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Jihād fī Sabīl Allāh—its Doctrinal Basis in Islam and some Aspects of its Evolution in Nineteenth-Century West Africa1

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 January 2009

John Ralph Willis
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The recurrence of revivalist movements in Islamic history can be partially explained by the inability of a Muslim Community in disarray to transform da¯r al-ḥarb into da¯r al-Isla¯;m—a doctrinal obligation fundamental to Muslim ideology since the death of the Prophet Muḥammad. Attitudes towards the problems of Islam in nineteenth-century West Africa were decidedly revivalist. While Middle Eastern reformists of the same period were attempting to meet the challenge of the West by restating the basic principles of Islam in the light of the contemporary situation, West African revivalists sought a return to the same basic principles—but not in order to accommodate or adjust, but rather to rediscover and revive; not so much to face the challenge of the West, but rather to confront the incursions of syncretism and polytheism. Recourse was made to the classic technique of the jiha¯d fī sabīl Alla¯h—a three-stage process of revival beginning with the spiritual jiha¯d and culminating with the temporal jiha¯d. The popular expectations that the final triumph of Islam over infidelity would be accomplished by a messianic figure in the thirteenth century of the Hijra helped to create a favourable climate for the emergence of several would-be revivalists. But the success of their movements was contingent upon their reputations for sanctity, their abilities as preachers and teachers, and their capabilities as political organizers. The jihads of ‘Uthma¯n b. Fūdī and al- Ḥa¯jj ‘Umar b. Sa'īd were both characterized by a conscious and deliberate effort to reproduce the career of the Prophet in a West African environment. If the Prophet had sought at first to bring about the implementation of the new Islamic dispensation by non-violent means, so also did Shaykh ‘Uthma¯n and Ḥa¯jj ‘Umar initially seek to reimplement that dispensation by aggressive but peaceful exhortations; and if the Prophet had received authorization from Allah to take the jiha¯d into a military phase, in imitation of the Prophetic model, Shaykh ‘Uthmān and Ḥājj ‘Umar awaited divine sanction for the more overt phase of their jiha¯ds.

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The Journal of African History , Volume 8 , Issue 3 , November 1967 , pp. 395 - 415
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Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1967

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References

2 Cf. on this question the work of Gibb, H. A. R., Mohammedanism, 2nd ed. (New York, 1953), 131ff.;Google ScholarMacDonald, Duncan B., Development of Muslim Theology, Jurisprudence, and Constitutional Theory (London, 1903), 60;Google ScholarZiadeh, Nicola A., Sanūsīyah, A Study of a Revivalist Movement in Islam (Leiden, 1958), 94;Google Scholar and Hourani, Albert, Arabic Thought in the Liberal Age, 1798–1939 (London, 1962), 8. Gibb states that reformists met the challenge the West ‘by starting from basic principles of Islam and restating them in the light of the contemporary situation’ and by starting from a selected Western philosophy and attempting to integrate Muslim doctrine with it’. But Gibb also emphasizes that with the ‘Ulama¯’ (whose duty, one might add, is that of guardians of the Sharī'a and revivers of what is dead of the Sunna) there was never any question of restatement, as they considered the ‘door of free inquiry’ (ba¯b al-ijtiha¯d) closed since the establishment of the Hanbahi rite, the last of the four orthodox legal rites of Islam. And the denial of ijtiha¯d made reform under orthodoxy virtually impossible. Revivalists also returned to basic principles (i.e. Qur'a¯n; Sunna; and Ijma¯, or the ‘Consensus’ of the early Community), but not to accommodate or adjust, but rather to rediscover and revive.Google Scholar

3 Gibb, H. A. R., Modern Trends in Islam (Chicago, 1947), 13.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

4 The Sunna, or example, refers to the actions and sayings of the Prophet Mubammad and his Companions. It has been meticulously recorded in the hadīth literature and can be consulted in six authoritative collections (the two Sahīh of al-Bukha¯ri d. 870 and Muslim d. 875, and the four sunan of Abū Da¯awūd, d. 888; al-Tirmidhī, d. 892; al-Nasa¯ī, d. 915; and Ibn Ma¯ja¯, d. 886). It constitutes, together with Qur'a¯n and Ijma¯', the three sources upon which the Islamic religion is founded.Google Scholar

5 The Shar¯'a is the sacred constitution of the Muslim Community. It is therefore the embodiment of all that is Islam. It is still regarded by many members of the ‘Ulama¯’ as the only subject worthy of study. ‘Ilm (knowledge) has always implied ‘religious knowledge’—that is, knowledge gained through study of the Shar¯'a. Thus, the ‘Ulama¯’ are that body of religious scholars who devote their lives to the study of the various branches of 'ilm.Google Scholar

