[Preamble]    [Goals and Objectives of Zakat ]   [Zakat in Sokoto and Borno ]    [British Colonialism ]   [Zakat in the Colonial Period ]  [Zakat in the Post Colonial Period ]   [Future, Challenges and Conclusion ]   [ References ]  References [1]The primary objective of the Sharia is to guarantee man these basic necessities without which life on earth will be impossible. This precisely why the violation of any of these needs attract a hadd, capital punishment. Thus murder, whether through violence, poisoning or starvation; apostasy, which terminates religion; taking alcohol or psychotropic drugs, which deprives man of his mind and senses; adultery or fornication, which undermines marriage, and mixes and confuse progeny; theft or robbery, all attract capital punishment. [2]Dr. Ziauddin Ahmad has delineated these arguments with admirable brevity and clarity. See his Islam, Poverty and Income Distribution, Leicester, The Islamic Foundation, 1991. P. 19-20. [3] "Abu Sai’d reported the Prophet of Allah (P.B.U.H.) as saying: The most beloved of men to me, the nearest of them with me in the assembly on the Day of Resurrection would be a just ruler and the most hated of men to me on the Day of Resurrection and the severest of them in punishment will be quite an unjust ruler." in another hadith he was reported to have said, among other things, "Beware, whoever has been made a guardian of the affairs of my Ummah and he is kind to them in their needs, Allah would be kind to him for this on the Day when he will be in need. And whoever hides himself from them in view of their needs, Allah would hide Himself from him ignoring his need." See Abu Yusuf Kitab-ul-Kharaj, Abid Ahmad Ali (trans.), Lahore, Islamic Book Centre, 1979. P. 12-13. [4] On the responsibility of leaders, "Abu Burdah reported that ‘Umar b. Khattab wrote to Abu Musa: The most virtuous of the rulers in the sight of Allah is one through whom his people prosper and the most wretched of the rulers is one through whom his subject become destitute. Guard yourself that you should deviate, then your governors too will deviate, and you will become in the sight of Allah like the beasts which always fix their gaze in it seeking thereby fatness and in their fatness lies their death." Ibid. P. 23. [5] See for example, Q. 2:30 and particularly the commentary of Sayyid Qutb in his Fi Zilal al-Qur’an and Maulana Maududi in his The Meaning of the Qur’an. See also Q. 3:185, 20:15, 53:39 [6] See for example, Q. 7:51, 3:196, 6:32, 29:64 and 63:9-11. [7] Q. 2:143. [8] The Prophet is reported to have said that faqr, poverty, is the closest to Kufr, unbelief. He is also reported to have prayed , "Oh Lord! I seek Thy refuge from Kufr (unbelief and infidelity) and from Faqr (poverty and destitution) .... and seek Thy refuge from qillah (paucity) and dhillah (humiliation)." [9] Studies conducted in Syria and Sudan a few years back, when payment of Zakat was voluntary and distribution skeletal, has shown that up to 3-4 percent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) was transferred to the poor every year. See Ziauddin Ahmad, Islam, Poverty and Income Distribution., Op. Cit. P. 52. For details see M. Anas Zarqa, ‘Islamic Distributive Scheme’ in Munawar Iqbal (ed.) Distributive Justice and Need Fulfilment in An Islamic Economy, Islamabad, International Institute of Islamic Economics; Leicester, The Islamic Foundation, 1988 Pp. 163-216. [10] "Have you seen him who denies the Religion? It is he who harshly repels the orphan and does not urge others to feed the needy." Q. 107:1-2. [11] For details see Tijani Garba, ‘Taxation in some Hausa Emirate’, Unpublished Ph D. thesis submitted to the Centre of West African Studies, University of Birmingham, 1986. [12] Shehu Usman has made an extensive criticism of these inequities in many of his works, particularly in his Kitab al-Farq Bayna Wilayat al-Muslimeen wa Wilayat al-Kafirun. One of the first things the Shehu did after the Jihad was the abolishing of these unjust taxes, such as Jangali, Gaisuwa, Rinsuwa, etc. [13] As they abolished these unjust taxes, the leadership of the Sokoto Caliphate reorganised the taxation system to conform with the Sharia and the ideals they had been fighting for. Some of these ideas are to found in such works as the Bayan by Shehu Usman, Diya’ ulu-l-Amr of Abdullahi and Usul al-Siyasa of Muhammad Bello. [14] Other works of Abdullahi Dan Fodio which discussed these ideas at greater length and detail include the Diya’ al-Sultan and Diya’ al-Hukkam. For an exposition on some of these works see Ishaku Aliyu ‘Aspect of Political Administration in Sokoto Caliphate with Special Reference to Diya’ al-Sultan of Abdullah ibn Fodiyo’ and Abubakar A. Gwandu ‘Legal Aspects of the Sokoto