Rise and Fall of the Adamawa Emirate

By Rainer Chr. Hennig - Afrol News - Oslo, Norway
Monday, August 7, 2006

[Excerpt] The ancient Emirate of Adamawa was a part of the Sokoto Caliphate, the politically dominant empire of the Central Sudan in the 19th century. Adamawa was known as "The wild east" of the Caliphate, were Fulbe settlers occupied the vast highlands of Northern Cameroon and provided slaves for the empire from the neighboring areas.

The Adamawa-Fulbe call themselves Pullo (sing.) and Fulbe (plural), but are called a variety of names, Fulani (which originally is a Haussa-term) being most common in English.
They originally were a nomadic people of herders, herding still being an important feature in Fulbe societies all over the Sudan, from Senegal to the Chad. Nowadays, most are semi nomadic or sedentary (so-called town-Fulbe, to which I will refer to as the Fulbe from now on). A minority, which is constantly becoming fewer, is still nomadic. These are the Bororo, or bush-Fulbe. Common for all these groups is their organization in clans. This clan structure was essential to a nomadic people as an additional form of social and identical structure parallel to the family lineage. It was that basic to the Fulbe, however, that they sticked to it also after the sedentarisation - such as their special relationship to the cattle as a source to wealth, power and prestige. The clans which were to play an important role in Adamawa, were the great clans of Wollarbe and Yilliga and the smaller clan of Ba.

It is assumed that the Fulbe came into contact with Islam already before their emigration from Senegal. Conversion to Islam was especially widespread amongst the sedentary Fulbe, while the Bororo (nomadic Fulbe) were less receptive to Islam. Amongst the Bororo, Islam never created profound changes of mentality, but laid as a thin shell above the traditional cultural heritage, and this is pretty much how the situation remains today in the small remaining societies of Bororos. The sedentary Fulbe in Haussaland, however, were strongly influenced by the Muslim Haussa, and got in touch with the Sufi orders of Islam. In the only nominally Muslim Haussa-states, the relation of the masses to Islam was more a formal than representing a real understanding of the religion. Islam was Africanized, insipid by Sufism and Maraboutism. This was also the situation for the majority of the Fulbe.

Terms: Sufism
Within Islam, the Sufism is characterised by mysticism. While Islam normally emphasizes the great distance between Allah and man, and thereby often does not meet the needs of the faithful to come into contact with the transcendent, Sufism opens a door to the unity with Allah. For example through the leading of an ascetic life or practicing suggestive exercises, each and everybody could get to feel the closeness of Allah, however after going through a long process. Sufism, thus, was more popular than orthodox Islam, and therefore more suited for the spread of the religion or mission. From the 12th century, Sufism became a widespread popular version of Islam amongst ordinary people, the poor and the illiterate. In Africa it gained great popularity and became widespread.