Nigerian lawyer and human rights advocate Dele Farotimi has sparked fresh debate over the historical dynamics of Northern Nigeria, alleging that parts of what is now known as the Middle Belt were intentionally left outside the sphere of Islamic expansion during the era of the old northern caliphates.
Farotimi made the remarks during an interview with journalist Edmund Obilo, where he offered a historical interpretation of how religion, warfare, and economic interests intersected in pre-colonial Northern Nigeria.
According to him, the populations inhabiting the Middle Belt region were not fully Islamised at the time for strategic reasons tied to the economic structure of the dominant empires.
He argued that the major Islamic empires in the north relied heavily on the trans-Saharan and regional slave trade as a central pillar of their economy.
In his view, widespread conversion of conquered communities would have complicated that system. Farotimi maintained that under classical Islamic legal doctrine, enslaving fellow Muslims was prohibited, meaning that conversion would have effectively removed a vital source of labor and trade.
Expanding on this point, he referenced the traditional Islamic jurisprudential distinction between Dar al-Harb, commonly understood as territories not governed by Islamic law, and Dar al-Islam, territories under Islamic rule.
Farotimi explained that within that framework, non-Muslim populations captured in conflict could be enslaved. However, he said that once such communities embraced Islam, their status changed and they could no longer be legally held in bondage.