Al-Khalifa Sidi al-Haj Omar ibn Said al-Futi Tall (d. 1267/1852)

In his own words, al-Qutb Shaykh al-Khalifa Sidi al-Haj Omar said in Kitab Rimah, 

"One of the saints was in Medina the Illuminated. He used to ask the Prophet (peace and blessing be upon him) about everything he was seeking, and the Prophet would inform him about what he asked, so I requested him to ask the Prophet about my spiritual state and about what my business would lead to. He told me after a while that the Prophet had informed him that an adversary of mine, who was extremely hostile toward me, had recently died in my town, so it was incumbent on me to pardon him, because of the severity of the torment he had incurred. I therefore pardoned the adversary. The saint then informed me that the Prophet had said: "Tell Omar that he will suffer a relapse, and when the release is over, he will come together with me."

"The favorite young man and the righteous saint, my brother and my twin, Ali ibn Said saw the Prophet (peace and blessing be upon him) accompanied by our Shaykh Tijani and Sidi Muhammad al Ghali. Sidi Ahmad Tijani was conversing with our master Allah's Messenger. My brother Ali said: "When I wished to ask Allah's Messenger about something, but Sidi Muhammad al Ghali prevented me, I said to Sidi Ahmad Tijani: "How is my spiritual state, O Sidi?" He said: "You will not die until you are a saint." Sidi Mohammed al-Ghali thereupon said to Allah's Messenger: "How is the spiritual state of my brother Omar, O Messenger of Allah?" To this he responded by saying" Omar has begun on my hand, and in it he will end"

"The equitable Imam and the eminent saint, Mohammed Bello ibn al Arif billah Uthman Dan Fodio informed me that he wished to ask Allah for good fortune, and to look after my best interests. It happened to him once that he heard a person say. "The Prophet (peace and blessing be upon him) says to you: "You should know that the affairs of Omar ibn Said are in my hand. I manage them for him and I have not neglected them."

"I once saw the Prophet (peace and blessing be upon him) while I was counseling the people and summoning them to Allah with inducement and intimidation. He was present in silence and listening until I said: "The Fire will then come from the direction of the West, so the people will flock to the Place of Assembly. The Prophet then said: "I only stayed silent from the beginning of your speech until now because of your being correct. Then I wished to ask you about that, but reverence prevented me, so I refrained."

"I once saw the Prophet (peace and blessing be upon him) while I was in a fit of bad temper, so I drew to him and he mentioned several things to me, including the following: "They, meaning the people of the earth on which you were at the time of the vision, do not love happiness!"

"One of the faithful brethren saw him (peace and blessing be upon him), so it occurred to that brother that should ask some things of the Prophet (peace and blessing be upon him), but he said to him before he asked: "Seek from Shaykh Omar ibn Said whatever you are seeking from me!"

I installed one of the faithful brethren in the secluded retreat, and after spending several days there, he sent me a letter in which he had written: "I saw the Prophet (peace and blessing be upon him) in the retreat, and he was saying to me: "Al Hajj Omar is my trustee, so long as he does not consort with the rulers and meddle with this world, for if he consorts with them and meddles with it, he has betrayed me, so beware of him!"

The Tijanite Khalifa, al-Haj Omar Tall al-Futi al-Turi is one of the most prominent Muslim figures in West African history. Born in the last decade of the eighteenth century in the Senegal River valley, he devoted his life to religious study from an early age. In about 1825 he undertook the pilgrimage to Mecca, and remained for about three years in the environs of the Holy Cities where he received instruction and guidance in the doctrines of the Tijaniya Sufi order which he had joined in West Africa. His instructor in Mecca, the Moroccan Hassani-Idrissid Sharif Sidi Mohammed al-Ghali Boutaleb al-Fasi (d. 1244/1829 in Medina), one of the most elevated leaders of the order, appointed al-Haj Omar a khalifa in the Tijaniya order, a position which gave him effective spiritual authority over all Tijani adherents in West Africa.  

Although the Tijaniya order was not yet very widespread in West Africa, al-Haj Omar began actively proselytizing on its behalf as soon as he had returned from Mecca. His enthusiasm was not welcomed in all quarters and he occasionally found himself engaged in serious disputes, especially with the Shehu of Borno and with the Qadiri Sufi leaders of Timbuktu and Masina. On the other hand, he got on well with the Qadiri Caliph Mohammed Bello of Sokoto, with whom he remained for some years and whose daughter he married. During these years al-Haj Omar also wrote quite extensively, and the subject to which he increasingly warmed was the explication of Tijani doctrine, an interest which culminated in 1845 in the completion of what must be considered his major work, Rimah hizb al-rahim 'ala nuhr hizb al-rajim (The Spears of the Party of the Merciful against the Throats of the Party of the Damned). Despite its militant title, the book is a detailed explanation and defense of Tijani doctrine and teachings and is considered by members of the order to be one of their most authoritative doctrinal works. It must be one of the most widely read books ever written by any West African Muslim scholar and has been published in Fez, Tunis, Cairo and Beirut. 

