Research Catalog

Title

The Sword of truth : the life and times of the Shehu Usuman dan Fodio / Mervyn Hiskett.

Author

Hiskett, M.

Publication

Evanston, Ill. : Northwestern University Press, 1994.

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Holdings

Details

Description

xxxvi, 194 pages : illustrations, maps; 23 cm.

Series Statement

Islam and society in Africa

Uniform Title

Series in Islam and society in Africa.

Subjects

• Usuman dan Fodio, 1754-1817
• Fulani Empire

Note

• Originally published: New York : Oxford University Press, 1973. With new pref.

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references and index.

Contents

• Arabic Sources -- List of Hausa Poems -- I. Introduction. The Early History of Hausaland. The Establishment of Islam in Hausaland. The Beginnings of the Islamic Reform Movement. The Fulani Caliphate of Sokoto. The British Conquest of Hausaland -- II. The Years of Preparation. The Shehu's Early Life and Domestic Environment. The Community at Worship. The Shehu as a Young Man in Degel. Education and Intellectual Life among the Muslim Fulani: The Schools. The Curriculum. The Teachers -- III. Preacher and Missionary. The Early Period of Itinerant Missionary Work. Increasing Involvement in the Politics of the Gobir Court. The Nature and Purpose of His Preaching. The Preacher -- IV. The Sword of Truth. Sufism in the Western Sudan. The Sufi Allegiance of the Muslim Fulani. The Sufi Revival of the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries. The Shehu's Personal Mystical Experiences -- V. Prelude to War. The Gimbana Affair. The Act of Allegiance at Gudu. Popular Support for the Shehu. The Undercurrent of Islam.
• Slavery. The Conflict of Interest between Nomads and Peasants -- VI. Holy War in the Way of God. The Terrain of the Campaigns. The Two Armies. The Battle of Tabkin Kwotto to the Battle of Alwassa, November 1805. December 1805 to the Fall of Alkalawa, September 1808. 1809-12: The Founding of the Fulani Empire. Reasons for the Muslims' Success. The Shehu's Hijra and His Personal Contribution to the Holy War -- VII. The Aftermath. The Failure of Ideals. The Muslim Rebels. The Bornu Correspondence. The Sifawa Period. The Division of Authority and the Succession. 'Abdullah b. Muhammad and Muhammad Bello -- VIII. Theologian and Dogmatist. His Intellectual Assumptions. Some Important Theological Works. The Debt to al-Maghili. The Doctrine of the Renewer of the Faith. The Status of Sinners and the Nature of Unbelief. Religious Ignorance, Charlatanism, and Venality. The Relation of the Reform Movement to Wahhabism -- IX. Founder of the State and Lawgiver. The Model.
• The Reformers' Constitutional Theory and Practice. The Moral Basis of the Constitution -- X. Epilogue. "Canonization" and the Miracle Tradition. The Extent of the Reformers' Achievement. The Intellectual Consequences of the Reform Movement. The Conflict Between Islamic Teaching and African Ideas of Life and Death. The Continuing Role of Sufism. The Legacy of Islamic Conservatism. Islam in the Recent History of Nigeria -- A Selected Bibliography. A. Islam, General Background. B. West Africa -- Appendix I: A Short Bibliographical Essay -- Appendix II: Explanatory Notes to Maps.

ISBN

0810111152 (pbk. : alk. paper) :

LCCN

93050530

OCLC

• 29702620
• ocm29702620

Owning Institutions

Columbia University Libraries