Lifestyle
PHOTOS: Shaykh Uthman dan Fodio (1754 –1817)
If you don’t know about Shaykh Uthman dan Fodio (1754 –1817) you’re missing one of the most powerful stories in Islamic history.
He wasn’t just a scholar.
He led one of the most successful Islamic revivals in Africa, based on knowledge, justice, and piety.
Born in 1754 in Gobir (modern-day northern Nigeria), Uthman dan Fodio was a Fulani scholar of the Maliki school and Qadiri Sufi order.
From a young age, he mastered the Qur’an, Hadith, Fiqh, Arabic, and spiritual purification (tazkiyah).
He traveled across Hausaland preaching tawheed, calling people away from corrupt leadership.
He taught that Islam is not just belief, it’s justice, learning, humility, and governance by the Qur’an and Sunnah.
His da’wah wasn’t fiery. It was wise, calm, and rooted in ilm.
Uthman 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 1804, he founded the Sokoto Caliphate and his followers pledged allegiance to him as the Commander of the Faithful (Amīr al-Mu’minīn). Uthman declared j*had against the Hausa land and defeated them.
Under Uthman’s leadership, the caliphate expanded into present-day Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Southern Niger and most of Northern Nigeria.
Uthman wrote more than a hundred books concerning Economy, History, Law, Administration, Women’s rights, government, culture, Politics and society. He wrote 118 poems in Arabic, Fulfulde, and Hausa languages.
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