This thesis is divided into six chapters, a conclusion, translation and Arabic version of the poems discussed, and 3 appendices. The first chapter traces Arabic literary pursuits and activities in Sakkwato amongst the Fulani prior to 1800. It is traced back to the centuries old tradition of Islamic learning in West Africa in general and Hausaland in particular. Literary and historical sources show the spread of scholarship as having been firmly established in the areas embraced by Hausaland and beyond, where the founder of the Sakkwato Caliphate appeared. It shows an abundance of scholars some of whom travelled as far as Cairo and the Hijaz in search of knowledge and in order to perform the pilgrimage. Some of them eventually returned to Hausaland with a wealth of Arabic knowledge. Parallel to this, scholars like al-Maghili, came from North Africa to West Africa and they visited cities like Kano and Katsina - teaching and preaching. My s-econd chapter deals with the model pattern of the Qur'änic system of education which the Sakkwato scholars received. Chapter three discusses the influence of the Arab poets on the scholar-/poets of Sakkwato. These influences have been traced in particular to pre-Islamic or Islamic poets and the reasons for such influences are extensively surveyed. Chapter four discusses their style. This is based on classical Arabic poetry, governed by the established prosodic metres. The fifth chapter briefly discusses the characteristic features of Sufism and the attitude of the Hausa and Fulani communities towards the Sufis. It concludes with a few examples of the Su-f-1. books which these scholars read. The sixth chapter shows how Arabic poetry has been used to establish contact with the Muslim World outside Sakkwato. It shows how poetry is used to congratulate an ally or to refute an allegation by one's opponents etc. In both such situations Arabic poetry played and still plays a great part, it underlines its importance in the minds of the Sakkwato scholars. In my conclusion an attempt has been made to establish that Arabic language and literature have secured a prominent place of affection and pride among Muslim Hausa and Fulani societies. That has been basically due to the faith of Islam. Many scholars in Hausaland have mastered the Arabic language. They wrote prolifically through it and in it they composed a corpus of good poems in Arabic, representative examples of which have been presented in this thesis. The conclusion also shows the introduction of new themes into the repertoire, which have emerged during and after the age of colonialism in Africa