a muslim divine of the sudan in the fifteenth century

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International African Institute A Muslim Divine of the Sudan in the Fifteenth Century Author(s): H. R. Palmer Source: Africa: Journal of the International African Institute, Vol. 3, No. 2 (Apr., 1930), pp. 203-216 Published by: Cambridge University Press on behalf of the International African Institute Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1155799 . Accessed: 14/06/2014 15:08 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp . JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. . Cambridge University Press and International African Institute are collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Africa: Journal of the International African Institute. http://www.jstor.org This content downloaded from 185.44.79.22 on Sat, 14 Jun 2014 15:08:56 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

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Page 1: A Muslim Divine of the Sudan in the Fifteenth Century

International African Institute

A Muslim Divine of the Sudan in the Fifteenth CenturyAuthor(s): H. R. PalmerSource: Africa: Journal of the International African Institute, Vol. 3, No. 2 (Apr., 1930), pp.203-216Published by: Cambridge University Press on behalf of the International African InstituteStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1155799 .

Accessed: 14/06/2014 15:08

Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at .http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp

.JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range ofcontent in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new formsof scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected].

.

Cambridge University Press and International African Institute are collaborating with JSTOR to digitize,preserve and extend access to Africa: Journal of the International African Institute.

http://www.jstor.org

This content downloaded from 185.44.79.22 on Sat, 14 Jun 2014 15:08:56 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

Page 2: A Muslim Divine of the Sudan in the Fifteenth Century

A MUSLIM DIVINE OF THE SUDAN IN THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY

BY H. R. PALMER

NE of the chief impediments to ethnological study in Africa, south of Egypt and the northern coast belt of the continent, lies

in the meagre amount of archaelogical data which exists, as also in the paucity of records which can be called historical. The position as regards these matters, however, is not as bad in the Sudan belt as is sometimes thought. The historical data collected by Barth and other writers concerning the Sudan belt in past ages, have been perhaps too readily considered as of doubtful authenticity. Consequently, any surviving direct evidence concerning Sudanese history and chrono- logical data to fix it, is valuable not only in itself, but as helping to substantiate other traditions and notices which may not be con- sidered to be fully authenticated.

The manuscript which is translated below does not of course, itself, as an extant written document, date from the period to which it refers-considerations of climate and means of preserving books nega- tive any such possibility-but at the same time it is a manuscript which may possibly be forty or fifty years old, and was copied in the usual way, one must suppose, from another or others of older date which have long since perished, been burnt or lost. The comparatively brief life of writing materials in the Sudan means that all books have to be preserved by being copied from generation to generation, a pro- cess which has the great drawback that in all copies of manuscripts purporting to be old, there are numerous mistakes owing to the total inability of the average Sudanese Mallam or Arabic Writer to copy even one page of manuscript correctly. In general, therefore, the older the original manuscript may be supposed to be, the greater the number of errors and mistakes in present-day copies, so much so that without some confirmatory evidence it is quite unsafe to accept dates (Muslim Calendar) as given by these manuscripts asprimafacie correct.

The manuscript refers to the reign of the Sultan or Mai of Bomu P 2

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called Ali Gaji Dunamami (Ali the little son of Dunama) who, accord- ing to Barth's chronological table, ruled from A.D. 1472-I504 after the Kanem civil war ended. Ali founded a new Bornu capital called Ngazargamu near the modern Geidam, a capital which lasted till i808 when it was sacked by the Fulani.

But, whenever the mother or first copy of this document may be supposed to have been composed, it is quite evident that its contents represent contemporary information or more or less authentic record of the happenings of those times, and it is prima farie entitled to rank as contemporary history, which is particularly interesting.

The date of the death of the Sultan Ali Dunamami as given at the end of the manuscript, is given with every appearance of care and exactitude, except that from the use of the written Arabic numerals themselves it is evident that there is some slip or mistake of this

copyist, or some former copyist. In figures the manuscript gives the date of Ali's death as A. H. 9I7, whereas its written equivalent reads as follows: Tisa'a miatawaseba'a waashara... Onemaybe sure firstly that the figures are a later addition by a copyist from the written date. But if the mother manuscript had originally the written date as A. H.

