Some Aspects of Islam in Africa

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Author: Uthman Sayyid Ahmad Ismail Al-Bili

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UTHMAN SAYYID AHMAD ISMAIL AL-BILI

Aspects Islam Africa

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SOME ASPECTS OF ISLAM IN AFRICA Published by Ithaca Press 8 Southern Court South Street Reading RG1 4QS UK Ithaca Press is an imprint of Garnet Publishing Limited Copyright © Uthman Sayyid Ahmad Ismail al-Bili, 2008 All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote brief passages in a review. First Edition ISBN-13: 978-0-86372-319-3 British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Typeset by Samantha Barden Jacket design by David Rose Cover photo © iStockphoto.com/Zennie Printed by Biddles, UK


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Contents

1

Introduction 1 The Historiographical Tradition of African Islam

3

2 “As-Sudan” and “Bilad as-Sudan” in Early and Medieval Arabic Writing

9

3 A Survey of Primary Literary Sources for the Modern Period of Sudan’s History, 1898–1956

21

4 The Growth and Impact of Islam in Africa

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5 The Literature of Dan Fodio’s Jihad and the Sokoto Caliphate of Northern Nigeria, 1804–1903

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6 Muhammad Bello and the Tradition of Manuals of Islamic Government and Advice to Rulers

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U. S. A. Ismail and A. Y. Aliyu

7 The Discourse Presented in Answer to the Questions of Amir Yaqub

81

Muhammad Bello

8 The Abundant Rain: In Advice to Amir Yaqub

93

Muhammad Bello

9 Documentation and Sources: Some Observations on Progress, Problems and Concepts 10 Quo Vadis, Africa? Africa, the World, the Arabs and Islam

103 113 123

Index

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Introduction

This book’s ten chapters are a collection of papers, most of which have been published before in books or learned journals. Some of them (Chapters 1, 5, 9 and 10) were read and discussed in conferences in Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania, in Sokoto, Nigeria and in Khartoum, Sudan. One of them (Chapter 2) was read and discussed at the graduate seminar of the History Department of the University of Khartoum. Chapters 6, 7 and 8 have appeared together in one volume, as they form a unit in themselves. Chapter 3 was written as research notes, and Chapter 4 was a contribution to the festschrift in honour of the late Ihsan Abbas. Chapters 1, 2 and 4 are of a general nature; the rest deal with specific subjects. I shall let the chapters speak for themselves. However, it is important to mention that they are part of an effort to establish an independent and indigenous school of African history that sees the continent’s history through African eyes and presents it giving central place to internal written and oral traditions without sacrificing the truth or academic integrity. It is the school for which the late Professor Abdullahi Smith wrote papers on ‘The Forgotten Themes’ and ‘Neglected Sources’, Professor T. Ranger edited his book Emerging Themes of African History, Professor Jan Vansina worked on Oral Traditions and Professor Lewicki produced his work on Arabic External Sources for the History of Africa South of the Sahara. The ten chapters of this volume are a tribute to these pioneering professors as well as to my former colleagues and students at A.B.U. Zaria, Nigeria and the University of Khartoum, Sudan. Uthman S.A. Ismail

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1 The Historiographical Tradition of African Islam

To early and medieval Muslims, “Africa” did not have the meaning it has today. “Ifriqiya” was the name they used for the eastern part of Barbary; the name “Maghrib” was for its western part. “Ifriqiya” in this sense was described as stretching from Barqa in Tunisia in the east to Tangier in the west, from the Mediterranean in the north to the sands that mark the beginning of the lands of the black Africans in the south. Thus the name that the Romans used for the province they organized after the destruction of Carthage was used by Muslims in that restricted sense. For the origin of the name “Ifriqiya” Arabic sources give some interesting explanations. Common among these is the suggestion that the province was called after the town which had that name, from its founder “Ifrigish”. “Ifrigish” is said to have come from Yemen. The sources do not tell this story without touches of art: the support of poetry is invoked to give it ring and credence. Restricted as the meaning of “Ifriqiya” might have been to Muslims, the rest of Africa was known to them to some extent. Even before the advent of Islam, the Arabs knew a good amount about the African provinces of the Byzantines and the lands of the eastern coasts of Africa. Knowledge of these places came to them through travel by land and sea and through their trading connections. The Arabs witnessed the clashes between the Byzantines and the Persians to the north of their lands, but it was in southern Arabia itself that the head-on collision between the warring satellites of those two powers took place. The commercial and religious conflicts between Christian Abyssinia and Jewish Yemen were won by the former, which virtually occupied Yemen and, as a result, threatened the very existence of Mecca and its trading power shortly before the advent of Islam. The presence and significance of Africa and Africans was indeed apparent in pre-Islamic Arabia. The narratives of the Arabs have much that shows how prominent the African element was in their community, [3]


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SOME ASPECTS OF ISLAM IN AFRICA

not as servile individuals but as persons such as Antara bin Shaddad, the Seven Black Arabs (Aghribatu al-Arab al-Saba) and Abraha, who threatened Mecca with his troops. For Mecca, the trading and religious centre of Arabia, the Ahabish were vital to the trade and defence of the Qurashite community. At the time of the Prophet Muhammad, there was the famous Bilal, the first muezzin of Islam. Nor is it to be forgotten that the first migration of Muslims was to the lands of the Christian Negus of Abyssinia. Very soon after the advent of Islam, the Muslims found themselves commanding a very large empire. Their conquests carried them to the north, to the east and to the west. By the time of the Umayyads (AD 661–750), the whole of the north of Africa, from Egypt to the Atlantic, was under Muslim rule. By then the boundaries of the classical Muslim world, except for the additional lands won by the Abbasids, were defined. Those of Islam were not. Islam and Muslim communities were finding roots in many of the adjacent lands. The various hindrances to armies were not insurmountable to traders, pilgrims, refugees and the religious men who dedicated their energies to the cause of Islam. The Abbasid period (AD 750–1258) was one of consolidation rather than conquest and expansion. It witnessed the flourishing of trade, the flowering of culture and the rise of a civilization distinct and original despite the seams that showed in its diverse and complex parts. It was an age of travel and commercial activity on a very large scale. The Muslim community was becoming conscious of history in general, of its own history in particular and of its place in the world. With the writing of history, one finds writing on geography, on travel and on trade, all reflecting the interests of the community in knowledge, commerce and exploration. Interest in Africa and the Africans increased in this period, and an African element was present in the Abbasid world. To name but three famous persons of some African origin, one readily recalls Jahiz, the great essayist and religious philosopher; Ibrahim the singer, the brother of Harun al-Rashid who became caliph in Baghdad for a short time; and Kafur al-Ikhshid, the governor of Egypt. The African element was numerous enough to stage the famous revolt of Zanj in the neighbourhood of Basra from AD 869 to AD 883. The literature of the period, if tapped properly and patiently, will prove to be very fruitful to students of Africa. The Abbasid era also saw the beginning of the gradual infiltration of Islam and Muslims into eastern and western Africa, across the whole [4]


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THE HISTORIOGRAPHICAL TRADITION OF AFRICAN ISLAM

of the Sudanic belt and along the connecting trade and pilgrimage routes. Politically there was the rise of regional powers: the focus of rulers and regions, in Egypt, in North Africa and elsewhere, was more upon themselves than upon the caliphs in Iraq. The consequence was the rise to prominence of regional cultural centres such as Cairo and Qairawan and their regions in Africa. Present-day Africa is usually divided for convenience (academic and otherwise) into two main parts. These are North Africa, including Egypt, and sub-Saharan Africa. The student of Islam in Africa notes that this division is useful for the purpose of tracing the historical development of Islam in Africa. The northern part of the continent belongs to the classical world of Islam. It was, until the time of the decay of the caliphate and the rise of local dynasties, part of the domains of the caliphs, the Umayyads and the Abbasids. Sub-Saharan Africa was never a part of that world. All the same, Islam there is not a recent or an artificial growth, nor is it without glory. In western Sudan, the turning point in the spread of Islam and its rise to power came as a result of the movement initiated by Ibn Yasin, who based himself among the Berbers of present-day Mauritania. His empire (AD 1056–1147) spread as far south as the River Niger; and his followers were known as the Moravids, from the Arabic word murabitun (armed guards), which reflects the character of the state and the nature of its mission. It was in its wake and largely in its tradition that the western Sudanic empires of Mali, Songhai and later Fulani rose. In eastern Sudan (the former Anglo-Egyptian Sudan), Islam made contact shortly after the Prophet’s death. It had already reached the eastern coasts of Africa. Muslim penetration, light as it was, became noticeable in the ninth century. The changes, political, social and economic, in the status of the Arabs after the Abbasid revolution in AD 750, particularly in Egypt, made some tribes look southwards to the plains beyond Nubia and along the Red Sea coast. This trend increased from the eleventh century. By the fifteenth century, Islam had become well established in eastern Sudan. The stage was set for the final collapse of the decaying Christian kingdoms there and the rise of Muslim kingdoms such as the Fur, the Funj, the Abdallab, the Shaigiyya and the Gaaliyin. The rise of Muslim power in Somalia and East Africa was soon to follow; and from these quarters Islam followed the trade routes and spread into the coastal hinterlands of modern-day Kenya, Tanganyka and as far inland as Uganda. [5]


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The march of Islam in sub-Saharan Africa still goes on. Students of the subject notice that this third wave, slow and unspectacular in nature, is different from the two previous ones, which occurred when Islam represented (military and economic) power, politics and culture in the continent. This is the wave of Islam in Africa under foreign domination and of Africa freeing itself, body and soul, and doing its best to cope with all the “isms” of politics and culture. For our purposes, the differences in African Islam discussed above were, first, of time: the first wave was in the northern part of Africa; the second was, and the third wave is, in sub-Saharan Africa. The second difference was of administration: the northern parts of Africa belonged to the classical world of Islam; the sub-Saharan parts did not. Important as these differences are, they are neither the only nor the main ones. Three other differences are more important. First, in the northern parts Islam was orthodox Islam. Sufism, which came later as part of a wave that enveloped the whole of the Muslim world, was a reaction to that orthodoxy the roots of which were deep. In sub-Saharan Africa, Islam was a result of that Sufi movement and of Sufi jihad activities. It was the Islam of the murabitun, the holy men and the mahdis. The admirable survey of Arabic literature in Nigeria to 1804, published by Bivar and Hiskett in the Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies in 1962, shows clearly how orthodox Islam of the Maliki ulama was desperately trying to establish itself in the face of the highly Africanized and Sufi-influenced Islam of the period. In eastern Sudan, the rift between the two schools was illustrated in the hostility of the ulama of Khartoum to the Mahdi, whose following was drawn largely from the nomadic west. In the northern parts of Africa, where there is a heavy presence of Semites and Hamites, Islamization went hand in hand with Arabization. Islam was spread by Arab communities, which, although small in number compared to the indigenous populations, succeeded in giving their religion, language and some of their taste to the regions they conquered. These regions were thus readily open to all the cultural currents, orthodox and otherwise, of the classical Muslim world of which they were a part. Indeed, their contribution to it forms a great deal of its heritage, a part that is of great value to African history. Today these regions and eastern Sudan, deeply committed to Africa, represent numerically the majority of the Arab world. Arabic is, and has been for a long time, their official and cultural language. [6]


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THE HISTORIOGRAPHICAL TRADITION OF AFRICAN ISLAM

Sub-Saharan Africa, whether Muslims are the majority or the minority, was not Arabized. It hardly contributed to the cultural currents of the classical Muslim world, nor was it much open to it. However, it must be kept in mind that there the influence of Arabic, if not of the Arabs, was great. It was the language of the learned and educated, as it was the language of the Quran and of Islamic culture. The impact of this was that many Arabic words expressing Muslim concepts or resulting from cultural borrowing found their way to become part and parcel of many African languages and also that Arabic characters became the alphabet adopted for writing African languages. Such was the case with Swahili, Somali, Hausa and the Fulfulde languages. Later, under the impact of the West, Latin characters replaced the Arabic ones. But for the study of pre-colonial periods in sub-Saharan Africa, knowledge of Arabic is essential because the educated of its areas used Arabic or Arabic characters for their writing. And of course various other contributions to regional culture were made in that language. At the same time, the basic historical and cultural differences between the peoples of the regions of Africa must not be overlooked. Islam, like many other religions, has been very much influenced by the human environment in which it exists, and perhaps, unlike some of them, it has proved its capacity for adaptability and acclimatization. The historical tradition of African Islam of the nomadic and semi-nomadic peoples of sub-Saharan Africa is different from that of the peoples of the northern parts of Africa who had been part of Mediterranean civilization before becoming part of orthodox Islam. Like all Muslims, nonetheless, those of sub-Saharan Africa have their own self-image and their own conception of the history and place of Islam. The history of the Muslim states that dominated the scene all across the belt of Sudan in pre-colonial Africa is evidence of this. So too is the history of the resistance that the Christian West faced politically, culturally and sometimes militarily from Muslim communities when it came to dominate the African scene. In both cases, one cannot fail to notice that it was the tradition of the Sufis, the holy men of the baraka (divine blessing), the mahdis and the shaykhs of the turuq (the heads of religious orders) that made the popular and, indeed in many cases, the formal image of Islam. It is this tradition that highlights the heroic, the miraculous, the pious and the saintly. In eastern Sudan, one sees how the orthodox tradition of the siyar (biographies) and the magazi (military expeditions) was used to fulfil [7]


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that highlighting function in the circulars of the Mahdi, the work of Wad Dayfalla, the work of the tabaqat (classes of holy men) and the works of Ismail al-Kurdufani: al-Mustahdi fi Sirat al-Imam al-Mahdi (a biography of the Mahdi) and al-Tiraz al-Manqush fi Harb Yuhana Malik al-Hubush (On the Wars against King John of Abyssinia). Another tradition that must not be lost sight of in this respect is the madih (eulogies) and the maulid (commemoration of the birth of the Prophet Muhammad), which are still alive in verbal and written form. Although its purposes are not “historical” as such, its ultimate effect on the formation of the popular self-image in sub-Saharan Africa and on the place of Islam in its history can hardly be overemphasized. Like most popular traditions, it sees history and religion in the feats and fates of men, in this case the great men of Islam. Nor can one overlook the place of the Quran in the formation of the attitudes of African Muslims, like all Muslims, towards history. It is basic for their religion, and it is equally basic in shaping their attitude towards history too.

BIBLIOGRAPHY M. Abdin, A History of the Arabic Culture in the Sudan (Cairo, 1953). Safiy al-Din, Al-Baghdadi: Marasid al-Ittila (Cairo, 1954). H. A. R. Gibb, Studies on the Civilisation of Islam (London, 1962). T. Kerkes, The Arab Middle East and Africa (London, 1961). S. Lane-Poole, The Mohammadan Dynasties (Paris, 1925). Bernard Lewis and P. M. Holt, Historians of the Middle East (London, 1962).

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2 “As-Sudan” and “Bilad as-Sudan” in Early and Medieval Arabic Writing

Regionalization in history, like periodization, can be a matter of convenience or of convention, but it can also be a matter of purpose. And projection is not uncommon among students of history. For how often do we, unaware, reflect the attitudes of our own culture to other cultures without regard to time and place? With this consideration in mind, examples of how the terms “as-Sudan” and “Bilad as-Sudan” are explained in the works of modern scholars are examined and then compared with their usage in early and medieval Arabic writing. At this stage in the writing of African history, the importance of Arabic sources is becoming increasingly clear and the barriers against using them are falling fast. It is essential that terms such as the ones under discussion, which have linguistic and ethnological in addition to geographical connotations, are taken in their proper context and that their intended application and historical perspective is understood. Only in this way can justice be done to the past as well as to the present and the future. Under “Sudan” in the old Encyclopaedia of Islam, J. Walker says that the expression “Bilad al-Sudan” proper means the “land of the negroes”. It would appear then that the word “Sudan” which comes from it ought to mean all parts of Africa inhabited by negroes. Among Arabs, as well as Europeans it has become the custom to restrict the application to the northern parts of these regions or in a more general way to the area of Sub-Saharan Africa which has been penetrated by Islam. In practice this area is divided into three parts: Western Sudan containing the basin of Senegal, the Gambia, the Upper Volta and the Middle Niger; Central Sudan including the basin of Lake Chad and Eastern Sudan or the Egyptian Sudan confined to the basin of the Upper Nile. It may be mentioned that the English use the word Sudan alone to mean the Egyptian Sudan [9]


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and that the French officially apply the name ‘Soudan Francais’ to one of their colonies which really corresponds only to a small fraction of the large Sudanese area which they occupy … we shall take the Sudan to include all the lands lying south of the deserts of the Sahara and of Libya, from the Atlantic in the west to the western frontiers of Ethiopia in the east, the southern limit following the 10º of the North Latitude.1

To Arkell, “the Sudan in its full form Bilad es-Sudan, ‘the land of the Blacks’, was the name given by medieval Arabs to the negro belt which stretches right across Africa from the Atlantic Ocean to the Red Sea and Indian Ocean. Generally speaking it lies immediately south of the Sahara, but the area of which this book attempts to give the history is the ‘land of the blacks south of Egypt’.”2 With Hasan, one finds that the “‘Bilad al-Sudan’ or ‘the land of the Blacks’ is the name applied by medieval Arabic writers to territories immediately south of the Sahara, stretching from the Red Sea to the Atlantic Ocean. Under this generic term – Sudan or Black – Arabic writers lumped together all dark skinned peoples of the area, including the Abyssinians, Beja, Nubians, Zaghawa, Takrur and others.”3 Looking at Africa as a whole, Oliver and Atmore state that “racially as well as geographically the Sahara marks a frontier. In the desert and north of it live Berbers and Arabs, fair-skinned peoples of Caucasian stock. South of the desert is the lands of the Blacks – to the Greek Ethiopia, to the Berber ‘Akal n’ Iguinawen’ (Guinea), to the Arabs Bilad as-Sudan.”4 Mention of the Greeks in this respect is also made by Shinnie, who tells us that “Herodotus was the first to mention Meroe by name, although earlier writers from Homer onwards had known in general terms of the Ethiopians [as] ‘the burnt faces’, a term closely paralleled by the Arabic use of the word Sudan (from Beled es-Sudan, the country of the Blacks) to describe the same area today.”5 Shinnie’s “same area today”, which is the subject of Arkell’s work, is also that of both Hill and Holt. Hill tells us that “the Sudan did not acquire an exact geographical meaning for many years after the Egyptian penetration and was confused with Sinnar. The British ambassador to the Port used Sinnar for Sudan as late as 1843.”6 Holt explains that “the medieval Muslim geographers gave the name Bilad al-Sudan, ‘the land of the Blacks’, to the belt of African territory lying south of the Sahara desert.” In a footnote about the former [10]


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“A S - S U D A N ” A N D “ B I L A D A S - S U D A N ”

Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, he states that “the Ottoman Sultan’s firman to Muhammad Ali Pasha in 1841 did not mention the Sudan as such, but recognized him as the ruler of Nubia, Darfur (which had not been conquered yet), Kordofan and Sennar ‘with all their dependencies’.”7 The examples cited above are not exhaustive. But it is fair to assume that they generally represent what “Sudan” and “Bilad as-Sudan” are claimed to have meant to medieval Arab or Muslim writers. Looking closely at these citations, we find that the basic definitions (as set out above) made by Walker have been accepted by the rest. Variations, some of them significant, are there but they are more or less variations of the same theme. These definitions clearly indicate a continental attitude towards Africa, the “Sudan” and “Bilad as-Sudan”, a product of modern geography whereby the world is divided into continents rather than zones, as early and medieval Arab and Muslim geographers looked at it. It is also the attitude of imperialist Europe after the scramble for and division of Africa, with all the necessary obliterations of pre-colonial connections that followed it. Notwithstanding that he is dealing with Arabic terms and contributing to the Encyclopaedia of Islam, Walker, perhaps unaware, reflects that attitude and is more interested in “Bilad al-Sudan” than “Sudan”. Instead of relating the “Bilad” to the “Sudan”, he relates the “Sudan” to the “Bilad”. “The expression Bilad al-Sudan proper means the ‘land of the Negroes’. It would appear then that the word Sudan which comes from it ought to mean all parts of Africa inhabited by negroes”, says Walker. His belt of territories does not include Ethiopia. “Bilad” he renders as land in the singular and “Sudan” as negroes, paying no regard to the linguistic, ethnic, geographical or historical aspects of the terms as they developed in early to medieval Arabic writings and, as a result of European domination, in modern Arabic literature. Like Walker, Arkell confines himself to a particular area of subSaharan Africa. Equating “Sudan” with negroes and blacks, he attributes the application as he explained it to medieval Arab (not Arabic or Muslim) writers. He varies from Walker insofar as he stretches the eastern frontier of “Sudan” to the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean. Hasan does not differ from Walker with regard to the extent of “Bilad al-Sudan” in the north, west or south. But like Arkell, he includes Ethiopia in the east. His variation in rendering the term “Sudan” is significant. Although he uses the word “black”, he also renders “Sudan” [11]


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as “dark skinned”. Yet again he falls in line with the others when he renders “Bilad” as land in the singular and attributes the usage, as he explained it, to medieval Arabic-writers, adding that they “lumped together all dark-skinned peoples of the area”. Similar in their explanation of “Bilad al-Sudan”, Oliver and Atmore add a new dimension to the frontier nature of the desert. With Arabs and Berbers in it and north of it, the desert to them is not just a geographical frontier but a racial one. With regard to whether “Ethiopia” meant “Akal n’ Iguinawen” and whether the two meant “Bilad al-Sudan”, we may refer to Shinnie, who equates Ethiopia with Meroe, Meroe with “Beled (in the singular) – al-Sudan” and the three with the present-day Democratic Republic of Sudan. Shinnie can help us in respect of Oliver and Atmore, and Hill and Holt in their turn can help us concerning Shinnie. Hill and Holt both tell us that neither the Sultan nor Her British Majesty’s ambassador at the Porte (c. 1840–3) used the word “Sudan” for the area that Shinnie speaks of. This is so although Holt asserts that “Bilad al-Sudan”, the land of the blacks, was the name given by medieval Muslim geographers to the “belt of territory lying south of the Sahara desert”.8 Let us now turn to the sources in Arabic. Of the same root (S (sin), W (waw) and D (dal)) as sayyid, meaning “lord” or “master”, the word aswad (masc. sing.) or sawda (fem. sing.) has different forms for its plural. Relevant among these for our purpose are sud, asawida and sudan. Originally the word aswad meant black. In usage it covered different shades of colour pertaining to black such as dark, dim and sometimes green.9 Bilad and buldan, from the root B (ba’), L (lam) and D (dal), are the plural forms of balad (masc. sing.) and balda (fem. sing.), which mean a country, land, region, province, district or territory, a city, town or village or any portion of earth or land comprehended within certain limits.10 So much for the linguistic aspects of the two terms in question. Early Arabic literature, Islamic as well as pre-Islamic, is full of references to “Asawida” and “Sudan”. This was the result of the age-long contacts of the people of Arabia with the lands and peoples of the eastern coasts of Africa and of Egypt, Nubia and North Africa as well as with the lands and peoples of India and southern Asia. Arabic accounts of the Jahiliyya period abound with references to such contacts and reflect the [12]


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extent to which these contacts had affected the social scene among Arab tribes not only in Yemen and southern Arabia but also in the Hijaz and elsewhere.11 (In the year of the birth of the Prophet Muhammad, the Ethiopians, who had already occupied Yemen, were advancing on Mecca.) Thus we find in Arabia dark-skinned peoples of non-Arab origin, and there are also Arab tribes, Arab poets and Arab heroes of popular sagas who are noted for the dark pigmentation of their skin.12 It is more the linguistic aspect of the words aswad, sawda, sud, asawida and sudan that early Arabic writings suggest, not the strictly racial and geographical ones of modern writers. Nor did these imply, when used, black and African alone. In their different forms these words were used to include, depending upon the context, Habash, Zanj, Buja, Nubians, Copts, Berbers, Indians, Chinese and also Arabs. That the writers used these words to cover such a wide range of peoples while being aware of differences among them with regard to not only their different shades of colour but also their geographical location, culture and social habits is very clear. This is evident in the writings of Jahiz, Yaqubi, Tabari, Masudi and others. In medieval times, Arabic writings on Africa in particular, for reasons of proximity and increased contacts, far from lumping dark-skinned peoples together ethnically or geographically, provide us with detailed, discriminating and valuable information. The deserts of Africa were not barriers or racial frontiers: people travelled on foot and on animals.13 The ethnic structure of the peoples in the desert, north and south of it, in the past and now, proves this. To take the sources referred to above chronologically, our attention goes first to Jahiz (d. AD 868). In his famous essay Fakhr as-Sudan ala al-Bidan, written in the heyday of the Abbasid caliphate (AD 750–1258), we find the following: the Sudan are more numerous than the Bidan – i. e. people of white skin. For all that the Bidan can count among themselves the Persians, the people of the Jibal, the Khurasanis, the Byzantines, the Franks, the “Ibar” [Iberians?] and a few more others. The Sudan count the Zanj, the Habash, the people of Fezzan, the Berbers, the Copts, the Nubians, the Zaghawa, the people of Marw, the people of Sind, the Indians, the “Qumar”, the “Dubaila”, the Chinese, the “Masin”. The seas are vaster than the dry lands and the islands between China and the Zanj Coast [in Africa] are full of Sudan.14

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Further still, Jahiz goes on to say: “They said – i. e. the Sudan – that the Arabs are from us because the colour of their skin is more like ours than of the Bidan. The Indians are fairer in colour than the Arabs but they are from the Sudan.” Thus even if one confines oneself to those peoples of African origin from among the “Sudan” mentioned by Jahiz, one finds that modern interpretations of the word are different from his, both in the ethnic and geographical senses, let alone the linguistic and generic ones. Jahiz’s “Sudan” in modern terminology, especially that of Europeans, signifies the coloured people of the world. With regard to Africa, his “Sudan” includes people north of the equator and south of it, north of the north African deserts and south of them. In that essay Jahiz attributes skin pigmentation neither to race nor to a curse but to the prevailing natural physical and climatic conditions. “Dark and white skin pigmentation are but a result of the nature of the country and what God has characterised soil and water with. It is also a result of the sun and the intensity and mildness of its heat. It is not a result of a curse or punishment nor is it a result of a disfigurement or a shortcoming.”15 Yaqubi (d. AD 897) in his Kitab al-Buldan, an important geographical and travel work of its time, provides much information on the different peoples of the Islamic world and its neighbouring areas. Mention of “Sudan” in the general sense and “Bilad as-Sudan” in the geographical sense is made. But nowhere does one detect an intimation of unity among all the “Sudan” as one people or their lands as one land stretching across a part of the continent of Africa. “Bilad al-Nuba” and “Bilad al-Buja” were mentioned separately, as distinct from “Bilad as-Sudan” and “Ard as-Sudan” in the Maghrib (West Africa). In this, as will be seen in the following sources, Ya‘qubi is representative of Arabic writing from early to medieval times, to the time of Ibn Khaldun (see below) and after.16 To Ibn Rosteh (d. AD 903), the “Sudan” were by no means confined to the continent of Africa. In his geographical work al-Alak al-Nafisa, he points out the presence of Sudan east of Africa and in the islands of the Indian Ocean, which he calls “Bahr al-Hind”. Variations in human colour and hair, he argues, are to be attributed to the climatic conditions in the different parts of the world. In the tropical regions, with the sun directly overhead and the equal day and night, he says, the heat burns the skin of human beings and affects animals and vegetation.17 Tabari (d. AD 922), in his chronicle Tarikh al-Rusul wal-Muluk, refers to the “Sudan”, the “Asawid” and the “Asawida” in numerous places. [14]


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Explicitly these show that the “Sudan” as such, according to his narrative, included “the Copts, the Berber, the Buja, the Habash, the Sind” and all the peoples of dark skin who are described as the progeny of Ham. In this, Tabari gives place to a biblical tradition that found its way into Muslim Arabic writing. It is important to note, however, the various peoples which his all-embracing term “Sudan” includes. This is clearly very different from what modern European writers – on the basis of Arabic writing, they claim – take the “Sudan” to be. “Ham is the father of all the dark-skinned woolly-haired peoples. Ham is the father of the Sudan. Ham brought forth the Copts, the Sudan and the Berber. And from the sons of Ham b. Nuh are the Nubians, the Habash, Fezzan, the Indians, the Sind and all the coastal peoples of the east and the west.”18 Writing in Damascus, closer to Africa than Baghdad, in which all the above-mentioned wrote, Masudi (d. AD 956) is no different than the others except in the detailed information he gives. A writer of great knowledge and insight, he was also a traveller, and about many places his information is that of an eyewitness. In Muruj adh-Dhahab, he tells that he rode the “Indian Ocean”, which he calls the “Bahr al-Habash”. In numerous references, Habash, i.e. Ethiopians, stands for Sudan. The biblical tradition reported by Tabari is also reported in Masudi’s work. His chapter on “the Sudan, their genealogies, their ethnic differences, their kinds, the variations in their abode and accounts of their kings” shows that, according to him, the “Sudan” did not inhabit only Africa, much less a particular belt of it. In another place in the same source, the Indians, considered as part of the Sudan, are distinguished as being “in their minds, their wisdom their even temper and the purity of their colours … different from the rest of the Sudan”.19 Al-Istakhari (d. AD 960) in his al-Masalik wal-Mamalik, a geographical work on kingdoms and routes, gives a good deal of detail about the peoples and regions of Sudan in Africa. We do not find any sense of a belt covering such regions, and the variations among the peoples as well as the regions are brought out. Moreover, “Bilad as-Sudan”, as a definite geographical term, is confined in words as well as by the map provided to a particular area in West Africa.20 Ibn Hawkal (d. AD 977) in his Surat al-Ard gives the same information, sometimes word for word, as that of Istakhari. Their use of the plurals “Bilad” and “Buldan”, even when referring to Africa alone, [15]


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should not go unnoticed. Commenting on the Buja, who, like the Nubians, the Habash and the Zanj, are “Sudan”, Ibn Hawkal says that their colour, somewhat between black and white, are like those of the Arabs. In another place he describes the Buja, whose dress is like that of the Arabs, as of darker colour than the Habash.21 Both al-Istakhari and Ibn Hawkal, like many others, refer to the lands of the West African Sudan as “Bilad as-Sudan bi al-Maghrib”, an expression which defines its location and demonstrates that there are other Sudan whose lands are in other places. In his al-Mughrib fi Dhikr Bilad Ifriqiya wal-Maghrib, Abu Ubaid al-Bakri (d. AD 1097), by virtue of his proximity to the areas covered by his work, has much to tell about their places and peoples. The terms “Sudan” and “Bilad as-Sudan” appear in many places. It is clear, however, that although “Sudan” often implies its general sense, “Bilad as-Sudan” has the specific geographical meaning of what is West Africa in present-day usage. This is confirmed by the detailed description of the areas as well as by the many place and personal names that al-Bakri mentions.22 It is worth mentioning that the “Ifriqiya” of al-Bakri does not mean the whole continent of Africa or a sub-Saharan part of it but present-day Tunisia.23 Very much like al-Bakri with regard to information on North Africa, Idrisi (d. AD 1154) reflects the detailed knowledge of West Africa current in his time. Both wrote at a time when Islam, its culture and the Arabic language penetrated that part of Africa and gradually found political expression there. The rise of regional dynasties, at the expense of the disintegrating Abbasid caliphate, was accompanied by interest, by exploration and usually by the expansion of dynasties in the lands adjacent to its realms in Asia and Africa. From this resulted an increase in the movement of persons, goods and ideas to and from those places. In Nuzhat al-Mushtaq fi Ikhtiraq al-Afaq, a part of his al-Masalik wal-Mamalik, Idrisi, the court geographer of King Roger II of Sicily, has much to say about “Bilad as-Sudan”. The details he gives on the locations, the distances, the personal and place names leave no doubt that he means the countries of today’s West Africa. “And these regions are hot, extremely so. Thus the people of this first zone, of the second zone, and some of the third zone, because of the (intensity) of heat and the sun burning their skin have dark pigmentation and woolly hair, in contrast to the peoples of the sixth and seventh zones.”24 [16]


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The anonymous twelth-century North African author of Kitab al-Istibsar gives the same general use of the word “Sudan” and the same restricted use of “Bilad as-Sudan”.25 So does Ibn Jubair (d. AD 1217) in his Rihlatu Ibn Jubair. The latter’s description of the Buja, on the western coast of the Red Sea, as Sudan means only that they are dark-skinned.26 Quite clearly, it is the relation of colour in varying degrees, not of race or abode, that is meant by the descriptive term “Sudan” with regard to the Buja and others. Writing in Syria, Yaqut (d. AD 1229) gives in his Mujam al-Buldan a dictionary of place-names and also entries on peoples. The “Zayla”, the name he applies to the Somali people and land, are described as “Sudan” and their land as bordering that of the Habash. Under “Nuba”, the Nubians are described as “Sudan”, and there are references to the kingdoms of “Muqqara” and “Alwa”. Beyond “Alwa”, we are told, there is another (different) people from the “Sudan” (i.e. dark-skinned) called the “Tikna” (Dinka?). Ghana is also mentioned. Described as a big town south of the “Maghrib”, it is said to be the meeting place of the traders, from which they proceed to the adjacent gold centres in the “Tibr lands of Bilad as-Sudan”, meaning West Africa.27 Here again the general use of the word “Sudan”, and the specific geographical use of “Bilad as-Sudan”, is clearly demonstrated. For an appreciation of the regional divisions of Africa and some parts of western Asia common in all early and medieval Arabic literature, we turn to Ibn Khaldun (d. AD 1405). In the introductory chapters of his famous Muqadamma, the zonal divisions of the world and the effects of climatic conditions on man and the development of civilization are amply explained. Although he depends on the store of knowledge of previous writers whom he mentions, Ibn Khaldun also draws from his personal experience, aided by his inquisitive and acute mind. This is especially the case when he argues propositions of his own or criticizes those of others. Past scholars, he tells us, “have divided that world into seven parts which they called the seven zones. They extend from the east to the west. According to these scholars each of the seven zones is divided from west to east into ten contiguous sections. The first zone runs along the equator, north of it … To the north, the first zone is followed successively by the second through to seventh zones.”28 West Africa, according to these sub-zonal divisions, falls in the first section of the first zone. This section also includes the lands of the [17]


