A Treatise on Practical and Theoretical Sufism in the Sokoto Caliphate
Journal of Sufi Studies December 14, 2021 Oludamini Ogunnaike 1 citation
A short text by Shaykh ʿAbd al-Qādir ibn Muṣtafā about his spiritual master and maternal uncle, Muḥammad Sambo, is translated and annotated. Sambo was the son of Usman dan Fodio, founder of the Sokoto Caliphate. While modern scholarship focuses on political and legal aspects of the jihad movement, this text details spiritual practices and discussions among the Fodiawa clan, showing the centrality of the Akbarī tradition and its unique developments in nineteenth-century West Africa. The work includes an account of a dream, Sambo's spiritual method, and his responses to esoteric questions, combining oneirology, hagiography, and Sufism to illuminate the founders' spiritual and intellectual traditions.