HOT OFF THE SANKORE UNIVERSITY PRESS
THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE OF THE SOKOTO CALIPHATE
The Wathiqa Ila Ahl as-Sudan (The Letter to the People of the Black Lands) by Shehu Uthman Dan Fodio. This open letter was composed by Shehu Uthman ibn Fuduye` in 1221 A.H. (1806 C.E.), some three years after his hijra and being appointed as Amir ‘l-Mu’mineen in 1803. At the time the armies of the Jama`at of the Shehu had just conquered Birnin Kebbi, and had returned to Sabon Gari, where they established a military garrison (ribat). It was during their six months stay in Sabon Gari, that the Shehu appointed regional Amirs by giving each of them the distinctive green flag, which the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, informed the Shehu would be victorious for one-hundred years.
It was during this period, also, that the Shehu dispatched letters to the rulers of the seven Hausa states, calling them: to the religion of Islam; to make their religion sincere for Allah; to abandon all pagan customs which were contrary to the shari`a; and to assist him in the jihad to exalt the Word of Allah in the land. Thus, it was in this year of 1806, that the Shehu composed the Wathiqa Ila Ahl as-Sudan (A Letter To the People of the Black Lands). This dispatch from the Shehu was unique, because rather than being sent to an individual kingdom, it was sent to all the kingdoms and regions of the Bilad as-Sudan, because he was given authority as mujaddid over all the kingdoms of the Blacks.
This was confirmed by Waziri Uthman Gidadu ibn Muhammad Layma who said in his Rawd al-Janaan: “The Shehu was given three matters: [1] the ability to invite people to Allah; [2] the vicegerency of government (khilaafa); and [3] military struggle (jihad). Then an Angel stood and looked upon the east, the west, the north and the south and said: ‘Answer the caller to Allah!’ It was then said to the Shehu: ‘You have been appointed over the best of the lands of three classes: [1] the Fulani; [2] the Blacks; and [3] the Tuaregs’.”
It was because of this that the Shehu dispatched his Wathiqa to the all the regions of the western, central and eastern Bilad as-Sudan. It is for this reason, that I was able to find copies of the Wathiqa in Mali, Nigeria and the Republic of Sudan. Many academics, such as Dr Abdallah Hakim Quick, assert that the Wathiqa made it into the western hemisphere, via the enslaved African Muslim revolts of Bahia Brazil; and made it into Jamaica at the hands of some of those who were able to escape Portuguese retribution.
The Wathiqa was first translated into English in 1961 by A. D. H. Bivar on behalf of the Nigerian Department of Antiquities and published in the Journal of African History, II, 2, pp. 235-243. Bivar used a single manuscript from Nigeria, the same one that I have listed as manuscript C in this present work. Bivar was unable to precisely date the composition of the Wathiqa because the document he used had no date and he failed to consult any of the northern Nigerian traditional jurists regarding the text. However, Shaykh Muhammad al-Amin ibn Adam of Maiurno, Sudan and Waziri Junayd ibn Muhammad al-Bukhari of Sokoto, both placed the original composition of the text in the year 1806 after the Shehu and his Jama`at had defeated Birnin Kebbe and had settled in their military garrison in Sabon Gari.
The Shehu delineates in the Wathiqa the objectives and aims of his mission in the form of a ‘declaration of independence’, declaring a clean break from the seven Hausa kingdoms, and laying out his plan in establishing a government built upon the foundations of the shari`a. The Wathiqa was, thus, the declaration of independence of the Sokoto Caliphate, in which the Shehu lays out 40 decrees or declarations explaining what his objectives are in establishing a Dome of Islam in the central Bilad as-Sudan, and what is obligatory, prohibited and permissible in that. I have given explanation for each of the 40 resolutions in the endnotes, giving the legal evidence from the Qur’an, the Sunna, the consensus (ijma`a), and the writings of the revolutionaries of the Fodiyawa idealogues. I have named it: Haqiqat al-Bayaan Fee Wathiqat Ila Ahl as-Sudaan (Factual Explanation Regarding A Letter To the People of the Black Lands).
There is no doubt that the Wathiqa is a 19th century treatise on social reform (tajdid), which was widespread throughout the Muslim world at the time; markedly in the Arabian Peninsula, led by Muhammad ibn Abd’l-Wahaab. Many academics, mistakenly assume that the jihad led by Shehu Uthman ibn Fuduye` in the central Bilad as-Sudan was influenced by the revolt of Ibn Abd’l-Wahaab in Arabia. However, the Wathiqa demonstrates that there was a marked difference between the social reform movement of the Shehu and social upheavals led by Ibn Abd’l-Wahaab. I will highlight these differences in my commentary within the end notes, Allah willing.
Overall, the Wathiqa of Shehu Uthman ibn Fuduye` is an embodiment of the methodology of social reform (tajdid) he implemented from 1772 until the time of the writing of the Wathiqa, in 1806. The tajdid of the Shehu began with preaching and writing (qawl wa qalim) exemplified in the Islamic social and civic responsibility of commanding the good and forbidding evil (amr bi’l-ma`aruuf wa nahy `an’l-munkar); and it ended with the sword and the spear (sayf wa harba) in establishing the most formidable and successful Islamic Caliphate in the history of Africa.
Shaykh Muhammad Shareef bin Farid
Thursday, the 19th of Shawwal, 1446 A.H.
(April, 16, 2025 C.E.)
Bamako, Mali