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Veiled Berber. Nuba is in the middle of this first zone, in the fourth section of it, and Abyssinia is in the fifth section, the same section in which the Indian Ocean ends. Yemen is in the sixth section of the first zone. Ghana and Zaghawa as well as Qanuriyah (the lands of the Kanuri or Bornu) fall in the first and second sections of the second zone and Hijaz and Nejd are in the sixth section of that zone. The Buja lands lie in the third and fourth sections of the second zone. Upper Egypt lies in the fourth section of the second zone and lower Egypt lies in the fifth section of it.29 In his discussion of the effects of climatic conditions on people in which the backward conditions of the dark-skinned negroes is matched with those of the white-skinned Slavs, Ibn Khaldun says: To attribute the blackness of the Negroes to Ham reveals disregard to the true nature of heat and cold and the influence they exercise upon the air (climate) and upon the creatures that come into being in it. The black colour (of skin) common to the inhabitants of the first and second zones is the result of the composition of the air in which they live and which comes about under the influence of the greatly increased heat in the south. The sun is at the zenith there twice a year at short intervals. In (almost) all seasons the sun is in culmination for a long time …

So goes the F. Rosenthal translation of that discussion, which includes a sharp criticism of the biblical (Torah) tradition of Ham and the curse that caused the blackness of the negroes according to it.30 Not imbued with a sense of being of a chosen people or master race, early and medieval Arabic writers (mostly Arabized Muslims of non-Arab extraction) nevertheless showed in many instances in their writing a sense of belonging to an open but advanced community in relation to many dark or white-skinned people. To them, however, no people were eternally or temporarily cursed and no men were basically sub-human. Therefore men were essentially equal. Their use of the word “Sudan”, although usually a reference to non-Arab dark-skinned people, never implied an ethnic or territorial unity. Their division of the world into zones and sections is different from the present one of continents and (with regard to Africa) belts. In any case, the “Sudan”, according to Arabic usage, has certainly meant more than those of the belt suggested by the writers quoted above. [18]


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“Bilad as-Sudan”, as a specific reference to West Africa, was clearly intended to mean the plural of both “Bilad” and “Sudan”. Suffice it to point out that what in the beginning was used as a general term was gradually expounded in the detailed names of peoples and places, which names have become the post-colonial names of places such as Ghana, Mali and Mauritania. The Sahara (again the plural of Sahra), i.e. deserts and other North African deserts, were not seen as barriers, frontiers or emptinesses because they were not and never have been. Cross-currents and influences, movements of people and ideas went on in the past as they go on now. Medieval Arabic writing had in fact continued on “Bilad as-Sudan” in the sense described above from both outside and from within the region. Not only was this with seventeenth-century scholars such as-Sadi of Timbuktu, but well into the dawn of the twentieth century by such scholars as the members of the illustrious ruling family of Uthman Dan Fodio 31

NOTES 1 2 3 4 5 6

7 8 9 10 11

See the entry for Sudan in Encyclopaedia of Islam (Old Edition). Arkell, History of the Sudan to A.D. 1820 (London, 1961), p. 1. Yusuf Fadl Hasan, The Arabs and the Sudan (Edinburgh, 1967), p. 1. Oliver and Atmore, Africa since 1800 (C.U.P., 1969), p. 1. See also map, p. 3 and compare the same to that in R. Roolvink, Historical Atlas of the Muslim World (London, 1957) pp. 16–17. P. L. Shinnie, Meroe: A Civilization of the Sudan (London, 1967), p. 13. R. Hill, Egypt in the Sudan (O.U.P., 1959), p. 24, fn. 2. There was of course no confusion with Sinnar, as the “Funj kingdom of Sinnar” came to an end only after giving its name to most of the central and northern parts of what gradually in the nineteenth century came to be known as the “Sudan”, the “Egyptian Sudan” and the “Anglo-Egyptian Sudan”. The word “Sinnari”, signifying a citizen of Sinnar, was commonly used to designate a person from those areas in Egypt and in Hijaz. See O. G. S. Crawford, The Fung Kingdom of Sinnar. P. M. Holt, A History of Modern Sudan (London, 1965), p. 3 and fn., p. 219. Professor Holt might remember that upon independence in 1956, some people were suggesting alternative names to “Sudan”, such as “Sinnar” or “Nubia”. Lane, Madd al-Qamus, s.v. SUD. Akhdar (green) was also often used for dark or black. So too was azraq (blue). See note 11 below. Ibid., s.v. BALAD. Awn al-Sharif Qasim, “as-Sudan fi Hiyati al Arabi wa-Ash’arihim”, Bulletin of Sudanese Studies, Vol. 1, 1968, pp. 76–92. [19]


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12 O. S. A. Ismail, “Historiographical Tradition of African Islam”, in Emerging Themes of African History (ed. T. O. Ranger, London, 1968). See also Qasim, “as-Sudan fi Hiyati”. 13 R. Roolvink, Historical Atlas of the Muslim World (London, 1957), pp. 16–17. Cf. T. Lewicki, Arabic External Sources for the History of Africa South of the Sahara (Karakiw, Warsaw, 1969). 14 Amr bin Bahr al-Jahiz, Fakhr as-Sudan ala al-Bidan (ed. Rasa’is al-Jahiz, Abd al-Salam Harun, Cairo, 1964), Vol. 1, pp. 173–226. 15 Idem. 16 Ahmad bin Abi Ya‘qub bin Wadih Ya‘qubi, Kitab al-Buldan (ed. Wustenfeld, Leiden 1892), pp. 334–69. Also use the index. Cf. W. D. Cooly, The Negro Land of the Arabs (London, 1966) and Bovill, The Golden Trade of the Moors (London, 1970). 17 Abu Ali Ahmad bin Omar Ibn Rosteh, Kitab al-Alak an-Nafisa (ed. Wustenfeld, Leiden, 1892), pp. 83–102. Also use index. 18 Muhammad bin Jarir Tabari, Tarikh as-Rusul wal-Muluk (ed. M. de Goije, Leiden, 1879–81), Vol. 1, pp. 211–23. The biblical tradition of the curse found a place in popular literature, e.g. Sirat Saif bin Dhi Yazin. 19 Masudi, Muruj adh-Dhahab (ed. G. B. de Meynard et P. de Courteille, Paris, 1861), Vol. 1, pp. 163, 230–8 and Vol. 3, Ch. 33. 20 Abu Ishaq Ibrahim bin Muhammad al-Farisi al-Istakhari, al-Masalik wal-Mamalik (Cairo, 1961), pp. 16–43 and map, p. 32. 21 Abu al-Qasim bin Hawkal al-Nasibi Ibn Hawkal, Kitab Surat al-Ard (ed. J. H. Kramers, Leiden, 1938–9), pp. 3–17, 46–64 and 83–103. See also maps opposite pp. 8 and 148. 22 Abu Ubaid al-Bakri, al-Mughrib fi Dhikr Bilad Ifriqiyya wal-Maghrib (ed. De Slane, Alger, 1857), pp. 11, 21, 157–69, 172–4 etc. 23 “African” and “Moor” also meant dark or black to medieval Europe, and the terms were applied to people of North Africa as the word “Africa” did not have the continental meaning of today. Cf. “Leo l’Africain” and “Othello the Moor”. The tendency now is to restrict African to sub-Saharan African. 24 Al-Sharif al-Idrisi Idrisi, Wasf Ifriqiyya al-Shamaliyya (ed. Henri Peres, Alger, 1957), pp. 3–24ff. 25 Kitab al-Istibsar fi Ajaib al-Amsar (ed. Sad Zaghlul Abd al-Hamid, Cairo, 1958). 26 Muhammad bin Ahmad Ibn Jubair, Rihlat Ibn Jubair (ed. Nassar Hussain, Cairo, 1955), p. 45. 27 Yaqut, Mu‘jam al-Buldan (Cairo, 1906), s. v. Zayla, Nuba, Chana, al-Tibr. Al-tibr in Arabic means gold. 28 Ibn Khaldun, The Muqaddama (ed. P. Rosenthal, O.U.P., 1958) Vol. 1, pp. 97, 111. 29 Ibid., pp. 118–26. 30 Ibid., pp. 168–70. On pp. 174–5, under the “Influence of Air on Human Character”, a comparison of Egyptians with West Africans shows the many traits they have in common. 31 See N. Latham, The Heritage of Africa (London, 1864) and (Sultan) Mohammad Bello, Infakul Maisuri (ed. C. E. J. Whitting, London, 1957).

[20]


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3 A Survey of Primary Literary Sources for the Modern Period of Sudan’s History, 1898–1956

Background The Sudanese forefathers who fell to Kitchener at the battle of Omdurman at Karari in 1898 were not vanquished for lack of courage or in the absence of a just cause. They were the victims of superior arms: machine guns and rifles, products of the industrial revolution, and their own bravery.1 And so set in an era in which the country was drawn into the modern world, whose impact was to be felt in every aspect of life, most of all on the literary plane. The river steamer, the railway, the motor car, the aeroplane, the telegraph, the telephone, the cinema and the broadcasting station all helped to “spread the word”, and the typewriter and the printing press permitted its mass production. For centuries, Sudanese society had possessed written cultural traditions. The surface of its traditional culture and education had already been affected by the introduction of new schools by the Turco-Egyptians (1820–85), and they had reflected the influences that they were exposed to by virtue of being opened to a wider world. Under the Anglo-Egyptian Condominium (1898–1956), modern education was gradually spread and improved if for purposes of state rather than culture. The aim was to produce a cheaply educated, cheaply employed class of civil servants. At the top of that education system was Gordon Memorial College, founded in 1902. This institution became the Higher School (1938–45), the University College of Khartoum (1946–56) and, in 1956, the University of Khartoum. English was introduced under the Condominium, which was British in reality, and the stage was set for the creation of a bilingual elite. However, it was policy to give English preference over Arabic. English was the official language of the state and the medium of instruction in the secondary and higher schools. By 1930, Arabic was banned for official purposes in the southern provinces, where education was almost a monopoly of Christian missionary societies, assisted by the government. In the northern provinces, the new school primers set by [21]


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Sudanese under the supervision of British officials replaced those of the Egyptians.2 Besides “Western” education and the cultural influences that came with it, there were the economic, social and political changes that influenced, if not completely conditioned, the literature of the period. Chief among these was the rise of an urban literate middle class of civil servants, traders and artisans.3 There was also the emergence of a working class of the government-employed, who manned the services and maintenance departments of the Sudanese government, and the wage-earners, employed by companies, industrial plants and small workshops mostly in the industrial areas found in all big towns.4 With regard to agriculture, there was the establishment of the Gezira Scheme in 1925 and the widespread introduction of water pumps for irrigation, which improved the income of tenant farmers and farm labourers and greatly enhanced the revenue of the state.5 These factors created a sizeable body of persons who had a taste for literature and who could afford to support it financially. The period of the Condominium was one of continuous political change, the natural response to incessant challenges by a people who never accepted foreign rule and cultural domination.6 The first two decades of the twentieth century saw a number of religiously motivated uprisings; and in 1924, there was an armed revolt by a large part of the Sudanese army. Political opposition was marking time and gathering momentum, until it culminated in rejection of the Legislative Assembly (1948), and it continued until independence was won in 1956. During this period there arose the “Graduates Congress” (1918), the “Congress” (1938) and the Parties (1946). The responses to these developments by the Condominium government were the introduction of the Native Administration (1924), the creation of the Advisory Council of the Northern Sudan (1944) and the Legislative Assembly (1948) and, finally, withdrawal in 1956. Sudan was also involved in both world wars.

Literature Literature in a wide sense is not only those works usually selected for artistic value and aesthetic appreciation but also the corpus of written words that help us to understand a society in a particular time and place and in all aspects of its life. It is a reflection of the conditions, attitudes, [22]


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A S U RV E Y O F P R I M A RY L I T E R A RY S O U RC E S

feelings and aspirations of that society. It is in this sense that the literature of the modern period is described here.7 What is extant of this literature is plentiful and diverse. Bibliographies contain but a fraction of the many books, papers, pamphlets, reports, notes and manuscripts available in the Central Archives and the Sudan Library of the University of Khartoum or in private collections.8 This is only to be expected in view of the factors that affected the production and circulation of literature and the influences that conditioned its purpose, form and content. Broadly speaking, literature can be divided into two main categories. First, there is the “state” literature, which covers all the activities of the central government in Khartoum as well as the different departments that later developed into ministries.9 Reflecting the government’s concern with administration, law and order, and development, this takes the form of letters, reports, notes, codes of laws and regulations, policy statements, proceedings and books (mainly on education, which was state-directed and -controlled). Second, there is an unofficial literature, which comes from organized bodies such as political parties, clubs, societies, companies and the like and which takes book form mainly when coming from individual authors. The press, private and official, with its dailies, weeklies and monthlies, and the journals which embody the work of learned societies and individuals are a third, very important subdivision. More relevant to our purpose than an exhaustive survey of all these are the main trends that affected the literary scene of the indigenous population. Although it was official policy to reduce Arabic to second place, English was in fact confined to official and educational uses. There is hardly any work in English by a Sudanese in the modern period save that written for academic degrees and contributions to learned journals or conferences. The success of Arabic in continuing to dominate the field of literary expression was due to its deeply rooted written and cultural traditions, its connections with Islam and the spread of elementary education, which was entirely in Arabic in the northern provinces. Its success was also a result of the unified administration of the country. Even in the southern provinces, Arabic was the basis of a lingua franca that continued to spread despite government and missionary opposition to it and to what were called Arabic names and Arabic dress. Also, Gordon Memorial College was not alone in the field of higher education. Al-Mahad al-Ilmi of Omdurman, founded in 1901, which was a centre [23]


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of Arabic and traditional Muslim culture, continued to grow, and played a marked role in the preservation and advancement of Islam and Arabic. However, traditional culture was introduced to English literature and other European cultures through English. The bilingual elite was the conduit for these influences. Under the Condominium, Sudan was affected more by the cultural influences from Egypt that affected Arabic literature in general as a result of imperial domination. Sudan had close relations with Egypt, in whose higher educational institutions many Sudanese had their education and whose books, papers and periodicals fed the hungry minds of the educated Sudanese, who had very little to digest locally. Moreover, there were a number of Egyptian schools all over the country, and there was a branch of Cairo University in Khartoum. Egyptians, with their long involvement in the rule of Sudan, formed the largest foreign community all over the country. Professor Abdel-Magid Abdin admirably traces and demonstrates these influences and contacts.10 Three works in particular, Sayyid “Abdalla” Abd al-Rahman, al-Arabiyya fi al-Sudan (1922), Sayyid Muhammad al-Majdhub, Tadyiq al-Ma‘azik ‘ala’ Ali ‘Abd al-Razik (1923) and Tijani Yusuf Bashir, Ishraka, reflect the influences on Sudanese literary life of Egypt and the Arab world.11 But they also show the involvement of the educated Sudanese in what mattered at that time. Significantly, they are the works of authors traditionally educated, guardians and custodians of Islamic and Arabic culture. Naturally, the contributions of the bilingual elite were slow to come. It took some time for them and for those who were secularly educated to emerge as a literary force and put the traditionally educated into second place. It was in the articles they wrote and their songs and poetry that one finds the true image of that educated class of civil servants, artisans and traders. But they were not concerned only with material well-being and with all that showed that they were modern. That was but one aspect of life in the 1920s and 1930s, when songs and singing flourished and parties, public, private or for weddings, seemed to have been happy occasions that aroused the imagination. Commitment to the progress and well-being of the people, pride in their own heritage, a search for cultural, social and political identity, criticism of government policies and the intellectual problems of the day dominated their literary pursuits.12 The very names of the periodicals that published their works, [24]


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al-Fajr (the Dawn), al-Nahda (the Renaissance), al-Ra’id (the Pioneer) tell the tale. More of the picture of those two decades is to be found in the three-volume collection of songs that appeared then and in collections of poetry.13 It was in this period that the contributions of the new Sudanese intelligentsia found a place in the literary circles of Cairo and Beirut. The works of Muawyiah Nur are a significant landmark in this respect.14 So also are the contributions of M. A. al-Siddik and others.15 By 1930, new school primers, written by Sudanese under the supervision of British officials, had been introduced. This trend continued, and more books for all levels of pre-college education were published. Concurrently, another important development was taking place. A few Sudanese were being sent to the American University of Beirut in Lebanon and to the United Kingdom. They were mostly teachers, employed and sent by the Department of Education. By their vocation and owing to the academic training they had received abroad and to the serious and patriotic bent that they all shared, they made a tremendous impact on the writing of the two decades preceding independence. Academic work of international calibre was being produced. A new, serious and disciplined approach was gradually replacing the rather flowery and rhetorical approach of the previous era. Examples of this were the works (mostly in English) of Mekki Shibeika, Abdalla al-Tayyib, Saad al-Din Fawzi, Sayyid Makki Abbas, Sayyid Abd al-Rahman Ali Taha and others.16 The works of these scholars not only reflect the marked development of the intellectual standard of their generation but also show how the focus was on the national problems of the period. The problems of national history, politics, education, economics and allied topics are all treated in these works. It is among the men of this generation that we find the fathers of Sudanese academic education, and their work has been continued by their students. As a result of the new ideas of the generation that was sent abroad and the organizations that they established, the political scene changed radically. This generation played a decisive role in the creation, organization and activities of the “Graduates Congress” of 1938 and the political parties that emerged from under its wing in 1946.17 It was from the political parties that the political newspapers came to shake the political scene, and as such they form an important part of the written sources of the period. Most of them are available in the Central Archives and the Sudan Library. Other political writings included the work of [25]


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Sayyid Ahmad Khair and Sayyid Ismail al-Azhari.18 The works of the latter were an important landmark because they served as a guide to those who, affected by the spirit of the time, organized themselves into clubs, societies or parties. By the mid-1940s, political consciousness had engulfed almost the whole urban population of Sudan. Demand for the written word was increasing and the facilities for its production and circulation were improving. The working class, taking shape and becoming aware of its identity and power, was getting organized too.19 The resulting socio-political movement had deeper roots than some think.20 Its emergence as an important force was due to the favourable conditions of the time, and the impact that it had on literature was great. Thanks to the activities of persons and groups influenced by welfare, socialist and communist ideas, interest in the fate of the ordinary man, the wage-earner, the nomad and the propertyless was echoed in the contemporary literature. The official documents of the labourers’ organizations; the clandestine circulars, reports, pamphlets and books of the secret Communist Party; the short-lived paper edited by Uthman Ahmad Umar, al-Shabab (the Young) and Abdalla Rajab’s paper al-Saraha (Candour) all reflected the rising radical mood. It is in them that one finds the intellectual milieu of the then budding poets Gaily, Jaafer Hamid al-Bashir, Salah Ahmad Ibrahim, Taj al-Sirr al-Hasan and many others. And it is in them that the student class, also playing an important role in the realms of politics and mass literature, found its image and identity.21 Traditional Islamic culture was also changing with the times, to have its place in the cultural and political scene. By 1956, the group that identifies itself today as al-Ittijah al-Islami (the Islamic Society), then called al-Ikhwan (the Muslim Brotherhood), was growing into a force not restricted to students and young graduates. As such, it gave the literary activities of the period another dimension. Islam became an important factor in the politics of the day, and its advocates had the tacit support of the authorities for its role in combatting Communist ideology. In the last decade of the Condominium era, a tradition of scientific literature slowly but successfully emerged.22 And in agriculture, medicine, veterinary science and science, N. Daf Alla, Amin al-Karib, Dawoud Mustafa, Mansur Ali Hasib, Muhammad Abdalla Nur, Mustafa Hasan and many others were contributing to their respective disciplines, as [26]


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were Mekki Shibeika and Abdalla al-Tayyib in the arts. The works of non-Sudanese, mostly Egyptians and English people, are certainly among the most important primary literary sources of the period. Thanks to the work of Hill, Sayyid Abdel Rahman al-Nasri and Sitt Maymuna M. Hamza, bibliographical collections already exist.23 To those who would prefer to look at the whole period through the eyes of a sensitive, acute and experienced self-educated veteran, the volumes of Sayyid Babiker Badri and his autobiography Tarikh Hayati (History of my Life, 1961) can be recommended. Badri was a veteran of the Mahdiyya, a pioneer of education for women and the founder of the Ahfad schools, and his career as well as his frank and uninhibited writing show how traditional culture was responding to the needs of a new age. In this period, Sudan came to be what it is today. The modern period thus merges naturally into the post-independence era. But it was then that the revolution in literature took place, when the written word, responding to the continually changing social and political scene and expressed in forms that reflected the rising level of knowledge and education, was able by means of mass printing and circulation to go far beyond the humble limits of the scribe and the lithographic press.

NOTES 1 M. O. Bashir, Educational Development in the Sudan (Oxford, 1965). 2 Contributions by southern Sudanese were late in coming. The southern problem (the debate over separatism, unity or federation vis-à-vis the North) found expression after 1948 in political literature among the southern lobby in the Legislative Assembly, in the parties and among students. For an objective description of the southern scene during this period, see A. L. L. Loiria, Political Awakening in Southern Sudan, 1945–1955: Decolonization and the Problem of National Integration, PhD thesis, University College of California, Los Angeles, 1969. 3 Hasan Najila, Malamih min al-Mujtama al-Sudani (Cairo, 1960). 4 The Sudan Railways and Steamers Department, now the main part of the Ministry of Transport, is still the biggest employer of workers. In towns such as Kasala, Port Sudan, Atbara, Khartoum and Khartoum North, Kosti, Karima, al-Obayyid, Babanusa, Niyala, Juba and others its workshops and residential areas form a distinct part of the town. 5 A. Gaitskell, Gezira, a story of development in the Sudan (London, 1955). 6 Gafar M. A. Bakheit, British Administration and Sudanese Nationalism, 1915–1939, PhD thesis, Cambridge, 1965 and Mudathir al-Rahim, Imperialism and Nationalism in the Sudan (Oxford, 1965). [27]


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7 Oral traditions also exist, but will not be discussed here. Besides the Omdurman Broadcasting Tapes and Records Archives, there are many living individuals who can help in this field. 8 Principal sources are Abdel Rahman al-Nasri, A Bibliography of the Sudan 1939–1958 (Oxford, 1962), R. Hill, A Bibliography of the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan from the Earliest Times to 1937 (London, 1939) and Maymuna M. Hamza, Theses on the Sudan and by Sudanese (Khartoum, 1966). 9 For these, see Mahjoub M. Salih, “The Sudan Press”, Sudan Notes and Records, Vol. 46, 1965. See also G. N. Sanderson, “The Sudan Notes and Records as a vehicle of research in the Sudan”, Sudan Notes and Records, Vol. 45, 1964. 10 Abdel-Magid Abdin, The History of Arabic Culture in the Sudan from the Early Periods to Modern Time (Cairo, 1953). 11 E. Attiyah, Black Vanguard (London, 1952). 12 Aghani Sudaniyyi (Cairo, no date). 13 For example, Saad Mikhail, Shu’ara’al-Sudan (Cairo, 1923). In prose, see M. A. Mahjoub and Abd al-Halim Muhammad, Mawt Dunya (Cairo, 1946) and H. Najila, Malamih Min al-Mujtama’ al-Sudani (Cairo, 1960). For the many valuable contributions of Sayyid M. Abd al-Rahim, see Muhammad Mahgoub Malik, ‘al-Mu’arrikh al-Sudani, Muhammad Abdel Rahim (Maj. al-Khartoum, 1970). 14 Two volumes of his essays and short stories, Dirasat fi al’Adab wal-Nagd and Qasas wa-Khawatir, are published by the Khartoum University Press, 1970. 15 See his Ara’wa-Khawatir (Khartoum,1970). 16 M. T. Shibeika, British Policy in the Sudan, 1882–1902 (London, 1952); Abdalla al-Tayyib, al-Murshid (Cairo, 1956); Saad al-Din Fawzi, The Labour Movement in the Sudan 1946–55 (Oxford, 1957); Makki Abbas, The Sudan Question (London, 1952); and Abd al-Rahman Ali Taha, al-Sudan li al-Sudaniyin (Khartoum, 1949). 17 See note 6 above. 18 Sayyid Ahmad Khair, Kifahu Jil (the Struggle of a Generation) (Cairo, 1948) and Sayyid Ismail al-Azhari, al-Tariq ila al-Barlaman (the Way to Parliament) (Cairo, 1946). 19 Saad al-Din Fawzi, The Labour Movement in the Sudan, 1946–1955 (Oxford, 1957). 20 Jaafar M. A. Bakheit, “Communist Activities in the Middle East between 1917–1927 with special reference to Egypt and the Sudan”, Sudan Notes and Records, 1968. 21 Salah al-Din E. Z. El-Tayyib, Student Movement in the Sudan 1940–1970. (Khartoum University Press, 1970). 22 This was made possible by the work of a group of eminent educators. One cannot but look with respect and admiration to the careers and contributions of Sayed Awad Satti, Sayed Nasr al-Haj Ali, Sayed Nasri Hamza and others. 23 See note 8 above.

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4 The Growth and Impact of Islam in Africa

Concept and Definitions The growth and impact of Islam on Africa is a vast subject. And whereas Africa can be defined as the continent of Africa with its various regions, peoples, religions, cultures and the like, Islam, let alone its impact on such a wide spectrum, cannot be easily defined. One cannot simply say that Islam here means the religion Islam. This is not to say that the word “religion” in its original, all-embracing meaning is much different from its Arabic counterpart din, especially in the Quranic application of the word. Notable examples are three ayas (verses) in Sura (Chapter) 3: “Verily, religion with Allah is Islam” (19); “Proclaim: we believe in Allah and in that which has been revealed to us, and that which was revealed to Abraham and Ishmael and Isaac and Jacob and the tribes, and that which was given to Moses and Jesus and other Prophets from their Lord. We make no distinction between any of them and to Him we submit” (85); “And he who seeketh a religion other than Islam, it will not be accepted from him and he will be a loser in the Hereafter” (86). However, developments in the Judaeo-Christian Western world, a language of which we are using here, have restricted the application of the word “religion” more or less to matters of ritual and belief. In that world, the terms “state” and “church”, “secular” or “temporal” and “religious” or “ecclescestical” have substance in theory and practice. One has to remember that both Judaism and Christianity, which Islam claims to have superseded, have grown under “states” and have developed into “churches” and “synagogues”. They have not developed as institutions other than those of the “state”, which, in theory and practice, is assumed to express the “temporal” power, whatever that is meant to be. The churches, as Catholic, Coptic, Orthodox or Protestant, are not merely different organizations. The rifts between them are very serious, because they concern the very nature of Jesus and God. As we know, with Islam there was a different development. The “state” has been an integral part of the development of religion. Thus with Islam and Muslims, the word din, [29]


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in theory and indeed in practice and despite the efforts of “secularists”, who were and are Western-oriented and -supported, continues to have the all-embracing meaning that the word “religion” originally had. This is as follows, according to Webster’s Third New International Dictionary: “the personal commitment to and serving of God or a god with worshipful dedication, conduct in accord with divine commands especially as found in accepted sacred writings or declared by authoritative teachers, a way of life recognized as incumbent on true believers and typically the relating of ones self to an organized body of believers …” As that distinction between the “secular” and the “sacred” has not been accepted in Islam, the impact of Islam on Africa is to be seen in the way Muslims comprehend the word din, which is nothing less than all that encompasses human life from the cradle to the grave. It is thus Islam the “faith”, Islam the “practice”, Islam the “individual Muslim” and “Islamic societies”, Islam the “state”, Islam the “city”, Islam the “market” and “trade”, Islam the ulama, the “schools” and the “courts”, Islam the “history” (its initial spread, the revivalist movements, the role it has played and continues to play in the confrontation with imperialism, colonialism, neo-colonialism, racism and Marxism) and Islam the “culture” – to mention but what readily comes to mind. And, to be sure, our concern is not with the geography of Africa the continent but primarily with African man as a socio-political being. And as man has been very instrumental in the preservation and healthy development of his environment and in its destruction, one cannot ignore the impact of Islam on the attitude of Muslims to nature and the environment. Having addressed definitions and concepts, one hopes that the enormity, indeed the impossibility, of dealing with Islam’s impact on Africa within the very limited space of a chapter is clear. Trimingham has, in certain respects, addressed this subject over many years and in many works.* One respects him for his courage and effort. His work, however, demonstrates how the subject, or rather the subjects, still need to be treated seriously and patiently by Muslim scholars. This chapter seeks only to focus on the obvious and, in a preliminary fashion, to present the ideas of an African Muslim student of history.

* Spencer Trimingham, previously a professor at the American University of Beirut, is the author of many works on Islam in Africa and its regions.

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THE GROW TH AND IMPACT OF ISL AM IN AFRICA

History and Expansion East Africa was, in many respects, a cradle of the early Muslims and Islam, an honour it shares with the birthplace of Islam, the Hijaz, in western Asia. Viewing historical developments continentally often obscures simple facts such as the proximity and accessibility of eastern and northern Africa to western Asia in general and to Arabia in particular. It is this proximity and accessibility that made them a part of the Middle or Near East historically, ethnically, culturally and nowadays politically. For this reason, East Africa and North Africa are considered by many as parts of the homelands of the Semitic peoples, languages and religions. And what is true of Islam and Arabic in this respect is also true of Judaism and Christianity. Considering the emergence and long development of Islam, now in its fifteenth century, it is often forgotten that Islam crossed over to Ethiopia in the very first decade of its existence, during the life of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon Him), before the Hijra to Medina in AD 622 and indeed before the Message (al-risala) was complete (it was completed on the death of the Prophet of Allah). That first Hijra to Ethiopia was of great significance to the new faith and to the beleaguered community of the early Meccan Muslims. Both were warmly received and protected according to Muslim traditions. Such was to be, in a majority of cases, the character of future relations between Islam and Muslims and the rest of Africa when these had occasion to be there. Ibn Hisham introduces the Hijra to Ethiopia in a very telling way: When the Messenger of Allah saw what befell his companions of harm and the security he enjoyed because of the protection accorded to him from his family, he said to them, “Why not go to Ethiopia? There, there is a king before whom nobody could be subjected to injustice; and it is a land of truth. Go there till Allah provides you with relief.” Then Muslims from amongst the companions of the Messenger of Allah left for Ethiopia, for fear of temptation, fleeing to Allah with their faith. That was the first Hijra to take place in Islam.

Among those taking part in that historic event, which, together with the major Hijra to Medina, set the precedent for Muslims to migrate in order to protect themselves and their faith,1 were a good number of the founding fathers and mothers of Islam. Among that group, comprising [31]


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some 83 men besides the women and children, was Uthman bin Affan, then a son-in-law of the Prophet and later the third Rashid caliph, Abd al-Rahman bin Awf and Zubayr bin al-Awwam, all three being among the ten who were promised paradise in the hereafter. There was also Gafar bin Abi Talib, the cousin of the Prophet; Amr and Khalid, both sons of Said bin al-As, and Abu Hudhayfa bin Uthman bin Mazun, who was the head of the group. Of the women, there was Umm Salama bint Abi Umayya bint al-Mugira, who later became a wife to the Prophet; Ruqayya, daughter of the Prophet and wife of Uthman bin Affan; Asma bint Umays, wife of Gafar bin Abi Talib; and Sahla bint Suhayl, wife of Abu Hudhayfa. We are told that some children, for example Muhammad bin Abi Hudhayfa, Said bin Khalid and Abd Allah bin Gafar, were born in the land of the Negus.2 “All those who came to the Prophet in Mecca from amongst his companions from the land of Ethiopia were 33 men”, reports Ibn Hisham in Sirat Rasul Allah.3 Moreover, according to the same source, there is a strong tradition that some Ethiopians crossed over to Mecca and met the Prophet there. And that too took place before the Hijra: Then there came to the Prophet (p.b.u.h.) when he was in Mecca 20 men or so from the Christians, when they heard the news about him in Ethiopia. They found him in the mosque (the Kaaba), so they sat with him, talked and put questions to him. When they finished asking the Messenger of Allah what they wished, the messenger of Allah invited them to Allah, Exalted and Most High is He. He recited some Quran, their eyes flowed with tears. Then they answered the call of Allah, believed in Him, accepted the truth of Muhammad and recognized in him what used to be described to them in their book about his coming.

