Jihād in West Africa during the Age of Revolutions. Paul E. Lovejoy
to assassinate dan Fodio. In December 1803 Gobir forces attacked and occupied Gimbana, a settlement under ʿAbd al-Salām, one of dan Fodio’s foremost supporters. The Shehu, as dan Fodio was known, who lived at Degel, intervened and released the prisoners, effectively defying the Gobir government and committing an outright act of treason. On 21 February 1804 dan Fodio withdrew from Degel and moved to Gudu (Sokwai) near Kwonni, across the border and therefore technically outside Gobir.6 The Muslims considered this migration the hijra that preceded jihād, following the pattern of the Prophet Muhammad’s original jihād. Sarkin Yunfa sent emissaries requesting that the Shehu return, but negotiations broke down, and fighting began at Matan-kare on 21 June 1804. The Shehu’s forces won a major victory against Yunfa at Tabkin Kwoto, after which the Shehu moved to Magabci, and shortly thereafter war spread to the other Hausa states.
The expanding conflict pitted the established governments of the Hausa states against dan Fodio’s community and his sympathizers among Muslims throughout the region. Moreover, dan Fodio was able to gain the support of the major clan leaders of the Fulbe pastoralists on the basis of ethnic solidarity that appealed to dissatisfaction of the Fulbe with government taxation and regulation. Without this support, dan Fodio could not have sustained a military campaign. Dan Fodio formally pursued jihād, issuing flags (tata) to key supporters who were charged with undertaking the struggle against the ruling authorities. For example, Moyijo, leader of the Kebbi Fulani, and Muhammad Namoda, leader of the Zamfara Fulani, played major roles in a series of battles in the Sokoto area of the Sokoto, Rima, Kebbi, and Zamfara River valleys, including Matanakari (1804), Tabkin Kwatto (1804), Birnin Konni (1804), Tsuntsuwa (1804), Silame (1805), Kanoma (1805), Birnin Kebbi (1805), Gwandu (1805), Alwassa (1805), Yandoto (1806), Kamba (1806), Fafara (1806), Alkalawa (1808), Tanda (1809), and Illo (1811).7 Birnin Kebbi fell on 13 April 1805, thereby toppling the first of the major Hausa governments, while the capital of Gobir, Alkalawa, was taken on 3 October 1808, and the city was destroyed. The defeated Hausa of Gobir regrouped first under the leadership of Salihu, then Gumki, and finally ʿAlī (1817–35) and continued the struggle against the jihād. The Gobirawa, as people from Gobir are referred to in Hausa, eventually settled at Tsibiri after joining the defeated government of Katsina, thus establishing a pocket of resistance on the northern region of Gobir and Katsina. Nonetheless, the jihād spread northward into the region of Adar and secured the support of the main Tuareg confederations of nomads, particularly the Kel Gress, Kel Ewey, and Itisen, and thereby established hegemony over the region as far as Agadez in the Air Massif.8 Similarly, the jihād spread eastward to the other Hausa city-states that were tributary to Borno, including Katsina, Daura, Kano, and Zazzau (Zaria).
At the time, the ruler of Kano was Sarkin Kano Alwali, who ineffectively tried to contain the movement but miscalculated the ability of Kano troops to isolate the various Fulbe communities and the clan leaders who controlled considerable resources, particularly horses.9 The jihād community very early gained control of Rano, Karaye, Bebeji, Tofa, Aujara, Jahun, Dambarta, and Sankara. Similarly, the Fulbe clans who were settled in western and southern Kano, notably the Jobawa at Utai near Wudil under Malam Bakatsine and his brother Malam Saʿīdu, joined the jihād. In the southwest the Fulbe joined the uprising. The Suleibawa clan, the strongest and most numerous Fulbe faction, was centered at Kiru under Malam Jamau, who was able to control the territory from Kiru to Recifa and Kwassallo in northeastern Zazzau. The Danejawa were centered around Zuwa under Yusufu, also known as Malam dan Zabuwa. Bebeji, due east of Kiru, was under Sarkin Fulani Bebeji. The Ba’awa, whose Yolawa segment was considered the most senior of all the Fulbe clans, were further north under Malam ʿAbdurraḥmān Goshi and Malam Jibir. Due north of Kano at Matsidau and Shiddar were the Dambazawa under Muhammadu Dabo Dambazau. The Yerimawa clan under Malam Mayaki dan Tunku was at Dambarta. Taken together, these clans were strategically located near all the main walled towns in the densely populated countryside of the region around Kano City. In Kano City itself several clerical lineages, including the Modibawa or Mundubawa under Suleimanu and the Gyenawa under Malam Dikoyi and Zarawa, were loyal to Shehu dan Fodio. Besides the strong Fulbe support for the jihād, there were also key Hausa supporters, including those under Malam Usuman. One of the leading Hausa judges (alkali), Yusufu, who was at Kura, the important dyeing center south of Kano, was another of the leading judges. Alkali Yusufu headed a Hausa faction known as Kunjiya.
