The influence of Islam on a Sudanese Religion

Joseph Greenberg's short The Influence of Islam on a Sudanese Religion is an interesting account of the "pagan" religion of Hausa in the Kano area. Although dated and perhaps incorrect about the particulars of early Hausa history and Islamic conversion (influences from Kanem-Borno appear to be important, not just Islamic influences from Mali or the Fulani), Greenberg traces the relationship between Islamic/Mohammedan religion and the local, "pagan" bori and iskoki worship of the Maguzawa Hausa. Through centuries of living alongside Muslims or being in interaction with Muslims (initially said to be West African Muslims influenced by Maghrebi Islamic practices), the children of bori have absorbed elements of Islam and even created a new spirit based on their knowledge of the faith. Nonetheless, two religious traditions are distinct and reflect the ways in which West African religions have coexisted and adapted elements from Islam into their own local settings. 

In this regard, Hausa "traditional" religion brings to mind traditions like Haitian Vodou, where interaction with a monotheistic religion has led to some acculturative results while not diminishing the importance of the spirits. Even Hausa Muslims, like non-Vodouisant Haitians, often believe in the power of the spirits. As devotees of their respective Abrahamic faiths, however, they see "serving the spirits" as unlawful or wrong. But continued belief in the efficacy of these spirits for healing and other purposes must play a role in the survival of Vodou and Maguzawa religion. Furthermore, like Haitians, the Maguzawa believe Allah is a distant, remote Creator and focus on sacrifices to spirits for help. Like the Catholic saints sometimes identified with spirits, the Hausa associate jinn, including those of Islamic origins, with the iskoki and have adopted a dichotomy of "black" and "white" spirits based on the urban vs. rural, Muslim vs. pagan factors in their history. Last but certainly not least, the domestic, rural practices of the cult are rooted in patrilineal sibs among the Hausa in which the male head of the extended family is often in charge of the rites. Spirit possession rituals, tied with specific drum rhythms and instruments, are also important in the bori possession cult (linked to healing), like that of Haitian Vodou. 

Even more intriguing is to see the similarities of Hausa traditional religion with other parts of West Africa. The belief in a serpent-rainbow deity, Gajimari, for instance, and the known historical and cultural contact between the Hausa and other peoples like the Yoruba, may hint at ancient influences. The past importance of the Kutumbawa Kano kings in pre-Islamic rituals, including sacrifices that allegedly included humans, also brings to mind some other West African kingdoms. Even the Hausa word used for a "pagan" medicine man who consults the spirits to cure patients, sounds a little like the bocor or bokono of the Yoruba and Benin areas. While some of the iskoki included in Greenberg's table may differ from Hausa descriptions of the spirits outside of the Kano region, it seems likely that the Hausa iskoki spirits are generally similar and indicate a belief in spirits as the cause and cure for various ailments. Moreover, the Hausa seem to believe the iskoki reside in a city to the east, Jangare, with a political administration similar to the Hausa kingdoms. Hausa "paganism" is undoubtedly related to those of other West African peoples and, perhaps, one of the contributing traditions to Haitian Vodou. 

Song of Bagauda

After finally reading M. Hiskett's translation and study of The Song of Bagauda, one cannot help but feel disappointed. We thought it was a major Hausa source derived from oral traditions that was more useful for reconstructing the history of Kano. Instead, much of it is actually about Islamic orthodoxy and resisting "pagan" or non-Islamic practices. The main part of the text of interest to us, a list of kings of Kano which differs in significant ways (especially with regard to uncertain chronology and other variations) from that of the Kano Chronicle, is unfortunately too brief to be of use. Some descriptors of various kings of Kano may be of use, as is the claim that Umaru was the first Muslim king of Kano. As suggested by Hiskett, it does appear that the Song was updated after the death of each ruler and it is less interested than the Kano Chronicle in the "pagan" pre-Bagauda past of the city. That much of the song is concerned with proper Islamic belief and practice and calls for Muslims to avoid sorcery, divination, bori cult practices, and for the proper treatment of the dead and orphans suggests the authorship of the song reflects the concerns of Hausa Muslims. Indeed, one of the sources for Hiskett's version of the text is from a woman who learned the song from a malam. 