In stating that the persons referred to could have been from the Christians of Nagran in Yemen, Ibn Hisham quotes his main source Ibn Ishaq, but the latter’s main source, al-Zuhri, is of the opinion that the men were from the subjects of the Negus and were thus Ethiopians.4 As has been stated, all this took place in the lifetime of the Prophet Muhammad. The Message was then incomplete in detail, but not in essence and fundamentals. These had been revealed and advocated almost as soon as Islam was declared. We turn again to those early Muslim migrants to Africa, in order to see what they said about themselves and their new faith and thus to [32]


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epitomize the way Islam was propagated in Africa and elsewhere such that it has a place among the universal religions and commands the allegiance of about a quarter of the world population today.5 When asked about their faith, Gafar bin Abi Talib is said to have spoken on behalf of his colleagues before the Negus, in the presence of officers of the Ethiopian church and state and in the presence of their Meccan enemies, led by Amr bin al-As and others, who sought to discredit the Muslims in the eyes of their protector the Negus and thereby secure their extradition to Mecca. Gafar said: We were a people of ignorance. (We used to) worship idols, eat carrion, commit evil, sever kinship relations, abuse (our) neighbours, and the strong of us subdued the weak. Such were we till Allah sent to us a messenger from our midst; we know his origins, his truthfulness, his honesty and his chastity. He invited us to Allah to uphold His Oneness and worship Him and to cast away what we and our fathers used to worship instead of Allah from stones and idols. He commanded us to be truthful in speech, to fulfil our promise, to respect (our) neighbours, to desist from sinful acts and bloodshed, to commit no evil, to say no untruth, not to eat up the property of the orphans and not to traduce virtuous women. He commanded us to worship Allah alone and ascribe nothing as partner to Him. He commanded us to observe the Prayer, (pay) the Zakat and (keep) the Fast … we trusted him, believed in him and followed him.

Gafar was not questioned about Islam in those respects alone. He was questioned as well about the stand of Islam vis-à-vis the prophet Jesus and therefore Christianity. It is said that Gafar recited Sura 19, in which Islam’s position in respect of Maryam’s immaculate conception of Jesus is clearly stated and the line between Islam’s and the Christians’ belief concerning the Trinity is equally clearly drawn.

The Impact of Islam Islam did not emerge and spread in a religious vacuum. Indeed, one cannot think of man and a religious vacuum in any place or at any time in human history. The impact of Islam on Africa, Asia, Europe, America or anywhere cannot be appreciated without understanding the fundamentals of Islam itself and its attitude towards other religions. [33]


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The importance of what Gafar said is the fact that as early as the time of his encounter with the Negus, the fundamentals of Islam, all-embracing in nature as a universal religion should be, had been established. Belief in the “freedom of conscience”; the recognition, not simply the tolerance, of other religions; belief in the original messages of all previous prophets; belief that men are of one race (misconceptions about the original message of other religions have led, and still lead, some to turn their religion into a tribal club and advocate that they are a chosen people and that the rest of humanity are gentiles, and have caused others to think that they are a master race and that those who do not share their skin colour and ethnic origins are inferior beings) – all these were by then firmly established. Indeed, the Quran as well as the Traditions of the Prophet Muhammad (p.b.u.h.) are unequivocal about this. “Who so turneth not in repentance, such are the unjust” [Quran 49: 11]. And in 49: 13, “O mankind! We have created you male and female and have made you nations and tribes that you may know one another. Verily, the noblest of you is the best in conduct; Allah is all knowing, all aware.” It was in Egypt and North Africa that Islam gained its major foothold in Africa in the very early stages of its expansion outside Arabia. A good part of the area was then under the rule of the Byzantine Empire. Having successfully concluded major campaigns against Byzantine troops in Syria (AD 639–40), the Muslims found it both necessary and opportune to cross over into Africa in their bid to chase out the Byzantines and secure for themselves the important and rich province of Egypt. In a succession of brilliant and quick but hard campaigns, Egypt fell to Muslim troops and was by AD 641 firmly under their control. The advance west of Egypt, for the purpose of spreading the word, chasing out the Byzantines and bringing under Muslim control the whole of North Africa, especially the southern Mediterranean coast, was neither quick nor easy. From the year AD 641, the Muslims battled on, advancing and retreating, winning and losing to win again, until by the year AD 711, they had all the Maghrib under their control. Egypt was never lost, and continued to serve as a base for reinforcement and supply to the then new camp of Qayrawan, which controlled and directed operations to the west. In the long process of conquest, the Berbers, who were the main obstacle in the face of expansion, were won over to Islam and its cause. They were a decisive factor in the defeat of the Byzantines, [34]


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the completion of the conquest of North Africa and the subsequent crossing over into Europe. By AD 717, the Muslims had added Iberia to their conquests and were to cross the Pyrenees and remain in southern France until AD 732. What had helped their expansion into Egypt and North Africa, besides their own positive contribution to their success, was the fact that the Byzantine Empire was weak and discredited politically as well as religiously in this area. The conquest of these African territories did not spell the immediate or, ultimately, the total conversion of their peoples to Islam. Contrary to what is commonly propagated, the religion of Islam did not spread by the sword. The caliphate, that is the state, did spread politically and geographically by force of arms. The conversion of the people of these places to Islam was a slow process, extending over decades and sometimes centuries. Among the Berber tribes of Zanata, who first came into contact with Islam, it was quick after the initial resistance; but it was slow among other tribes. Among the Copts of Egypt and the sedentary population of the coastal areas of North Africa, it was slow. Only in the third century of Islam, the ninth century AD, can one speak of the massive conversion of Egyptians to Islam. But, as is well known, the Christian Coptic Church flourishes in Egypt up to the present day. On the other hand, certainly the advance of Islam was much enhanced by the Muslim state, one of whose basic functions was the protection of the faith. In other words, “having the kingdom” was conducive for “the rest to follow”.

The Emergence and Growth of Islamic Culture With the expansion of Islam, the conquests and the establishment of the state, two processes, basic to the foundation of Islamic culture and its subsequent growth in Africa, were taking place. These were Islamization, the conversion of people to Islam and the preponderance of an Islamic outlook on society, and Arabization, which means here the spread of the Arabic language and what can be called Arab taste, values and ideals. Interdependent in many cases, the two processes have also developed independently of each other in many other instances. The combination of these two phenomena has been closely related to the impact of Muslim Arabs, or Arabized Muslims, or its absence. In Egypt and North Africa, one finds Islamization with Arabization and Arabization without Islamization. Some of the Copts and others in the [35]


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coastal regions of North Africa remained Christian or Jewish but were Arabized. Almost all those who became Muslims there were Arabized. Islam spread among the Berbers, but by and large the people retained their language, in the same way that the majority of Muslims in Africa and the rest of the world did. Thus the spread of Islam did not imply Arabization, nor did the spread of the Arabic language imply the spread of Islam. However, Islam requires knowledge of Arabic at least by scholars and the leaders of the faith. Indeed, no Muslim can observe his religious duties without being able to recite some parts of the Quran, the holy book of Islam. This is so because reciting parts of the Quran is an obligatory part of prayer. Also, the Quran is for the Muslim the revealed word of Allah. Any translation of it will be only a temporary translation of what is assumed to be its meaning; it is not the Quran itself. It is around these three elements, the Muslim state, Islam and Arabic or the lack thereof (the language of the holy book of Islam [the Quran] and its prophetic tradition [Sunna] and mostly the language of the civilization of Islam), that one should look for the growth and impact of Islamic culture in Africa. In the case of Egypt and North Africa, they came under the rule of the caliphate by military means. Soon after their conquest, they became administrative provinces of the caliphate centred on the new local capitals of Fustat (Egypt) and Qayrawan (Ifriqiya). One immediately sees the roots of the new culture of Islam. There were the new capitals, starting as military camps and developing over the years into urban centres. There were the new rulers upholding or claiming to uphold the teachings of Islam and implementing its law, the Sharia, as regents of the caliph, first in Medina and later in Damascus or Baghdad. There was Islam the religion, represented by the state and the Muslim Arab troops residing in the camps in the new capitals or other similar places. And there was the Arabic language, the language of the new rulers and the key to Islam, which gradually became the medium of administration and all aspects of culture and education. What is commonly described as Islamic culture is in essence the growth of certain characteristics that distinguish Muslim states, societies and individuals from others. It is the result of the interaction of those determining factors, partly or wholly, with indigenous peoples and cultures. That interaction was not static or localized. Rather, it has been open over the centuries to influences from the experiences of all the Muslim world, then expanding in Asia, Europe and Africa and later [36]


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subjected to the expansion of Europe. While bringing in new concepts and new cultural traditions to these areas, Islam also moulded or absorbed and redirected many existing ideas within its own order of things. In the end, one sees the cultural aspects of Islam in all the spheres of man’s life where it was fully embraced – a definite identity of the society and the individual. But the impact of Islamic culture on Africa, as elsewhere, has not been among Muslims alone. From the time of the Prophet Muhammad, Islam recognized the presence of other religions, biblical and others, and provided for their accommodation within Muslim states or societies. It is this that explains the coexistence and exchanges between Muslims and others that still goes today. The continued presence of Christianity and Judaism in Egypt and North Africa was thus assured from the start. What happened in Egypt and North Africa is important with respect to the growth of Islamic culture in other parts of Africa. These provinces were a part of the classical lands of the Muslim caliphate in all the periods during which what came to be known as Islamic culture or civilization took shape and crystallized. Bearing in mind the definitions expounded earlier, we now turn to look at the basic features of Islamic culture with regard to settlements and to the ruling, administrative and religious institutions that emerged there and that came to be associated with Islam almost everywhere. Fustat, the first capital of Muslim Egypt, and Qayrawan, the first Muslim capital of Ifriqiya and the Maghrib, were, as mentioned above, established as camp settlements to house the Muslim Arab troops who were to govern and defend these provinces. Gradually they grew into urban centres and then into the places they came to be. Their simple origin, as well as their subsequent development, had much in common with similar settlements that were founded before or after them. Such places are known in Muslim history as the amsar (sing. misr, city or urban centre. Misr also means Egypt in Arabic). It is to these that the characteristic features of Muslim cities are to be traced. The division of the area into sections (four, five or more, according to the number of quarters needed, which depended on the number of major tribal groups to be stationed in the area); the wide streets for the quick and easy movement of troops; the centrality of the administrative and public building or places such as the governor’s house, the public square for the parading of troops, the bayt al-mal (treasury) and the market place, with [37]


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separate parts for the different professions and crafts; and the initial simplicity and functional nature of the buildings, later changing to the advanced and grand styles inspired by the prosperity of the state and the glory of the new faith, and accomplished from local materials by indigenous skill – all these were fundamental to the new state and society. They were equally in accordance with the dictates and traditions of the Muslim faith. As the new states developed, the ruling institutions with their functions, functionaries and titles replaced the old ones. The people of Egypt or North Africa as subjects of the caliph (amir al-mimunin or imam al-muslimin), were he in Medina, Damascus or Baghdad, had with them as his regent or deputy the amil or wali. With him, appointed from the centre or locally, were the qadi (judge), the sahib al-kharaj or the mushrif (the officer for revenue and taxation), the sahib al-shurta (the chief of police and security), the qaid or amir al-jaysh (the commander of the troops) and the katib (the chief secretary, sometimes an adviser and the head of the civil service), to mention but the leading officials of the state. As society developed into complex urban entities, the office emerged of the muhtasib (the welfare officer, market supervisor and moral censor), who performed his duties in close cooperation with the judiciary and the police. With the growth of trade and craft guilds emerged their chiefs, their initiation ceremonies and their patron saints from the leading Sufis of the age. The sufi tariqas (described as religious orders) were present from the third century of Islam, the ninth century AD. The growth of trade was by then gradually having an impact on culture. A system of exchange for the bimetallic currencies of the caliphate (silver and gold) emerged. As the two African provinces were part of the long-distance trade of the Muslim world, the system of trade by draft or sakk (in Arabic it means a document, usually a draft or receipt; the word “cheque” is from this word) came to be known and used there. The mosques, growing from their simplicity and functionalism, were beautifully built and decorated by calligraphic and carefully set symmetrical designs. In time they developed to house within their areas the maktab or madrasa (school) for the education of the young, having all the time had within them the circles of learned men who disseminated the teaching of Islam, cultivated other studies allied with it and propagated the Arabic language, the vehicle of all. Officials connected with the running of the mosque, such as the imam (the leader of prayers), the [38]


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muadhin (the caller to prayer), and others responsible for looking after the upkeep of the mosque, were usually provided for by the state. Some of the mosques, for example Zaytuna in Tunis, founded in the eighth century AD; al-Azhar in Cairo, founded in the tenth century AD; and the Qarawiyyin in Fez, founded in the eleventh century AD, were to develop into, and remain, leading Muslim universities visited by scholars and students from all over the Muslim world and from outside it as well. In all three of these mosque-universities, hostels for the students were provided, supported by the state, by rulers or by donations and trusts of pious men commonly called waqf or habs. One of these in al-Azhar was Borno, known as Ruwaq al-Borno. Another was Sinnar, known as al-Ruwaq al-Sinnari. There were others, bearing African names such as Takrur and Dar Silalh. Many of these institutions were not restricted to capital cities or to urban centres. The most important of them, the congregational mosque (masjid or jami), was present almost everywhere that Muslims were found in sufficient numbers to need the services of such a place. Fully built or simply demarcated, with or without a minaret, a mosque always had an imam and a muadhin, sometimes, especially in small villages, both in one person. In many cases, it had within its area or in its neighbourhood a maktab or madrasa. The makaranta in Hausaland is simply another word for these. In each village a person versed in the teachings of Islam (or taken to be so), known as the shaykh or alim, the same as the modibo or malam in Hausaland and the muallimo in East Africa, sometimes the imam of the mosque, sometimes another person, was usually present to serve the needs of the Muslims from the day they were born until they passed away. Corporal parts of Muslim culture, well based on the teachings and the Traditions of the faith, were, as today, the naming ceremony (aqiqa), the circumcision ceremony (khitan), the marriage ceremony (aqd al-nikah) and the burial ceremony (salat al-janaza). This last ceremony is usually preceded by the obligatory washing and simple covering of the dead by cloth, and ends by burial in a grave made to allow for the head of the deceased to rest facing the Kaaba in Mecca. By the time of his death, a Muslim who lived to maturity would most probably have participated in many if not all of these ceremonies. He would also have seen or participated in the communal prayer of the juma, Friday prayer, salat al-Id, the Ramadan and Korban bayram [39]


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prayers (known in Hausaland as the salla) and attended the mawlid or maweud ceremonies in commemoration of the birth of the Prophet Muhammad. In addition, he would have gone on haj, the pilgrimage to Mecca (and Medina), or seen some of those who had done so, and taken part in the festivities connected with that occasion. Had he the means, he would probably have been a trader with knowledge of reading, writing and travel. His world outlook would have been shaped by his own experience and conditioned by the teachings of Islam and what he knew of Muslim history. These would have given him a sense of belonging to a wider world and to a community whose history and traditions centre on the career of the Prophet Muhammad and the community of Muslims (jamaa), the very word for the brand of socialism that emerged in Tanzania after independence. He would probably have married at an early age. His son would have been called Muhammad, Ahmad, Mustafa, Abu Bakr, Uthman, Ali, Musa, Isa, Ibrahim or any of the names commonly used for Muslim males. His daughter would have been called Amina, Aisha, Asma, Hawwa, Zaynab, Maryam or any of the other names of famous Muslim women. In his house, there would have been special secluded quarters for his womenfolk. His dress, made of cotton flax or wool, would have been decent but not superfluous. Were he observant of his obligations as a Muslim, he would have given zakat (a form of income or property tax) at the end of every lunar year or after Ramadan and sadaqa (alms) to the poor or needy, on the understanding that it was better to give than to take.

Africa South of Egypt and the Maghrib As pointed out earlier, the first Muslim migration to Ethiopia was not to be an isolated incident. Moreover, although those first migrants did return to the Hijaz to join the Prophet Muhammad in Medina, others of those who crossed into East Africa later were to stay. So was Islam. In many ways, that first incident represented the way by which Islam penetrated Africa south of Egypt and the Maghrib. In these latter areas Islam went with the conquering troops. The countries were open to a succession of Arab migrations that went on until the thirteenth century AD. In their wake, the conquests and Arab migrations contributed to the relatively quick and nearly total Islamization and Arabization of the people and the culture of the area. [40]


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In the rest of Africa, where the majority of African Muslims are today, Islam, whether it came to be the religion of the majority or a minority of the people, was not the result of conquest. Nor was it the result of substantial Arab migrations, except perhaps in the case of the northern parts of the Nilotic Sudan, certain areas along the eastern coasts of Africa, central Sudan and the Sahel region in north-western Africa. In all cases, it was the result of peaceful penetration of the local scene slowly taking root and gradually bringing about cultural change. What happened was that the old contacts among East Africa and Arabia, the Nilotic Sudan, central Sudan, West Africa, North Africa and Egypt, East Africa and Arabia continued, and were indeed on the increase. This came about as a result of many factors. There was relative peace in the lands of the caliphate, which extended from the Atlantic in the west to the borders of India and China in the east. Even with the many civil wars, the rise of regional dynasties and ultimately the end of the caliphate in AD 1258, the cultural and economic unity of dar al-Islam (the land of Islam) remained. In these circumstances, and owing to the vast extent of the area and the demand for better living, trading activities and contacts grew. The emergence of regional dynasties in Egypt and North Africa or of Muslim polities in the Saharan and sub-Saharan regions were followed by an increase in relations with adjacent African regions. Traders from the various regions took part in this, and Islam and Muslim culture reached deep into Africa. Pious men, ulama, sufis, migrants, political refugees, along with traders and others, were finding their way to new lands. Coming with them were not only their manner of dealing and dress but also their articles of faith, their language, their writing and their books. And whether they stayed for good or for long enough to have families, they made contacts strong enough to have an impact on those who embraced the new faith. In the process, Islam and many aspects of Muslim culture took root. But, as has been suggested, the process was very slow. Islamization was nowhere complete, and Arabization, except in the areas indicated earlier, was minimal. Nonetheless, Arabic was growing as a language of the educated and some of the administrators, and its alphabet was used for writing local languages in many places from very early on: Arabic was not simply a liturgical language such as Latin or Syriac. Thus in Christian Nubia, findings in an eighth-century AD church indicate that the Coptic language, like Hebrew in Spain, was written in Arabic script. [41]


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Another aspect of Islam and Islamic culture was the presence of the mosque from very early times in different parts of the whole area. Some traditions speak of one in the eighth century AD in Dunqula in the Nilotic Sudan. Other traditions speak of Islam reaching Ghana in the eighth century AD. After the tenth century AD, however, the slow penetration reached a point that led to the dramatic changes that took place in the following centuries. This was the era of the appearance of Muslim states, first in West Africa, then in central and Nilotic Sudan. By the fifteenth century AD, the whole belt was under Muslim rule. (Similar events were taking place in East Africa, in the coastal areas of Somalia and in Abyssinia in the coastal areas and parts of the plateau.) The defeat of Ghana by the Almoravids in the year AD 1076 does not explain this, in the same way that the treaty known as the baqt [pact] of AD 651–2 between the rulers of Muslim Egypt and Nubia does not explain the spread of Islam in Nilotic Sudan. But those two events are important in the history of Islam and Muslim culture in all the regions. The baqt treaty of AD 651–2 provides a date for contact between Nubia and Muslim Egypt and shows the type of relations that were to exist for a very long time, and other traditions speak of Muslim trading with Ghana from the eighth century AD. By the end of the eleventh century AD, by which time there had occurred the dramatic change of the emergence of Muslim states among the Berbers of Lamtuna and Guddala (Almoravides) and in Mali, Ghana, Songhay, the middle Niger, Borno and around Lake Chad, a quantitative change among the Muslims of the area must certainly have taken place. Their numbers must have reached the point at which they were sufficiently decisive in effecting changes. Their sense of the need for change, to have their own states, must have been awakened by vocal individuals who were influential in their communities. The emergence of leaders who worked for change can be explained by general developments in the Muslim world, where rebellion and revivalism by political aspirants for power, militant Sufi leaders and puritanical men were the mark of the age. Among those involved were the scholars and students around whom the famous schools of Timbuktu and Jenne grew. The emergence of those states set the stage for the quantitative and qualitative growth of Muslim culture in the area. Of the basic features of the culture described earlier, much came into being. Interestingly, where [42]


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change to a Muslim state was a result of force between the new converts and the old rulers, the classic set of Muslim offices and office-holders emerged and there was a measure of Arabization along with Islam. Where the change came peacefully from the top, the traditional offices and titles remained. Examples of this can be drawn from all over the area. A prominent one is the situation that prevailed in Hausaland before the jihad of Uthman Dan Fodio (d. 1817) and what followed as a result of it (for background, see Chapter 5). It is important to realize that for the most part indigenous Muslims carried out the conversion of others and ultimately established the Muslim states. Through pilgrimage, travel, trade and the movement of scholars and Sufi leaders and the exchange of embassies within the area or with the states to the north, Islam and its culture were continuously reinforced. Arabic was the language of the educated elite, who drew from common sources and traditions. Arabic letters were used for writing the local languages, which, like Swahili, Hausa, Fulfulde, Nupe and others, adopted many Arabic loanwords. Despite the variations, Muslims were approximating ideals that worked towards the emergence of a common identity, of a unity of outlook and culture among them. From time to time, especially towards the end of every Muslim century, revivalist leaders, some of them claiming to be the Mahdi (the expected rightly-guided Muslim leader) would emerge calling people to return to the practices and conditions of the days of the Prophet Muhammad and the first four caliphs of Islam – an effort to approximate the ideal and to draw attention to the roots of Islam and its culture. The pattern of the propagation of Islam and the pace of its spread in Africa were thus set in the lifetime of Muhammad (peace be upon Him) by that first migration to Ethiopia, the first ever in Islam. The arrival of Islam in Egypt, North Africa, West Africa and East Africa did not take long after the death of the Prophet, as has been described. Thus throughout its history, Islam has been, as it still is, an important and in many cases a determining factor in the development of African societies. Despite the conservative and unreliable figures we have about the Muslim population in Africa in particular and in the world in general, studies on the subject show that of an assumed total population of Africa of about 242,569,000 in 1960, there were 137,356,000 Muslims; and of about 288,011,000 in 1970, there were about 163,054,000.6 (To show how unreliable these figures are, the population of Nigeria in 1960 [43]


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was given as 50,000,000 out of whom 22,500,000 were Muslims. In 1970 it was given as 61,450,000 out of whom 27,653,000 were Muslims. That of Ethiopia was given as 20,000,000 in 1960, out of whom 10,000,000 were Muslims. In 1970 it was given as 23,667,000, out of whom 11,833,000 were Muslims.7) The figures show that more than half the population of Africa is Muslim. In other words, there are more Muslims than there are followers of all other universal or “traditional” religions combined. A forecast based on these unreliable figures indicates that the Muslim population in Africa was to have been about 201,500,000 in 1975.8 This is against an estimate of 700,000,000 for the global Muslim population.9 The greatest and most obvious aspect of the impact of Islam on Africa is certainly this: there are so many Muslims in Africa that the ratio of Muslims to all Africans is unrivalled by any other continent. One need not go into more detail about how this came about. But certain aspects are pertinent to our subject. The spread of Islam was very much a matter of slow but deep-rooted growth. This was a result of the impact of the transformation that Islam effected in Muslim individuals, Muslim communities and Muslim rulers and states. The frequently propagated ideas, sometimes through sheer ignorance, at other times through plain malice, that Islam was spread by the sword or that non-Muslim subjects in conquered territories adopted the new faith in order to escape heavy taxation have no basis at all. Non-Muslim scholars have already dealt with the subject and have proven that these allegations are simply not true.10 But there is no denying the fact that the caliphate and subsequent Muslim states did expand through the use of force in defence of the faith, the state and its subjects or sometimes for economic, political or strategic purposes. In many cases, that expansion was at the expense of other Muslims. And although it is true that “Have ye the kingdom and the rest will follow”, the fact is that save for the countries conquered from the Byzantines or the Persians in Africa, Asia or Europe, it is the emergence of Muslim communities and the rise of their number, their consciousness and their power that paved way for the emergence of Muslim states. All the history of Islam in Africa, except for Egypt and North Africa, is a proof of this. There it took centuries after the conquest for the conversion of the Berbers and the Egyptians to Islam to run its course. To be sure, there would have been many more Muslims and much more of Islam but for the more than five centuries of Western [44]


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domination and colonialism. And these are not over yet. Colonialism has only given way to neo-colonialism, and some parts of Africa are still struggling to rid themselves of racist settler colonialism. The often expressed view that Islam continued to spread under colonial rule is of course a fact. But it is a fact that conceals many others. Colonial administration certainly protected, cooperated with and helped the many organizations that worked for the spread of the religion of the colonizing country. Not only that – in certain cases the spread of Islam and its culture was proscribed by laws and development policies made and enforced by the colonial administration. An obvious case is that of the “closed districts” of southern Sudan. Sometimes policies were designed to create a situation of imbalance against Muslim areas in educational, technical and other developments, such as has been the case in Nigeria. Here, records now show that it is not true that Muslim northerners were not interested in marrying the fruits of modern education to their Islamic education. Rather, it was the colonial power’s policy to restrict this and to open the door in ways conducive to its own politico-cultural and religious interests. One has to look at the names of persons to see how education has been used to convert children whose parents were Muslim. Moreover, the overall impact of the West on others who were not converted but were otherwise brainwashed, as they did not have a sound Muslim education, was that they were left in complete loss or utter confusion. As some have thought that it is the religion of the West that brought about its military and material power, so others have thought that Islam, not the failure of the Muslims, has put them in such weak positions. There is no claim here that Muslim individuals, societies or states have always lived up to the practical ideals of Islam or come near to them. But in certain respects, and in spite of the power and dominance of the West and its policies, Muslim societies in Africa and elsewhere have done exceptionally well in upholding the fundamentals of Islam with regard to the problems mentioned earlier. Thus nowhere has Islam produced a society where, purely on the basis of colour or ethnic origin, there are separate mosques, separate schools and systems of education, separate means of transport, separate residential areas, separate laws or separate eating places. Neither have Muslim scholars wasted any time in attempting to prove that because of the accident of differences in colour or genes, some people are superior to others. [45]


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Thanks to the way Islam has made its impact as din in all aspects of their lives, African Muslims in general have withstood the test with regard to those basic issues of “freedom of conscience” and the essential equality of all mankind. Faced with the multi-faceted might of colonial powers, which in most cases took power over the dead bodies of their forefathers, Muslim communities, Muslim leaders and Muslim ulama in Africa did not, on the whole, fall prey to that catastrophic situation. Rather, they kept their integrity and identity as human beings, as Africans and as Muslims against great odds. Succour, even if it were death, was always near. Thus, while some were condemned by their faith, Muslims were redeemed by theirs. What they knew of Islam made them identify themselves not simply with it as a set of beliefs but with the whole Muslim world in its past, present and future dimensions. They certainly knew that Islam, whose world is weak now, had in the not very distant past subdued the West in almost every field, and for many centuries too. And of course Muslims had experienced defeat, even when commanded by the Prophet himself. Thus in the Quran 3: 140, we read: “If you have received a blow, the (disbelieving) people have received a blow the like thereof. These are (only) the vicissitudes We cause to follow one another for mankind, to the end that Allah may know those who believe and choose martyrdom from amongst you; and Allah loveth not the wrong-doers.” Here the impact of Islam on education and law is of paramount importance. It was the spread of these and the influence they had on the minds and social relationships of African Muslims in the way they prescribed the dimensions of life to them that kept them distinct from others. In the same way, the spread of Islam in most of Africa was independent of the expansion of the caliphate of the Rashidun, the Umayyads and the Abbasids. And so too was the emergence and flourishing of Islamic culture, written in Arabic or using Arabic script but expressed in local languages such as Hausa, Swahili, Fulani, Yoruba, Nupe and Dinka. This was an indigenous and independent affair. Contacts with the older lands of Islam in Africa and Arabia continued to be maintained, but the literature that emerged had all the qualities of the localities and was in no way marginal to Islamic writings from the angle of Arabic literature or from the angle of Muslim thought in its various fields. The emergence of a succession of Muslim states in West Africa from the eleventh to the [46]


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nineteenth centuries was very much the work of Muslim scholars. The state forged by Uthman Dan Fodio of Hausaland in Nigeria was the peak of this development. The literature it left behind is unrivalled in its time and for its quality, diversity and impact by any other literature in the Muslim world. The impact of Islam has not been on Muslims alone. Non-Muslim Africans have been influenced too. One must look at social relations, manners of dress, personal names, architecture, market practices and concepts and words in African languages to see how far these cultural features were influenced by Islam. The Arabic language became a lingua franca in places such as the southern parts of Sudan, and for centuries before the impact of the West; and the Arabic alphabet developed into scripts for many an African language. They could not have attained these positions but for Islam. There is evidence that Arabic Bibles have been used in West Africa since the nineteenth century. Now the voice of the Gospel is broadcasting in Arabic from Monrovia. To the critics of Islam concerning the damage done in the tenth and thirteenth centuries AD by the nomadic migrations of the Banu Hilal and the Banu Sulaym in North Africa, one needs only to point out that it was nomadism, not Islam, that caused the havoc accompanying these invasions. Islam’s position regarding nature can be seen in the Quran and in the injunctions of the Prophet: Muslims are commanded to respect, safeguard and develop what the bounty of Allah has afforded them. In Africa, the impact of Islam in that field is seen in the development of agriculture, of urban settlements and of the rule of law.

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NOTES 1 Cf. Uthman Dan Fodio, Bayan wugub al-hijra ‘ala-l-‘ibad (N.H.R.S., A.B.U., Zaria). 2 Ibn Hisham, Sirat Rasul Allah (ed. M. Saqqa, I. Abyari and A. Shalabi (Cairo, 1375/1955), Vol. 1, pp. 321, 322. See also Alfred Guillaume, The Life of Muhammad (London 1955). 3 Ibn Hisham, Sirat Rasul Allah, p. 322. 4 Ibid., p. 392. 5 Antony Kamm, The Story of Islam (Cambridge, 1976), last page. 6 Magdi M. el-Kammash, “Islamic Countries”, in Population and Law: a Study of the Relations between Population Problems and Law (eds. L.T. Lee and A. Larson, Durham, North Carolina: Rule of Law Press, 1971), p. 321. 7 Idem. 8 Ibid., p. 304. 9 Kamm, The Story of Islam, last page. 10 See T. W. Arnold, The Preaching of Islam (London, 1935) and D. Dennet, Conversion and Poll Tax in Islam (Cambridge, Mass., 1950).

