Hausa-Ajami Poetry in the Study of the Sokoto Caliphate: The Anatomy of Wallahi-Wallahi

Abstract

One of the important intellectual legacies left by the founding fathers of the Sokoto Caliphate was Hausa Ajami literary tradition through poetry. Poetry has been used by the Sokoto Ulama and their lieutenants as a mechanism through which Islamic knowledge was transmitted to the Muslim community, considering the fact that a large number of Hausa people could not understand Arabic language fluently. In the poem, the Shehu exonerates himself for acting unjustly, and accuses the Habe rulers for advocating political corruption and social injustice, which are contrary to the Islamic Shari’ah. In this paper, an attempt has been made to examine the authorship controversy, reasons for the poem and the lessons learnt from it. It is the position of the paper that the teachings of the poem will play a significant role in reducing the rate of political corruption and social injustice in our societies if put into consideration.