HISTORY 101: The journey of Usman Dan-Fodio in Northern Nigeria

By solacebase.com On Jul 31, 2024

Usman Dan-Fodio, Sokoto Caliphate, Northern Nigeria , — HISTORY 101: The journey Usman Dan-Fodio in Northern Nigeria

By Maryam Jibril Yusuf

Dan Fodio (Usman) was a Fulani cleric and revolutionary leader who founded the Sokoto Caliphate. He was the most accomplished reformer of 19th-century Western Sudan.

His fame was rooted in his call for a jihad against the rulers of Gobir, located in present-day Nigeria. The “purifying” jihad lasted for about 6 years and achieved a unification of the Hausa states under a stricter Islamic law. Not only was he a scholar and tutor, but he was also a prolific writer, having authored tens of books on religion, culture and community,

He was born in 1754 in Maratta in the Tahoua region of Niger Republic, bordered by present-day Sokoto State in Northwest Nigeria.

Dan Fodio came from a line of early Fulani settlers in 15th-century Hausaland. Right from childhood, he was a devout Muslim.

He studied philosophy, theology and law in Agadez (located in present-day Niger, West Africa) under Jibril Ibn Umar. He was also educated in Islamic teaching and writing.

Around the age of 20, he travelled from community to community as a Muslim preacher and earned the honourable title of Sheikh Usman.

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Dan Fodio loved to share his vast knowledge in Islam and gained a reputation for condemning Hausa leaders who mixed pagan practices with Islam. His fame spread across Gobir and soon, he caught the attention of Gobir’s king, Rimfa, who felt so threatened by his popularity that he arranged for the sheikh’s murder.

In 1803, Dan Fodio fled to Gudu with hundreds of his followers and continued to propagate Islam.

At Gudu, he was named the ‘Commander of the Faithful’, which positioned him as a political and religious leader. Armed with the right to raise and command an army, he declared a jihad against King Yunfa, the son and heir of Rimfa as well as his people because he felt their way of life did not align with the teaching of Islam.

A revolt, which largely involved the Fulani, spread through Hausa land. The rebellion was supported by the Hausa people who felt marginalized by their rulers and were utterly displeased with the cattle tax imposed on them. In 1804, Dan Fodio launched the jihad against Gobir’s rulers, accusing them of being very corrupt, morally as well. Later that year, the military commander of Gobir, Yunfa, sent his army to challenge Dan Fodio’s community.

Dan Fodio pioneered Islam’s expansion across Hausa rural areas. He wrote so many poems and stories that shows him as a great teacher and preacher.

His major focus was to achieve purity in Islam by reforming society, especially its political system. By 1808, Dan Fodio and his followers brought under their control Gobir, Kano, and other areas in Hausaland. He replaced nearly all Hausa rulers with Fulani emirs.

Usman retired from battle after 1811. The most intense battle took place in Gobir and its environs. In the end, the twin capitals of Sokoto and Gwandu were established, replacing Gobir’s old kingdom.

While Dan Fodio returned to teaching, his armies had gone on with their conquests until 1815.

This religious revolt served to bring together the Hausa states under Islamic law. For the first time, all the Hausa states were ruled by one person. Dan Fodio’s new caliphate came to include much of present-day northern Nigeria, Northern Cameroon and some parts of Niger Republic and Burkina Faso.

In 1812, the empire which became known as the Sokoto Caliphate and comprised emirates and sub-emirates, was formed. In the 19th century, the Sokoto Caliphate was seen as the strongest, both economically and politically, in the West African region. Usman Dan Fodio was said to have helped advance the cause of Islamization of Northern Nigeria.

The first major revolutionary action that Danfodio took at the beginning of his mission was the mass education of women. It was particularly revolutionary because Danfodio decided that women were to receive the exact kind of education as men and thus he placed them in the same classrooms.

He encouraged literacy and scholarship, for women as well as men, and several of his daughters emerged as scholars and writers. For the spread of knowledge, he authored wathiq al-Ikhwan especially his daughter Nana Asma’u translated some of her father’s work into local languages.

Between 1780 and 1790s, Usman’s reputation increased as he appealed to justice and morality. The Hausa peasants, slaves and preachers supported Usman, as well as the Toureg, Fulbe and Fulani pastoralists who were overtaxed and their cattle seized by powerful government officials.

These pastoralist communities were led by clerics living in rural communities who were Fulfulde speakers and closely connected to the pastoralists. Many of Usman’s followers later hold the most important offices of the new states. Usman’s jihad served to integrate several peoples into a single religious-political movement.

The sultan responded violently to Danfodio’s Islamic Community. Some members of the Jama’a were imprisoned.

In 1815, Usman moved to Sokoto, where he died on 20 April 1817, at the age of 62. After his death, his son Muhammed Bello succeeded him as amir al-mu’minin and became the second caliph of the Sokoto Caliphate.

Usman’s brother, Abdullahi was given the title Emir of Gwandu and was placed in charge of the Western Emirates of Nupe. Thus, all Hausa states, parts of Nupe and Fulani outposts in Bauchi and Adamawa were all ruled by a single political-religious system. By 1830, the jihad had engulfed most of what we now call Northern Nigeria and Northern Cameroon. From the time of Usman ɗan Fodio to the British conquest at the beginning of the 20th century, there were twelve caliphs.