917, we would expect that date to read: Tisa'a miata wa seba'a(t) ashara sanata. There is in fact in the manuscript as now extant a wa too much, and also an ungrammatical omission of sanata which latter omission would be rather unlikely even for a copyist, if the word sanata had ever been in the original manuscript at the end of the sentence. The proba- bility then is that some word very similar in sound or appearance to ashara, which came after it at the end of the sentence, has fallen out. That word would naturally and probably be shuhur, i. e. months. We may therefore with great probability emend the passage to read: Tisa'a miata wa seba'a (sanata) wa ashara shuhur, i. e. nine hundred and seven years and ten months. In the Sudan, the reckoning by the Muslim Calendar is always on a basis of completed years, months, or days, so that this dating by the Hejira as A. H. 907 years and io months, means not that Ali died in the Muslim year which we call A. H. 907, but in the i ith month of the Muslim year A. H. 908. This latter date not only fits exactly the statement first made in the manuscript that Ali died in the month of Dthul Ki'ida (the eleventh month of the year), but also more

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Page 4: A Muslim Divine of the Sudan in the Fifteenth Century

A MUSLIM DIVINE OF THE SUDAN 205 or less coincides with the date of Ali Dunama's death as given by Barth (in 1855) who had very good data for arriving at an accurate estimate of dates.

It is extremely unlikely that Barth's calculation about the date of the death of Ali Dunamami, i. e. A. D. I 504, is far wrong; certainly it is not

wrong by seven years as it would be, if the date A. H. 917 or A. D. I 5 1 as given in figures were correct. Taking A. H. 907 then as the correct

reading, Ali is said to have died on Thursday after five days of Dthul Kitida, A. H. 908 had passed. The first of Dthul Ki'ida in that year as

usually reckoned was Friday, April 28th, and its first day was Friday evening April 28th, to Saturday evening April 29th. The end of the fifth day of Dthul Ki'ida A. H. 908 would thus be Wednesday evening April 3rd, 1503, so that Thursday, the day of Ali's death, as given by the manuscript fits perfectly, and we conclude that Ali Dunamami in fact died during the night of Wednesday April 3rd, 1503, or some- time before sunset on the following day. Hence, as there was usually a short interval between the death of one Sultan and the installation of another, I504 as the date of the accession of All's son, Mai Idris Katagarmabe, is near enough for all practical purposes. There follows the deduction that the revolt of Logone described in the manuscript took place about October-January 1502-3, when the corn in the

Logone region would be ripe and the zakka to the Mai payable on it, and also that the early friendship between the future Sultan Ali and Sheikh Umr may be accurately dated as about the year A. D. 1470 or so.

The setting and terrain of the early part of this document is also extremely interesting in several ways. It confirms as accurate the ordinary Bornu tradition that Ali Dunamami, after settling first at Wudi near the modern Ngegimi, settled at Yamia north of Machinna till he was strong enough to move south, and found Ngazargamu. Imariya or Mirria near Yamia and Machinna is the ancient capital of the Damagram region, a Sudan capital mentioned as early as A. D. 891 by the Arab writer Yacubi as a slave market.

It is evident that in about A. D. 1470 Ali Dunamami was master of this whole region with its towns like Machinna, Yamia, and Mirria, as also the region to the north known as Kutushi, which was famous for the wells made by races who formerly inhabited the region, wells

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which can be seen even now as far south as the Fika region on the one hand, and Daura in Hausaland on the other.

The great well near Mirria was, says the writer of this narrative: 'dug for the guests of the people of the country in the time of the ' Shaushau and Bum. People did not cease coming to this well down ' to the time of the Kingdom of Bornu.'

Shaushau, like its variants So or Sau, Susu, and Seu, is merely a general term for aboriginal tribes, but the Bum or Mbum are always distinguished from the So or Shaushau, and are in other accounts said to have inhabited most of what is now British Bornu at one period, and to form part of the population of the Re Buba region in the Cameroons. Their name possibly occurs in Rabuma the title of a chief, said by Ibn Said, A. . I260, and Makrisi, to have lived west of Lake Chad, and in the place-name Bumanda, a region of the Upper Benue, inhabited in Barth's day by tribes of Jukun connexion.

It seems probable in fact from existing legends that the Bum were a section or branch of the Kwararafa tribes, of which the Jukun, Kona, or Kwana, were the ruling classes corresponding to the Kanuri ruling classes-the Kokanawa, Kawakin, or Kona. Under these circumstances, and from the wording of the passage above quoted as to the 'wells' for which Kutushi is still famous, the wells were, it would seem, due originally not to native talent but to mercantile guests, possibly Phoenicians, Romans, Arabs, or North African traders who provided tools, and had some knowledge of working in stone, and lining the wells with wooden timbering.

