Islam was reported to have reached Kanel-Borno through Tripoli and Kawar in the same century of its birth in Arabia in the 7th century. Why 11th century precisely in 1084, some sources claimed that camel ruler by name Mai Ume Jilmi was converted to Islam. By the 13th century, the religion had been widely accepted by the ruling elite. Mai Idris alooma who reigned between 1570 and 1602 introduced some administrative changes along Islamic teachings. He separated the administration if justice from the executive, taking legal decisions out of the political chiefs and setting up cadis courts to dispense justice in accordance with shariah.
The religion also penetrated almost all the Hausa kingdoms during the early days. In Kano, during the reign of Muhammed Rumfa (1493 to 1499) Islam became a state religion. He in collaboration with Islamic scholars introduced Islamic reforms into Kano political administration and substituted pagan practices with Islamic institutions.
By the last quarter of the 19th century, when the royal Niger Company was exploring northern Nigeria for business transaction, shariah was largely the way of life of the people. In the treaty conceded by the sadikh of Bornu, Umar the son of Muhammad Al Amin Al-kameni to the British government written in Arabic and dated 7 shawal 1257 AH which corresponds to 5th August 1851. The seiks said – “we shall set down the stipulation and answer them according to the principles of sharia” part of the conditions stated in treaty was that the British agent shall be granted the status of a Christian living in an Islamic state. He was also granted free movement while he would not be hindered as long as he didn’t disobey the shariah and he would be treated “according to what is enjoined on us by the shariah since it will not be proper for us to exceed its limit”
Ayandele in his writing on Bornu stated: “…in Bornu, un the middle if the 19tb century Henry Barth was warned that European intruders shouldn’t bring two things to the territory – the bible and liquor. By 1850, Islam had become for its votaries in northern Nigeria a heritage in which they had a great deal of pride. It had become for them a source of life, of inspiration and of creativeness to the extent that they exalted before non-muslims, Africans and Europeans.” The Muslims in northern Nigeria jealously protected their religion against the onslaught of the European missionaries who wanted to convert them. Ayandele writes further in this situation: “from the strictly religious view point, non of the three Christian missions who attempted to spread Christianity in northern Nigeria during this first phase (1870 – 88) of missionary enterprise won a single convert to Christianity…hardly had the SMA priests be in Lokoja for a year than they began to regret their presence among intractable Muslims” that was the extent of the impact of the shariah on the lifes of the northern Nigeria Muslim. They seem to understand the requirements of their religion and they decided to protect it jealously. The role of the traditional rulers I setting up Islamic administration and judicial system seemed to have consolidated the impact of the shariah on the people. Furthermore, the institutionalization of the shariah as the way of life of many Muslims in the territory was a strong factor in this direction. That not withdrawing, shariah will not be said to have completely surpassed the traditional way of life if the average Hausa man because some if the kings still practice Islam along their tradition. Attempts were made by some Islamic scholars to correct the situation but it was the one embarked upon by sheikh ‘Uthman the son of Fudi in 1804 that achieved the greater success.
It is important to mention that before embarking on his jihad, the sheikh identified some of the factors responsible for the syncretic practices of the people thus include, lack of religious education among the common people, incompetent Islamic teachers (mallams) who impacted waking knowledge into their students and in their bid to maintain the established order and prove r their own interest justified political corruption immortality and some sort of evil on the basis of local customs and tradition.
Sheik son of Fudi argued that solution must be found for the identified problems if pure Islam is to be practiced. He therefore maintained that the formulation of Islam was the application of the shariah in its entirety and that most mallams who supported the unbelievers or syncretism should be regarded as unbelievers themselves and that jihad against them was obligatory. He mobilized and he carried out the jihad in Hausa land which resulted in the establishment of a caliphate.
The jihad was a huge success because it reformed corrupt Muslim practices and established pure Islam while competent machinery was put in place to sustain the gains of the revolution. Total shariah was established and practiced not only on personal basis, it became the ideology of the state, governing trade, education, work, and inter group relations
Islam was not restricted to northern Nigeria, some areas in the south especially among the Yoruba had contact with the Muslim of the north had settlers and trader. The exact date of the entry of Islam into Yoruba land cannot be fixed. But certainly it predated Christianity in the area because Yoruba people use to say (aye la ba ifa, aye la ba Mole, osan gan gan ni igba gbo wole) meaning we met ifa in this world as we met Islam but Christianity came in the afternoon. By this saying the Yoruba are stressing that both Islam and ifa had been their religion long before Christianity came into existence. Some sources also mentioned that Muslims were in the Yoruba land in the 17th century. Even with that, the population of Muslims in the 18th century could not have been significant while the religion didn’t make much impact on the political scene. Also, the religion never became a state religion probably because there was no revolution in the south as we had in the north.
