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OPINION                                                                                                             MAY 17, 2019  –  PAKISTAN LINK  –  P9

                                       Signs from Allah: History, Science and Faith in Islam

                      98. Resistance and Reform - Uthman Dan Fuduye of Nigeria – Part 1


         n By Prof. Dr Nazeer Ahmed
                Concord, CA                                                                                                     was a movement of marabouts, the
                                                                                                                                wandering  minstrels,  who  proved
                                                                                                                                to be the active element in the
              thman   Dan    Fuduye,                                                                                            transport of Islamic ideas to the
              statesman,    reformer,                                                                                           hinterland. The marabouts, equally
        Uscholar       and  religious                                                                                           learned in Shariah and tareeqa,
                    teacher,  emerged                                                                                           established local religious centers.
                    out of the great re-                                                                                        Conversion to Islam picked up
                    form waves rolling                                                                                          momentum. To the southeast, be-
                    across  the  Muslim                                                                                         yond the bend in the Niger River,
                    world in the lat-                                                                                           Fulani merchants were equally suc-
                    ter part of the 18th                                                                                        cessful in propagating the faith.
                    century.                                                                                                    Hitherto, Islam had been primar-
            Shehu (meaning Shaykh) Uth-                                                                                         ily the religion of the rulers and
        man was  the son of Fuduye Mu-                                                                                          of the ruling aristocracy in West
        hammad  whose  forefathers  were                                                                                        Africa. Now, it became a religion
        members of the Torobe clan of the                                                                                       of the masses. The new entrants to
        Fulani people. In the 15th and 16th                                                                                     the faith brought with them their
        centuries, the Fulani inhabited the                                                                                     traditions and culture much as the
        vast grasslands between the Sahara                                                                                      people of India and Indonesia had
        and the dense tropical jungles of                                                                                       brought theirs into the Islamic fold
        Africa. They tended their sheep and                                                                                     300 years earlier. The confluence of
        cattle and depended on the natural                                                                                      ancestral African religious customs
        bounty of the land for their food.   Spain. The movement of the Sinha-  ing a mixture of Islamic law and   regions. The Tijaniya were more as-  and orthodox Islamic doctrines was
        Among them were many schol-   ja and other tribes across the Saha-  animist customs to suit the local   sertive than the Qadariya in spread-  the matrix from which emerged the
        ars who provided the backbone of   ra provided the medium for trans-  conditions.         ing  the  faith  and  their  approach   reform movements of the 18th and
        the religious tradition in the great   mission of ideas. The Qadariya Sufi   In the latter part of the 18th   found many adherents  among the   19th centuries.
        and Songhay empires. Rainfall was   order, originating in Baghdad, soon   century, another Sufi order, the   youth who were impatient with the   The disintegration of the Song-
        sparse, about fifteen inches a year   spread to all parts of the Islamic                  slow and deliberate approach of the   hay Empire was a political bonanza
        and  the  search  for  pastures  pro-  world. Traders who plied the Saha-  The political convulsions   Qadariya order. These two orders,   for the Fulani and Hausa people
        duced periodic migrations. The   ra introduced it into West Africa in   of the 16th and 17th   the Qadariya and the Tijaniya, were   who lived beyond the bend of the
        Fulani migrated gradually  from   the 14th and 15th centuries. Soon,   centuries had a direct   the spiritual force behind the reviv-  Niger River. The Hausa-Fulani
        western Africa to their modern day   it planted itself on African soil and                al of Islam in the Sudan.     were skillful merchants and ac-
        stronghold in northern Nigeria.   provided the most effective means   impact on the migrations   The political convulsions of   complished artisans and they lived
            Linguistically, the Fulani lan-  for the  spread of Islam. Since the   of people and the   the 16th and 17th centuries had a   in areas where agriculture thrived.
        guage has its basis in Bantu with   Fulani were so widespread, they   evolution of culture and   direct impact on the migrations of   They were under constant military
        a  strong  overlay  of  Arabic.  Trade   were among the first people in West   religion in West Africa.   people  and the  evolution  of  cul-  pressure from Songhay but had
        links across  the  Sahara  tied  the   Africa  to  come  into  contact  with              ture and religion in West Africa. In   never united or organized them-
        Sudan to the Maghrib, and there   new ideas from the north. The Su-  In 1592, Maulay Ahmed   1592, Maulay Ahmed of the Sa’adid   selves to resist the Songhays. With
        was considerable mixing between   fis established zawiyas, provided   of the Sa’adid dynasty in   dynasty in Morocco sent his army   the threat of armed invasion reced-
        the Bantu, Berber, Arab and other   a structure for the propagation of   Morocco sent his army   south towards the Empire of Song-  ing, and Songhay under Moroccan
        Islamic peoples in West Africa. In   faith, taught the Qur’an and Sun-                    hay. What had started as a border   military control, they were able
        a process similar to that in the Sa-  nah, trained teachers and dedicated   south towards the Empire   clash to control the salt mines at   to set an independent course for
        hel of East Africa and the Malabar   workers, provided social services   of Songhay. What had   Taghaza and Taodeni mushroomed   themselves. In 1629 one of the Fu-
        Coast of India, it produced a rich   and acted as a defensive umbrella   started as a border clash   into a full-scale invasion. Armed   lani chiefs Ardo broke away from
        amalgam of culture, language, lin-  in times of war.                                      with muskets and cannon, the in-  Moroccan dominated Songhay.
        eage and heritage.                Sufic Islam, which had spread   to control the salt mines   vading forces wreaked havoc on   Similar moves for independence by
            The Fulani traced their lineage   in  Persia,  India  and  Indonesia  in   at Taghaza and Taodeni   the river cities of West Africa. The   other Fulani tribes followed in the
        from Uqba bin Nafi, the renowned   the 14th and 15th centuries, now   mushroomed into a full-  great trading centers of Timbuktu,   succeeding decades. In 1690 several
        conqueror of North Africa (d. 683).   found a home in Africa. The Fu-  scale invasion. Armed   Gao and Jenne were occupied and   Fulani states emerged in the Messi-
        Shehu Uthman Dan Fuduye was   lani were among the first people to                         considerable  damage  was  inflicted   na plains in northwest Nigeria and
        therefore a descendent of Uqba bin   embrace this new vision of Islam.   with muskets and cannon,   on the cities. The Songhay Emper-  southern Niger. Around 1790, one
        Nafi from his father’s side. On his   From West Africa, the Sufi tareeqas   the invading forces   or, Askia Ishaq, retreated eastward   of the marabouts, Shaykh Alfa Mu-
        mother’s side, he was a Sayyid, a de-  were carried by the Fulani into the   wreaked havoc on the   to his ancestral homeland. With   hammed Diobo, founded the city of
        scendant of the Prophet. His moth-  interior and beyond the bend in                       the retreating armies went many of   Say. This city which is located today
        er, Sayyadatu Hawwa was in the   the Niger River into what is today   river cities of West Africa.   the scholars from Timbuktu, Gao   at the border between Nigeria and
        lineage of al Hassan, son of Fatima   northern Nigeria. Scholarship and   The great trading centers   and Jenne. These scholars provided   Niger, became the nucleus for polit-
        binte Prophet Muhammed (p).   their knowledge of Islam made the   of Timbuktu, Gao and    added momentum to the spread of   ical movement and religious revival
            The western Sudan was closer   Fulani welcome into various king-                      Islam in the southern reaches of the   in the Hausa-Fulani areas.
        to the intellectual centers of North   doms then existing in West Africa.   Jenne were occupied and   Niger River, which are located to-  (The author is Director, World
        Africa than the hinterland, and   By 1775, Fulani mallams formed   considerable damage was   day in Niger and northern Nigeria.  Organization for Resource De-
        it was here that the reform waves   the backbone of the religious estab-  inflicted on the cities  The social dislocations caused   velopment  and  Education,  Wash-
        that rolled across West Africa were   lishment in the entire West African                 by the war destroyed the power of   ington, DC; Director, American
        born. In the 11th century this area   belt. The strict interpretations of   Tijaniya was founded in Morocco.   the cities and increased the impor-  Institute of Islamic History and
        produced  the  Murabitun  move-  the Maliki School of fiqh some-  From there it spread southward   tance of the villages. Along with the   Culture, CA; Member, State Knowl-
        ment, which spread throughout the   times brought them into conflict   into areas inhabited by the Sinhaja   migration of scholars from Songhay   edge Commission, Bangalore; and
        western Sudan, North Africa and   with the local emirs who ruled us-  who carried it to the Sene-Gambia   to Hausa and Fulani areas, there   Chairman, Delixus Group)
                  Time Magazine Cover Story Says Narendra Modi Is India’s ‘Divider-In-Chief’


