The Song of the Zakkama to the Sultan of Bornu is the last praise song in J.R. Patterson's Kanuri Songs (1926). Meant for the sultan, Aman Alimi, or Ahmad b. Ali, the praise song provides a window to view the Late Sayfawa Period court on the eve of the fall of Gazargamo in 1808. Ahmad Ali, who reigned from 1792-1808 in Lange's chronology, was remembered in the Diwan for supporting the poor and scholars. Since his father reigned for so long (1747-1792), it is possible he was also quite old by the time took the throne. Either way, like his father, he was a devout man identified as a savant in a time of generally good conditions. However, Ali Eisami's testimony does suggest a famine occurred in c.1792, which is unsurprisingly not mentioned in the praise song.
Nonetheless, the praise song remembered for him follows the same conventions of the genre, and stresses his genealogy. Indeed, Ali b. Umar of the 17th century appears to be mentioned along with other illustrious ancestors in the Sayfawa dynasty. Of course, as one would expect, some of the praise is unrealistic or merely symbolic, like the assertion of Borno's rule over Mali (Melle), which surely must only mean the Fulani in Borno (whose ancestors came from the west centuries earlier). Praising the mai as the "scourge of pagan towns" or "firm like a fixed rock" point to military leadership, determination and other attributes of kingship. Like past praise songs, one notes a pattern of attributing fertile land and harvests to the leadership of the mai. However, as recorded in the Diwan, Ahmad b. Ali was also generous and seen as a "ruler of Islam." This suggests that some of the sources of authority and power for the Sayfawa rulers was indeed their status as Islamic savants, supporters of Islamic scholarship, and promoting the religion.
Of course, we know all was not good in Borno. During Ahmad b. Ali's reign, Wadai attacked Kanem. In addition, the appearance of a poem (in Palmer's Bornu Sahara and Sudan) expressing anti-Fulani sentiment may be a hint of tensions between Fulani communities and others in Borno. What were once at least cordial relations with some Fulani in Borno (evidence from a mahram reconfirmed during the reign of Dunama b. Ali in the early 18th century) appears to have declined by the late 1700s. One might even detect the assertion of Sayfawa rule in this praise song over the Fulani as a reflection of this atmosphere of hostility. This led to, by c.1807, open conflict between some Fulani in Borno with the galadima, followed up by the later attacks on Birni Gazargamo. Only with the intervention of al-Kanemi, a celebrated mallam, were the Sayfawa able to retake their ancient capital. Of course, by the end of his reign, Ahmad b. Ali was old and supposedly blind, according to Brenner's study of the al-Kanemi dynasty. Thus, he was unable to provide the type of leadership necessary to defeat the jihadist forces.
To see you is to see the world filled with light
And to attain one’s desire
You are the chief of the chosen Arabs, fair of skin
And you the chief of the light skinned Debaba Arabs
West, Melle, the land of the Fellata is yours
And yours Aliarge
Your slaves were in battle order, and all armed; you came and entered their ranks
Your kingship is on a pinnacle as high as that of any of your ancestors
You are the strength of Bornu
You are the scourge of the pagan towns
Ruler of Islam
To-day you are the prop of the world
Yours the town of Makibirrum honey-sweet
To-day you have become as honey to all the princes
Your town Makibirrum, and you the son of Gumsu who wore a turban
Fadallam’s son
Son of the owner of the town of Ngalji the less, and Ngalji the greater, (Ngalji) Buro
You call the owner of Bidi, with its thousand roads, your elder sister
You have sat, have grown up, were born (with your brothers)
But you have excelled them all
By the length of a train of a hundred camels
Yours the town of Kakere Karowa
A woman, your mother, has a sieve made of gold
You are the chief even of her who owns the ‘Sokkutu’ head dress and the sieve
A sieve of gold
You give a tithe of gold for the fast month
And alms of a fine horse
Of your chiefs and of your juniors
To-day you are the (protecting) shade
What men call your kingship,
Is like the bite of a caterpillar and like black anger
That is kingship
(Habits) like (those of) a mason wasp, that is kingship
Which makes the children of others its own, that is kingship
(Habits of) an old goat which frightens away the young of others, that is kingship
(The fleetness of) a huntsman’s stick,
(the lightness of) a broken calabash,
that is kingship
To be firm as the fixed rock,
that is kingship
(If you prepare for war) When the
rainy season comes, (your advisers say) there are tornadoes
(If) when the hot season comes, (they say) the sun is hot
(If) in the winter, (they say) there is cold
Make your own plans as your father used to make his,
Leave others’ plans and they will follow yours
(For) you are like a carrier’s pad made of the male ‘kamga’ bush.
Which, if a man takes on his head, wears his head away
If he moves it to his shoulder it wears his shoulder away
If you leave it on the ground, you leave what the Sultan has put in your care
East, the land of the Beni Hassen is yours
West, the Beni Mala Feram pool,
The watering-place of one thousand cattle
Yours Makabiroma, Mai Haji of Mecca Damaram
Sultan Haji of Mecca,
Has every attribute of kingship
Kaigama Ali whose mother was Rashi and father Idirisa,
Has all his father’s attributes
Mohammadu owner of Lergam town, and whose mother was Mune, and his father Aji,
Has all his father’s attributes
The head of Ngala City, Kadabu the lion, son of Duna Haman,
Has all his father’s attributes
Fusam, daughter of Umar, whose towns are Bantigu and Tarmuswa
Has all the attributes of power
Mai Ibrahim son of Aman, son of Aman the son of Saifu
Has all his father’s, Aman Saifumi’s, attributes
You whose town is Lergam, whose mother was Mune, Mai Mohammadu,
whose father was Haji
Mai Haji of Mecca Damaram, whose mother was Fanna
You have attained to the topmost heights of power
You son of Gumsu, Gumsu Amina daughter of Talba, you Ibrahim,
Have attained to your father’s place among the great
(During your reign) One rainy season gives seven harvests
A he-goat gives milk and oxen give milk
Because of his kingly power set forth to war (you men of his)
Because of his good luck, set forth to war
You, son of Haji, who are the owner of Ngeleru, whose mother was Gumsu
Gumsu Amina, Talba’s daughter
You have attained to the greatness of your father Arri son of Umar
And Amadu was Arri’s son
You have attained to your father’s greatness
And Ibrahim was Amadu’s son
You have attained to your father’s greatness
Son of Dalatu, Mari Arri of Minarge town
You have every attribute of power
To the East we look to worship, pray, give alms and sit in congregation,
To-day you hold it with a rod of gold
The West, the world’s back,
You hold with a rod of gold
The North, the world’s foot,
You hold with a rod of gold
The South, the world’s head,
To-day you hold with a rod of gold
May God (put a future) full of health before you
May God (leave a memory) of happiness behind you
Reign in health, the health of Fusam
Long life, good fortune, perfect health be yours
Reign amidst happiness.