Page 9 - Pakistan Link - May 17, 2019

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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