Wikipedia's first sentence called it “islamic scholar in nigeria”. Today it says “controversial muslim preacher in nigeria who founded the yan tatsine”. He was killed by Nigerian security forces in 1980 during the Kano insurrection.. Today: the act is described with no actor named.
Measured, not asserted. Every count, date and revision on this page was taken from Wikipedia's own history and checked against the live article. The words quoted are theirs.
Machine-checked against the full current article on 2026-08-03.
We saved snapshots of this article over twenty years; you are reading the 2025 one. Red dashes: removed from Wikipedia since.Pale dots: rewritten; the numbered note shows what it says now.Red text: written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot.1 tap a number or a side note to jump between them
The opening as it read in 2025
Controversial Islamic preacher in Nigeria This article is about the preacher. Muhammad Marwa (died 1980), best known by his nickname Maitatsine , was a controversial Muslim preacher in Nigeria who founded the Yan Tatsine , a militant Quranist movement that first appeared around the early 1970s. Maitatsine is a Hausa word meaning "the one who damns" and refers to his curse-laden public speeches against the Nigerian state. He was responsible for the 1980 Kano riot , in which over 4,177 civilians, 100 policemen and about 35 military personnel were killed, including Maitatsine himself.
This is Wikipedia's own text, saved in our repository. Their copy of it is revision 1281653594.
The opening as it stood in 2010
Mohammed Marwa Maitatsine (died 1980) was an Islamic scholar in Nigeria . He was originally from Marwa in northern Cameroon . After his education he moved to Kano, Nigeria in about 1945, where he became known for his controversial preachings on the Qur'an . His dissent was disliked by the government, and he was exiled to Cameroon in the early 1960s. He returned to Kano and by 1972 he had a notable and increasingly militaristic following. In 1975 he was again arrested by Nigerian police for slander and public abuse of political authorities. But in that period he began to receive acceptance from religious authorities, especially after making hajj , the Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca . As his following increased in the 1970s, so did the number of confrontations between his adherents and the police. His preaching attracted largely a following of youths, unemployed migrants, and those who felt that mainstream Muslim teachers were not doing enough for their communities. Maitatsine claimed to be a prophet. . He was killed by Nigerian security forces in 1980 during the Kano insurrection.
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 306178521.
The opening as it stood in 2015 11 passages from the previous snapshot no longer appear
Mohammed Marwa (died 1980), best known by his nickname Maitatsine (and less commonly, as Allah Tatsine ), was a controversial Islamic preacher in Nigeria .Maitatsine is a Hausa word meaning "the one who damns" and refers to his curse-laden public speeches against the Nigerian state.Africa Today . 57 (4): 98– 119, 136 .
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 663740919.
The opening as it stood in 2020 1 passage from the previous snapshot no longer appear
Mohammed Marwa (died 1980), best known by his nickname Maitatsine , was a controversial preacher in Nigeria . Maitatsine is a Hausa word meaning "the one who damns" and refers to his curse-laden public speeches against the Nigerian state. His militant followers are known as the Yan Tatsine .
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 946844980.
The opening as it stood on October 6, 2023 1 passage from the previous snapshot no longer appear
Mohammed Marwa (died 1980), best known by his nickname Maitatsine , was a controversial Muslim preacher in Nigeria . Maitatsine is a Hausa word meaning "the one who damns" and refers to his curse-laden public speeches against the Nigerian state. His militant followers were known as the Yan Tatsine .
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 1167824672.
Today
Wikipedia's first sentence called it “islamic scholar in nigeria”. Today it says “controversial muslim preacher in nigeria who founded the yan tatsine”. He was killed by Nigerian security forces in 1980 during the Kano insurrection.. Today: the act is described with no actor named. Read the current article and compare.
2010
2015
2020
Oct '23
2025
militant
0
0
1
1
1
Counts in the opening at each snapshot. Green: the word gained ground. Red: it was cut. Grey: no change.
What Wikipedia says this is
Every article opens by defining its subject. This one was redefined since 2010, and today's defining sentence is their current revision.
Then
islamic scholar in nigeria
Now
controversial muslim preacher in nigeria who founded the yan tatsine
Struck red text is no longer in the article; dotted amber text was rewritten. Every revision id links to Wikipedia's copy; the text shown is our own saved copy. Data: /data. Wikipedia text is CC BY-SA; quoted for the record; not affiliated with Wikipedia.