Sword of Truth: The Life and Times of the Shehu Usuman dan Fodio

Mervyn Hiskett's Sword of Truth is a short biography of Uthman dan Fodio, the reformer and leader whose movement revolutionized Hausaland and much of today's northern Nigeria in the 19th century. Although the full history of the Sokoto Caliphate is not the main topic of Hiskett's monograph, a biography of its foundational figure is important for establishing the theological, intellectual, cultural, and political contexts of its origins. Beginning with an overview of Uthman dan Fodio's origins in a scholarly Fulani Muslim community and the larger world it was a part of, the reader is taken on a journey into the late 18th century landscape of Hausaland. Although one wonders if more recent scholarship has added more nuance to the question of "mixed Islam" and the relationship of Islamic scholars with the Habe ruling courts of the Hausa states, Hiskett's biography suggests a number of causes for the outbreak of the jihad. For instance, tensions between Fulani nomads and Hausa chiefs, the global currents of Islamic intellectual thought (though, according to Hiskett, the Shehu was not a fundamentalist or a devotee of Shaik Jibril b.Umar's iconoclasm), Hausa political corruption and abuse, arbitrary enslavement, and the Shehu's belief in his own divinely sanctioned position as a renewer of the faith. Indeed, to prepare the way for the Mahdi, the Shehu felt compelled to lead what eventually became a militant movement against the rulers of Gobir and other states for their adherence to "paganism" (or tolerance of it) and restrictions on orthodox Islam. 

While the biography of Uthman dan Fodio is revealing of intellectual and religious thought in the Central Sudan during his era, Hiskett's sources are mainly from the Shehu or his family and supporters. This inherent bias does place limitations on his general narrative of the Shehu's career. The perspective of the Gobirawa dynasty, for instance, has to be gleamed from the pro-jihad sources Hiskett relies on. With the exception of the correspondence with al-Kanemi of Borno, one finds little, at least in terms of Central Sudan's Muslim intellectuals, of the regional scholars opposed to the jihad. Perhaps recent scholarship, with access to more Arabic (or Hausa) manuscripts from the pre-jihad era, can shed fuller light on the array of opinion and intellectual climate within the region and the relationship of the scholars to issues of reform, ulama-state relations, and, eventually, Uthman dan Fodio. 

Nonetheless, there is much insight in Hiskett's biography and use of local Hausa sources (in Arabic and Hausa), particularly as they shed light on the transformation of the Sokoto Caliphate and the ideal state based on Sharia the Shehu and his followers sought to establish. For instance, Hiskett argues that the Shehu accepted ijma and was a devout Sufi, therefore disqualifying him from classification as a fundamentalist or Wahhabi-influenced. The gradual readoption or return to Hausa political titles in the Sokoto Caliphate, for example, or accusations of corruption and greed against political officials in it also harkened back to pre-jihad political problems of the Hausa states. While the Shehu sought to, through his brother Abdullah b. Muhammad and son, Muhammad Bello, to lay the foundations for a state closer to their Islamic ideal, the Sokoto Caliphate fell short of its initial goals. However, it further entrenched the importance and spread of Islam in the area through uniting most of the Hausa areas into a state based, in theory, on Islamic law and the prominent role of scholars. Through the encouragement of local writing in Hausa and Fulfulde on Islamic themes, the Shehu and his followers undoubtedly played a pivotal role in strengthening northern Nigeria's Islamic identity and orientation. 

al-Tunisi's Darfur

Muhammad al-Tunisi's account of his voyage to Darfur, translated from the Arabic into English as In Darfur, is one of the major sources for reconstructing the history of the Darfur Sultanate. Based on his experiences there and covering the late 18th century and early 19th century period of the Keira rulers, al-Tunisi describes his travels there, gender relations, the political offices, diet, domestic architecture, magic and local superstitions, local politics, and social and ethnic divisions. The multiethnic Darfur sultanate included a mix of various ethnic groups, including Zaghawa, Fur, Arab, Fulani, and others. 

