Infaq’l-Maysuur

Easy Expenditure

20tafa4I searched out and began chronicling the elaborations of the tales of the extraordinary personages of these regions, which are pleasant for minds and intellects and the narrations that gratify the hearing of those who would listen.

I walked carefully under the leaves of these narratives realizing that no one before me had sauntered under its cool shade. I learned much from the light of these histories and fulfilled my desires in it, although I was obstructed by obligations, compressed time and heavy responsibilities.

Then it occurred to me after much seeking Allah’s direction to make endeavors towards the objective of recording this history so that Allah would benefit me by means of it and those among the Muslims who came across it.

I ask Allah for His assistance in writing it, revising it and arranging it and I ask for His success in completing it. He is the best of helpers. I have named it: Easy Expenditure Regarding the History of the Lands of Takruur.

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Introduction

25 thoughts on “Infaq’l-Maysuur

  1. Assalamualaikum, ya shiek in regards to this Book what simply shehu uthman contribute and developed Islamic institution in the northern Nigeria and Africa atlarg and nd finally how this Book explained Islam come to Africa and and the northern part of Nigeria?

  2. Assalamu Alaikum ya Sheikh. May Almighty Allah prolong your days for the completion of this great work and may it be beneficial to the entire Muslim Ummah.

  3. Assalamu Alaikum.

    Alhamdu lilLaah I can see the Infaq al-Maysur now on the collection site of the scholars! Ma Shaw Allah!

    Wassalaamu Alaikum was RahmatulLah

  4. As-Salamu alaikum dear Abu Alfa Umar. May Allah reward you for your extraordinary work. Please sir, I have a request to make. I would like to have the Arabic text of Infaq al-maythour. I talked about that book to a brother who doesn’t speak English and then I realized that there is no Arabic version of it here. Also, there are some important books of Uthman Dan Fodio that we don’t see here, namely “Bayanu Wujubul Hijrati alal’ibaad WA bayanu nasbul imami WA iqamatul jihadi”, “tamyeezul muslimeena minal kaffireena” and others. I am a Muslim from Niger, the birthplace of the Shehu.

  5. Jazakumul Lah khairan for educating us and nourishing our hearts with such knowledge. Keep it up.
    Meanwhile, I will like to have a detailed narration on the Battle of “Aluasa”, where many Fulani jihadis attained matrydom

  6. Assalaamu alaykum! I really appreciate your effort and courage. You have assisted lots of students with theis effort of yours. May Allaah SWT reward you in folds. However, انفاق الميسور as you have translated above is not complete. I implore that you assist with the remainder.

    • wa alaykum as salaam wa rahma. Yes you are correct, I do intend on completing the translation. I am presently working on about 24 works which include the completion of the Infaq al-Maysuur as well as the tarikh as-Sudan. I cannot give an exact date when they will be completed, but you have my promise that they will be completed.

      • Jazakumullahu khayran! I will be most glad if you can help me with translation of the chapter that talks on ما وقع بأرض بارنو. And the chapter that follows. I have examination on it by Saturday.
        May Allaah reward you in abundant.

      • May Allah Subhanahu Wata’ala Assist you with health, energy and resources to completed the rewarding task, aamiin!

  7. In chapter 1 he says Egypt and Abyssinia are sacred places. What does this mean? Did the people of Bilad es Sudan view Egypt and Abyssinia as sacred because of Islam or was it because of something else?

    • You read the passage incorrectly, The passage sates: “This name has pervaded all the lands of the Two Sacred Places, Egypt, and Abyssinia.” Remember commas are used to include things in a list; like when you say: “I saw Ahmad, Saalim and Hind.” This means that all three people are joined together in being the object of the verb, ‘to see’. So when the passage says that the name Takruur pervaded all the lands of the Two Sacred Places, Egypt and Abyssinia; means that in all three lands: the Hijaz (the Two Sacred Places), Egypt and Abyssinia. If I wanted to give the passage the meaning that you gave it then it would be wriiten like this: This name has pervaded all the lands of the Two Sacred Places: Egypt, and Abyssinia; here a semi-colon follows the Two Sacred Places and indicates that Egypt and Abyssinia are the two sacred places being spoken of. However, this is not the case. What seperates all three names is a comma which means they are all the lands in which this name Taruur became widespread.

  8. salaam sheikh, in chapter seven it is mentioned that the Hausa land was inhabited by the Sudanese, do they mean people coming from present day sudan?

    • wa alaykum as salaam wa rahma
      That is an excellent question. In fact, when I was first given the text by my teacher Shaykh Muhammad al-Amin ibn Adam back in 1985, that was the first question that came to my mind when I read that section. The problem with we westerners who have been raised in a hyper racist and color conscious environment, is that whenever we see black or white in the pre-colonial African context we immediately associate it with our westernized concepts of ‘Black people’/ ‘white people’. The concepts of ‘sudanese’ (black) and ‘baydaan’ (white) in the context of pre-colonial Islamic societies was completely different. Today, both the sudanese and baydaan would technically be considered ‘black’ or ‘African’ in our western view. In the African islamic view, the ‘sudanese’ were considered to be a select groups of ethnicities such as the Yoruba, the Hausa, the Kanembo, the Fur etc.
      while the ‘baydaan’ were considered to be the Arab, the Tuareg, the Soninke, the Fulbe` etc. You can see how all of these ethnic groups would today be considered ‘Black’ in western eyes. You also have to remember that the cognomen ‘Sudan’ was not technically given to a geographical location until after the Europeans conquered and colonized Africa. The French called the area that it conquered the French Soudan, while the British called the area south of Egypt that came under its sway the British Sudan. So we have to be careful when reading any pre-colonial African islamic text, not to apply colonial definitions to them. So no, the ‘sudanese’ referred to in the Infaq’l-Maysuur does not refer to the people from what became known during colonialism as the Sudan (Nilotic Sudan). The ‘sudanese’ in Sultan Bello’s views referred to the Hausa and Nupe ethicities as opposed to the ‘baydaan’ (Fulbe`, Tuareg, Soninke`, Zabermawa etc.) And Allah knows best.

      • Asalamualaykum, Ya Sheikh. Your explanation and analysis of the concept of the ahl asudan is quite detailed and lucid; the like of which I’ve never come across. Baarakallahu fika. Personally, I’ve since my formative years (till now) been strongly inclined to the scholarly and intellectual personas of Sheikhs Usman Dan-Fodio, Abdullahi Fodio, and Muhammad Bello bin Folio for their extraordinary scholarly contributions to the progress of their region – the Sudan.

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