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5 The Literature of Dan Fodio’s Jihad and the Sokoto Caliphate of Northern Nigeria, 1804–1903

Islam found its way to West Africa as early as the eighth century AD. With the spread of Islam, the Quran, the Traditions, Arabic language and literature, the Arabic alphabet and Arabic numerals all spread too. The increase in the number of Muslims was gradually followed by the rise of centres of learning, the emergence of a class of learned Muslim scholars (the ulama) and an ever increasing number of students. The Arabic alphabet was adapted to be used in the writing of Hausa. It was also adapted for the writing of Fulfulde, Yoruba and other West African languages. Contacts with the classical Muslim world in North Africa, Egypt and as far away as the Hijaz continued. A substantial qualitative change was taking place in West Africa and all along the Sudanic Belt of Sub-Saharan Africa. This heralded the emergence of Muslim states in the region. Hausaland was no exception to what was happening in the region. In the late eighteenth century AD when Shaykh Uthman Dan Fodio emerged, there were seven Hausa states, known as the “Hausa Bakwai”. (Bakwai means “seven”.) These were Kano, Rano, Katsina, Gobir, Zamfara, Zaria and Bauchi. There was Islam in these states, but to Shaykh Uthman and his growing number of disciples, devotees and followers, it was only a semblance of the true Islamic faith. In the period 1774–89, he began to teach and present what he advanced as the correct message of Islam to the Fulani and Hausa around his home town of Degel in the state of Gobir. His activities reached as far as Zamfara and Katsina. He criticized common-held beliefs that mixed Islam with idolatry and witchcraft. He criticized state practices that were un-Islamic, harsh and unjust. He criticized the court ulama who were party to these practices, calling them ulama as-su, that is “scholars of evil”. He was thus dabbling in politics and alarming all those he attacked. The years 1789–1804 saw further political activity. The jamaa (the community of Shaykh Uthman’s followers) increased in numbers and [49]


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solidarity, and were increasingly seen as a menace to the status quo. But Shaykh Uthman stuck to his message, and continued to preach and practise the true faith in all aspects of life. Under the circumstances, a clash with the authorities was inevitable. The rulers of the states of Gobir, Zamfara and Katsina amongst others could not tolerate Shaykh Uthman’s activities and the growing size and solidarity of the jamaa. They attacked them, killing, looting, destroying their mosques and burning their books, including the Quran. This forced Shaykh Uthman to migrate to Degel, where he assumed the title Amir al-Mumunin (Commander of the Believers) and led a jihad (holy war) that continued until 1810. The result was the end of the Hausa states and the rise of what became known as the Sokoto Caliphate, which was ended by the British in 1903.1 Although commonly referred to as a caliphate, it was in fact a sultanate. While Shaykh Uthman (d. 1817) was addressed as Amir al-Mu‘minin, the eleven descendants who succeeded him adopted the title “Sultan”. The most famous of these was his son and immediate successor, Sultan Muhammad Bello (d. 1837). It is important to remember that in the cases of both the Prophet Muhammad (p.b.u.h.) and Shaykh Uthman who emulated him, jihad meant more of a holy war by the wise word than by the sword. That is to say, while the state and community were defended by the sword, the faith was spread by the wise word. The following attempts to shed light on the jihad literature of the Sokoto Caliphate. The triumvirate of Shaykh Uthman Dan Fodio (d. 1817), Shaykh Abd Allah (d. 1829) and Muhammad Bello (d. 1837) left a great legacy of writing. Of their known works, more than a hundred are attributed to Uthman,2 sixty to Abd Allah and some seventy-eight to Bello. Writing appears to have been their foremost occupation. They were scholars of the highest order, masters of all the sciences of Islam and also of the Arabic language.3 They were as well men of unusual abilities, accomplishing much and taking many things in their stride. Most of all, they were men who were thoroughly dedicated to their cause. That cause was the propagation and maintenance of true Islam. Of necessity, that had to include the establishment of a Muslim state. In the circumstances, that process involved the use of force in self-defence and in the face of the enemies of the cause and the state. But for them the essence of their mission was education, and the goal was the implementation of the teachings expounded. And they were educators of unusual calibre. [50]


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T H E L I T E R AT U R E O F D A N F O D I O ’ S J I H A D

Jihad, in the strict sense of waging war in defence of Islam, was an obligation that they as Muslims had to prepare for and an eventuality that they had to face.4 In a reply to al-Kanemi, the shaykh of Borno, about the cause of the jihad, Bello explained: And know, o al-Kanemi, that we have not first fought the people because of what you have been told. We have fought them in defence of ourselves, our religion and our people when they harmed and provoked us and asked us to return to what is unlawful to us (of practice and belief ). The Shaykh had made the truth clear to us and we followed it. They then set on us their riff-raff to cause us harm, forcibly take away our property and rob us on the roads. All the while we were endeavouring to correct our religion, propagate what we have of knowledge and guide to the truth all those who reached us. Thus was our way and so was theirs. When they saw that we were not to desist from what we were in and that our cause was multiplying to our pleasure and that people were entering into the religion of Allah in troops, they were vexed. They made their strategem to start war with us having no doubt that the outcome would be in their favour because of what they saw of our weakness to fight.5

It was in that situation that the famous three-point order of Nafata, the amir of Gobir, was given, an order in many ways similar to the call for a return to what are nowadays described as African religions.6 In this connection, it is perhaps relevant to recall that it was not by war that Islam was initially spread and maintained, a false notion many seem to be fond of propagating. The important factor in the spread and maintenance of Islam has been education, hence the special importance of the educators (muallimun) in the Nigerian context. In many parts of the Quran, the Prophet Muhammad is described as an educator.7 The first ayat (verse) revealed to him spoke of Allah as “He who taught with the pen, taught man that which he knew not.”8 Thus tabligh, conveying the divine message,9 was a fundamental part of the Prophet Muhammad’s mission – he makes many references to this in the famous sermon of the farewell pilgrimage – and it is also the logical basis of Allah’s punishments and rewards according to Islam. Tabligh, as an integral and essential part of Muslims’ obligation to “enjoin the right and forbid the wrong”, was the initial and continuous role of the triumvirate. Indeed the very titles they gave to many of their works are indicative of this. Bayan, expounding; Diya, guiding light; [51]


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Irshad, counselling; Najm, guiding star; Nasiha, advice; Talim, educating, and Tanbih, drawing attention to, are all aspects of conveying the message of Islam. For this they had to continue educating people, using both the spoken and the written word. This they did for their disciples and students, for rulers, for the learned and the lay, for those who shared with them the burdens of guiding the jamaa and the state then and afterwards and for themselves sometimes. Shaykh Uthman concerned himself with conveying the message to all sections of society and to as many places as he could reach. He spoke to rulers, debated with the ulama, wrote books and taught men and women in their own tongue.10 Bello has given us in detail the subjects of Shaykh Uthman’s sermons and also a picture of how he used to speak to the people. On arriving at the place where people were sitting he would give a general greeting audible to all those present. On sitting on the chair (kursi) he would politely and in a pleasant manner greet the people three times. Then the people would be silent. He was never to give to despondency, anger or despair though he was burdened with a group of ill-mannered riff-raff who would not stop chattering or refrain from asking questions when they were told to do so. He would then speak to them in a loud voice addressing himself to everyone without distinction. He would never show any deference for those present even if they were a group of shaykhs, or a host of ulama, but, undaunted, he would speak to them all about what he deemed to be of use to them. Sometimes a question would be posed while he was talking and he would stop and answer it. He was fearless in matters of religion and nobody’s blame would make him budge from the truth …11

“Know that he presented the account of those Usul, fundamentals, in order and in the speech of those present …”12 “Know that he presented those Furu, derivatives, in order and in the speech of those present …”13 Mindful of the role of women, of the obligation of educating them in their duties and responsibilities in Islam and of the need for them to go out of their houses in pursuit of such knowledge and for legitimate needs, Shaykh Uthman left us at least three works advocating the right of women to engage in those activities. The arguments of the opposing groups are laid bare and shown to be groundless as, in his usual manner, he quotes authority after authority to show that he was not going contrary to Islamic teachings and traditions.14 [52]


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And if there was no intermixing between men and women and there was a curtain and the going of women (out of their houses) was for the purpose of acquiring knowledge of the personal individual obligations in Islam, Furud al-A’yan, then surely no two persons should ever doubt that this is permissible according to the consensus of Muslim learned opinion, Ijma. I used to teach men the individual personal obligations in Islam, and the women used to attend from behind a curtain. I used to forbid them from intermixing with men and repeat that intermixing of women and men is forbidden, Haram, till that became known as of necessity. Then I set aside a special day for the men and for the women theirs. Such a practice is better and more sound …15 I saw that in our lands – Biladina al-Sudaniyya – people held opposing views on the subject of women going out of their houses. There are two groups on this. One group of them went to the extreme course of licence, holding that women are allowed to go out of their houses in pursuit of all their needs, the same as men, whether or not there was a legitimate, Shariyya, necessity for that. This is categorically wrong. This first group is the predominant one. Another group of them went to the extreme of restriction, holding that women are not allowed at all to go out of their houses to accomplish any of their needs, whether or not there is a legitimate necessity for that. This too is categorically wrong. This second group is small and is known only to a few people. I wanted to advise all by writing this book to explain to them the course of justice, the middle course between the two extremes …16

Concern with the education of all members of the community was not Shaykh Uthman’s alone, and it did not, as is evidenced from the preceding quotations, change after the first jihad and the successful establishment of the caliphate. On the contrary, there was more cause for the triumvirate to intensify their activities in their role as educator-rulers. They had to cater for the emerging problems of a growing community and an expanding state. The jamaa, the jihad and the caliphate were not ends in themselves. The end was, like the beginning, the propagation and maintenance of true Islam. Their positions and actions had to be seen and sanctioned by those terms. They had to carry on convincing people of their policies and actions and advising them as to their rights and obligations in Islam even though they had the power to coerce. It is thus significant and understandable that Shaykh Uthman continued to address himself to his readers in his writings even after the jihad and the [53]


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establishment of the caliphate in his habitual warm, endearing and egalitarian term of the Ikhwan, the Brothers.17 It was as a brother and fellow Muslim that he was concerned to tell them the truth. It was as a shaykh, a learned man and a religious leader, that they looked to him.18 Shaykh Abd Allah, a brother and disciple of Shaykh Uthman, seems to have written the bulk of his works after the jihad. In many respects, these were variations on the same theme. His debates and differences with Shaykh Uthman, echoed in some of their works, are not an indication of a serious rift in the direction of the community and the state or among their leaders so much as a reminder of the basic nature of the two men and their careers. As shaykhs they emerged and as shaykhs they continued to be, serving the cause of what they regarded as true and sacred to the best of their ability as fallible human beings. There was nothing to hide about these differences. They were thus spelt out and left for posterity to see. The result was the warm, earnest, honest and most polite and tolerant of debates.19 And it was in the same manner and governed by the same principles and intentions that the dialogue with al-Kanemi was conducted.20 Not least concerned, not least involved, Bello also played a part in education and in the lofty debates and discussions. As the one who had the most to do with the caliphate, it was again his position as the second, if at all, to his two elder peers in knowledge and piety that paved the way for his succession and served him in his times of difficulty. When he had to quell the rebellion of Abd al-Salam, he wrote to explain the affair to the community at large.21 In his quest to run his amirate according to Islamic rule and practice, Amir Yaqub of Bauchi wrote to Bello for advice not simply because he was the caliph but because to him Bello was a man of unquestionable knowledge and piety. And his answers in the circumstances were a fulfilment of Yaqub’s expectations.22 Bello’s other writings on the duties and obligations of good Muslims, rulers and subjects are thus meant not only as manuals of good conduct but also as the basis of the relationship between him and the jamaa.23 That he was to carry out his duties according to the Sharia and to be answerable to Allah and to the community, especially the learned men of his day, is implicit in all those writings. Taken together, what is available of the works of the triumvirate is complementary, each one to the other according to the different roles the three men played in the service of the call of Shaykh Uthman for the [54]


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establishment of correct Islam. They are a good and true record of the emergence and progress of the jamaa, the jihad and the establishment and expansion of the caliphate. The works were meant to expound, elaborate and emphasize the teachings of Shaykh Uthman, upon whose teachings the jihad and the caliphate arose. True Islam, social justice, the Muslim state and the rule of Islam with clear stipulation of the rights, obligations and limits of rulers and ruled were the major themes of the literature they left behind and the literature that came in the wake of their works. There is a connection between the pre-jihad, jihad and post-jihad literature of the caliphate in the themes that run throughout these stages. It was an ideal, being worked out as it historically unfolded itself. The literature thus reflected the various stages of the development of the jihad in its wider sense. Certainly in the works of each of them we see a clear reflection of his role, circumstances and disposition. Shaykh Uthman kept on his main theme of the fundamentals and derivatives of faith. Shaykh Abd Allah busied himself with the details of the law. Bello occupied himself with political theory, ruling institutions and the problems of administration. But they were all drawing from the same sources, and each contributed to what is assumed to be the bent or main concern of the other. As Shaykh Uthman put it in the concluding part of Najm al-Ikhwan: So take to reading the works of my brother Abd Allah, for he is, on the whole, concerned with the letter of the Sharia. Take to reading the works of my son Muhammad Bello, for he is, on the whole, concerned with the preservation of the political science of the (Muslim) community with regard to the persons, aims, time, place and (prevailing) conditions. Take to reading my works too for I am, on the whole, concerned with the preservation of both. All our works are explanations of what has been generally treated in the works of previous scholars. The works of previous scholars are explanations of what was generally treated in the Book (Quran) and the Sunna …

One cannot help thinking how opportune it was that these men were there together with all those abilities and zeal to serve, despite differences of character and opinion, their common cause. It is in the context of differences of opinion and of changing situations and circumstances that the debates among Shaykh Uthman, Shaykh Abd Allah, Bello and others are to be seen. The Islamic tradition [55]


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of learning that they represent has expressed and allowed this. This is witnessed in the Quran itself and in the career of the Prophet and the lives of his companions. The very presence of different schools (madhahib) is a clear example. Shaykh Uthman consciously emulated the Prophet, his ultimate example, and in many respects his actions were made to approximate those of the Prophet. The similarity in the development of their careers should not be overlooked.24 His originality does not lie in that he advocated something new. He never claimed or wanted to claim anything of the sort. Instead, he married the old, what to him was the eternal truth of Islam, to the situation that obtained in his time and place. In this he was certainly most original. The note of measured happiness and contentment and the gentle warning to those who harboured dissatisfaction and discontent that he struck in Najm al-Ikhwan was as timely as it was well deserved. In that work Shaykh Uthman devoted the introduction to expounding the simplicity of Islam. As for the fact that the religion of Allah, Islam, is ease, it is because Allah, Exalted is He, says that “Allah desires ease for you and desires not hardship” and that “He has laid no hardship upon you in the matter of religion.” The Prophet, prayer and peace be upon him, said that religion is ease … And know, my brothers, that Allah, Exalted and most High is He, has bestowed upon us in this age the expounding of what is to be abandoned and what is to be permitted in the religion of Allah. He has bestowed upon us enjoining the right and forbidding the wrong. (He has bestowed upon us the power of ) deterring people, and that urges them to desist from acts of disobedience to Allah, and giving people good tidings, and that urges them to worship Allah. He has then bestowed upon us the Hijra, the installation of Amir al-Muminin and the assembly of the means of the Jihad, which are the horses, the arrows, the bows, the lancers, the swords, the coats of chain, the shields, the girdles, the helmets and the standards. He then bestowed upon us the Jihad with these, the appointment of wazirs, of troop commanders, of keepers of provisions, of provincial amirs, of scribes, of couriers to kings, of attendants in the court, of judges, of frontier amirs and of Amir al-Hajj. And these are twenty-three from the signs of Islam, the same number as that of the years of the mission of the Prophet, may Allah bless and salute him. We thank Allah. Exalted is He, who has bestowed upon us (the ability) to set forth these signs of Islam at the end of time …25 [56]


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This was not the rebel turned ruler but the educator par excellence seeing the stage set for the better advancement of the common cause. The brothers had to learn to be thankful, patient and content. They had to grasp fully the significance and importance of the changes so far achieved. They had to identify themselves with the institutions then established and to support them for the propagation and protection of true faith and just rule. It was no time for quibbling about trivialities. Psychological and intellectual approaches were combined to prove the point and serve the purpose. Obviously Shaykh Uthman was addressing the masses through the literate groups, a characteristic common to most if not all the works of the triumvirate. Here again is seen the real depth of the many revolutions staged by these three men and their associates. No sooner was a work finished than it was copied, recopied and circulated. Not surprisingly, the Judaeo-Christian and Euro-American tradition of the Arabists, Islamists, Orientalists, anthropologists and now Africanists can see no more in the work of these men and the jamaa than the military, political and administrative or the ethnic and tribal. Often biased and many times ignorant, they are never tired of things such as segmented societies, Fulani jihad and an ever-present Hausa–Fulani duality. As Talat Asad has put it: both functional anthropology and orientalism, by selecting certain phenomena, by not asking certain questions, by approaching history in a certain way, by taking the problem of social order as their basic theoretical concern, tended to project characteristic images of the political structure of the non-European societies they studied. I … suggest that the historical formation of these European disciplines helps us understand better why the selection and omission occurred as they did.26

There was an Islamic movement with all that Islam stands for by virtue of its universality, its openness, its tolerance, its justice and equity, its knowledge, its recognition and provision for previous religions and its civilization and history. This movement shook the socio-political order after successfully eroding its cultural and intellectual basis, and achieved all this by education and patient persuasion, precisely not to compromise Islam. However, this is simply but not subtly overlooked or ignored. Had that movement been conceived or presented on a tribal or ethnic basis, as some want us to believe, it would have been doomed [57]


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to failure, not to mention the fact that it could not have found a place in Islam. Was it the Fulani that Shaykh Uthman addressed in their own tongue? Was it the Fulani whose conversion to Islam alarmed the rulers of Gobir and made them present to him proposals that were meant to make the converts revert to their previous religion? Was it only among the Fulani that the shaykhs Uthman and Abd Allah and Muhammad Bello sojourned to spread the word of Islam? Could the jihad have succeeded if it were only a Fulani jihad? Does “jihad” in Islam mean war only? Can we reconcile Shaykh Uthman’s teachings with tribalism? Could a Fulani not be a Fulani? Who is a Fulani? Does an initial inherited identity of tribe or race preclude the ultimate identity of a nation or a faith? (Cannot the Fulani, Hausa, Ibo and Yoruba now be Christians, Muslims and Nigerians?) Did Bello, the historian of the jihad, mean by the word takrur the Fulani alone or even first and foremost when writing his famous book Infaq al-Maysur fi Tarikh Bilad al-Takrur? What is the real significance and importance of shaykhs Uthman, Abd Allah and Bello identifying themselves with the whole of Bilad as-Sudan in a phrase such as “Biladuna as-Sudaniyya”?27 All these questions and many others have been ignored by the Judaeo-Christian and Euro-American tradition. The epoch and the society are projected without depth and without meaning. This is so in spite of the presence of the massive jihadist literature with its different strands and its contemporary sympathizers and opponents. But even before this, the same tradition wanted us to see Islam as an Arab religion, the Muslim expansion as Arab expansion and all the indigenous people of Africa north of the Sahara as non-Africans because they were Islamized and Arabized. It is in the literature left to us by the triumvirate, their contemporaries and successors that we see the true dimensions and depth, the cultural revolution that was brought about in this part of Africa in the nineteenth century. And Bello, with his Infaq, in which we see a broad horizon of peoples and places and a good record of the sequence and consequences of events, is still the best historian of that epoch. The impact of this revolution, the influence of which covered the whole Sudanic belt of Africa from coast to coast, is still with us. Uthman Dan Fodio, the sage and mujadid (rejuvenator) of West Africa, is well known to the Khatimiyya and the Ansar of eastern Sudan. It was that cultural revolution which [58]


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then obtained in the whole of Hausaland and beyond that brought about the other ones, religious, social, educational, political and economic. The Hijra and the jihad were, as pointed out earlier, turning points in the process, marking neither the beginning nor the end of the interconnected developments in those fields.28 In his book Bast al-Fawaid, Gidado (d. 1851) lists 105 learned men of the class and time of Shaykh Uthman, 175 of the next class and 145 of his own class. Those were the most outstanding ones. But, for the sake of brevity, as Gidado says, “very many are those we did not mention from the Shuyukh, the Talaba, the Talamidh and the Sulaha, the learned men, the students, the disciples and the good men.”29 These scholars, the jihadists and those who followed them certainly had a strong economic base that supported and sustained their efforts throughout this period, a base strong enough for the jihadists to sustain the struggle against the rulers of Gobir and their allies. Indeed, one cannot think of the jihad and the emergence of many new settlements connected with it such as Sokoto and the ribats (defensive armed posts) without searching for that economic base. The success of the jihad itself and the attention given to the particulars of Islamic law connected with markets, trade, crafts, agricultural products, the sale of goods, the erection of buildings and similar things in the literature, particularly the works of Shaykh Abd Allah, suggest that the period was one of unusually substantial economic change and growth. How many more were to follow in the tradition that gave us the history of Bauchi and the history of Ilorin and that now give us the many scholarly works of al-Haj Dr Junayd?30 How much have a good many of the present-day population of Nigeria, perhaps the majority of it, and not only in the northern parts of the federation, been intellectually, socially and religiously conditioned by the concepts and practices propagated by the cultural tradition of the jihad and caliphate despite nearly sixty years of colonial rule with the values that it set out to inculcate and the means it had at its disposal? How much do the contemporary Nigerian languages, not only Hausa and Fulfulde, owe to that literature? How many are those literate in the Arabic and the Ajami Arabic script to whom this literature is as important as their daily bread. They are millions!31 The literature of the jihad and the caliphate in its earlier phases set the scene for the acceptance of Shaykh Uthman’s call to true Islam and [59]


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the subsequent stand against intimidation, provocation and persecution until the caliphate was established, and at the same time it gave the jamaa a sense of identity that cut across region and tribe. It still does so. Islam in that literature is not simply a religion in the Western sense of dogma and worship; it is the whole of the life of an individual and a community. In Islam there is no sense of the secular as divorced from the religious. All is for Allah according to Allah’s commands. Thus the literature of the jihad and the caliphate gave the jamaa all those dimensions of Islam and with them the history of the jamaa in the wider historical and universal sense. The historicity of the religion and its community gave the jamaa here as it gave it everywhere a depth, breadth and universality that go beyond nation and homeland. In the literature there is everything: poetry, prose, fiction, the true story, the parable, the anecdote, most of what we call the creative recreational art as well as matters that pertain to faith, state, medicine, the applied sciences and the crafts.32 It drew from the Islamic traditions of learning and writing, leaving us with a society that knows more about literacy and education than many who think contrarily of it. Its impact, unprecedented in this part of Africa, is yet to be superseded. It is noteworthy that Bello, in describing Hausaland, was giving information about the adjacent territories that form parts of present-day Nigeria and other countries. His knowledge of Yorubaland was derived from a work on the area called Azhar al-Ruba fi Akhbar Yoruba (Hilltop Flowers: Accounts of the Yoruba).33 Shaykh Uthman, Shaykh Abd Allah and Muhammad Bello were scholars of the highest order, not simply in a national, regional or racial sense, and they should be counted among the greatest of all time. The literature they left us, with its diversity, originality and sheer quantity, stands high in the order of the Arabic Islamic literature of its time. Shaykh Uthman stands pre-eminent in the company of Muhammad bin Abd al-Wahhab of Arabia (1703–87), the Mahdi of the Sudan (d. 1883) and Muhammad Abdu of Egypt (1847–1905). His works on Islamic law and jurisprudence, with his open approach, measured style and clear sense of the changing time and place, are more relevant and original than those of the latter three to our day and age.34 In its relevance to the situation obtaining in its time and to our present day, the literature of the jihad and the caliphate deserves the attention of all scholars not simply as source material for chronology, [60]


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events or administrative records but for its own sake and for all its meanings and dimensions. Whether it is the question of an identity that cuts across tribe and region, the lingua franca, the indigenous culture or the values for the universal and eternal, that literature cannot be ignored. It is not ignored by teeming millions, who are conditioned by it and cannot be brainwashed. In an address, His Excellency the military governor of the North-Western State al-Haj Usman Faruk has said: Apparently many people, even here in the Northern States, are not aware that the size of the population to be affected is enormous, and their influence, politically and socially, is … very strong. The North-Western State Government has, in the course of its educational development planning, carried out a survey of the Koranic Schools in order to determine the population of their pupils, their educational effectiveness, and the relative influence of the Koranic School Proprietors. We have discovered, to our great amazement, that there are over 50,000 such schools in the North-Western State alone and with a population of more than one million full-time pupils. As regards academic standards in those schools, we discovered that forty-five percent of the pupils can be regarded to have obtained equivalent of primary IV; thirty percent of the pupils to have obtained equivalent of primary VI–VIII. Fifteen percent of the pupils are in the “ilmi” Section of the Schools with varying standards of between secondary one and a School Certificate. In yet another survey or census of actual voluntary Arabic Teachers whose knowledge is considered by the Ministry of Education to be equivalent to at least Secondary II and who are aged between 20–45 years, we have found and recorded more than 100,000 of such teachers. Honestly … I feel that no responsible government should take these statistics lightly.35

Thus the jihad and caliphate’s educational tradition is quite alive. The literature is very well preserved and well made use of by the vast majority of the literate people who are its product, its bearers and its custodians. It is only we, the product of another tradition of learning, who have now come to realize that in order to discover ourselves we must fully recognize that tradition and study its literature. This, as yet, is only marginally accepted in our institutions of higher learning. But the Rubicon has been crossed.36 The interregnum of the colonial years is over. Contrary to what many of us are wont to assume, ilm (knowledge) in that tradition, as evidenced from the literature we have, does not [61]


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mean the study of religion alone in primary and secondary schools. In it as well as in all Islamic traditions of learning of which it is a part, ilm means all branches of knowledge, the theoretical as well as the practical, the arts, the sciences, the medical, the physical, the technological and the rest. As such, ilm is universal. “Pursuit of knowledge is an obligation of every Muslim, man or woman”; “Wisdom is an object of the search of every Believer, to be picked wherever it is found.” So say some of the Traditions of the Prophet of Islam that the triumvirate endeavoured to revive. In the Quran it is said that “Of the servants of Allah it is those who possess knowledge that fear Him. Allah is mighty, most forgiving.”37

NOTES 1 C.f. Y. B. Usman (ed.), Studies in the History of the Sokoto Caliphate (A.B.U. Zaria, 1979). 2 Bello, Infaq, pp. 43, 187; El-Masri, pp. 37, 38; and M. Last, The Sokoto Caliphate (London: Longmans, 1967), pp. 237–48. A complete chronology of the works of Shaykh Uthman Dan Fodio, his brother Shaykh Abd Allah and his son Sultan M. Bello is not yet established. 3 Uthman, Asanid; Abd Allah, Ida’, Tazyin; and Bello, Infaq. 4 Quran 2: 190, 191, 251; 4: 89, 91; 8: 60; 9: 36; 22: 39; and others. A good discussion of the subject of jihad in Islam is contained in al-Jihad fi Sabil Allah, a collection of three essays by A. al-Mawdudi, H. al-Banna and S. Qutb. 5 Infaq, pp. 129–30. 6 The three points were that 1) only Shaykh Uthman was to teach, 2) only born Muslims were to remain as such; converts were to return to their previous beliefs and 3) men were not to wear turbans and women were not to wear burdah any more. The second point is a clear indication that new converts were many and increasing. 7 Quran 62: 3. 8 Quran 46: 5 9 Ibn Hisham, Sirat Rasul Allah, pp. 603–5; Quran 3: 20; 5: 92 and 99; 13: 140; and others. This of course does not contradict the Sunni stand on punishment and reward or Allah’s will. The Mutazila, however, made this the basis of all Allah’s punishments and rewards. For this they are called ahl al-adl-wa-l-tawhid. 10 Abd Allah, Tazyin, pp. 27–32; Bello, Infaq, p. 43; and Junayd, Ithaf. 11 Infaq, pp. 42–66. 12 Infaq, p. 48. 13 Infaq, p. 52. 14 Uthman, Irshad, Tanbih, Wathiqat. 15 Uthman, Tanbih. 16 Uthman, Irshad. [62]


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17 Many titles of his works have this word, indicating that the work was addressed to brothers. Other parts of the titles are also indicative of the function of the work, as a guide, as a manual, expounding on problems etc. U. S. A. Ismail, Index of Arabic Manuscripts in the N. H. R. S. Department of History, A. B. U. Zaria, (Khartoum U. P., 1982). 18 F. H. Al-Masri, Introduction, Bayan Wujub al-Hijra, edition and translation, PhD thesis, Ibadan University, 1968. 19 Uthman, Najm; Abd Allah, Diya; and Bello, Kaff. 20 Bello, Infaq, pp. 122–74. A monograph on the subject (by Ismail) is under way. 21 BelIo, Sard. 22 Bello, al-Qawl and al-Ghayth. There are editions and translations of both treatises by Y. A. Aliyu and lsmail. 23 Bello, al-Ghayth al-Wabl. 24 Al-Masri, pp. 83–104. 25 Uthman, Najm. 26 T. Asad, ‘Two European Images of Non-European Rule’ in T. Asad (ed.), Anthropology and the Colonial Encounter (London: Ithaca Press, 1973), p. 114. For the origins, nature and results of the bias and ignorance of this tradition in respect of Islam and Muslim peoples, see N. Daniel, Islam and the West (Edinburgh University Press, 1960) and A. L. Tibawi, ‘English-Speaking Orientalists’ in Islamic Quarterly, Vol. VIII, 1964. 27 See D. M. Last, pp. xxv–xlvi and also U. S. A. Ismail, Index of Arabic Manuscripts (Khartoum University Press, 1984). 28 Supra, p. 1. 29 Gidado, Bast, p. 26. 30 See U. S. A. Ismail, Index of Arabic Manuscripts (Khartoum University Press, 1984). 31 Al-Haj Usman Faruk, Education for Leadership, pp. 16, 18–19. 32 Ismail, Index. 33 Bello, Infaq, pp. 1–32. 34 Uthman, Najm, Irshad al-Umma and others. 35 Faruk, Education for Leadership (Section 15), pp. 18–19. 36 Thanks to the work of Professor Abdullahi Smith and many of his colleagues (all of them his former students) in A. B. U. Kano and Zaria, a new school of Nigerian history has now been established. Among others, this school includes Professor M. A. al-Hajj, Dr Saad Abu Bakar, Dr D. M. Last, Dr Yusufu Bala Usman and Dr A. Y. Aliyu. 37 Quran 35: 28.

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6 Muhammad Bello and the Tradition of Manuals of Islamic Government and Advice to Rulers

U. S. A. Ismail and A. Y. Aliyu*

The tradition of advice to Muslim rulers and administrators originates from the early days of Islam. The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) had on many occasions offered advice to his deputies and military commanders on the conduct of state affairs. The Quran is of course full of injunctions and exhortations to that purpose. It is indeed the basis of the Prophet Muhammad’s life and work as embodied in the Sunna (the tradition of the Prophet Muhammad, also meaning the correct method and the right way). By the time Muhammad died (AD 632), Muslims had with them all the corpus of the Quran, which they took to be the revealed words of Allah, and the Sunna. The standard text of the Quran was published in its authentic form in AD 650–1. The Sunna, which was collected later, came to be the subject of interpolation, forgery and fabrication. But on Muhammad’s death and within the span of the life of his associates and contemporaries, it was certainly alive and cherished by his caliphal successors the Rashidun (AD 632–61) and his sahaba (companions). A science to determine the authentic from the false Sunna soon emerged. All authentic traditions about the Prophet Muhammad and the founding fathers of Islam go back to that group of the Prophet’s companions. Thus precedents established by the Rashidun were and are still regarded by Muslims as the natural and logical extension of those of the Prophet; they are the practical demonstration of his teaching and direct companionship. As such, they form, together with the Quran and the Sunna, the basis of the Sharia (the body of teachings and laws governing * Our special thanks go to Professor Abdullahi Smith for his tremendous help with this chapter, to the staff of the Northern History Research Scheme and of the Department of Research and Consultancy, A. B. U., Zaria, Nigeria. [65]


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Muslims’ religious and also worldly affairs). Ijma (the consensus of learned Muslim opinion), rai (the opinion of eminent Muslim jurists) and qiyas (an analogy made by eminent Muslim pundits), which evolved later to form a broader base for the Sharia, all begin and end in the Quran and the Sunna. In respect of the tradition of advice for rulers and ruled alike, the most important precedents for Muslim administration were made during the caliphate of Umar bin al-Khattab (AD 634–44). With the Ridda wars (AD 632–4) behind him and the great conquests (Syria, Iraq and Egypt) accomplished in his reign and with his towering personality and strong character, Umar gave full expression to the policies and practices established on a small but clear scale by Muhammad and Abu Bakr. No wonder, then, that it is to Umar and his reign that reference is usually made when searching for the continuity of that tradition, especially in relation to governors, commanders, judges and the like. To be sure, Umar was not an innovator. His originality was in his clear perception of Islam and his unquestionable grasp of the Quran and the Sunna. This enabled him to develop an elaborate system of administration and a fairly comprehensive legal framework capable of meeting the complex situations obtaining in his time. A tradition to cater for changing situations, times and places was thus established. The body of that tradition as expressed in the advice and instructions given to leaders of the community and to men of state is scattered in the books of the sahih (the correct and authentic traditions), the maghazi and the siyar (the expeditions and the biography of Muhammad), the futuh (conquests) and the tarikh (history). It was later to develop into a literature of its own. This is the literature of the manuals of truly Islamic government, and part of it is the literature of wasaya ((sing. wasiyya) testimony or will) and nasaih ((sing. nasiha) advice). However, the interesting development in respect of this literature is that for the most part, it did not, as in the case of the Rashidun, come from caliphs, whether Umayyad or Abbasid. Instead, it was sought by them. With the murder of the three Rashidun caliphs following Abu Bakr and the two civil wars in the first century of Islam (the first in AD 656–61 and the second in AD 683–90), succeeding caliphs were no longer regarded as the custodians of the true traditions of Islam even though they were the recognized defenders of the faith, the community, the state and the realm. This responsibility, honour and privilege was for [66]


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MUHAMMAD BELLO AND MANUALS OF ISLAMIC GOVERNMENT

the ulama, gradually emerging as a class in their own right and, in many cases, especially under the Umayyads (AD 661–750), keeping away from the state and on occasion at loggerheads with it. Within a century after the coming of the Abbasids (AD 750–1258), the leading ulama (Abu Hanifa, d. AD 767; Malik, d. AD 795; Shafii, d. AD 820; and Ahmad bin Hanbali, d. AD 855), the founding fathers of the most important Muslim schools of jurisprudence, had already made their mark. In an attempt to bridge the gap between the rulers and the ulama, then described as the true successors of the prophets, the early Abbasid caliphs did their best to win the sympathy and support of the leading ulama. This was in essence an effort to win the support of the umma and to demonstrate that they were true to their claim to take the caliphate back to the true traditions of the Prophet Muhammad and the Rashidun. In these circumstances, the tradition of manuals on the principles of truly Islamic government and correct Muslim conduct emerged. Thus the muwatta (a body of Medinan traditions, literally the levelled or easy way to be followed) of Malik was said to have been written at the request of the second Abbasid caliph, Abu Jafar al-Mansur (d. AD 775). The famous Kitab al-Kharaj (a manual for state revenues and taxation) of the Hanafite jurist Abu Yusuf was written at the request of the fifth Abbasid caliph, the famous Harun al-Rashid (d. AD 809). In their bid to champion the cause of Islam and to patronize the works of such great scholars, the Abbasids certainly responded to developments in the collection of Traditions and other fields of Muslim sciences, which had already borne fruit. It was also the time when the Muslims, having won their first victory against the Chinese at the battle of Talas in Central Asia in AD 751, were able in that year to establish their first paper factory in Samarkand. Needless to say, acquisition of the knowledge of paper manufacture revolutionized the production and dissemination of literary works and greatly enhanced chancery practice. Thus the works mentioned above had to be seen not only as a continuation of the tradition of offering or seeking advice, a tradition well embodied in the Islamic principle of “enjoining the right and forbidding the wrong”, but also as an integral part of a development that produced many similar works outside the court and independent of it. The muwatta is thus one of the sahihs and musnads (those traditions with reliable chains of transmitters); and the Kharaj of Abu Yusuf (d. AD 798) is one of others on the subject such as the Kharaj of Yahya [67]