Although upon his return to West Africa al-Haj Omar put most of his effort into spreading the doctrines of the Tijaniya order, this was not the only subject about which he wrote, nor the only issue which attracted his attention. He was also very disturbed about factional strife and disunity among West African Muslims, about the widespread distribution of what he considered prohibited or misguided practices by Muslims, and generally about the sea of unbelievers which often surrounded West African Muslim communities. He was extremely outspoken on all these matters. In Futa Jallon, where he finally settled fifteen years after setting out on his pilgrimage, he attracted a growing number of Muslims to his following and very soon he was himself the leader of a burgeoning Muslim community. As this community grew, relations worsened with local political leaders who began to fear a threat to their own authority. The increasing tension culminated in 1852 with an attack by a non-Muslim chief against al-Haj Omar, who consequently declared jihad, or religious war, against the “unbelievers.” 

Local success by the Muslims was followed by more far-reaching campaigns northward toward the Bambara kingdom of Kaarta, conquered in 1857, and where a new Muslim administrative centre was established at Nioro. An unsuccessful confrontation with the French in 1858 turned Omar's energies eastward toward a second Bambara kingdom, Segu, the conquest of which in 1861 led to conflicts with the neighbouring Muslim state of Masina. Masina had aided Segu against the Omarian forces, and even though he now found himself in the midst of the kind of intra-Muslim conflict he had so often condemned in the past, Omar refused to seek a compromise with his adversary. In 1862 the Masina capital, Hamdallahi, was captured and its ruler subsequently put to death. 

 

Al-Haj Omar and a large contingent of his forces settled in Hamdullahi. Geographically, the fruits of the jihadi conquests had been extensive. Omarian muqaddams (lieutenants) were established over a wide territory as local rulers; nascent Muslim administrations were functioning in many formerly non-Muslim districts. But the position was far from secure. Bambara rebellions were widespread, and the defeated Fulbe of Masina were not idle. By 1863 they had formed an anti-Omarian coalition of Muslim groups in the Niger valley which counterattacked Hamdallahi. Warfare continued for months and Omar was besieged in Hamdallahi. Early in 1864 he managed to escape eastward, only to be surrounded again among the hills and rocks near a village called Degembere, and there, in circumstances still not fully explained, he died apparently from the effect of an explosion of gunpowder. 

 

Following Omar's martyrdom, the coalition of his enemies began to split apart. The Tijanis regrouped their forces, defeated the Fulbe, and set about the task of tightening their grip on Masina. They established a new capital on the plateau east of Hamdullahi at a Dogon village called Bandiagara. Omar's conquests not only changed the political face of West Africa, but modified its religious complexion as well. This was not only due to the establishment of new Muslim regimes in formerly non-Muslim areas, but also because Omar never ceased to proselytize on behalf of the Tijaniya order. Large numbers of those who joined the jihadi cause became adherents of the Tijaniya, and every administrative centre in the Omarian organization was also a centre from which the religious order was proclaimed. In the inland Delta regions of the Niger valley, where Islam had enjoyed a lengthy and often illustrious history, Omar's movement met not only political and military resistance, but also serious doctrinal opposition to some of the basic teachings of the Tijaniya. The spiritual leadership of the long established and eminent Qadiriya Sufi order was centered among the Kunta in Timbuktu. Qadiri objections to Tijani doctrine were not new to al-Haj Omar; he had encountered them soon after his return from Mecca. But during the jihad there was an intensification of the doctrinal debate, in which the political and military stakes were very high. The disputes were resolved on the battlefield; the doctrinal debates themselves cooled as the antagonists came to accept the new political order, unstable as it was.

 

The Tijaniya spread into former Qadiri areas, and eventually adherents to the two orders adopted attitudes of mutual tolerance. The expansion of the Tijaniya continued unabated and even gained momentum in the twentieth century; today the order exists throughout Muslim West Africa.

Upon al-Haj Omar's death, his eldest son Amadu, whom Omar had named as his successor, sought to pick up the reins of his father's political and spiritual authority and to unify the newly conquered territories into a centralized state. For almost twenty-five years he struggled from his capital in Segu to achieve this goal, but the odds were overwhelmingly against him. Not only was there the constant problem of retaining control over conquered territory, but many of those to whom Omar had delegated administrative authority, for example in Dinguiray and Nioro, refused to accept Amadu's claims to leadership. Dissension in these areas erupted into armed conflict. In Masina Ahmadu's cousin, Tijani, who had founded the new capital of Bandiagara, maintained a peaceful but nonetheless carefully guarded attitude of independence. These internal divisions prevented the consolidation of the Omarian conquests into a cohesive Muslim state, but the collapse of the entire political edifice was precipitated not by an internal threat but by an external one: French imperial expansion.

Sidi Omar: The Tijani Caliph

Sidi Omar al-Futi (may Allah be pleased with him) said in the Rimah,

You should know that caliphate (khilafa) is a term for the delegation of a deputy (khalifa) to succeed the Shaykh (i.e. Mawlana Abil Abbas Tijani) who was the deputy before him, because he will transmit to the pupils what the previous Shaykh used to transmit to them, including the remembrances (adhkar), the litanies (awrad), the incantations(ahzab) the secrets (asrar), the techniques of contemplation(tawajjuhat), the goals (maqasid) the spiritual retreats (khalawat), the rules of proper conduct (adab), the sciences (ulum), and the intuitive cognition (ma'arif). In short, he will do for them, and with them, what the previous Shaykh used to do, and he will be endowed with all the rights over them with which the Shaykh was endowed, by virtue of deputyship and delegation.

Suppose that you ask: "What is the difference between the deputy (khalifa) and the appointee (muqaddam)?" The answer is the following:

The appointee (muqaddam) is someone who is commissioned by the Shaykh -or by someone authorized to authorize him, and so on and so on, until Allah inherits the earth and those upon it -to teach the obligatory remembrances as well as some of the remembrances peculiar to the elite, and whose appointment is for a limited term.