6 It is said that the caliphate, as a divinely-guided institution, lasted only thirty years, ending with the assassination of ‘Alī (66I), the fourth of the so-called ‘rightly-guided caliphs’ (al-khulafa¯'a al-rashidūn). After this period, the Arab historians speak no longer of caliphate, but mulk— ‘kingdom’. This attitude is partly explained by the transformation that the institution underwent from an elective office occupied by pious men who were Companions of the Prophet, to an office gained by power and wealth and occupied by men of ambition and greed, who later, with the establishment of the sultanate, were neither members of the Prophet's tribe nor Arabs. Among pious men—especially Sufis—to hold office in these post-caliphal governments was tantamount to irreligion of the most contemptible sort. This view was especially strong in the Western Sudan, where Muslims such as dan Fodio and al-Ha¯jj ‘Umar Ta¯l prided themselves in their disassociation from ‘kings’. Al-Ha¯jj ‘Umar cited an hadīth, which stated that ‘the best amīrs’ are those who seek after the ‘Ulama¯’; and the worst ‘Ulama¯’ are those who seek after amīrs’ (cf. al-Ha¯jj ‘Umar, Sofīnat al-sa'a¯da li-ahl ai-du'f wa'l-nija¯da), f. 6 (MS. Arabe 5485, Bibliothéque Nationale, Paris);Google ScholarEl-Masri, F. H., ‘The Life of Shehu Usuman dan Fodio before the Jihad’, Journal of the Historical Society of Nigeria, II, no. 4 (12, 1963), 440;Google ScholarGibb, H. A. R., ‘The Sunni theory of the caliphate’ (reprinted in Studies on the Civilization of Islam, ed. Shaw, Stanford J. and Polk, William R. (Boston, 1962), 141–50);Google ScholarHurgronje, C. Snouck, Mohammedanism (New York, 1916), 110ff.;Google ScholarBrowne, E. G., The Persian Revolution (reprint, 1965, London), 26.Google Scholar

7 See note 5 above.Google Scholar

8 Cf. the references given in Wensinck, A. J., A Handbook of Early Muhammad Tradition (Leiden, 1960), under ‘Community’ (p. 48) to the works of Abū Dawūd, al-Tirmidhī, and Ibn Ma¯ja¯, which mention this hadīth.Google Scholar

9 See note 4 above.Google Scholar

10 Shiha¯b al-Dīn Ahmad b. Hajar al-Haithamī, Sawa¯'iq almuhriqa fī’l radd 'ala¯ ahl, al-bida'wa'l-zandaqa (Cairo, 1956), ed. ‘Abd al-Wahha¯b 'Abd al-Latif, 164; Abū'l-Mu-'īn Maimūn b. Muhammad al-Nasafī al-Makhūulī, Bahr al-Kala¯m (al-afka¯r), 93. Man's incapability of guiding himself—of finding the truth and adhering to the correct path—is fundamental doctrine in Islam, hence the need for revivalists. Cf.Gustave, von Grunebaum, E., Medieval Islam, A Study in Cultural Orientation (Chicago, 2nd ed. 1953), 240;Google Scholar and Darmesteter, J., Le Mahdi depuis les origines de l'Islam jusqu'à nos jours (Paris, 1885), 5.Google Scholar

11 The term ‘Mahdī’ does not occur in the Qur‘a¯n, nor is it to be found in the two most highly esteemed collections of Traditions (i.e. those of al-Bukha¯rī and Muslim). It is, however, contained in the four sunan collections (cf. Wensinck, Handbook, under ‘Mahdi’ for references). The orthodox or Sunni view of the Mahdī (that is, among those Sunnis who accept this doctrine, for many do not) is that he will come as an ordinary man and will fulfil the function of the ultimate caliph of the Prophet. His mission will be that of a restorer of the faith and ensurer of its final triumph. Another Sunni view is that ‘Īsa¯ (Jesus) will be the final restorer and will be the last caliph of the Prophet. Both of these views are in sharp contrast to the belief of the ‘Twelver’ Shi'ites in the return of the ‘Hidden Ima¯m’ who will be called al-Mahdī. Since the Shi'ites believe that no certainty can be reached through the study of Qur'a¯n, Sunna, or Ijma¯, they look for the reappearance of their ‘Hidden Ima¯m’ whom they believe to be infallible, and thus capable through divine guidance of protecting the faithful against sin and error, and of infallibly interpreting Islam for all mankind. Reformers like Muhammad ‘Abduh and Jama¯l al-Di¯n al-Afgha¯nī were apt to use the Mahdī concept for modernistic purposes. According to Elie Kedourie (Afghani and 'Abduh, An essay on Religious Unbelief and Political Activism in Modern Islam (London, 1966), 49) ‘the fundamental religious character and purpose of the mahdi is little noticed’ by Afghani, and in fact ‘it is as a secular political leader rather than a religious saviour that he is exhibited’. But among all those who believed in Mahdism, success in jiha¯d was to be the sole confirmation of the authenticity of the mission. For a further discussion of the subject,Google Scholar see Darmesteter, , Le Mahdi; Paul Casanova, Muhammad et la fin du Monde (Paris, 1911);Google ScholarBlochet, E., Le Messianisme dans l'hétérodoxie musulmane (Paris, 1903);Google ScholarLewis, Bernard, The Origins of Isma¯'ilīsm (Cambridge, 1940);Google ScholarKhaldun, Ibn, Muqaddimah: An Introduction to History, trans. Rosenthal, F., 3 vols. (New York, 1958), see especially vol. II, chap. III, 157–200;Google Scholar and Hurgronje, C. Snouck, ‘Der Mahdi’, Verspreide Geschnften, deel I (Bonn and Leipzig, 1923), 145–83.Google Scholar

12 Ta¯l, Al-Ha¯jj'Umar, Rima¯h hizb al-Rahīm ala¯ nuhūr hizb al-rajīm (written in the margins of ‘Alī Hara¯zim's) Ja¯wa¯hir al-Ma'anī, (Cairo, 1927) 11, 223,Google Scholar quoting Ibn Abi Jamra's Bahjat al-nufūs, sharh al-Bukha¯rī. It is among the masses that the expectation of the Mahdī is most strongly felt. Afgha¯nī said that the ‘expectation of a mahdī is so intensified among Muslims every time they find themselves in difficulties, or their religion threatened or a foreign power dominating them, that they resemble a man lost on a dark night in a vast desert awaiting with impatience the appearance of a star which might guide him’ (Kedourie, Afghani and ‘Abduh, 50). Mahdīs have been so numerous in the Western and Central Sudan that reigning Muslim governments have often been at pains to convince the people that ‘this is not the time of which the Prophet spoke’. When large-scale migrations occurred in the 1830s from Hausaland to the Nile Valley (where the people hoped to meet the ‘expected Mahdī’), the Amīr al-mu‘minīn issued a proclamation warning that the time of exodus had not arrived, as ‘there is still some good remaining among us’ (Abū Bakar Atiku, ‘Wathiqa to the people of Gwando’, Arabic MS., Ibadan, uncatalogued; quoted in Biobaku, S. and al-Hajj, M., ‘The Sudanese Mahdiyya and the Niger-Chad Region’, Islam in Tropical Africa, ed. Lewis, I. M. (Oxford, 1966), 429).Google Scholar

