Family Tree of Koyam Shaykhs
Nestled in the northwestern borderlands of the Borno state, near the edges of the Sahara and the caravan routes connecting the Central Sudan to North Africa and the Nile Valley, the Koyam were a pastoralist sub-group of the Kanuri whose reputation for Islamic learning outlasted the dynasty they served. Their settlement at Kalumbardo — and later Gaskeru — became one of the most remarkable centers of Sufi practice in precolonial West Africa. Although the community was important enough to contribute to the origin of the Zinder state's ruling dynasty as well as to the spread of Sufi and Islamic practices across Borno and, perhaps, Wadai and Bagirmi, we unfortunately know too little of the community's history. Besides the oral traditions collected by Landeroin at the beginning of the 20th century and occasional references to Kalumbardo's widely respected shaykh in the 17th century in Maghribi sources, a comprehensive history of the community remains undone. Fortunately, what can be gleaned from the history of Sidi al-Baghdadi's movement in the Air desert plus other references to Sufism and asceticism in Kanem-Borno and Sudanic Africa, sheds some light on the history of the Kalumbardo community.
First, its shadowy origins. Muhammad Bello described a community called Kalumbardo that was in existence by the time of Umar b. Idris, mai of Borno in the years 1619-1639. Of course, this was not the first center of Sufism in Borno and certainly not the first mallamti or community or fief recognized by the mai's of the Sayfawa. Indeed, according to Rémi Dewière, Sufism of the Shadilya sect was practiced in Borno before the 17th century. Evidence of this was detected in his study of Ahmad b. Furtu's chronicles of mai Idris b. Ali. Indeed, practices close to those of al-Sadili as well as earlier references to ascetics in Kanem during the 14th century point to likely Sufism in Borno long before the 1600s. However, the history of Kalumbardo is a better documented history of a community defined, in part, by Sufist practices or influences.
According to Muhammad Bello of the Sokoto Caliphate, this first Kalumbardo community was led by a Shaykh Waldeed and al-Waliyy b. al-Jarmi, a Tuareg. The two leaders, Fulani and Tuareg respectively, were said to have spread Sufism, and the former allegedly had studied in Agadez and Timbuktu. This suggests that the original Kalumbardo community was led by two reputable Sufis with links to Agadez and Timbuktu, prominent centers for Islamic scholarship that had been under Songhay control in the 1500s. Moreover, according to Bello's account, Umar b. Idris had al-Jarmi executed while Waldeel fled to Baghiri. This account of the mai's crackdown on the first Kalumbardo community sounds very similar to Bello's recounting of the end of Shaykh al-Baghdadi in Air. Said to have been killed by the sultan of Agadez at Aghalanga, the conflict was instigated by court-affiliated scholars who urged the sultan to target Shaykh al-Baghdadi. Thus, we may have something of a common literary trope in which a venerated Islamic holyman is martyred by a secular ruler whose court-aligned ulama see in the holyman a threat to their own status and the power of the sultan. Of course, in the case of al-Baghdadi in Air, his status as a sharif added another layer of threat.
John Lavers, in his article "Diversions on a Journey of the Travels of Shaykh Ahmad al-Yamani," adds further detail to the history of this earlier Kalumbardo. According to him, some traditions remember the Tuareg leader of the first Kalumbardo as al-Jarmiya al-Tarqi as a teacher of Abd al-Karim b. Jame, the first sultan of Wadai. While other traditions claim Wadai's founder had studied at Bidderi in Baghirmi, this location in the Baghirmi kingdom was a settlement associated with the Torobbe Fulani and Islamic scholarship. However, it does not necessarily contradict the other tradition associating Wadai's founder with the Tuareg at the first Kalumbardo. After all, the Shaykh Waldeel of Muhammad Bello was said to have escaped Borno for Baghirmi. Thus, this early Kalumbardo community, which probably arose before the reign of Umar b. Idris, enjoyed or later extended itself through its persecution, far links to Agadez, Timbuktu, Bagirmi and Wadai. And to make things even more confusing, it is possible that, according to traditions cited by Lavers, it was Ibrahim b. Idris, a brother who reigned as mai before Umar b. Idris, who had been responsible for destroying the first Kalumbardo community.
