history of a great islamic scholar

Usman dan Fodio , born Usuman ɓii
Foduye, (also referred to as Arabic : ﻋﺜﻤﺎﻥ ﺑﻦ
ﻓﻮﺩﻱ , Shaikh Usman Ibn Fodio, Shehu Uthman
Dan Fuduye, Shehu Usman dan Fodio or Shaikh
Uthman Ibn Fodio) (15 December 1754, Gobir –
20 April 1817, Sokoto ) [5] was a religious
teacher, writer and Islamic promoter, and the
founder of the Sokoto Caliphate. Dan Fodio was
one of a class of urbanized ethnic Fulani living
in the Hausa States in what is today northern
Nigeria . He was a leader who followed the
Sunni Maliki school of Jurisprudence and the
Qadiri branch of Sufism . [6] He is considered by
many Jad’s spiritual father.
A teacher of the Maliki school of law , he lived in
the city-state of Gobir until 1802 when,
motivated by his reformist ideas and suffering
increasing repression by local authorities, he
led his followers into exile. This exile began a
political and social revolution which spread from
Gobir throughout modern Nigeria and
Cameroon , and was echoed in a jihad
movement led by the Fula ethnic group across
West Africa. Dan Fodio declined much of the
pomp of rulership, and while developing
contacts with religious reformists and jihad
leaders across Africa, he soon passed actual
leader ship of the Sokoto state to his son,
Muhammed Bello.
Dan Fodio wrote more than a hundred books
concerning religion , government, culture , and
society . He developed a critique of existing
African Muslim elites for what he saw as their
greed, paganism, violation of the standards of
Sharia law, and use of heavy taxation. He
encouraged literacy and scholarship, for women
as well as men, and several of his daughters
emerged as scholars and writers. His writings
and sayings continue to be much quoted today,
and are often affectionately referred to as Shehu
in Nigeria. Some followers consider dan Fodio
to have been a mujaddid , a divinely inspired
“reformer of Islam”. [7]
Dan Fodio’s uprising was a major episode of a
movement described as the Fulani hegemonies
in the seventeenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth
centuries. [8] It followed the jihads successfully
waged in Futa Bundu, Futa Tooro, and Fouta
Djallon between 1650 and 1750, which led to
the creation of those three Islamic states. In his
turn, Shehu inspired a number of later West
African jihads, including those of Seku Amadu ,
founder of the Masina Empire, El Hadj Umar
Tall , founder of the Toucouleur Empire (who
married one of dan Fodio’s granddaughters),
and Modibo Adama, founder of the Adamawa
Emirate .
Early life and training
Dan Fodio was of Fulani descent. [9] He was
well educated in classical Islamic science,
philosophy, and theology. He also became a
revered religious thinker. His teacher, Jibril ibn
‘Umar, argued that it was the duty and within
the power of religious movements to establish
an ideal society free from oppression and vice.
Jibril was a North African Muslim alim who
gave his apprentice a broader perspective of
Muslim reformist ideas in other parts of the
Muslim world. Dan Fodio used his influence to
secure approval for creating a religious
community in his hometown of Degel that
would, dan Fodio hoped, be a model town. He
stayed there for twenty years, writing, teaching,
and preaching.
In 1802, Yunfa, the ruler of Gobir and one of dan
Fodio’s students, turned against him, revoking
Degel’s autonomy and attempting to
assassinate dan Fodio. Dan Fodio and his
followers fled into the western grasslands of
Gudu , where they turned for help to the local
Fulani nomads. In his book Tanbih al-ikhwan
’ala ahwal al-Sudan (“ Concerning the
Government of Our Country and Neighboring
Countries in the Sudan ”) Usman wrote: “The
government of a country is the government of
its king without question. If the king is a
Muslim, his land is Muslim; if he is an
unbeliever, his land is a land of unbelievers. In
these circumstances it is obligatory for anyone
to leave it for another country”. [10] Usman did
exactly this when he left Gobir in 1802. Yunfa
then turned for aid to the other leaders of the
Hausa emirate. Sokoto Caliphate (Fulani Empire) in the 19th
century, established after Fulani Jihad
The Fulani Jihad of 1804–1808, also known as
the Fulani War or Jihad of Usman dan Fodio,
was a military contest in present-day Nigeria
and Cameroon. The war began when Usman
dan Fodio, a prominent Islamic scholar and
teacher, was exiled from Gobir by the king
Yunfa , one of his former students.
