Hausa Kingdoms
Dan Fodio was a Fulani descendant of a Torodbe family that was well established in Hausaland. He was well educated in classical Islamic science, philosophy, and theology. He also became a revered religious thinker. His teacher, Jibril ibn ʻUmar, argued that it was the duty and within the power of religious movements to establish an ideal society free from oppression and vice. Jibril was a North African ʻalim who gave his apprentice a broader perspective of Muslim reformist ideas in other parts of the Muslim world. Jibril b. ʻUmar was known as an uncompromising opponent of corrupt practices and a stuanch proponent of Jihad. He began his itinerant preaching as a mallam in 1774–1775. Inspired by Jibril b. Umar, Uthman Dan Fodio criticized the Hausa Kingdoms for their unjust and illegal taxes, confiscations of property, compulsory military service, bribery, gift taking and the enslavement of other Muslims. Dan Fodio also criticized the Hausa rulers for condoning paganism, worshipping fetishes, and believing in the power of talismans, divination, and conjuring. He also insisted on the observance of Maliki fiqh in the commercial, criminal, and personal sectors. Usman also denounced the mixing of men and women, pagan customs, dancing at bridal feasts, and inheritance practices contrary to Sharia.