Dan Fodio is remembered by historians mainly as a state builder, and his achievements have been well chronicled by historians in European languages. However, little is mentioned of the spiritual development of the shehu over the forty-three years of his social reform of West Africa. Especially in his Fula-language poetry (not translated here), he engaged in self-reflection on the development of his spiritual ideas and his own spiritual transformations. And in lucid classical Arabic texts, too, he wrote extensively, though perhaps not as personally, about the spiritual path. In the end, his social—and ultimately political—appeal was based on his standing as a scholar and as a Sufi, and so we seek to recover his voice in these domains.
Numerous studies have traced the history of the Sokoto state, but far fewer have outlined its connection with the intellectual and spiritual journey of the shehu himself. Roughly, Dan Fodio’s social and spiritual reform can be divided into two distinct periods: the jihad of the tongue and pen (1774–1804), and the struggle of the sword (1804–17).
The first period began with Dan Fodio’s public preaching and writing about ethical, spiritual, and social renewal (tajdid) in and around his clerical community of origin, Degel, in the hinterland of the Hausa state of Gobir. During this period, he composed Arabic prose, as well as Hausa and Fulfude verse, on the core precepts of the religion, and the sciences of ethical and spiritual purification.
Gobir was among a number of ethnically mixed, but predominantly Hausa, city-states in what is now northern Nigeria. Dan Fodio’s critiques of moral and political corruption in the region were regarded with increasing discomfort in the 1780s and 1790s, with tensions escalating around the turn of the century. The sheer size of the shehu’s community also must have begun to threaten the Hausa authorities, who responded with periodic skirmishes against his followers. This hot-and-cold war continued until 1804 when, responding to the enslavement of three hundred Qur’an reciters from his community, the shehu broke off relations with the sultan of Gobir. He had a vision wherein the Prophet handed him the Sword of Truth, and he was given explicit permission to take up arms. This began a political movement that led to the creation of Sokoto.4 He migrated from his learning center in Degel to a settlement called Gudu on Thursday, the 12th of Dhu-l-Qa‘da 1218 (February 23, 1804).5 From 1804 to 1812, the shehu led his community in military campaigns against the seven Hausa states. By 1812, he had encompassed and reorganized all of them, establishing a new capital at Sokoto. He divided the new territory and appointed amirs over 23 emirates, with their judges, chiefs of police, inspectors of markets, and other civil servants. Throughout this period, the shehu continued to teach the fundamentals of Islam and compose original works on the science of Sufism; however, the key intellectual concerns of the shehu during this period between 1804 and 1812 were largely political, focusing on consolidating the sovereignty of the new state. To this end, the shehu composed scholarly texts clarifying the rules and boundaries of government, the responsibilities of the ruler and the ruled, and the establishment of justice.
From 1812 until his death in 1817, he gradually withdrew from political life, prioritizing a return to spiritual pursuits. The shehu did compose works in order to criticize injustices of the officials of Sokoto, but he focused more intently on Arabic and ‘ajami works on the Prophet, Sufism, and Islamic eschatology—particularly, the appearance of the awaited Mahdi, and other signs of the End of Time. One of the most important works of the shehu, which he composed during this final period, was a work that is considered to be akin to a last will and testament to his community. In fact, he called it al-Wasiya (The Testament), composing this work in his own hand (rather than dictating to a scribe) only days before his death.
In it, the shehu encouraged his followers to distance themselves from secular government and authority by removing the love of leadership and rank from their hearts. He advised those involved in government to place authority in their hands but not in their hearts. He also warned about the corruption that would engulf those who held positions of authority in the End of Time. The Testament was his final reminder that government and authority were not an end in itself, but a means to more lofty and transcendent ends. The shehu said,
I, Uthman, am not a king or a ruler, nor am I the son of kings and tyrannical rulers. I hope that I am among the Imams who answered the call of God . . . [that] I am only a leader of his people who guides them towards what is virtuous in their affairs, inviting them to the religion of God; seeking thereby His forgiveness, His mercy, and desiring therein His pleasure (Ridwan). . . . We are about that mission, without being kings and rulers who practice oppression and injustice. And whoever follows me in that [mission] is from me. And whoever does not, is not!6
Here, the shehu sums up his mission of reform. It was not jihad, although he did take up arms in defense of his community. Nor was it government and authority, although he ultimately came to see political sovereignty as necessary in order to effect social change. The key goal of the shehu was to call humanity to God through the cultivation of moral excellence. All of the Hausa and Fulfulde poetry that he composed, along with more than a hundred works in Arabic, testified to this singular goal. Like the Prophet Muhammad (whose biography he mirrored in uncanny ways), the shehu passed away at the age of sixty-three.
All three of his books presented in this volume were authored in the earliest stage of his career, between 1774 and 1787. The first two, The Roots of the Religion and The Sciences of Behavior, are pioneering translations by ‘A’isha Abdarrahman Bewley.7 The third work, The Book of Distinction, has been translated by Muhammad Shareef.8
The Roots of the Religion (Kitab usul al-din)
The Roots of the Religion is a short text designed to be taught rather than merely read. It was composed when the shehu was in the earliest phase of his teaching (between 1774 and 1780) in his early twenties. It was written in response to a demand for a clear, teachable text that would familiarize ordinary Muslims with the basics of the Islamic creed (‘aqida) and theology. This latter discipline, while often glossed as kalam in other parts of the Muslim world, is known in West Africa (and in Dan Fodio’s writing) almost exclusively as tawhid—the science of the Oneness of God.
Like many works in the Islamic classical tradition, it is meant to serve as the basis for an oral teaching between a master and his or her disciples. Each of its concise lines opens onto fundamental questions of theology. Short texts like the Kitab usul al-din would almost always be committed to memory by seekers. Students would ask questions of their masters in oral teaching sessions (majlis, majalis) and consummate scholars, like the shehu himself, would bring the text to life. In this volume, the Roots of the Religion might also serve to introduce modern readers, Muslim and non-Muslim alike, to the basic elements of the faith as they were—and still are—taught by classically trained African scholars.
In the name of God, the Merciful One, the Endless Giver of Mercy. May God bless our Master Muhammad and his family and companions and grant them perfect peace.
Says the slave, the poor man in need of the mercy of his Lord, Uthman bin Muhammad bin Uthman known as Dan Fodio, may God cover him with mercy. Amin.
Praise is for God, Lord of all the worlds, and blessings and peace on the Messenger of God, may God bless him and grant him peace. This definition, the roots of the religion, will be of use, if God wills, to whoever looks to it for support. I say—and success is by God—that the whole universe from the Throne to the spread carpet of the earth is contingent (hadith) and its Maker is God—may He be exalted! His existence is necessary (wajib al-wujud)—from before endless time (qadim), no beginning to Him, going on for ever (baq), no end to Him. He is not affected by contingencies (mukhalif li-l-hawadith). He has no body (jism) and no attributes of body. He has no direction