Due to al-Tunisi's own background as someone coming from an educated family and claiming descent from the Prophet, he and his father found favor and support in Darfur, even receiving a fief with rights to the taxation of villages. Because of his privileged position in Darfur and shared religion with the elites of Darfur, al-Tunisi's description of Darfur (and Wadai) occasionally provides more insights into the nature of the kingdom than that of later European travelers who were outsiders. Of course, al-Tunisi was still a biased outsider in another sense, bringing an Arab, North African perspective on Fur sexual mores, gender relations, and improper practices such as the possible human sacrifice.

Despite his own biases and sexism, al-Tunisi is an important source for documenting how extensive Darfur's links to the outside world were. The Sudanic belt, from Timbuktu and Mali in the west to Sinnar and Abyssinia in the East, and from the Maghreb and Egypt to Dar Runga and Dar Fartit in the south, the world of Darfur in this era was closely tied to regional, African, and global networks. The rulers of Darfur, for instance, used a royal seal made in Egypt. The sultan used the title of khaqan like the Ottoman sultan, too. An Egyptian fellah and musketeer named Zabadi served in the Darfur army. Darfur's ruler Tayrab invaded Kordofan. 

In addition, after the French invasion of Egypt, Zawanah Kashif fled to Darfur, was well-received and then plotted to murder the sultan. Darfur was, through its trade links to Sinnar, Egypt, North Africa and the rest of Sudanic Africa, was clearly a participant in global trade. Political ramifications of the French invasion of Egypt also reached Darfur, just as epidemic diseases from the Islamic Holyland struck Wadai. While some may think of the Darfur sultanate as an insignificant, minor African kingdom, al-Tunisi's account indicates the opposite. Indeed, during this era, Darfur was particularly important on a regional level, even as succession crises fueled civil wars. 

Ancient Nubia

P.L. Shinnie's Ancient Nubia manages the nearly impossible task of covering thousands of years of Nubian history from prehistoric times until the fall of the Christian kingdoms. Obviously, to cover so much time in a short volume requires omissions. Nonetheless, Shinnie's readable account is a nice summary of what was known at the time about the general history of Nubia. And while he occasionally expressed a strange, perhaps outdated perspective on "race" and the A-Group and C-Group peoples as "non-negro" or not black, Shinnie's survey stresses continuity as a major factor in Nubia's cultural history. Thus, the A-Group, C-Group, Kerma/Kush, Napatan, and Meroitic phases in the region's history present several areas of continuity. The "Egyptianized" elites of the period of New Kingdom rule and the Napatan-Meroitic phase are perhaps an expected result of centuries of Egyptian domination. However, even they inherited much from Kush and applied Egyptian models to local conditions and needs. That said, the Meroitic phase, perhaps the one in which rule urbanism, the arts, and trade were at their zenith, could have received a longer chapter. After all, if Meroe represented the zenith of the Napata-Meroe rulers, why not dedicate more space to theories of its development, ideology, and relations with the neighboring areas of Africa and the ancient world? And speaking of Meroe, why so little to say about Alwa, despite that region of Nubia likely benefitting from rain-fed cultivation as well as pastoralism and river-based agriculture? Certainly Alwa may have presented a medieval example comparable to Meroe's greatness.

