Medieval Arabic Epigraphy from Mali and Songhay History

Arabic Medieval Inscriptions from the Republic of Mali: Epigraphy, Chronicles and Songhay-Tuareg History by P.F. de Moraes Farias has long been on our reading list. One of the essential studies that endeavors to incorporate medieval epigraphic sources into our understanding of the history of the Songhay and the eastern arc of the Niger, this important work, despite its (necessarily) occasional speculative nature, raises a number of questions about the received wisdom on the history of Mali. First, by exploring the problematic way in which Heinrich Barth, Delafosse, and others have problematically assumed the 17th century Timbuktu chronicles can be treated as a reservoir of basic facts and data without any deeper ideological or textual analysis, this study illustrates how and why the funerary and non-funerary epigraphic evidence has been ignored, sidelined, or treated as peripheral. 

However, the funerary sources, as early sources covering dates from the early 11th century until the end of the 15th, are actual textual sources from the period before the rise of Sonni Ali and Askia Muhammad I. They shed (some) light on earlier rulers at Gao and Saney with more than just the kingslists that appear in the 17th century chronicles. Moreover, by ignoring the innovative nature of the tarikh genre in the 17th century Western Sudan, and the specific political and socioeconomic conditions which shaped its development after the fall of the Songhay imperial state and the establishment of the Arma, modern scholars have underappreciated the creativity of the chroniclers and their own motives. Furthermore, the chroniclers themselves lamented the lack of sufficient or detailed records from the early history of the Western Sudan, so epitaphs and other inscriptions from the 11th-15th century become exceptionally important sources to supplement our meager knowledge of that era.

That said, the inscriptions obviously cannot tell us everything. They do, however, provide a vista onto how the deceased and those who erected stelae or inscribed tombstones for the dead conceived of time, the calendar, their connection to the larger world of Islam, and hints of kingship, ethnicity, language, or cultural change. Part of this can be seen in Bentyia, where inscriptions record Songhay, Berber, and what appear to be Mande names. The intense interplay between Songhay and Tuareg cultures also challenges us to rethink casual or simplistic assumptions about "race" and culture, too. For instance, the askia title, which appeared in inscriptions centuries before the rise of Askia Muhammad at the end of the 15th century, may have a connection to a word of Berber derivation referring to a male slave (though this is a complex question that requires deeper familiarity with Songhay linguistics and oral tradition). It's quite clear, too, from reading de Moraes Farias, that the Ali Kulun character of Tuareg oral literature was likely the source for how the Timbuktu chroniclers sought to make sense of the period of Mali imperial domination of Gao and the eastern Niger. This suggests that some of the narratives about that period reported in the chronicles are unhistorical and the chronology of Malian rule and the different dynasties that ruled Gao will remain up for debate. 

Whether or not the epigraphic evidence can be used to postulate how kingship might have operated at Gao before the period of Mali's domination is uncertain, but de Moraes Farias's theory of rotating succession in the 11th-13th centuries is an intriguing one., After all, based on the funerary inscriptions from the early 1100s and 1200s at Gao and Saney (another site near Gao), he speculates that there may have been two lines or royal clans who alternated kingship. The first one was definitely Muslim by the second half of the 1000s, and the second one, the so-called Zuwa 'dynasty' may have either been officeholders who shared power with the earlier 'dynasty'. 

Besides raising questions about the Timbuktu chronicles and how medieval inscriptions in Arabic force us to rethink or reconceptualize space, belief, and culture in the medieval Sahel, one is also left with tantalizing references to what may have been early Sufist influence in the Sahel at Junhan. One is also left wondering why it funerary inscriptions were in vogue at Gao, Saney, Bentyia, and Essuk (Tadmakka) but no evidence for the practice has been found yet in Kanem. One would expect that similar connections with Tripoli, Qayrawan and other parts of the Maghrib (as well as similar Saharan and Sahelian Berber populations) did not lead to the development of funerary inscriptions at sites like Njimi (or perhaps at Manan, the earlier capital of Kanem which remains unknown). If the early prominence of Ibadis in Kanem's trans-Saharan trade is a factor, something similar was also an inhibiting factor at Gao.

Chronicles from Gonja

Chronicles from Gonja collects and translates several Arabic manuscripts of a historical nature from kingdom of Gonja. Founded sometime in the mid-16th century by a warrior from the Mali Empire, Gonja was later made a tributary of the Asante Empire. However, the longstanding ties of trade in gold, kola nuts, textiles, and other goods had connected northern Ghana with the Western Sudan region since the Middle Ages. Even before the foundation of Gonja as a conquest state, Wangara merchants had already been active in the region. After its establishment, the warrior "estate" then established a close alliance with the Wangara and Islamic scholars. Later, Asante expansion northward in the 18th century began to encroach upon Gonja, eventually reducing it to a vassal state. Nonetheless, Gonja's literate Muslims were active in Kumase, writing charms, serving as advisors, and recording chronicles, letters, and prayers. 

The texts translated by Levtzion and commented upon by Ivor Wilks and Bruce Haight mainly date from the 18th and 19th centuries. The more substantial ones, such as the Tarikh Ghinja and the Kitab Ghanja, essentially present the history of Gonja's rulers from its origins in the 16th century to the second half of the 18th century. One even adopts the typical form of annals of the style of Islamic historiography. Nonetheless, many of the texts translated here reflect low standards of literacy or fluency in the Arabic tongue. Perhaps the scarcity of paper or the lower state of scholars who produced copies of older manuscripts is to blame here. Despite these aforementioned problems, and issues of copyists incorrectly replacing Bighu with Segu or confusing the names of Gonja sultans, the texts do provide a wealth of information on the region of northern Ghana and surrounding areas. 