What occurred after the dissolution of the first Kalumbardo community, which appears to have lacked the ethnic Koyam affiliation or identification of the second Kalumbardo? We know that, by the 1660s, during the reign of Ali b. Umar of Borno, Kalumbardo was again associated with a venerated Shaykh whose piety, scholarship, and asceticism led to his reputation reaching Sinnar and North Africa. He was Shaykh Abdullay al-Barnawi, or Abdullay b. Abd el-Djelil. According to Bobboyi, he was a scion of the Sayfawa dynasty and the first Shaykh of the re-formed Kalumbardo town or settlement, also called Belbelec. While it is said that many mothers of Sayfawa rulers were women from the Koyam, and the Koyam reputation for Islamic scholarship was still respected in the 19th century since Shehu al-Kanemi had apparently studied with them, the exact origins of the Koyam's presence in the northwestern borderlands of the Borno state remain unclear. Indeed, Lovejoy's Salt of the Desert Sun suggests Kawar origins of the Koyam, perhaps indicating the early Sayfawa dynasty's northern alliances with nomadic populations in medieval times through marriage alliances with women from their clans. This appears to be true, if the Koyam are indeed the same as the Kay mentioned in the Diwan and their links to Kawar and the salt trade suggest their economic importance in Borno. Nonetheless, in the traditions and sources cited by Maikorema Zakari, this Abdullah founded the second Kalumbardo with 40 Koyam during the reign of Ali b. Umar (a mai famous for his piety and support for Islamic scholarship). While the Koyam, a pastoralist sub-group of the Kanuri later split into the Kel Etti and other branches, in the 17th century, under Shaykh al-Barnawi, this particular Koyam community enjoyed great repute. Indeed, the first Shaykh, said to have been born in 1614, was associated with miracles, great learning, and even attempts at social reform with Tuareg and Tubu bandits in the area. This Kalumbardo shaykh was credited with converting many non-Muslims, marrying slave girls and then giving them (with his children by them) to Tuareg and Tubu, and promoting Islamic asceticism among his followers.
But who was this Abdallah al-Barnawi? According to the Nashr al-Mathani, ultimately relying on the account of Kalumbardo given by Ahmad al-Yamani of Arbaji, al-Barnawi enjoyed mystical powers. He was a man said to have been light in color, tall, possessing middle build and had large eyes. He took a vow of poverty and members of his community often pursued separate areas for retreat, or khalwa. They regrouped for communal prayers and chanting. Shaykh al-Barnawi also appeared to have been a fervent believer in the ability of people to change and respect for life. After all, the same North African source, Nashr al-Mathani includes a brief anecdote of al-Barnawi's anger when a disciple prayed for God to destroy the Tuareg. In addition to his embrace of prayer and meditation, al-Barnawi also possessed a thorough knowledge of the Koran, grammar, theology, and other texts. He was said to have read the Alfiya of Ibn Malik on grammar and may have even studied in modern-day Sudan with Dafa 'Allah of Arbaji. If true, this may explain one of the reasons al-Yamani of Arbaji traveled to Kalumbardo in 1671, because its leader had been known in the Funj Sultanate. If so, this suggests far-reaching networks of Islamic scholarship, Sufist practices, and mutual influences between Borno and the Funj Sultanate. Perhaps the Islamization of Wadai and Darfur in the 17th century facilitated this process, as a trade and pilgrimage route that traversed Sudanic Africa was likely of growing importance in this era. In fact, Nashr al-Mathani also mentioned al-Yamani's travels to Air, where he studied under Ahmad al-Targui al-Lamtouni. Similarly, Norris's Sufi Mystics of the Niger Desert also claimed al-Barnawi had studied in or near Agadez with Uwayis, just as Lavers argued that the Tuareg Ahmad as-Sadiq b. Ab. Muhammad Uways had traveled to Arbaji. These far-flung networks connected Borno's Kalumbardo with Air, the Sinnar Sultanate, and North Africa. In this light, it is perhaps of interest that the ascetic practices described by Sufis in Air, the Sinnar Sultanate, and Borno would be interesting to compare, particularly with regards to the khalwa, wird, the role of music, group meditation, fasting, the presence of spirits and beliefs about the sanctity of animal lives.
