Insignia and Monuments
Insignia of suzerainty were almost non-existent: a flag was carried on military expeditions, but it could be a separate flag given to the commander of each expedition. Flags were plain white, perhaps a meter square, made of rough cotton (but occasionally of a more fancy, imported cloth like damask), with a line of prayer written in ink toward the bottom in a small, ordinary script.
There was a formal, titled bearer of the flag. But no flags flew above, say, the amir al-mu'minin's house, let alone a mosque; there were no coats of arms or badges. No crowns (only a turban; and when on horseback with a straw hat over the turban); no fine suits of armor. Some senior families might have a ceremonial sword, with its own name (as did the Waziri, the sword Bisalam being a souvenir captured in battle), along with a prayer jug. A large, fine umbrella may have been used, on formal parade to the prayer-ground at ‘Id, or to keep off the sun when sitting static on horseback at mid-day observing the field of battle; it possibly marked the presence of the amir al-mu'minin, as no one else would have one. It could also serve to protect the amir al-mu'minin from arrows or rocks thrown at him, if it was lowered around him fast enough.[2464] More significant might have been the sounds made, especially by praise-singers—but these would have attended other notables. There were wind instruments as well as drums that could also mark the presence of the amir al-mu'minin, but non-military music was not permitted.[2465]Each amir al-mu'minin had his own seal for use on the top of letters; round with no date on it, it just had the amir's name, in not a very elegant script.[2466] No other emir had a seal, and it was not used for anything other than correspondence; books were not authenticated by a seal, but it is possible a treaty might have been—none, however has come to light yet.
No local coins were minted by Sokoto (silver and gold, for example, were not mined) but coins from abroad such as the Maria Theresa thalers and North African dinars were used as currency alongside the cowry, already well established in Hausaland but not initially in neighboring Borno, where small copper coins had been briefly minted in the eighteenth century before being replaced in the mid-nineteenth century by cowries. No coins, it seems, had ever been minted in West Africa, even by such gold-rich empires as Mali or Songhai, though plain gold disks were used in Timbuktu. Currency was thus never a symbol of empire until European colonial powers introduced theirs. Cowries had their problems in daily use: as a load, they were carried 20,000 to a bag (50 lbs.), and a skill in rapid counting was developed among merchants, but cheating was possible (especially when used for gambling).[2467]There were also no waqf, “charitable foundations” with accumulated wealth, of the sort that enabled North African institutions to be built in fine stone and maintained over generations. Furthermore, the absence of good building stone meant that there were few buildings built to impress: mosques and the houses of the amir al-mu'minin were constructed out of clay, with arches a problem with the absence of ant-proof timber. Maintenance was necessary yearly. No tall minaret was built in Sokoto (the call to prayer was given from low platforms instead), though large towers in Agades and Kano served as minarets. Indeed, only in Kano did the sultan have an elaborate palace, while the emir in Zaria had built a remarkable mosque (unique as the guest architect was soon dead—murdered, reportedly, on the orders of the jealous emir?).[2468]
The main Friday mosque in Sokoto, as in any emirate, was usually sited near the emir's palace and it was there that the weekly khutba was given, but in a major city like Sokoto there was a major alternative mosque beside the tomb of Shaikh ‘Uthman; the tomb was a point of pilgrimage (ziyara), especially for women, and a site for many an elite grave.[2469] But traditionally important men were buried in their family's main house. There were no official ceremonies associated with the graves, and no monuments or gravestones, though the identity of graves was known privately.
Indeed, during an emir's rule, there was no public commemoration of accession (let alone a birthday) or any such occasion beyond the marking of the two ‘Id festivals—not even maulud (though some groups did so privately). And the amir al-mu'minin never iterated around his domain: his subordinate emirs came to him, if at all. The amir al-mu’minin did go out with his troops to battle or on campaign, but did not usually wield a sword or spear—indeed the last one, in the battle against the invading colonial army, while on horseback kept his hand on a tree as if he were a hunter trying to be invisible to his prey. (This amir al-mu’minin did it again at his final battle, this time with a hand on the mosque wall inside the besieged town where he took refuge; he died there. Touching an object makes you appear, to the enemy or your prey, as part of that object, if you have the appropriate charm on you.) This is recorded because locally it's an action not considered quite appropriate for a pious amir al-mu’minin.The amir al-mu’minin normally had considerable charisma. People had sought the hair of the aged Shaikh ‘Uthman whenever he had been shaved, and crowds would seek to touch the garments of an emir when he went traveling; his saliva was thought to be therapeutic. But a charismatic’s distance was usually maintained by his servants and escorts. Even an emir’s speech was delivered to an audience by a “linguist”; the emir’s own voice should not be heard. His mouth was always covered in public by a fold of his turban (heads were always shaved and covered, long hair being reserved for warriors, and slaves went bare-headed). However, the only ceremonial in which the emir participated in person was at the five daily prayers, usually in the main Friday mosque beside the “palace.” He was most accessible only at the pre-dawn prayer, when petitioners could seek to speak to him directly in the darkness of the mosque and its courtyard. In a specifically religious context, then, his charisma was put to use.
But traditionally it was then, too, that an emir might be at most risk of being assassinated—so sometimes a decoy was sent to pray in his place.[2470]During the caliphate itself, no amir al-mu’minin or emir was murdered, and coups are rarely even attempted. It was as if legitimacy was so crucial to the role that to self-instate oneself into that role was unthinkable: it was necessary for only legitimate others to endow a new emir with the charisma (and robes) of his office. Charisma developed alongside personal piety, rather than through overt power.
Amidst all this detail, it is easy to overlook the importance given to Shaikh ‘Uthman as a shaikh, and in particular as the leading shaikh of the Sufi brotherhood, the Qadiriyya, to which his jama’a belonged. Even today, in public pronouncements, the people of Sokoto are addressed as Kadirawa.
Obedience to, and deep respect for, one’s shaikh are built into the system. Significantly, on Shaikh ‘Uthman’s death, his son and heir Muhammad Bello became amir al-mu’minin and therefore caliph, but not shaikh. Symbolically the system had subtly changed: from being initially Sufi and scholarly in its structures, it had become political—hence, properly speaking, the “caliphate” starts in 1817, though the polity began with the election of Shaikh ‘Uthman as the imam of his jama’a in 1804, so that he could formally begin the jihad and appoint officers to
organize operations. Shaikh ‘Uthman is always referred to today as “Shehu”—for that is in essence what he stands for: sanctity, not power.