Shehu Al-Hajj Muhammad Al-Amîn ibn Muhammad Al-Kânemî (1776- 1837)

SHEHU LAMINU, as he is popularly called was an Islamic scholar, teacher, religious and political leader who advised and eventually replaced the Sayfawa dynasty of the Kanem-‪Borno‬ Empire. He ruled from October–November 1809 – 8 June 1837.

Born to a Kanembu father and an Arab mother near Murzuk in what is today Libya, Al-Kanemi rose to prominence as a member of a rural religious community in the western provinces of what was then a much atrophied Borno Empire. 

The Fulani jihadists, under Usman dan Fodio's banner tried to conquer Borno in 1808. In the process, they burnt the capital, N'gazargamo and the latter called for the help of Al-Kanemi to repel his Fulani opponents. By planning, inspiration, and prayer, he attracted a following, especially from Shuwa Arab networks and Kanembu communities extending far outside Borno's borders. The mai (monarch), Dunama IX Lefiami rewarded the leader with control over a Borno province on the Western march.

Taking only the title "Shehu" ("Sheikh"), and eschewing the traditional offices, al-Kanemi gathered a powerful following, becoming both the voice of Borno in negotiations with Sokoto, as well as a semi independent ruler of a trade rich area with a powerful military. 

Dunama was deposed by his uncle in 1809, but the support of al-Kanemi brought him back to power in 1813.

Al Kanemi waged his war against Sokoto not only with weapons but also with letters as he desired to thwart dan Fodio’s jihad with the same ideological weapons. He carried on a series of theological, legal and political debates by letters with the Sultan of Sokoto Usman dan Fodio, and later with his son, Muhammed Bello.

As the expansion of Sokoto was predicated upon a struggle against paganism, apostasy, and misrule, Al-Kanemi challenged the right of his neighbours to strike at a state which had been Muslim for at least 800 years. 

When El-Kanemi rose to power after the Fulani jihad, he did not totally reorganise the Sayfawa kingdom: he only tried to insert his men in the existing framework of the Sayfawa territorial fiefs. The Shehu had constructed in 1814 a power base at the new city of Kukawa. This new city became the de facto capital of Borno at that time. 

The Tomb of Muhammad al-Amin al-Kanemi, is located at Kukawa, in Borno State of Nigeria.


...Annals of Borno, University of MAIDUGURI.