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The African Jihads
Jihad, the Muslim word meaning holy war.
During the 18th and 19th centuries,
this word brought fear to anyone who did
not fully believe in the Islamic state
and resided in West Africa. The
Jihads of this era not only changed the faith
of many people, but also the
landscape of West African democracy. Although
Islamic Jihads had occurred in
the past, they never surmounted to the magnitude
of those of the 18th
century. What factors and leaders caused the West African
Jihads, of the
18th and 19th centuries, to be so effective?
The people of West Africa were
tired of governments who constantly over taxed
its constituents, and simply
did not care for the well being of common
individuals. The Islamic religion,
which was brought to Africa by Muslim
traders, provided individuals a new
opportunity of promise, equality, and the
possibility of becoming a
spiritual being. Islam embraced the majority of West
African people and
became known as the dominant religion of the region.
During the end of the
18th century followers of the religion came to the
conclusion that it was
simply not sufficient to have Islam be the dominant
religion of the area.
They felt that Islam needed to be part of the government,
instead of having
the separation of church and state.
In the 18th and 19th centuries the
Islamic population of West Africa united
with the common belief that under
Sharia(Islamic law) the government would not
oppress individuals, and the
law of the Koran would become the law of the land.
\"The Sharia provided an
alternative model of government with which to compare
and confront rulers.\"
This movement, which focused on expelling the
non-Orthodox Muslim leaders of
West Africa, is due to the leadership of Usman
Dan Fodio and Al-Hajj-Umar.
These men paved the way for the expansion of Islam
through the creation of
the Orthodox Sokoto and Tukolor Empires.
The rise of the Islamic Jihad and
the expansion of both Empires, are at the
outset due to the oppression of
the Fulbe people in the early 1700\'s. The Fulbe
were pastoralist nomads who
at the time had settled in the region of Futa Jalon,
which is present day
state of Guinea. In this region the Fulbe were oppressed
by the ruling pagan
farmers, who considered them intruders to the land. These
pagan
authoritarians subjugated the Fulbe people to extraneous taxes and
enforced
several laws to keep them from trading. Due to these extreme
factors, the
Fulbe looked to answer their miseries by turning to the religion
of Islam,
which promised a better future.
The answer to the Fulbe problems came in the
form of unification. As the
population of Fulbe increased in Futa Jalon,
they began to forge together and
fight against their oppressors. Fulbe
leaders united their people by
proclaiming that the ruling pagan people were
not enforcing the Islamic
religion, and the only answer would be to proclaim
a Jihad on the ruling
government. The Jihad of the early 1700\'s was fierce
and competitive, but
finally ended in victory for the Fulbe. By this
achievement the Fulbe created
a Sharia run government in Futa Jalon, and a
safe haven for all who wanted to
live under Islamic rule.
The Fulbe
victory in Futa Jalon is significant because not only did it create an
Islamic run society, but it also demonstrated that victory over a ruling
government could be attained through the use of a Jihad. This accomplishment
sparked great enthusiasm throughout the region, and gave a glimmer of hope
to
those wishing to live under an Islamic fundamentalist society. An
indication
of the enthusiasm was revealed by another Jihad in the south of
Senegal. This
area, known as Futa Toro, was another enormous victory for all
who believed in
the principles of Islamic Orthodoxy. These small triumphs
inspired great
leaders who eventually toppled the formation of West Africa.
The first of these leaders was a man by the name of Usman dan Fodio. Usman
was
born in the Hausa state of Gobir, in what is now northwestern Nigeria.
While he
was still young, Usman moved south with his family to Degel, where
he studied
the Koran with his father. Subsequently he moved on to other
scholar relatives,
traveling from teacher to teacher in the traditional way,
and reading
extensively in the Islamic sciences. One powerful intellectual
and religious
influence at this time was his teacher in the southern Saharan
city of Agadez,
Jibril ibn \'Umar, a radically Orthodox figure whom Usman
respected greatly.
Umar educated Usman on the importance of Orthodoxy, and
told him stories of how
the Fulbe defeated their oppressors through the
method of Jihad. It was at this
period that Usman discovered that if one
decides to live under the Islamic
faith, they must follow the Koran from top
to bottom.
In the upcoming years Usman moved to Gobir where he taught and
led a community
of Fulbe people. Usman always discussed the importance of
Islamic Orthodoxy.
\"His two main concerns were the concerns were the
conversion of those Fulani
pastoralists who still clung to pagan religious
beliefs, and the religious and
social reform of the nominally Muslim Hausa
rulers.\" Throughout the 1780s and
\'90s Usman\'s reputation increased, as
did the size and importance of the
community that looked to him for
religious and political leadership. It was
even thought that Usman was the
second coming of the prophet Muhammad.
Usman at this time became worried at
the interest that Hausa rulers gave to his
community, and therefore ordered
his followers to become armed. The growing
influence of Usman and his
followers began to cause great fear among Hausa
leaders. The Hausa
governments fear grew from the belief that a state was
growing within a
state. Eventually the Hausa government felt that Usman\'s
influence was too
great and began to take military action. Usman, who seems to
have wished to
avoid conflict, chose to migrate his community. Like the
Prophet Muhammad,
whose biography he frequently noted as having close parallels
with his own,
Usman carried out a hegira (migration) to Gudu, an area 30 miles
to the
northwest, in February 1804. Despite his own apparent reluctance, he was
elected imam (leader) of the community, and the new caliphate was formally
established.
During the next five years Usman\'s primary interest became
the organization of
a jihad. He did not himself take part in military
expeditions, but he appointed
commanders, encouraged the army, handled
diplomatic questions, and wrote widely
on problems relating to the jihad and
its theoretical justification. On this his
basic position he was clear and
rigorous: the sultan of Gobir(A Hausa ruler) had
attacked the Muslims;
therefore he was an unbeliever and as such he must be
fought; and anyone
helping an unbeliever was also an unbeliever.