Caliphate’, both in Ahmad Kani and Kabir Gandi (eds.) State and Society in the Sokoto Caliphate, Sokoto, Usmanu Dan Fodio University, 1990. [15] The Tanbih is a work on political economy, while the Usul al-Siyasa, as the name suggests is a work on politics in which the author articulated the Islamic political philosophy and Institutions. Other works in which Muhammad Bello took up these issues in greater detail include his Ghayth al-Wabl and Kitab al-Tahrir. Both have been edited and translated into English, the latter is currently under publication in the UK. [16] Several scholars have reported that the Sa’i was one of the earliest officials appointed by Shehu Usman. See M. Last, Sokoto Caliphate, London, Longman, 1976 P. 143-7. See also M.G. Smith, Government in Zazzau 1800-1950, Oxford, O.U.P. 1960. Pp. 51, 103. [17] Tijani Garba reported that "One of the first appointments made by the first Emir (Zaria) Mallam Musa (1808-1821) was Sa’i who was to administer the nomads, settle their disputes and collect the cattle tax which was the Zakat ..........". See Tijjani Garba, ‘Taxation in Some Hausa Emirates" P. 115. [18] For details see Tijjani Garba, Ibid. P. 71. [19] Abdullahi b. Fodio, Diya’ al-Hukkam (trans.), Pp. 14-19. Paraphrased in Ibid. P. 51 [20] For details see Ibraheem Sulaiman, The Islamic State and the Challenge of History, London, Mansell Pub. Ltd. 1987. P. 50-55. See also Sule A. Gusau, ‘Aspects of Islamic Economy in the Sokoto Caliphate’ in Ahmad Kani and Kabir Gandi (eds.), State and Society in the Sokoto Caliphate, op. cit. Pp 171-192. [21] See Tijjani Garba, ‘Taxation in Some Hausa Emirate’, P. 113. [ 22] See Ibid. P. 114. [23] See Ibid. P. 175, quoting Palmer in Kano Annual Report for 1910. [24] See Ibid. P. 175, quoting Clapperton in Bovill (ed.) Mission to the Niger, P. 661. [25] See M. M. Tukur, ‘The Imposition of British Colonial Domination on the Sokoto Caliphate, Borno and Neighbouring States: 1897-1914: A Reinterpretation of Colonial Sources.’ Unpublished Ph.D. Thesis, Submitted to the Department of History, A,B.U. Zaria. July 1979. [26] "Let it be admitted from the outset that European brains, capital and energy have not been, and never will be, expended in developing the resources of Africa from motives of pure philanthropy; that Europe is in Africa for the mutual benefit of her own industrial classes, and of the native races in their progress to a higher plane; that the benefit can be made reciprocal, and that it is the aim and desire of civilised administration to fulfil this dual mandate." Lord Lugard, The Dual Mandate in British Tropical Africa, Frank Cass & Co. Ltd. London, 1965. P. 617. [27] Quoted in Thomas Pakenham, The Scramble for Africa: the White Man's Conquest of the Dark Continent, from 1876-1912. Random House, New York, 1991. P. 504 See M. M. Tukur, ‘The Imposition of British Colonial Domination ...... ’, op. cit. P. 531. [28] "Yola Provincial Report No. 8 for June 1902" Yola Prof A1. NAK cited in ibid. P. 535. [29] Ibid. [30] "Kano Provincial Report for the Half Year ended 30th June 1909", SNP 7/10 No. 3635, NAK, cited in ibid. [31] M.M. Tukur, op cit. P. 627-8. [32] Ibid. P. 579. [33] W.P. Hewby, "Bornu Provincial Monthly Report for September 1903." Cited in ibid. [34] J.A. Burdon, "Sokoto Report for July and August , 1905" Sokprof No. 575/1905. NAK. Cited in ibid. [35] Ibid. P. 580. [36] C. L. Temple, "Sokoto Provincial Report for Quarter Ended December 31st, 1907" Sokprof No. 1453/1908, NAK. Cited in Ibid. P. 580. [37] Ibid. P. 581. [38] G. W. Webster, Quarterly Report for June 1911", Yolaprof Vol. 10, NAK. Cited in Ibid. P. 582. [39] Ibid. [40] Ibid. 583. [42] Ibid. [43] AMD, Kano, 26/5/74. Cited in ibid. [44] M.M. Tukur, ‘Values and Public Affairs: The Relevance of the Sokoto Caliphal Experience to the Transformation of the Nigerian Polity’, Unpublished Ph.D. Thesis, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria. 1977. P. 574-5. [45] Abdullahi Smith, ‘Report to the Senate of Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria. Nigeria.’ Unpublished Report, 1983. Cited in Ibarheem Sulaiman, ‘Education as Imperialism’, in Z. Sardar (ed.) How we Know: Ilm and the Revival of Knowledge, London, Grey Seal Books, 1991. P. 59. [46] Ibid. P. 60. [47] These papers are in private hands, but should be available at the Research Data Centre, Bayero University, Kano. [48] These unpublished submissions are available at the library of the Centre for Islamic Legal Studies, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria. [49] Qur’an 2:267. [50] Muhammad Bashir Abdulqadir, Nizam al-Zakah fi al-Sudan, Omdurman, Omdurman Islamic University Printing & Publishing, 1992. P. 192. [51] M. A. Zaki Badawi, ‘Zakat and Social Justice’, in ........ P. 117.