[Music] Sheikh Usman danfodio who was born in the mid 18th century in the northern area of modern day Nigeria is perhaps the most influential West African scholar in Islamic history he was a scholar a saint a warrior and a muj one who renews Islam who in early 19th century Northern Nigeria established a vast Empire known as the sokuto caliphate like the prophet the Sheikh known in Nigeria as sheu was inspired with a Divine mission to reform the religious practices of his Society preach tirelessly for years was forced into exile for his message and finally a military struggle as a Young Man Dan fodo was distressed by The Lax practice of Islam in early modern housel land a region today divided between Nigeria and Niger and even the persecution Muslims faced Muslims were forbidden from dressing according to the dictates of their faith and conversion to Islam made a crime the king of the fractious cities of houseland levied agonizing taxes on their subjects and brutalize their population in ways still recounted by Nigerians today Dan fodo preached reform a return to the true and full practice of Islam for nearly 30 years beginning while he was only a student his message attracted a popular following and concern from the house of Kings in 1804 the dam broke the king of Gober yunfa attempted to assassinate Dan fodo with a flint loock pistol which miraculously backfired on his own hand Dan fodo and his followers fled the cities persecuted by an alliance of rulers determined to put down the Islamic Revival Against All Odds Dan pho's mass movement of House of peasants dissident Islamic scholars and fani Muslim Nomads who had long suffered under the reigning system but their new base in the city of sooko fought a series of pitched battles against the combined armies of Gober Kano and Cina and finally triumphed over them all building the largest state the region had ever seen seen Usman was born at marata a town in the house estate of Gober in 29 safur 1168 ah Sunday 15 December 1754 his father Muhammad fodo was a well-known scholar of his time in Gober a descendant of the tan Kawa fani an ey to a long Islamic tradition of learning he learned the Quran at the feet of his father very early and proceeded to study Elementary F in Arabic language he then proceeded this time under Scholars renowned in their respective Fields many of whom turn out to be his uncles to undertake advanced studies where the curriculum is heavy and the influence of the teacher is great here he studied tap Hadith s Arabic language Tas mathematics and astronomy he received a thorough grounding in these fields and before he was 20 he had already written his first work and his mother tongue reflecting not only the early intellectual maturity but also a propensity for literary output as he was growing up one thing appeared to have taken man's attention the level of ignorance of The Wider Society especially among the women and the pervasion of Innovations B and widespread syncratic practices he was deeply worried about the violations of the Sharia the neglect of the Sunnah and the plight of his society as it came increasingly under the tyranny of ever unjust monarchs the more he read the more he seemed to find the state of Affairs unacceptable the situation was not for want of teachers indeed there were many but the teachers had kept themselves in their Ivory Towers making their knowledge available only to the few who cared to come to the neglect of even their own families there were teachers who instead of correcting the ordinary people were in fact making fortunes out of their ignorance collecting their wealth under several pretext and condoning violations of the Shar and often conniving with rulers to perpetuate all manners of injustices so by the time he was through with formal studies and became a man of his own he had already decided to devote his time to educating the public the basics of the religion he started giving public lectures sermons in and around his hometown he was soon to be joined by his brother brother Abdullah 12 years his Junior and much later his son Muhammad Bell he received an immediate response among many not only in his hometown but beyond Abdullahi became a urite scholar has captured this initial start in one of his many works then we rose up with a Sheikh helping him in his mission work for religion he traveled for that purpose to the East and to the West calling the people to the religion of God by his preaching and his Casas in other languages and destroying Customs contrary to Muslim law as people started crowding around this young and rather daring scholar soon Usman found himself at the head of a circle of young people sharing some revolutionary ideas this unknown to them all was the nucleus of a movement that was to transform House of land for good having taken off the movement went through four distinct phases the phase of teaching and public dawa the phase of planning and organization the phase of Hijra and warfare and the post- fighting phase during which the caliphate was established the response shikhman received to his public preaching must have encouraged him to continue and expanded Beyond his hometown to other parts of his state of Gober he soon found it necessary to go beyond his own state to the neighboring states starting from Zamara where he spent some 5 years for as he said he discovered several pockets of people who had not in fact accepted Islam Yetman was to remain for some 19 years years as an itinerant scholar always on the Move wherever he went he stayed long enough to establish a community and always left behind some of his students and disciples to continue his job in line with his immediate objective of educating The Wider public most of she man's preaching focused on the basic issues of proper understanding ofed correct performance of the routine acts of worship Islamic standards of behavior and emphasis on the Sunnah as opposed to the B which due largely to the prevailing ignorance had infested numerous acts of worship and behavior he also explained the general meaning of the Shar and encouraged his audience to appreciate the need for commanding the right and forbidding the wrong but since a substantial part of his audience were not literate shman also composed poems in local languages carrying essentially the same messages in simpler but poetic form and therefore easy to understand and remember apt in their expressions passionate in their appeal melodious in their tune these poems took House of society by the storm pervading the streets Market places and farms and invading homes schools and courts they soon Rose to the top of the chart of the time and remained at the top for decades replacing the Vain