OUR ENCOUNTER WITH THE WEST: THE SOKOTO CALIPHATE IN MODERN NIGERIA.

 To mark the 100^th anniversary of the martyrdom of caliph Attahiru the Academic Forum convenes a national memorial conference in Gombe, December 2003. Here M.N Abdullahi writes on the experiences of the Caliphate with the western civilisation. It is a continuation of the article we published when the Forum commemorated the Life and works of Sheikh Uthman Dan Fodio® during its annual conference on Islamic thought held at UDUS , Sokoto  September 2001( Transcampusvol1 No 7, September 2002)

“Ours is the era of light”. These were the words of Sheikh Usman bn Fodio (r) characterising the Islamic revolution he inspired and led in Bilad al-Sudan. To judge from the rapid spread of the phenomenon throughout the sub region, a better description and assessment of the process is hard to formulate.

Thus, this tremendous stream of light had travelled far and achieved spectacular and far-reaching impacts. Distant disciples of the Sheikh; Ahmadu Labbo and Umar al-Futi undertook similar revolutionary movements and established viable Islamic states in Masina (astride upper Niger and Bani rivers) and Tambe in Futa-toro, respectively. To the North, the most venerated Sayfawa dynasty of Borno, soaring in extreme decay was swept away. The defeat ushered in a new order in Borno, in circumstances that brought Sheikh al-Amin el-Kanemi (a scholar committed to the supremacy of Islam) to power. The caliphate also rung death belt to its western neighbour: Oyo in the battle of 1817, which saw the Alaafin dead and paved way for the growth of Islam in Ilorin. Muhammad Gilani the revolutionary Tuareg, with full support from Sokoto, established an Islamic state in Adar in 1813. Moreover, the intellectual climate developed by the Jihadists gave rise to the Mahdist movement much later in the Sudan and inspired the slave communities in the Americas.

The most essential factor, which conferred the caliphate this unique tenacity and potency, was the spiritual conception of life developed by its founders and their commitment to knowledge and productive scholarship. “Everything has a foundation and the foundation of this caliphate is knowledge”, Caliph Muhammad Bello had written.

In the revolutionary processes ‘the struggle from within’ was considered primary. Expressing the movement’s code of conduct, Sheikh Abdullahi bn Fodio(r), for instance states in Risalat an – Nasaih  “Begin with yourself, doing away from the abyss of lust…” So, spiritual training in what can be referred to as ‘refined Sufism’ was carried out side by side with intellectual activities and military campaigns much later. Spiritual training or tarbiyya was employed to cultivate people’s real essence and characters. They come out with strong will power, self-discipline and insight as to lead a principled and constructive life envisaged by the movement. 

The aim was to create a sort of ‘local governance’ in the conscience of the individual members. The ultimate is to be reached when one’s ruh or spirit becomes receptive to direct Divine guidance and the person of the noble Prophet(s) becomes one’s conscience. “I”, the Sheikh disclosed in Tahdhir al-Ikwan, “am nothing but a stream of light emanating from him (Prophet Muhammad (s)) who is the source of all blessings…” This explains the Sheikh’s spiritual magnetism and acute understanding.

It is however, a wonder of history that while the revolutionary processes were brewing in Bilad as – Sudan, the mercantile establishment which transformed European societies was embarking on a campaign for global domination. This domineering system operated on the exact opposite basis from that of the emerging power in Sokoto. It set out to plunder, to enslave and to exploit. 

With their particular experience of titanic struggle with the Church, the authors of the new order, which emerged victorious over the strait-laced and inhibitive Papacy, directed their energy against all values, cultures and civilization. They are both brutal and cunning in their drive to exploit all others in order to sustain their exultant hedonism. Side by side with wars of oppression and destruction, they ride the crest of modernity to paint a rosy picture of their intolerant culture.

To this region, the mission, which was to seal the fate of our nations, was launched from Portsmouth in Britain on May 22, 1775. From the time when the Majestic Niger revealed itself to the greedy eyes of European mercenary, Mango Park on July 21, 1776 to the death of Clapperton in Sokoto in 1827, the subcontinent was put under intense espionage. Among the observations and recommendations outlined in Mango Park’s work about his journeys titled ‘Travels’ included a summary of our vast human and natural resources and the rise of ‘fanatical Islam” to borrow park’s own words.