Every genuine appointee has a lofty degree, by which he is entitled to obedience and respect.
As for the deputy (khalifa), he is not like that. He is a representative of the Shaykh without restriction. The appointees and their pupils are therefore included among the subjects of the deputy. Obedience to the deputy is incumbent upon them, because the duty of compliance with the deputy and the prohibition of opposition to him are incumbent on all the people of the Spiritual Path. Someone who is taught by the deputy in on an equal footing with someone who is taught by any other, because of the degree of khalifa.

You must know this and act upon it, so that you may be rightly guided. Allah guides whomever He wills to a straight path! If you understand this you should know that I spent a very long time in the company of Sidi Mohammed al Ghali al-Fasi (khalifa of Mawlana Abil Abbas Tijani in the Hijaz). By His pure grace, Allah instilled love of me in his heart, so I acquired all the contents of his heart and his inner core, and I captured his heart and his outer form. He chose me as a companion and cast other people aside from him. He preferred me as a servant and a doorman, and I became for him an intimate friend and a pupil. I cast aside all the branches of science that I had been memorizing and recording, and stripped myself of the cognitions and facts that I had been collecting and acquiring because of my knowledge that all that is useful to the narrator and others. In spite of this, whenever I requested anything from him with regard to the secrets of the Path, he would scold me to be repentant of the request, until Allah prepared me and assisted me to obtain what I was eager to acquire.

While we were in the Prophet's Mosque, he said to me at the time of the forenoon prayer: "You must not make the people muqaddams in the granting of the litany, as for you, you are a khalifa among the caliphs of Shaykh Tijani, not one of the muqaddams." After that, he informed me that Shaykh Tijani said "I have given Shaykh Omar ibn Said everything he needs from this (Tijani) Path, meaning the secrets and remembrances, so there is nothing for you to do except to transmit it." He would often look at me after that, while we were sitting together, and he would say: "I swear by Allah that you love Shaykh Tijani!" He would also say: "I swear by Allah, the One other than whom there is no god that I shall stand for a long time in the presence of Allah's Messenger and nothing will come from my mouth except supplication on your behalf!"
I saw Sidi Mohammed Ghali by chance after we had parted and I said to him: "O Sidi, you said that I am a khalifa among the caliphs of the Shaykh, not one of the muqaddams?" He said to me "Yes, you are a khalifa".  

Since this had been confirmed you should know that I have evidence to prove that his ancestor, our master Allah's Messenger (Allah bless him and give him peace) loves me, and that I am one of his inheritors and one of his caliphs. I also have evidence to prove that Shaykh Tijani loves me with a perfect love, and that I am among those who attain to him and among his caliphs ( may Allah the Exalted be well pleased with him).

As for the evidence related to Allah's Messenger, it includes the following:

Allah has graciously bestowed on me--by His pure and noble generosity--knowledge of the sciences of the Sacred Law and Reality that I cannot possibly conceal. Allah has said: “O you who truly believe, obey Allah and His Messenger, and those of you who are in authority, and if you have any dispute about any matter, refer it to Allah and the Messenger if you are believers in Allah and the Last Day.  That is better and more seemly in the end” (Quran 4:59) According to Ibn Abbas and Jabir, those in authority are the jurists and the scholars who teach the people the knowledge of their religion. This is also the opinion of al-Hassan, Dahhak and Mujahid. Allah has also said. “He is the One who has made you earthly deputies and has exalted some of you in rank above others, so that He may try you by what He has given you. Your Lord is Swift in prosecution, and He is All Forgiving, All Compassionate.” (Quran 6:165)

And according to the commentary entitled al-Arais, He is saying in effect: "I have made you the deputies of the world, after the passage of the time and the ages, and the conclusion of the rotating sphere and the passing centuries, so whatever was allotted to your predecessors in the form of Messengership, Prophethood, dominion and honor, and whatever was at the disposal of those in authority, it will belong to you, O deputies of the Prophets and Champions of the Truth" He is the One who has made you deputies on the earth, like Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, and Jesus, and who has increased you honor over the masses with the honor of your Prophet.

As for His saying: “And Moses said to his brother Aaron: ‘Be my deputy among my people’" (Quran 7:142) Mohammed ibn Hamid said: "The Prophets and the saints have always had deputies to succeed them, among their companions and the members of their community who came after them. Their deputies provide guidance in accordance with their guidance, preserving their exemplary customs when the members of their community neglect them. Abu Bakr was the holder of this station after the Prophet, and I praise be to Allah am one of those who hold it".

‘Further evidence is provided by the following points:

-Praise be to Allah! I have not consorted with the rulers, and I do not love those who consort with them. As recorded in Tabyin al-Maharim, on the authority of Anass, the Prophet (peace and blessing be upon him) said: “The best of the commanders are those who promote the scholars, and the worst of the scholars are those who promote he commanders. The scholars are the trustees of the Messengers in charge of Allah's servants, so long as they do not consort with the rulers, for if they do that they betray the Messengers. You must beware of them and stay away from them!”

Praise be to Allah! I observe the enjoining of what is right and proper, and the prohibition of what is wrong and improper. As reported in as-Siraj al-Munir, the Prophet (peace and blessing be upon him) once said: “If someone enjoins what is right and proper, and forbids what is wrong and improper, he is Allah's deputy on His earth, the deputy of His Messenger (Allah bless him and give him peace), and the deputy of His Book.”