and vulgar songs that had formed a significant part of the House of fani Jah to the men when at work and to the women while in their kitchens these poems seem to evoke Tempo and vitality they eventually he became the ordinary men and women what books were to students and Scholars the favorable Mass response of the public to the message of the Sheikh naturally sent shivers down the spines of both the as well as the rulers of houseand who realized that their respective positions were at stake the stepped up their criticism of the Sheikh and did everything to undermine his mission first they question the validity of the central pillar of his mission arguing that in their circumstances it was neither desirable nor possible in one of his responses the she retorted I was told by one of the brothers that he heard one of them say forbidding evil in a Land of evil is the real evil and for this reason they don't chide each other for committing evil I take refuge with Allah the exalted this is one of the characteristics of the Jews the then defended the numerous unlam Customs the Sheikh had been attacking suggesting that after all the custom of a land is itself like Sunnah the sheh argued that this is falsehood and confusion according to the consensus of opinion because a custom should not be tolerated if it contradicts the Sunnah rather expectedly the made a lot of fuss on the issue of womenman did not stop women from attending his preaching sessions he in fact encourag them from the onset of his Endeavor sheikhan appeared to have been moved by the plight of women in housand particularly the way they were denied basic education and exploited by Society he made this very clear in his criticism of the as he observed in one of his many works on the subject what many scholars of the Sudan to do their wives their daughters and their slaves they leave them neglected like cattle without instructing them and what is obligatory upon them in connection with their Creed their ritual ablution their fasting of Ramadan nor do they instruct them on what is permissible for them like buying selling and similar things indeed they regard them as nothing but a pot which they use and when it breaks to Pieces they throw away one wonders at this their custom of leaving their wives and daughters in the darkness of ignorance while at the same time they teach their students every morning and evening indeed the only motive in teaching their students is self aggrandisement and nothing else turning to the women themselves the sheh encouraged them to seek for education and openly called them to rebel against what today can be called male chauvinism oh Muslim women the sheh calls do not listen to the words of those misguided men who tell you about the duty of obedience to your husband but they do not tell you anything about the obedience to God and His Messenger as for the attack that he encourage the free mixing of men and women not only did he teach the women proper Islamic dressing and how to conduct themselves decently in public he questioned the sincerity of all those making the accusation in the first place saying people see their women attending illegally marriage ceremonies they also see them dancing and singing and intermixing with men moreover they observe them going for Eid ceremonies in their full makeup but when they see them going out in pursuit of learning they say this is reprehensible consequently man danfodio established the sooko caliphate due to his vision for Islamic reform and his discontent with what he discerned as a Corruption of Islamic values from the house she's primary motivation was rooted in religious and sociopolitical concerns his emphasis on a pure interpretation of Islam sought to implement Islamic governance based on the principles outlined in the Quran and Hadith that would address these socioeconomic problems that harmed Society in 1804 man danfodio led a a successful resistance struggle against the house of rulers in Northern Nigeria the establishment of the sooko caliphate was a means to create a society that adhered to a just Islamic Society the caliphate aimed and succeeded in promoting Islamic education and providing a more Equitable and morally upright governance structure man Dano's efforts resulted in the consolidation of various House of State under a unified leadership marking the beginning of the sooko caliphate which endured throughout the 19th century one of the primary goals of the sokur caliphate was Community welfare in which all community members could have access to land through public use the antagonistic States became unified and practices such as unfair taxation authoritative positions primarily based upon hereditary power transfers and hoarding of wealth became expressly prohibited man Dano's call for justice was rooted in a deep commitment to the principles outlined in Islam he emphasized the importance of upholding fairness equity and moral probity in governance his vision for justice extended Beyond legal Islamic matters to Encompass social and economic aspects seeking to create a society where individuals rights were protected and oppression and Corruption were eradicated here then is the story of a young man who refused to accept the conditions of decadence into which he was born at a very early stage in his life he resolved to change it he rose along with his team despite all the huddles and pitfalls along the way face the challenge until he developed a movement of men and women with a miss to spread knowledge and restore the Islamic order once the movement had evolved even he did not seem to have a choice but to proceed this they did it led to physical confrontations which given the choice he would have wished to avoid the movement eventually succeeded leaving behind for us a Heritage to discover and drive inspiration from as we Face the challenges of our own times we have any such Heritage in the Muslim world to discover and many models to draw inspiration from but perhaps the greatest challenge to face is the challenge of knowledge the knowledge of our own past the knowledge of The Message of Islam itself and the wisdom to know how best to utilize it in a world which has become so complex and in which the struggle between virtue and vice has become far more sophisticated ated and subtle this proud tradition treasured by Nigeria's Muslims then and now is what she Dan fodo sought to protect and extend in the 19th century his vision of Revival and reform was consciously inspired by the great Muslims of his country's past and the example of the Prophet Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wasallam for whom no closer model exists in the hearts of Nigerian Muslims than Dan foru himself