A LETTER FROM SOKOTO

WHY SOKOTO: If the signs from the National Conference are anything to go by, the very item the Excellent Convener warned Distinguished Delegates to eschew – that is, the unravelling of the Nigerian State – may be the collateral damage at the end. Already, rumbles from ramblers indicate that many of us are unwanted – […]

WHY SOKOTO: If the signs from the National Conference are anything to go by, the very item the Excellent Convener warned Distinguished Delegates to eschew – that is, the unravelling of the Nigerian State – may be the collateral damage at the end. Already, rumbles from ramblers indicate that many of us are unwanted – from our A’uzu bilLah to our BismilLah. Add to that the bombshell from our Senior Cousin, the Lamido, alerting all that ‘we’ have somewhere to go should push come to shove. So, in case unravelling happens, we can retrace the route taken by our ancestors who came to the Shehu to study and become his flag-bearers (in my case, two ancestors) before the 1804 Jihad. Roots, and branches.
SULTANIC HOSPITALITY: Since my children celebrated their Qur’anic Graduation a few years ago (the event of which was celebrated on this page at the time), His Eminence the Sultan of Sokoto Alhaji Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar had extended an invitation to them to come visit the Seat of the Caliphate. This current visit is also in response to that royal invitation. And it was a right royal hospitality. The Sultan himself gave my children a historical lesson on the Jihad leaders, and also personally conducted a Palace Tour for the children.
SULTAN IN COUNCIL: We paid homage to the Sultan in Council. My children saw the various entourages who had come for one reason or the other, including a group of distinguished Christian clergymen. My children asked how that could be so, since the Sultan is only Sarkin Musulmi. And then followed a lesson on how, today, a Sultan and his like have become more than leaders of their own people alone, but of a greater amalgam of people of different beliefs. I introduced the children to a Reverend gentleman who explained to them that we are all one. (How I wish some Confab Delegates could hear that). And then we were ushered in, with the Sultan seated ceremoniously surrounded by his Councillors.
TURAKIN SOKOTO: It was a pleasant surprise for the children to see the Turakin Sokoto as one of the Councillors in the Sultan’s Council. His Excellency Alhaji Shehu Shagari, the first executive president of Nigeria of the Second Republic from 1979 to 1983, himself confirmed to the children that yes, it is him. The children were amazed – they thought that the former president is part of history that they only read in social studies books in school. The Sultan explained to them that the Turaki is part of history, and also fully part of current affairs.
HUBBAREN SHEHU: Assalaamu Alaikum ahla dari qaumim mu’minin…we recited when we visited the Hubbare, Shehu Danfodiyo’s resting place. It is a Thursday, and thousands of visitors have thronged the place; really now a marketplace. It has been so from the time the Shehu died almost two hundred years ago (in 1817); many of our Fulani ancestors (including this writer’s own great grandmother) would not even travel to Hajj or Umra until they had visited the Shehu’s Hubbare. But the focal attention of our visit was the less talked-about Jangirde Shehu, the round-shaped school where the Shehu taught his students.
HISTORY BUREAU: Any visit to Sokoto would be incomplete without spending a few hours at the Waziri Junaidu History and Culture Bureau, a combined library, museum and archive. My children and I were taken on an extensive tour; and what an education. The manuscripts of the Jihad leaders were there, so were some of the Flags given to many of the ancestors who made Islam so relevant in today’s Nigeria and West Africa and beyond. The Bureau, with the support of the Sultanate Council, has compiled many publications, and more are forthcoming.
OTHER ATTRACTIONS: My children, being Kano and Abuja kids, are used to the modern, but don’t know much of the traditional. So this tour was steeped in visits to the traditional, historical places. Therefore, we were at Masallacin Shehu (the mosque of the Shehu near the Hubbare); Masallacin Bello (the mosque of Amirul Mu’minin Muhammadu Bello, opposite the Sultan’s Palace); many of the City Gates of Sokoto (so that my children don’t go away with the impression that the Twelve Gates of Kano City are end-of-the-story).
ISLAM ‘NATIONAL’: For the first time in the history of Nigerian Islam, southern Muslims have largely now been successfully brought into the One National Ummah by the present Sultan. From the matter of religious observances such as the Fasting of Ramadan, to the rights of southern Muslims in their own states, many see a difference in the way Nigerian Islam is faring. (Of course, the current National Confab has left a sour taste in the mouth, and many a Nigerian Muslim feels that the Sultan and the Nigerian Supreme Council on Islamic Affairs have left the agitation for Muslims’ rights too late).
INTELLECTUAL HISTORY: The Sokoto Sultanate Council is now aggressively retracing its steps back to the intellectual roots of the Caliphate. Various publications (many of which have been reviewed on this page) are now being published. The latest, FROM MARATTA TO SOKOTO, is a 50-page book documenting the short history of the Caliphate from Maratta, where the Shehu was born, to present-day Sokoto, 210 years after the Jihad. It is pleasing to note that the present Sultan has surrounded himself with renowned intellectuals who assist him in such good works.
JNI@50: As part of this intellectual rebirth, the Jama’atu Nasril Islam (JNI), of which the Sultan is President-General, is tomorrow Sunday April 13, 2014, celebrating 50 years since its founding. To commemorate this epoch-making event, foremost scholar and one-time Nigerian ambassador to Saudi Arabia and former Vice Chancellor of Usmanu Danfodiyo University Professor Shehu Galadanci is giving a lecture on NIGERIAN MUSLIMS AND THE JNI: STRENGTHS, ACHIEVEMENTS, PROSPECTS AND CHALLENGES at JNI’s Kaduna Headquarters.
WHO NEXT: If your children do not know your village, now is the time. If they are in Dubai this holiday, and you do want to trace the contemporary history of Islam in Nigeria, bring them to Sokoto for immersion. I have just done so and, alhamdu lilLah, it was intellectually rewarding. This Sultan welcomes all.