13 Sulaima¯n, Abū Da¯wūd, Kita¯b al-Sunan (various editions), 36:1.Google Scholar

14 The jizya, or poll-tax, was levied upon ‘peoples of the Book’ (e.g. Christians, Jews, Zoroastrians) in order that their status vis à vis Muslims be clarified. These people had the choice of submitting to Islam or paying the tax. But if they preferred to pay the jizya, they were compelled to assume a position of humility with respect to their Muslim overlords. They could not wear clothes finer than those of the Muslims nor could they aspire to a higher standard of living. These people were called ‘Dhimmis’ in contradistinction to other (i.e. infidel) peoples not of the Book. Non-Dhimmis were required to submit to Islam or fight. The Shari’a is also quite clear in so far as it prohibits Muslims from becoming Dhimmis in Da¯r al-harb, because the Muslim is always required to occupy a position of superiority with respect to non-Muslims.Google Scholar See Hudhaīl, Ibn, Tuhfat al-anfus wa-shi'a¯r sukka¯n al-Andalus (trans. Mercier, Louis as L’Ornement des âmes et la devise des habitants d’El Andalus: traité de Guerre Sainte Islamique, 2 vols., Paris, 1939), 1, 22, 23, 71; and Qur’a¯n 9:29.Google Scholar

15 For an introduction to the subject of jiha¯d see Khadduri, Majid, War and Peace in the Law of Islam (Baltimore, 1955).Google Scholar

16 Cf. Al-Ha¯jj, ‘Umar Ta¯l, Rima¯h, 11, 209 ff.;Google Scholar‘Uthma¯n b. Fūdī, Baya¯n wujūb al-hjra'ala¯’ l-'ibad, chap. 15;Google ScholarHazm, Ibn, Kita¯b al-Fasl fī'l-Milal wa'l-Ahwa¯ wa'l-Nihal (Cairo, A.H. 1321), IV, 135;Google ScholarRushd, Ibn, Kita¯b al-Muqaddima¯t al-Mumahhida¯t (Cairo, A.H. 1325), 1, 259;Google ScholarBuhūtī, , Kashsha¯f al-Qina¯' ‘An Matn al-Iqna¯’ (Cairo, A.H. 1366), 111, 28Google Scholar (cited in Khadduri, War and Peace, 56). In the apparently forged edition of the Ta'rikh al-Fatta¯sh (see below, note 28), it is mentioned that the twelfth Ima¯m of the Prophet (identified with Seku Ahmadu Lobbo of Ma¯ssina (below, note 28) ‘pourfendra plus par sa langue que par son sabre). Il percera plus par son exemple que par sa lance. Il éclairera plus par sa science que par des candélabres d'or et d'argent'Google Scholar (given rather uncritically in Amadou, Hampaté Ba and Daget, Jacques, L'Empire peul du Macina, vol. 1, 1818–1853 (Paris, 1962), 18).Google Scholar

17 This passage occurs many times in the Qur'a¯n; see, for example, vii: 157; and xxii:41.Google ScholarCf.Al-Ha¯jj, 'Umar Tal, Tadkhira al-Gha¯filīn ‘an gabh ikhtila¯f al-mu'minīn (MS. Arabe 5532, fo. 123–33, Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris, passim). This form of jiha¯d was also known as the “jiha¯d al-qaul”— “the jiha¯d of speech”Google ScholarRizvi, S.A.A., Muslim Revivalist Movements in Northern India in the sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries, Agra, 1965 234.Google Scholar

18 The order is reversed in the following tradition: ‘Whoso among you sees anything blameworthy shall alter it with the hand [i.e. by force]; if he cannot do this, he shall do it with the tongue [i.e. by preaching]; if he cannot do this, he shall do it at heart; this is the least that religion demands’ (Muslim, Sahīh, vol. 1, 50). Typical of the many Muslim revivalists who followed this pattern of jiha¯d was the Almohad leader, Ibn Tūmart. Before he took up the sword against the Almoravids, he went about as a self-appointed censor of public morality—‘ commanding the good and forbidding the bad’. We see him breaking the wine jars and musical instruments wherever he finds them; openly admonishing women who go about unveiled; openly blaming the established authority for the pitiful state of Islam; and publicly teaching his theological views to whomever was willing to listen.Google Scholar

19 For an introduction to the Wahha¯bī movement see Philby, H. St J. B., Arabia (London, 1930);Google Scholar cf. H. A. R. Gibb, Modern Trends in Islam; and Le Chatelier, A., L’Islam au XIXe siècle (Paris, 1888).Google Scholar

20 Seku Ahmadu and Jibrīl were affiliates of the Qa¯diriyya order and Shaykh ‘Umar a member of the Tija¯niyya tarīqa. It should be said, however, that it has not been definitely established that Seku Ahmadu completed the hajj.Google Scholar

