Jihad of Usman dan Fodio
Jihad of Usman dan Fodio | |||||||
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Part of the Fula jihads | |||||||
The Sokoto Sultanate (Sokoto Empire) in the reign of sultan Ahmadu Rufai, established after the Jihad led by Shaikh Usman bin Fodiyo. | |||||||
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Belligerents | |||||||
Sokoto Caliphate Support: Kel Ayr |
Kanem-Bornu
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Commanders and leaders | |||||||
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The Jihad of Usman dan Fodio was a religio-military conflict in present-day Nigeria and Cameroon. The war began when Usman dan Fodio, a prominent Islamic scholar and teacher, was exiled from Gobir by King Yunfa, one of his former students.[1]
Usman dan Fodio assembled an Islamic army to lead a jihad against Gobir and other Hausa Kingdoms of northern Nigeria. The forces of Usman dan Fodio slowly took over more and more of the Hausa kingdoms, capturing Gobir in 1808 and executing Yunfa. The war resulted in the creation of the Sokoto Caliphate, initially headed by Usman dan Fodio himself, which became one of the largest states in Africa in the 19th century. His success inspired similar jihads in Western Africa.
Background
The ancient
Lead up to war
Yunfa gave dan Fodio the option of exile before destroying Degel, but Usman refused to abandon his followers, instead leading a large-scale
Battles
Several minor skirmishes preceded the forces meeting at the Battle of Tsuntua. Although Yunfa was victorious and dan Fodio lost men, the battle did not diminish his force. He retaliated by capturing the village of Matankari, which resulted in the Battle of Tabkin Kwatto, a major action between Yunfa and dan Fodio's forces. Both the Gobirawa and Dan Fodio armies were ethnically mixed. The Gobirawa had some Tuaregs and Fulanis from the Sullubawa clan while the Muslims had Hausa, Fulani and a few Iwellemmedan Tuaregs. The Tuaregs of the Muslim army consisted of Agali and Adagh muslims and possibly the sons of the Emir of Adagh.[3] Although outnumbered, dan Fodio's troops were able to prevent Yunfa from advancing on Gunu and thus convince larger numbers of people to join his forces.[1]
In 1805, the forces of dan Fodio, the jihadists, captured the Hausa kingdom of Kebbi. In 1807, the jihadists had taken over Katsina whose ruler, Magajin Halidu, committed suicide following the defeat.[4] They then captured the Sultanate of Kano whose king (Muhammad Alwali II) was forced to flee to Zazzau, then the village of Burum-Burum where he was soon killed in battle.[5] In 1808, the jihadists assaulted Gobir, killing Yunfa in the battle of Alkalawa,[1] and destroying large parts of the city.[6] Furthermore, Abdullahi dan Fodio also took over the Kebbi Emirate the same year.[7]
With the capture of Gobir, the jihadists saw that they were part of a wider regional struggle. They continued with battles against several Hausa kingdoms, and the Sokoto Caliphate expanded over the next two years. The last major expansion of the jihadists was the toppling of the Sayfawa dynasty in 1846.[1]
Founding of the Sokoto Caliphate
Muhammed Bello, the son of Usman dan Fodio, transformed the semi-permanent camp of Sokoto into a city in 1809, during the Fulani war.[8] Dan Fodio ruled from Sokoto as the religious leader of the Fulani jihad states from that point until 1815, when he retired from administrative duties.[1] The Caliphate appointed various Emirs to govern the various states of the empire. These men were often veterans of the Fulani wars.[2] Bello succeeded Usman dan Fodio as ruler of Sokoto and in 1817 adopted the title of sultan, an office that still exists, albeit stripped of most of its power by the British colonial government of Nigeria in 1903.
Legacy
The success of the jihad inspired a number of later
The Sokoto Caliphate has continued to the present. Since the British conquest of the Caliphate in 1903, and later Nigerian independence under a constitutional government in 1960, the Caliphate's political authority has diminished. But the position still has considerable spiritual authority.[citation needed]
See also
References
- ^ JSTOR 20837029. Archived from the original(PDF) on January 2, 2018.
- ^ a b Chafe, Kabiru Sulaiman (1994). "Challenges to the Hegemony of the Sokoto Caliphate: A Preliminary Examination". Paideuma. 40: 99–109.
- ISBN 978-0-9995584-7-8.
- ISBN 978-0-429-95851-9.
- ISBN 978-0-429-72118-2.
- ISBN 978-3-03911-417-7.
- ISBN 978-1-55876-015-8.
- ^ Boyd, Jean (1986). Mahdi Adamu (ed.). Pastoralists of the West African Savanna. Manchester, UK: International African Institute.