The battle at Dan Yaya in early 1807 was a crippling defeat for Sarkin Kano Alwali’s forces. Alwali’s attempt to confront the Fulbe clans failed, although even then the jihād was far from victorious. Another battle at Burumburum in southern Kano also resulted in defeat for the Kano government. Alwali was forced to flee north toward Damagaram, where he joined the defeated rulers of Katsina and Daura, Sarkin Katsina dan Kasawa and Sarkin Daura Abdu. Even after Alwali’s flight, large areas of Kano still were not under the effective control of the jihād armies, including the towns of Rano, Dutse, and Birnin Kudu, the districts of Gezawa, Gabazawa, Girke, Babura, Dambarta, and Kumbotso, and the area around Kura. Finally, in April–May 1807, the jihād forces occupied Kano City, and in 1808 Sarkin Kano Alwali died at Burumburum. Sulaymān became the first emir of Kano, succeeded in 1819 by Ibrāhīm Dabo, both of whom were leading Fulbe clan leaders.
In Katsina the jihād movement erupted under Sarkin Katsina Bawa dan Gima, who had succeeded Sarkin Katsina Gozo (1795–1801) upon the latter’s assassination in 1801.10 Bawa was particularly hostile to the jihād movement. After the Shehu’s victory at Tabkin Kwatto in 1804, Sarkin Katsina Bawa openly rejected the Shehu’s appeal for reforms and aggressively sought out the Shehu’s supporters who had joined the movement. Bawa ordered attacks on the jihād supporters in Katsina, particularly targeting Malam Muhammadu na Alhaji, who had been with the Shehu at Kirari. Bawa’s death in 1805 brought Maremawa Muhammadu Tsagarana to the Katsina throne, who continued the active campaign to crush the jihād. In March 1805 Malam Muhammadu na Alhaji, who had been with the Shehu, moved back to Katsina territory to lead the jihād there. Malam ʿUmar Dallaji, who would become the first Fulbe emir of Katsina, joined the jama’a (the Muslim community) at Yantumaki in October 1805. Sarkin Katsina Maremawa Muhammadu and Sarkin Daura Abdu led expeditions into Kano in the dry season of 1805–6 to help confront the jihād there, but their forces were defeated by dan Tunku at Dawakin Girma near the Katsina border. As should be clear, the jihād was fought during the long dry season each year because of the difficulties of travel during the rainy season, when rivers were often swollen and extensive flooding occurred in many places.
In the dry season of 1806–7 the three Katsina leaders were Malam Muhammadu na Alhaji, who died in 1807, ʿUmaru Dumyawa, and ʿUmar Dallaji. Together they launched a campaign against Yandoto, located in southern Katsina between Kano and Zamfara and at the time the leading center of opposition among Muslims. Yandoto had long been a center of Islamic learning in the Hausa states, and the opposition of its ʿulamāʾ (Muslim scholars) had been a serious problem in expanding support for the jihād. Its fall set the stage for the next phase in Katsina, when jihād forces from Zamfara and Kano came to Katsina to assist in defeating the reigning Katsina dynasty in the battle of Dankama, where the Sarkin Katsina was killed. By February–March 1808 ‘Umar Dallaji had moved into Katsina as emir. Nonetheless, the jihād was far from over in Katsina territory; Maska and Gozaki in southern Katsina were subdued only in 1809–10.11
After the protracted siege of Katsina City in 1807, the defeated sarki, Magajin Halidu, fled to Tsirkau in Daura, where he is said to have committed suicide. The new ruler was dan Kasawa, son of a former sarki, who led the Katsinawa north to Damagaram, where they met the defeated ruler of Daura, Abdu. Dan Kasawa spent two years in Zinder but then moved to Gafai, near the boundary between Damagaram and Katsina, where he remained for the next eight to ten years. While dan Kasawa was at Gafai, many Katsina Hausa joined him, although there is no evidence of counterattacks against Katsina during this period. At this time Maradi was the northern province of Katsina, under a Fulani official. Its territory stretched from Tsibiri to Damagaram, north of Fulani-controlled Daura.12 About 1821 dan Kasawa staged a revolt in Maradi with considerable local support and took not only Maradi but also Garabi, Maraka, Ruma, and Zandam, thus freeing a large section of northwestern Katsina from jihād rule. Dan Kasawa received help from Gobir, Daura, and some Tuareg. When he died in 1831, the independence of Maradi had been secured. In 1835 Muhammad Bello inflicted