What was the fate of the second Kalumbardo community? Its shaykh, Abdullah al-Barnawi, was killed by the Tuareg in an attack that occurred in 1677 or 1678. Before the demise of its leader, the community received support from the mai of Borno. According to Lavers, a qadi named Abu Bakr went to Ali b. Umar, claiming the Kalumbardo leader was plotting a revolt. The shaykh was called to Birni Gazargamo, impressed the mai and then received support as the mai sent artisans to erect brick buildings in his settlement. This must have been part of the town's rise as it received exemption from taxes (which was likely recognized in writing via a mahram, recognizing the community's tax-exempt status) and attracted students, farmers, hunters, traders, and others. If the traditions collected in the Tilho Mission are reliable, Belbelec developed into a town of great extent. Unfortunately, its good fortunes were not to last. Famines and Tuareg attacks culminated in one raid by the Immikitan Tuareg that resulted in the death of the shaykh. Nonetheless, the town would relocate and prosper in Gaskeru, after al-Barnawi's son, Umar, led the community to as far away as Nupe. It was during this era of dispersal after 1678 that one person from the community, remembered as Mallam in the traditions, chose to settle in the area of Zinder or Damagaram and became its first sultan.
The dispersed Kalumbardo community, led by Umar, eventually returned to Borno, staying at the capital until the mai (a son of Ali b. Umar?) granted Umar's community tax-exempt status at Gaskeru. At Gaskeru, the mai allegedly sent 1000 workers for the construction of a mosque and Gaskeru. And, according to the traditions collected for the Tilho Mission, Shaykh Umar reigned with justice, not oppressing the population. In this regard, one can see shaykh Umar's power as, per Lavers, a theocratic state within Borno that attracted residents through its just ruler and, perhaps, tax-exempt status. Successive shaykhs of the Koyam at Gaskeru began to claim a more political role, appointing disciples as chiefs or imams of areas under their control. The same aforementioned traditions claim the area controlled by the Koyam shaykhs even had 1000 villages under its control. This suggests that the community at Gaskeru became akin to some of the so-called fiefdoms discussed in the works of Muhammad Nur Alkali and Ronald Cohen on Borno land tenure and administration. Bakr, or Beker in the French Tilho Mission rendering, a son of Shaykh Mustapha, is remembered as having more loyal supporters than Mai Ali b. al-Hajj Dunama of Borno, whose soldiers abandoned him and let him become wounded in the 1781 invasion of Mandara. Unlike the mai, the Koyam shaykh, who did not personally arm and supply his 1000 followers, was said to have been complimented by the Sayfawa sultan for his devoted followers.
The latter days of Sayfawa rule did lead to troubled times for the Koyam shaykhs, however. Abdullah, the brother of Bakr, faced the Tuareg of Kutus and the Air Tuareg. With the help of the kaigama, Ali, they were able to push the Tuareg back but their forces were massacred when they pushed into Tuareg territory. Then, under Shaykh Ahmadu, the son of Bakr, Gaskeru was attacked and destroyed by the Tuareg. Ahmadu then led the community to Birni Gazargamo, to the Sandaram quarter. Under Shaykh Ibrahim b. Abdullah, they refused to return to Gaskeru and were settled at Zigaba. Another dispersal took place after Goni Mokhar attacked Gazargamo, leading to the flight of the Koyam and Mohammad Aitami becoming the shaykh. Later, after al-Kanemi became the effective ruler of Borno, he acknowledged Muhammad Aitami's tax-free status. This shaykh eventually died in 1835, after which another split among the Koyams and then another reunion under Shaykh Yamiama at Biskour.
While the two centuries or so of history of the Koyam is sadly not as documented as the period under its first shaykh, the traditions and other historical references do provide a fascinating overview of a Borno Islamic community linked to Islamic asceticism. By the end of the precolonial era, only a small subset of the Koyam population preserved the ascetic practices of chanting, spiritual retreats and fasting. Nonetheless, its survival over the centuries and its link to other parts of Africa attest to its importance. Not solely as a center for Borno Sufis and as a group who helped protect Borno's northern borders from Tuareg incursions, but as a group which influenced important figures in the annals of Borno's political history, like al-Kanemi, but also contributed to the rise of Wadai and Damagaram. Lastly, the first shaykh, with links to North Africa, Air, and Funj Sultanate, was esteemed enough to be widely venerated across much of Islamic Africa. One only wishes that al-Barnawi or one of his followers had written a text, like the Qudwa, that could tell us in more detail the practices and ideas of such a prominent figure in Borno's history. For instance, did al-Barnawi's community also believe in the presence of spirits in their prayer circles or gatherings? To what extent was al-Baghdadi's movement a model or influence? And were Sufi practices and fuqara villages in the Funj Sultanate, observed by Krump, perhaps similar spaces with some degree of overlap in belief and practice with Kalumbardo and Gaskeru?
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