I once happened to see the Prophet (peace and blessing be upon him), and he said to me: "Allah has made you one of the best of its people," meaning the best of my Community". I drew near to him, because my heart was filled with joy and delight at that saying, and I said to him: “I have accepted and been well pleased, O Messenger of Allah!"

One of the brethren said the he saw the Prophet (peace and blessing be upon him) and he said: "Persist in what you are committed to, and obey your Shaykh Omar, for what you are committed to is true and correct.

-One of the brethren sent me a letter in which he had written: "You should know, O our Shaykh, that I saw you in my sleep, wearing a white shirt, and I heard a speaker say ' This is Allah's Messenger. He has drawn near!' I headed toward the place where I had seen you, and found that the pair of you had met together. You were both shrouded by a mist, so I could not see you clearly. I heard the Prophet addressing you calmly, and I memorized these words" 'I love you with a genuine love, in spite of those around you.' The mist then cleared, and I saw you on an elevated place. You were trying to get down from it, but you were stuck there, as if you had a tremor. Someone else said to you 'Are you awestruck by good tidings?" You said: 'Yes', and you availed yourself of my help in order to climb down."

-One of the brethren mentioned to me that he had seen in his sleep, a person on a throne in a house with two doors, and that person had said to him "O so and so, do you recognize me?" "No", said he, and that person said: "I am Mohammed, the best of humankind!" Then he went on to say (Allah bless him and give him peace)"I am sending you to your Shaykh Omar. Tell him that I am greeting him with the salutation of peace, so he must summon Allah's servants to the religion of Allah. Let him make clear whatever he seeks to achieve, for I am his guarantor, and let him pay no attention to dodgers, for they are perfidious." He repeated this three time.

The Jihad of Sidi Omar

Jihad  (holy war) in West Africa has started in the 17th and 18th centuries Senegambia by Maliki Sufis such as Sidi Malik Sy, Sidi Alfa Karamako and Sidi Sulayman Bal. So did jihads continue well into the twentieth century like that of Sidi Ahmad Bamba –student of the Qadiriya Shaykh, Sidi al-Mokhtar al-Kunti (d. 1226/1811)- in the Niger bend. But while the pre-nineteenth century jihads were localized and stunted in magnitude, those in the 20th century were largely the extensions of the major ones in the 19th century. Moreover there was no century or period in the history of the region which became so occupied with jihad as the 19th century: a fact which all the historians of the region seemed agreed upon. In the words of Professor Abdullahi Smith:

The history of the West African Savannah in the nineteenth century has its own independent theme- and this consists in a series of revolutionary movements which radically changed the social and political complexion of the whole zone during the hundred years or so before the establishment of the European governments. These movements were jihads resulting in the formation of Islamic States, the emergence of a new West African Muslim aristocracy and wide spread conversion to Islam.

The jihad of Sulayman Bal in Futa Toro in the late 18th century and establishment of the Imamate had further consolidated Islam and given boost to its educational centers. Born about 1794, barely two decades after this jihad, 'Omar al-Futi grew up in a fairly spirited Muslim community and acquired a good traditional Islamic education.79 But as he grew into manhood the tempo of the jihad was waning and European presence in the coastal towns was increasing with the French making frequent incursions into the hinterland. The pagan Bambara State of Ka’arta and Segu were similarly encroaching into the Senegambia area. This unfolding state of siege could not have escaped the notice of some of the perceptive minds in the area.

Judging by his intelligence and wide travels in the area, 'Omar must have noted with concern the impending threat these development posed to the Muslims of Senegambia. His decision to go to Hajj may not have much to do with this, but the situation at home appeared to have constantly been in his mind throughout his sojourn outside Senegambia. His Hajj appeared to have been under the influence of his teacher, Shaykh Muhammad al-Naqil, a renowned scholar of Futa Jallon, who initiated him into the Tijaniya order and whom he wanted to accompany to Hajj. They could not however leave together, so the teacher left first and 'Omar followed him later, starting his journey about 1827 going through Masina, Gwandu, Sokoto, Air and Egypt.

At Sokoto 'Omar spent a few months and in Air he spent a much shorter period. While in Air 'Omar learnt about Muhammad al-Ghali the head of the Tijjaniya tariqa in Hijaz. On arrival in Hijaz 'Omar sought this Shaykh and kept his company, learning from him, until he received an ijaza from him and was eventually appointed the Khalifa of the Tijaniya in western Sudan. Having made Hajj and acquired some learning, 'Omar visited Syria and Jerusalem, before returning home. Towards the end of 1830 'Omar made his way home through Borno, armed with his knowledge, rich experience and the distinguished honor of Khalifa of the Tijaniya in the Western Sudan.

In Borno 'Omar's stay was brief as his relationship with al-Kanemi went sour rather soon after his arrival. In 1831 he left for Sokoto, but not before he had taken a wife, a daughter of one the Borno notables. In Sokoto however, 'Omar met a ready welcome from his host Sultan Muhammad Bello, where he remained until the death of the latter about seven years later. During his stay in Sokoto, 'Omar became involved with scholarly activities as well as administration. He was appointed a judge in Bello’s court, whom he also accompanied in some of his campaigns.82 Throughout his stay in Sokoto, 'Omar seemed to have enjoyed a very close relationship with Bello, whose daughter he also married.Following Bello's death 'Omar set out for Futa Toro in 1838 along with his family and disciples, among them Hausa and Kanuri. He went through Masina, the Bambara State of Segu, and his home in Futa Toro, arriving in Dyegonko near Timbo in 1840, where he was allowed to settle and establish a zawiya.

