This was a popular but poorly answered question. Many of those who answered it concentrated on the causes and reforms of Usman dan Fodio. They were expected to highlight the following points:
(i) Some Islamic clerics were appointed in the chiefs’ courts as scribes.
(ii) Some Islamic scholars were appointed as advisers to the kings and therefore took part in all the decision making processes.
(iii) Some Islamic leaders deposed traditional rulers and replaced them with their own followers.
(iv) Through its strong opposition to the matrilineal form of inheritance, ascendancy to the throne of chieftaincies was changed by Islam from matrilineal to patrilineal.
(v) Some traditional rulers found it difficult to govern their subjects due to the interference of some of the Muslim clerics |
