Usman dan Fodio

Shehu Usman dan Fodio ^ⓘ (Arabic: عثمان بن فودي, romanized: ʿUthmān ibn Fūdī; 15 December 1754 – 20 April 1817) was a Fulani scholar, Islamic religious teacher, poet, revolutionary and a philosopher who founded the Sokoto Caliphate and ruled as its first caliph.

Born in Gobir, Usman was a descendant of the Oudah clans Fulani people living in the Hausa Kingdoms since the early 1400s. In early life, Usman became well educated in Islamic studies and soon, he began to preach Sunni Islam throughout territories that would later become parts of independent Nigeria and Cameroon. He wrote more than a hundred books concerning religion, government, culture and society. He developed a critique of existing African Muslim elites for what he saw as their greed, paganism, violation of the standards of the Sharia.

Usman formed and began an Islamic religious and social revolution which spread from Gobir throughout modern Nigeria and Cameroon. This revolution influenced other rebellions across West Africa and beyond. In 1803, he founded the Sokoto Caliphate and his followers pledged allegiance to him as the Commander of the Faithful (Amīr al-Muʾminīn). Usman declared jihad against the Hausa land and defeated them. Under Usman's leadership, the caliphate expanded into present-day Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Southern Niger and most of Northern Nigeria. Ɗan Fodio declined much of the pomp of rulership, and while developing contacts with religious reformists and jihad leaders across Africa, he soon passed actual leadership of the Sokoto state to his son, Muhammed Bello.

He encouraged literacy and scholarship, for women as well as men, and several of his daughters emerged as scholars and writers. His writings and sayings continue to be much quoted today, and are often affectionately referred to as Shehu in Nigeria. Some followers consider ɗan Fodio to have been a mujaddid, a divinely sent "reformer of Islam". Shehu dan Fodio's uprising was a major episode of a movement described as the jihad in the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries. It followed the jihads successfully waged in Futa Bundu, Futa Tooro and Fouta Djallon between 1650 and 1750, which led to the creation of those three Islamic states. In his turn, the Shehu inspired a number of later West African jihads, including those of Seku Amadu, founder of the Massina Empire and Omar Saidou Tall, founder of the Toucouleur Empire, who married one of ɗan Fodio's granddaughters.

Usman Danfodio belongs to the generation of wandering scholars who started settling in Hausaland since the 1300–1400s, some 400–500 years before the Jihad. The Sheikh's ancestors were Toronkawa who migrated from Futa Tooro in the 1300s under the leadership of Musa Jokollo. Musa Jokollo is the 11th grandfather of the Shehu. There were 11 generations between Musa Jokollo and Shehu Danfodio.

Abdullahi dan Fodio stated that the Torankawa (Turubbi/Torobe) have Arab ancestry through one Uqba who married a Fulani woman called Bajjumangbu. Muhammed Bello was not sure if it was Uqba ibn Nafi, Uqba ibn Yasir or Uqba ibn Amir. Usman dan Fodio's mother Hauwa is believed to be a direct descendant of Muhammad as she was descended from Maulay Idris I, the first Emir of Morocco, who was the great-grandchild of Hasan, grandson of Muhammad. Ahmadu Bello, the first Premier of Northern Nigeria and great-grandson of Muhammed Bello, also said this in his autobiography, tracing his family's connection to Muhammad through Hauwa and Muhammad Fodio.

The Toronkawa first settled in a village called Konni on the borders of Bornu Empire and Songhai Empire, till persecution drove them to Maratta under the leadership of Muhammad Sa'ad, the Sheikh's great-grandfather. A faction of them split and moved to Qoloba. It was in Maratta that Usman Danfodio was born on 15 December 1754. He was born as bi Fodiye, dan Fodio or Ibn Fudiyi, 'the son of Fodiye', his father has earned the Fulani title of Fodiye 'the learned'. A further move by the sheikh's father, Muhammad Bn Fodio after 1754 brought them from Maratta to Degel, but several of their relatives still stayed in the town of Konni. Other Toronkawa, such as Gidado's family moved to Kebbi.

His father Muhammad Fodio was an Islamic scholar who the Young Danfodio will later mention in his books as having great influence on him. Muhammad Fodio died in Degel and is buried there. Usman's mother is Hauwa Bn Muhammad. She is believed to be a direct descendant of the Islamic prophet Muhammad as she was descended from Maulay Idris I, the first Emir of Morocco. Usman and Abdullahi's first teacher was their mother Hauwa who came from a long line of famous literary scholars. Her mother, Usman's grandmother, was Ruqayyah bin Alim, who was a well respected ascetic and teacher. According to Murray Last, Ruqayya is linked to the branch of the family noted for its learning. Ruqayyah's work Alkarim Yaqbal was popular among Islamic scholars of the 18th and 19th century. Hauwa's father and Ruqayyah's husband, Muhammad bin Uthman bin Hamm, was even more famous and respected than Ruqayya. He was regarded as the most learned Fulani cleric of the time.