'Omar remained at Dyegonko up to 1848. During this period 'Omar engaged himself in an extensive teaching, raising followers as his fame permeated Senegambia. As the khalifa of Tijaniya tariqa in West Africa, he organized his following along Tijani Sufi doctrines. He also set a trade network, the proceeds of which went into supporting his organization, purchasing arms and such provisions as would be required in the eventual confrontation. For as his famous work Rimah hizb al-Rahim 'ala nuhur hizb al-rajim (the lances of the party of the merciful [God] against the throats of the party of evil), completed about 1845, indicates, he had conceived of a confrontation and was only taking his time to make the spiritual and material provisions. In 1849, he made Hijra to Dinguiray, along with his following, the Talaba, as he called them, apparently in anticipation of a confrontation.

As in Sokoto and Masina, it was the frantic response of the establishment that precipitated the jihad. The pagan chieftain of Tamba despatched an army to destroy 'Omar's new base. Hajj 'Omar and his Talaba routed the pagan army, and their king along with many of his people converted to Islam. Having started the jihad in earnest Hajj 'Omar attacked and conquered the pagan Bambara State of Ka’arta in 1855. Alarmed by the growing power of the Islamic forces, the French organized a boycott against Hajj Omar. The latter took his time, and later attacked the French stronghold of Medine in 1857. Though Hajj 'Omar could not dislodge the French and many of his Talaba were martyred, he however made his point: that both the pagan establishment and the French were a threat to the survival of the Muslim community in the Senegambia. Hajj 'Omar then attacked and conquered the pagan Bambara State of Segu and founded his capital in Segu itself.

As Hajj Omar was pressing on the Bambara State of Segu Masina negotiated a deal with Segu, perhaps at the latter's request and Segu was proclaimed a pagan protectorate of Masina, which was meant to save it from Hajj 'Omar's attack. But Hajj Omar, apparently aware of the ploy, proceeded to attack and conquer Segu. He did not leave the matter there. He felt offended by Masina's role and took it to task. The ensuring debate led Hajj 'Omar to attack and occupy Masina in 1862 'Omar himself died two years later in battle and was succeeded by his son Ahmad.

The conflict between Segu, under Hajj 'Omar, and Masina echoed the one between Sokoto and Borno. While Sokoto and Borno were able to resolve the issue with out one having to take over the other, the case of Segu and Masina had to escalate to this level. The reasons for these differences would appear to lie not only in the intellectual and temperamental make up of the leaderships but also in the social and political context of the conflict.

Though the French colonial army which invaded Segu, two decades after Hajj 'Omar's death, did not allow the state he founded to last long, Omar had already sown the seeds of his struggle in the hearts of many in the region. The tradition he founded was to spur a series of jihads against European imperialism: Muhammad Lamin, Maba Diakhou, Samori Toure, Ahmad Bamba, etc, were in a way all extensions of Hajj 'Omar's movement. These jihads were to pave the way for further spread of Islam in the region and provide both the motivation and the framework for resistance against European imperialism in the region.

Devolopments

Al-Hajj Omar started his career as a Sufi and remained a Sufi even after taking the militant option in tajdid. He represented a unique blend of Sufism and militancy. This interesting mix is not perhaps too difficult to understand.43 Al-Hajj Omar set out from his home in Futa Toro, about the year 1827, as a young Tijani murid wishing to accomplish the pilgrimage. Once in Hijaz he met and spent some time with the head of the Tijaniya order there, who eventually appointed al-Hajj Omar the khalifa of the order in Western Sudan. He left Hijaz for Western Sudan full of enthusiasm, determination and a deep sense of mission. In Sokoto where the achievements of the militant school appeared to have impressed him, he spent several years in the company of the jihad leaders, during which he imbibed a lot of those militant ideas. Thus he returned to Futa Toro a Sufi khalifa, with revolutionary ideas and determined to bring about changes.

By the time Omar arrived Sokoto after his Hajj, about 1831, well over a decade after the demise of Shaykh 'Uthman and since Muhammad Bello assumed full responsibility for the Caliphate, the jihad as well as the debate which followed it had long been over and the new Islamic order fully in place. But the jihad literature, particularly the plethora elicited by the debate, formed the focus of study and provided the reference and the guidance for running the affairs of the society. Omar's proximity, or better still, intimacy with the leadership of the Caliphate, especially Muhammad Bello himself, and his involvement in the affairs of the state, gave him unlimited access to the intellectual treasure and profound insight into the Sokoto tajdid programme. Omar himself became fully integrated intellectually, spiritually and socially into Shaykh 'Uthman's jama'a.

The depth of this Sokoto impact reveals itself clearly in Omar's works written after he left Sokoto for Futa Jallon. Most of the works that influenced the vision of at-Futi belonged to the jihad and post jihad period, a period when the militant approach gained wide acceptance among the jama'a and got substantial Islamic legal justification from the scholars especially the jihad leaders themselves. Dr. Omar Jah, following a thorough study of the writings of al-Hajj Omar, has identified some specific Sokoto works that, more than others, influenced the thinking and career of al-Hajj Omar. These works include, Qadh al-Zinad fi amr hadha al-Jihad of Bello; Diya'al-Hukkam of 'Abd Allah; Hisn al-afham, Masa'il al-Muhimma and Siraj al-lkhwan of Shaykh 'Uthman.45 Bello's Qadh al-Zinad, is essentially an updated and, as the title suggests, more argued history of the whole tajdid process in Hausaland. The work had drawn from Bello's own Infaq, 'Abd Allah's Tazyin, Shaykh 'Uthman's Ta'alim al-Ikhwan and made a strong case for the militant school of tajdid.