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bin Adam (d. AD 818) and the Amwal (state revenues and taxation) of Ibn Sallam (d. AD 838). Al-Ahkam al-Sultaniyya, the work of al-Mawardi (d. AD 1058) which Bello quotes and which was written to arrest the decay that had by then beset the Abbasid caliphate, is a later continuation of this tradition, which persisted to the days of the nineteenth-century jihad in Hausaland. That the tradition was kept alive outside the court is evident from the work of al-Mawardi’s contemporary the Hanbalite jurist Abu Yala (d. AD 1065), who also wrote a work called al-Ahkam al-Sultaniyya. It is worthy of note that simultaneously with this juristic tradition that kept its endeavours to the basic principles of Islamic government and theology, another tradition independent of it but very much influenced by it was emerging. It too reached its zenith under the Abbasids, and, like the former, it continued beyond their period. This is the literary tradition of adab al-kuttab wal-Wuzara wal-Muluk (the scribes, the viziers and the kings). Some of this court and chancery literature dealt with the day-today routine of office work, but other elements of it dealt with the more serious matters of politics, policy and administration. An earlier exponent of this tradition was Abdal Hamid al-Katib, secretary of the last Umayyad caliph Marwan (both died in AD 750). Among its representatives in the Abbasid period were Ibn al-Muqaffa (d. AD 757), Abd Allah bin Tahir (d. AD 844), Ibn Qutaiba (d. AD 871), Jahshiyari (d. AD 942) and al-Suli (d. AD 946). The Kitab al-Tajj, commonly attributed to Jahiz (d. AD 868), is of this tradition. So is the famous work (in Persian) the Siyasat Nameh of Nizama al-Mulk (d. AD 1092), the famous wazir of the Seljuk sultan Alp Arslan, although in many respects it has a special character, being more like Machiavelli’s The Prince than other works of famous jurists such as al-Mawardi or Abu Ya‘li. The two traditions merged as, over time, the gap between their representatives narrowed. At least this was the case for works of a general nature that drew from the different traditions of the golden days of the caliphate. Thus in al-Iqd al-Farid of Ibn Abd Rabbih (d. AD 940), an Andalusian who worked for the Marawanids) or, later, in al-Fakhri, written in AD 1301 by Ibn al-Tiqtaqa, and the famous Muqaddama of Ibn Khaldun (d. AD 1406) there are sections relevant to both traditions, the juridical and the administrative. The jihad in the eighteenth century of Shaykh Uthman Dan Fodio (d. 1817), perhaps one of the most successful in the history of Islam, is [68]


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an example of how the impact of Islamic culture was crucial in the spread of the influence of the jihad’s leaders. Shaykh Uthman gave himself to the cause of Islam and travelled to many parts of Hausaland teaching, giving sermons and writing on the nature and meaning of pure Islam. The jihad was essentially the work of scholars and their disciples. Their leaders were of course Shaykh Uthman, his brother Abd Allah (d. 1829) and his son Muhammad Bello (d. 1837). It is evident from the great body of literature they left behind that they knew thoroughly all that mattered of Islamic culture of the past and that their own contributions to it form a very significant part of that culture. It is indeed remarkable how the triumvirate, who were men of action, had the time to read and write so much in the light of their difficult circumstances and demanding careers. Certainly that tradition of advice offered to or sought by rulers for the purpose of the maintenance of pure Islam and the establishment of truly Islamic government was known to them. Their teachings were primarily for those ends. In their own land the tradition was kept alive by al-Maghili (d. 1505), who visited Kano and offered advice to its rulers and learned men. As is seen in Bello’s al-Ghayth al-Shibub (see Chapter 8), reference is made to al-Maghili, whose works, especially his famous Ajwibat Asilat Askiya (Answers to the Questions of Askiya), had great currency and impact among West African Muslims. Almost at the same time al-Suyuti (d. 1805), the famous Egyptian jurist, was asked for similar advice by the rulers of Hausaland and Agades. Shaykh Uthman makes reference to this in Tanbih al-Ikhwan ala Ahwal Ard al-Sudan. One does not need to belabour this point of the continuity of the contacts and influences of the centres of Islamic learning when it is known that such places as al-Azhar had among their scholars and students people from all parts of the Muslim world. Among the many ruwaqs (student hostels) were those of the Borno and the Takrur. Various famous West African scholars, such as Ahmed Baba of Timbuktu (d. AD 1627), the author of two important works on the Maliki scholars Tatriz al-Dibaj (Embroidering the Lace) and Kifayat al-Muhtaj (Sufficiency for the Needy), were at al-Azhar at one time. There is sufficient evidence that there were many others from Egypt and also Syria and the Hijaz. West Africa’s Arabic-Islamic literature, especially that of the Hausaland jihad, was in no way marginal to or a mere imitation of that of Arab Muslim lands. Islam and Arabic had long taken root in the area. [69]


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It was original and had much to do with its people, its time and its place. Shaykh Uthman, Abd Allah and Muhammad Bello together left over two hundred works. There were many other writers too. In quantity, diversity and relevance to the needs of its society, that literature stands very high when compared with similar literature in other parts of the Muslim world at that time. In respect of the subject under discussion, the Hausaland jihad literature provides an interesting and important departure from the traditions described earlier. Manuals for Islamic government and advice to rulers were part of a body of literature the whole accent of which was educational. The objectives of the triumvirate and their associates were not simply the imparting of knowledge but the implementation of reform. In their approach to things in practice as well as in their writings, the teaching and the history of Islam were combined. Hence the literature they left behind reveals open and all-embracing minds that drew from the different and diverse types of Arabic-Islamic literature. The success of the jihad added the power of the state to their power as ulama. But the new power of the ruler was seen as subservient to that of the alim. Thus although both Shaykh Uthman and Muhammad Bello used the titles caliph, sultan and amir al-muminin, they were seen and continued to wield their influence as ulama. Their community of subjects was seen and addressed as a community of brother Muslims. The recurrence of words such as bayan (explaining or expounding), diya (light), irshad (teaching or counselling), talim (educating), tanbih (drawing attention to), nasiha (advice) etc. in the titles of their works, which are addressed mostly to the Ikhwan (Brothers), demonstrate clearly the nature and purpose of their works and their jihad. Although the title shaykh was reserved for his father and his uncle Abd Allah, Amir al-Muminun Sultan Muhammad Bello, disciple and companion of both men and successor of his father to the caliphate, has to his name some seventy works besides the two small treatises presented in chapters 7 and 8 of this book. In fact they are among his shortest works. A man of the sword and a man of the state, he was also a man of the pen, a great caliph, a great scholar and a great man. It is perhaps superfluous to speak about the quality of the works of such an outstanding and most learned man. One has merely to see the range and depth of his works and the authorities he so freely quotes and commands in these two small works alone to appreciate his great qualities. With the availability [70]


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of the works of the triumvirate, an important shift in the centre of Islamic scholarship took place. Rulers and learned men in Hausaland did not need to go far in order to get their questions answered. The two manuscripts presented in this volume were both written by Muhammad Bello and addressed specifically to Yaqub, the first amir of Bauchi. Several copies of these manuscripts are extant in private and official collections. Although no systematic attempt has been made here to collate the various texts, there is every reason for supposing that the texts used in the translations here are as close to the original as any others. Of the two copies of al-Ghayth al-Shibub (GS), for instance, available in the collections of the Northern Nigerian Historical Research Scheme, we have relied mainly on the copy lent for microfilming by the amir of Bauchi, a great grandson of Yaqub. In the case of al-Qawl al-Mawhub (QM), the text used was obtained from the waziri of Sokoto, Alhaji Junaidu, a great scholar in his own right and principal collector of Sokoto jihad written and oral literature. As to the dates of their compilation, no precise statements can be made until, perhaps, the originals come to light. Both the paper and the ink used for the manuscripts would seem to suggest that they were copied fairly recently – GS not before early in the twentieth century and QM perhaps not before the early 1960s. This supposition is reinforced by the considerable number of errors in the texts. The two copies of GS, for instance, differ from each other in giving the list of duties that a provincial governor must fulfil. The list in the microfilm copy corresponds more exactly with that in al-Mawardi’s al-Ahkam al-Sultaniyya (from which Bello would seem to have derived his ideas on the subject); the other includes the protection of women as a fourth duty. The latter, however, was used for the translation by virtue of its greater clarity and legibility. This error is obviously attributable to the copyist, and cannot be resolved on the basis of the available texts. More striking are the apparent textual corruptions and errors contained in QM. A Hausa word such as tarawa (rebellion) is used in some places where an Arabic equivalent would have been adequate in conveying the meaning. There are also several gaps of meaning within and between statements owing to poor construction or grammar or to omission. Indicative of such omissions is the absence in the questionand-answer scheme of the manuscript of an answer to the question raised by Yaqub with respect to the issue of magic practices. [71]


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Nor can we date the original manuscripts with precision on the basis of internal evidence. QM gives no indication at all as to the date of the original composition, and GS does not go beyond the assertion that “the book was finished ten days remaining from the month of Rabi the last”. As both Bello and Yaqub are referred to, at least in QM (GS addresses Yaqub as Amir Yaqub but does not refer directly to Bello) with the titles of amir al-muminin and amir respectively, it may be assumed that both were written in the course of Bello’s reign (1817–37). On the other hand, it might be the case that both manuscripts were written in Shaykh Uthman’s lifetime, when Bello was charged with the responsibility of supervising the affairs of the eastern emirates, and therefore that the title amir al-muminin ascribed to Bello represents a post facto rationalization of latter-day copyists. The problems posed by these alternatives can thus be resolved only when new information becomes available. It might be suggested, however, that of the two manuscripts, QM was composed at an earlier date, perhaps between 1809 and 1817, because the issues it raises would seem to be more of a fundamental kind, more related to the problems of government in the process of formation. Questions that touch on, for instance, the legal status of Muslims living in pagan territory, those who trade with the pagans and assist them in their struggle against the Muslims or those who refuse to pay the canonical taxes and so on clearly refer to the kind of situation that a government would be likely to face in its nascent stages of expansion and consolidation. It would seem probable that Bello, having confined himself in QM to the specific questions raised by Yaqub, might have felt that a more detailed discussion of the general principles of government would be more appropriate in grappling with the routine affairs of state. Thus the problems of judicial administration and trade are dealt with in both treatises, although at greater length in GS, a point which would seem to suggest that Bello was writing the latter at leisure, having composed his thoughts on an already familiar subject. Although the two manuscripts have similar characteristics in the sense of prescribing, on the basis of the Sharia, the duties, obligations and procedures that should guide rulers in the complicated task of government, they are nonetheless qualitatively and contextually different. GS sets out in considerable detail to specify the duties and responsibilities of a regional governor and the kind of offices that should be established in pursuit of the ideals of Islamic government. QM, on the other hand, [72]


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is written in response to specific questions that Yaqub raises. Thus the former belongs to the category of intellectual exposition on the general principles of Islamic government, taking its place with other general and conceptual works such as Abd Allah’s Diya al-Hukkam, which was also written in response to the requests and needs of a particular political community (in this case the community in Kano), Diya al-Siyasat, Diya al-Wilayat and Bello’s al-Ghayth al-Wabl and Usul al-Siyasat. But the latter belongs in a class of its own. The two treatises supplement and complement each other in many respects; and taken together, they provide profound insight into the processes of institution-building, particularly in the areas of community formation and identity, defence, the economy, social welfare, the judiciary and education. Let us now attempt a brief account of Yaqub’s background and then discuss generally some of the issues raised in the two manuscripts. It is clear from oral evidence that Yaqub belonged to one of the leading lineages of the Gerawa, who occupied most of the territory around the present town of Bauchi and were linked with the Boewa group of languages. His ancestors are said to have migrated from Borno in about the fifteenth century and to have established a series of settlements to the north of Bauchi. By the latter part of the eighteenth century, his family had established themselves in Tirwun, which his father Dadi ruled as chief until his death a few years before the jihad. Yaqub was born in about 1769 in Tirwun and thus grew up under circumstances that were particularly favourable for a future political career. While still a minor, he was placed in the hands of Mallam Isyaku and Mallam Adamu for purposes of Islamic education. They were itinerant Fulani clerics who had come from Borno and who seemed to have dedicated their lives to Islamic proselytization and teaching. In pursuit of their mission, they took Yaqub to various parts of the Bauchi region until about 1786, when Mallam Isyaku decided to visit Shaykh Uthman at Degel, which had then become famous as one of the major centres of learning in Hausaland. Yaqub’s departure to Degel opened a new phase in his intellectual career and facilitated his development as one of the leading figures in the Sokoto jihad. It is claimed that he spent about twenty-one years in Shaykh Uthman’s household, serving him and studying under him. Through loyalty, diligence and intelligence, he won the heart and confidence of the shaykh, who is said to have treated him as his own son. This obviously enabled him to assimilate his teaching and to acquire a [73]


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character that distinguished him sharply from most of the people in his homeland. Moreover, it enabled him to establish strong ties with members of Shaykh Uthman’s immediate family, particularly Bello, and with his other scholastic companions. It is hardly surprising, therefore, that when the shaykh proclaimed a jihad in Hausaland and commissioned individual followers to lead the jihad in particular areas, he appointed Yaqub as commander in Bauchi. As commander of the jihad in Bauchi, Yaqub faced enormous difficulties. These derived mainly from the nature of the political, social and geographical conditions of the Bauchi region itself. The other amirates in Hausaland had been established on old political and cultural centres and were anchored in largely Muslim populations. They retained substantive features of their past, including a considerable proportion of their earlier boundaries and internal administrative divisions. But Bauchi was an entirely new phenomenon. It was created by the conditions of the jihad and was institutionalized among predominantly non-Muslim populations. It was also one of the largest, most heterogeneous and mountainous regions in the caliphate, posing enormous difficulties in the maintenance of political control, communication and administration. Moreover, of the larger amirates it was the only one in which the leadership and organization of the jihad as well as the establishment of government and administration rested so clearly and squarely on the shoulders of a non-Fulani. That Yaqub was equal to the task is clearly shown by his performance as military commander, scholar and administrator. Traditions in Bauchi today endow him with almost supernatural powers. Through the training he received from Shaykh Uthman, he had acquired a high standard of education and a moral and spiritual code of conduct that helped him greatly in facing the peculiar problems of government in Bauchi. From the outset, he recognized that a successful jihad there was clearly dependent on the ability to mobilize and organize the scattered Muslim elements in the region and pursue a vigorous programme of action. The formulation of such a programme is already contained in the Quran and the Traditions of the Prophet, which Shaykh Uthman and his close associates had already done much to interpret, articulate and popularize. In Kitab al-Farq, Bayan Wujub al-Hijra and Ihya al-Sunna, for example, Uthman provided the doctrinal, ideological and institutional framework within which the establishment and operation of the ideal Islamic government [74]


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was to be carried out. These books were supplemented and amplified by others he wrote as well as by those of Abd Allah and Bello. By combining the role of chief interpreter of Islam with that of amir al-muminin (commander of the faithful), Shaykh Uthman, together with his close associates, was able to fashion a community, a leadership and a state on a basis unprecedented anywhere in the western Sudan. Herein lay the key to his charisma and, through him, that of his close associates. Evidently, there were numerous scholars in Hausaland and its environs who could perhaps equally go to the primary sources of Islam and find answers to contemporary problems. Yaqub and a number of other scholars in Bauchi could almost certainly do so. The works of the jihad leaders themselves, written mainly in classical legal language (Arabic) presuppose the existence of a powerful readership to which they could be addressed. If this were not the case, then why should such works be written at all, particularly those on government and the Sharia that were addressed specifically to provincial leaders? It seems to me that the answer to these questions lies in a full appreciation of the charismatic nature of Shaykh Uthman and his close associates. They were scholars and spiritual leaders but equally men of action concerned with securing adequate communication on all important matters between the centre and the periphery. The Sharia, being a complex system of codes and procedures, has always been a source of conflicting interpretations, particularly in areas that require the exercise of qiyas (anthology), ijtihad (interpretive judgment), urf (custom) or individual discretion. As leaders of the new Islamic community and state, the jihad leaders had reason to reserve for themselves the right to interpret in the light of the Sharia the world around them, both in universal and particular terms, and to ensure that their interpretation was understood and followed by all their lieutenants. By so doing, they would thus strengthen the legitimacy of the new regime and ensure that all parts of the caliphate were governed in accordance with high and uniform standards. By 1812, it is clear that the enormous task of interpretation, administration and supervision for so vast a caliphate was too much for Shaykh Uthman to handle by himself. In a historic division of spheres of responsibility, he appointed Abd Allah and Bello as viziers, to supervise the affairs of the western and eastern halves of the caliphate respectively. By this arrangement Bauchi fell under the sphere of Bello’s responsibility. [75]


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That Yakubu should have chosen to address his questions to Bello underlines the institutional relationship between them. By addressing his questions to Bello, Yaqub was not only expressing his loyalty and faith in the caliphal leadership but also seeking to demonstrate the legitimacy of both his regime and his own personal conduct. By establishing the validity of his actions on the charismatic authority of Bello, Yaqub could thus overcome any opposition to his leadership and gain unrivalled support for his policies. The two manuscripts show clearly the principles on which the government was to be based and the kind of problem that beset the operationalization of those principles. In GS, Bello describes in fair detail the objectives that Yaqub and all other regional governors were to pursue. These include the organization and maintenance of the army, the administration of justice, the collection and allocation of revenues, defence, the enhancement of Islam and the expansion of the frontiers of dar al-Islam. The adoption of these objectives was inspired both by the Quran and the Traditions of the Prophet. They were to be operationalized through the institutional framework already set by the Orthodox Caliphate of the first four patriarchal caliphs. Throughout the two manuscripts, emphasis is laid on the duty of the amir, which should be guided by considerations of public welfare. The difficulty involved in achieving these principles was clearly indicated in QM. In order to govern on the ideals of Islam, it was important, first of all, to establish a community of believers. The difficulty of establishing such a community, protecting it and preserving its unity and security was particularly great in Bauchi in view of the geographical conditions of the region, the numerical superiority of non-Muslims and the complex network of relations that bound the communities with each other. For many Muslim elements, the prosecution of the jihad and the establishment of an amirate government created a dilemma of status and citizenship. As many of them had lived among pagan communities whose local rulers were responsible for their defence and for the protection of property, the choice that the jihad presented was a difficult one indeed. As QM shows, many of the Fulani with large numbers of cattle and slaves in non-Muslim territory preferred the status quo ante rather than to submit to the imperatives of the new administration. This raises the question of citizenship and community identification: were they to be [76]


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regarded as citizens of the Islamic state or to be abandoned to non-Muslim overlordship? In answer to these questions, Bello proposes that such elements should either be resettled in predominantly Muslim areas or that their numerical strength should be increased through the deployment of other Muslims into non-Muslim areas so as to provide them with adequate means of protection against hostility by non-Muslim chiefs. The nature of the terrain thus imposed a need for Islamic communities within the state to provide the means for their self-defence. That Yaqub adopted Bello’s solution is clear from the enormous resettlement scheme that he carried out. The aim of the scheme was not only to move hill people to the plains, thereby easing the problem of close control and supervision but also to increase agricultural production. One of the first areas to be involved in the scheme was Bununu, the great Jarawa centre whose chief Ninyel had already submitted to the jihad. Yaqub brought him down from the Jarawa hills and settled him on the plains where the present town of Bununu is situated. Similar measures were undertaken in respect of the Bankalawa of Zungur, the Galambawa of Dinaima and numerous other peoples in Bauchi. Hand in hand with his resettlement scheme, Yaqub embarked on a large-scale policy of building ribats (frontier forts). These included Wase, later to become an important government outpost in the southern half of the amirate, and Bula, Falama, Zakshi and others. Through these measures Yaqub was able to establish and maintain effective administration in most of the territories within the amirate. The reluctance of some Muslims to accept new institutional arrangements that challenged their vested interests also indicates, to some degree, the limits to which people were prepared to be mobilized by the jihad. It shows clearly that the spirit of reform did not permeate all sections of the Muslim community. Even some of those who shared the ideals of the jihad found it difficult to accept a centralized system of government, and they often challenged the authority of central public officials. This was by no means surprising in view of the social and political segmentation by which the Bauchi region had been characterized before the jihad. Bello no doubt recognized the delicacy of the situation by recommending a gradualist approach to such problems. QM also supplies unique documentary evidence of the nature of the social and economic conditions of the Bauchi region on the eve of the jihad. At least within the environs of Bauchi town, there was no [77]


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large-scale centralized administration, and apparently a considerable proportion of the local population lived in hill sites. Part of this population consisted of Fulani elements, many of whom had abandoned their nomadic life, become sedentarized among the non-Muslim population and engaging actively in agriculture. This evidence is strongly corroborated by oral traditions. Many of the sedentary Fulani of Kirfi, Zaranda, Toro and Bununu are said to have intermarried, to a limited extent, with the local population and to have acquired numerous slaves as well as some of their cultural habits, including scarifications and rituals. Thus it is not surprising for Yaqub to find some Fulani returning to the territory already overrun by the forces of the jihad and attempting to reclaim possession of their slaves. It is claimed that before the jihad, many Fulani slave settlements (rinji) had been established, such as Warunje, Rinjia Mukur, Goskayi, Barga, Salarma. This relatively complex fusion of Muslim and non-Muslim elements in the social and political life of the region obscured the crystallization of forces along religious or ethnic lines when the jihad eventually broke out. As Yaqub reveals in one of his questions to Bello, the population of the region fell into four broad religious-ethnic categories: Muslim rulers, non-Muslim rulers, Hausa and traders, with little determinable boundaries to distinguish among them. Clearly, all these categories were represented on either side in the jihad because Yakub was hard pressed to determine who was qualified for a share of the booty and what constituted the booty. Many of the Fulani, Muslim and non-Muslim alike, preferred to remain in enemy territory, collaborating with non-Muslims to subvert the position of the new regime. It is also evident that by the outbreak of the jihad, Hausa elements occupied a peculiar position in the region. Yaqub’s question as to whether those Hausa elements which participated in the jihad should have a share of the booty suggests that many of them were not Muslims at that time. In addition, QM provides a glimpse of the difficulties involved in harnessing the resources of the state, establishing an effective system of taxation, enforcing law and order, controlling and disciplining public officials and prosecuting the jihad. Although by the time the manuscript was written Yaqub had reduced much of the territory of the region to subjection and had established a capital, there still existed major pockets of resistance not far away from it. Yaqub was particularly disturbed by the shortage of foodstuffs and other supplies, which threatened the welfare [78]


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of the urban community and perhaps the success of all his resettlement schemes. Part of the difficulty stemmed from the fact that pre-existing trading patterns still prevailed and that the new settlements, situated away from traditional trade routes, were yet to attract merchants and traders. It is possible that the traders could fetch higher prices for their goods in enemy territory than in the new capital, where prices were controlled and checked by government officials. Despite enormous difficulties and problems, Yaqub and his supporters achieved remarkable success in waging the jihad and establishing an Islamic system of government. Part of the success is due to his personality and the inspiration that he received from his spiritual and intellectual mentors. By far the most significant of his achievements lay in the transformation of Bauchi from a politically segmented environment into a centralized amirate. In bringing this about and institutionalizing an Islamic system of government, Yaqub followed as closely as possible in practice the ideals contained in the two manuscripts. Appointments to all the major offices, such as madaki, galadima, sarkin yaki, wambai and ajiya, in the central government were clearly restricted to men of knowledge and competence, mainly those who were either scholars by profession or had demonstrated their commitment to the cause of the jihad. He also recruited into his administration many scholars from other parts of the caliphate. These served manly as scribes, advisers and teachers or as officials attached to the judiciary or fiscal administration. Yaqub’s dedication to the ideals of the jihad is clearly shown in QM. In seeking elucidation from Bello on a variety of matters, he thus demonstrated a profound religious conviction, a sincere search for guidance and implicit and explicit recognition of Bello’s scholarship and charismatic power. This association with Bello, which began in the earlier days of his life when he joined Shaykh Uthman’s community in Degel, took on a special quality as the years went by. By the end of Bello’s reign, Yaqub had indeed emerged as the strongest supporter and defender of the caliphate, having succeeded in pushing back the military offensive launched in 1826 by Muhammad al-Amin al-Kanemi, the then shaykh of Boreno. After a reign of forty years, Yaqub died in c.1845–7, at the age of nearly 80, passing on to his successors a record and an example worthy of emulation.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY A. Y. Abubakar, The Establishment and Development of Emirate Government in Bauchi 1805–1903, PhD thesis, A.B.U. Zaria, 1977. Muhammad Bello, Usul al-Siyasa (trans. by B. G. Martin, in Aspects of West African Islam, ed. by McCall and Bennet (Boston University, 1971)). Carl Brockelmann, Geschichte der Arabische (Leiden, 1937–49). A. Dietrich, “Das Politische Testment des zweiten Abbasiden-Kalifen al-Mansur”, Islam, Vol. 30, 1952. H. A. R. Gibb, Studies on the Civilization of Islam (London, 1962). D. S. Goitenin, Studies on the History and Institutions Of Islam (Leiden, 1966). A. Guillaume, The Life of Muhammad (Oxford, 1967). U. S. A. Ismail, Index of Arabic Manuscripts in the N. H. R. S. Department of History, A. B. U. Zaria, (Khartoum U. P., 1982). D. M. Last, Sokoto Caliphate (London, 1967). B. Lewis, Islam, Vol. 1, Politics and War; Vol. 2, Religion and Society (London, 1974). Ch. Pellat, Le milieu Basrien et la formation de Gahiz (Paris, 1957). N. H. R. S., First, Second and Third Interim Reports, Department of History (Zaria, 1966–75). Y. B. Usman (ed.), Studies in History of Sokoto Caliphate (Zaria, 1977).

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7 The Discourse Presented in Answer to the Questions of Amir Yaqub (al-Qawl al-Mawhub fi Ajwibati Asilati al-Amir Yaqub)

Muhammad Bello

In the name of Allah the Beneficent, the Merciful. May Allah bless our Lord Muhammad, his family and his companions and give them perfect peace. The commander of the faithful, Muhammad Bello, may Allah grant him victory over adversaries, says, “Praise be to Allah; blessings and peace be upon the Messenger of Allah. This book is entitled the Discourse Presented in Answer to the Questions of Amir Yaqub. Success is from Allah.” The First Question What is your answer in respect of (a group of ) Muslims who (continue to) live among infidels, claiming that they have their own ruler but who have no power because of their small number and lack of contact with their community while the infidels are gathered (behind) their ruler? The Answer It is Allah who guides to the right. (As for) the people you described, their amir will deal with them in the light of their maslaha (welfare). Either he will add to them some people so that they can protect themselves against the infidels or he will order them to move to a place where they can be secure. He should not neglect their affairs or leave them to their own opinions because he is their shepherd and the shepherd is always responsible for his flock. This is the more so because you mentioned in their regard that they love the place because of their love of their property there. Surely the love of a thing blinds and deafens.1 If their amir neglects them and does not give them sound advice on their affairs, he indeed betrays them. [81]


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The Second Question What is your answer in respect of a group of Muslims which has declined to pay zakat (tax) after a tawaya 2 (rebellion) has taken place, some of these Muslims having come to ally with the infidels and send news of the Muslims to them? The Answer It is Allah who guides to the right. The people you have described are bughat (transgressors), and they should be fought until they pay zakat. This (course of action) is of necessity known in religion. It is in case that they were alone and did not join with the infidels. But if they joined with the infidels, they should be fought as murtaddin (those who have committed apostasy), in the same way as Abu Bakr al-Siddiq, may Allah be pleased with him, fought the groups of transgressors in his time. This was said by al-Hattabi,3 as reported in al-Fath al-Mubin; Sharh al-Arbain. As for those who sent news of the Muslims to the infidels, they are to be treated like zanadiqa (heretics). In al-Mukhtasar (of Khalil),4 a Muslim (in this situation) is like a zindiq.

The Third Question What is your answer in respect of a group of Muslims over whom their imam has appointed an amir and ordered them to join with him and obey him whenever he calls upon them to do what would benefit them in their religious and worldly affairs? But they refuse obedience in spite of the fact that he is the most qualified person to occupy that position. On the contrary, they say, “We shall not obey your command until we hear it from such and such a person.” And if they send to them those people whom they said they would obey, they turn round and by way of jealousy say, “We did not hear this from the imam”, and that leads to instability of rule. The Answer It is Allah who guides to the right. The amir should rebuke them according to the law until they are deterred and obey the person he has appointed over them to occupy that position. That is obvious and needs no proof.

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THE DISCOURSE PRESENTED

The Fourth Question What is your answer in respect of a group of Fulani who settled with a large number of hill people where in each hill there are about a thousand of these people?5 In the situation, the Fulani were under a pagan ruler. The Muslims raided and conquered that place but the Fulani gathered together with the hill people on top of a hill in fear of being killed. The imam sent to them telling them that he did not intend to kill them but that he was fighting their masters and that if he overcame them, they would be his slaves. The hill people replied to the amir that they had no power to fight him but that they feared being killed and that if they knew that they were not to be killed, then they would surrender to him. Whereupon the imam left them on the understanding that they were (henceforth) his slaves and departed with their masters to his country. (But) after that, some of the Fulani came to the slaves left on the hill and disposed of them as they wished without the permission of the imam. The Answer It is Allah who guides to the right. The Fulani who fought with the infidels against the Muslims and were defeated by them until they came under their rule have no right over their slaves or any of their property, and all is fay (booty). The imam should warn them against taking that property. In al-Zahrat al-Wardiyya, a question was posed to al-Ajhuri6 in respect of a Muslim community living under a pagan king. It had the ability to flee but did not do so. The Muslim sultan then raided the community and seized from it some booty and divided it (among his soldiers). After this there came some of (those) Muslims to the Muslim sultan while the others remained with the pagan king. Some of those who migrated recognized their property, which had already been divided. Have they then the right to recover that property? Al-Ajhuri answered that the property of Muslims living of their own choice among infidels is fay and becomes part of the property of the bait al-mal (the central treasury). Al-Barzuli7 stated this on the authority of some ulama, and further said that he was told that Asbagh8 said the same thing, (arguing) that the (original) owner of the property has no claim on the new owner. (If at all,) it is on the infidel that he has the claim. Ibn Rushd9 also said so.

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The Fifth Question What is your answer in respect of some Muslims who migrated leaving behind a large number of slaves in the land of war? Then the Muslims conquered that land and established their authority. Should these slaves be regarded as belonging to the previous Muslims or would they be regarded as part of the property of the bait al-mal ? The Answer It is Allah who guides to the right. This problem is similar to the one before it. The predominant view within the (Maliki) school is that security is (derived from that of ) the dar (the land in which the property is situated). Accordingly, it is said in al-Mukhtasar in respect of an enemy infidel who embraced Islam in balad al-harb (the land of war) and remained there or left and joined us (the Muslims) and left behind his property and children that the property without any reservation is fay. Al-Kharashi10 said in this connection that the meaning is that an infidel who accepted Islam and joined us or remained in his country until we seized his country, his property and his children are all booty for the troops which entered his country. This is what he means by fay. And it is asked in al-Jami,11 with reference to the opinion of the compiler (al-Kharashi) mentioned above, that when a Muslim moves into the land of war and settles there, would his property become fay for that reason in view of his new abode or would it not because the property is the Muslim’s property and the rule is that it cannot be forfeited? Some of them (scholars) did not agree with the aforesaid view. In the Nawazil of Ibn al-Hajj,12 it is stated that there is disagreement in respect of the property of a Muslim who is perforce living in the land of war, as this is distinguished from the property of one who accepts Islam and remains in pagan territory. The main distinction is that the property of (the latter) one who accepted Islam is allowed (to be regarded) as booty before his acceptance of Islam, in contradistinction to the property of the Muslim, which is not.

The Sixth Question What is your reply in the case of al-Qabila al-Sudaniyya (a Sudanese tribe) in the land of Bauchi, which is divided into four groups? The first group is their kings, who themselves are divided into two groups: those [84]


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who accepted Islam and became good Muslims and those who remained in their original pagan religion while paying lip-service to Islam. The second of the four groups are those who are not rulers and are also divided into two groups: those who are under the authority of the ruling class and those who are not under their rule. The third of the four groups are the Hausa living in that land, and they participate with us in the jihad. Should we then give them a share of the booty or not? Or should we distinguish between those who are needed for the war and other services? Are not slaves to be given a share of the booty in general or is it the strong fighters among them who are to be given shares? The fourth group is the traders who come from enemy territory for the purpose of trading or who pass through to any of the territories of war. What do we do with these traders? Should we allow them free passage or should we exact a part of the ashar (tenths) of what they trade in? The Answer It is Allah who guides to the right. He whose Islam is confirmed among those three groups and is a freeman, male, of mature age, sane, of good health and who was present in battle with the intention of waging the jihad is entitled to a share of the booty according to the consensus of learned opinion. But a dhimmi (an infidel under the trust) is governed by what is stated in the Mukhtasar of Ibn al-Hajib, that is the (status of the) dhimmi is like that of the slave. The third group is entitled to a share if they are needed (for the jihad). Ibn Abd al-Salam13 explains what is meant by this: a slave and a dhimmi are not entitled to a share (of the booty) if they did not participate in war. But if they fought, each of them is subject to one of three rulings: they are to be given a share; they are not to be given a share; or, subject to the situation, if they were needed, they are given a share but if not, they are not given a share. He then said it is commonly agreed that they are not to be given a share. And this is the rule because it is the obvious meaning of the saying of Allah, exalted is He: “know that whatever you gain of booty …”14 This is meant for those for whom jihad was made obligatory or those who were so addressed, and the dhimmi and the slave are not among the people (meant) for the jihad. [85]


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But with regard to merchants from people with whom you are at war, their case is as outlined by Ibn al-Hajib in his Mukhtasar. Those with whom you have an agreement, that which has been established shall be taken from them. But if there were no prior agreement, the common opinion is that they shall be taxed according to the discretion of the imam, who has right to take (the tax) from them even if they do not sell (their merchandise). According to another opinion, they should be treated as dhimmis. Abd al-Salam, in explaining this situation, said that what he means by a muahad (a person subject to the conditions of a peace agreement) here is what others describe as a harbi (enemy) when such comes to our land and stays on an aman (safe conduct) on stipulated conditions. No doubt something has been fixed and the amount (has been clearly) defined. (In this case) that fixed amount is not to be exceeded. However, there is in other traditions, such as the tradition of Ali Ibn Ziyad15 in the Mudawwana, that which might lead to thinking otherwise. But all (authorities) understand it in the way as the aforementioned author, and that is clear from the meaning. But if nothing has been stipulated of a person and he has arrived in our territory on an aman without any fixed amount to be taken from him, and that was what the author meant by saying if nothing has been fixed, the common view is that the imam should use his discretion in fixing the amount to be taken from him in regard of the particular situation only. That gives him complete discretion, to the extent that if he waived the tax completely, that could be permitted. Ibn al-Qasim16 and Ashhab17 stated that not more than the ushr (tenth) should be taken. Asbagh also made the same statement when the persons concerned were known to have already been in our territory on the understanding that they pay the ushr. Ibn al-Qasim stipulated that the imam has the right to allow them to stay upon payment of some dinars or dirhams which he takes from them. The opinion parallel to the common view that the author quoted is the opinion of that of the author himself. Some said they are like dhimmis. That is the tradition of Ali ibn Ziyad on the authority of Malik in the Mudawwana. It is stated in the Majmu18 that they pay the tenth. And this, in consideration, is the most reasonable view to me because if what will be taken from them was not explained to them when they arrived, the best thing for them is to take from them what is taken from the people of dhimma, as is stated by the author when saying that they are like dhimmis. What is to be taken [86]


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from them is one-tenth of the market value of what they brought, not one-tenth of what they brought. However, surmising all this is distant from the author’s statement. And Allah knows best. I said that according to this, a tax is to be levied on those who pass through our territory to the land of war.