The religion of Islam loaned some of its Arabic words to the Yoruba language and the people also imbibed some of its cultures and values however little it may be. This is why the Yoruba whether Muslims or non-Muslims at least up to 1979 would refer to the dispensation of justice a “sheria dida”, “E da sheria fun” up till date, Yoruba will refer to a successor ad “Khalifa” “o to gun ori halifa” meaning – he is now a successor.
Attention must also be drawn to some Muslim traditional rulers in the establishment of shariah court in their palaces included Oba Momodu Lamuye of Iwo who died in 1906. This king appointed a Khadi in his court to adjudicate in cases affecting his predominantly Muslim subjects in accordance with the position of the shariah law. At Ikirun, the late oba Aliyu Oyewole, the 7th Akirun of Ikurun who died in 1912 appointed a Quadi in 1910 while in Ede Oba Abibu Ladunju appointed one Siddiq as an Al-Qudi who recorded court proceedings in Arabic language up to 1913.
The colonization of Nigeria by the British didn’t seem to have encouraged the existence of shariah courts in Yoruba land because as Muslims continued to practice Islam, they became more committed to the shariah as a way of life. This made some groups of Muslims in Yoruba land to demand for the establishment if shariah court for them. For example, in the 1940s the Muslim Congress of Nigeria TMCN addressed a letter from its secretariat in Ijebu ode to the chief secretary of Nigeria demanding for shariah court. They complained that “having longed been deprived of the use of the just and moral code prescribed for use by our holy prophet Muhammad (S.A.W)…for our guidance from generation to generation” they felt it was high time that the situation was changed since “our religion has been greatly corrupted… and many of our Muslims brothers have gone astray” in the word of JND Henderson “he therefore requested the establishment of a Muslim judiciary (shariah for southern Nigeria)” this was followed by a longer later from the same organisation to the Brook Commission stating that they would
“Wish such judiciary to deal initially with matrimonial causes and questions of inheritance …which represented the greater part of the cases tried by native courts. In Ibadan, Muslim sent a memorandum to the group commission which was set up in 1848 “to investigate the working of the native courts system and review the position with regard to the law to be administered in these courts” in the memorandum the Muslim maintained that over 4000 cases of divorce, 95% of them between Muslims were handled by two native courts which separated couples like dogs without regard to the instructions laid down by the holy Qur’an.
According to them; “We therefore pray this commission to grant our request for a separate Muslim court. The condition of our courts is even worse in the case of the law of Inheritance. Our native authority civil courts that grant letters of administration does not know any Muslim law governing this matter”, they argued. It is now part of history that this request for Muslims in Yoruba land for the establishment of sharia courts was not granted by the British colonialists.
Significantly, the same colonialists protected the sharia court system in the North and even allowed the court to continue to try criminal cases. It was possibly part of their defined rule and policy and deploy to eliminate Islam in the south which ironically they could not even touch in the North.
In the Eastern part of Nigeria, until very recently, Islam did not make much impact. This however does not mean that we do not have Muslims in the area. As at today, we have a considerable number of Igbos and even other tribes who are Muslims. As a matter of fact, hardly is there any tribe or part in Nigeria today without the adherent of any known religion, be it Islam, Christianity or traditional religion. Before Christianity itself was duly entrenched among the Igbos, it was also confronted by tradition and culture.
Note that the various constitutions we have had in Nigeria; the 1960 independence, 1963 Republican, 1979 and 1999 constitution have accorded sharia legal system due recognition. The 1960 constitution is so in its Section 112, 1979 constitution in its sections 240-244 and the 1999 constitution in its sections 6(5) f & g 275-279. Note that emphasis should be placed on relevant provisions of the 1999 constitution.
Make sure that you incorporate all these relevant section of the 1999 constitution in your note.
