A HISTORICAL STUDY OF THE DOCTRINE OF DIGANCI AND DIGAWA RELIGIOUS GROUP
ABSTRACT
This study is about the Digawa Muslims of Danzomo town in Sule Tankarkar Local
Government of Jigawa
State, Nigeria. The Digawa Muslims are also found in other areas of the State such as ‘Yandamo, Jikai, Umarni,
Babbansara, Digawar-Tudu, Saidawa, Dorai, Galma, Buduma and Zai. Data for this study were collected through
primary and secondary sources. Primary data was collected using random oral interviews both individual and groups.
The Digawa are not ethnic group, but a religious group that follow Sufi teaching of shunning away from all that is evil
and the glitters of the world. The concept of Al-uzlah(isolation) enables them to keep away from all that is evil.
This warrant their establishment of Zawaya(Digawa enclosures). So, their attitude of withdrawing from other peoples’
religious, social, and political activities made most people to be ignorant about them. In essence, this study is an
attempt to provide a concise history of these people
CHAPTER ONE
GENERAL INTRODUCTION
1.0 Introduction
In the history of Islam, doctrinal divisions, which led to the emergence of sects are inevitable phenomena as are
believed to have been prophesized by the Prophet Mohammed (S.A.W).1Also, the concept of renewal (Tajdeed) is
based on another tradition of the Prophet (PBUH).2 The tradition implies that a renewer (Mujaddid) of Islam would be
sent at the beginning of each century to restore true Islamic practices, and thus regenerate a community that tends,
over time, to deviate from the straight path. In essence, from its earliest days, Islam possessed a tradition of
revivalism and reform. With this development, it became people’s right to practice Ijtihad to interpret the source of
Islam.
This and of course, other prevailing circumstances like rampant materialism, which ensures the worships of the ‘gods’
of wealth, the influence of neo-Platonism and the philosophies of other climes as Persia, Syria, and India3 paved the
way for the emergence of different Islamic movements, groups, sects and sub-sects. Almost all the movements claim
to purge religion of the contaminations in rituals and traditions, which had been accumulating since the time of the
Prophet and Sahaba. It should be noted that most of these religious groupings were attached to the names of their
founders or whose names had somehow become linked with them. Some examples include the Qadiriyya founded by
Abdal-Qadir Al-Jilani, Tijjaniyya by Ahmad Al-Tijani, Rufa’iyya by Ahmad Al-Rifa’i, Khalwatiyya by Umar Al-Khalwati,
etc.4 In the same vein, theDigawa religious group who claim to be the contemporary Sufis were attached to the name
of the founder of the movement i. e. Malam Diga as we are going to see later.
The origin of the term ‘Sufi’ is derived from Tasawwuf, which probably goes back to the termSuf, which simply refers
to woolen attires that the Sufis wear as a mark of piety and renunciation of the world at about the beginning of the
9th century.5 Thus, the original Sufis were basically mystics i.e. people who followed a pious form of Islam and who
believed that a direct personal experience of God could be achieved. To this end, the mystics school of thought claim
that the knowledge of ultimate reality can be attained through divine enlightenment and intuition, which themselves
are illumination of the self and development of a particular faculty, which can perceive spiritual and metaphysical
realities in the same way as our eyes see the material objects.6
In essence, Sufism is a particular method of approach to Reality making use of intuitive and emotional spiritual
faculties, which are dormant and latent unless called into play through training under guidance.
A HISTORICAL STUDY OF THE DOCTRINE OF DIGANCI AND DIGAWA RELIGIOUS GROUP