What do you think is the most important aim(s) of Asma’u’s personal jihad? Write a paper which begins by explaining what that is and why you think it is the most important. This paragraph will constitute your thesis. The remainder of the paper, the argument, will support that thesis through the use of evidence drawn from Asma’u’s poems (93–171). (If you choose to write on this, identify what you think is the chief message(s) and virtues that Asma’u valued and sought to propagate, teach, and emulate through her poems).
- What does Nana Asma’u consider to be characters of a virtuous leader or caliph and how do the Prophet Muhammad, Bello, and Uthman dan Fodiyo (Shehu) exemplify these traits? That is, what ideal qualities of a caliph do we find among Bello, Shehu, and the Prophet in the poems? In the course of your essay be sure to discuss the duties of Muslims to the caliphate and their rights against a tyrannical caliph as well as how Asma’u’s experiences during the jihad wars of her father shape her views about politics during 19th century Sokoto (93–171).
- How are virtuous Sufi women represented in poems of Nana Asma’u? For what qualities did Amsa’u praise Sufi Muslim women, including Aisha, and what similarities and differences do you find between Sufi women’s characters and that of men (such as the Prophet, Bello, and Shehu)?
- To what extent are Nana Asma’u’s accounts of Islam, Sufism, and sunnah of the prophet a product of her education, the politics at the time, her gendered role and responsibilities as a woman (93–171)?
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