Shaykh Uthman Ibn Fodio and the Revival
of Islam in Hausaland - 8

[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 ]  Shaykh Uthman’s Contributions and Ideas The creation of the Sokoto Caliphate, not only secured for Islam firmer roots but it also gave the whole region the peace and stability it lacked for some two centuries. So by reviving Islam Shaykh Uthman also revived the region giving it new lease of life and an impetus to grow and develop under Islam. But perhaps Shaykh Uthman’s greatest contribution is in the field of learning, not only for the astonishing total of 114 works (so far extant) but also and more fundamentally for the transformation of the intellectual atmosphere in the region and the generation of scholars that his movement produced and the inspiration these gave to generations separated by time and space. His brother and deputy (wazir) Abdullahi had over ninety work, including a complete tafsir titled Diya’ al-Tawil. His son and helper Muhammad Bello wrote over Eighty works including a full history of the whole movement, Infaq al-Maysur fi Tarikh Bilad al-Tukrur, and comprehensive work on Politics, Gayth al-Wabl and a work on political economy al-Ahkam al-Makasib. Nana Asma’, his daughter had over twenty works or so, including the translation of some of her father’s works from the Arabic to the vernacular. This tradition of scholarship continued up to the colonial period and has indeed endured the post colonial period as scholars continue to write, few though they have become. Like all the scholars in Western Bilad al-Sudan, Shaykh Uthman was raised a maliki and so he remained, but he saw nothing hard and fast about these schools of fiqh. In his book, Hidayat al-Tullab, addressed to students, he appreciated the need for the ordinary people to keep to one madhhab, it is easier and practical. But for the students and scholars there is nothing to stop them from accessing any of the rulings of the other schools, for they all have their roots in the Qur’an and Sunnah, and as he further argued neither the Qur’an or the Sunnah specified any particular madhhab so no one was bound to have to follow any, it is all a matter of maslaha, public good. This, in his days as indeed today, is quite novel and courageous. Similarly Shaykh Uthman was a sufi of Qadiriyya order but he never made it mandatory for members of his Jama’a to have to be sufis, much less of the Qadiriyya order. Many did, however, knowing fully well that it was a voluntary personal choice. This made it easier for members of the Jama’a to accommodate others scholars of different sufi tariqa like the case of Umar al Futi who was a tijjani. But perhaps it was in the way he pulled women out of the abyss of society, boosted their position and transformed them into useful tools of transformation of society, that Shaykh Uthman displayed his courage and foresight. He insisted that it is husband’s cardinal responsibility to ensure that his wife is educated, if he can’t teach her himself, then he has to permit her to go out for the search of knowledge. His brother Abdullahi went further to say that if the husband should fail to give her permission she could still go out, for Allah has already given her the permission. He championed the cause of women education and he demonstrated that in his wives who were learned and his daughters like Nana Asmau’ and Maryam who were scholars and left literary works behind. More importantly Asmau’ created a women’s wing of the movement and took the leadership of this wing which survived until decades after British colonisation. Shaykh Uthman was of moderate opinion generally, he had a strong flair for following the Sunnah and hatred for the bid’ah, but clearly he tempered this with a lot of wisdom and sagacity, unlike some of our contemporary champions of the Sunnah. For the Shaykh refused to stop new rulers dressing in elaborate dresses arguing that if dress will add to the rulers haiba so be it. Similarly he resisted pressure to ban music completely, he was content that the general limits of the Sharia be observed. The depth of his learning combined with a broad mind and flexibility must have been important factors the success of his enterprise.