It was not surprising therefore soon after arrival in Futa Jallon and settling in Dyegonko, near Timbo, Omar took upon himself the regeneration of his society, which compared with Sokoto can easily be said to be decadent, and accordingly developed an approach which was unmistakably militant. His approach, typical of the militant school, saw al-amr bi al-ma'ruf wa al-nahy 'an al-munkar central to the life of the Muslim community as well as the individual and insists that it was thoroughly carried out. Omar writes in his Tadhikirat al-Ghafilin, which was originally written about 1831 after his return from Hajj, but which was apparently updated in and after leaving Sokoto:

You should know that al-amr bi al-ma'ruf wa al-nahy 'an al-munkar is the basic foundation of Islam. It is the reason for sending the prophets to mankind. Should its application be discontinued, and its function neglected, the office of prophecy would cease to exist. [If] the religious function is neglected (calamity would befall all of life, ignorance and deviation would be rampant. Thus the whole world and the peoples therein would be ruined and virtually destroyed. [The proper understanding and true application of this principle (al-amr bi al-ma'aruf)], is weakened, and its name is forgotten. Thus people's minds are preoccupied with subtle and obscurantist arguments (mudahana). Observation of Allah's law has disappeared, and instead, people flock like animals in pursuit of their material desires. It has become very rare to find a sincere believer whose faith in Allah is strong enough to endure threat or to resist temptation in the sabil ('cause) of Allah. He who [under these circumstances tries to fulfill this duty, will definitely be honoured as having revived the Sunna of the prophet which most people at this time try to destroy. ... You should know that al-amr bi al-ma'aruf is an obligation in Islam, Its abandonment is condemned and punishable.

Here then is an interpretation of al-amr bi al-ma'ruf which matches only that of al-Maghili, for in this perspective even the revival of the Sunna which Shaykh 'Uthman had given a wider meaning had been focused down to the revival of the application of al-amr bi al-maruf. In this same spirit al-Hajj Omar did not hesitate to point his accusing fingers to those he believed were responsible for this state of affairs, oblivious or perhaps indifferent to the fact that this may alert his potential enemies rather too early. In Tadhkirat al-Mustarshidin, another earlier but updated work, al-Hajj Omar wrote:

May Allah curse those people who are entrusted with authority but who do nothing to promote good or eliminate evil within the society they govern and among the people who live under their authority ... no one should be blamed for corrupting religion except the kings and. the venal 'Ulama' who have, sold their consciousness for trifling immediate worldly gains”.

Here again we find a clear echo of al-Maghili's stance and a total agreement with the position of the jama'a in Hausaland. In Rimah Hizb al-Rahim, Omar's major and perhaps most important work, completed in 1845, about five years after he had settled in Dyegonko, Omar took his quarrel with the 'Ulama' and the sultans a little further, albeit in a rather subtle tone, when he wrote:

Since I am actively involved in al-amr bi al-ma'ruf wa al-nahy 'an al-munkar, and (according to the prophet) whoever does this, becomes a khalifa of Allah, of his prophet, and [therefore] the legitimate authority to interpret the Qur'an ... According to Muhammad b. Hamid, there must be khalifahs who represent the prophets in maintaining their Shari’a and promoting their teachings. In the case of Islam, Abu Bakr was entrusted with the responsibility after the death of the prophet. Now, thanks to Allah, I am myself one of those entrusted with this responsibility.

Here al-Hajj Omar is more than just asserting the fact that he is taking upon himself the responsibility of al-amr bi al-ma'ruf. He is implicitly saying that by absconding from their responsibility of al-amr bi al-ma'ruf, the 'Ulama' have forfeited their rights to interpret the Qur’an and the sultans their rights to rule. These rights, by corollary, now accrue to al-Hajj Omar and those involved in the execution of al-amr bi al-ma' a’ ruf.

It is both interesting and significant, however, that this Maghili and Sokoto influence on al-Hajj Omar, profound as it no doubt was, did not displace Omar's Sufi, and specifically Tijani, orientation. Omar retained his Sufi commitment and incorporated his militancy within a Sufi Tijani frame in a rather unique manner. This resulting blend is more vividly conveyed in the Rimah, where Omar argued that his position as a wali in the Sufi hierarchy, especially the deputy of the khatim al-awliya' entitled him to even more authority than his involvement in al-amr bi al-maruf did. For as he argued, "the Shaykh and that is the complete saint (al-wali al-kamil) in his community is like the prophet in an umma. And that giving bay'a to him (al-wali) like giving bay’a to the prophet (S.A.W.) because of his (al-wali) being the deputy of the prophet.