The Seventh Question What is your answer in the case of three men who collaborated to kill one man and killed him? They then ran away. But two of them were arrested. These two then claimed that the third man was the one who actually did the killing. Now should punishment be executed on these two before the third one is found or not? The Answer It is Allah who guides to the right. Punishment should be executed on these two before the third man is found. When the third man is found, punishment should also be executed on him. That shall be so because the other two men have already confessed that they had jointly conspired to kill the man. In Ibn al-Hajib (it is stated that) if a group of persons collaborated to kill a person by striking him one stroke each (and thereby caused his death), then all should be killed.

The Eighth Question What is your answer in the case of three men who abducted three slave women? One of these slave women refused to go with them. So they killed her and went off with the remaining two and sold them away. The matter became known, and two of the culprits were caught. But the other one escaped to some people living in our land but not under our jurisdiction. Now, shall we demand to get him back by any means or shall we leave him alone in preference to committing the lesser of the two evils (by avoiding a possible clash)? Further, what judgement shall we pass on them? Shall it be a fine or death in view of the evil they committed? The Answer It is Allah who guides to the right. The punishment of this is a fine, and killing if they did what they did as an act of brigandage. If they did [87]


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what they did by way of theft, they should be fined and have their hands cut off. But if they committed this act in a manner less serious than brigandage and theft, they should only be fined and reprimanded in accordance to what the imam considers to be sufficient to deter them and their like. But as for one who fled to people who are not under our rule, demand of him should be made subject to the discretion of the imam in consideration of the public good and warding off evil.

The Ninth Question Some of our dhimmis (non-Muslim subjects) killed some of their fellows. Then their ruler whom we (Muslims) appointed over them gathered them and imposed a fine on them, which fine they were to bring to us. That they did. But one of them refused to pay the amount he was asked to pay and paid only a portion of it. For that reason, the ruler killed him. So we ordered the ruler to pay the blood-money, which we gave to the relatives of the deceased. These relatives said that they offered that blood-money to the imam. Now will that be permissible or shall the ruler force them to accept the blood-money? The Answer It is Allah who guides to the right. The first thing for the amir to do is to reprimand his ruler about this despicable action, which contradicts the superb Sharia. He shall then give the blood-money to the relatives of the deceased, prevail upon them to accept it and allow them not to be accustomed to anything except that which is right. In the same way he should not accustom himself to anything except that (which is correct).

The Tenth Question What is your answer in the case of some merchants who carry foodstuffs from long distances but on reaching the fortified place of the ruler bypass it, (taking) the foodstuffs to the villages in the neighbourhood of the fortified place and selling them there while the people of the fortified place need the foodstuffs. Now has the imam the right to stop them from doing that or not?

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The Eleventh Question What is your answer in the case of some men who carry foodstuffs from the fortified place of the imam to surrounding villages? They then sell the foodstuffs there without measurement, taking in payment slaves and free-born people who are unjustly taken by the dignitaries of these infidels. Now has the imam the right to stop them from so doing or not? The Answer It is Allah who guides to the right. These two problems are governed by one principle, and that is warding off evil and seeking the public good. This is left to the discretion of the imam in protecting the public interest and warding off evil according to what he perceives in fear (of Allah), not in pursuit of desires.

The Twelfth Question What is your reply in the case of a broker who receives a certain amount of money, known as al-ada (custom or practice), from the buyer? This amount is sometimes included in the price of the article and sometimes it is over and above it. The Answer It is Allah who guides to the right. The well-known fact is that the cost of the broker shall be borne by the seller, in accordance with what they agreed upon and specified. Otherwise, they resort to al-ada. But the buyer is under no obligation to pay such a fee, and this is clear.

The Thirteenth Question What is your reply in the case of a broker who sells an article and appropriates from the price an amount without the knowledge of the owner of the article? This is (the practice called) kura.19 The Answer It is Allah who guides to the right. This is treachery, and treachery is unlawful, as is well known.

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The Fourteenth Question What is your answer in the case of the man whom the imam has put in charge of a market? Is it lawful for him to take from the people of the market a certain amount every Friday, monthly or at some other interval?

The Fifteenth Question What is your answer in the case of a man whom the imam has appointed over the butchers? Will it be lawful for him to take a certain amount of meat for each cow or any other (animal) slaughtered in that market and for his assistants each take a certain amount as well, or have they no right to do that? The Answer It is Allah who guides to the right. They have no right to do so because it is naked injustice. This is a practice not permitted by Allah. Officials must take their pay from the bait al-mal, and that of necessity is well known in Islam. As for the ahl al-dawa (the claimants), it is the duty of the imam to reprimand in a legal manner any of them who do anything contrary to the law until they and their like are deterred. It is also the duty of the amir to stop performers of magic in his land altogether. He should then order the magicians to repent, to return to the right path and to acquire (religious) knowledge and apply it because performances of magic are unlawful according to the agreement of jurists. This is the end of the questions of Yaqub. May Allah bring us all to a good end and give us all the most noble resting place through his bounty and generosity. Amen.

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NOTES 1 “Hubbuka al-shayia yumi wa-usimm” – this is a famous Tradition of the Prophet Muhammad. 2 This is a Hausa word. 3 A Maliki scholar. 4 The famous Maliki scholar Khalil bin Ishaq al-Gundi (d. AH 749). 5 In the text they are referred to as “slaves”, an indication that they were the source of such for the neighbouring area. This suggests the situation obtaining in Bauchi at the time of Amir Yaqub. 6 One of the late Maliki scholars. 7 Also al-Burzuli. Ali bin Muhammad Abd-al-Mutal al-Barzuli, a famous Maliki scholar who died in AH 841. 8 Asbagh bin al-Faraj bin Said, a famous Maliki scholar. He died in AH 255. 9 Abu al-Walid Muhammad bin Ahmad Ibn Rushd, a famous Maliki scholar who died in AH 520. 10 A late Maliki scholar. 11 A famous Maliki work written by al-Barzuli. 12 Abu Ishaq Ibrahim bin Abd Allah Ibn al-Hajj, a famous Maliki scholar of the eighth century AH. 13 Ibn Abd al-Salam, a famous Shafii scholar, who died in AH 660. 14 Quran 8: 41. 15 A famous Maliki scholar. 16 Abd al-Rahman bin al-Qasim, the renounced disciple of Malik. He died in AH 191. 17 Ashhab bin Abd al-Aziz, a famous disciple of Malik. He died in AH 204. 18 A Maliki text. 19 Kura is a Hausa word meaning foxy behaviour.

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8 The Abundant Rain: In Advice to Amir Yaqub (al-Ghayth al-Shibub fi Tawsiyat al-Amir Yaqub)

Muhammad Bello

Praise be to Allah. Prayer and peace be upon the Messenger of Allah. This is a book we have named The Abundant Rain: In Advice to Amir Yaqub. From Allah is success. Know that according to al-Mawardi,1 the duties of a regional governor are seven. The first is the organization of the troops, posting them in different areas and fixing their grants. However, when the grants have already been fixed by the caliph, the ruler carries out what the caliph has decided. The second duty is responsibility for the maintenance of justice and the appointment of judges and other state officials. The third is collection of kharaj (tax on agricultural produce) and sadaqat (tax on wealth), the appointment of officials in respect of such matters and the distribution of what is due from them. The fourth is protection of the land, defence of the state and protection of Islam against change or innovation. The fifth duty of a regional governor is establishment of the stipulated rules of Islam in respect of what is due to Allah and what is due to human beings. The sixth is imama (leadership of prayer) on Fridays and in all communal prayers. The ruler has to do this himself or appoint someone to deputize for him. The seventh is the dispatch of pilgrims of his governorship or those from other lands who go through his territory so that they may proceed on pilgrimage with all possible help. Should the region be a frontier one bordering the enemy, an eighth duty is added,2 namely jihad against neighbouring enemies, division of the spoils among the warriors and taking a fifth (of the spoils) for the people of the fifth.3 In this kind of amirate, the conditions of the delegated wazir obtains. In respect of this delegated wazir, the conditions, as in al-Mawardi, are those that obtain in the appointment of the great imam [93]


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(the caliph), except for the nasab (i.e. those of Qurayshite descent).4 It is said that this kind of wazir requires an additional condition over and above that of the imam. That is the ability (of the wazir) to handle all that is entrusted to him in respect of war and kharaj and of the duties of which he should have experience and detailed knowledge. In respect of the organization of the troops, the first thing for the amir to look after is the establishment of records and the stipulation of grants, except if those have already been fixed by the caliph, in which case he carries these out accordingly. It is told that Umar5 had ordered Saad,6 when he sent him to Iraq, to settle the people in ten divisions, as had been the custom of grouping people at the time of the Prophet, may Allah bless him and give him peace. After that, the divisions grew into a state of great imbalance, so Saad wrote to Umar that they should amend them. Umar wrote back to Saad ordering him to carry out the amendment. Saad sent to some people from the genealogists, the wise men among the Arabs and their leaders of opinion such as Said bin Numan and Mishala ibn Naim. These made the amendments and arranged (the people) into seven groups. These amendments continued like this up to the time of Muawaiya, may Allah be merciful to him.7 When Ziyad8 took over, he divided them into four groups. The first to establish the registers and to give stipends, according to the Traditions, was Umar bin al-Khattab, may Allah be pleased with him. He used to give preference to the people of precedence in Islam and to those who followed them until he gradually made a fixed grant to the common people. For the common man, a fixed sum of 300 or 400 dirhams (was made). He also fixed for their children a hundred dirhams each every year. Abu Bakr al-Sidiq,9 may Allah be pleased with him, used to equate all people, making no distinction for the people of precedence (in Islam), saying that “the people have done these things for Allah; their ultimate reward is from Allah. This money is but a transitory thing which is open for the good and the bad; it is not a price for the deeds of men.” Umar, may Allah be pleased with him, used to say, “I will not make him who fought the Prophet of Allah, may Allah bless him and give him peace, in the same position as he who fought with the Prophet of Allah, may Allah bless him and give him peace.” Umar fixed the rations and payments in (the period of ) the governorship of Ammar (Ibn Yasir).10 [94]


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THE ABUNDANT RAIN: IN ADVICE TO AMIR YAQUB

He fixed for Ammar, over and above his annuity, 600 dirhams every month for his governorship, his scribe, his muazzin and everyone in his service. He also sent him Uthman bin Hanif and (Abd Allah) bin Masud to Iraq. He fixed for him (Ammar) half a sheep with its head, its skin and its lower legs and half a bag (of grain) daily. For Uthman Ibn Hanif, he fixed a quarter of a sheep and five dirhams every day over and above his annuity, which was five thousand dirhams. For Abd Allah bin Masud he fixed (over and above his annuity) a hundred dirhams every month and a quarter of a sheep every day. For Shuraij (bin al-Harith al-Kindi), the judge fixed one hundred dirhams every month as well as ten sacks of grain. The reason for giving Ammar precedence over the others was that he used to lead the prayers. Umar had made the experiment of feeding thirty men on two sacks of grain with oil and vinegar, and that proved to be sufficient for them. So he fixed that as the monthly rate for every single man who was in the (registers) of the state, in place of what the Persians used to pay their horsemen. As for the posting of troops in different areas, this (is to be) by way of founding camp settlements and appointing governors over such settlements. It is to be done as Umar, may Allah be pleased with him, founded al-Basra on the frontier of India and al-Ahwaz (in Persia), Kufa on the frontier of Persia and (the lands of ) the Turks, Damascus (al-Jabiya) on the frontier of the Rum (Byzantines) and the Franks, and al-Fustat on the frontier of the Copts, the Rum (Byzantines) in Alexandria, the Sudan and the Berber (North Africa and the Fezzan area) and appointed governors over them, with each governor protecting his borders with troops. It is incumbent on every amir to have in each settlement what he can afford to buy of horses from what remains of the wealth of the Muslims (that is what is in the treasury) in preparation for what might occur. This would be as Umar, may Allah be pleased with him, did in the camp settlements, so that there were in Kufa four thousand horses, which were in winter kept in a place facing the (governor’s) palace to the north of it, which place was called for that reason the constabulary. In spring these horses used to graze between the Euphrates and the houses in Kufa in the neighbourhood of al-Aqul. The Persians used to call the place the constabulary of the governors. Umar’s man in charge of these horses was Sulayman bin Rabia al-Bahili (that is of the tribe of Bahila), helped by a few other men from Kufa. He saw to the making of the [95]


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necessary gear for the horses and exercised them every day. In Basra there were a similar number of horses, and the man who looked after them for Umar was Juz bin Muawiya. And in every one of the settlements there was the number (of horses) it could afford. As for the responsibility for maintaining justice and appointing judges and other state officials, it is the duty of every amir to endeavour his utmost in seeking the best officials from the different classes of men. This is because he needs a group of them for consultation and advice, a group for the direction of war, a group for the conduct of war, a group to protect him, a group for elegance and pride, a group for propaganda and praise, a group for writing, a group for prayer and solemnity and a group for knowledge, exegesis and the protection of Islam, which is the basis of the community. A ruler cannot really establish his power without the full presence of all of these types (of men). Umar, may Allah be pleased with him, used to say, “None should look after the affairs of men but one who is of sound mind, abundant knowledge, little conceit, great zeal, strong without excess, lenient without weakness, generous but not a squanderer, fearing no blame of any person in the cause of Allah.” He also said, “A governor must have strength such that the killing of a man in the cause of truth would be to him like the killing of a swallow; and he should have of mildness, kindness, care, and mercy that which make him fear to kill a swallow without justice.” The most important condition for a governor is that he should appoint for the care of state affairs persons who have seriousness, truth and honesty. The appointment should be based on piety, not on emotion. The basis of government and the fundamental prerequisite for any office is not to appoint a person who seeks and covets appointment. Al-Bukhari told in his Sahih on the authority of Abu Musa al-Ashari that he (Abu Musa) said, “I came to the Prophet, may Allah bless him and give him peace, with a man. When we saluted him, my friend said, ‘O Messenger of Allah, appoint me in an office.’ Whereupon the Prophet of Allah, may Allah bless him and give him peace, said: ‘We do not appoint for our office those who seek them.’” Know also that most of the evil that befalls the state comes from the appointment of officers who are anxious to have the appointment. Because none would be keen on such but a thief in the garb of a hermit and a fox in the guise of a pious worshiper, all the endeavours of [96]


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someone who is keen in the collection of money, sacrificing for such his religion and integrity, are for the fruits of this world. They do not portray zeal and honesty, and that is the very sign of treachery. (Such a person would enslave the slaves of Allah and use their wealth for his own ends. Once the rights of the Muslims are usurped and their wealth is unjustly taken, their souls are corrupted, their obedience diminishes, the affairs of the state become shaky and corruption pervades the state.) Al-Mamun11 also said, “Whenever I was faced with a problem in my realm, I found out that the cause was the injustice of the governors.” Umar bin al-Khattab, may Allah be pleased with him, when despatching officers, used to make four conditions: that they should not ride horses, that they should not wear soft things or eat (delicacies but simple food) and that they should not appoint chamberlains or close their doors in the face of the needs of the people and what is good for them. He used to say to them, “I am not appointing you on their person or their honour but I appoint you to look after their interest and to settle disputes among them according to justice.” As for the collection of kharaj, the reception of sadaqat, the appointment of officers to such and the distribution of that which is due from the same, it is incumbent upon the amir to endeavour to appoint such collectors as would take the right amount and put it in the right place. The obligation is to take from the land what has been fixed by Umar bin al-Khattab, may Allah be pleased with him. That is to take from each jarib of vineyards ten dirhams, from each jarib of barley two dirhams, from each jarib of dates eight dirhams, from a jarib of olives twelve dirhams. A jarib is ten qasabas; a qasaba is six Hashimi dhira; each dhira is six qabda and each qabda is four fingers. A jarib is therefore a rectangular piece of land the length of each side of which is sixty Hashimi dhira. It is an area which is called the faddan (an acre). It is also incumbent upon the amir to collect the jizya from the people of the dhimma – four dinars or forty dirhams from those who use silver coins. In respect of lightening the burden of those who are not Muslims, there are two views. (However,) any one of them who embraces Islam is absolved (from paying the jizya). In respect of collecting the ushr (tithe) from a dhimmi who has travelled for purposes of trade in a territory other than the one in which he came to be a subject, it is said that even if he did not do any transactions, one tenth of what he came with should be taken, whether he sold all that he brought with him or [97]


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not. The first of these Traditions is most common. The second is related to Ibn Habib,12 who reported it from Malik and his Medinan companions, the basis being that the person had benefited from protection and safe arrival. As for the muahad, and he is al-Harbi (from the territory of war), in case he comes to our land and remains on an aman (safe conduct) on condition that he pays something, and no doubt something must have been fixed on him, and he declares the amount to be taken from him, that amount should not be exceeded. In case nothing has been fixed but he came to our land on an aman without any amount to be taken from him having been fixed, the accepted tradition is that the imam (or governor) should endeavour to fix what should be taken from him with respect to the particular situation, not that he should endeavour to fix some payment in all conditions, so that if he decided not to take anything at all, that is permissible. Ibn al-Qasim13 and Ashhab14 said that in no condition should the ushr be exceeded. This was said also by Asbagh,15 who pointed out that this should apply if such persons were in the practice of sojourning on payment of the ushr. Ibn al-Qasim also stipulated that the imam could allow them to sojourn upon payment of some dinars. It is also said that the ushr should be taken from such persons in the same way as is the case with the dhimmis. As for jizya from persons who are party to an agreement, the amount to be taken from them is the one stipulated (in the original agreement). It is also an obligation of a ruler to take what is left of the property of a deceased person when there is no heir, the property the owner of which is unknown, such as a deposit when the identity of the depositor is not expected to be known, and the property of an insolvent person. If the imam is just, then it is the duty of any person who has such things as mentioned to hand them over to the imam to dispose of in the proper manner. It is also the duty of the imam to appoint officers to receive the sadaqat and to distribute what is due of them (to the right persons). It is the duty of the amir also to know the channels into which the wealth collected by the amirs is to be spent, as mentioned before. Thus the zakat al-Fitr16 is for the poor and needy only, so it has to be spent in the appropriate manner. If that proves to be impossible, then it should be spent in the nearest place. The remaining kinds of zakat are to be spent on the poor and the needy, for the payment of the collectors, on those (needy dhimmis) whose hearts are to be won, in the settlement of [98]


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blood-wit, in the settlement of debts, in the cause of Allah and on wayfarers.17 It is an obligation that these should be spent where they are due and immediately if deserving persons are found, or else they should be transferred to the nearest place where such deserving persons are to be found. However, any place within a distance shorter than that of a qasr (about 48 miles) is considered as the same place. Should there be in the place where it is due deserving persons and in another place more needy ones, then part of it is to be distributed in the place where it is due and part is to be transferred to the more needy place according to the nature of the circumstances. In no way should there be any generalization in the different kinds of sadaqat. As for the wealth of the bait al-mal, mention of which was made before, it is left to the endeavour of the imam to take from it what meets his needs even if that means taking all of it, and he should spend the rest in the different departments that cater for the welfare of the community.18 The conduct of just imams in respect of fay and the fifth (state income) starts with safeguarding danger points and frontiers, preparation of war material and payment of the warriors. If there remains something after that, then it is for judges, officials, building mosques and bridges and then for the poor. Should there remain something still, then the imam has the option of distributing it among the rich or keeping it for the future needs of Islam. Authorities differ in respect of the annuity as to whether to give preference to those who have position and precedence in Islam or to equate them with others. As for property, that is not permissible for amirs to take. (Otherwise) it is taken on appointment or bribery or presents given for their authority. It is also not permissible to punish persons by (enforcing) the payment of money, such as taking the money of the thief, collecting uncanonical tax (maks)19 or taking the ushr or anything else from those who have rights to inheritance without having divided the inheritance among them. However, taking wealth from such persons to improve their condition, such as for the building of fortifications in an unsafe place, is permissible if there is need for it and in case there is no money in the bait al-mal. As for the protection of the land, the defence of the state and the protection of Islam against change and innovation, it is (the duty of ) the ruler to endeavour to ward off every cause of corruption and harm from befalling the people of his land, to secure everything for their welfare and sustenance and to protect and defend them against any who would [99]


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want to cause them any worldly harm. As it is his obligation to protect the realm and defend the state, so it is his obligation to protect Islam. Ibn Abd al-Karim al-Maghili20 said: “One of the greatest duties of Muslim rulers is the protection of religion so that none would be allowed to speak on the religion of Allah by way of education or judgement or fatwa (legal opinion) except if he was from the people of knowledge and piety.” Thus when Amir al-Mumunin Ali Ibn Abu Talib21 came to Basra and entered its mosque and found story-tellers telling stories, he made them leave. (He then proceeded) until he reached the circle of al-Hasan al-Basri,22 may Allah be pleased with him. He said to him, “I am going to ask you about something. If you answer me, then I will let you stay. Else I will make you leave as I have made your friends leave.” Ali had seen in him some dignity and piety. Al-Hasan al-Basri, may Allah be pleased with him, then said to him, “Ask what you please.” Ali then said, “What ensures religion?” He said, “Piety.” Ali said, “What corrupts religion?” He said, “Greed.” Ali said, “Sit down. Persons like you should talk to people.” If the major obligation of every amir is to stamp all the corrupters out of worldly affairs, how is it then that it is not his duty to drive away the same from the matters of religion! It has been made clear by the Book (the Quran), the Traditions and the ijma (consensus) of the ulama that many among the reciters of the Quran are but corrupt ulama who eat the wealth of the people in falsehood and push (them) off the cause of Allah. They are for this reason the thieves of religion (and are) more harmful to Muslims than a thousand devils. Surely what is seen is not like what is told. As for the establishment of the rules of Islam in respect of the rights of Allah and the rights of the human beings, it is (the obligation of the amir to) endeavour to carry these out among the people of his domain, to continue the search (for those rights) and (to carry out the right) judgements as much as possible. Information about the established hudud (punishments) and tazirat (punishments that are left to the discretion of the imam) according to the Sharia is to be found in the books of furu (derivations). As for the imam (leadership in prayer) on Fridays and in communal prayers, it is incumbent on the amir to endeavour to build mosques in places where they are needed and to lead the prayer himself if that is possible. Also, he should appoint a deputy to carry out that duty. It is also incumbent upon him to see that governors of his domains shoulder [100]


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that responsibility by themselves whenever possible. This is the meaning of Allah’s saying, exalted is He, that “those whom if we establish them on earth observe the prayers”.23 The observance of prayer implies the erection of mosques and performing the Friday prayer as well as the other five prayers. As for the despatch of pilgrims from his domain and helping those from other domains, it is the obligation of all amirs to do so as long as they can. In respect of waging jihad against the enemies in his neighbourhood, the division of spoils among the warriors and taking the one fifth for the people of the fifth, that is an obligation of the amir if he is in a frontier province near the lands of the enemy. The conditions for jihad and the traditions in respect of the division of spoils are explained in the books of fiqh (schools of jurisprudence) and Hadith. From Allah is success; there is no god but He.

NOTES 1 Abu al-Hassan Ali bin Muhammad bin Habib al-Mawardi (d. AH 450/AD1058). The reference is to his famous work al-Ahkam al-Sultaniyya, which has been published many times, for example in Cairo in AH 1298. 2 Bello refers indirectly to Amir Yaqub’s position as the governor of a frontier province. 3 Quran 8: 41. The people concerned are stipulated in the verse: “The fifth share is assigned to Allah and the messenger, and to near relatives, orphans, the needy and the wayfarer.” 4 This is a reference to the Sunni theory that caliphs should be of Qurayshi descent. The great imam is the office of caliph as distinct from the simple imam of prayer. 5 Caliph Umar bin al-Khattab, the second caliph of Islam (AD 634–44). 6 Saad bin Abu Waqqas. He played a leading role in the conquest of Iraq and the settlement of Muslim Arab troops in Kufa in AH 17. 7 Muawaiya bin Abu Sufyan, Umar’s governor of Syria, contested the succession of Ali bin Abu Talib and succeeded to the caliphate in AD 641. He is the founder of the Umayyad dynasty (AD 641–750). 8 Ziyad bin Abih, Muawaiya’s governor in Iraq, and also allegedly his brother. 9 Caliph Abu Bakr, the first caliph of Islam (AD 632–4). 10 One of Caliph Umar’s governors of Kufa. 11 Son of Harun al-Rashid, seventh Abbasid caliph, d. AH 218/AD 833. 12 The famous Maliki scholar (died AH 238). 13 The famous Maliki scholar (died AH 191). 14 The famous Maliki scholar (died AH 204). [101]


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15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23

The famous Maliki scholar (died AH 225). This is due at the end of the fast of Ramadan. This is as stipulated in the Quran 9: 60. His needs are for the proper conduct of his person and affairs as an imam. This is a term used for what is considered to be uncanonical tax, especially in relation to trade. Muhammad bin Muhammad bin Abd al-Karim al-Maghili, a well-known Maliki scholar who had been to Kano. He died in 1503. See J. A. H., Vol. 14, No. 2, pp. 381–94. Ali Ibn Abu Talib, the last of the Rashidun, died in AH 40. The famous Sufi scholar of Basra. He died in AH 110, and so could not have met with Ali Ibn Abu Talib at all! Quran 22: 41.

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9 Documentation and Sources: Some Observations on Progress, Problems and Concepts

It is now a far cry from the situation which provoked that infamous statement “Africa has no history” made in the 1950s by Hugh Trevor-Roper, the Oxford don. Works on African history, scholarly and otherwise, abound at present and are on the increase. New material, more sources, more documentation and research centres, new universities and institutions of learning with specialized publications are daily coming to the notice of those concerned. This phenomenon is worldwide, and its coming at this time is in the nature of things. Africa is at long last having its kingdoms. The rest is following. The concern is with Africa’s past but even more with its present and future, which can be understood and influenced only through a clear grasp of the past. The quest for identities and interests is part of the struggle of the scholars as well as the politicians of the continent, which is desperately trying to become its own. It is equally so for their counterparts on other continents, who naturally labour for their own ends. The commitment to one’s own culture and society is mutual in the majority of cases. It is thus no coincidence that centres for African studies are now either emerging or increasing in different parts of the globe. This is of course happening on the continent itself. The focus on Africa is part of the regional, continental and global strategies of the powers of the day. The area under consideration, although only a part of sub-Saharan Africa, is still very large. In the case of one country, Chad, the whole geopolity is covered; the rest of the territories described cover parts of states today. Other chapters of this volume are better suited to answering the question of whether or not the delineation so made does justice to the history and culture of the area, the whole region and the state structures that are part of those areas. To be sure, the description fits the concept of the central bilad al-Sudan, with the implicit west–east approach and the limitations on the terms bilad (Arabic sing.: balad or balda, [103]


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meaning land, territory, place etc.) and Sudan (Arabic sing.: aswad or sawda, meaning black or dark). It is worthy of note that only the Democratic Republic of the Sudan uses the name “Sudan” for the geopolity it covers, having dropped the description “Anglo-Egyptian” from the former colonial name. The descriptive name for the people came to mean the place, and a new political identity was coined to suit the new development, thus the word Sudani (and its plural form Sudaniyyun). But the “Sudan” as such is really the majority if not all the people of Africa save for the white settlers in Kenya, Zimbabwe, Azania and other places. Pride or prejudice in colour aside, one may not be saying much if one bases one’s political or territorial identity on the colour of one’s skin. Moreover, it is not the people of the area who originally gave themselves or their land that appellation. It was outsiders who did. This writer does not share the established view that it was Arab geographers who defined bilad al-Sudan as the belt from the Atlantic Ocean to the Red Sea north of the jungle area and south of the Sahara. In my view, this is a European colonial definition. It is interesting to note that the Greeks described the Nubians and Ethiopians as black or burnt and that from Shakespeare’s Othello to Moravia’s novel, the Moors as well as the Algerians are depicted as black. Our English colleagues have not forgotten the word “blackamoor”. Nor should one forget what Africa meant to the Arab geographers, the Romans and medieval Europe and what it means now. Throughout the history of the whole belt or the specific region under consideration, the deserts known as the Sahara (Arabic sing.: Sahra) have never been insurmountable barriers for continuous and very far-reaching contacts between their people and those of the northern parts of the continent. Certainly some east–west movements in history within each territory or the whole region were significant and decisive. Among them were the rise of the Saifawa in Borno, the emergence of the Funj of Sennar, the jihad of Shaykh Uthman Dan Fodio and the establishment of the Sokoto caliphate in the Hausa lands. So also was the Mahdiyya in Sudan and the exploits of Rabih bin Fadl Allah, which took him across Chad into Borno. One of course should not ignore the incessant movement of peoples of the region for various reasons and under different conditions. But in the final analysis, it was perhaps the slow, often unobserved and mostly peaceful north–south and south–north movements of people [104]


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D O C U M E N TAT I O N A N D S O U RC E S

and ideas through the centuries that were most decisive in giving the area its common characteristics. The most important of these are the Islamization and Arabization firmly rooted in the whole region. Indeed the east–west and west–east movements mentioned above have by and large been the products of these characteristics. The same can be said about the north–south and south–north movements when they were aggressive and dramatic like those of the al-Moravids, the Moroccan invasion of Songhay, Muhammad Ali’s expansion into Nubia, Kordofan, Darfur and the upper Nile and the British and French occupation of the area. The quest for information about the people and lands of this area goes back to pharaonic, Graeco-Roman and biblical times. Bits and pieces of this information, in drawings, inscriptions or written documents, can be traced in the relevant sources for those periods. But whereas some scholars such as Basil Davidson and others have concerned themselves with the ancient past of Africa, the emphasis, especially with regard to the area under consideration, has been on the post-Christian era, more so on the Islamic and colonial periods. The reason for this is twofold. The sources, both written and oral, for these two periods are abundant and available. And there is the clash of identity and interests between the cultures of the two sets of sources, which of course speak different languages. For many, the Muslim or Islamic sources have become to a great extent part of the indigenous cultural heritage; and the colonial ones are to a great extent of a people and culture that are alien. Needless to point out, for scholars or those who seek to approximate the truth both sets of sources are important, and both should be approached carefully and critically. In many instances, they are complementary. One has to remember that even with the Islamic sources, the earlier ones have often been the works of persons outside the region or outside the continent. Notes and bibliographies in previous contributions have already said much about the nature and place of the sources and documentation for the various aspects of the studies presented in this book. Risking repetition, one would like to draw attention again to the works of T. Lewicki and M. M. Musad on sources. These two scholars have, as is known, concentrated on written Arabic sources. To these one may add the specialized interim reports, catalogues, bulletins etc. that are being [105]


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published by various centres. For the area of concern in this book, the most relevant are perhaps the interim reports of Arewa House, Kaduna; the Northern History Research Scheme (N.H.R.S.) of the Department of History of Ahmadu Bello University (A.B.U.), Zaria; the Nigerian Administration Research Project, also of A.B.U., Zaria; the bulletin of the Centre for Arabic Documents, Ibadan; and the Bulletin of Information of the International Academic Union, Accra. The Centre of Manuscripts of the Arab league in Cairo also publishes catalogues on their collections. In addition to the continuous information on books and journals, special subject dissertation catalogues as well as catalogues on doctoral dissertations are being published. In the light of advances in the techniques of photocopying and microfilming, the problem for scholars and institutions may be having enough money and time. But many centres for documents are not easily accessible, and others lack proper catalogues. Thus in many instances, fieldwork in the area under study or in various European capitals or other places becomes imperative for the researcher. An additional problem is that of languages and characters. The colonial powers and the governments of the countries under study used a variety of European languages, written in the different adopted forms of the Latin characters. These same characters have been adapted for indigenous languages such as Hausa, Fulfulde, Kanuri etc. However, the pre-colonial local traditions of learning and writing were in the Arabic language and the Arabic script, which was adapted to suit many local languages in the area such as the ones mentioned above and others such as Swahili. Although there is still much to be done with regard to the collection of data, written and oral, and to the publication of information on it, one cannot but note with satisfaction the progress that has been made in the field of the influence of Islam on the history of bilad al-Sudan. In Cameroon and Niger, there have been the fruits of the research of scholars such as M. Njeuma, Eldridge Mohammadou and Buba Hama. And in Sudan, there has been the publication of important works such as the Tabaqat by Y. F. Hasan and documents on the acquisition of land by M. I. Abu Salim, along with the efforts of the Central Archives, Khartoum, which he directs, and the documents and studies by R. S. O’Fahey, J. Tubiana and others. These are positive proof of the great strides that are being made in the study of the different aspects of the [106]