The Wangara and/or Malinke elements were a bridge who linked the Akan peoples to the south with the Western Sudan, trans-Saharan trade, and, undoubtedly, with the Hausa trade in kola nuts. Indeed, sources such as the Wangara Chronicle indicate how influential Muslim Malinke traders were in Hausaland, just as their presence in Gonja was inextricably linked to Gonja's ruling estate, the Ngbanya. So, in a sense, the Wangara were a bridge connecting areas like Gonja and Dagomba with the Western and Central Sudan. Indeed, a rare reference to a man of Borno in Kafaba in the Tarikh Ghunja, if reliable, indicates a Borno presence in this region early in Gonja's existence. In addition, an allusion to the death of a Gonja pilgrim in a village of Katsina, while returning from Mecca, testifies to another dimension of Gonja's ties to the Central Sudan. Instead of, say, taking a pilgrimage route that went to the Middle Niger Valley and then crossed the Sahara, this pilgrim, at least on his return trip, traveled through Hausaland. Thus, in our eyes, the northern region of Ghana offer an intriguing case of a region with close ties to both the Western and Central Sudan, contributing to the formation of trading diasporas linked by gold, kola nuts, and Islam. 

Wangara Chronicle

Although unfortunately too brief, a 17th century chronicle on the origins of Wangara Islamic scholars in 15th century Kano is a priceless document. Translated into English by Muhammad Al-Hajj, "A Seventeenth Century Chronicle On the Origins and Missionary Activities of the Wangarawa" corroborates some of the information in the famous Kano Chronicle. Based on the quality of paper and writing style of the manuscript, Al-Hajj believes the document was probably written down in the 1700s or perhaps earlier, in 1650/51 according to the colophon. That said, it contains information on Shaikh Zagaite and Wangara traders influencing Muhammad Rumfa from a period of perhaps 150 years earlier than that of its author. Thus, the chronicle likely relies on a mix of oral traditions and some documents to trace the genealogy of descendants of Zagaite. Its earlier section on the migration of Zagaite from Wangara (near Maqzara, or what was sometimes called Takrur) through Mali, Gobir, Azben, Katsina and Kano seems to draw from oral traditions that sought to explain the presence of Wangara in various parts of West Africa. This illustrates the wider diasporic network of Wangara traders and Muslim teachers who undoubtedly played a critical role in the Islamization of Kano, Katsina and other parts of West Africa. This network must have brought Islamic influences into parts of the Hausaland just as Islamic influences from the east, via Borno, and Islamic influences from the north likely converged to a greater extent in the 14th and 15th centuries.

Besides providing a short explanation of Shaikh Zagaite's gradual migration to Kano, the chronicle also connects him to al-Maghili (Sidi Fari), a famous North African scholar who had influenced Askia Muhammad of Songhay and Muhammad Rumfa of Kano. According to this chronicle, both Zagaithe and al-Maghili were respected scholars who contributed to the spread of Islam. Indeed, a miraculous account reported here claims that Shaikh Zagaite's intercession was necessary for the Muslims to successfully cut down a sacred tree of the pagans. After Zagaite's intercession through prayer, a mosque was built on the grounds of the tree, another symbol of Islam's victory over pre-Islamic traditions in Kano. In addition, Zagaite was said to have surpassed an Egyptian visitor in terms of scholarship, suggesting that the critical study of al-Khalil in Kano began with Zagaite. According to Al-Hajj, however, the chronicler was actually incorrect so the anecdote was likely inserted or distorted to suggest a greater intellectual stature for Zagaite than an Egyptian. Regardless of this possibly distorted or fabricated anecdote, the chronicle places Zagaite on a similar level as al-Maghili in terms of influence and respect from Muhammad Rumfa. This suggests that Wangara Muslim scholars were perceived as similarly knowledgeable and reputable as North Africans in late 15th century Kano. 

Indeed, according to this chronicle, Zagaite and his sons were rewarded by Muhammad Rumfa with fiefs or lands. Zagaite actually wanted his progeny to carry on the tradition of learning and close relations with the rulers of Kano, too. Thus, the genealogical information recorded in the chronicle may have been motivated by a desire to combat discord and divisions among the descendants of Zagaite. Perhaps, over a 150 years or more, the extended family had been divided and conflict over royal patronage had become significant enough to warrant a short family history. Indeed, discord within kinship groups and disrespect for one's parents were repeatedly mentioned as sinful behavior. Thus, the primary purpose of this short text may have been to remind descendants of Zagaite of their common origin and restore some degree of harmony to a family divided by time and politics. Recalling an ancestor believed to possess baraka and to have performed miracles through the aid of God must have been a powerful way to assert this, even if readers in the 21st century obviously do not believe demons or devils sprung forth from the sacred tamarind tree or that Zagaite was able to lower the depth of the sea (Niger River?) when leaving Mali to perform the pilgrimage. Unfortunately, allusions to Borno were absent but allusions in the Diwan and Kano Chronicle indicate influences from Kanem-Borno in Kano by the late 14th century.