Feudalism in Borno

While perusing Ronald Cohen's "The Dynamics of Feudalism in Bornu" we felt compelled to record some of our thoughts. Cohen, building on his ethnographic work among the Kanuri, endeavors to apply the feudal framework to the political system of Borno. Since the "fief" was allocated from the Sayfawa mai (or Kanembu Shehus) to nobles with the right to tax said land, but the central authority never lost the ability to revoke such allotments, Cohen sees Borno as diverging from feudalism as developed in medieval Europe. Moreover, Cohen sees in the Borno case another major difference due to the inconsistency of primogentire for royal succession. Unlike Europe, where primogeniture became the rule, several rulers of Kanem-Borno were succeeded by non-filial relatives. The large size of the Magumi royal clan and the growth of various lineage segments throughout the course of its long history created conditions in which there were always a number of potential contenders for the throne.

Adding into the mix of this often volatile political equation is the role of a major council that invested new kings. Cohen did not delve deeper into this, but a council who confirmed the new king plus competing lineages for the royal throne created conditions in which Borno's political system was often unstable, particularly after famines, unsuccessful wars, or other moments of crisis. In order to combat this instability in royal succession, Borno rulers began to increasingly rely on slave officials and outsiders of the Sayfawa lineages in order to ensure loyalty. In order to maintain the loyalty of subordinates, the rulers of Borno ensured they possessed the means to revoke fiefs given to them and maintained their subordinate position. Furthermore, the ubiquitous role of the patron-client relations and relative absence of currency led to a general social pattern in which subordinates provided labor, fealty and services to a superior in exchange for protection, occupation, economic advancement, political office, and security. Overall, the "unique" Borno feudal state was centralized in some ways but appears to have been inherently unstable in the long-run, yet Cohen may have missed aspects of stability and centralizing tendencies apparent in apparently "weak" rulers of the Sayfawa dynasty. 

A Short History of Benin

Jacob Egharevba's A Short History of Benin is one of those classic texts on a well-known West African historical state. Egharevba's short account is mainly based on oral sources. Due to his family background and access to the royal court and keepers of the historical tradition, Egharevba's short history manages to cover over 700 years of history in 100 pages (fourth edition). While some may take issue with his attempt to read Oranmiyan as a historical king of Benin or perhaps even the historicity of the Ogiso kings who preceded the descendants of Oranmiyan, Egharevba's account supplies a number of important details on Benin from the 15th century until 1897. In fact, a number of details, anecdotes, and episodes of political conflict during the reigns of various obas points to the ongoing struggle between the obas and the Uzama, Iyase, and other sources of authority. 

Indeed, at different moments, Benin supposedly tried a republican form of government. Unpopular, greedy obas were also sometimes overthrown or challenged by its subjects. This long-running dynamic between royal authority and the kingmakers and chiefs could sometimes be won in the favor of the obas. However, even some of the most notable obas, like Ewuare, allegedly caused great misfortune during his mourning of the death of his two sons. Princes sometimes fought for the throne, showing another of instability in the political system (in spite of an oba enacting primogeniture as the rule of succession). Furthermore, the longer reigns of some obas also created problems if they were succeeded by old sons. These heirs to the throne may have been less effective at resisting the council of kingmakers and other chiefs. Perhaps the situation was analogous to the period of older alafins in Oyo appointed by the Oyo Mesi, an issue mentioned by Robin Law's analysis of that Yoruba kingdom.

Benin was also fascinating for its relations with Europe. Although Ryder should probably be read for a full account of that, Egharevba's account suggests local Christianity persisted in some form until the late 17th century. Indeed, he claims one oba and a number of princes were actually literate in Portuguese. Other obas took an interest in European technology, like telescopes. The full story of Benin's relations with the West are interesting, but it would have been interesting if Egharevba had been able to find more information about the local use of Portuguese for literacy and the manner in which the Ohensa administered the local Catholic churches. Additionally, though it would have been difficult when first published, it would have enriched the study if analysis of the famous Benin bronzes was attempted. According to Egharevba, the art of brass casting entered Benin from Ife and the pieces were part of the local method of recording history. A careful analysis of those artistic masterpieces, European textual sources, and Benin oral traditions, including those outside the royal court, would have led to a richer history of one of the major kingdoms of precolonial Nigeria.