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culture of this area. Chad, with the recent publications of the Institute National des Sciences Humaines in N’Djamena on documents and sources, is gradually putting itself in the picture too. It is to be noted, however, that Sudan, except for the work of the Institute of African and Asian studies in Britain, has not as yet done much in the collection and recording of oral data in relation to the other countries. Nor is the situation very different in that respect in Nigeria. The reason may be the prevalence of the written tradition and the availability of written sources. Indeed in Sudan, the Central Archives, Khartoum possesses many Arabic manuscripts, and much still remains uncollected, in private hands. But by virtue of its history and capabilities, Nigeria stands out as the most advanced in the field of documentation and sources. In northern Nigeria, the early emergence of the Saifawa dynasty in Borno and the rise, although much later, of the Sokoto caliphate in Hausaland have been by any standard important turning points in the development of the cultural and ethnic identities of those regions. They have provided an organic continuity in the political and cultural traditions of the people despite the colonial presence and the tremendous powers at its disposal to obliterate those traditions. Thus in northern Nigeria, statistics still show that from the point of functional literacy, the Arabic language and Arabic characters in their ajami form are known to a greater number of people than English or the Latin characters. In fact, a recent study by Father O’Connel of the Department of Social Studies, A.B.U. Zaria, Nigeria shows that the comparison applies to the whole of Nigeria. Like the Mahdiyya in Sudan, the caliphate of Sokoto fought for its identity, political, cultural and territorial. Its power and potentialities were such that the British could not quash it as they did the Mahdiyya. They were forced to compromise with it, and the caliphate saw in the colonial presence no more than a sad and transitory episode in the scheme of things. To be sure, the indirect rule of the Sarkin Muslimi or his amirs or of the shehu (shaykh) of Borno was not the same as that of the sultans and amirs before the colonial occupation. But the cultural tradition has succeeded in preserving its basics and guarding its continuity. Thus in both Sokoto and Borno, the Arabic literary tradition of the Muslim ulama is alive and kicking. With a deep interest and involvement in the past and with keen observation of the present, writers such as [107]


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Waziri Junayd of Sokoto, Shaykh Tijani, Shaykh al-Miskeen in Borno and others continue to write and participate in seminars and workshops and to help scholars and students, who often seek their assistance and advice when in the field. The collection and preservation of documents has been part of the chancery practices of the states and the traditions of learning in Borno and Hausaland. In the colonial period, some notable efforts at collection and preservation were made for the purpose of administration and education; and some studies and publications were produced. Thanks to the efforts of persons such as Palmer, Kendsdale, Abdullahi Smith, M. A. al-Hajj, K. Mahmud, J. Hunwick, D. M. Last, K. Tijani, M. Tukur, O. S. A. Ismail, I. U. A. Musa, H. Gwarzo, J. Lavers, F. al-Masri, A. M. Kani, Y. A. Aliyu and others, many manuscripts were collected, identified and catalogued. Some of the important documents were acquired from Cairo, Rabat, Istanbul, Beirut and a host of European capitals. Now, most if not all the documents recovered are listed in the CAD and the N.H.R.S. reports. Here the patient work of K. Mahmud, J. Hunwick and M. Last are to be noted. This writer has been able to carry on with the work of the NHRS in the period 1971–7, and was able to publish the Third Interim Report of the NHRS in 1975 and to submit the Fourth Interim Report as well as an index of Arabic manuscripts in the N.H.R.S. for publication by A.B.U. Press in June 1977 (published by K.U.P. in 1982). Dr Abu Hakima had already published a descriptive catalogue on the Jos Collection. M. Hiskett and Bivar have written on that literature in the Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies. There are many centres of collections in Nigeria. There is the CAD collection; the N.H.R.S. collection; the Jos Museum collection; the Kano collection, established by Prof. M. A. al-Hajj in Amadu Bello University (A.B.U.) Zaria, Kano; the History Bureau collection in Sokoto; and the many collections in the local libraries of authorities. The Arewa House collection in Kaduna under the directorship of Prof. A. Smith is unique by virtue of the supporting literature of books and theses. There are also many known and unknown private collections. The most important of these is the private collection of the waziri in Sokoto, Dr al-Hajj Junayd bin Muhammad al-Bukhari. (Of late, Prof. Paeden has been able to secure one private collection from Kano for the University of Wisconsin, USA. It was the subject of a PhD thesis in that university.) The area is still full of manuscripts, as is reflected in the field [108]


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work of the staff of A.B.U., Zaria and B.U., Kano. Some of the recent discoveries are of great importance, for example the Kanz al-Awlad, which was discovered by M. A. al-Hajj in his field work in Gusau. Missing volumes of the Kitab al-Idara on Borno seem to be on the point of being discovered. In quantity, quality and content, the sources available in northern Nigeria are second to none in the area under consideration for the pre-colonial period. The known works of Shaykh Uthman Dan Fodio, his brother Abd Allah and his son Muhammad Bello run into hundreds. Most of them are available, and many are published in various ways and possessed by many. One is not sure that there is such a number of original works in Sudan for the whole period from the Funj up to and including the Mahdiyya. It seems that in the very late eighteenth century and a good part of the nineteenth century, Arabic and Islamic literature was relatively flourishing in West Africa, as in nowhere else in the Muslim world at the time. In this the role of the Sokoto Caliphate in Nigeria (1804–1903) was crucial. Statements that this literature was mere imitation, lacking in beauty, depth, seriousness and originality, are far from the truth. Field workers and collectors have their problems. Distrust of the intentions of the researcher, the purpose for which he carries out research, the institution to which he belongs or his identity often create an insurmountable barrier between him and those he interviews or those whose documents he seeks. Age, language and education often make communication difficult if not impossible. And some field workers do not have the patience to study their area and the persons they seek to approach, and they are daunted when they do not get the object of their search at the first attempt. And the collection of oral data is often conditioned and compromised by the interviewer, the questions put and the persons interviewed. Even with written documents, preconceived ideas as well as insufficient knowledge of the language concerned, or the religion, often lead to funny and disastrous translations. Arnet turned the descriptive Arabic word mundarisun (in Bello’s Infaq), meaning out of use, into a place name. Whitting’s edition of the Infaq is full of mistakes, even in some Quranic texts. Palmer before them failed to realize that the word mone is another form of amani (sing.: munya or umniya), meaning that which is cherished or desired. And we are all familiar with some [109]


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colleagues who know no more about Islam or Arabic or Hausa than the faulty pronunciation of a very few words but who speak on them as though they are graduates of al-Azhar or al-Zaytuna or are one of the well-versed natives of Hausa. An important development in this respect in Nigeria has been the conscious effort to involve local malams in seminars and workshops. This not only gives recognition to the traditional learning of which the documents are an expression but also to the learned men who are its custodians and the proper key to understanding it. In addition, this effort has bridged the gap between the new and the traditional elites and made easier the task of the collection and proper reading of the texts and ultimately the publication of proper editions of them. More important perhaps is the firm trend to make the recovered sources and documentation not simply tools for research for degrees or academic publications, a mere intellectual exercise of an elite, but tools of self-discovery and national rebirth. And there is no sacrificing of the accepted academic scientific practices and techniques. Here one would like to draw attention to Professor A. Smith’s continuous work on “neglected themes” and “overlooked sources” and to the school of history that he and his many students in A.B.U., Zaria and Kano have patiently established. One has to acquaint oneself with the sources used and the documentation cited for theses such as those of F. al-Masri on the Bayan, D. M. Last on the Sokoto caliphate, M. A. al-Hajj on the Mahdiyya, S. Abu Bakr on Adamawa, Y. B. Usman on Katsina, Y. A. Aliyn on Bauchi and M. Tuker on the relevance of the values of Sokoto to present-day Nigeria to appreciate the contribution made by this school and the progress made in the appropriate use of sources and documentation. Concepts such as segmented societies, Fulani jihad, sharp ethnic clashes and differences and ever-uncompromising dualities within regions or between regions which were the hallmark of colonial historiography are giving way to unprejudiced concepts and to a patient, scientific and purposeful approach for proper self-appreciation, -fulfilment and -realization. In Sudan, for example, one has to treat the whole country when dealing with the question of sources and documentation on Darfur. Although the overall picture is satisfactory, its details might not be so, especially with regard to the pre-colonial period. Not much has been published on what has so far been discovered and collected as written or [110]


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oral traditions of the Funj or the old kingdoms of the western parts of the country. Perhaps they did not have much in the form of written material to leave behind. But one can safely bet that quite a few books circulated within the learned communities and that much was written. All the same, the discovered manuscripts on land and genealogies are encouraging. The Mahdiyya did not endure long enough to leave behind by way of documents and sources anything comparable to the results it achieved or the influence on the whole region that it continues to have. However, the works of the Mahdi and Khalifa Abd Allah, collected and published by M. I. Abu Salim, are impressive. From the angle of the study and organization of the documents collected in the Central Archives and the University of Khartoum Sudan Library, substantial progress has been achieved. The acquisition of the libraries of the late Tigani al-Mahi, Muhammad Abd al-Rahim and Shinqiti is a great achievement. Even so, there is still much to be desired from private collections, individual memoirs or the records of formerly influential persons, societies, companies, organizations and political parties. Above all, the exaggerated duality and differences between the north and the south of the country, especially with regard to Darfur and its southern neighbours, have to be properly documented in order to be seen and understood in their meaningful and true perspective. Sources on the southern parts of Sudan and their viewpoints have not yet had the attention they deserve. The foundation laid down by the shaykh of Sudanese historians Mekki Shibeika, whether for the patient collection of sources and documentation or for systematic and far-sighted study, as was his own work on the Turkiya and Condominium periods, should not be lost sight of but instead should be consciously emulated. In the whole region, the new elite and their studies in most cases speak a language different from that of the masses of the people, and in almost all cases their work is still only thinly based on the cultural traditions and concepts of their peoples. The problem of language is not simply a political matter; it is primarily an educational one. Thus there is much more to the sources and documentation than their collection and preservation.

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10 Quo Vadis, Africa? Africa, the World, the Arabs and Islam

There was a time, not long ago in the history of mankind, when people thought that the earth was flat. This was part of some circles’ confirmed belief. To say that the earth was round was not only to go against the perceived knowledge and wisdom of the day but also to blaspheme against the accepted belief and warrant excommunication from the church of Christ. This was the fate of Galileo Galilei (1564–1642) because he agreed with Copernicus (1473–1543) that the earth was round and that the earth as well as all the other planets circled around the sun and revolved around its own axis. But the Quran taught Muslims early in the seventh century that the earth was round not like a ball but more like an egg. It also taught that the earth rotates as well as circles around the sun, hence the night and day and the seasons. There was another time, not long ago in human history, when the earth was seen as regions, seven regions, not as continents. Up to the time of the Age of Discoveries (1492 and after), the Classical World knew next to nothing of the New World across the Atlantic Ocean in the West, or Australia and New Zealand in the Far East, across the Pacific Ocean. Of course these were there all along and are as old as the Classical World. But they were not discovered and were thus unknown. Even after the great Discoveries and the advancement that Arab geographers and astronomers made in the fields of geography and astronomy, over and above what they learned from the Greeks, the Romans, the Persians and the Indians, it took the world quite a time before it advanced from regional geography to continental geography. However, it is an accepted fact that the discoveries in the East and the West could not have been accomplished the way they happened without the full use of Arabic knowledge of seafaring, ship-building and navigational skills. Words such as arsenal (dar al-sana), admiral (amir al-bahr), cable (habl) amongst others are all originally derived from Arabic. [113]


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For thousands of years, long ago, what came to be known as the continent of Africa was part of the landmass of what came to be known as the continent of Asia. Moreover, but for the digging of the Suez Canal in the late nineteenth century, connecting the Red Sea to the Mediterranean Sea, a land bridge continued to connect the two continents via Egypt by way of Sinai. Thus the movement of peoples, animals, commerce and cultures across the two continents has been a natural and on-going process since ancient times. Throughout human history, the peoples of Africa played an important and significant role in the progress of religions, cultures and civilizations. Indeed some reliable scientific discoveries take Africa to be the cradle of man. In the classical world, the role of the Nile Valley civilizations in Nubia and Egypt was as important to the development of world civilizations as the role of the civilizations of the Twin Rivers in Iraq, of Athens and Sparta in Greece, of India, of China, of the Incas in America and of all other known or unknown civilizations of the world. For a very long time, throughout the known history of the Mediterranean world in ancient, medieval and a good part of modern times, the name of Ifriqiyya, that is Africa, was but the name of a defined administrative region in North Africa, covering present-day Tunisia. From Roman times up to Abbasid and Fatimid times (c.1516 AD), Ifriqiyya was Tunisia. Sources differ about the origin of the name. Some Arabic sources claim that it was so called after the colony founded by Ifriqish, the Himyarite prince who was the first to establish a colony there. This seems quite plausible as the colony was named after its founder, which was a common practice in the past (e.g. Rome, Alexandria, Constantinople, Al-Mahdiyya etc.). Thus, before the European expansion and colonization of the African continent and its division amongst the colonial powers, the African per se was the Tunisian. To the Europeans that person was black. So were all the Moors of North Africa: “Black a Moor” as the English used to say. Seeing the world as continents did not end seeing it as regions; regional geography still has and will continue to have its place in the study of the globe. However with the rise of imperialism as a staunch arm of capitalism, politics began to have its role. Geo-politics became the mirror on which the globe is seen. As the name of the defined region in North Africa, Ifriqiyya gradually established itself as the name of the whole continent. The term “African” gradually came to mean people of [114]


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Q U O VA D I S , A F R I C A ? A F R I C A , T H E W O R L D , T H E A R A B S A N D I S L A M

sub-Saharan Africa. In their imperial designs to divide and rule, the colonial powers divided the continent into two major parts, Africa north of the Sahara and Africa south of the Sahara. The Sahara is presented as a formidable barrier, separating the countries and the peoples of Northern Africa from those south of the Sahara. But history in the distant and more recent past shows otherwise. Movements of peoples, trade, languages, religions and cultures have been and continue to be the norm and not the exception. What the colonial powers succeeded in doing was not only to create polities and economic spheres of interest tied to their own home policies and economic interests but also to create new ethnic, religious and cultural identities all over the continent. Each country became a tower of Babel where the indigenous languages were left to die and the colonial languages were presented as the only lingua franca in each place. Only Arabic, Swahili and Hausa succeeded in saving themselves from the colonial onslaught. But even these three indigenous African languages lost the bond that bound them for generations, namely the Arabic alphabet. In their fight against Arabic, Arabs and Islam, the colonial powers took many restrictive measures including the abolition of the Arabic script and the latinization of many indigenous scripts and languages. It is important in this respect to stress that Africa has been part of the Arab homeland since time immemorial. The traditional homeland of the Semites, the most numerous of whom are the Arabs, stretches from the Iranian Plateau right across Western Asia through the land bridge of Sinai up to the Atlantic coast. Nor was the Red Sea a barrier against the movement of peoples, animals, trade, religions and cultures from the coasts of Arabia to the costs of Africa and vice versa. A cradle of the Arab people and the Arabic language, Africa has also been a cradle of Islam. Even before the migration to Medina, Muslims took refuge in Ethiopia with the Christian Negus of the time. While the Caliphate under Abu Bakr and Umar had to defend itself against the Byzantines in Syria and Egypt and succeeded in driving them out of these two important provinces, the caliphs that followed, especially the Umayyads (661–750 AD), carried on across Tunisia, North Africa, and across the Gibraltar Straits to occupy Spain for centuries to come. In all this while, the Caliphate had to defend itself and expand by dint of power, i.e. the sword. Islam the religion, however, spread by the word. Not only does Islam make it incumbent upon every Muslim to glorify and respect all Prophets and divine scriptures but it also demands of [115]


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Muslim States to recognize the right of subject people to choose their faith: Let there be no compulsion in religion. Truth stands out clear from error. (Quran 2: 256).

Religion in Islam is a matter of faith and will; something between man and God. One has simply to compare the history and place of Christianity and Christians, and Judaism and Jews, in the Quran and the Muslim world during the heydays of the Caliphate and Muslim civilization with the fate of Muslims and Jews in Spain and the Levant during the Inquisition and the Crusades to see who were the intolerant and who sanctioned the brutal massacres of thousands upon thousands of innocent peoples. And today, barbaric invasions of Muslim countries in Palestine, Iraq, Afghanistan and other places are made in the name of fighting terrorism and spreading democracy. In the process there is talk of a “clash of civilizations”, the projection of all Muslims as terrorists and vandals and the projection of Islam as an intolerant religion spread by the sword. But all these claims are false; the arguments underlying them are equally false and are as naked of truth as Pharaoh was of the magical robes, despite the exclamations of his entourage of how beautiful the robes were! Africans, states, peoples, religions and cultures have a lot at stake in all that is being said about Muslims and Islam, and is being done to Muslims and Islam in Africa itself and throughout the world. This is because just as the bonds of brotherhood, of faith and humanity count to Christians, and Christian America and Europe now behave as if they are the sole arbiters of the present day world, so too these bonds do matter to all Muslims all over the world. The declared crusade that is being waged against Islam and Muslims in Africa, Asia and Europe as part of the justification of the Euro-American invasion of Iraq and Afghanistan, and the usurpation of Palestine by Israel is in fact a repeat of the Crusades that accompanied the first millennium. There is no denying the fact that the word millennium to some of our Christian brothers means more than a count of the years that passed since the assumed date of birth of Jesus. The Book of Revelation of the New Testament speaks of the second coming of the Messiah after the millennium as being heralded by the revival of the State of Israel, which [116]


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event spells doomsday, the Apocalypse or the catastrophic end of the world. Under the impact of this prophecy, which proved to be false after the first millennium, the Papacy led the Crusaders to the Holy Lands. The declared purpose was to save the Holy Places in preparation for the return of Jesus Christ; the real aim of the princes, the kings, the emperors, the popes and others was to acquire land and wealth in the Levant. As sure as that Crusade ended in failure, the present-day Crusade of Bush and Blair will also end in failure. Truth will out. Justice will prevail. The concern of Africa and the Africans in this global struggle is multifold. A cradle of Muslims and Islam, Africa is also a cradle of the Arabs. Africa has the largest number of Arabs in the world in Egypt and right across North Africa. The Sudanic Belt stretching from the Red Sea to the Atlantic Ocean is greatly arabized, with many Arab tribes spreading across it. The Arabic language ranks as the most widely distributed, most spoken and most read in the continent. Its sister languages, Hausa, Swahili and Fulfulde are loaded with Arabic loan words and are full of Islamic terms and concepts. The influence of Islam and these languages goes beyond African Muslims to all other Africans. Africa therefore cannot but play its role in the defence of Islam and Muslims. It is simply self-defence, which is not only legitimate and laudable but is also essential for survival. With their God-given qualities of fortitude, patience, and humility, and with their great love for the truth, Africans will find out that in their past Islam was not spread by the sword or the gun but by the word. It did not penetrate the continent across the Sahara or across the sea to the eastern coasts of the continent right to the south and centre, with any invading armies or in the wake of colonial occupation. Nor did it have in its belief or culture anything that promotes racism, exploitation or disrespect for Biblical revelations or Biblical prophets. Of the three Biblical religions, Islam, Christianity and Judaism, Islam is the only one that recognizes and respects the other two as part of the faith that takes Islam to be the religion of all Prophets from Adam, Abraham and Moses, to Jesus and to Muhammad (p.b.u.h.). What Muslims say about Jesus, Mary, Moses and other Prophets is part of their faith. What Christians and Jews say about Islam and the Prophet Muhammad is part of their culture, a culture that has been responsible for many horrific episodes in history, including Fascism, Nazism, the horrors and disgrace of the Atlantic Slave Trade, the Colour [117]


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Bar, Apartheid, the Holocaust, Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the Usurpation of Palestine, and the invasion of Iraq and Afghanistan. The outstanding feature of Western foreign policy has been an arrogant and utter disregard of human rights, peoples’ rights and international laws. It is perhaps sobering to remind Christians that historically the church was always an integral part of European expansion, and that wherever the European went the indigenous populations suffered as a result. This was the case in the Americas, in Australia, in New Zealand as well as in Asia and Africa. Had the European expansion been inspired by any sense of caring and sharing not oppression and exploitation the world could have been a very different place. The tragedy is that all indications show that America and Europe in particular are out to dictate, exploit and dominate; their world is a world where they should always be more equal than others. It is for Africans to shun this Western worldview. It is for Muslim Africans to be foremost in striving for the unity of the continent in its plurality and diversity. Ethnicity and faith must be seen in the context of the nation, the country must be seen in the context of the region, the region in the context of the continent in an ever-changing world. Muslims have a duty to remember that the great bequest given to them by Allah, the Quran, practised and expounded in the Traditions of the Prophet (p.b.u.h), is not for them alone. As it was first revealed through the Prophet (p.b.u.h.) to non-Muslim Arabs to guide them to Islam, so it is the case now in regard to non-Muslims. Muslims have to endeavour to spread the word of the Quran to non-Muslims in respect and good faith. The Quran contains many verses that are addressed to mankind in general. Many are addressed to the peoples of the Books. All of it is of course addressed to Muslims who share humanity and the Books with the rest. In this age where a clash of cultures is imposed upon Muslims by way of abuse, aggression, destabilization and destructive chaos, it is for Muslims to look with great confidence to their Faith, their Prophet, their Book and their future. Africans of North Africa and Egypt should look more to the rest of the continent in the south and identify themselves more with its peoples, its problems and its cultures. Those in the south should look more to the whole continent and its peoples and its potential, not across it to the colonial countries whose intentions to dominate and exploit are as clear as they were in the past. All indigenous peoples of [118]


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Africa are de facto Africans. The Arabs, the Berber, the Nubians, the Beja, the Tuareg, the Ethiopians, the Eritreans, the Somalis are as indigenous Africans as the Zaqawa, the Fur, the Dinka, the Zande or Zulu and Bantu and others. Islam, which does not ignore the region or the tribe, stresses more the bond of humanity and calls for mutual recognition and understanding. It is for Muslims of Africa to adhere to the divine call: O Mankind, We created you from a single pair of a male and a female, and made you into nations and tribes that you may know (and recognize) each other (not that you may ignore or despise each other); verily the most honoured of you in the sight of Allah is he who is the most righteous of you. (Quran 49: 13).

Africa is a continent, not a region or a tribe. Islam is a universal religion. Islam, the last of the Biblical religions, is the first and final of divine religions. In the Quran, all Prophets were Muslims, and Islam in its successive revelations from the Prophet Adam to the Prophet Muhammad (p.b.u.h) was the only religion before Allah, the complete and unequivocal submission to Him, Most high. But according to the Quran the diversity of tongues, colours, beliefs and cultures is part of Allah’s scheme of things. Muslims in Africa as well as all over the world should be the first to recognize and appreciate this fact. They should not be intolerant to others as some others are intolerant, abusive and provocative to them. The Quran says, “Those who patiently persevere will truly receive a reward without measure” (39: 10). Sadly it is true that a number of Muslim states, Muslim organizations, Muslim groups and Muslim individuals in Africa, Europe, America and elsewhere sometimes do things which are utterly un-Islamic, inhuman and irresponsible, in the name of Islam. But fortunately the voices of moderate, mainstream Islam are always loud and clear in condemning such acts. African Muslims, to enhance their position as the cementing factor in African societies and African states, should stick to this moderate, mainstream Sunni Islam with the Maliki school of jurisprudence as their main source, after the Quran and the Traditions, for the Sharia. The number of Muslims in the Americas, in Europe, in Asia, in Australia, in New Zealand and in Africa increases every day. So Muslims in Africa and elsewhere have nothing to worry about regarding Islam. But they do have a lot to worry about regarding themselves. In his Clash of Civilizations Huntington says that for the United States to survive it [119]


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has to have an enemy; if there is no enemy then one must be created, he states. At this stage of human history the assumed enemy for the Zionist and Christian fundamentalist circles in the United States, Europe and Israel is Islam and therefore the Muslims. Not only the wayward extremist Muslims who are disavowed and condemned by the moderate and broad masses of the Muslims but also the moderate, peaceful and law-abiding majority of Muslims. However, attacks on Islam and the Prophet Muhammad (p.b.u.h) are of no avail. Both are invincible. But Muslim peoples and Muslim countries are not. Attacks on Islam and the slanders on the Prophet serve three purposes: first to identify the enemy as Islam and justify the wars against it; second to provoke Muslims to react and give further justification for the attacks on Muslims; and third to rally the Christians around the church and the states in their attacks against Islam and Muslims. In reality the aim of the United States, the United Kingdom and Europe is to control and exploit the Muslim world and as much of the Third World as possible. In the coming confrontation between the West and the emerging super power, China, control of Muslim countries is both for their wealth and their position. Africa is a big bone of contention in this regard. It is wealthy. It is strategic. It is Islamic in its majority. Yet even at this very time when the attacks on Islam and the Prophet Muhammad (p.b.u.h.) are unabated, many in the United States and Europe speak highly of Islam, the Quran, the Prophet Muhammad (p.b.u.h) and contributions of Islam to present-day civilization. Islam is not a nationality. Muslims can be full citizens of non-Islamic states or countries. Equally non-Muslims can be full citizens of Islamic states or countries. In both situations Muslims must strive to integrate and identify themselves with their societies, their countries and their nations. In our ancient yet newly emerging continent of Africa this integration and identification is crucial. We have had enough of wars and divisions. It is time to identify and integrate. It is the duty of all Africans, be they black, brown or “white”, Muslims, Christians or others to identify with the past, the present and the future of the whole continent. Muslim Africans who are the majority in the continent have a lot to proclaim and be proud of in this endeavour. Egypt and North Africa, Nubia and Axium stand very high in the scale of classical civilizations. Muslims of Egypt and North Africa contributed a lot to present-day world civilization. [120]


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The universal language of numbers, the Arab numerals, was passed to Europe and to the whole world from Arab North Africa and Muslim Spain. The real masters of what came out of the Renaissance of Europe were Muslim scholars from Egypt, Tunisia, and North Africa and the Middle East. Some of those like Ibn Khaldun, Ibn al-Wazzan (Leo Africanus), Ibn Sa’id, Al-Idrisi, Ibn Batuta and Ibn Jubair were Africans. The culture of Muslim Spain, which gave Europe the fruits of the minds of Ibn Rush (Averros), Ibn Sina (Avicenna) and Ibn Tufail is very much related to Muslim North Africa. And it was the African slaves of the Atlantic slave trade, many of whom were Muslims, who were the true heroes of America’s wealth and power. With the Maliki school of jurisprudence as their main source, after the Quran and the Traditions, for the Sharia, African Muslims should be proud of the fact that Africa has been the second home of the Maliki School which was rooted in Medina. Most of the famous disciples of Iman Malik lived in Egypt and all over North Africa (c.f. Ibn Farhun; al-Dibadj). The school was developed to maturity in Africa and now predominates all over the continent especially in Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco, Sudan and Nigeria. Africa was also a second home for the Shafii School. Both schools, the Maliki and Shafii, are logical, reasonable, tolerant, open-minded and progressive. These qualities are shard with the other two main schools, the Hanbilite and Hanafite. These are the true qualities of the Muslim faith. For the African Muslims that is the way. There is absolutely no contradiction in being a good Muslim, a good African while being a member of a particular tribe or a citizen of any state. It is worth mentioning that the Shia also have their place in the history of Africa. Having established themselves in North Africa, with their newly founded capital al-Mahdiyya in Ifrqiyya (Tunisia) the Fatimids (297–567/909–1171) moved on to conquer and occupy Egypt in 358/969. That important event took place in the reign of the fourth Fatimid caliph al-Muiz (341–65/953–75), whose victorious general Jawhar, the Slav, took over Egypt and founded the famous Fatimid capital, the city of Cairo (al-Qahira, the conqueror) near al-Fustat, the old capital of Egypt. In their new capital the Fatimids established the most famous Islamic University of al-Azhar with its famous mosque, surrounded by its many Islamic boarding schools (the Riwaqs) giving free board and education [121]


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to students from all over the Muslim World, including many from the Sudanic belt of Africa. There is also in Cairo the shrine and mosque of al-Husayn b. Ali, the martyred grandson of Prophet Muhammad (p.b.u.h.) and the third Shiite Imam. The Fatimids occupied Sicily, took operations against the Byzantines, extended their rule in Palestine and Syria and took over the guardianship of the Holy Places in Hijaz. Their demise took place in the reign of their fourteenth caliph al-Adid (555–67/1160–71) when the Ayyubids took over Egypt. But both Cairo and al-Azhar flourish to the present day. It was the African Muslim states which first bore the brunt of defending the continent against the European scramble for Africa. Throughout the continent’s confrontation with colonial powers and in all the continent’s movements of liberation, Muslims contributed a lot in defending their countries and liberating them from the yoke of colonization. The Dan Fodios of Sokoto (1804–1903 AD), the Mahdis of Sudan (1881–98) and the Mahdi of Somali are the forerunners of Jomo Kenyata of Kenya, Ben Bella of Algeria and Mandela of South Africa. Moreover the Dan Fodios of Sokoto left a great legacy of Islamic learning in many scholarly works and chancery literature. Of superb quality, diversity, depth and dimensions, these works are very relevant to the Muslims of Africa as well as to all Muslims today who are engaged in state building and national rejuvenation. Not la dolce vita, but the decent, pure, peaceful, noble and respectable life that should be the pursuit of all Africans, Muslims and non-Muslims alike. And what better guide to this life than the Holy Quran and the Traditions of Prophet Mohammad (p.b.u.h.).

