critique of UTHMAN DAN FODIO Jihad of 1804

 Stemming from the causes of the Jihad, its organization and the trends that obtained immediately after the 1804 Fulani Jihad, one would begin to question the very motive of the movement against what it considered as ills or religious impiety in the Hausa societies during our period. As a matter of fact, the 1804 Fulani Jihad has been subjected to numerous critical evaluations by different historians, each coming out with his different position on the motive behind the declaration of the Jihad. Actually, one would not be entirely wrong to posit that the 1804 Uthman Dan Fodio Jihad was simply an attempt to overthrow the Habe rulers in Hausaland. However, such a claim, if not properly backed with convincing facts and argument, would be tantamount to what  I would personally describe as a mere allegation of purpose. In the light of this, a very careful and profound assessment is required before one could safely take a position as regard whether the Jihad was cheaply a political movement as against it puritanical urge.
    Basically, the motive or idea behind the prosecution of the Jihad against the Sarauta kings in 1804 has remained an issue of serious debate among scholars and students alike. It is almost incontestable that the original motive of Uthman Dan Fodio and his lieutenants was primarily religious as the Jihad was designed to be a wholesome effort at healing Hausaland of its accretion, establish a caliphate as an over-arching structure of emirates ruled by God-fearing kings who would administer it with justice and fairness, and in strict accordance with the model laid down at the time of the great prophet Mohammed.
    Notwithstanding, this pious Islamic drive was not enough t offer explanation for the declaration of the Jihad. Indeed, political and economic considerations were influential factors in the Jihad. This was obvious in the mass involvement of Fulani who kept solidarity with their cousins probably for the major reason of upturning the status quo. The minority Fulani had remained aliens in their various places of settlement across Hausaland, with few exceptions, thus making them lose opportunity for direct, effective participation n government. Arising from this was a state of political isolation, which also led to economic neglect and injustice. This continually brought an easy platform and robust ground for Fulani solidarity against the Habe rulers.
    It is pertinent to note that prior to the jihad, there had been instances of sporadic ill-organized clashes between the Hausa hosts and their Fulani guests particularly over grazing land and even power configuration. The tax regime has also been religiously and economically castigated by both Fulani Islamic scholars and merchants. It would not be too incorrect to say that the Fulani in Hausaland in the 19th century were grossly exploited, politically and economically marginalized. Nonetheless, even many Hausas suffered equal fate as the Fulani.
    The enthusiasm displayed by the Fulani to the declaration of the Jihad on Hausa rulers gave the movement away as a struggle for the political; and economic libration of the Fulani. This was more so as some of them were not particularly pious Muslims. But, they merely grabbed the opportunity offered by the Jihad to achieve some political and economic aims. Accordingly, the readied solidarity between the Fulani Gida and their Bororoje cousins, who already understood their ethnic identity before the Jihad, goes a long way to portray the Jihad as  merely an ethnic conspiracy to seek political and economic relevance, or better still, to upturn the status quo. Both the Fulani Gida and Fulani Bororoje who were Muslims and non Muslims respectively maintained contact over a long distance, interestingly, they fought on the same side in the Jihad.
    Thus, the Fulani saw in the Jihad an ample opportunity to once and for all remove the yoke of economic burden, which by their assessment, the Habe rulership implied.
    In the same vein, the entrenchment of Fulani on virtually all the leadership positions after the success of the Jihad helps to garnish the assertion that it was merely a conspiracy to overthrow the Sarauta system, in other words, to establish themselves as the majority. For a logical question as to the reason Hausa Islamic scholars found no leadership position in the organization of the Caliphate becomes a perpetual mind blogging question. Obviously, the Jihad installed Fulani leaders in virtually every emirate across Hausaland as against what obtained in the pre-Jihad period.
    However, fundamentally, we are not saying that the Jihad was wholly a conspiracy for political gains or to overthrow the Sarauta system, but that as much as it served a religious purpose, it saw the drastic change of power configuration in Hausaland in such a way that we can refer to as overtaking of power from the Habe rulers by the Fulani. For instance, the early leaders of the Jihad were driven by the much needed reform of Islam; the movement later lost it essence as there was a shift from just reform to pursuit of political gains, economic improvement, ethnic solidarity and sundry consideration. Or how can we explain the fact that 80 per cent or more of those who collected flags from Uthman Dan Fodio were Fulani?
    By any standard of Islamic measurement, the Fulani Bororoje were not pious. How then could even that stock claim to revive the lost glory of Islam and reform the practice of the religion in Hausaland? Obviously, their involvement was beyond religion, but ethnic, political and economic.
    Finally, having attempted to analyze the motive behind the declaration and prosecution of the Fulani Jihad of 1804 – maybe a conspiracy or not, it is most logical to safely conclude that the primary motive or idea behind the declaration of the 1804 Jihad was basically religious. However, other factors could have crept in and other considerations could have surfaced. Actually, the Fulani may have carried out the Jihad for a reason more than religion, maybe ethnic projection. In the case of the Fulani Bororoje, the idea projected in the last sentence no doubt glorified their solidarity and participation. One would even be safe as well to say that though the primary motive behind the declaration of the Jihad was religion, but numerous factors contributed to its success. And although a large geo-polity came into existence after the success of the Jihad and Islam was better practised the post Jihad political and economic configuration in Hausaland make the assertion of conspiracy worthy of an intellectual consideration.