Literary gold: Two letters from 19th Century Sokoto

Gada is also the community where most of the flags of the Jihad were given out by Muhammadu Bello. According to a work titled The Shehu’s Movements, Dembo Hawal had been a companion of Shehu Usman Dan Fodio. He had also been one of the latters students, was a Saint and had married Hafsatu, a […]

Gada is also the community where most of the flags of the Jihad were given out by Muhammadu Bello. According to a work titled The Shehu’s Movements, Dembo Hawal had been a companion of Shehu Usman Dan Fodio. He had also been one of the latters students, was a Saint and had married Hafsatu, a daughter of the Shehu. We visit the tombs of Malam Dembo Hawal, and  that of his son, Abdulsalami which are nearby. The letters are enclosed in a hard bound book, and have been so preserved for close to two centuries. The love and devotion shown by the gentleman who bears these extant sources of history, is impressive. He walks  as though carrying gold, literary gold in this case. When he put the letters gently down on the mat which had earlier been spread, it was as though he had just put a favourite child to rest. You can see the love  for the letters, deep in the eyes of the many descendants of Dembo Hawal,who form a protective ring around us as the interview progresses. The letters themselves are written on small bits of paper, one  page each, and bear the seal of the Sultan of Sokoto. Letters today, when  they are written, are done on large sheets of paper, and do not seem to carry the lovely poetry of those fascinating times. Sanusi Gusau, Director, Monuments of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, Gusau is my guide. He had earlier been shown the letters while working for the M.A History programme at the Usman Dan Fodio University, Sokoto. So, together we journeyed down to Gada, one hot afternoon to view the letters, which  were translated by Aliyu Rufai, and two others, into English.
The first letter is written by Sultan Muhammadu Bello who ruled  from 1817-1837, and is addressed to Abdulsalami of Gada. With the passing of Dembo Hawal, the leadership at Sokoto began to correspond with Abdulsalami. The letter begins with a salutation commonly used in those times ‘To Abdulsalami, Greetings in trust and respect.’ Then  there is the use of coded language which is typical of a  time of  war. The Sultan writes ‘We have started another campaign after coming back from the other campaign which was the reason for our delay. “Another  campaign’,’ the other campaign’ only  suggest, but do not reveal much information. It seems to be a strategy used by the leaders of the Caliphate, so  that if the letter fell into the wrong hands, such would not mean much to the one now in possession of it, so says Sanusi Gusau. The suspense is also continued in a subsequent line which holds ‘After ‘he’ came back,’ he then marched to Bakura and Anka on the seventh of Rabi’ul Awwal.’ Who is ‘he’ mentioned here? These letters  will certainly interest scholars and historians. They give out little, but  interestingly, reveal much through the special use of language. From the letter the reader sees how  communities were encouraged to  contribute  resources to support the Jihad campaigns in the 19th century. They are also encouraged to ‘get ready for the forthcoming campaign’. Again, the element of the  vague returns. This is also captured in the reference to ‘him’ in the following line ‘You should put all effort  in meeting him at this appointed place.’ Who is ‘him’ referred to in this context? Even the threat of punishment also has a hint of the vague. This is seen where Sultan Bello writes ‘You know what was meted out to those  that failed to attend the previous battle.’ The letter ends with a prayer ‘On Allah we depend and from Him do we seek assistance ‘.
Later, Sultan Aliyu Babba (who ruled from 1842-1859) wrote to Abdulsalami. This letter begins with a salutation similar to the one made in the letter above.  It states ‘To  Abdulsalami, Greetings and a wish for prosperity.’ Then  follows a warning ‘such a person should beware of people’s property and their ‘farmlands’, unless it is given to him out of free will’. The  leaders of the Caliphate were interested in respecting the property of an individual, and also in determining under what conditions such could become the possession of another. After this point the cautious use of language returns, where he writes ‘We wish to inform you that it was the issue of Kabbi that prevented us from sending our support to you in the first year of the Hijra; we entertain no fear of them’. What is the ‘issue’ raised here? Then the letter ends on a promise ‘From now on, wherever anyone raises  war against you, we  will come to your aid with all our armies’.
One who has an idea of the themes in the letters of either Sultan, will be able to answer some of the questions raised here, in order to understand the full significance of the letters. He will also be able to put the letters in proper context and chronology. Sanusi Gusau speaks on the significance of the letters ‘The letters show that the Jihadists used to plan before the advent of any war. They were organised and used to contact other Jihad leaders in  various  locations, by corresponding with them. There was clearly a system of strategic planning, and a good network of communication between the various jihad leaders. The caliphate did not have a standing army and had to mobilize troops from various jihad leaders when the time for battle drew close.’ According to Sanusi Gusau, there was also a natural tendency for the Jihad leaders to conceal information in the correspondence, such that ‘only the person written to will be able to decipher the letters’. He thinks the letter written by Sultan Muhammadu Bello might have been written sometime towards the end of his reign as Sultan. The  lack of information on the precise date when Malam Dembo passed on complicates matters a bit, he adds.
The  Dembo family of Gada still have  other letters  which can shed light on conditions in Hausaland in the 19th century. These were  also seen by this writer during his visit. The family say that a fire incident which occurred some fifty years ago destroyed some letters that were once in their possession. According to them ‘A fire occurred more than fifty years ago, and most of the books and letters dating from the time of Malam Dembo, were burnt.’ They add that they have a traditional method of preserving letters, and are not willing to give up their  valuable letters to any foundation or library. The  letters are a priceless family heirloom which they have successfully kept for almost 200 years, they boast with loud laughter. They then add  that they will allow a visitor to make photocopies of the letters, but will not release the originals to anyone.