21 The Wahha¯bīs revolted against the practices of infidelity which had infiltrated the Muslim religion. They especially objected to the bad example displayed by the Turks while visiting the holy places. The Turks heavily indulged in polygamy, and openly made use of wine and opium in the streets of Mecca. Moreover, the Wahha¯bis objected to the saint-worship of the Sufis and to the elevation of Muhammad to semi-divine status by the masses. Those who engaged in such practices were called‘Syncretists’ = (mukhallittan), and it was by virtue of their syncretism that they were declared ‘Apostates’ (murtaddīn)—hence jiha¯d against them was doctrinally justified.Google Scholar See Hunter, W. W., The Indian Musalmans (London, 1876), 57,Google Scholar and Gibb, Modern Trends in Islam, 27. The same arguments were used by the FulaniGoogle Scholar (see sources given in al-Hajj, Muhammad, ‘The Fulani concept of jiha¯d: Shehu Uthma¯n da¯n Fodio’, Odu, 1, (1964), 45–58).Google Scholar

22 A main obstacle to a settlement between al-Ha¯jj 'Umar and the French was seen in the former's insistence that the French declare themselves his tributaries and pay the canonical jizya, both of which the French were apparently unwilling to do. Cf. Archives d’Outre-Mer (Paris), Sénégal 1. 46 a; Mage, E., Voyage dans le Soudan occidental (Paris, 1868), 234;Google Scholar and Willis, John Ralph, review article, Jamil M. Abun-Nasr's The Tijaniyya, a Sufi Order in the Modern World (in the Centre of Arabic Documentation Research Bulletin, 11 (Ibadan, 01 1966), 44).Google Scholar

23 Gibb, H. A. R., Studies on the Civilization of Islam, 201.Google Scholar

24 Chief among these ‘accommodators’ was Ahmad al-Bakka¯'ī al-Kuntī, leader of the Qa¯diriyya order in Timbuctu, and Ahmad b. Ahmad, ruler of Ma¯ssina. Al-Bakka¯'ī remained on pleasant terms with the French, and it will be remembered that it was he who sought to secure safe passage for Barth in the latter's travels in the Western Sudan. Ahmad b. Ahmad had achieved an ‘understanding’ with the powerful pagan Bambara of Segū, each agreeing to abstain from interference in the other's internal affairs. The Almamis of Futa—divided against themselves—were too weak to combat infidelity (even given a desire to eradicate paganism, which was certainly lacking).Google Scholar

25 This hadīth is to be found in al-Bukhari's Sahīh (various editions, 93:51) and Khaldun, Ibn, Muqaddimah, 11, 192. Muhammad Ahrnad, the Sudanese Mahdī, also claimed to be the twelfth Ima¯mGoogle Scholar (Fatih, Soad el, ‘The teaching of Muhammad Ahmad, the Sudanese Mahdi’, unpublished M.A. thesis (Arabic), University of London, 1961, 125) as did Sayyid Ahmad, the Wahha¯bl Indian revivalist (Hunter, Indian Musalmans, 63). Both also placed great emphasis on the prophecies surrounding the thirteenth century of the Hijra. For the importance of this tradition to the Sanūsiyya movement, see Ziadeh, Sanūsīyah, 52.Google Scholar

26 Mahmūd al-Ka¯ti, Tarikh el-Fettach, trans. and ed. Houdas, O. and Delafosse, M. (1913), text, 66.Google Scholar

27 Hiskett, M., ‘An Islamic tradition of reform in the Western Sudan from the sixteenth to the eighteenth century’, Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, xxv, part 3 (1962), 577–596, 584.Google Scholar

28 Al-Ka¯ti, Tarikh el-Fettach, translation, xii;Google ScholarDubois, Felix, Timbuctu the Mysterious (London, 1897), 135 ff.;Google ScholarHunwick, J. O., ‘Ahma¯d Ba¯ba¯ and the Moroccan Invasion of the Sudan (1591)’, Journal of the Historical Society of Nigeria, II, no. 3 (12, 1962), 311–328, 327.Google ScholarCf. the alleged fraud committed by Ibn Tuma¯rt to support his claim to the title of MahdīGoogle Scholar (Khallika¯n, Ibn), Kita¯b wafaya¯t al-a'ya¯n wa'anba¯' abna¯' al-zama¯n, trans. de Slane, Baron MacGuckin as Ibn Khallikan's Biographical Dictionary, 4 vols. (Paris, 1843–1871), 111, 205 ff. For the use of linguistic, numerological and astrological techniques in support of claims to the titles of Mahdī and twelfth Ima¯m,Google Scholar see Ba and Daget, L’Empire Peul du Macma, 19,Google Scholar and Khaldun, Ibn, Muqaddimah, 11, 195.Google Scholar

29 Uthma¯n b. Fūdī, al-Wird (see also El Masri, ‘The life of Shehu Usuman dan Fodio before the Jihad’, 442, for dan Fodio's allusion that he was the mujaddid expected in the thirteenth century of the Hijra).Google Scholar

30 Several factors led Shaykh ‘Umar to refer to his book as ‘ hadha'l-kita¯b al-muba¯rak (‘this blessed book’). He interpreted as a good omen the fact that the value in the letters of the title corresponded to the year of composition (1261 A.H.). By similar numerological manipulation the date itself could be made to read,‘timm bushra’ (‘a deluge of glad tidings’).Google Scholar See 'Umar, al-Ha¯jj, Rima¯h, II, 284. The dual significance of this title, intended as a deliberate jeu de mots, is often stressed (see, for example, Ahmad b. Amm, Raud shama¯’il ahl al-haqīqa fī'l ta'rīkh bi-aka¯bir ahl al-tarīqa), 29, where the term ‘Rima¯h’ is said to have both a temporal and spiritual connotation (i.e. in the temporal and spiritual jiha¯d), unpublished manuscript in the library of Seydou Nuuru Tal, Dakar. Cf. I. M. Lewis, Islam in Tropical Africa, 42, where the Sudanese Mahdī was also given a sword.Google Scholar

