1lmi; 16, 79, 140; kingdoms, 4, 8, 9, folklore, 24-25; literati, 144-46, 12, 103, 152, 185, 186; power 155, 163, 165; xenophobia, 168 base, 43-44; titles, 142-43, 153

gin 126-27, 130-33

Hadejia, 80, 100, 188; Chronicle, Jibril b. ‘Umar, 8, 23, 40-41, 109,

hadith, 38-39 jthad, 3, 9, 12, 14, 34, 77, 81-104,

hakimt, 140 120; causes of, 74-80

Haliru Binji, Malam, 26n Jilani, ‘Abd al-Qadir al-, 49, 65-68,

Hamidu, 83 162, 163

Hamma Ali, 112 Johnston, H. A. S., 46n, 182, 188 Hausa customs, 24, 25; infantry, 86; literature, 177-80; states, Kabuge, 83 see Habe kingdoms; verse, see Kagarko, 186 Isa dan Shehu, Muhammadu Kaiama, 186 Tukur, Usuman dan Fodio; Kayjuru, 186

verse ephemera, 180 Kalembina, 114

Hausaland, 3, 4, 5, 8, 9, 14, 16, ef Kanemi, al-, 109, 110

passim; scholars of, gs, 126; Kannu, gen nineteenth-century travelers Kano, 4, 6, 7, 13, 34, 96, 120, 141,

in, 180 162, 186, 187; British conquest Hausas, 3-4 of, 14; Chronicle, 3, 78; Fulani

Aira, 17n, 119, 120; of the Shehu, revolt in, 98 see Usuman dan Fodio Kanoma, 91, 92

192 Index Kassarawa Fulani, 16 Maradi, 9, 45, 188

Katagum, 188 Maratta, 17

Kati, Mahmoud, 122 Margai, 103 Katsina, 4, 6, 36, 43, 91, 92, 94, 95, Martin, B.G., 62n, 183

96, 120, 185, 186 Masri, Dr. F. H. EI-, 119n, 183

Kaumanga, 47 masu tlmt, 36

Kauru, 186 Mecca, 23, 29, 40, 97, 163; Sharif Kebbi, 4, 11, 16, 43, 46, 76, 80, 92, of, 137

94, 97, 100, 107, 108, 139, 187; Medina, 23, 33, 40, 134 conquest of, g1-92; Fulani, 16; military coup in Nigeria, 168

insurgency in, 94 Miller, Walter, 13n, 162, 180 Keffi, 188 mi‘raj, 68, 148n

Khalwatiyya, 62 Moore, Gerald, 158 Kharijism, 132 Mu‘allaqat, al-, 3%

Kiawa, 95, 185 Muffett, D. J. M., 14n, 82n, 179

kirart, see praise-singing Muhammad, the Prophet, 7, 8, 25, Kirk-Greene, see Hogben, S. J., 33, 65, 67, 134, 163; imitation

and of, 31, 102, 152; miracles of,

k’ofa.system, 142, 144 37, 152

Konni, 15, 16, 184; Fulani, 16 Muhammad b. ‘Abdullah, 115 Kontagora, 12, 13, 14, 82, 187, 188 Muhammad Bello, 9, 32, 39, 49, 57,

Koran, 24, 27, 134, 136, 137, 166 75» 83, 91, 92, 93, 94, 95, 97;

Kwararafa, 4, 187 99, 101, 103, 107, 108, 109, 110, 111, 113-15, 140, £42, 145, et

Lagos, 166 passim; attitude to miracles,

Last, Murray, 16, 18n, 46n, 110n, 150-51; his IM, 178-79; his

, 129n, 139n, 145, 166n, 182, skill as a commander, 94, 179

183, 187 Muhammad Binduwa, 65 Lere, 186 Muhammad Buhari, vizier of So-

Levtzion, N., 17n koto, 142 Lewis, C. S., 148 Muhammad Fudi, father of the literacy, 6, 7, 36 Shehu, 15, 17 Lugard, Sir Frederick (later Lord), Muhammad Koiranga, 64, 67, 110 13, 14, 153, 181; Lady, 181 Muhammad Sambo, 40, 46 Muhammad Zangi, 110

Magabci, 102 Muhammadu, Imam of Daura,

Magami, 47 155, 156 Maghili, Muhammad, al-, 5, 6,120- Muhammadu Na Birnin Gwari,

21, 125, 128 155, 156 | | Ma‘had al-‘Ilm, 165 Muhammadu Tukur, 32, 56, 101, Mahdi, the, 97, 121-25, 163 102, 162 } makarantun ilmi, 34-36 muhtastb, 139

Makau, 186 mujaddid, see Renewer Manuri, 83, 102 Prophet, miracles of

Mali, 5 mu‘yizat, see Muhammad, the manzuma, 178 Mukhtasar, al-, 3%, 40

, Index 193

Mukoshy, Ibrahim, see D. W. Raba, 187

Arnott rak‘a, 27, 28 Mulid, go Ramadan, 29 Musa Jokollo, 15 Rano, 4, 186

muskets, 78-79 Renewer, the, 42, 51, 121-25, 163 Mustafa b. al-Hajj ‘Uthman, al-, 47. rtbat, g, 11, 115 Rikina, 16

Nafata, 47-49, 70 Rima river, 81, 89, 90, 91 naib (nuwwab), 140 Rowlands, Virginia, 78n

