Yan Taru

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The Yan Taru movement was started by Nana Asma'u dan Fodio in 1838 with the purpose of empowering and educating women in the then Sokoto Caliphate. The movement survived the death of its founder, end of the Caliphate and Colonialism in Nigeria still existing today.

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With the establishment of the Caliphate in 1808, Shaikh Uthman dan Fodio made educating the women of his new state a priority. Coming from a Fulani background, he was raised by educated women as his Mother and Grandmother were learned. In Fulbe families, the teaching of Islamic studies to young children was tasked on the women. The Shaikh encouraged women to attend lectures of preachers and scholars. However, it was over two decades after his death would his daughter Nana Asma'u start her own movement for educating women. [1]

History of the movement

The term ƴan-taru means "the collective" or "those who have come together" in the Hausa language, the lingua-franca of the Sokoto Calipate. At around 1838, Nana Asma'u and her husband Gidado, the Grand Vizier of Sokoto, started holding classes on Islamic knowledge and history at their house in the city of Sokoto. They both wrote many books on Shaikh Uthman and Muhammand Bello. Originally in Arabic, Nana Asma'u translated a considerable number of both classical and modern works to Fulfulde and Hausa to make them more accessible to the non-Arabic speaking public. She focused on spreading Islamic knowledge in a simple way so it was easy to remember, for both the Jajis (teachers) and the students. She simplified subjects such as Aqedah, Fiqh and tazkiyyathul nafs. [2] Asma'u taught that the asceticism and teaching skills of classical Sufi women and the characteristics and teachings of her brother Bello, the caliph, and her father Shaikh Uthman as examples to be followed.

Excerpt from: Collected works of Nana Asma'u, daughter of Usman 'dan Fodiyo (1793-1864). mqdm@ nn 'sm bnt `thmn fwdy.png
Excerpt from: Collected works of Nana Asma’u, daughter of Usman ‘dan Fodiyo (1793-1864).

Her classes grew larger as women from neighbouring villages regularly visited Sokoto to attend them. [1] The movement was also known to educate young children. Nana Asma'u appointed Jajis who were learned women tasked with teaching women. [4] She gave each a malfa which was a hat that served as a traditional symbol of office tied with a red turban. [5] [6] The malfa hats were made of fine silky grasses with a distinctive balloon shape as they are intended to be worn over turbans. They were usually worn by men. The late Waziri of Sokoto always wore one on formal occasions. The malfa is also one of the marks of the office used by the Lima of Gobir, the chief of women devotees of Mbori. Nana Asma'u intentionally used the malfa to devalue its uniqueness and change it from a symbol of the pagan religion of Bori to an emblem of Islam. She bestowed a red turban, or strip of red cloth, on each new Jaji. The turban was further proof of the wearer's authority granted by Nana Asma'u to each appointed Jaji. [7]

Asma’u personally trained the jajis, providing them with lesson plans to spread Islamic works among the people by traveling to all over the caliphate educate people on pious behavior and rudimentary Islamic skills in the practicalities of daily life, to "reshape the common details of their life into Islamic form". Due to the ongoing jihad of the time, there many new converts to Islam and the Yan Taru movement through the Jajis helped educate them on basic Islamic values like prayer and Sunnah. [8] Before her death, most women in Sokoto could learn and understand the basics of Islam. [2]

After the death of Nana Asma'u in 1864, her sister Mariamu, also a respected scholar, continued the movement. The movement still exists today in the 21st century. They have been a major importance in determining elections in Northern Nigeria, where some women voters outnumbered the men. [1] At the end of the Sokoto Caliphate and the beginning of British Colonial Northern Nigeria, the leader of the Yan Taru movement was Tamodi, a Granddaughter of Shaikh Uthman dan Fodio. Women still visited her in Sokoto particularly for Islamic education. [9]

Legacy

Many modern organistations in Northern Nigeria with a primary focus on educating women, such as Jam’iyar Matan Arewa, Women in Nigeria (WIN) and Federation of Muslim Women Association of Nigeria (FOMWAN), cited the Yan Taru movement as an inspiration. These organisations have been at the forefront for advocating and campaigning for quality schools and education for women and children in Nigeria especially in the North. [9]

Almost two centuries after its founding, the movement has become global. Yan Taru has chapters in many states in the United States such as Pennsylvania, Texas, Alabama, Georgia, California and Florida with hundreds of women participating as students. They facilitate educational programs and social welfare for women around the world. [5] There are other Jajis globally like Dylia bint Hamadi Camara who is from Mali who was named the national Jaji of the US Yan Taru group. [10]

Related Research Articles

Shehu Usman dan Fodio. was a Fulani scholar, Islamic religious teacher, poet, revolutionary and a philosopher who founded the Sokoto Caliphate and ruled as its first caliph.

