Why did Usman dan Fodio want the caliphate’s government to avoid exploitation?

Usman dan Fodio sought to establish a simple, non-exploitative system for the Sokoto caliphate because he aimed to rectify the oppression and social grievances that the peasantry had experienced under previous dynasties.1

His vision for a just government, detailed in his treatise Bayān wujūb al-hijra, was rooted in the following principles:

• Limited Bureaucracy: He proposed that the central administration should be restricted to a small, honest group consisting of a vizier, judges, a chief of police, and a tax collector.1
• Merit-based Leadership: He believed that local governors (emirs) should be selected from the scholarly class specifically for their piety, integrity, learning, and commitment to justice, rather than for political status.1
• Ethical Governance: By advocating for this structure, he sought to prevent the emergence of an oppressive ruling class, a tendency he later criticized when he observed the new bureaucracy and its associates beginning to exploit the community.1

Ultimately, his goal was to ensure that the caliphate functioned as a just Islamic community that upheld the welfare of the people rather than repeating the cycles of exploitation he had fought to overthrow.12