Nana Asma'u: War Comes Home (Part 2)

Part 2 of the Nana Asma'u series goes deeper into the years that shaped her most enduring achievement. It covers the Battle of Gawakuke in 1836, when Asma'u fled on horseback through a war zone and later turned that experience into poetry. It covers the death of her brother, Caliph Muhammad Bello, in 1837, the succession crisis and civil war that followed, and how that collective trauma became the catalyst for the Yan Taru.This episode examines Asma'u's war poetry and elegies in detail, exploring how she served as the memory keeper of the Sokoto community, naming the dead that official histories never recorded. It then traces the connection between grief and institution-building, showing how the Yan Taru was not a moment of inspiration but a response to crisis.The second half of the episode focuses on how the Yan Taru actually worked in practice: how the jajis were trained, what the malfa hat signified, how call-and-response teaching sessions operated in village courtyards across the Sahel, and why every element of the system was designed to solve a specific problem of access, literacy, trust, and scale.Sources include Jean Boyd and Beverly Mack's scholarship, Asma'u's own Wakar Gewaye ("The Song of the Circling"), and her elegies for Usman dan Fodio and Muhammad Bello.Content Warning: This episode discusses warfare, displacement, fleeing battle zones, and the deaths of historical figures. Enjoyed this episode? Dive deeper into Islamic history with the Archives app - bite-sized lessons, real stories, and daily adventures you can finish in 5 minutes.📲 Download the Archives app here🌐 Learn more here 📸 Follow Basel on Instagram here If this episode helped you, share it with someone who needs to hear it. Assalamu alaykum, and we'll see you in the next one.