Mirria, like the ancient Kukia or Kaukau farther west, was an early terminus of the desert trade, and it is of considerable interest to find that in A. D. I470 it was associated with well-digging to aid commerce, and with the Bum or Mbum, and that it was regarded as having been in existence before the Kingdom of Bornu was founded at Njimi in Kanem, A. D. 80oo-ooo, a view which is confirmed by Yacubi's Notice of Mirria as existing in A. D. 89I.

This notice gains added interest in view of the fact that these regions stretching north to Bulma were the cradle of the Hausa-speaking race (the Diggera) who ruled Hausaland from about A.D. o000 down to A. D. 808. With regard to Masbarma, a name which also connotes the

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A MUSLIM DIVINE OF THE SUDAN 207 father of Bornu historical records, this document conveys the impres- sion that this distinguished family settled first at Machinna before Ngazargamu was founded, at some time during the civil war (I 50-

1450) and attached itself to the rising fortunes of the Beni Idris branch of the Magumi, of which Ali bin Dunama was a scion.

The Mais of Kanem (Bornu) even in the fourteenth century as we know from Makrisi, asserted that they were descended from Himyar and Saif ibn Dthi Yazan. Evidently the cause of Ali Dunamami's anger with Sheikh Umr and the stranger Mu'allim was that they dared to discuss and doubt the authenticity of his pedigree, a doubt which seems to have revived at a later date when nisbas were composed to the effect that the Khalifate shifted to Bornu when the Ummayad dynasty was eclipsed by the Abbasids.

It is, however, clear from this narrative, read in conjunction with other notices in the Arab writers from Yacubi (A. D. 891), and Tabari (A. D. 914) onwards, that in addition to the famous Kukia or Kaukau founded as a caravan centre in the Western Sudan towards A. D. 60o- 700, there were other trade centres in the Central Sudan where the dominant or ruling race were a people whose name is sounded indiffer- ently as Mar, Mir, Mur, in the Central Sudan, and farther West as Mal or Mel, whence such tribal epithets as Malle or Melle; Mare, Marinda, Mir, Mirria, Marmar, Malan, Marti, and finally Meroe or Maroe, and Marowin.

Yacubi (A.D. 891) speaks of the rulers of Kanem being at enmity with a kingdom called Malal (not the later kingdom known as Malle) as also of Chibir or Chebin, of which the ruler was called Marah. Under these circumstances it seems very probable that Malle, Mir or Miria, Marowin and Marinda, denote the same people or caste, and that these peoples were at least sui generis to the Zaghawa (Sagwa) of Idrisi. They are the Bum or Mbum of the Bornu legends, who were certainly in some way connected with the people known later as Kwararafa and Jukun.

The early Mais of Kanem also were by Yacubi classed as Zaghawa, while El Hallebi, as quoted by Yacut, states that the 'Kingdom of 'Kaukau became peopled as the land of the Zaghawa, when the hand ' of Zaghawa extended itself'. We are concerned then, it seems, in all

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these Mar or Mir Kingdoms, with the spread of a pre-Bornu Meroitic terminology and influence to the West.

We also have the fact that the old ruling race of Bornu, the Magumi and the Jukun, or ruling caste of the Kwararafa, regard themselves mutually as of cognate stock, and that the Kanuri name for the Jukun is the same name as they have for their own ruling caste, i. e. Kona or Kokana.

The reason for contrasting the Bum with the Shaushau or abori-

ginal negro will then be apparent. In the Kanuri language: (i) Ado Jukun bumandi, means: This is a

Jukun our enemy. (2) Ado Jukun bundi tilo,' means: This is a Jukun of common blood with us, i.e. the Jukun are regarded as relatives of the Kanuri with whom they are more or less at permanent feud, just as a permanent feud exists between various Arab or Tuwareg tribes.

It may also be noted that the Kanuri term for 'common descent' on the mother's side, viz. chan, is apparently used by Idrisi as a place- name for Zaghawa settlements, and that it was the name of an early capital in the Asben region. It seems that the Jukun, and Mar or Miria, and the Bum all represent early migrations of Zaghawi tribes from the Eastern Sudan; tribes who were at one time under Meroitic influence, and were of mixed stock like the Alwan of Alwa, the Makoraba and other half Hamitic tribes of the Upper Nile in the Meroitic period.