             he  Time magazine has de-  had also carried an interview with                        Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh ideo-  poisonous religious nationalism in
             scribed Indian Prime Min-  the Indian prime minister.                                logue S Gurumurthy to the board of   India...,” he adds. “Basic norms and
        Tister Narendra Modi as In-       Twitter Ads info and privacy                            the Reserve Bank of India, and calls   civility have been so completely viti-
        dia’s “divider in chief” on the cover   Taseer starts his article saying                  Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Ad-  ated that Modi can no longer control
        of its May 20 issue. Modi’s picture   that in 2014, India became the “first               ityanath a “hate-mongering priest   the direction of the violence.”
        was on all international issues of   of  the great democracies to  fall  to               in robes of saffron”. Taseer describes   ‘Modi the person most likely to
        the magazine except the United   populism”. According to him, Modi                        the candidature of Malegaon blasts   deliver’
        States edition.               won those elections riding on hope                          accused Pragya Singh Thakur in the   In another article, political sci-
            The cover story, written by nov-  but this time “whatever else might                  Lok Sabha election from Bhopal as   entist Ian Bremmer acknowledges
        elist Aatish Taseer, has the headline:   be said...hope is off the menu”.                 an example of “the specter of ex-  that Modi can be blamed for “fan-
        “Can the world’s largest democracy   The article says that Modi’s as-                     treme nationalism and criminality”   ning flames of hostility” toward
        endure another five years of a Modi   cension in 2014 showed that “be-                    becoming inseparable.         Muslims, but says, “India still needs
        government?”                  neath the surface of what the elite                             “As India votes this month,   change, and Modi remains the per-
            A second article, by Ian Brem-  had believed was a liberal syncretic                  the irony of those words is not lost   son most likely to deliver.”
        mer, treats Modi far more positively,   culture, India was indeed a cauldron              on anyone,” the novelist says about   Bremmer  cites  improved  rela-
        suggesting that he is “India’s best   of religious nationalism, anti-Mus-                 Modi’s slogan “Sabka Saath Sabka   tions with China, the US and Japan,
        hope” for economic reform.    lim sentiment and deep-seated caste                         Vikas”.                       but also mentions the prime minis-
            The magazine had placed Nar-  bigotry”.                                                   “Not only has Modi’s economic   ter’s development agenda domesti-
        endra Modi on its cover in 2015 too,   Taseer describes Modi’s record                     miracle failed to materialize, he has   cally that has “done the most to
        with the title “Why Modi Matters”. It   on women’s issues as “spotty”. He   also criticizes the appointment of   also helped create an atmosphere of   MODI, P24
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