Whereas most of the Muslim lands were under crumbling political edifice riddled by quasi-secular Mulukiyyah, those days represented the best time for Islam in Bilad as – Sudan. In Sokoto and Borno, both caliph Muhammad Bello and Sheikh el-Kanemi treated the Europeans as mere explorers and diplomats on the strength of an introductory letter from the Pasha of Tripoli, a fellow Muslim -unaware of the latter’s subservience.

The second leg of the contact saw the surge of European’s ‘trade missions’. Another remarkable distinction emerged here on the conduct of the caliphate. In the two trade treaties signed by the later rulers of Borno and Sokoto with the British in 1851 and 1853 respectively, the sovereignty of the Islamic states and integrity of the Sharia were unreservedly protected. 

The imperialists were not dealt with on their own terms, unlike in non-Muslim lands and some Arab states “where the rulers impressed by the awesome powers of the Europeans, merely sign model draft treaties brought by the British”, writes professor R.A Adelaiye. Here, they were granted permission to trade, covered by the protection rights given to non-Muslims in an Islamic state, the dhimmi status. For instance, the caliphate out rightly rejected the request of Royal Niger company for ownership of land where British citizens are to be governed by their law other than Sharia and that a British consult to be appointed “who shall be honoured and protected and his words shall be headed” a subtle way of bringing the caliphate under their control.

As law sanctioned diplomacy and negotiations failed to fetch the colonialists any binding concession from the caliphate, the door to the third leg was opened. Those agents of global arrogance began by forging treaties of their own. Britain launched its occupation by fraud, treachery and massacre. It was based on such spurious documents described by Hugh Johnston, (himself a committed imperialist) as “astonishingly tendentious” the colonialists justify their war of aggression. In 1890 a British trade delegation in Wurno could not see the Caliph after waiting for ten days meanwhile members of the delegation behaved improperly to Muslim women. The caliph ordered that they leave Wurno within twenty-four hours. Yet, despite this expulsion and Caliph’s unmistakable displeasure, the delegation claimed that it was able to secure treaties granting the Royal Niger Company some political concessions, which above all conflicted with the sharia. Caliph Abdurrahman disgusted by the treachery wrote to Lugard informing him of breaking off all relations with the company. It was the circumstance, which led to this treachery according to Dr. Ibrahim Sulaiman that snowballed into a full-scale war. It is noteworthy that the original decision to occupy the Caliphate had already taken place at the international share-out of Africa in Berlin Conference in 1884. Those tactics were necessary as the imperialists were faced with a constitutional government of a civil society under a rule of law and that was totally free and independent.

When the war began Lugard’s advancing army soon discovered that no sooner had it conquered a given emirate and advanced to the next than the defeated army regrouped and charge the British army from the rear. It was rather total destruction that was the hallmark of scorch earth policy (razing every defeated kingdom to the ground), writes Steve Nwosu, which ensured the fall of Sokoto on March 15, 1903.

The particular way the Muslim people of the caliphate conducted themselves even in times of crisis and subsequent defeat, presented yet another challenge to the unfolding ugly face of colonialism.

After the fall of the caliphate, Caliph Muhammad Attahiru who commanded the Muslims in person embarked on hijirah. He made his way to the east, with the intention, probably to re–organize his forces and return, or continue on the hijirah until a more favourable condition presents itself for recapturing the state. The judicial basis of the hijrah was immediately composed by Alkali Abdullahi in Risalat wan- Nasa’ih. It noted that concluding peace would weaken Islam, make the land prone to cultural invasion and subjugate the Muslims to the secular rule of the unbelievers.

All along his route, the Caliph was joined by thousands upon thousands of Muslims of all classes. The scale of movement of people was, as Adelaiye remarks, unprecedented in the African encounter with imperialism. A colonial officer reported “Attahiru’s following is immense……… the whole population from Kano to Gongola have joined him,” stating that to allow the Caliph to stay in one place for even one week would mean the entire population joining him en masse. So they decided to pursue the Caliph with the aim of arresting the threat of hijirah, conceding that Attahiru in exile was even more dangerous than Attahiru at home.

