The Shehu’s Daughter Imama Nana Asma’u

Dear Little Readers -

This is the story of Nana Asma’u and her famous poem, “The Qur’an.”

Princess Nana Asma’u was born in the religious community of Degel, in northwestern Nigeria, established by her father, Shehu Usman Dan Fodio. The Shehu, meaning “Shaykh” or Elder, and the son of “Fodio”, the Fulfulde term for “learned.” The entire family including women were exceptional scholars. When the family moved from place to place due to the dangers of the war, they would always load their books onto camels first! Their most precious inheritance, knowledge.

Princess Asma and her brother Muhammad Bello, and the rest of the family would do much to contribute to expanding their knowledge and passing it onto others. Especially other young girls and women. Out of this concern, she developed the Yan Taru “The Associates” teaching model which solved the problem of female education. Older women were trained by Princess Nana Asma’u herself; they would then travel to homebound young women in rural areas and educate them in their homes. Her concern for other girls developed even when she was a young girl.

When her brother laughed at other girls as they fell behind growing up, she would stand up for them. She would discourage her brother from laughing, leave her brother, and would run back to the other girls and help them up. At the same time, she would encourage other girls until they became filled with the same fierce energy to keep going and get ahead.

Nana Asma’u’s family had for centuries revered scholarship as a means of deepening spirituality and

growing close to God. Indeed, the first revelation from God to His Messenger (may all the praise and blessings be upon him!) was “Read, Recite!” The Shehu encouraged his daughter, Asma, to also study as much as she desired. He encouraged her to “Read and Recite!” He had seen the sparkle in her eyes a long time ago.

When she was a young woman and noticed other women didn’t have access to the same books as she did, she wrote a poem pleading God to allow her to teach everyone what she knew of the Holy Qur’an. Her book was entitled simply “The Qur’an” and it contained the title of every single chapter of the Holy Qur’an. This way, every single person would have a part of God’s book memorized in their hearts:

“The Opening, al-Fatiha, The Heifer, al-Baqarah...The Daybreak, al-Falaq, Mankind, al-Nas”

These were all of the titles of the chapters of the Book of God. She would teach it to them in their own language and also Arabic, the language of the Blessed Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him). As she well knew, a hidden secret was often found in names. In Arabic, she would often be humming and remembering God, aloud and also secretly.

One day she was softly humming when she suddenly fell asleep. She felt a soft, lilting voice calling her name. When she turned her face to the right she thought she heard a whispered name, Amina. Who was Amina...and suddenly her heart filled with wonder. It was the mother of the Messenger of God, peace be upon him! When she awoke, she became a bit sad she could no longer hear the magical light-filled voice. She began to remember the Great Women and called out to them “Oh Khadija! Oh Ayesha! Oh Amina! Oh Haleema! Oh Asiya! Oh Maryam! Oh Fatima! Oh Rabiya! May God bless you all! Help me, Oh God, to remember and inspire other women that they also have a right to become your Friends, Wali Allah! Suddenly, her heart started warming up! A glimmer of light began to appear in her heart and when she looked down, her hands were no longer just flesh. Arabic letters, the alif, the baa, the taa, suddenly appeared on her soft brown skin! A voice inside told her that this was connected to the Qur’an she had been reciting earlier! She knew she had to continue reciting and teaching the Qur’an. She began at the beginning, and started to recite al-Fatiha.