Nagwamatse, dynasty, 12, 155, 188 rinjz (rinjojt), 21, 22

Namadagal, 83 , ruga (rugage), 22 Namoda, 83, 95 |

Niger, river, 5, 9, 13, 46, 103, 186, Sabiel, 107

187, 188; crossing of, 98 Sabon Gari, 91, 102, 103, 119 Nigeria, northern, 3, 153, 154, 156, Sahara, 5, 22, 23, 120 157, 161n, 162, 1647; civil dis- Salla festival, 20, 35 turbances in, 168; colonial ad- Senegal, 13 ;

ministration in, 168; eastern Shari‘a, see Islamic law

region of, i6in, 166, 168; Shehu, see Usuman dan Fodio northern region of, 14, 163; Shekara, 112 recent politics of, 165-69; west- Sifawa, 110-13, 119, 179

ern region of, 161n , stlstla, see genealogy, mystic

nomads, 22-23, 87; relations with Skinner, N., 4

agriculturalists, 79-80 Slavery, 21-22, 31-32, 77-79

Norris, H. T., 23n slaves, see slavery

NPG, 156, 163 Smith, M. F., 1gn Nubians, 82 Smith, M.G., 153n, 183

Nupe, 4, 13, 14, 99, 103, 187 Sokoto: British conquest of, 13-14; Caliphate of, 9-12, 105, 137;

Olderogge, D. A., 148n election of Muhammad Bello Ottoman empire, 61, 63, 137n in, 113; founding of, 97; Qadirism of, 162; rule from,

pagan enclave, 187 139-40

Palgrave, W. G., 132n Songhai, 4, 100, 187

Park, Mungo, 186 Sonni Ali, 125

154 suf, see Sufism ,

Penal Code, northern Nigerian, Sudan, Republic of, 165

praise-singing, 8, 74-75 Sufi, see Sufism prayer, Islamic, 26-30 Sufism, 39, 50, 53, 59-61, 64, 120, 133, 151, 161-63; revival of, 61-63

gadi, 138, 139 sujud, 27, 28

161, 162 141

Qadiriyya, 49, 60, 62, 67, 68, 151, Sulaimanu, Emir of Kano, 31n, 34,

Qisas al-anbiya’, 24n Sullebawa Fulani, 16, 102

qubba, 2% Sunna, 51, 52, 96, 130, 137

194 Index Tabkin Kwotto, 87-89 147-49; theology, 116-133; at

tafsir, 37 Tsuntsua, 90; verse, 33, 53-55,

Tahtya, the, 28 107, 122-23; Wives, 112 Takedda, 120 ‘Uthman, Islamic Caliph, 134 tasawwuf, see Sufism taxation, 143-44 vizier, 138, 141 Tayyib Idris, Sheikh, 26n Tekrur, 122 Wahhabis, Wahhabism, 40, 131-33,

Temple, C. L., 182 136, 337 Tijaniyya, 62, 161, 162 walt, 151

Toronkawa, 5, 15, 16, 17 Waru Alkiyama, 83

Tremearne, A. J. N., 159 Wawa, 183

Trimingham, J. Spencer, 153n WAXY, WAZTL, SEE vizier

‘Tsuntsua, go, 112 weapons, 83-87

‘Tuareg, 15, 21, 22, 23, 82, go, 92, Willey, Basil, 117n, 118

95, 96 Willis, John R., 183

‘Tunisia, 165 wird, 64, 66, 151, 178 Turkish empire, see Ottoman em-

pire Yakuba, Chief of Gobir, 46-47 Yakubu, Emir of Bauchi, gg

‘Umar, Islamic Caliph, 134 Yakubu, Emir of Kano, 5 ‘Umar b. ‘Abd al-‘Aziz, 136n Yandoto, 95, 130 Umaru Alkammu, 70, go, 103 Yauri, 4, 94, 186, 188

: Umaru, Dallaji, 188 Yoruba, 4, 100, 169

Umaru Nagwamatse, see Nagwa- Yunfa, 49, 70-73, 81, 87; defeat at

matse dynasty Tabkin Kwotto, 89; death of,

Umayyad dynasty, 135 96

‘Uqba b. Naf, 15 Usuman dan Fodio, the Shehu: al- Zabarma, 80, 186-87 legiance to, 73-74; appearance, Zaituna Mosque, 165

30; attitude to rebels, 107-9; Zamfara, 4, 16, 18, 43, 76, 78, 91, birth, 17; children, 113; con- 98, 100, 107, 139, 157, 185-86; stitutional thought and _ prac- disaffection in, 92, 108; river, tice, 136-49; cosmology, 148- 46, 71, 81, go, 91, 103; Shehu’s 49; death, 150; in Degel, 30- preaching in, 44-46, 51, 53, 54; 33; early life, 17ff; education, 97; strategic aspects of, 91-92;

33-41, 178; hijra, 66, 68, 73, terrain of, 82

102-4; intellectual assump- Zaria, 4, 12, 100, 141, 162, 186, 187 tions, 116-18; miracles, 150-52, zaure, 22, 34 178; missionary work, 42-48; Zazzau, 4, 186, 188

mystical experiences, 63-69; Zoma, 46 part in the jthad, 102-4; popu- Zuba, 188 lar support for, 74-80; preach- Zungur, Malam Sa’adu, 167n ing, 49-58; as a social reformer, Zurmi, 95, 96

*1092-665-7-29-94 5-18 cc NT