Hence the battle of Mburmi (some six hundred miles from Sokoto) east of Gombe on July 27, 1903. It was the last, and also the best organized, according to Adelaiye, between the caliphate and the British holders of the culture of death. Those warriors of Islam demonstrated their commitment to safeguarding the Muslim people and their Islamic state against the forces to Evil. Rather than save themselves in abject subjugation the Muslim forces led by Caliph Attahiru and two of his sons, in an event reminiscent of Karbala chose to face imminent death by facing shootings and bayoneting from the more equipped British murderers led by Major Francis Charles Marshal.

Meanwhile, Consultations and deliberations by the Ummah’s leading Ulama led by Wazir Mohammad Buhari held at Marnona came out with the agenda of redemption captured in ar-Risalat. Over powered by the unbelievers, the Risalat set out to prepare the people to cope with the evening catastrophe, with the deserving foresight, and plan, though bitter and frustrating. Earlier the Caliph had already   sent a message urging people not to undertake the hijirah any more because the British have mounted blockades everywhere and have killing Muslims indiscriminately. Thus believers were advised in the Risalat “to show regards to them (the occupying powers) with tongue, have intercourse with them in worldly affairs, while we busy ourselves with planning and preparing the preservation and restoration of the power of Islam in our land until every village returns to its (rightful) place………”

Although the caliphate was pummeled as anything of a political power, it is not as a moral and spiritual force. To contain the unending popular discontentment and resistance against the new order, the colonialists employed mental engineering and brutal repression. The former through the indirect rule policy and the latter by maintaining a ring of fire around the ‘Mohammaden emirates’. The massacre in Satiru in 1904 was to serve as an opening salvo.

The office of the ‘caliph is retained with descendents of the Sheikh as Caliph or Sarkin Musulmi. Even after  ‘independence’, the same policy was maintained. The policy almost worked. Although the new rulers no longer were they representatives of neither the noble prophet(s) nor the people, their mere blood relation with the Sheikh served to tame the long yearning of the populace for restoration of the formal order. A known Hausa singer for instance described the appointment of Alhaji Ahmadu Bello to the premiership of the northern region as ‘the return to the status quo. “Mai abin ya amshi abunai”, i.e. “the rightly person has reclaimed his mandate, he composed. 

This simplicity and short sightedness explain the trend in the political thought among Muslims owing to the failure of Ulama after Mburmi to undertake the twin responsibilities of preservation and restoration as contained in the two Risalat. Apparently the Ulama gave up the second part of ‘the agenda for reclamation’ namely restoration of the caliphate and in an attempt to preserve the legacies of the Jihadist, they ended up in reversion to pre-Sokoto obsession with culture of rituals. The attending intellectual decline was almost total, with scholars taking shelter in already written texts. Academic weakness was being buried in pedantic scholarship and frozen Sufism.

To understand the psychological framework that informed the Ulama’s resignation from active socio-political life and intellectual leadership, we briefly follow Muhammad Bello Mai-wurno who led the survivors of Mburmi to their final destination in the hijirah. When they reached the Blue Nile by 1906, the faithful migrants met the paradox of having to live under the condition from which they escaped. It was only then the global nature of the ‘overwhelming’ phenomenon of the satanic invaders unraveled itself to them. Their troubled mind resorted to attempting to insulate the Ummah from the corrupt civilization and sought solace in Tasawwuf.

They left a very wide-ranging vacuum in the community. Without the inspiring and courageous leadership of Ulama, the community was left utterly confused. However, if we can understand why the survivors of Mburmi, because of their particular experience in hijirah, war and life in exile, could only grasp some of the immediately recognizable nature of the western civilization, the later generations failure to go deep to understand the true nature and aims of the new order and propose the proper way of dealing with the new reality, is daunting – perhaps, it appears to them that the new order is the first face dujjal (anti-Christ), and only the appearance of al-Mahdi can come to our aid. Probably this explains why in the Sudan the resistance movement against colonialism thrived under the name of Mahdism.

