THE SOKOTO CALIPHATE IN MODERN NIGERIA:
Ending it, Mending it or Reinventing it? - 2

[Preamble ]   [Formation of the Caliphate ]   [Foundation of the Caliphate ]    [Decline of the Caliphate ]   [British Intervention ]   [Modern Nigeria ]   [The Caliphates in Modern Nigeria ]   [Ending it, Mending it or Re-inventing it? ]  Formation of the Caliphate In taking up this option, it is neither my intention nor is there the time to go into the history of the Caliphate, I will have to assume that as given to be able to concentrate on the aspect I have chosen to speak on. In any case it will be presumptuous of me to be telling you what many here know far more than I do. To make my discussion intelligible, however, I will have to mention the major phases of the formation of the Caliphate, albeit very briefly. The whole endeavour began and remained with learning. Moved by the level of ignorance in the wider society, Shehu Usman, the founder of the Caliphate started, about 1774, then at an early age of twenty, to teach the public the basics of Islam. He was soon joined by his Brother Abdullahi, twelve years his junior, and much later by his son Muhammad Bello. The three together roved much of Hausaland, teaching, preaching and writing while at the same time learning at the feet of great shaykhs, continuously for two good decades. By 1793, they had established a network of students and disciples all over Hausaland and beyond who were busy teaching and preaching the books and the ideas they had written and developed. They thus saw the need to settle in one place, Degel in the Hausa State of Gobir, from where they continued their teaching and preaching as well as organising a growing community of students and disciples known and referred simply as the Jama’a. As the Jama’a grew in both size and learning, they became more conscious of the massive corruption, injustice and tyranny in Hausaland. This naturally made the Jama’a restive and attracted the attention of the Hausa Kings who did not fail to see the threat the rise of the Jama’a posed to their rule. Sensing the eventual conflict, Shehu continued to urge the Jama’a to exercise patience even under provocation until the Hausa kings felt too insecure to coexist with the Jama’a. Led by the kings of Gobir, Hausa rulers took measures to clip the wings of the Jama’a, first by all manners of harassment, later by decrees and ultimately by physical attacks and ambush. At that point Shehu called his Jama’a to arms in self-defence and announced the hijra to a place at the borders of Gobir. The hijra itself started in February of 1804, and before the Jama’a could finish assembling at Gudu, they came under attack, first by Yunfa and consequently by other kings of other Hausa states, and the jihad began. Until April of 1806 when the Jama’a captured Kebbi, they had no base and had to be constantly on the move, carrying their families as well as their libraries, often pursued by their enemies. Many battles were fought all over Hausaland and parts of Borno and by 1810, the jihad was, in the main, over. The Jama’a emerged victorious and found themselves at the head of an extensive area made up of several Hausa states and parts of Borno which became the Sokoto Caliphate. With the Jihad over and a Caliphate in place Shehu retired to Sifawa to continue the task of teaching and writing, the more so now that the whole polity, made up of several Hausa States, had to be reordered along the ideals they fought for. He left the Caliphate in the able hands of his two lieutenants, Shaykh Abdullahi and Muhammad Bello, who were easily the most learned and best commanders. Shehu at Sifawa, Abdullahi at Gwandu and Muhammad Bello at Sokoto, the Triumvirate top most agenda was how to establish justice, as their numerous writings during this period amply testify. Shehu had earlier, in the heat of the battle written the Bayan Wujub al-Hijra, a work of 63 short chapters, in which he addressed the issues of hijra, the conduct of the jihad and the establishment of an Islamic government in the event of victory. He thus proceeded with more vigour to write on issues relating to the administration of the Caliphate including the issue of succession. Shehu Abdullahi similarly wrote several works especially on the establishment of the machinery of justice, and so was Muhammad Bello. Some of the works written were in response to request by disciples or commanders who have found themselves grappling with momentous task of establishing an Islamic government on the ruins of corrupt secular regimes. Works like Diya’ al-Hukkam of Shehu Abdullahi written on the request of the Jama’a in Kano, and Usul al- Siyasat of Muhammad Bello written on the request of Umarun Dallaje, the Amir of Katsina. The three did not always agree on every point, but had such respect for each other and above all the spirit of Islam that the Caliphate never had to wait or confused with conflicting signals. But the network of the jama’a went beyond Hausaland, hence soon after the jihad in Hausaland, another group of Shehu’s students led by Ahmad Labbo organised another jihad and establish a Caliphate at Hamdullahi in Masina. He managed to get the explicit permission of Shehu Usman in 1817, before his death and by the following year 1818, the jihad was over and a Caliphate was in place and he turned to Shehu Abdullahi for a lot of guidance thereafter. Though Umar al-Futi came to Sokoto years after the death of Shehu during the reign of Bello he stayed some seven good year in very close association with Bello, whose daughter he married.Umar returned to Sene-gambia after Bello’s death and started teaching and organising until in 1849 he made the hijra and started a jihad which culminated into a Caliphate in Segu. During these periods, people had been moving east to Sudan where they, according to Shehu’s prophecy, were expecting the Mahdi. by 1881 the Mahdi appeared made his hijra to Aba Island in the Nile and started his jihad which again led to the formation of a Caliphate which is however known as the Mahdist state. Some of the writings of the Shehu had found their way to the Caribbean Islands in the Americas through the Atlantic slave trade, particularly the Wathiqat Ahl al-Sudan. In 1832 the slaves in Manchester, an area in Jamaica, under the leadership of Muhammad Kaba, rose up in jihad against their tyrannical white masters. This jihad triggered similar jihads among slaves in these plantations and for the next few years the whole area became restive. These jihads were known by the white plantation owners as the famous slave riots. Thus the Sokoto Caliphate went beyond its geographical boundaries to trigger the creation of several other Caliphates and provide in the Caribbean a basis for the conversion of many Muslims who may well be a nucleus of a future Muslim polity. This precisely is what made the Sokoto caliphate not only a caliphate but a phenomenon, unique and unprecedented in African as well as Islamic history. But what is it that made it a phenomenon? from where did it derive this uniqueness? What is it that gives it the potency to trigger off these changes and to remain a source of inspiration, throughout the tropical Africa and within the African Diaspora? To find out we may have to look at the foundations of the Caliphate.