31 Al-Ha¯jj 'Umar is often called ‘mujaddid al-din al-Muhammadiyya’ (‘renovator of the Muhammadan religion’); see, for example, an anonymous Arabic manuscript (Fonds Gaden, Fouta Toro, documents historiques, cahier no. 18, ‘Sur la vie d'El Hajj Omar’, IFAN Library, Dakar, f. 9). The appellation, ‘mujaddid’ is more often applied to an especially successful revivalist after his death. For example, al-Ghazza¯lī is called Muhyī al-dīn—‘enlivener of the faith’—and his most famous work was entitled, ihya¯' 'ulūm aldi¯n, ‘revival of the principles of the faith’. He is almost unanimously considered the mujaddid of his century. Al-Suyūtī, rather immodestly, openly sought to lay claim to the title of mujaddid, giving as evidence his incredible number of compositions (over 500). Ibra¯hīm Nya¯s, in an interesting application of the term, considered himself the mujaddid of the Tija¯niyya tarīqa for his century. For a scintillating discussion of the relationship between the Mahdī and the mujaddid as well as the origin and history of the idea of a restorer in Islam,Google Scholarcf. Goldziher, I., ‘Zur Charakterestik Gela¯l ud-Din Us-Sujūtī's und seiner literarischen Thâtigkeit’ (Sitzungsher. der phil. hist. der Kais. Akademie der Wissenschaften, LXIX) (Wien, 1871), 7–28;Google Scholar and Snouck-Hurgronje, C., ‘Der Mahdi’.Google Scholar (See also, Rizvi, S. A. A., Muslim Revivalist Movements.)Google Scholar

32 Bello, Muhammad, Infa¯q al-Maisūr fī ta'rīkh bila¯d al-Takrūr (edited by Whitting, C. E. J. as Infaku'l Maisuri (London, 1957), 105).Google Scholar

33 Fūdī, 'Uthma¯n b., Tahdhīr al-ikhwa¯n min iddi'a¯' al-mahdiyya al-mau'ūda a¯khir alzama¯n (Arabic MS., Ibadan University Library, f. 2). See for this and other MSS. written by dan Fodio on the Mahdī subject, Biobaku and al-Hajj, ‘The Sudanese Mahdiyya’, 427,Google Scholar and El-Masri, F. H. and Adeleye, R. A.et at., ‘Sifofin Shehu: an autobiography and character study of ‘Uthma¯n b. Fūdī in Verse’, Centre of Arabic Documentation Research Bulletin, ii, no. I (01 1966), passim.Google Scholar

34 Bello, Muhammad, Infa¯q al-Maisūr, 185, 7.Google Scholar

35 Ibid.. 29.

36 Martin, B. G., ‘A Mahdist document from Futa Jallon’, Bulletin de l'Institut Fondamental d'Afrique Noire (I.F.A.N.), t. xxv, sér. B, nos. 1–2 (1963), 47–57; see 55–6. This article is based on Cahier no. 23, Fonds Vieillard, Fouta Djallon, ‘documents historiques sur la venue du Mahdi’, textes arabes, IFAN Library, Dakar. Al-Ha¯jj ‘Umar, like dan Fodio, never claimed to be the Mahdī. Cf. Cahier no. 10, Fonds Brevié, Tekrur/Futa Toro et Soudan (Mali), ‘Tarikh d'El Hadj Omar’, textes arabes, IFAN Library, Dakar, which is identical to the manuscript used by Abun-Nasr's The Tijaniyya (i.e. Dhikr ibtida' jihad…, 'Umar b. Sa'id, 112) and translated into French by Mamadou Sissokho as, ‘Chroniques d'El Hadj Oumar et du Cheikh Tidiani’, Bulletin de l'enseignement de l' Afrique occidentale française, no. 95 (1936), 242–55; nos. 96, 97 (1937), 5–22, 127–48;Google Scholar see no. 97, 20. Cf. de Macaya, M. Davezac, ‘Notice sur l'apparition nouvelle d'un prophète musulman en Afrique’, Journal Asiatique (August, 1829), 185, for a tradition that the Mahdī would appear in the Maghrib; MS. Arabe 5713, f. 157, Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris;Google Scholar and Marty, Paul, Etudes sur l'Islam au Sénégal, I (1917), 86, for expectations of the Mahdī's appearance within the ranks of the Tija¯niyya.Google Scholar

37 Gravier, Gabriel (ed), Soleillet, Paul, Voyage à Ségou (Paris, 1887), 318. There seems to be no truth in the allegation that Shaykh 'Umar left ‘mysteriously’ for the hajj. In fact he openly appealed to the wealthy Muslim merchants of St Louis for funds to finance his pilgrimageGoogle Scholar (see, for example, Carrère, F. and Holle, Paul, De la Sénégambie frane¸aise (Paris, 1855), 192: ‘Vers 1825 il pensait déjà à se rendre à la Mecque…A cette époque il vint à Saint-Louis, annonçant son projet, et sollicitant des habitants les moyens de le mettre à exécution’).Google Scholar

38 MS. Arabe 5259, f. 6, Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris. The same allegation is cited in Lenz, Oskar, Timbouctou, 2 vols. (Paris, 1886), II, 173.Google Scholar A reply to some of the charges levelled by al-Bakka¯'i against the Tija¯niyya, is given in Talfi, Ibn Yirkay, Tabakiyya al Bakka¯'i (‘What makes Bakka¯'i weep’), unpublished manuscript in the library of Seydou Nuuru Tal, Dakar.Google Scholar

