2 - Discourses of Dissent and Moderation

Summary

This chapter is both a narrative and an explanation of how the Fodiawa moved from discourses of dissent to discourses of moderation in their writings during the period c.1790 to 1814. During both phases they used familiar legitimising strategies from the Sahelian discursive tradition. Recognising this discursive shift allows us to explain both the meteoric success of the 1804 jihad and the emergence of a stable and legitimate Sokoto state. The chapter begins in the 1790s, the period of Usman dan Fodio’s earliest surviving works. It then introduces the more militant writings Usman produced in the years directly preceding the jihad of 1804. The remainder of the chapter explains how after their victory the Fodiawa radically amended their judgements on a number of issues to facilitate their rule of Hausaland. The concluding part of this chapter demonstrates that the shift from dissent to moderation was also observed by Muslim scholars at the time, including Usman’s brother, Abdullahi, and had serious repercussions for the legitimacy of Usman and Muhammad Bello.

Laying Claims to Legitimacy: Usman’s Writings in the 1790s

Throughout the 1780s and 1790s, Usman dan Fodio travelled the Hausa countryside accompanied by his younger brother, Abdullahi. Usman’s voluminous work, Iḥyāʾ al-Sunna wa-ikhmād al-bidʿa [Revival of the Sunna and the destruction of innovation], composed in 1793, may represent a summary of what he preached on these tours, as well as a teaching guide for others. During this time, the young Abdullahi became an accomplished Arabist, translating Usman’s Fulfulde poetry into Arabic and composing his own qaṣāʾid [epic poems]. From Muhammad Bello’s highly detailed account of his father’s lectures, it is clear that Usman’s main purpose was to teach rural Muslim communities the basics of Islamic practice, while also exposing the bidʿa that these communities may have unknowingly incorporated into their religious life. Separately, Usman was also writing a set of works that would establish the grounds for takfir which pre-empted, in various ways, the jihad against the Hausa sarakai, of which takfir was a vital component.

As Last and Al-Hajj explain, Usman’s exploration of takfir reflected concern among ‘a number of scholars, largely Fulani and Tuareg, who were not involved in the Gobir administration’, over who or what was and was not Muslim.