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592 Apsects of Islam 11 Index

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Index Africa 3–18, 29–37, 39, 40–47, 58, 60, 103–5 African history, 6, 9, 103 Islam, 3–8 languages, 7, 47 Muslims, 41, 45, 46 provinces, 38 religions, 51 societies, 43 studies, 103, 107 territories, 10, 35 Africanists 57 Africans 3, 4, 46, 119 Agades 69 Age of Discoveries 113 Ahabish 4 Ahfad 27 al-Ahkam al-Sultaniyya 68, 71 ahl al-dawa (the claimants) 90 Ahmad bin Hanbal 67 Ahmad Khair 26 Ahmadu Bello University (A.B.U.) 106, 108, 110 Ahmed Baba 69 al-Ahwaz 95 Ajami Arabic script 59, 107 al-Ajhuri 83 Ajwibat Asilat Askiya (Answers to the Questions of Askiya) 69 Akal n’ Iguinawen 10, 12 al-Alak al-Nafisa 14 Alhaji Junaidu 71 Ali Ibn Ziyad 86 alim 39, 70 Aliyu, Y. A. 108, 110 Allah 29, 31–4, 36, 46–7, 51, 54, 56, 60, 62, 65, 81–5, 87–90, 93–9, 100, 101 Almoravids 42 alphabet 7 Alwa 17 Amadu Bello 108 aman (safe conduct) 86, 98 amani 109

Abbasids 4, 5, 46, 66, 67, 68 caliphate, 13, 16, 68 caliphs, 67 period, 4, 68 revolution, 5 Abd Allah 69, 70, 73, 75, 95, 109, 111 Abd Allah bin Gafar 32 Abd Allah bin Masud 95 Abd Allah bin Tahir 68 Abd al-Rahman 24 Abd al-Rahman Ali Taha 25 Abd al-Salam 86 Abdal Hamid al-Katib 68 Abdalla 24 Abdalla Rajab 26 Abdalla al-Tayyib 25, 27 Abdallab 5 Abdal-Rahman bin Awf 32 Abdel-Magid Abdin 24 Abdel Rahman al-Nasri 27 Abdullahi Smith 108 Abraha 4 Abraham 29 Abu Bakr 66 Abu Bakr al-Siddiq 82, 94 Abu Bakr, S. 110 Abu Hakima 108 Abu Hanifa 67 Abu Hudhayfa 32 Abu Jafar al-Mansur 67 Abu Musa al-Ashari 96 Abu Salim, M. I. 106, 111 Abu Ubaid Abu Ya‘li 68 Abu Yusuf 67 Abyssinia 4, 18, 42 Abyssinians 10 Accra 106 al-ada (custom or practice) 89 adab al-kuttab wal-Wuzara wal-Muluk (the scribes, the viziers and the kings) 68 Adamawa 110 Advisory Council of the British 22

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SOME ASPECTS OF ISLAM IN AFRICA Arabists 57 al-Arabiyya fi al-Sudan 24 Arabization 6, 35, 40, 41, 43, 105 Arabized 7, 36, 58 Muslims, 18, 35 Arabs 3, 5, 7, 9, 10, 12, 13, 14, 16, 94 Ard As-Sudan 14 Arewa House 106, 108 Arkell 10, 11 Arnet 109 asawida 12, 13, 14 Asbagh 83, 86, 98 ashar (tenths) 85 Ashhab 86, 98 Asia 12, 16, 17, 31, 33, 36, 44 central, 67 Asian studies 107 Asma bint Umays 32 As-Sudan 9–19 aswad 12, 13, 104 Atlantic Ocean 10, 104 Atmore 10, 12 ayat (verse) 51 Azania 104 al-Azhar 39, 69, 110, 121 Azhar al-Ruba fi Akhbar Yoruba (Hilltop Flowers: Accounts of the Yoruba) 60

America 33 American University of Beirut 25 amil 38 Amin al-Karib 26 amir 71, 72, 76, 81–3, 88, 90, 94–8, 100, 101 Amir al-Hajj 56 Amir al-Muminin 38, 50, 56, 70, 72, 75 Amir al-Mumunin Ali Ibn Abu Talib 100 amir of Bauchi 71 Amir Yaqub 54, 72, 81 amirates 74, 76, 77, 79, 93 amirs 98, 99, 101, 107 Ammar 94, 95 Amr 32 amsar 37 Amwal (state revenues and taxation) 68 Andalusian 68 Anglo-Egyptian Condominium 21 Anglo-Egyptian Sudan 11, 104 Ansar 58 Antara bin Shaddad 4 anthropologists 57 al-Aqul 95 Arab 6, 8, 11, 13, 24, 29, 34–6, 40, 58, 104 heroes, 13 migrations, 40–41 Muslim, 69 poets, 13 religion, 58 tribes, 13 Arabia 3, 4, 12, 13, 31, 41, 46 Arabic 3, 5, 6, 7, 11, 12, 17, 18, 21, 23, 24, 31, 36, 37, 38, 41, 43, 46, 47, 59, 69, 71, 75, 103, 104, 110, 117 alphabet, 47, 49 Bibles, 47 characters, 7, 107 culture, 8 language, 16, 35, 36, 38, 49, 50, 106, 107 manuscripts, 107, 108 numerals, 49 script, 46, 106 sources, 9, 105 teachers, 61 world, 109 writers, 10 writing, 9, 11, 13, 14, 15

ba’ 12 Babiker Badri 27 Baghdad 4, 8, 15, 36, 38 Bahila 95 Bahr al-Habash 15 Bahr al-Hind 14 bait al-mal (the central treasury) 83, 84, 90, 99 al-Bakri 16 balad 12, 103 balad al-harb (the land of war) 84 balda 12, 103 Bankalawa of Zungur 77 Banu Hilal 47 Banu Sulaym 47 baqt treaty 42 baraka (divine blessing) 7 Barbary 3 Barga 78 Barqa 3

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INDEX buldan 12, 15 Bulletin of Information of the International Academic Union 106 Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies 108 Bununu 77, 78 burial ceremony (salat al-janaza) 39 burnt faces, the 10 Byzantine Empire 34, 35 Byzantine troops 34 Byzantines 3, 13, 34, 44

al-Barzuli 83 Basra 4, 95, 96, 100 Bast al-Fawaid 59 Bauchi 49, 59, 71, 73–7, 79, 110 Bauchi region 73, 74, 77 Bayan (explaining or expounding) 51, 70, 110 Bayan Wujub al-Hijra 74 Beirut 25, 31, 108 Beja 10 Beled 12 Beled al-Sudan 12 Beled es-Sudan 10 Bello 51, 52, 54, 55, 58, 60, 68, 69, 71–9, 109 belt of Sudan 7 see also Sudanic belt Berber 10, 15, 18, 35, 95 Berbers 5, 10, 12, 13, 34, 36, 44 Berbers of Lamtuna and Guddala (Almoravides) 42 Bidan 13, 14 Bilad 11, 12, 15, 19, 103 Bilad al-Buja 14 Bilad al-Nuba 14 Bilad al-Sudan 10, 11, 12, 103, 104 Bilad as-Sudan 9–19, 58 Bilad as-Sudan bi al-Maghrib 16 Bilad es-Sudan 10 Biladina al-Sudaniyya 53 Biladuna as-Sudaniyya 58 Bilal 4 bin Abi Talib 32 bin al-Khattab 66 bin Uthman bin Mazun 32 Bivar 6, 108 Black 10, 11, 12, 13, 16, 18, 104 Boreno 79 Borno 39, 42, 51, 69, 73, 104, 107–9 Bornu 18 Britain 107 British 21, 25, 50, 105, 107 ambassador, 10, 12 Buba Hama 106 bughat (transgressors) 82 Buja 13, 15, 16, 17, 18 al-Bukhari 96 Bula 77

Cairo 5, 25, 39, 106, 108, 121 University, 24 caliphate 5, 41, 44, 46, 50, 53, 54, 55, 59, 60, 61, 66, 67, 68, 70, 74, 75, 79, 107, 110 of Sokoto see Sokoto Caliphate caliphs 4, 5, 38, 54, 66, 70, 76, 93, 94 Cameroon 106 Carthage 3 Catholic 29 Caucasian 10 Central Archives 23, 25, 106, 107, 111 Centre for Arabic Documents 106 Centre of Manuscripts of the Arab league 106 Chad 103, 104, 107 cheque 38 China 13, 41 Chinese 13, 67 Christian 4, 21, 36 Abyssinia, 3 kingdoms, 5 Nubia, 41 West, 7 Christianity 29, 31, 33, 37 Christians 32, 33, 58 circumcision ceremony (khitan) 39 civilization 4 classical Muslim world 6, 7 colonialism 30, 44 colour 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 45, 104 Communist 26 Communist Party 26 Condominium 21, 22, 24, 26, 111 congregational mosque (masjid or jami) 39

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SOME ASPECTS OF ISLAM IN AFRICA educators (muallimun) 51 Egypt 4, 5, 10, 12, 18, 24, 34, 35, 36, 37, 41, 42, 43, 44, 49, 66, 69 Egyptian 10, 24, 69 Egyptian Sudan 9 Egyptians 22, 35, 44 Eldridge Mohammadou 106 Encyclopaedia of Islam 9, 11 enemy territory 78, 79, 85 English 9, 21, 23, 24, 25, 27, 104, 107 Ethiopia 10, 11, 12, 13, 31, 32, 40, 43, 44 Ethiopian church 33 Ethiopians 10, 15, 104 Europe 11, 24, 33, 35, 36, 37, 44, 104 European 11, 104 capitals, 106, 108 disciplines, 57 languages, 106 writers, 15

Congress 22 Coptic 29, 35, 41 Copts 13, 15, 35, 95 country 12, 14, 21, 23, 24, 45, 83, 84, 103, 110, 111 of the Blacks, 10 cultural borrowing, 7 centres, 5 currents, 6, 7 language, 6 culture 4, 6, 7, 9, 13, 16, 21, 24, 27, 36, 37, 38, 40, 42, 43, 45, 61, 69, 103, 105, 107 Islamic and Arabic, 24 curse 14, 18 Dadi 73 Daf Alla, N. 26 dal 12 Damascus (al-Jabiya) 15, 36, 38, 95 dar 84 dar al-Islam (the land of Islam) 41, 76 Dar Silalh 39 Darfur 11, 105, 110, 111 Davidson, B. 105 Dawoud Mustafa 26 death 39, 43, 46, 73, 87 Degel 49, 50, 73, 79 Democratic Republic of Sudan 12, 104 Department of Education, 25 of History, 106 of Social Studies, A.B.U., 107 dhimmis (non-Muslim subjects) 85, 86, 88, 97, 98 din 29, 30, 45 Dinka 46 Discourse Presented in Answer to the Questions of Amir Yaqub 81–90 Diya (guiding light) 51, 70 Diya al-Hukkam 73 Diya al-Siyasat 73 Diya al-Wilayat 73 Dubaila 13

al-Fajr (the Dawn) 25 Fakhr as-Sudan ala al-Bidan 13 al-Fakhri 68 Falama 77 Fast 33 Fatamids 121 al-Fath al-Mubin 82 fay (booty) 83, 84, 99 Fez 39 Fezzan 15 fiqh (schools of jurisprudence) 101 firman 11 France 35 Franks 13, 95 French 10, 105 Friday prayer 39, 101 Fulani 5, 46, 49, 57, 58, 73, 76, 78, 83 Jihad, 58, 110 slave settlements (rinji), 78 Fulfulde 43, 49, 59, 106 languages, 7 Funj 5, 104, 109, 111 Fur 5 Furu (derivations) 52, 100 Furud al-A’yan 53 al-Fustat 36, 95 futuh (conquests) 66

East Africa 5, 31, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43 Eastern Sudan (the former Anglo-Egyptian Sudan) 5, 6, 9, 58

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INDEX Hausaland 39, 43, 46, 49, 59, 69, 71, 73, 74, 75, 107, 108 Jihad, 69 Hereafter 29, 32 Herodotus 10 Higher School 21 Hijaz 13, 18, 31, 40, 49, 69 Hijra 31, 32, 56, 59 Hill, R. 10, 12, 27 Hiskett, M. 6, 108 history 4, 7, 8, 9, 10, 25, 30, 31, 33, 40, 43, 44, 57, 59, 103, 104, 107, 110 of Bilad al-Sudan, 106 of Ilorin, 59 of the jamaa, 60 History Bureau 108 Holt, P. M. 10, 12 Homer 10 hudud 100 Hunwick, J. 108

Gaaliyin 5 Gafar 32, 33, 34 Gafar bin Abi Talib 33 Gaily 26 Galambawa of Dinaima 77 Gambia 9 genealogies 15, 111 gentiles 34 geographers medieval Muslim 12 Gezira Scheme 22 Ghana 17, 18, 19, 42 al-Ghayth al-Shibub (GS) 69, 71, 72, 76, 93–102 al-Ghayth al-Wabl 73 Gidado 59 Gobir 49, 50, 51, 58, 59 God 14, 29, 30, 101 Gordon Memorial College 21, 23 Goskayi 78 Graduates Congress 22, 25 Greek 10 Greeks 104 Gusau 109 Gwarzo, H. 108

Ibadan 106 Ibar 13 Iberia 35 Ibn Abd al-Karim al-Maghili 100 Ibn Abd Rabbih 68 Ibn Abd al-Salam 85 Ibn al-Hajib 85, 86, 87 Ibn al-Hajj 84 Ibn Hawkal 15, 16 Ibn Hisham 31, 32 Ibn Jubair 17 Ibn Khaldun 14, 17, 18 Ibn al-Muqaffa 68 Ibn al-Qasim 86, 98 Ibn Qutaiba 68 Ibn Rosteh 14 Ibn Rushd 83 Ibn Sallam 68 Ibn al-Tiqtaqa 68 Ibn Yasin 5 Ibo 58 Ibrahim 4 Idrisi 16 Ifrigish 3 Ifriqiya 3, 16, 37, 114 Ihya al-Sunna 74 ijtihad (interpretive judgment) 75

Habash 13, 15, 16, 17 habs see waqf Hadith 101 haj 40 al-Haj, Junayd 59 al-Hajj Junayd bin Muhammad al-Bukhari 108 al-Hajj, M. A. 108, 109, 110 Ham 15, 18 Hamites 6 Hanafite jurist 67 Haram 53 harbi (enemy) 86, 98 Harun al-Rashid 4, 67 al-Hasan al-Basri 100 Hasan, Y. F. 10, 11, 106 Hashimi 97 al-Hattabi 82 Hausa 7, 43, 46, 49, 58, 59, 71, 78, 85, 104, 106, 110 Bakwai, 49 states, 49, 50 Hausa-Fulani 57

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SOME ASPECTS OF ISLAM IN AFRICA law, 59, 60 learning, 69 movement, 57 outlook, 35 principle, 67 rule, 54 scholarship, 71 societies, 30 sources, 105 state, 77 traditions, 55, 60, 62 writings, 46 Islamists 57 Islamization 6, 35, 40, 41, 105 Islamized 58 islands 13, 14 Ismail al-Azhari 26 Ismail al-Kurdufani 8 Ismail, O. S. A. 108 al-Istakhari 15, 16 Istanbul 108 al-Ittijah al-Islami (the Islamic Society) 26

Ikhwan (Brothers) 70 al-Ikhwan (the Muslim Brotherhood) 26 ilm 61, 62 imam 38, 39, 82, 83, 86, 88, 89, 90, 93, 94, 98–100 imama (leadership of prayer) 93 imperialism 30, 115 India 12, 41, 95 Indian Ocean 10, 11, 14, 15, 18 Indians 13, 14, 15 Infaq 58, 109 Infaq al-Maysur fi Tarikh Bilad al-Takrur 58 Institute National des Sciences Humaines 107 al-Iqd al-Farid 68 Iraq 5, 66, 94, 95 Irshad (teaching or counselling) 52, 70 Isaac 29 Ishmael 29 Ishraka 24 Islam 3–9, 16, 23, 24, 26, 29–38, 40–47, 49–60, 62, 65–7, 69, 73–6, 84, 85, 90, 93, 94, 96, 97, 99, 100, 106, 110 Islam in Africa concept of, 29 definition of, 29 documentation and sources, 103–111 Islam the city, 30 the culture, 30 the faith, 30 growth and impact of, 29–47 historical development of, 5, 115 history of, 30, 42, 68, 70 individual Muslim, 30 the market and trade, 30 Orthodox, 6, 7 the practice, 30 the state, 30 Sufi-influenced, 6 teachings of, 39 the ulama, the schools and the courts, 30 Islamic 12, 105 communities, 77 culture, 7, 26, 35, 36, 37, 46, 69 education, 73 faith, 49 government, 66–70, 72–4, 79

Jaafer Hamid al-Bashir 26 Jacob 29 Jahiliyya period 12 Jahiz 4, 13, 14, 68 Jahshiyari 68 jamaa 40, 50, 52–5, 57, 60 Jarawa 77 Jenne 42 Jesus 29, 33 Jewish 36 Jewish Yemen 3 jihad (holy war) 6, 50, 51, 53–61, 68–70, 73–9, 85, 93, 101, 104 leaders, 75 literature, 50 jihadist literature 58 jihadists 59 jizya 97, 98 Jos Collection 108 Jos Museum 108 Judaeo-Christian 29, 57 Judaism 29, 31, 37 judiciary 38, 73, 79 juma 39 Juz bin Muawiya 96

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INDEX of the blacks, 10, 12 of the negroes, 9, 11 lands of theTurks 95 language 6, 7, 21, 36, 115, 117 see also Arabic language Last, D. M. 108, 110 Last, M. 108 Latin 41 characters, 7, 106, 107 Lavers, J. 108 Lebanon 25 Legislative Assembly 22 Lewicki, T. 105 Libya 10 literature 4, 22, 23, 24, 26, 27, 46, 55, 58–61, 66, 68, 69, 70, 108, 109 Arabic, 6, 11, 12, 46 Arabic and Islamic, 60, 69, 70, 109 of Dan Fodio’s Jihad, 49–63 Hausaland Jihad, 70 of wasaya and nasaih, 66 written and oral, 71

Kaaba 39 Kaduna 106, 108 Kafur al-Ikhshid 4 al-Kanemi 51, 54 Kani, A. M. 108 Kano 49, 69, 73, 108–10 Kanuri 18, 106 Kanz al-Awlad 109 Karari 21 katib (the chief secretary, sometimes an adviser and the head of the civil service) 38 Katsina 49, 50, 110 Kendsdale 108 Kenya 5, 104 Khalid 32 Khalifa 111 kharaj (tax on agricultural produce) 93, 94, 97 Kharaj of Yahya bin Adam 67–8 al-Kharashi 84 Khartoum 6, 23, 24, 106, 107 Khatimiyya 58 Khurasanis 13 Kifayat al-Muhtaj (Sufficiency for the Needy) 69 King Roger II of Sicily 16 kingdoms 15, 17, 103, 111 kings 15, 56, 84 Kirfi 78 Kitab al-Buldan 14 Kitab al-Farq 74 Kitab al-Idara 109 Kitab al-Istibsar 17 Kitab al-Kharaj 67 Kitab al-Tajj 68 Kitchener 21 Koranic School Proprietors 61 Koranic Schools 61 Kordofan 11, 105 Kufa 95 kura 89

Machiavelli 68 madhahib 56 madih (eulogies) 8 madrasa see maktab magazi (military expeditions) 7 maghazi (the expeditions of Muhammad) 66 al-Maghili 69 Maghrib (West Africa) 3, 14, 17, 34, 37, 40 Mahdi (the expected rightly-guided Muslim leader) 6, 8, 43, 111 Mahdi of the Sudan 60 mahdis 6, 7 Mahdiyya 27, 104, 107, 109–11 Mahmud, K. 108 Majmu 86 makaranta 39 Makki Abbas 25 maks 99 maktab (school) 38, 39 malam see modibo Mali 5, 19, 42 Malik 67, 69, 86, 98 Malik al-Hubush 8 Maliki 84, 121

Lake Chad 9, 42 lam 12 land 12, 14, 17, 31, 32, 69, 84–7, 90, 93, 97–9, 104, 106, 111 of Bauchi, 84

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SOME ASPECTS OF ISLAM IN AFRICA muahad 86, 98 muallimo 39 Muawaiya 94 Muawyiah Nur 25 muazzin 95 Mudawwana 86 muezzin 4 al-Mughrib fi Dhikr Bilad Ifriqiya wal-Maghrib 16 Muhammad 34, 43, 65, 66 death of, 65 Muhammad Abd al-Rahim 111 Muhammad Abdalla Nur 26 Muhammad Abdu of Egypt 60 Muhammad Ali 105 Muhammad Ali Pasha 11 Muhammad al-Amin al-Kanemi 79 Muhammad al-Majdhub 24 Muhammad Bello 50, 55, 58, 60, 65–79, 81, 109 Muhammad bin Abd al-Wahhab of Arabia 60 Muhammad bin Abi Hudhayfa 32 muhtasib (the welfare officer, market supervisor and moral censor) 38 al-Mukhtasar 82, 84, 85, 86 Mukur 78 al-Muminun Sultan Muhammad Bello 70 mundarisun 109 munya 109 Muqadamma 17, 68 Muqqara 17 murabitun (armed guards) 5, 6 murtaddin (those who have committed apostasy) 82 Muruj adh-Dhahab 15 Musa, I. U. A. 108 Musad, M. M. 105 mushrif (the officer for revenue and taxation) 38 Muslim 4–8, 36, 39, 40, 44, 45, 46, 54, 58, 62, 66, 74, 78, 82, 84, 105 administration, 66 Arab troops, 36, 37 Arabic writing, 15 Arabs, 35 areas, 77 caliphate, 37

Maliki ulama 6 Mallam Adamu 73 Mallam Isyaku 73 al-Mamun 97 Mansur Ali Hasib 26 Marawanids 68 marriage ceremony (aqd al-nikah) 39 Marwan 68 Marxism 30 Maryam 33 al-Masalik wal-Mamalik 15, 16 Masin 13 maslaha (welfare) 81 al-Masri, F. 108, 110 Masud 95 Masudi 13, 15 maulid (commemoration of the birth of the Prophet Muhammad) 8 Mauritania 5, 19 al-Mawardi 68, 71, 93 Maweud see mawlid mawlid 40 al-Maysur fi Tarikh Bilad al-Takrur 58 Mecca 3, 4, 13, 31–3, 39, 40 Meccan enemies 33 Medina 31, 36, 38, 40, 98 Mediterranean 3, 34 civilization, 7 Mekki Shibeika 25, 27, 111 Meroe 10, 12 Message (al-risala), the 31 Messenger of Allah 31, 93, 96 Middle Niger 9, 42 minaret 39 Ministry of Education 61 Mishala ibn Naim 94 misr 37 modern scholars 9 modibo 39 mone 109 Monrovia 47 Moors 104 Moravia 104 Moravids 5, 105 Moses 29 mosques 38, 39, 42, 45, 50, 99–101 mosque-universities 39 muadhin (the caller to prayer) 39

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INDEX capital, 37 century, 43 cities, 37 communities, 7, 44, 46, 55 community, 77, 83 see also jamaa concepts, 7 conduct, 67 control, 34 culture, 39, 41, 42 Egypt, 37, 42 elements, 76, 78 empire, 4 faith, 38 geographers, 11 history, 37, 40 jurists, 66 kingdoms, 5 leaders, 46 learned opinion (Ijma), 53, 66, 100 migration, 40 offices, 43 polities, 41 population, 43, 44 rule, 42 rulers, 44, 65, 78, 100 scholars (the ulama), 30, 45, 49 schools, 67 sciences, 67 state, 35, 36, 43, 50, 55 states, 7, 36, 37, 42, 43, 44, 46, 49 Sultan, 83 thought, 46 trading, 42 troops, 34 ulama, 46, 107 universities, 39 world, 36, 38, 39, 42, 46, 47, 49, 69, 70, 109 writers, 11 Muslims 3, 7, 29–31, 33–7, 39, 42–7, 49, 51, 54, 58, 65–7, 70, 72, 77, 81–5, 88, 95, 97, 100 migration of, 4 musnads 67 Mustafa Hasan 26 al-Mustahdi fi Sirat al-Imam al-Mahdi (a biography of the Mahdi) 8

muwatta 67 N’Djamena 107 al-Nahda (the Renaissance) 25 Najm (guiding star) 52 Najm al-Ikhwan 55, 56 naming ceremony (aqiqa) 39 nasab 94 Nasiha (advice) 52, 70 National des Sciences Humaines 107 Native Administration 22 Nawazil 84 negro belt 10 Negroes 9, 11, 18 Negus 32, 33, 34 Nejd 18 Niger 106 Nigeria 6, 43, 46, 59, 60, 107–10 Nigerian Administration Research Project 106 Nigerians 58 Nilotic Sudan 41, 42 Ninyel 77 Nizama al-Mulk 68 Njeuma, M. 106 North Africa 5, 12, 16, 31, 34–7, 41, 43, 44, 47, 49 Northern History Research Scheme (N.H.R.S.) 106 Northern Nigerian Historical Research Scheme 71 Northern States 61 Northern Sudan 22 North-Western Africa 41 North-Western State 61 Nuba 17 Nubia 5, 11, 12, 42, 105 Nubians 10, 13, 15, 16, 17, 104 Nuh 15 Nupe 43, 46 Nuzhat al-Mushtaq fi Ikhtiraq al-Afaq 16 O’Connel, Father 107 O’Fahey, R. S. 106 Oliver 10, 12 Omdurman 21, 23 On the Wars against King John of Abyssinia 8 Orientalists 57

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SOME ASPECTS OF ISLAM IN AFRICA al-Qabila al-Sudaniyya 84 qadi (judge) 38 qaid or amir al-jaysh (the commander of the troops) 38 Qairawan 5 Qanuriyah 18 Qarawiyyin 39 qasr 99 al-Qawl al-Mawhub (QM) 71, 72, 76–79 Qayrawan (Ifriqiya) 34, 36, 37 qiyas (anthology) 66, 75 Questions of Amir Yaqub 81–90 Qumar 13 Quran 7, 8, 34, 36, 46, 47, 49–51, 55, 56, 62, 65, 66, 74, 76, 100, 109, 113, 118 Qurashite community, defence of 4 Qurayshite 94 al-Ra’id (the Pioneer) 25

Orthodox 29 Orthodox Caliphate 76 Orthodoxy 6 Othello 104 Ottoman Sultan 11 Oxford 103 Paeden, Prof. 108 pagan territory 72, 84 Palmer 108, 109 people 12–14, 16–19, 22, 24, 27, 33–6, 40, 41, 43, 45–46, 51–53, 56, 58, 61, 69, 70, 74, 77, 81–3, 85–90, 93–4, 97, 100, 101, 104, 105, 107, 111 of dhimma, 86 of Egypt or North Africa, 38 of Fezzan, 13 of Marw, 13 of Sind, 13 of the Jibal, 13 of white skin, 13 peoples 15, 16, 17, 19, 29, 35, 36, 58, 111 of African origin, 14 of dark skin, 15 fair-skinned, 10 historical and cultural differences, 7 of the Islamic world, 14 and regions of Sudan, 15 Persia 95 Persian 68 Persians 3, 13, 44, 95 pilgrimage 5, 40 pilgrims 4 prayer 33, 36, 39, 56, 93, 96, 100, 101 prayers 95, 100, 101 prayers communal 93 pre-colonial 11 Africa, 7 periods, 7, 109, 110 pre-Islamic 12 Arabia, 3 Primary Literary Sources 21–7 Prophet 5, 32–4, 43, 46, 47, 56, 65, 74, 94, 96 Prophet Muhammad 4, 13, 31, 37, 40, 43, 50, 51, 65, 67 Prophets 29, 67

Rabat 108 Rabih bin Fadl Allah 104 race 14, 17, 34, 37, 58, 97 Ramadan 40 Ramadan and Korban bayram prayers 39 Rano 49 Rashidun 46, 65, 66, 67 Rashidun caliphs 32, 66 Red Sea 5, 10, 11, 17, 104 religion 6, 8, 29, 30, 34–6, 41, 45, 51, 52, 56, 58, 60, 62, 82, 85, 97, 100, 109 religions 7, 29, 31, 33, 34, 37, 44, 57 religious centre of Arabia 4 conflicts, 3 duties, 36 ribats (defensive armed posts) 59, 77 Ridda wars 66 Rihlatu Ibn Jubair 17 Rinjia 78 Romans 3, 104 Rosenthal, F. 18 routes 15, 79 Rum (Byzantines) 95 Ruqayya 32 Ruwaq al-Borno 39 al-Ruwaq al-Sinnari 39 ruwaqs (student hostels) 69

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INDEX Shaykh Uthman 50, 52–4, 55–60, 69–70, 72–75, 79 Shaykh Uthman Dan Fodio 49, 68, 104, 109 shaykhs 7 shehu (shaykh) 107 Shinnie, P. L. 10, 12 Shinqiti 111 Shuraij (bin al-Harith al-Kindi) 95 Shuyukh 59 al-Siddik, M. A. 25 sin 12 Sind 15 Sinnar 10, 39 Sirat Rasul Allah 32 Sitt Maymuna M. Hamza 27 siyar (the biography of Muhammad) 7, 66 Siyasat Nameh 68 slave 85, 87 slaves 83–5, 89 of Allah, 97 Smith, A. 108, 110 Sokoto 59, 71, 107, 108, 110 Caliphate, 49–63, 104, 107, 109 Jihad, 71, 73 Somali 7, 17 Somalia 5, 42 Songhai 5 Songhay 42 Moroccan invasion of, 105 Soudan Francais 10 sub-Saharan Africa 5–9, 11, 16, 49, 103 sud 12, 13 Sudan 5–11, 13–19, 22–7, 41, 47, 95, 104, 106, 107, 109–11 central, 9, 41 history, 21–27 Library, 23, 111 southern, 45 Sudanese 22, 25 forefathers, 21 government, 22 historians, 111 society, 21 Sudani 104 Sudanic belt, 5, 49, 58 see also belt of Sudan Sudanic empires, 5

Saad 94 Saad al-Din Fawzi 25 sadaqa (alms) 40, 93, 97–9 Sahara 10, 12, 19, 58, 104, 115 Saharan and sub-Saharan Africa 41 Sahel region 41 sahib al-kharaj 38 sahib al-shurta (the chief of police and security) 38 Sahih 67, 96 Sahla bint Suhayl 32 Sahra 19, 104 Said bin al-As 32 Said bin Khalid 32 Said bin Numan 94 Saifawa 104, 107 sakk 38 Salah Ahmad Ibrahim 26 Salarma 78 salat al-Id 39 Samarkand 67 al-Saraha (Candour) 26 Sarkin Muslimi 107 sawda 12, 13, 104 sayyid 12 scholars 17, 19, 25, 36, 39, 42–4, 46, 50, 55, 59, 60, 67, 69, 75, 79, 84, 103, 105, 106, 108 in Bauchi, 75 of evil (ulama as-su), 49 School of Oriental and African Studies 6, 108 Semites 6 Semitic peoples 31 Senegal 9 Sennar 11, 104 Seven Black Arabs (Aghribatu al-Arab al-Saba) 4 al-Shabab (the Young) 26 Shafii 67, 121 Shaigiyya 5 Shakespeare 104 Sharh al-Arbain 82 Sharia 36, 54, 55, 65, 66, 72, 75, 88, 100 Shariyya 53 Shaykh Abd Allah 50, 54, 55, 58, 59, 60 Shaykh al-Miskeen 108 Shaykh Tijani 108

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SOME ASPECTS OF ISLAM IN AFRICA Sudaniyyun 104 Sufi 6, 42 leaders, 43 tariqas, 38 Sufis 7, 38, 41 Sufism 6 Sulaha 59 Sulayman bin Rabia al-Bahili 95 al-Suli 68 Sultan 12, 50, 70 Sultans 107 Sunna (the tradition of the Prophet Muhammad) 55, 65, 66 Sura 33 Surat al-Ard 15 al-Suyuti 69 Swahili 7, 43, 46, 106 Syria 17, 34, 66, 69 Syriac 41

The Abundant Rain: In Advice to Amir Yaqub 93–101 The Prince 68 Third Interim Report of the NHRS 108 Tigani al-Mahi 111 Tijani Yusuf Bashir 24 Tijani, K. 108 Tikna 17 Timbuktu 19, 42, 69 al-Tiraz al-Manqush fi Harb Yuhana Malik al-Hubush 8 Tirwun 73 Torah 18 Toro 78 trade 4, 5, 38, 43, 59, 72, 85, 97 traders 4, 78, 79, 85 trading 3, 4 tradition 3–8 Arabic literary, 107 Biblical, 15 of Ham, 18 historical, 7, 8 Judaeo-Christian and Euro-American, 58 Orthodox, 7 Prophetic (Sunna), 36 Tradition of Manuals of Islamic Government and Advice to Rulers 65–79 Traditions 34, 39, 49, 62, 67, 74, 76, 94, 98, 100 traditions 8, 21, 23, 31, 34, 37–40, 42, 43, 49, 52, 65–8, 70, 74, 86, 94, 98, 100, 101, 106–8, 111 in Bauchi, 74 Medinan, 67 of the Prophet, 62, 76 oral, 78 pre-colonial, 106 written or oral, 110–11 travel 3, 4, 14, 40, 43, 69, 97 Trevor-Roper, H. 103 Trimingham, S. 31 Trinity 33 triumvirate 50, 51, 53, 54, 57, 58, 62, 69, 70, 71 Tubiana, J. 106 Tuker, M. 110 Tukur, M. 108

Tabaqat 8, 106 Tabari 13, 14, 15 Tabligh 51 Tadyiq al-Ma‘azik ‘ala’ Ali ‘Abd al-Razik 24 Taj al-Sirr al-Hasan 26 Takrur 10, 39, 58, 69 Talaba 59 Talamidh 59 Talas, battle of 67 Talat Asad 57 Talim (educating) 52, 70 Tanbih (drawing attention to) 52, 70 Tanbih al-Ikhwan ala Ahwal Ard al-Sudan 69 Tanganyka 5 Tangier 3 Tanzania 40 tarikh (history) 66 Tarikh al-Rusul wal-Muluk 14 Tarikh Hayati (History of my Life) 27 Tatriz al-Dibaj (Embroidering the Lace) 69 tawaya (rebellion) 71, 82 tazirat 100 territories 10, 11, 44, 60, 77, 103 of war, 85 territory 12, 73, 78, 86, 87, 93, 97, 104 of war, 98

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INDEX Tunis 39 Tunisia 3, 16 Turco-Egyptians 21 Turkiya 111 turuq (the heads of religious orders) 7

West Africa 16, 17, 19, 41, 43, 46, 47, 49, 58, 109 West, the 7, 46 Western domination, 44, 120 Sudan, 9, 75 world, 29 Whitting 109 writer 15, 104, 108 writers medieval Arabic 10, 12, 18, 19 writing 4, 7 writings 13, 25, 30, 53, 54, 70

Uganda 5 ulama 6, 41, 49, 52, 67, 70, 83, 100 ulama as-su see scholars of evil Umar 66, 94–6 Umar bin al-Khattab 94, 97 Umayyad 66 caliph, 68 Umayyads 4, 5, 46, 67 Umm Salama bint Abi Umayya bint al-Mugira 32 umniya 109 United Kingdom 25 University College of Khartoum 21 University of Khartoum 21, 23, 111 University of Wisconsin 108 Upper Nile 9, 105 Upper Volta 9 urf (custom) 75 Usul al-Siyasat 73 ushr (tithe) 86, 97 Usman Faruk 61 Usman, Y. B. 110 Usul 52 Usul al-Siyasat 73 Uthman 58 Uthman Ahmad Umar 26 Uthman bin Affan 32 Uthman bin Hanif 95 Uthman Dan Fodio 19, 43, 46, 50 Uthman Ibn 95

Yakubu 76 Yaqub 71–9, 90 Yaqubi 13, 14 Yaqut 17 Yemen 3, 13, 18, 32 Yoruba 46, 49, 58, 60 Zaghawa 10, 13, 18 al-Zahrat al-Wardiyya 83 zakat (tax) 33, 40, 82, 98 zakat al-Fitr 98 Zakshi 77 Zamfara 49, 50 zanadiqa (heretics) 82 Zanata 35 Zanj 13, 16 revolt of, 4 Zaranda 78 Zaria 49, 106–10 Zayla 17 al-Zaytuna 110 Zaytuna 39 Zimbabwe 104 zindiq 82 Ziyad 94 Zubayr bin al-Awwam 32

Wad Dayfalla 8 wali see amil Walker, J. 9, 11 waqf 39 Warunje 78 Wase 77 waw 12 wazir 68, 93, 94 Waziri Junayd 108 Webster’s Third New International Dictionary 30

[135]

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