Nigerian sites proposed for World Islamic Heritage list
Five Nigerian sites are being proposed to be enlisted into the World Islamic Heritage list, to the Islamic World Heritage Committee of the Islamic Educational Scientific and Cultural Organisation (ISESCO) in Rabat, Kingdom of Morocco.
Director-General of the National Commission for Museums and Monuments (NCMM), Yusuf Abdallah Usman disclosed this as Nigeria prepares to attend the 9th Ministerial Conference of the organization in Oman from 2nd 5th November 2015. The sites are Hubbaren Shehu in Sokoto State, Gobarau Minaret in Katsina, Sheikh Alimi Mosque complex in Ilorin, Mbormi Battle Ground in Gombe and Fanisau Palace Mosque in Kano.
Usman said: “Hubbaren Shehu otherwise known as Sheikh Usman Danfodio House represents an outstanding example of typical Sudan-Arab Islamic traditional architecture which remained unchanged for over 200 years. The place served as one of the famous centres of Islam despite the 19th and 20th centuries period of missionary activities and colonialism in Africa.”
In the 19th century, the site was a famous learning centre which trained and groomed jihadists like Seku Ahmadu and Alhaji Umar who led the jihad movement at Senegambia and upper Niger. The Gobarau Minaret on the other hand is the single spectacular minaret structure of its kind in Africa that is still standing on its original site established over six hundred years ago. The building exhibits an architectural rarity in storey building construction and maintenance as exemplified by the traditional Katsina master builders through the use of indigenous sustainable local resources.
Sheikh Alimi Mosque complex comprises three mosques established by Sheikh Alimi in Kuho, Ori-Okoh and Idiape areas of Ilorin, Kwara State. The complex represents the historical account of the spread of Islam in South Western Nigeria in the 19th century. The mosque complex also reflects the history of conflicts and adaptation between Islamic and African ways of life and belief systems while Mbormi battle ground is located in a rural setting near the Nafada town of Gombe State. The landscape is an abandoned settlement site with evidence of archaeological remains and the three marked graves of the leaders of Sokoto caliphate, Amirul Muminin Sultan Attahiru I, the Chief Imam of the caliphate and that of the commander of the British forces, Major Marsh.
The Mbormi site, an evidence of the patriotic and courageous resistance of colonialism, was the final spot of the defeat and annihilation of the Sokoto caliphate being one of the largest political entities established in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Fanisau Palace Mosque, the fifth site, is an ancient mosque structure in Kano, attached to a palace built along Hausa traditional architectural pattern currently serving as a country guest house of the Emir of Kano. The mosque in association with the palace structure represents the early history of Islam in West Africa embodying physical architectural elements as well as encompassing political, social, and cultural dimensions of Islamic heritage and African traditional society.
Usman added that: “the submission of these sites to the ISESCO is within the frame work of Nigeria’s ongoing effort at reconsidering cultural issues using innovative mechanism and concepts consistent with a participatory approach aimed at securing a more efficient management regime for cultural heritage.