Usman dan Fodio

Founder and first caliph of the Sokoto Caliphate in West Africa (1812-1817); a reforming scholar, preacher and Sufi. In Hausa he is called Usman dan Fodio, and among the Fulani Usmanu Bi-Fodiye.

He was born on 29 Safar 1168 (15 December 1754) in the village of Maratta near the town of Galmi, in the north of Hausaland. The name Fodio derives from a title given to his father Muhammad, meaning "scholar, jurist" in the Fulani language. As a young man he moved to Degel with his tribe, the Fulani, under his father's leadership. He took his first Qur'an lessons from his father, then studied exegesis, hadith, jurisprudence and Arabic with scholars who were mostly his relatives. Foremost among his teachers were his uncle Uthman Binduri, whom he took as a model; Muhammad b. Raji, with whom he read al-Bukhari's al-Jami' al-sahih; and the reforming scholar who influenced him most, Jibril b. Umar of Agadez.

He stayed a year with Jibril b. Umar at Agadez and through him was initiated into Sufism. Returning to Gobir he continued his studies there, from those years took up preaching, and began to teach at Degel. He soon became known as a wandering guide, a strong teacher and a fiery preacher. He went first to Kebbi and, in 1780, to Zamfara, where he preached for five years; the number of his followers, whom he called the "community" (jama'a), grew. His sermons dealt with the revival of the Sunna, the removal of innovations and the return of Islam to its early state.

At the age of thirty he withdrew to Degel and devoted himself to the education of young people who came from Gobir above all, and from Katsina and Kano, writing works for his students. Though he held to keeping away from rulers, he also wished to explain Islam to the sultans. He found close favour with the Gobir sultan Bawa Jan Gwarzo, who honoured scholars: at the Feast of Sacrifice of 1789 he asked the sultan, instead of a gift, for permission to teach Islam to the people, that those who answered his call not be hindered, that dress and veiling not be interfered with, that political prisoners be freed and that unlawful taxes be abolished. It is recorded that the sultan accepted these requests and appointed him tutor to his son Yunfa.

The growing strength of his call turned later rulers against him. Sultan Nafata, by a decree of 1798, ordered those who had recently become Muslims to return to their old religion, and forbade veiling and the wearing of turban and caftan. Yunfa, who came to the throne in 1803, after a while attempted to kill him and ordered him to leave Degel. That same year Uthman b. Fudi went with his community to Gudu; when Yunfa rejected his call to repent and free the political prisoners, he received the oath of allegiance with the titles of Commander of the Faithful and caliph and declared jihad. After the battle of Tabkin Kwatto on 21 June 1804 the movement spread; Alkalawa, the capital of Gobir, was taken in 1808.

In 1812 he proclaimed the foundation of the Sokoto Caliphate and set up an Islamic government; while bearing the title of caliph he largely withdrew from active politics. Leaving the western provinces of his realm to his brother Abdullah and the eastern provinces to his son Muhammad Bello, who made Sokoto the capital, he settled at Sifawa and spent his remaining years in learning and in writing works that set out the legal and administrative structure of the state he had founded. Three years later, at his son's insistence, he came to Sokoto. He died on 3 Jumada al-Akhira 1232 (20 April 1817). His grave is today an important place of visitation for the Muslims of Nigeria, Niger and Chad. From thirteen marriages he had thirty-seven children; he was succeeded by his son Muhammad Bello, a successful statesman and a scholar who wrote many books.

His Circle of Influence — Through the movement of return to the Qur'an and Sunna that he launched in a society where innovations were widespread, he taught Muslims their religion correctly and also brought about the rapid spread of Islam among the pagan Fulani and Hausa tribes of the countryside. The Sokoto Caliphate he founded had a great influence on the reshaping of West African history at the beginning of the XIX century and remained for about a century one of the most powerful states of the region.

His Poetry and Sufi Line — The source presents him as a reforming scholar, a successful statesman and at the same time a renowned Sufi. He received licences in the Khalwatiyya, Qadiriyya and Shadhiliyya from his teacher Jibril b. Umar and was especially influential in the spread of the Qadiriyya in the region. He wrote poems in Fulfulde, which were also translated into Hausa.

His Works — He wrote some 150 books and treatises, of which 115 have been identified. Apart from his poems, almost all his works are in Arabic. Among those published are Ihya' al-sunna wa ikhmad al-bida'; Kitab bayan wujub al-hijra 'ala al-'ibad wa bayan wujub nasb al-imam wa iqamat al-jihad; Kitab al-farq bayna wilayat ahl al-Islam wa wilayat ahl al-kufr; Nur al-albab; Tanbih al-ikhwan 'ala ahwal ard al-Sudan; Wathiqat ahl al-Sudan; Ta'lim al-ikhwan and al-Masa'il al-muhimma.