THE JIHAD OF SHAYKH USMAN DAN FODIO AND
ITS IMPACT BEYOND THE SOKOTO CALIPHATE - 5

[Background]   [Impact Beyond the Caliphate:Borno]  [Masina ]    [Senegambia ]   [Nile valley ]   [African Diaspora in the Carribean ]   [Factors Facilitating Spread:Conclusion ]  NILE VALLEY Following the Capture of Kebbi by the Sokoto Mujahidin in 1806, which gave the Jama’a a permanent base, the jihad went swiftly in the favour of the Jama’a. So glaring was the success that words started to circulate that the Shehu was in fact the expected Mahdi, for how else could one explain the swift victory of the Jama’a, many thought. When these came to Shehu’s attention he took the pains to explain that he was not and could not have been the expected Mahdi, if only because he had no blood link with the family of the Prophet, which was one of the features of the expected Mahdi. In Shaykh Usman’s Words, according to Muhammad Bello, "Know or my brethren, that I am not the Imam al-Mahdi, and that I never claimed the Mahdiyya - even though that is heard from the tongues of other people. Indeed, I have striven beyond measure in warning them to desist from that..." Shaykh Usman did not, however, refute the Mahdiyya, he infact affirmed it and encouraged it. For in his message to the leadership of the Jama’a which Muhammad Bello delivered on his behalf at Birnin Gada, as the jihad came to a close, Shaykh Usman, assured them that the expected Mahdi was certainly coming and that he was going to appear from the east and that they should follow him if and when he appears. Again, according to Bello, "the Shehu sent me to all his followers in the east among the people of Zamfara, Katsina, Kano and Daura ... I conveyed to them the good tidings about the approaching appearance of the Mahdi, that Shehu’s followers are his vanguard and that this jihad will not end, by God’s permission, until it gets to the Mahdi. They listened and welcome the good news." Once the jihad was over, especially after the demise of Shehu Usman, people started to look forward to the Mahdi. As early as 1837-42, the time of Sultan Abubakar Atiku, "Probably owing to the perturbed conditions within the Sokoto Empire - a number of people started to migrate from Hausaland to the Nile Valley in anticipation of meeting the "expected Mahdi". This created so much unrest and agitation that the Sultan had to issue a proclamation that the time of the exodus had not yet come, "since there is still some good among us". This exodus of people waiting for the expected Mahdi in the Nile Valley, not only fuelled the expectation of the Mahdi in the Nile valley but provided the Mahdi with ready supporters on declaring his manifestation. Even among those who remained behind in the Sokoto Caliphate, the Mahdi had ready supporters, for nor sooner did the news of the Mahdi reached the Sokoto Caliphate, Hayatu b. Said, a grandson of Muhammad Bello, assembled many followers and swore allegiance to the Mahdi. Writing to the Mahdi, Hayatu said, "I and my father, and all that belonged to me swore allegiance to you before your manifestation was perceived ..... Shaikh Usman Dan Fodio recommended us to emigrate to you to assist you and help you when you were made manifest." Though Hayatu never got to migrate to the Mahdi as he wished, the support he generated for Mahdiyya was a significant contribution to its growth. Thus not only did the Sokoto Jihad created the idea of a Mahdi in the Nile Valley, but it provided the midwives that delivered it and saw it through its most critical stage. The extent of this relationship still remains to be determined. Today the area between the Niger and the Nile is populated by people who see themselves as much part of the Movement of Shaykh Usman Dan Fodio as that of Muhammad Ahmad al-Mahdi. These remain the living evidences of this historical reality and provide us with a basis for social integration, political co-operation more than anything the post colonial states have invented.