Polanyi Posted August 16, 2010 Impact Beyond The Caliphate The details of the rise of this unassuming movement to power and the way it went about restructuring the society and running an Islamic state can be seen in a number of published works. The concern of this paper is essentially the impact of this movement outside its immediate constituency, Hausaland. Naturally, this impact was first on the immediate neighbours, Borno to the East, Adar to the North, and Yorubaland to the South. Later this impact spread into Masina, Senegambia and the Nile Valley. Rather inadvertently, some of the ideas of the jihad found their way to the slave plantations of the West Indies, where they caused more than a stir, thus echoing the jihad. There could have been more, considering the network of scholars and scholarship in the Muslim world and beyond, but this has to be left to further research. In this paper we shall limit ourselves to five such areas: Borno, Masina, Senegambia, Nile Valley and the West Indies or the Caribbean Islands as they are better known today. BORNO Borno, a Caliphate with much deeper roots and richer Islamic history, was neighbouring Hausaland in the east. But 18th/19th century Borno, very much like the contemporary Hausaland, was immersed in decadence. A lot of the Shehu’s criticisms of Hausaland applied equally to Borno, and Shehu drew a lot of following from among Borno citizens. So when the jihad began in Hausaland, many of Shehu’s students sought and obtained permission to begin jihad in Borno and went ahead to do so. This provoked a very hot debate between the Muslim leadership in Borno, who saw no justification for the jihad in their territory and the Sokoto jihad leaders who argued and pressed their claim that for as long as Borno harbours the same aberrations which provoked the jihad in Hausaland, Borno will have to suffer same. The then Mai, ruler of Borno, commissioned an erudite Borno scholar, Shaykh Muhammad al-Amin al-Kanemi to address the challenge. That the Mai was not able to do it himself suggests that the rulers of Borno had fallen to the level of the rulers in Hausaland. Shaykh Al-Kanemi engaged the Sokoto jihad leaders first through correspondence and later on the battle field. In one of these correspondence, al-Kanemi challenged the Sokoto jihad leaders: "Tell us therefore why you are fighting us and enslaving our free people. If you say that you have done this to us because of our paganism, then I say that we are innocent of paganism, and it is far from our compound. If praying and the giving of alms, knowledge of God, fasting in Ramadan and the building of mosques is paganism, what is Islam? These buildings in which you have performed the Friday prayer, are they churches or synagogues or fire temples? If they were other than Muslim places of worship, then why did you pray in them when you captured them? Is it not a contradiction? Among the biggest of your arguments of the paganism of the believers generally is the practice of the Amirs of riding to certain places for the purpose of making alms-giving sacrifices there; the uncovering of the heads of free women; the taking of bribes; embezzlements of the properties of the orphans; injustice in the courts. But these five charges do not require you to do the things you are doing. As for this practice of the Amirs, it is a disgraceful heresy and certainly blameworthy. It must be forbidden and disapproval of its perpetrators must be shown. But those who are guilty of it do not thereby become pagans; since no one of them claims it is particularly efficacious, or intends by it to associate anything with God. ... The taking of bribes, embezzlement of the property of the orphans and injustice in the courts are all major sins which God has forbidden. But sin does not make one a pagan when he has confessed his faith. ... Acts of immorality and disobedience without number have long been committed in all countries. Egypt is like Bornu, or even worse. So also is Syria and all the cities of Islam. There has been corruption, embezzlement of the property of orphans, oppression and heresy in these places form the time of Bani Umayya right down to our own day. No age and no country is free from its share of its heresy and sin. If, thereby, they all become pagan, then surely their books are useless." Having argued his case, al-Kanemi concluded his letter with a rather sarcastic praise of Shaykh Usman: "Indeed we thought well of him. But now, as the saying goes, we love the Shaykh and the truth when they agree. But if they disagree it is the truth which comes first." Muhammad Bello replying on behalf of the jama`a, wrote, inter alia: "It is indeed seemly for me not to reply, but I am constrained to do so through solicitude for the ignorance of the talaba, so that they may not follow you... This is so that you will learn in the first place that what made it proper for us to permit our people neighbouring on you to fight Bornu was the continual receipt of news from those who mixed with the people of Bornu and knew their condition, to the following effect. It was that they make sacrifices to rocks and trees, and regard the river as the Copts did the Nile in the days of the jahiliya. It was also that they have shrines with their idols in them and with priests. We have seen the proof of this in your first letter where you say: ‘Among the biggest of your arguments for the paganism... the Amirs riding to certain places... Then you explained that they do not wish by this to associate anything with God... But it is not hidden to meanest intelligence that this claim warrants no consideration. the verdict depends on what is seen. ... For what caused the Amir of Bornu (according to what has reached us) to inflict harm on the believers among the Shaykh's people near to you until they were obliged to flee? What caused him to begin to fight them, unless he were in alliance with the Hausa Kings to assist them? It is manifest that he would not have risen to assist the Hausa kings had he not approved of their religion. And certainly the approval of paganism is paganism itself. To fight them is permitted, since the jihad against paganism is incumbent on all who are able. ... The statements in your premises and the contentions you have used to elucidate them amount only to refutable arguments. How can it be said that it is not legal, for him who is able, to reform immorality or put an end to corruption? It is not right for an able man to point to learned men who in the past have not bothered to change it or speak of it. By my faith, that is of no avail. ... " After these kinds of exchanges and a few running battles, a truce was struck, but not before some parts of Borno were annexed to Sokoto Caliphate. More fundamentally, this jihad in Sokoto shook Borno establishment to its very roots. Shaykh al-Kanemi who began to defend Borno on behalf of the Mai ended up as the de facto ruler of Borno and after him his progeny continued to rule Borno to this day. This change of leadership, occasioned by the jihad of Shaykh Usman, was to bring very fundamental changes in its trail and Borno was never the same again. (Usman Muhammad Bugaje-academic paper) (list of academic papers:http://www.webstar.co.uk/~ubugaje/main.shtml) Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
