Islam had certainly been practised in Adamawa before the nineteenth century, and had been introduced there by Kanuri traders from Bornu. The teachings of Sh. ʿUthmān b. Muḥammad Fodiye found a ready ear among some of the Fulani clans that had established themselves in the region as early as the eighteenth century. In 1806 a Fulani teacher, Modibbo Ādam, visited Sokoto and was given a flag and the authority of Sh. ʿUthmān to pursue the jihād in Adamawa.

At first rejected by the Fulani clan heads (ardo’en), he was able to rally them after successful campaigns against the Batta and …