Spread of Islam via Sokoto Caliphate - 608 Words

According to Sakkwatanci: A Caliphate is defined as an Islamic State governed by a Caliph or Sultan; where the Caliph exercises both political and religious powers as the states supreme head, he holds the title of AMIR AL-mumin (Commander of the Faithful) and in Hausa, SARKIN MUSULMI. Islam of itself follows the teachings of Muhammad, the prophet as he was both the religious head and political leader of the faithful. Currently known to the world today as Northern Nigeria the Sokoto Caliphate followed the Sufi traditions an Islamic sect—incorporating a very different method of prorogating the religion of the faithful and was successful for the greater part of the nineteenth century. Not since the first jihads during the time of Muhammad when the city of Medina sought an income by raiding the caravans of the Meccans had the jihad made such an impact on the growth of Islam. A jihad declared by Usman dan Fodio and initially directed by his kinsmen, Sokoto in Nigeria had such an ef fect in the spread of Muslim influence in Sub-Sahara Africa; whereas in the prior centuries Islam was proliferated without as much blood shed in the most northern reaches of the Sahara. Usman dan Fodio, a son of a Fulani teacher having studied with variety of shaykhs or teachers in the Arabic introduced a new system of ruling in what -became the Sokoto Caliphate—in direct rule. A novel idea having lasted until the British conquest and subsequent occupation in the early years of the twentieth century