Bornoan River Ceremony

A photograph of the Komadugu near Gazargamo (Borno Sahara and Sudan).

Whilst perusing Frauke Jäger's "Maiduguri–Twentieth Century Capital with Ancient Roots" in From Bulamari to Yerwa to Metropolitan Maiduguri, we found some intriguing references to ancient customs maintained in Borno's current capital. One of these practices is of deep antiquity in Borno, beginning under the Sayfawa dynasty. According to Jäger this water ritual took place when the river reached the dry riverbed during the rainy season. Afterwards, the Shehu threw a silver ring inside the river. The courtiers believe this is a blessing for a good harvest for the year. The crowd in attendance also took water from the river home. Under the Sayfawa maiwa, this custom was once celebrated with the slaughtering of an ox, prayers for a good harvest and commerce and even an oracle at the Komadugu Yobe (Jäger 28). Apparently, vassal kingdoms of Borno engaged in the same rite, too (29). In terms of her analysis of this ceremony, Jäger drew from field notes, Lukas, Seidensticker and Palmer. In the case of Palmer, she merely refers, indirectly no doubt, to Muhammad Bello's Infaq al-maysur. Unfortunately, Palmer did not cite his source for the quotation, merely referring to it as a "Bornu Fellata manuscript" (Palmer 105). But based on the brief extract used by Palmer, the text was likely that of Bello or someone whose work was perhaps based on his.

Moving on Lukas, whose study of the grammar and vocabulary of the Kanuri language was published in 1937, one finds another reference to the same ceremony. In this case it is for the river (Ngadda?) flowing near Yerwa (Maiduguri) in a translated passage (based on oral tradition?). Lukas reported that, in former times, the Shehu came to the river with attendants when the nearby river filled up during the rainy season. Riding on a horse, the Shehu threw a silver ring into the river and people brought other items to throw into it as offerings or sacrifices (Lukas 177). However, some people practiced more superstitious customs when this ceremony took place. Women hoping to have children prayed at the river and rolled naked in the river. In addition, at the source of the river, "fetish" practices were done by others (178). Clearly, the river was linked to fertility (of land and people) and some of the customs done in Borno were not Islamic. Yet the ceremony led by the Shehu was seen as distinct, and presumably did not include "fetish" practices.

A translation of Muhammad Bello's work referring to improper customs in Borno (translated by Salahudeen Yusuf).

Besides Jäger and Lukas, Muhammad Bello's 19th century description of the ceremony is the most interesting. Used in a context of justifying the jihad's attacks on Borno under the Sayfawa, Bello needed to portray the ceremony as idolatrous or pagan. Thus, the customs of Borno, despite Islam being widespread, made the people unbelievers. The Sayfawa rulers, despite their status as Islamic kings, failed to condemn idolatrous or "pagan" practices and therefore were legitimate targets. While Bello also included the custom of sacrificing animals and sprinkling blood at the gates of cities as among their acts of disbelief, his reference to the practice of offering sacrifices to snakes brings to mind Machina (Bello 72). Since some of what he described may have been more specific to vassals of Borno rather than the Sayfawa rulers themselves, his brief sentence on the river ceremony is probably the easiest to relate to the ruling dynasty. Sadly, his description is too short, but comparing how they do to the river what the Copts did to the Nile in the "days of ignorance" is telling. Clearly, superstitious practices were taking place at rivers and the Sayfawa were guilty of participating them as customs inherited from their forefathers. If the river ceremony was an ancient one of the Sayfawa, it may even have roots in Kanem when the king was seen as the source of sustenance (possibly through a similar ritual involving rivers or streams associated with the wet season and fertility). 

The annual river rite was probably performed at Gambaru, too. According to Ritchie, whose report on Borno was published in 1820 based on informants who had been there, a virgin was sacrificed to the river flowing near Gambaru. Relying on an informant named Hadji Hamet, allegedly a Borno native, the story suggests that a virgin was sacrificed every year when the river inundated near Gambaru. That Hamet's account was at least somewhat believable is the mention of castles erected at Gambaru. Although attributed to Christians, this is probably an allusion to the fired-brick ruins at the site. Moreover, Burckhardt, in his Travels in Nubia, was informed by a Borno native that the mai ordered a virgin thrown into the river (Burckhardt 444). It is somewhat muddled whether or not the ceremony took place both near Gazargamo and at Gambaru, but it is clearly tied to the rainy season ceremony of prayer and rituals at the river. The throwing of a virgin (slave?) into it also seems to be another clear allusion to the river's association with fertility. 

Unfortunately, the throwing of a virgin into the river brings to mind human sacrifice. Moreover, that Borno natives were the sources of this information does incline one to believe there is some truth to it. But were these women actually drowned in the river? Or was it more akin to the women who, praying for children, waded in the river? Certainly, the slaughter of an animal and prayers for a good harvest are remembered in Borno tradition, but it is difficult to imagine the Sayfawa rulers sanctioning human sacrifice. The ceremony was likely of deep antiquity but associated with the Islamic prayers and practices of the ruling elite. That, of course, still made them infidels to Muhammad Bello. For even one act of disbelief can outweigh one's other actions. But the throwing of a virgin into the flooded river sounds like the later tradition of women praying for children entering it or others using foam from the river to wash themselves.