39 Gravier, Soleillet, Paul, Voyage à Ségou, 318.Google ScholarBoth Mage, Voyage dans le Soudan Occidental (232) and Soleillet (233, 495) claimed that Shaykh 'Umar and his son, Ahmad, intended to replace Mecca with Segū as the object of pilgrimage for the blacks of West Africa, according to Mage, because of the considerable hardships which would have to be endured for the long journey across the Sudan.Google Scholar

40 The jahiliyya, or ‘days of darkness’, refer to the pre-Islamic period when the Arabs were ignorant of the true attributes of Allah and worshipped many gods.Google Scholar

41 Reade, Winwood, The African Sketch-Book, 2 vols. (London, 1873), I, 395. The precise role of the Fulani in the great jiha¯d movements is a fascinating problem which awaits further research. There is some evidence to suggest that not a few members of the élite Tōrodbē class considered the Fulanis the Quraish (i.e. the Prophet's tribe) of the Western Sudan. Indeed in at least one treatise, the Fulani are given a sharīfian pedigree (nisba). For a brilliant review of the whole question of Fulani origins (which in this context is by no means exhausted) see Muss Kamara, Ta'rikh al-Ha¯jj 'Umar, Arabic MS. Fonda Cheikh Musa Kamara, cahier no. 6. IFAN Library, Dakar, chap. 6.Google ScholarCf. al-dar'a wa'lmaghfar fī'l-radd 'an al-shaykh 'Umar, f. 6, unpublished manuscript in the library of Sedyou Nuuru Tal, Dakar, where Shaykh 'Umar is given the nisba, ‘al-Qurashi’. Muss Kamara sought to refute the claims put forth in the dar'a.Google Scholar

42 Tyam, Mohammadou Aliou, ‘La vie d'EI Hadj Omar’ (ed. and trans. Gaden, H. (Paris, 1935),Google ScholarTravaux et Mémoires de l'Institut d'Ethnologie, XXI, 135).Google Scholar

43 Cf., for example, 'Umar, al-Ha¯jj, Rima¯h, I, 189–90 (Hiia¯z);Google ScholarSalenc, ‘La vie d'al Hadj Omar’, 425 (Bornu);Google ScholarSa'īd, al-Hajj, Taqa¯yīd mima¯ wasala ilayna¯ min ahwa¯l umara¯' al-muslimīn, sala¯tīn Hawsa, trans. and ed. Houdas, O. in Tadhkirat al-Nisya¯n (Paris, 1899–1901), text, 192 (Sokoto);Google Scholar and Cahier no. 18, Fonds Gaden, Fouta Toro, textes arabes, ‘Sur la vie d'El Hadj Oumar’, IFAN, Dakar; Ba and Daget, L'Empire Peul du Macina, 240;Google ScholarAdam, Georges, Légendes historiques du pays de Nioro (Sahel) (Paris, 1904), 92–3 (Haut-Sénégal—Niger).Google Scholar

44 Fūdī, Uthma¯n b., Tanbīh a1-ikhwa¯n 'ala¯ ahwa¯l ard al-sūda¯n (trans. and ed. H. R. Sir Palmer as, ‘An early Fulani conception of Islam’, Journal of the African Society, XIII (1913–1914), 407–14; XIV (1914–1915), 185–192, 410).Google Scholar

45 Bello, Muhammad, Infaa¯q al-Maisūr, 116.Google Scholar

46 See below, note 58, on the preparation in the riba¯t for the jiha¯d.Google Scholar

47 On returning from a campaign against the infidels, the Prophet said, ‘we have come back from the lesser jiha¯d to the greater jiha¯d.…, the struggle against one's self'Google Scholar ('Umar, Shaykh), Rima¯h, II, 211;Google ScholarAl-Hujwīrī, , Kashf al-Mahjūb, trans. and ed. Nicholson, R. A. (London, 1959), 200.Google Scholar

48 The implication, however, in making the legal distinction between ‘individual duty’ and ‘Community duty ’ was that the jiha¯d of the sword remained an individual duty for the Muslim sovereign. According to Sha¯fi'ī (and his opinion was adopted by succeeding generations of jurists), ‘those who perform [jiha¯d] in the war against the polytheists will fulfil the duty and receive the superogatory merit, thereby preventing those who have stayed behind from falling into error. But God has not put the two (categories of men) on an equal footing, for He said: “Such believers who sit at home—unless they have an injury—are not the equals of those who fight in the path of God with their possessions, and their selves.’”Google Scholar (Qur'a¯n, ix: 95;Google Scholarcf. Islamic Jurisprudence Sha¯fi'i's Risa¯la (trans. and introduced by Khadduri, Majid (Baltimore, 1961), 82–5;Google Scholar‘Uthma¯n b. Fūdi, Baya¯n wujūb al-hijra 'ala¯'l-'iba¯d, chap. 12).Google Scholar

49 Fodio, Dan, quoting Ibn Juzay's Qawa¯nīn a1-ahka¯m al-Shar'īya, maintained that the temporal jiha¯d was permitted to a slave (provided he obtained permission from his master) as well as to willing youths approaching adolescence. It was unlawful, however, to solicit the aid of any unbeliever, though Sha¯fi'ī and Abū Hanīfa dissented from this position (see dan Fodio's Baya¯n wujūb a1-hijra ‘ala¯'l-'iba¯d, chap. 20). The Hanifi rite, which had no authority in West Africa, required all Muslims—in the event of an attack by infidels upon Muslim territory—to resist the incursion. In such cases, both slaves and wives could engage in battle without permission of masters and husbands.Google Scholar