Turning to other traditions of the country which is now British Bornu, we find that a people called the Fall or Pali in place of the Bum are regarded as having been the earliest known dominant race to the West of Lake Chad. But in fact Fali or Pali is still used as a place- name, a name for the whole region stretching from Gujba and Fikka across the upper course of the Gongola and Bauchi, a region which we know from the Kano Chronicle and other sources to have been as early as the thirteenth to fourteenth centuries, the chief centre of Kwararafa or Jukun power, having its capitals at Kundi, Biyri, and Kalam, on the Gongola. Fali or Pali as a geographical term must be a mere variant of the tribal name now locally pronounced variously as Baliwa, Boliwa, or Beliwa, which is equivalent to the tribal name

I In Kanuri bundi also ' a lion', since Saif ibn Dthi Yazan was suckled by a lioness, and was the reputed founder of the Magumi dynasty.

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A MUSLIM DIVINE OF THE SUDAN 209 Bulwa in Kanem, and to the tribal name of the Bele (Bideyat) in Wadai, a people who speak the same language as the modern Zaghawa, and are in part of cognate origin to them. It is apparent that the Fall of these traditions are equivalent to the Bum or Mbum of our text and other traditions, and that the modern Boliwa of Fikka and Bauchi are in fact a surviving branch of the Bum, the Boliwa being, as the last Emir of Fikka stated categorically to the writer, 'part of the peoples known as Kwararafa'.

We arrive then at the conclusion that Bum, Fall, Kwararafa, Zaghawa, and Miria, or Maroin are practically the same people, and that they were the result of early crossings between the Berber and Hamite races of the Eastern Sudan, and the negroes; and that the early Bornu races known as Bum were groups or sections of these peoples who had settled in the West before the foundation of the Kanem or Bornu Kingdom at Njimi in Kanem.

Some sections of these people came to the Gongola region through Bagharmi and the Mandara region (Marwa), while others came north of Lake Chad into the Damagram region and from thence came south to the region of Fikka and the Upper Gongola. These migrations probably began as the Kisara legends of Wukari and Borgu state, before the period of the opening of the Moslem era, how long before we cannot at present be sure.

In the name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate. This is a story of the Sheikh Masbarma called Umr, the son of

Othman, the son of Hakim Ibrahim, the son of Muhammed, the son of Abdul Aziz Bukr, the son of Umr. The ancestor of Masbarma's ancestors on his father's side was a man of the Beni Akhda'a, the son of Haiman, the son of Othman, the son of Hakim, the son of Musa. Umr was born on a Sunday after the afternoon prayer, in the month Rabi ul Akhir, on the tenth day of the month, in the cold season. The time of his birth was in the season of winter by moonlight.

God nurtured him plenteously and tenderly in the plenitude of comfort and elegance till he reached the age of seven years and was able to read the Kura'an with Mallam Adam, the son of Yahaya, the son of Isma'il, who was the brother of his father Ibrahim. Afterwards

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his father died saying, 'If God wills, I have a son who will be blessed 'in time to come: praise be to God who has given me a son and has 'allowed me to see him eloquent and understanding as a small child'.

The people were dumfounded at Umr's intelligence and ability, and wisdom. His family then moved to Machinna and he acquired from Sheikh Ahmed Fatimi exceptional knowledge. This latter Sheikh learnt from the great Sheikh Ahmed the son of Ali el Hamiyu; he from Ali the son of Abdullahi; Ali again from Ahmed the son of Yusuf, the son of 'Okba the Yamanite; Ahmed from the Sheikh, the Sherif, the son of Ahmar, and the latter from Sheikh Ahlam. Mas- barma lived with Sheikh Ahmed Fatimi for three years. By that time he had learnt all the sciences such as Tafsir and prosody and correct enunciation, apart from the Hadiths, and he was instructing the people in the art of prosody without effort.

On a certain day there came a man called Ahmed Bashir the son of Musa who was not lacking in any of the knowledge of his contem- poraries by night or day.

He had travelled much without meeting with a Mu'allim who was perfect in exposition to those who asked of him difficult points. He kept asking the people saying,' Who will be able to enlighten me on 'what exists, or on the meaning of it, in this age'? The people mar- velled at his saying nor did they understand its significance and inner meaning. They kept talking whenever they met, but he, without joining in their discussions, kept searching for knowledge, and reading every day the Kura'an without pause, and praying in every mosque.