Indeed soon after settling in Dyengonko, al-Hajj Omar raised a flock of disciples and students, talaba, as he called them, which continued to grow and spread with time. He set up a trade network which was to cater for the material needs of his growing community including the provision of fire arms, the acquisition of which appeared to have been a normal practice in the area at that time. He carried out an intensive Sufi tarbiyya training for his talaba, which concentrated on asceticism (zuhd) and self reliance; regimented Sufi discipline as reflected on the respect of the murid for his Shaykh; and jihad against the carnal soul (Jihad al-nafs). His idea of zuhd, however, very much like that of Sidi Mukhtar al-Kunti, was not one of running away form this world (al-Dunya) nor of denying oneself the proceeds thereof, but rather of emptying the heart of the love for the world. In his words:

The disinterest (zuhd) of the perfect walis, is not to disengage themselves completely from worldly affairs rather it is to free their mind (qalb) from worldly affairs while still benefitting from its wealth]. This is because these walis cannot attain to high rank in the Sufi hierarchy until they can dispense with the material wealth of others. .. Among the conditions of a successful reformer is that he should not be completely disengaged from worldly affairs. For he who does not work, and entirely depends upon other people for his life, such a man belongs to the class of women in his society.

Similarly al-Hajj Omar urged his talaba to do their utmost to conquer their carnal soul for only then can they be in a position to worship their lord and creator. He asserted that this endeavor is called jihad al-akbar' precisely because it is far more difficult and far more dangerous than the physical jihad against unbelievers. For as he argued, in a physical jihad it may not matter whether you kill or are killed, either way, you will attain felicity. But in the jihad against the self it is either you conquer it or you are ruined and it is always easier to fight someone than to fight your very self.54 This kind of training was further reinforced by the regimented Sufi discipline where a murid is expected to respect, adore and obey his Shaykh in his presence as well as in his absence.55 This must have produced a highly disciplined organization always at the service of the Shaykh and the cause he set for the community.

In the Rimah, as in his other works, al-Hajj Omar often argued his case very strongly and supports his position profusely with verses of the Qur'an, traditions of the prophet and numerous authorities, some of them not very well known in the region especially outside Sufi circles. His erudition and rich learning gave him an obvious edge over his contemporaries and drew to him such large following as caused envy among scholars and worry to authorities. The 'ulama not surprisingly, attacked some of al-Hajj Omar's views arguing that they do not conform to the maliki madhhab, which was the madhhab of the region. The 'Ulama' apparently claimed that by acting contrary to the maliki madhhab Omar was committing such sin as will excommunicate him from the madhhab completely. Omar's first reaction was a Sufi response, as he states:

You should know that the critic of the walis is dropped from Allah's mercy, and therefore destroyed in this world and in the world to come. On such a critic Allah declares war thus he will forever suffer from the divine curse and condemnation.

He then came to the level of the fuqaha and argued:

From this you should know that some of these [critics] who claim to be knowledgeable and still hold the view that who ever disagrees with the opinion of a mujtahid will commit a sin and such a sin will excommunicate him from the madhhab (school) of that mujtahid, is an ignorant and blind fanatic ... such a man belongs to those who study the works of the fuqaha (jurists) without understanding them. ... Neither Allah nor His prophet enjoin any one to follow one specific madhhab ... and none of the founders of these schools themselves tried to impose his opinions upon others ... So he who carefully understands this point, can easily realize that the claim of those who tried to confine the truth within one specific school of law [such as the Malikiyya] and imposes his false ideas upon the Muslims ... will gain nothing from Allah except expulsion from his mercy remoteness form the true teaching of Islam, and above all eventual destruction. Especially if he happens to be a teacher or a mufti or a qadi, whose ambition to gain promotion can force them to claim to be the most knowledgeable men of his time. Such a man is condemned by Allah for his dishonesty, self-deception, bigotry, crookedness, and moral corruption.

Similarly the establishments in the Futa Jallon, worried by the growing influence and number of al-Hajj Omar's talaba, started to show their disapproval to al-Hajj Omar's activities. Though the French as well as the surrounding pagan chieftains were clearly worried, it was the Almami of Futa Jallon in whose territory Omar was residing that first reacted by prompting Omar to leave his territory. Omar quickly arranged with the neighboring pagan chief of Tamba, Yemba Sakho, to move into his territory and pay an annual tribute of an agreed amount of gold.58 Omar appealed to his talaba to make the hijra, using arguments he had already advanced in the Rimah and which his following were already familiar with. His arguments were:

“O Brothers, you should know that emigration from one country under an infidel rule to that under Muslim rule, or from a Muslim country in which there is munkar [wrong or evil] which one has no means to change, to another country where there is possibility of effecting such a change, is obligatory according to the Qur'an and Sunna and Ijma'. ... Nothing can prevent a believer from abandoning the place he is familiar with except nostalgia, but if he can see that every thing other than Allah is ephemeral, which he must leave behind at the time of death, then he will dislike such a thing... He who likes to adhere to the Sunna of the Prophet at this time in which the Muslim community is corrupt, and in which those who try to fulfill the obligation of al-amr bi al-ma'ruf are exposed to hatred, bigotry, and therefore became objects of suspicion and slander, must migrate to a safer place.

The arguments are powerful, the appeal passionate and the response was, not surprisingly, positive. As his talaba assembled at Dinguiry, al-Hajj Omar stepped up his acquisition of fire arms and started some military training for his flocking talaba. It was obvious that al-Hajj Omar was preparing for a jihad and this, understandably, frightened the chief of Tamba. It was the attempt of the chief of Tamba to eject al-Hajj Omar and his talaba that, however, started the jihad.

