Lost history · 1891–1894
Image: 1894 Shitta.jpg — Unknown author, Public domain · source
A Lagos merchant built a mosque, and a messenger from Liverpool arrived with a title from the Ottoman Sultan.
Mohammed Shitta was born in 1824 in Sierra Leone. His parents were Yoruba people who had been taken from their homeland, and like many families of that time they later found their way back towards Lagos. People who returned this way were often called Saro. Shitta grew up to be a successful trader, dealing in goods along the coast and up the rivers.
By the late 1800s Shitta was rich and devout, and he decided to give Lagos Muslims a proper central mosque. Building began in 1891 on Martins Street on Lagos Island. He chose a Brazilian-trained builder, João Baptista da Costa, so the mosque looks a bit like the churches and houses the returnees from Brazil were building at the time: a decorated front, arches and round windows, all painted in soft colours. It cost about three thousand pounds, which was a huge sum then.
On 4 July 1894 the mosque was opened. The Governor of the Lagos Colony, Sir Gilbert Carter, presided, and a crowd of chiefs, Muslims and Christians came to watch. An old photograph of that day still survives, and you can see it at the top of this page.
The most unusual guest had come all the way from England. His name was Abdullah Quilliam, an English lawyer from Liverpool who had become a Muslim. He came as the representative of the Ottoman Sultan, Abdul Hamid II, in faraway Istanbul. He brought a letter, a medal called the Order of the Medjidie, and a title for Shitta: Bey. From that day the merchant was known as Shitta-Bey.
Think about how many worlds met in that one courtyard: a Yoruba family that had been scattered by the slave trade, Brazilian building styles, a British governor, an English Muslim and a Turkish sultan. The mosque tells us that Lagos was already a crossroads of the world more than a hundred years ago.
Shitta's family still hold the title of Seriki Musulumi, a leader of the Muslim community, and in 2013 the mosque was named a national monument. If you walk down Martins Street today, among the noise of the market, you can still find its old face looking out.
The same Governor Carter who opened this mosque later lived in Barbados, where his wife built a house named after a Nigerian town. That is another story on this site: The house in Barbados named after a Nigerian town.
The photograph at the top of this page was taken on the opening day in 1894. You can see the governor in a white uniform and helmet, chiefs in flowing robes, men in suits and turbans, all gathered for a picture. Old photos like this are precious, because they show us that these events really happened and who was there. When you next pass a busy Lagos street, remember that people stood in the same spot more than a hundred and thirty years ago, dressed for a very special day.