50 'Umar, Al-Ha¯jj, Rima¯h, II, 253.Google Scholar

51 Ibid.. 212.

52 Ibid.. II, 212, quoting al-Ka¯zarūnī's ‘Ara¯' is al-baya¯n fī haqa¯'iq al-Qur'a¯n.

53 The term jama¯'a generally denotes the followers of a Sufi shaykh who have come to him for religious instruction and spiritual guidance. Within the context of revivalism, it refers to any group of Muslims who have sworn allegiance to an Ima¯m and who are united by their common desire to live together and to revive the practices of the ideal Community. No doubt due to Sufi influences, both dan Fodio and Ha¯jj 'Umar viewed their mission in religious terms. Neither considered himself heir to any temporal state (daula). Neither adopted temporal titles, and it would seem that both were satisfied with the title ‘shaykh’ and as a consequence never sought or accepted any other in contrast to their successors who adopted the title amīr al-mu'minīn. Dan Fodio retired to a life dedicated to spiritual excercises after the initial successes of the jiha¯d, leaving others to govern. Shaykh 'Umar, reputedly offered the almamiship of Fouta, appointed a slave instead. He considered himself the spiritual guide of the jama¯'a, never involving himself directly in the affairs of government.Google Scholar

54 See above, note 21, and Khadduri, War and Peace, 78.Google Scholar

55 Gibb, Studies on the Civilization of Islam, 147–8. Cf. the eulogy of al-Ha¯jj 'Umar given in Abū'l-Abba¯s Ahmad b. Ahmad al-Aiya¯shi Sukairij, Kashf al-Hija¯b an man tala¯qa¯ ma'a'l-Tija¯nī min al-Asha¯b (Fez, 1332 A.H., 336): ‘And [Shaykh 'Umar] entered the capital town [i.e. Segū] of their great empire, and the fire of the Infidels subsided, as they were driven into a state of stillness and inertia. And the light of Islam was amplified and burned brilliantly. The heart of every Muslim became replete with joy and that of every infidel was filled with anxiety and fear.’Google Scholar

56 There was some disagreement in the Western Sudan as to which Muslim leaders had the authority to declare jiha¯d. In the time of the unified caliphate, the decision rested with the caliph. But after the dissolution of the caliphate, the matter became more complex. Ahmad al-Bakka¯'i al-Kuntī, for example, took exception to Seku Ahmadu's declaration of jiha¯d in the Ma¯ssina region. With consummate arrogance he belittled Ahmadu, saying, … it is not for you to declare the state of jiha¯d: you, anyway, are not the Ima¯m of the Muslims. At the present time the Ima¯m of the Muslims is either Moulai 'Abd al-Rahma¯n [Sultan of Morocco] or Sultan 'Abd al-Majid [Sultan of Constantinople]. By right it should be Moulai 'Abd al-Rahma¯n, but in fact 'Abd al-Majīd is the greater and more powerful of the two. As for you, living five days’ march from Hamdullahi to Timbuctu [i.e. close enough to come and discuss the matter with al-Bakka¯' i ]-you are only a simple amīr, a ruler of huts at the extremity of West Africa, and at the same time the Ima¯m of a fraction of the Muslims of this country.’Google Scholar (See Boahen, A. Adu, Britain, The Sahara, and the Western Sudan 1788–1861 (Oxford, 1964), 251,Google Scholar and Monteil, Vincent, ‘Quelques textes arabes provenant du Soudan (région de Tonbouctou)’, Bulletin du Comité d'Etudes Historiques et Scientifiques de l'Afrique Occidentale Française XXI, 1938.) The consensus seemed to be, however, that when there were several independent Muslim communities, the duty of jiha¯d fell upon the ruler closest the enemy.Google Scholar

57 Bello, Infa¯q al-maisūr, 68;Google ScholarFūdī, 'Uthma¯n b., Tanbīh al-ikhwa¯n, 190. In revivalist strategy, the mere necessity for hijra at this stage was an admission that the preaching had failed and that stronger tactics were required. The hijra then becomes a period of consolidation and gives the revivalist an opportunity to increase his following and prepare for the jihad of the sword. This is in fact what the Prophet did, and all revivalists imitated the Sunna of Muhammad.Google Scholar

58 Tyam, Mohammadou Aliou, ‘La vie d'El Hadj Omar’, 27. Al-Hajj 'Umar's construction of a zawiya (or riba¯t) at Dinguiray again reflects the continuation in the Western Sudan of the classical tradition of preparing for the jiha¯d of the sword spiritually as well as physically. The riba¯t, constructed on the frontiers of Islam, served as a place of religious retreat as well as a fortress for military defence. Volunteers who entered the riba¯t were at first required to purify their intentions’. That is, they had to make sure that everything they brought with them had been acquired honestly and that all they ate was legitimate. After renewing their contrition for past transgressions and asking pardon for neglecting that which was obligatory, they laboured daily in pious works. A charitable act before the jihad expedition was considered especially efficacious. For the riba¯t, and spiritual preparation before the jiha¯d,Google Scholarsee Hudhail, Ibn, Tuhfat al-anfus washi'a¯r sukka¯n al-Andalus, I, 74, 128–9.Google Scholar

59 The principal Qur'a¯nic sanction for both jihadists was Sūra, iv: 97. Cf. 'Umar, al-Hajj, Rima¯h, II, 217;Google Scholar'Uthman b. Fūdī, Baya¯n wujūb al-hijra, chap. I; 'Abdullah b. Muhammad (the brother of Shaykh 'Usuma¯n), Diya¯' al-hukka¯m, chap. 1.Google Scholar

