Muhammed Bello was the son and aide of Usman dan Fodio

Usman dan Fodio

Shaihu Usman dan Fodio , born Usuman ɓii Foduye, was the founder of the Sokoto Caliphate in 1809, a religious teacher, writer and Islamic promoter. Dan Fodio was one of a class of urbanized ethnic Fulani living in the Hausa States in what is today northern Nigeria...

. He became the second Sultan of Sokoto following his father's 1815 retirement from the throne. Bello faced early challenges from dissident leaders such as 'Abd al-Salam, and rivalries between the key families of his father's jihad

Fulani War

The Fulani War of 1804-1810, also known as the Fulani Jihad or Jihad of Usman dan Fodio, was a military conquest in present day Nigeria and Cameroon. Expelled from Gobir by his former student Yunfa in 1802, Islamic reformer Usman dan Fodio assembled a Fulani army to lead in jihad against the Hausa...

. Bello soon consolidated his rule by granting land and power to these leading Fulani

Fula people

Fula people or Fulani or Fulbe are an ethnic group spread over many countries, predominantly in West Africa, but found also in Central Africa and Sudanese North Africa...

 families. He is also the brain behind the city of Sokoto

Sokoto

Sokoto is a city located in the extreme northwest of Nigeria, near to the confluence of the Sokoto River and the Rima River. As of 2006 it has a population of 427,760...

. After the success of the Fulani jihad, Muhammed Bello wanted to build a new city to mirror the Islamic faith and to present a stable instead of pastoral image of Fulani's. In 1809, the building of Sokoto started, mosques were strategically placed in different corners of the city for easy accessibility and some houses where constructed with Islamic architectural patterns. He also facilitated and encouraged the building of new towns, especially in the western region of the caliphate.

One of Bello's daughters married future Toucouleur

Toucouleur

The Toucouleurs are a Fula agricultural people who live primarily in West Africa: the north of Senegal in the Senegal River valley, Mauritania, and Mali.-History:...

 jihad

Jihad

Jihad , an Islamic term, is a religious duty of Muslims. In Arabic, the word jihād translates as a noun meaning "struggle". Jihad appears 41 times in the Quran and frequently in the idiomatic expression "striving in the way of God ". A person engaged in jihad is called a mujahid; the plural is...

ist El Hadj Umar Tall

Umar Tall

El Hadj Umar ibn Sa'id Tall , , born in what is now actual Senegal was a West African political leader, Islamic scholar, and Toucouleur military commander who founded a brief empire encompassing much of what is now Guinea, Senegal, and Mali.-Name:Umar Tall's name is spelled variously: in...

.

Principles on leadership

“The contract with Muslim leaders (a’ima) is only annulled when the objectives of leadership has been rendered null and void, like apostasy, recognized madness, or when the leader has been made a war captive or imprisoned and there is no hope of him being freed, likewise by a sickness which causes the leader to forget knowledge, by blindness, deafness or muteness, or when he removes himself due to his inability to establish the welfare of the Muslims…”.

Scholarship

Muhammed Bello is probably the foremost Hausaland writer on Islamic in the entire pre-colonial period.”. Many of his writings have been collected http://www.arewahouseabung.org/Bunza.pdf.