Hausa Kingdoms
Shehu Dan Fodio was a descendant of one of the clans Torodbe (Toronkawa) of urbanized ethnic Fulani people living in the Hausa Kingdoms since the early 1400s in what is now northern Nigeria. He belonged to the Maliki school of fiqh (Islamic jurisprudence) and a staunch follower of the Athari Islamic Creed.