Meanwhile, the colonial rulers raised a new set of ruling elites; a horde of “natives in blood and colour but English in taste, in opinion, in morals and in intellect” in the words of Morley Munto, to carry the torch of western imperialism. High Clifford further prescribed that the academic ideals and language of instruction be changed in order to further alienate the masses with the view to suppressing the popular political culture, which lent the caliphate its resounding power.

When the two colonial protectorates were amalgamated in 1914, the new entity named Nigeria has its prime purpose of imposing on the natives a line drawn by the British conquerors over their past to enable a hitch-free leap into ‘modernity’. In the Muslim land that meant a second defeat, a social and intellectual abolition of Sokoto. Hence we continue to see the supposed ‘intellectuals’ reducing themselves to social critics and political commentator nothing else. The academics continue live in their imposed historical amnesia in which, according to late Professor Abdullahi Smith, the past is gone and the future is unimaginable, because at present they are at lost why they continue to read what their people could not accept and how the ‘illiterate’ lots must persist in cherishing what they (the academics) could not assent to. 

Even the confident progressive ones theirs end in writing volumes in eulogies of the Fodios leaving the questions on the relevance of their ideals and values today unanswered. A step further perhaps is to suggest renaming Sokoto emirate to a sultanate, or coding some hudud in the penal code. By and large, a minimal of the west’s treatment of the church after its defeat by modernism. It seems, to most that there’s no alternative to what we find ourselves today in what is referred as modern mechanism and dynamics of statehood.

The new ruling elites, continued to treat the former Chaliphal sons and daughters as a vanquished lots, in all national matters concessions are extracted from them. In effect doubly bearing the bunt of defeat. Their prolonged reservation is in turn being utilized by the elites to promote their self serving interests, creating a sort of powerful oligarchy of ‘curruptocrats’ further daunting the image of the caliphate in the teaming uniformed populace in the South. They reserved education to their immediate family and the majority continues to mire in ignorance and abject poverty.

They tend to replace the people’s political activism to regional nationalism; a baseless identity was imposed on us. In fear of Islam, we are not addressed as Muslims, but we are called with such a relative, reductionist term as Northerners. One wonders if there could be any meaning to a North without a South for instance. So it is deliberately misleading as it is absurd to promote the idea of “Northernism” for a people who have no poverty of sound ideology to base their identity or a resounding history to be a source pride.

Therefore, this artificial, entity called Nigeria has to always walk a tight rope for every inch in its journey to survival. It was built 100 years ago on the ruin of a powerful system the legacy of which it always seek to keep at bay.

It is remarkable also to note that despite the much off repeated hype about national integration little achievement has been recorded so far. The various nations and sub-systems that were brought together into this enduring colonial make-up are gradually falling back to original dividing lines. Ethnic loyalty in both southwest as southeast and religious revivalist in the ‘North’, for two main reasons.

 One the natural rights of every people for self determination will always hunt the spirit of artificial set-up giving the necessary time left. And two the gross in performance of the ruling elites who utterly fail to deliver even the most primary among the many promises of modernity, prosperity and peace, mantras for which we are told we should (or must as the matter of fact) batter our pristine past.

At the grass root level, the teaming populace treat themselves with mutual suspicion and mixed feelings. The sons and daughters of the caliphate see the Christian southerners as unintelligent, unimaginative and uncultured caricature of the Europe type. They, in turn, are viewed as conservative reactionaries retaining Nigeria’s growth. This mind set provides opportunity for the political entrepreneurs a tool further exploitation by their inherited druid and rule.

However, keeping in phase with the global trend of Islamic resurgence the Muslim Ummah here is fast becoming more inclined towards pursuing the power of Islam. At present an experiment is completion where the hypothesis that suggests translating such legitimate and age-long yearning within the confines of the establishment is being put to test. The result is almost clear that the ‘Jamhur’ will not be contended with what the graft can possibly offer.

In this critical stage in our contemporary history of our nation, its statehood and our collective will and powers it will therefore serve to rethink our past, such that the labour of our heroes past will not be in vain.