hundred works in Arabic, testified to this singular goal. Like the Prophet Muhammad (whose biography he mirrored in uncanny ways), the shehu passed away at the age of sixty-three.
All three of his books presented in this volume were authored in the earliest stage of his career, between 1774 and 1787. The first two, The Roots of the Religion and The Sciences of Behavior, are pioneering translations by ‘A’isha Abdarrahman Bewley.7 The third work, The Book of Distinction, has been translated by Muhammad Shareef.8
The Roots of the Religion (Kitab usul al-din)
The Roots of the Religion is a short text designed to be taught rather than merely read. It was composed when the shehu was in the earliest phase of his teaching (between 1774 and 1780) in his early twenties. It was written in response to a demand for a clear, teachable text that would familiarize ordinary Muslims with the basics of the Islamic creed (‘aqida) and theology. This latter discipline, while often glossed as kalam in other parts of the Muslim world, is known in West Africa (and in Dan Fodio’s writing) almost exclusively as tawhid—the science of the Oneness of God.
Like many works in the Islamic classical tradition, it is meant to serve as the basis for an oral teaching between a master and his or her disciples. Each of its concise lines opens onto fundamental questions of theology. Short texts like the Kitab usul al-din would almost always be committed to memory by seekers. Students would ask questions of their masters in oral teaching sessions (majlis, majalis) and consummate scholars, like the shehu himself, would bring the text to life. In this volume, the Roots of the Religion might also serve to introduce modern readers, Muslim and non-Muslim alike, to the basic elements of the faith as they were—and still are—taught by classically trained African scholars.
In the name of God, the Merciful One, the Endless Giver of Mercy. May God bless our Master Muhammad and his family and companions and grant them perfect peace.
Says the slave, the poor man in need of the mercy of his Lord, Uthman bin Muhammad bin Uthman known as Dan Fodio, may God cover him with mercy. Amin.
Praise is for God, Lord of all the worlds, and blessings and peace on the Messenger of God, may God bless him and grant him peace. This definition, the roots of the religion, will be of use, if God wills, to whoever looks to it for support. I say—and success is by God—that the whole universe from the Throne to the spread carpet of the earth is contingent (hadith) and its Maker is God—may He be exalted! His existence is necessary (wajib al-wujud)—from before endless time (qadim), no beginning to Him, going on for ever (baq), no end to Him. He is not affected by contingencies (mukhalif li-l-hawadith). He has no body (jism) and no attributes of body. He has no direction (jihat) and no place (makan). He is as He was in pre-existence before the universe, wealthy beyond dependence (ghaniyy) on place (mahal) or designation (mukhassas). He is One (wahid) in His Essence and in His Attributes and in His Actions. He is Powerful (qadir) through Power, transforms through will, He Knows (‘alim) through knowledge, He lives through life, He Hears through hearing, sees through sight, and speaks through speech. He has complete freedom in acting and leaving undone. Divine Perfection is all necessary (wajib) to Him and deficiency, the opposite of Divine Perfection, is entirely impossible (mustahil) for Him.
All His Messengers from Adam to Muhammad—may God bless him and grant him peace—are truthful (sadiqun) and trustworthy (umana’) and they conveyed what they were commanded to convey to the creation. All human perfection is necessarily theirs and all human imperfections are impossible for them. Permitted to them are eating (akl), drinking (shurb), marriage (nikah), buying (bay‘a) and selling (shara’), and illness (marad) which does not lead to imperfection.
The angels are all preserved from wrong-action (ma‘sumun). They do not disobey God in anything He commands and they carry out all that they are commanded to do. They are of light (nuraniyun), neither male nor female. They do not eat and they do not drink.
The Books from Heaven (al-kutub al-samawiya) are all true and real (haqq wa sidq). Death at its appointed time is true. The questioning by Munkar and Nakir of the inhabitants of the graves and other than them is true.1 The punishment of the grave is true. The ease of the grave is true. The Day of Rising is true. The awakening of the dead (ba‘th al-amwat) on that day is true. The gathering of the people (jam‘ al-nas) in one place on that day is true. The giving of the books (‘ita’ al-kutub) is true. The weighing of deeds (wazn al-‘amal) is true. The reckoning (hisab) is true. The narrow bridge (sirat) is true. Drinking from Kawthar is true.2 The Fire (nar) is true. The endlessness of the Fire with its people (dawam al-nar ma‘ ahlihi) is true. The Garden (janna) is true. The endlessness of the Garden with its people (dawam al-janna ma‘ ahlihi) is true. The vision (ru’yat) of Him by the believers in the Afterlife—may He be exalted—is true. Everything that Muhammad—may God bless him and grant him peace —came with is true.
These are the roots of the Religion. God—may He be exalted—has confirmed them all, those concerning divinity (ilahiyat), prophecy (nabawiyyat) and the after-world (sam‘iyat), in the Vast Qur’an. All who are obligated (mukallaf) must believe in them just as they came to us. The belief of the common people in all these roots becomes, in the case of the elite, knowledge. This is because of the difficulty the common people have in understanding proofs. As it was said by ‘Izz al-Din, Sultan of the scholars, in The Foundations of the Sciences and the Islam of the People: “for that reason the Messenger of God—may God bless him and grant him peace—did not make those who became Muslims delve in these things. Instead he would make them firm since it was known that they would be separated from him. This was the way with the right-guided khalifs, and the guided scholars still establish them in this way.”
As for those who are among the people of inner sight (ahl al-basira), they must reflect on these roots in order to abandon blind following (taqlid) and become convinced with the eye of the heart. This is in order that the religion of the people of inner sight should be based on clear vision, particularly for the one who reaches the station of calling others to Him. He said—may He be exalted—“Say: This is my way. I call to God with inner sight. I and whoever follows me” (Q 12:108). Here ends the definition of the roots of the religion. Oh God, give us success in following the sunna of Your Prophet Muhammad, may God bless him and grant him peace. Oh God, bless our Master Muhammad and the family of our Master Muhammad and grant them peace.
The Sciences of Behavior (‘Ulum al-mu‘amala)
The Sciences of Behavior was written sometime between 1780 and 1785, in a period when the shehu and his growing circle of disciples were developing more elaborate and detailed teaching on the practical elements of the faith and how to pair them with the cultivation of excellent character. While The Sciences of Behavior by Dan Fodio is clearly not a commentary on Ghazali’s The Revival of the Sciences of Religion, the latter work is one of the principal sources that Dan Fodio engages in writing on ethical comportment.
The shehu’s text is organized according to the structure of the