He happened to meet with the Sheikh Umr ibn Othman, the son of Ibrahim, the son of Muhammed, the son of Othman, after the evening prayer; so he put a question to him and was answered without hesitation in a moment. He asked another question and was again promptly answered. He was then so astounded at Sheikh Umr's learning, and diction, and readiness, in profitable and elegant discourse, that he was unable to frame any more questions. He laughed with joy at his meeting with such a learned Mu'allim and thought,' I have met 'with a Sheikh who is so sensible and authoritative and informative ' on all questions. I will not cease filling myself with his learning, nor ' do I fear the criticism of the critical.'

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A MUSLIM DIVINE OF THE SUDAN 211

Umr ibn Othman ibn Ibrahim said: ' 0 Ahmed, what has caused 'you to laugh in your questioning? What has astounded you? Have 'you ceased to ask me any more questions, or was your questioning ' mere play and contentiousness ?' He replied: ' Neither the one nor 'the other, O Umr ibn Othman. I take refuge with God from mere 'play or contentiousness, I pray you be not angry or offended. I had 'in my soul a fair purpose, and said to my soul, O soul! Ask what 'you will, since I have found a Sheikh who will not shirk inquiry 'after Truth which is not welcomed by mankind in general. In 'argument he who tries to probe to the bottom finds his quest. Such was the purpose I had in my soul. Verily my Lord reveals the unseen

' and knows all that is in heaven and earth. O Sheikh, as to my ques- 'tions, let not my essay made by God's will, and with his knowledge, 'mislead you into a wrong assumption, and fear not my repeated 'questions, for I am only seeking sooth and wise guidance in gentle ' conduct.'

When the time of the evening prayer drew nigh, Sheikh Umr led the prayer for the people, with Ahmed ibn Bashir ibn Musa. When the prayer was over Umr ibn Othman set out for his house and asked of the stranger concerning his condition and happiness and plans. Ahmed then related his history and said that the world was transitory, and that the learned men were cut off from it. He said:' I am seeking 'knowledge, and purposing to go on the pilgrimage after I have ' obtained sufficient knowledge from you.' The Sheikh said: 'It is our ' purpose to move to Imariya (Mirria), a famous town in this country, ' which is near to the great well which was dug for the guests of the ' people of the country, in the time of the Shaushau and Bum. People ' did not cease coming to this well down to the time of the Kingdom of ' Bornu.'

When God made the dawn of another blessed day to appear, there came Ali ibn Dunama ibn Biri ibn Dunama ibn Umr ibn Abdullahi.

And Ali made Umr the son of Othman, the son of Ibrahim, his councillor and friend. Thus they remained till Sheikh Umr ibn Oth- man ibn Ibrahim dreamt a wonderful dream. He dreamed that Ali the son of Dunama was surrounded by people who were beating him, and that Ali was crying out under their blows and cursing them. He

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212 A MUSLIM DIVINE OF THE SUDAN then awoke and sought out Ali ibn Dunama and informed him of his dream, and said to him 'hide your secret '. So Ali hid his secret, as in the words of the Poet:

He who keeps his secret is master of his affairs: But he who divulges his secret comes to grief.

Ali ibn Dunama and Umr ibn Othman remained together for the space of about forty days. Ali had not yet ascended the throne at this time when their friendship began. At a later date, when the desire for the prizes of this world supervened, Ali ibn Sultan Dunama was trans- lated to the dignity of the kingship. The chiefs and people swore fealty to his person and throne as their chosen lord, among them Iyrima Adam, Zerma Kaka son of Anima, and Zanwa the son of Tegoma Magirammi.

Sheikh Umr remained with Sultan Ali ibn Dunama for three years and the latter never ceased to say, 'O Umr son of Othman, son of ' Ibrahim, teach me all the learning which God has given you, and do 'not leave me, since the art of government and religion are compli- 'mentary the one to the other, twin sciences; and he who essays ' either unprofitably destroys his soul, or hurts it. Do not cease from 'giving me instruction, if you are willing to do so, so that I may ' appoint you Kadi, and that you may judge all my people, or be my 'helper and Wazir. This is my purpose towards you, that you may ' regulate my affairs, and command my army and my nobles.'

But Sheikh Umr refused to hold office, by reason of his preoccupa- tion with religious teaching among the people. Ali kept renewing his request every day, till he grew weary and said:' O Umr, does a mother 'spurn her child? For in that relation have you and I been, flattery 'apart, for long time.' But Umr refused, and rebuked Ali, and occupied himself with his reading until the rising of the sun and until its setting.