Intriguingly, Muhammad al-Amin al-Kanemi agreed that the visits of the Sayfawa kings to special places to give alms or conduct ceremonies was condemnable. He also wrote, "But its performer should not be imputed with unbelief, since no one claims that it has any impact (on them) nor do they intend to shirk (polytheism) (with such acts), rather their claim, because of ignorance is that giving alms at these places is better than in other places" (Bello 300). While not directly commenting on the annual river ceremony, al-Kanemi's letter suggests it was associated with the other places where the mai gave alms and performed sacrifices. It was not acceptable from an Islamic point of view, but not due to disbelief. Instead, it was through ignorance and innovation in the faith. If al-Kanemi saw human sacrifice as part of these rites, which is not mentioned by either Bello or himself, it was possibly due to the ideological conflict between Bello and himself. Or, as we believe to be more likely, human sacrifice was not part of the rites. Despite his condemnation of it, the annual river custom was later practiced by the al-Kanemi dynasty anyway. Popular traditions and rituals can become Islamic. The antiquity of this custom may also stretch back in time to pre-Islamic Kanem. It was certainly a custom associated with the rulers that could incorporate Islamic prayer and rituals while still honoring ancestral tradition. 

Muhammad Bello, al-Kanemi and Borno

Although Muhammad Bello did not reproduce in full all the letters he received from al-Kanemi of Borno, his Infāq al-Maysūr contains a plethora of important details on the conflicts between the jihadists of Uthman dan Fodio and Borno. Translated by Salahudeen Yusuf as A History of Islam, Scholarship and Revivalism in Western Sudan, Being an Annotated Translation with Introduction of  Infaqul-Maisur fi Tarikh Bilad al-Tukur of Sultan Muhammad Bello bin Fodio, the first chapter contains an overview of the lands of the western and central Sudan. Borno, receives mention as an area in which Islam was widely spread and deeply practiced before the jihad, even by commoners. Recitation of the Quran, Islamic scholarship and religious devotion were well-rooted in the area. 

However, for two reasons, Muhammad Bello called into question the Islamic legitimacy of the Sayfawa rulers of Borno. First, certain customs and traditions persisted despite the conversion to Islam centuries ago. Women went unveiled, sacrifices were made in the river (Komadugu?), and sacrifices or ceremonies were held at trees or certain rock sites. Al-Kanemi saw the old rituals involving sacrifices at presumably venerated in pre-Islamic times as customs similar to what was done by people in central Islamic lands, like Syria and Egypt. Bello, on the other hand, was very rigid on this, even condemning the nomadic Fulani for a custom or tradition involving fire, dances, and objects tied around the head of children by agreeing with Shaykh Abdullahi al-Thuqa. Nonetheless, this was seen as justification for the jihad, since it was perceived as shirk by Bello. Furthermore, by lending support to the Hausa rulers who fought against the jihad, Bello argued that the Sayfawa mai had become an unbeliever. If a Muslim ruler supports unbelievers against other Muslims, such a ruler becomes an unbeliever himself. Furthermore, as head of the state, the behavior of the mai called into question the Islamic legitimacy of Borno. Thus, the jihadists were in the moral right. Unsurprisingly, al-Kanemi countered this by drawing on the same sources and evidence as Bello: the Quran, Islamic law, hadith, logic.

Later in their correspondence, which appears to have been infrequent due to messengers failing to deliver letters, al-Kanemi seems to have shifted somewhat his argument. While acknowledging some customs in Borno that were improper, he accuses the allies of the jihad of initiating conflict with Borno on incorrect, false grounds. The Fulani and others who attacked Borno seemed to be more interested in gathering booty and captives, which triggered part of the debate between Bello and al-Kanemi on whether enslavement of said captives was legal in Islam. The two never reconciled, based on the letters reproduced by Bello, but one can see how the conflict between Sokoto and Borno was centered on defining a Muslim. Part of this even drew from the longer history of Islam in West Africa, especially Askia Muhammad of Songhay and his questions posed to al-Maghili. Askia Muhammad's seizure of power was seen as a jihad of sorts by Bello, and a model for a proper Islamic ruler to emulate. Intriguingly, Bello did not cite or reference other works of al-Maghili written to or for Hausa rulers of Kano and Katsina, perhaps since that would have called into question the legitimacy of the jihad against Hausa rulers (sarakauna). Nonetheless, the model of Askia Muhammad and expectations of a Muslim ruler as a pious, just figure who corrects the behavior of his subjects and follows Islamic precepts. One wonders to what extent al-Kanemi would have drawn on the history and legacy of the Sayfawa monarchs to counter Bello's claims. Perhaps al-Kanemi would not have used the past of the Sayfawa due to his own political ambitions?