The Sokoto Caliphate, which was based on Islamic law, depended considerably on widespread systematic slavery in political, economic, and social spheres. According to Islamic law, it is only permitted, in principle, to enslave non-Muslims or unbelievers, and ʿUthmān b. Fūdī, the founder of the Caliphate, labeled his principal enemies (i.e. the rulers of the Hausa states and Bornu and their followers) as apostate unbelievers. However, Muslim jurists historically presented conflicting views regarding the permissibility of enslaving apostates. Faced with this legal disagreement, ʿUthmān, referring to numerous preceding scholars, argued that it was permissible to choose any one of several juristic views regarding a legal issue on which scholars disagreed. By the employment of this “free choice theory”, he justified the enslavement of those whom he labeled as apostates and consequently authorized the enslavement of all kinds of people whom he had categorized as unbelievers living in and around Hausaland.

索科托哈里发特基于伊斯兰法律，在很大程度上取决于政治，经济和社会领域广泛的系统奴隶制。根据伊斯兰法律，原则上只允许奴役非穆斯林或不信教徒，以及“乌斯曼b”。哈里发的创始人福迪（Fūdī）标记了他的主要敌人（即豪萨州的统治者，博尔努及其追随者）都是背道的不信者。但是，穆斯林法学家历来就允许奴役叛教者提出了相互矛盾的看法。面对这种法律分歧，乌斯曼（Uthmān）提到了许多先前的学者，认为允许就学者不同意的法律问题从几种法学观点中选择一种。通过运用这种“自由选择理论”，他证明了奴役那些被他标记为叛教者的理由，因此授权奴役他所分类为居住在豪萨兰及其周围地区的不信者。