After the conquest of the pagan state of Ka’arta in 1855 and the unsuccessful attempt to take the French stronghold of Medine in 1857, Omar turned his attention to the powerful pagan Bambara kingdom of Segu. Segu was the center of idol worship in the region whose growing military power had been frustrating the spread of Islam in the region and threatening Muslim polities especially Masina. Realizing the threat this kingdom posed to his own venture, al-Hajj Omar moved west determined to conquer Segu. On his way to Segu al-Hajj Omar subdued some of the small chiefdoms on his way like Diawara, Niyamina and Sansanding, where he camped his forces in 1860.

Ali Munzu, the pagan ruler of Segu was frightened by the presence of al-Hajj Omar and his large army at Sansanding and so was Ahmadu Ahmadu the Muslim ruler of Masina, the grandson of Ahmad Labbo. With what they considered a common enemy at their door step, Segu and Masina decided to come into some accord which could save them from the eminent disaster. Since the invading army was Muslim and the objective was jihad, Ali Munzu and Ahmadu agreed that Masina-declared Segu its protectorate and al-Hajj Omar should be restrained from attacking another Muslim country. In fact as a preemptive move Ahmadu sent a letter to al-Hajj Omar in Sansanding asking him to withdraw his forces back as that was part of his territory. Ahmadu, sounding firm and confrontational, wrote:

When you receive this letter, you will have to chose between paying allegiance to us which is an obligation upon you, or withdrawing your forces from these territories [Sansanding and its surroundings] to other areas [Nioro] where you can fight against [what you call the enemies of Allah; otherwise I will be left with no alternative but to declare war against you.

In his reply al-Hajj Omar challenged Ahmadu's claims and accused him of collaborating with the infidels against Muslims. But he wanted to believe, nevertheless, that Ahmadu was being wrongly advised, as he wrote:

Ahmadu Ahmadu is our grandson, his father was our son and his grandfather our friend, thus we have great compassion for him and expect him to respect us as sons respect their fathers. We expect no evil act from him if he could be saved from the conspiracy of the hypocrites [around him] who are digging graves under his feet without his being aware of it. We do not think that Ahmadu Ahmadu will accept what is written in his name here. We swear to Allah that we love him, and shall therefore do whatever we can to protect him and unite our forces with his in carrying the message of Allah.

The following year, al-Hajj Omar's forces met and conquered a combined Segu Masina army in Segu itself and All Munzu took refuge in Masina, as if to confirm al-Hajj Omar's suspicion. If al-Hajj Omar had no cause to conquer Masina, this provided him with one. Several efforts were made to negotiate peace with Masina, these efforts not only failed but left Omar convinced that Masina deserved to be taken over, if only for the efforts they made to subordinate the Islamic cause and masquerade their complacency and selfishness under Islamic garb. One person who played a key role in these negotiations and eventually rose to the defence of Masina against al-Hajj Omar was Shaykh Ahmad at-Bakka’i, the grandson of al-Kunti and the leader of the Qadiriyya Sufi order, based in Timbuktu. The acrimony between al-Futi and al-Bakka’i continued well beyond the conquest of Masina, giving the whole conflict a Tijani - Qadiri struggle for political power and control.

Many scholars appear to have bought this idea of Tijani-Qadiri conflict,63 but this is an oversimplification of differences that have their roots in the perspectives of the two major figures in the conflict. Since the estrangement of the Masina polity from Sokoto, Masina came to fall back gradually in to the sphere of influence of the Kunta Shaykhs. This seemed to have encouraged Masina to rest on its oars rather too early, gradually retracting from its militant beginnings and sliding back into its pre-Revolutionary Sufi complacency. That by the time of Ahmadu Ahmadu, the Masina leadership was under the spiritual patronage of al-Bakka might even explain Masina's inability to take a more militant posture towards the spread of paganism and syncretism in the area. For peace with al-Bakkai, as his letter to al.-Hajj Omar clearly conveys, appeared to have been elevated above jihad, as he wrote:

From Ahmad al-Bakka’i to the Amir -Shaykh al-Hajj Omar b. Sa'id al-Futi,... This is to congratulate you for what Allah bestowed upon you ... You must have heard and therefore known the [spiritual] prestige of my predecessors and mine and our excellent relations with the Sultans and other temporal rulers of the Western Sudan ... I was asked by some followers of Muhammad Bello when I appealed to recover some of our possessions plundered by the 'Kel Ahir' "Why do you not declare jihad against them for you are capable of doing so? And besides, by jihad you will be able to dispense with making such requests from the tyrants and thieves." I said to him that though jihad is of great virtues it eventually leads to temporal power which itself- leads to injustice. So we prefer to maintain our present status intact.

In other words the conflict between al-Hajj Omar and Masina is essentially a conflict between two schools of tajdid, the militant and the Sufi. Even as with later involvement of the Kunta Shaykhs, especially al-Bakkai who defended Masina passionately, in the same way al-Kanemi defended Borno, and this conflict took a Tijani-Qadiri form, it remained at its core a conflict between two approaches to tajdid. Indeed this conflict was bound to occur just as it did between Sokoto and Borno. In a way the conflict that Shaykh 'Uthman had with the 'ulama' in Hausaland and the conflict al-Hajj Omar had with the 'ulama' in Futa Jallon; even the conflict al-Maghili had with his contemporaries in Tuwat before them; are essentially conflicts between two perspectives, two approaches and two schools. 

Source: Dr. Usman Muhammad Bugaje, Unpublished Ph.D Thesis, ‘The Tradition of Tajdid in Western Bilad al-Sudan: 900 -1900 AD”