But often the Hakim Umr sat with the Sultan Ali ibn Dunama. One day there came to them the Arab who was learned in all sciences, called Adam ibn Ibrahim ibn Muhammed, full of light, and wisdom, and eloquence. Umr ibn Ibrahim put to him a question concerning the origin of the Tubba 'ul Awwal, but he did not reply to him and

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A MUSLIM DIVINE OF THE SUDAN 213 Ali ibn Dunama for three days, in wonderment at the Sheikh Umr. Then he said: 'You break my heart, you, who are the companion of 'the Sultan, when you ask me concerning the origin of the Tubba'ul ' Awwal. Have you forgotten, or do you disbelieve the learned works, 'and are you and your Sultan playing with the people of the realm? 'For verily the learned and the Sultan cannot mingle together. King- 'ship is founded on force and duress, while the religious man is ' gentler, and more contented with a little to live on, not hoping for or ' scheming for much.'

Umr ibn Ibrahim said: ' O Sheikh, tell me the origin of the Tubba 'ul Awwal, for among us there is a dispute about it.' He replied: ' Umr Othmanmi, what is your business with the

' Tubba 'ul Awwal ? ' ' My business and the business of my brethren,' said Umr, 'is that we may know the origin of our Khalifas, the Mais ' of Bornu.'

Then Sheikh Adam gave them many books full of information and records of the past; in them was the name of Himyar, son of the

king of Yaman, and other Khalifas, after the death of King Himyar, son of Munthar, son of Al As'ad Al Amliku, who was of the seed of the Beni Ham son of Nuh (upon whom be peace).

This is the origin of the Tubba 'ul Awwal, all of them. There was no Tubba 'ul Awwal called Umr al Akhd'an, king of Yaman.

Said Sheikh Adam ibn Ibrahim: 'I saw in an old history that King ' Himyar was the first of the Tubba 'ul Awwal. Know O Hakim ' Masbarma, this is sooth for you and all others beside, for we know 'the origin of all these people, and who is who.' But the Sultan was

angry at his discourse and the questioning and said: 'Verily the polite know all about the excellencies of mankind.'

From that time there sprung up enmity between Sheikh Umr ibn Othman ibn Ibrahim, and the Sultan Ali ibn Dunama ibn Biri. An

atmosphere of suspicion, ill-feeling, and slanderous mischief-making grew, till Umr left the capital on a Thursday, after evening prayer in the night. The Sultan Ali ibn Dunama did not hear of his leaving at first and asked for him. He was then told that the Sheikh had gone to the country with the intention of remaining there.

Sultan Ali ibn Dunama then wrote a letter to the Hakim Masbarma

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ibn Ibrahim, and asked why he had left without announcing his in- tention, and also inquired from the people of the capital. The Sultan entrusted his letter to Arjinoma Karimi, and said to him: 'Go to the ' Sheikh of Sheikhs Umr ibn Othman ibn Ibrahim, and ask him why he 'has left me, breaking our agreement and our friendship, which are ' outside the duty of a Mu'allim, to strive to obey God's will, and to do ' good by the grace of God and his Prophet. He did not say a word ' about his leaving to me or to my people. Now I have heard from 'others and have written to him a letter, and am sending him alms ' (sadaka) in the path of God. Take ten maidens, and 400 rials, and 'five horses, and fold up my letter to him.' The messenger then went off.

When he arrived, Umr ibn Othman looked at the Amir's letter, and read its contents about the present of maidens and money and horses. He put down the letter and pondered awhile. Then he said to the messenger, Arjinoma, 'I am occupied, and neither tarry nor arise, ' save in the service of God. If God wills, I will return to the Sultan ' every year for a period, but at the present I will go neither to him ' nor to any other Sultan.' He then mounted his horse and went to the town from which he had come out. During this period he had been itinerating on a missionary journey all over the country, ending at his own town. The people were sitting near the mosque and at the entrance to the town there was a wadi with water flowing in it. When Umr had beforetime asked the people saying: 'Where is a country of ' sand and pebbles far away from any neighbouring village, a place in ' the heart of the forest', they had told him of a desert place, where no one dwelt. The Hakim Umr ibn Othman had gone and found the place in the forenoon, uninhabited, a well-wooded country, green with good pasture, a place called Gumsa in the native tongue. He made a farm at Gumsa and lived there for two years. The Sultan then sent him a second letter, and with it wealth known to none but God, and swore an oath to abstain from whatever the Sheikh Umr did not like. Umr was delighted and humbled himself before the Lord, and gave the letter to his children and others who were with him, saying: ' O people, the Sultan Ali Dunama ibn Biri was my friend, my dear 'friend, before there came to him the man who put us all to shame.