60 Cf.'Uma¯r, al-Hajj, Rima¯h, II, 223, on the authority of Ibn Abī Jamra (Brocklemann, Geschichte der arabisthen Literatur, S.I., 263, and G.I., 372), 210; on the authority of al-Qastalla¯ni, 217;Google Scholar'Uthma¯n b. Fūdi, Baya¯n wujūb al-hijra, chap. 11;Google ScholarMuhammad, 'Abdullah b., Diya¯' a1-hukka¯m, chap. 1.Google Scholar

61 'Umar, Al-Ha¯jj, Rima¯i, II, 221.Google Scholar

62 Ibid.. 223, quoting Muhammad b. Juzay, the Spanish authority on Ma¯likī law (see Brocklemann, Geschichte den arabischen Literatur, S. II, 377).Google Scholar

63 Ibid.. 217, quoting the Sara¯j al-Munīr see Brocklemann, Geschichte der arabisehen Literatur, G. II, 148).Google Scholar

64 Ibid.. 219, quoting al-Qa¯dī Aba¯ Bakr b. al-'Arab's Ahka¯m al-Qur'a¯n (not to be confused with the Spanish mystic, Ibn 'Arabi, d. 1240).

65 'Umar, Al-Ha¯jj, Rima¯h, II, 217;Google ScholarFūdī, 'Uthma¯n b., Baya¯n wujūb al-hijra, chap. 1. The source for the fatwa is al-Wansharīsī's Kita¯b al-Mi'ya¯r a1-mughth,Google Scholar which has been translated by Amar, E. as Al-Mi'ya¯r al-mughrib 'an fata¯wī ‘ulama’ Ifrzqiya wal-Andalus walMagrib (Archives Marochaines, nos. 12 and 13, 1908, see no. 12, 193).Google Scholar

66 A Companion of Shaykh 'Umar, Sidī al-Ha¯jj Ahmad b. al-Abba¯s al-Shinjītī al-Alawī, wrote that al-Ha¯jj 'Umar told him that'the infidels had attacked us [i.e. the jama¯'a] when Allah had not explicitly ordered me to raise the jiha¯d [i.e. of the sword] against them. Previously, I had only been authorized by Muhammad, and Shayth al-Tija¯nī to summon the pagans to Islam and to guide them down the correct path [i.e. by preaching and teaching]. Then the Prophet and al-Tija¯nī commanded me to execute the jiha¯d [of the sword], but I restrained myself until the day when the infidels attacked us. At that point I took as sufficient authorization the Almighty's words: “the jiha¯d is permitted to those Muslims who are oppressed” [Qur'a¯n, XXII: 39]… Shortly thereafter, during the evening of the 21st of Dhul-Qi'da, in the year 1268 [i.e. 6 September 1852], Allah informed me that I was authorized to undertake the jiha¯d [against the infidel], and He repeated this three times.’ Cf. Sukairij, Kashf al-Hija¯b, 336; Shaykh Ibn al-Habat al-Shinjītī, untitled manuscript in the library of Seydou Nuuru Tal, Dakar, 6;Google ScholarCahier no. 10, Fonds Brevié, Tekrur/Futa Toro et Soudan (Mali), Tarikh d'El Hadj Omar (i.e. Dhikr ibtida' jiha¯d… 'Umar b. Sa'īd), textes arabes, IFAN Library, Dakar, f. I et seq.Google Scholar

67 Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris, MS. Arabe 5605, f. 10. This manuscript, popularly known in the Western Sudan as Kita¯b fī ma waqa'a baina Shaykh 'Umar wa Ahmad b. Ahmad, contains the correspondence between al-Ha¯jj 'Umar and Ahmad b. Ahmad. It is known in the Maghrib as, Kita¯b saif al-haqq al-mu'tamad fī m'a baina al-Shaykh al-Ha¯jj 'Umarwa Ahmad b. Ahmad. An abridged version has been published in Egypt under the auspices of Seydou Nuuru Tal (the grandson of al-Ha¯jj 'Umar):al-Ha¯jj ‘Umar al-Fūtī sulta¯n al-daula al-Tija¯niyya bi-gharb Afrīqya shai' min jiha¯ihi wa ta'rīkh hay¯-tahi. A French translation is in progress, under the direction of Saad Oumar Touré (Directeur de Ia Medersah‘Sebilel Falah’, Segou, République du Mali), also a descendant of Shaykh 'Umar.Google Scholar

68 Ibid.. f. 5. The Islamic version of the Latin dictum cujus regio ejus religio (i.e. ‘the status of a town is the status of its ruler; if he be Muslim, the town belongs to Islam; but if he be an infidel, the town is a town of infidelity and hijra from it is obligatory’) was also cited by Shaykh 'Umar for his attack on Segū. He insisted that Segū was in da¯r al-harb inasmuch as he considered it to be under the domination of the pagan Bambara; hence jiha¯d against the Bambara was justified.Google Scholar (Ibid.. f. 26, citing as authority Muhammad b. 'Abd al-Karim al-Maghīlī; cf. Tanbīh al-ikhwa¯n, 53, citing as authority Ahmad Ba¯ba¯).

69 For example, see Bello, Infa¯q al-maisūr, 169 ff.Google Scholar

70 Cf.MacDonald, Development of Muslim Theology, Jurisprudence, and Constitutional Theory, 246, who also emphasizes the pattern: preaching—exhortation—use of force—rebellion.Google Scholar

71 Gibb, Mohammedanism, 131.Google Scholar