Jihād fī Sabīl Allāh—its Doctrinal Basis in Islam and some Aspects of its Evolution in Nineteenth-Century West Africa

Abstract

The recurrence of revivalist movements in Islamic history can be partially explained by the inability of a Muslim Community in disarray to transform da¯r al-ḥarb into da¯r al-Isla¯;m—a doctrinal obligation fundamental to Muslim ideology since the death of the Prophet Muḥammad. Attitudes towards the problems of Islam in nineteenth-century West Africa were decidedly revivalist. While Middle Eastern reformists of the same period were attempting to meet the challenge of the West by restating the basic principles of Islam in the light of the contemporary situation, West African revivalists sought a return to the same basic principles—but not in order to accommodate or adjust, but rather to rediscover and revive; not so much to face the challenge of the West, but rather to confront the incursions of syncretism and polytheism. Recourse was made to the classic technique of the jiha¯d fī sabīl Alla¯h—a three-stage process of revival beginning with the spiritual jiha¯d and culminating with the temporal jiha¯d. The popular expectations that the final triumph of Islam over infidelity would be accomplished by a messianic figure in the thirteenth century of the Hijra helped to create a favourable climate for the emergence of several would-be revivalists. But the success of their movements was contingent upon their reputations for sanctity, their abilities as preachers and teachers, and their capabilities as political organizers. The jihads of ‘Uthma¯n b. Fūdī and al- Ḥa¯jj ‘Umar b. Sa'īd were both characterized by a conscious and deliberate effort to reproduce the career of the Prophet in a West African environment. If the Prophet had sought at first to bring about the implementation of the new Islamic dispensation by non-violent means, so also did Shaykh ‘Uthma¯n and Ḥa¯jj ‘Umar initially seek to reimplement that dispensation by aggressive but peaceful exhortations; and if the Prophet had received authorization from Allah to take the jiha¯d into a military phase, in imitation of the Prophetic model, Shaykh ‘Uthmān and Ḥājj ‘Umar awaited divine sanction for the more overt phase of their jiha¯ds.