Hausa–Fulani are people of mixed Hausa and Fulani origin. They are primarily found in the Northern region of Nigeria, most of whom speak a variant of Hausa or Fula or both as their first language. The term Hausa-Fulani is also used mostly as a joint term to refer to both the monoethnic Hausa and Fulani ethnic populations in Northern Nigeria.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sokoto (city)</span> Capital city of Sokoto State, Nigeria

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jihad of Usman dan Fodio</span> Military conflict in Nigeria and Cameroon (1804–1808)

The Jihad of Usman dan Fodio was a religio-military conflict in present-day Nigeria and Cameroon. The war began when Usman dan Fodio, a prominent Islamic scholar and teacher, was exiled from Gobir by King Yunfa, one of his former students.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sokoto Caliphate</span> Islamic state in West Africa (1804–1903)

The Sokoto Caliphate, also known as the Sultanate of Sokoto, was a Sunni Muslim caliphate in West Africa. It was founded by Usman dan Fodio in 1804 during the Fulani jihads after defeating the Hausa Kingdoms in the Fulani War. The boundaries of the caliphate are part of present-day Cameroon, Burkina Faso, Niger, and Nigeria. By 1837, the Sokoto state had a population of around 10-20 million people, becoming the most populous empire in West Africa. It was dissolved when the British, French, and Germans conquered the area in 1903 and annexed it into the newly established Northern Nigeria Protectorate, Senegambia and Niger and Kamerun respectively.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Islam in Nigeria</span>

Islam is one of the two largest religions in Nigeria. Nigeria also has the largest Muslim population in Africa. In 2018, the CIA World Factbook estimated that 53.5% of Nigeria's population is Muslim. Islam is predominantly concentrated in the northern half of the country, with a significant Muslim minority existing in the southern region. Most of Northern Nigeria is governed under Sharia law, while the rest of the country is governed under secular law.

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Abu Bakr Atiku was the third Sultan of the Sokoto Caliphate, reigning from October 1837 until November 1842.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hausa people</span> Ethnic group in West Africa

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References

  1. 1 2 3 Boyd, Jean; Last, Murray (1985). "The Role of Women as "Agents Religieux" in Sokoto". Canadian Journal of African Studies. 19 (2): 283–300. doi:10.2307/484826. ISSN   0008-3968. JSTOR   484826.
  2. 1 2 Codingest (17 October 2022). "Nana Asmau and Yan Taru movement: An excellent example of women empowerment from West Africa". Islamonweb English. Retrieved 8 May 2023.
  3. ↑ Asma’u, Nana (1997). "Excerpt from: Collected works of Nana Asma'u, daughter of Usman 'dan Fodiyo (1793-1864)". Boston University Open Libraries (in Arabic).
  4. ↑ Merritt, Nikki (1994). "Nana Asma'u, Her Elegies and the Possibility of 'Insider Alternatives'". African Languages and Cultures. 7 (2): 91–99. doi:10.1080/09544169408717779. ISSN   0954-416X. JSTOR   1771806.
  5. 1 2 ABBAS, WARDAH. "Honouring the Yan – Taru Legacy of Nana Asma'u Bint Uthman Dan Fodio". Amaliah. Retrieved 7 May 2023.
  6. ↑ Webmaster (3 June 2017). "Nana Asma'u and the 'yan taru movement". Daily Trust. Retrieved 8 May 2023.
  7. ↑ Boyd, Jean; Mack, Beverly B. (2000). "6". One Woman's Jihad: Nana Asma'u, Scholar and Scribe. Indiana University Press. pp. 76–91.
  8. ↑ Edwin, Shirin (2016). Privately Empowered: Expressing Feminism in Islam in Northern Nigerian Fiction (PDF). United States of America: Northwestern University Press. p. 67.
  9. 1 2 Bawa, Aisha Balarabe (March 2019). "Historical Narratives of Women's Contributions to Education in Northern Nigeria". International Journal of Language, Literature and Gender Studies. 8 (17): 1. doi: 10.4314/laligens.v8i1.1 . S2CID   167103498.
  10. ↑ Lorcin, Patricia (2 October 2017). The Southern Shores of the Mediterranean and its Networks: Knowledge, Trade, Culture and People. Routledge. ISBN   978-1-317-39425-9.
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