Shaykh Uthman Ibn Fodio and the Revival
of Islam in Hausaland - 10

[Preamble]   [The Milieu ]   [Birth, Studies & Career ]    [The Phase of Teaching and Public Da'awah ]   [Phase of Organising and Planning ]   [Phase of Hijra and Jihad ]   [Phase of Victory and Establishment of Caliphate ]   [Shaykh Uthman's Contribution & Ideas ]  [Impact of the Shaykh Beyond the Sokoto Caliphate ]  [Concluding Remarks ]  Concluding Remarks Here then is a the story of a young man who refused to accept the conditions of decadence in to which he was born. At a very early stage in his life he resolved to change it. He rose along with his team despite all the huddles and pit falls along the way, faced the challenge until he developed a movement of men and women with a mission to spread knowledge and restore the Islamic order. Once the movement had evolved, even himself did not seem to have a choice but to proceed. This they did, it lead to physical confrontations which, given the choice, he would have wished to avoid. The movement eventually succeeded not only in winning the physical jihad but also in implementing its programme. Leaving behind for us a heritage to discover and drive inspiration from as we face the challenges of our own times. We have many such heritage in the Muslim World to discover and many models to draw inspiration from. But perhaps the greatest challenge to face is the challenge of knowledge, the knowledge of our own past, the knowledge of the message of Islam itself and the wisdom to know how best to utilise it in a world which has become so complex and in which the struggle between virtue and vice has become far more sophisticated and subtle. Usman Bugaje 18/2/96