Usman knew that if the Jihad
against the Hausa government were to be won,
support outside of his Orthodox
community must be established. Therefore, Usman
began to campaign his
beliefs, regarding the treatment of the peasantry, across
Gobir. Usman
proclaimed that the peasantry were being subjugated to rules that
were
unjust. One example of such an impropriety is a tax which the government
put
on cattle. Following several years of self promotion, vast amounts of
people
began to join him in his movement.
Usman had accomplished his goal of
creating a group of followers that would
be able to compete against the
Hausaland government. It was at this point that
Usman believed it was
plausible to start the Jihad. After 4 years of heavy
fighting Usman\'s army
proclaimed victory, and thoroughly defeated the Hausaland
opposition. All of
the Hausa kings were now replaced by Fulbe emirs who
acknowledged the
supreme authority of Usman.
The core of the new Empire was composed of three
large former Hausa kingdoms,
which include Katsina, Kano, and Zaria
(Zegzeg). A Fulbe aristocracy had now
taken over the Hausa system of
government and brought it into line with the
principles of Islam as stated
by Usman. However, the new kingdom did not stop at
these boundaries. Hausa
clerics and adventurers joined with the Fulbe in
creating new Muslim
kingdoms throughout parts of Western Africa. Among the
new followers were
the pagan and largely stateless peoples of the Bauchi
highlands, and various
groups in the grasslands of northern Cameroon.
After these tremendous
victories Usman retired from his political life and spent
his time
concentrating on the study of Islam. Usman decided his work had been
accomplished, and he was too old to keep fighting. He passed his leadership
role on to his brother Abdullahi, and his son Muhammad Bello. These two
individuals learned firsthand from Usman and therefore they were the only
appropriate candidates to lead the empire. By the time of Usman\'s death in
1817, the Empire had been divided into two parts and governed separately by
Bello and Abdullahi. The Empire was formally partitioned between Sokoto, and
Gwandu.
Muhammad Bello eventually took control of the Empire and
governed under the same
religious ideals as his father. The Empire, which
came to known as Sokoto, grew
under the control of Muhammad. It was
estimated that at one point during
Muhammad\'s reign, the Sokoto population
grew to over 10 million people, thus
making it the largest West African
state up to that point.
The next great leader, whom must be discussed is
Umar Tal. Umar Tal was born in
the upper valley of the Senegal River, in the
land of the Tukulor people. At
the age of 23, Umar set out on the pilgrimage
to Mecca. He was already well
known for his faithfulness and intellect and
was received with honor in the
countries through which he traveled. Muhammad
Bello, offered him his daughter
Maryam in marriage. Enriched by this
princely alliance, \'Umar had become an
important personage when he reached
Mecca about 1827. He visited the tomb of the
Prophet in Medina, returned to
Mecca, and then settled for a while in Cairo.
Armed with his prestige as a
scholar, mystic, and miracle worker, Umar returned
to the interior of Africa
in 1833. Trained for political leadership by his
father-in-law and Muhammad
Bello, with whom he again spent several years, his
position as leader
strengthened. Umar now decided to obey the voice of God and
to convert the
pagan Africans to Islam. By now he not only was looked upon as
a miracle
worker, but he also acquired a legion of loyal followers.
As years passed
Umar\'s influence and followers increased significantly. Umar In
1848 moved
with his followers to Dinguiraye, an area on the border of Futa
Jalon. There
he built up a community of his own, attracting and training
military and
commercial adventurers as well as religious reformers. His
community traded
with the Upper Guinea coast for firearms and was consciously
conceived as
the nucleus for a new state.
Umar\'s state grew to be so powerful, that in
1850 he felt it was his Islamic
duty to embark on a jihad against the
neighboring pagans. The Jihad first came
into conflict with the Bambara
chiefdoms to the north, then two years later
moved across the upper Senegal
River to conquer the Bambara kingdom of Kaarta.
In almost no time at all
Umar\'s territory, which came to be known as the Tuklor
Empire, extended
their dominion as far north as Timbuktu. Umar, however made
a pivotal
mistake by extending his Empire so greatly. By having such a vast
region
under his control, he could not effectively supervise every community.
This
led to the eventual demise of the Tukolor Empire. Al-Hajj-Umar\'s Empire
did
last 50 years, until it was finally annexed by the French in 1897.
The
success of the 18th century West African Jihads can be attributed to the
guidance of their two leaders, and the weary sentiment of the people
regarding
their presiding governments. Usman Dan Fodio and Al-Hajj-Umar
promised a better
life under an Islamic form of government, and people
quickly joined their
movements. Many people also relished being able to join
a movement of spiritual
promise. These people believed the Islamic faith
gave them the opportunity of
achieving a form of social equality.
The
two leaders preached to their followers that the only possible way to live
is under an Islamic government; and any form of government that does not
follow
Sharia is immoral. This belief created a great amount fear in many
individuals,
which caused them to fight for Islam at any cost. Finally, the
Orthodox form of
government in both Empires, caused the people to unify
under a common Orthodox
belief. This ideological conviction was a belief
Islamic individuals were
willing to die for, and eventually produced victory
in the 18th century West
African Jihads.
Johnston, H.A.S.: The
Fulani Empire of Sokoto, Pg. 126. Oxford Press, 1989.
Robinson, David:
The Holy War of Umar Tal the Western Sudan in the
mid-nineteenth
century. Pg, 220Clarendon Press. Oxford. 1985.
Shillington,
Kevin: The History of Africa. Pg,227. St. Martins Press. Ny.
1995.
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