Seku Amadu - Policy and Influence

Policy and Influence

Seku Amadu ruled through a system of provincial governors, mostly his relatives, and a central council of forty elders. In Seku Amadu's theocratic state the law was based on strict observance of the Maliki interpretation of Sharia law. Qadis administered the Sharia in each province, playing an important role in the state. The rigid conformance to the law led one authority to call Masina "as near the ideal nomocratic state as is likely to be achieved."

Seku Amadu followed a policy of settling the formerly nomadic herders. He made vigorous efforts to promote Islam. Under Seku Aḥmadu Lobbo and his heirs, the Niger bend region was stable and trade flourished. However, some tension was caused by the extremely puritan attitudes of the rulers, such as banning the use of tobacco and requiring full segregation of women from men, counter to Tuareg custom.

At the height of the Empire's power, a 10,000 man army was stationed in the city, and Seku Aḥmadu ordered the construction of six hundred madrasas to further the spread of Islam. He also ordered alcohol, tobacco, music and dancing banned in accordance with Islamic law, and constructed a social welfare system to provide for widows, orphans, and the poor.

One of the most enduring results of his rule was a pastoral code regulating access to and use of the inland Niger delta region by Fula cattle herders and diverse farming communities.