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Page 14: A Muslim Divine of the Sudan in the Fifteenth Century

A MUSLIM DIVINE OF THE SUDAN 215 'When matters became unpleasant, we separated, and I left his Court ' by the provenance of God and his power. Now, however, I propose 'to go to him and join his followers and his learned men, so I have

said to his messenger that, God willing, I will return within the year.' Umr then returned to the Sultan Ali ibn Dunama. The latter was

wont to come every day to sit with Umr and hear his lesson for the day. But the Yarima Musa and others among the nobles sought to get rid of Masbarma, even by planning that he should be killed in war. They plotted in their houses how they might depose him or get him killed in war. But Ali ibn Dunama ibn Biri heard of their plot and called them together and accused them of it. But they thought he did not really know and so hid the truth, and passed the accusation off as lies, and said 'Our strength is yours, why should we do a deed ' which is contrary to the Sunna '? So they took an oath concerning the matter before Ali ibn Dunama, and went their ways. They re- mained quiet for a time and kept silent, but Ali knew quite well their evil design against Masbarma ibn Othman. Thus it was.

Then Umr ibn Othman said to Al:' Do not cease your practice of ' praying to your Lord, and do not let your chagrin endure as one who ' rebels against God.' Ali ibn Dunama said to Masbarma: ' Pray God for me and for all the Moslems that they may enjoy good fortune, and

'pray God that he may vanquish our enemies.' The Hakim ibn Othman said to Al: ' Do not wreak vengeance on any one for what

'he has done to you, for he will suffer requitement in his own heart according to the evil he has done. As certain of the learned have said:

"Do not pray heaven to requite any one "For what he has done to you, of hurt, or injury, or "Because he has cursed you."

' The requiter and the requited are not equal. Oftentimes some great ' misfortune happens to the latter. Do you not see the dates shaking 'in the wind and falling without damage being purposely done to 'them? Do not act towards any one as the fools act, and send whom you please among your nobles to some of these malevolent and cove-

'tous men, after we have prayed the Friday prayer.' Sultan Ali ibn Dunama said: 'Your counsel is most wise; I will send

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Page 15: A Muslim Divine of the Sudan in the Fifteenth Century

2I6 A MUSLIM DIVINE OF THE SUDAN ? after that I have made trial of them and waited a space and thought it ' over.' Then he arose and went into his house.

And when the enemy came, Ali ibn Dunama said to the Hakim Umr, the son of Othman, the son of Ibrahim, 'I think that I will send to Logone Yarima Musa, the son of Ahmed, the son of Bukr, the son of ' Asde. He will withhold from us the zakka, and will arrogate to him- ' self full power for he plays every day with women and drinks wine, ' not knowing God or His Prophet. His character is like the character ' of the Magians, or like that of the people of " Ad and Thamud ".'

The Sultan said to Yarima Musa and other nobles: 'Get ready to go 'to Logone and prepare much provision for the journey.' So they went to collect the zakka from Khalifa Ahmed the son of Bukr, the son of Asde. But they were not able to enter the town of Logone and had to retire, though they had gone out like birds swooping on the grains of seed, or like locusts descending on the earth. Yarima Musa asked the people of Logone for the zakka but they refused to pay and made forcible resistance. Among the opposing forces there were killed Yarima Musa and Ahmed ibn Bukr Asde of Logone. After the fight the zakka was collected from the surviving chiefs and booty was taken. The expedition halted three days at Logone. On the fourth day they returned with what they had taken in zakka and booty.

When the news of the death of Yarima Musa, and the death of Ahmed ibn Bukr ibn Asde reached Ali ibn Dunama, he was very pleased and he appointed another Yarima, called Al Asghar, son of Aminata.

Sultan Ali lived for two months and five days after and then died on a Thursday, in the month of Dthul Ki'ida, after five days of the month had passed, and of the Hejira of the Prophet 907 years and ten months.

The writer of tlis is Mallam Kailani. H. R. PALMER.

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