The Fodiawa, so named from the Fulfulde word fodiye— “learned man” (Hausaized as fodio and Arabicized as fūdī)—was one such family that had settled in north-western Hausaland on the edges of the kingdom of Gobir. They traced their roots back to a certain Mūsā Jokollo who was said to have left Futa Toro (apparently in the fifteenth century) because of religious persecution. A strong teaching tradition developed within the family, as is evident from ʿAbd Allāh b. Mūhammad Fodiye’s account of his education in his Īdāʿ al-nusūkh, laying emphasis on tawḥīd, fiqh and Arabic language, but no…