Arabic Source Materials and their Relevance in the History of the 19th century Sokoto Caliphate

The Sokoto Caliphate was an Islamic state that was established in the 19th century in the northern area of modern Nigeria. One of the outstanding achievements of the Sokoto Caliphate was recorded in the area of intellectual activities. The intellectual tradition in the caliphate was based on the promotion of Islamic scholarship and intensive literary activity with Arabic language playing a major role in the production of Arabic materials that contributed greatly in preserving the rich social and political history of the land and the peoples under the jurisdiction of the Sokoto Caliphate.

    This paper intends to explore and analyze the importance of Arabic language which was promoted as a language of study in the numerous madarasah as well as a language of goverment activities in the caliphate. It is worth noting here that the leadership of the caliphate had paid great attention to the study of Arabic language which led to the training of students by indigenous specialists in different parts of the Caliphate. It was through this system that a good number of poets, grammarians and other category of specialized scholars  were produced who produced important Arabic materials which in a way contributed to the promotion of historical studies as well as other important disciplines in the Caliphate.