Usman dan Fodio assembled a Fulani army to
lead in jihad against the Hausa kingdoms of the
north of Nigeria. The forces of Usman dan Fodio
slowly took over more and more of the Hausa
kingdoms, capturing Gobir in 1808 and
executing Yunfa. The war resulted in the
creation of the Sokoto Caliphate, headed by
Usman dan Fodio, which became one of the
largest states in Africa in the 19th century. His
success inspired similar jihads in Western
Africa.
Background
The Kanem-Bornu Empire had been in decline
in the area from the mid-18th century. The
result was the rise of a number of independent
Hausa kingdoms throughout the region. Two
prominent Hausa kingdoms were Gobir and
Zamfara . However, warfare between the Hausa
states and with other states were constant for
the latter 18th century, resulting in a harsh
system of conscription and taxation. [1] The
Fulani, a largely pastoral people, were often the
victims of Hausa taxation, land control, and
other discriminatory practices. [2]
Lead up to war
Usman dan Fodio, born in 1751, joined a
growing number of traveling Islamic scholars
through the Hausa kingdoms in the 1770s and
became quite popular in the 1790s. [1]
Originally, dan Fodio’s preaching received the
support of the leadership of Gobir ; however, as
his influence increased and as he began to
advocate for self-defense arming by his
followers, his favor with the leadership
decreased. Sarkin Gobir Nafata, the king of
Gobir, placed a series of restrictions on dan
Fodio’s preaching. [1] In 1801, Sarkin Gobir
Yunfa , a former pupil of dan Fodio, replaced
Nafata as king of Gobir. However, Yunfa
increased the restrictions on dan Fodio and
exiled him from Gobir to the village of Degel . A
crisis developed later in 1803 when Yunfa
attacked and captured many of the followers of
a group associated with dan Fodio. Yunfa then
marched the prisoners through Degel, enraging
many of dan Fodio’s followers, who attacked the
army and freed the prisoners. Yunfa gave dan
Fodio the option of exile before destroying
Degel, which led to the large-scale hijra of dan
Fodio’s community to Gudu . So many people
went with dan Fodio throughout the state that
on February 21, 1804, Yunfa declared war on
dan Fodio and threatened punishment to anyone
joining him. [1] Followers of dan Fodio declared
him to be the Amir al-Mu’minin , commander of
the faithful, and denounced their allegiance to
Gobir.
Battles
Several minor skirmishes preceded the forces
meeting at the Battle of Tsuntua . Although Yunfa
was victorious and dan Fodio lost a number of
men, the battle did not diminish his force. He
retaliated by capturing the village of Matankari ,
which resulted in the battle of Tafkin Kwattoa, a
major action between Yunfa and dan Fodio’s
forces. Although outnumbered, dan Fodio’s
troops were able to prevent Yunfa from
advancing on Gunu and thus convince larger
numbers of people to join his forces. [1]
In 1805, the forces of dan Fodio, the jihadists,
captured the Hausa kingdom of Kebbi. By 1807,
the jihadists had taken over the states of
Katsina and Daura, and the important kingdom
of Kano. In 1808, the jihadists captured Gobir,
killing Yunfa in the battle. [1]
With the capture of Gobir, the jihadists saw that
they were part of a wider regional struggle.
They continued with battles against a number of
Hausa kingdoms, and the Sokoto Caliphate
expanded over the next two years. The last
major expansion of the jihadists was the
toppling of the Sayfawa dynasty in 1846. [1]
Founding of the Sokoto
Caliphate
Muhammed Bello, the son of Usman dan Fodio,
transformed the semi-permanent camp of
Sokoto into a city