PNNKAT002

Kate Penniall
HST2039S
Tutorial 5 – West African Jihads

During the nineteenth century in West Africa, a constructructive reform movement

known as the jihad reforms, fostered a seperation, expansion and creation of new Islamic

caliphates that helped to transform West Africa into a part of the dar al-Islam. This essay will

discuss the goals of the jihad reform movements as well as to what extent the jihads of the

nineteenth century succeeded in creating their “new societies” in West Africa.

In many historical depictions of the jihad movements written in modern times, the

term jihad is exclusively used to described the warfare Islamic tribes used to establish their

new Muslim states. Murray Last, however, makes a clear distinction in saying that the jihad

should not be considered a warfare “against, but as a struggle for.”1 Prior to the nineteenth

century, in already established partially-Muslim states such as Hausaland, Muslim relgious

freedoms were repressed by kings. The governmental structure by Muslim judgement, lacked

an authentic Islamic authority.2 The extent of the oppression of the Muslim people and their

religion is not known, but it must have been enough to create “bitter resentment” among

Muslims, so much so that Muslim scholars saw no alternative but a complete social reform

inorder to restore Islamic justice.3 Their goal at the start of the nineteenth century, in the

creation of the Sokoto and Masina caliphates, was to build “a new society in which religion

and prosperity (for Muslim people) were possible.”4

It was the Sokoto and Masina caliphates that, to a great extent, succeeded in creating

these new societies but later movements by other jihad leaders largely failed to achieve a

successful “new society.” The success of Shaikh ‘Uthman b. Fudi in creating the Sokoto
1
Last, Murray. 1967. Reform in West Afirca: the Jihad movements of the
nineteenth century. 1.
2
Robinson, David. Revolutions in the Western Sudan. 132.
3
Last, Murray. 1967. Reform in West Afirca: the Jihad movements of the
nineteenth century. 4.
4
Ibid, 3.
caliphate and Ahmad Lobbo in Masina, was largely due to the respect they held as teachers

and scholars of Islam, a rise in the Muslim population, an increased awareness of the

corruption against Islamic law and a widespread belief in the coming of the Mahdi, which in

Islam marked the end of the world.5 The jihad reform that took place in both Sokoto and

Masina were violent, but the Muslim armies created under Shaikh and Lobbo had no

weaponry and lacked sufficient supply of food which made their plights at overthrowing

corrupt government bodies increasingly difficult. With early defeats, the new Muslim

regimes had to broaden their definition of Muslim to include amana or “proctected people.”

These peoples were well-disposed to the Muslims and not strictly against the Shaikh or

regarded as non-Muslims.6 After several hard fought battles, the increase in Muslim followers

who aided in the fight for their relgious freedom helped the jihad regimes finally take over

Gobir and Bambara to create the new Sokoto and Masina caliphates respectively.

Once Muslims had attained their new society, it was the “reorganisation of the

administration and the creation of Muslim types of government” that formed the final phases

of the jihad reform movements. In the Sokoto caliphate it was the Shaikh’s model of

administration that became the dominant form of Islamic authority. Under his administration,

Shaikh agents became the emirs of provinces, judges were appointed to advise and administer

full Islamic Law, tax-collectors became responsible for specific taxes, inspectors made sure

public welfare was not infringed upon and imams lead public prayers and taught Islam to the

people of the Caliphate.7 Although Shaikh identified his emirs from all different clans and

classes, they “tended to form an interregional elite.” Eqaulity amongst the caliphate was

retained through the equality of equipment. With a lack of weaponry to demonstrate power,

emirs and other political officials “relied on the cooperation of their subordinates for the

5
Ibid, 6.
6
Ibid, 9.
7
Ibid, 11.
application of their authority.”8 This system of checks and balances between the

administrative bodies and their subordinates helped to create a successful new Islamic society

that fostered Islamic Law as the highest authority and afforded the Muslim people a freedom

in the practice of their religion throughout the new Sokoto caliphate.

The creation of the Masina caliphate differed from Sokoto in that the “extent and

diversity of people and the duration and intensity of the war were less great.” This created a

greater priority in the creation of a “centrally organised Muslim state out of a diffuse pastoral

society.”9 The administrative structure of the Masina caliphate, headed by a Council of Forty,

was similar to the structure of the Sokoto, with appointed judges, tax-collectors, inspectors

and army officers reaching down to the local village levels. In order to ensure the honesty of

these officials and private citizens, a state spy system was created. In addition, a heightened

emphasis on armed services and state granaries helped to unite and provide for inhabitants of

the caliphate. With an efficient security system, the Masina caliphate was successfully able to

supply it’s inhabitants with both “the worldly and spiritual needs of its people.”10

In the later part of the nineteenth century, Al-haff Umar arose as a respected Islamic

scholar and teacher. After his pilgrimage to Mecca, Umar returned to west Africa forming a

new Tijaniyya brotherhood along the way. Under his regime, Umar attracted wide support for

his new brotherhood in the wake of the success of the Sokoto and Masina caliphates by way

of an increased excitement for the imminent end of the world. Umar’s regimes however, were

comparatively small so to make his regimes more effective, Umar imported guns and powder

which marked the first use of weaponry by a jihad reform army.11 Their goal as a jihad reform

was “a permanent conquest with subsequent colonisation.”12 With superior ammunition,

Umar’s armies were able to overtake the traditional armies of the Masina caliphate and settle
8
Ibid, 13.
9
Ibid, 13.
10
Ibid, 16-17.
11
Ibid, 19.
12
Ibid, 21.
as “the permanent rulers of the new caliphate.”13 Unfortunately however, in 1863 after just

one year of Umarian rule, the Masinanke organized a revolt to take back their empire,

defeating and killing Umar in 1864. The revolt took a tole on the caliphate, resulting in many

casualties on both sides and a destruction in the prosperity of the caliphate. This catastrophe

resulted in the “damage (of) the unity and practice of Islam.”14 After Umar’s death and the

resulting revolts fought between opposing jihads, the administration in the caliphate “did not

have the time to develop policies of social and political reform for the societies it

governed.”15

The rsie and revolt of jihads during the nineteenth century in west Africa marked a

transformative period that ultimately identified this area as part of the dar-al Islam. The goals

of the jihad were largely a reaction to the oppression of the Muslim people and their religion

during the eighteenth and nineteenth century. Jihad movements set out to establish new

societies that ran under Islamic Law authority and fostered religious freedom for Muslims.

The jihad efforts in forming the Sokoto and Masina caliphate were largely successful, but the

jihad movements of Umar and his regime, with superior weaponry and a division between

jihads, resulted in the downfall of the overall jihad movement. While the efforts to create new

societies was only relatively successful, the jihad reform movements were not all together

unsuccessful. They established an Islamic identity and fostered the expansion of Islamic

education across western Africa to create a heightened sense of belonging to the dar-al Islam

in this area.

13
Ibid, 21.
14
Robinson, David. Revolutions in the Western Sudan. 143.
15
Last, Murray. 1967. Reform in West Afirca: the Jihad movements of the
nineteenth century. 4.