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- Muhammadu Attahiru II (Arabic: محمد الطاهر الثاني) was the thirteenth Sultan of the Sokoto Caliphate from 1903 to 1915. Attahiru II was the great grandson of Usman dan Fodio, the founder of the Sokoto Caliphate and son of Ali Babba bin Bello, the fourth Sultan. Upon the death of the eleventh sultan Abderrahman dan Abi Bakar in 1902, Attahiru II was the primary challenger to the candidacy of Muhammadu Attahiru I, with the later being selected as the Sultan. After losing this selection to Attahiru I, it is claimed that Attahiru II became largely uninterested in the affairs of the Caliphate. The Sokoto Caliphate leaders are partly Arabs and partly Fulani as stated by Abdullahi dan Fodio, brother of Usman dan Fodio who claimed that their family are part Fulani, and part Arabs, they claimed to descent from the Arabs through Uqba ibn Nafi who was an Arab Muslim of the Umayyad branch of the Quraysh, and hence, a member of the family of the Prophet, Uqba ibn Nafi allegedly married a Fulani woman called Bajjumangbu through which the Torodbe family of Usman dan Fodio descended. Caliph Muhammed Bello writing in his book Infaq al-Mansur claimed descent from Prophet Muhammad through his paternal grandmother's lineage called Hawwa (mother of Usman dan Fodio), Alhaji Muhammadu Junaidu, Wazirin Sokoto, a scholar of Fulani history, restated the claims of Shaykh Abdullahi bin Fodio in respect of the Danfodio family been part Arabs and part Fulani, while Ahmadu Bello in his autobiography written after independence replicated Caliph's Muhammadu Bello claim of descent from the Arabs through Usman Danfodio's mother, the historical account indicates that the family of Shehu dan Fodio are partly Arabs and partly Fulani who culturally assimilated with the Hausas and can be described as Hausa-Fulani Arabs. Prior to the beginning of the 1804 Jihad the category Fulani was not important for the Torankawa (Torodbe), their literature reveals the ambivalence they had defining Torodbe-Fulani relationships. They adopted the language of the Fulbe and much ethos while maintaining a separate identity. The Toronkawa clan at first recruited members from all levels of Sūdānī society, particularly the poorer people.Toronkawa clerics included people whose origin was Fula, Wolof, Mande, Hausa and Berber.However, they spoke the Fula language, married into Fulbe families, and became the Fulbe scholarly caste. In 1903, British forces conquered Sokoto leading Attahiru I to flee from the city with many supporters. British Commander Frederick Lugard appointed Muhammadu Attahiru II the new Sultan of Sokoto on March 21, 1903. However, at the same time Lugard stripped much of the political power of the office of Sultan. Attahiru's reign consisted of balancing his need to both serve the people he ruled and satisfy the British colonial authorities. In 1906, a Mahdist rebellion broke out outside the city of Sokoto in the village of Satiru. Elements of the Royal West African Frontier Force were dispatched to suppress the rebellion; upon hearing news of what had transpired, Attahiru dispatched a mixed force of 300 Sokoto cavalry and infantry led by Mallam Isa to join them. The combined force successfully suppressed the rebellion, which marked the last instance of armed resistance to British rule in the region. (en)
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