Ahmadu Atiku

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Ahmad Atiku
أحمد عتيكو
Sultan of Sokoto
Ahmad Atiku 02.png
Reign1859 - 1866
PredecessorAli Babba bin Bello
Successor
Born1807 (1807)
Died1866 (1867)
Sokoto

Ahmadu Atiku (Arabic: أحمد عتيكو) (c. 1807–1866) also known as Ahmadu Zarruku was Sultan of Sokoto from 1859 to 1866. Prior to becoming Sultan, he was head of the Abu Bakr Atiku branch of Uthman Dan Fodio's family and held the title of Sarkin Zamfara with responsibilities for Sokoto town and south-east Sokoto.[1] Atiku established the military settlement (ribat) at Chimmola which was across the valley from the town of Wurno and which he used as the seat of government.

The Sokoto Caliphate leaders are partly Arabs and partly Fulani as stated by Abdullahi dan Fodio, brother of Usman dan Fodio who claimed that their family are part Fulani, and part Arabs, they claimed to descent from the Arabs through Uqba ibn Nafi who was an Arab Muslim of the Umayyad branch of the Quraysh, and hence, a member of the family of the Prophet, Uqba ibn Nafi allegedly married a Fulani woman called Bajjumangbu through which the Torodbe family of Usman dan Fodio descended.[2] Caliph Muhammed Bello writing in his book Infaq al-Mansur claimed descent from Prophet Muhammad through his paternal grandmother's lineage called Hawwa (mother of Usman dan Fodio), Alhaji Muhammadu Junaidu, Wazirin Sokoto, a scholar of Fulani history, restated the claims of Shaykh Abdullahi bin Fodio in respect of the Danfodio family been part Arabs and part Fulani, while Ahmadu Bello in his autobiography written after independence replicated Caliph's Muhammadu Bello claim of descent from the Arabs through Usman Danfodio's mother, the historical account indicates that the family of Shehu dan Fodio are partly Arabs and partly Fulani who culturally assimilated with the Hausas and can be described as Hausa-Fulani Arabs. Prior to the beginning of the 1804 Jihad the category Fulani was not important for the Torankawa (Torodbe), their literature reveals the ambivalence they had defining Torodbe-Fulani relationships. They adopted the language of the Fulbe and much ethos while maintaining a separate identity.[3] The Toronkawa clan at first recruited members from all levels of Sūdānī society, particularly the poorer people.[4] Toronkawa clerics included people whose origin was Fula, Wolof, Mande, Hausa and Berber. However, they spoke the Fula language, married into Fulbe families, and became the Fulbe scholarly caste.[5]

Life[]

Atiku was born c. 1807, he was chosen as Sultan in 1859 in succession to Ali Bello. Bello was sufficiently successful in battle and was a respected ruler; at the time of Atiku's accession, Sokoto was fully established.[6] He was selected over Ali Karami, the Sarkin Gobir, Isa and Umar Buhari, a grandson of Uthman Dan Fodio. Atiku continued the consolidation efforts of Ali Bello, he established the ribats or settlements of Moriki, Boko and Birnin Kaya in old Zamfara and the settlement of Chafe, south east of Sokoto. Rabah, a settlement upstream of Sokoto was expanded and in the south, Ahmad's brother, Umaru Nagwamatse created the emirate of Kontagora.[7] Atiku also encouraged furthering Sullubawa settlements. The Sullubawa were Fulfude speaking groups who had earlier settled in Hausaland.[8] The Sullubawa expanded the settlements of Wamako, Dingyadi and Kilgori. Atiku admonished the Sullubawa and the populace to keep the law and not to take rewards for returning missing animals, cease selling farms, to obey the call of jihad and the summons of the Alkalis[9][10] Atiku also reduced threat of the Gobirawa using a division between the Sarkin Gobir Bawa na Gwanki and one of his kinsmen, prince Dan Halima. Dan Halima made a peace pact with Atiku and was allowed to establish a new town Sabon Birni while he was recognized as chief of all the Gobirawa in that part of the Sultanate.[11] The town acted as a buffer against Sarkin Gobir Bawa.

References[]

  1. ^ Last, M. (1967). The Sokoto Caliphate. New York: Humanities Press. p. 101.
  2. ^ Abubakar, Aliyu (2005). The Torankawa Danfodio Family. Kano,Nigeria: Fero Publishers.
  3. ^ Ibrahim, Muhammad (1987). The Hausa-Fulani Arabs: A Case Study of the Genealogy of Usman Danfodio. Kadawa Press.
  4. ^ Willis, John Ralph (April 1978). "The Torodbe Clerisy: A Social View". The Journal of African History. Cambridge University Press. 19 (2): 195. doi:10.1017/s0021853700027596. JSTOR 181598. Retrieved 2013-02-13.
  5. ^ Ajayi, Jacob F. Ade (1989). Africa in the Nineteenth Century Until the 1880s. University of California Press. ISBN 978-0-520-03917-9. Retrieved 2013-02-13.
  6. ^ Last 1967, p. 114.
  7. ^ Last 1967, p. 115.
  8. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 2015-08-12.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  9. ^ Last 1967, p. 117.
  10. ^ Boyd, Jean (23 September 2013). Educating Muslim Women: The West African Legacy of Nana Asma'u 1793-1864. Kube Publishing Ltd. ISBN 9781847740618. Retrieved 2015-08-12.
  11. ^ Johnston (1967). The Fulani Empire of Sokoto. Oxford University Press. Retrieved 2015-08-12.
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