Material Relating to the State of Learning Among the Fulani Before their Jihād

M. Hiskett

doi:10.1017/S0041977X00133622

Material Relating to the State of Learning Among the Fulani Before their Jihād

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 24 December 2009

M. Hiskett

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The existence of an Arabic MS known as Kitāb al-barakafi 'l-sukūn walharaka wa-hiya 'l-marsuma bi-'ida‘ al-nusūkh man akhadhtu ‘anhu min shuyūkh was known to Delafosse who believed it to be the work of a paternal uncle of Sultan Bello. A. Brass has deduced from internal evidence in the Tazyīn al-waraqāt of ‘Abdullāh ibn Fodio that the work belongs to ‘Abdullāh, and has accepted the title in the form given by Delafosse. Georges Vajda has shown that this title arises from the confusion of two different works, and that the title of ‘Abdullāh's work is 'Idā‘ al-nusūkh man akhadhtu ‘anhu min al-shuyūkh.

Type: Articles
Information: Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies , Volume 19 , Issue 3 , October 1957 , pp. 550 - 578

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0041977X00133622 [Opens in a new window]
Copyright: Copyright © School of Oriental and African Studies 1957

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References

^{page 550 note 1} Revue du Monde Musulman, XX, 1912, 258.Google Scholar

^{page 550 note 2} ‘Eine neue Quelle zur Geschichte des Fulreiches Sokoto‘, Der Islam, X, 1920, 1–73.Google Scholar

^{page 550 note 3} Abbreviated to TW. Listed by W. E. N. Kensdale, A catalogue of the Arabic manuscripts preserved in the University Library, Ibadan, Nigeria [Fasc. I], Ibadan, 1955, entry (14). But I am unable to trace the four copies in the School for Arabic Studies Library, which the compiler lists. There are two copies of this MS in my possession. Also Brockelmann, Geschichte der arabischen Litteratur, Suppl. II, 894. For a partial translation of, and commentary on this work see Brass, op. cit.

^{page 550 note 4} ‘Contribution à la connaissance de la littérature arabe en Afrique Occidentale’, Journal de la Sociététe des Africanistes, XX, 1950, 233.Google Scholar

^{page 550 note 5} Abbreviated to IN.

^{page 550 note 6} The paper is of a type common in Northern Nigeria. It may have originated in Constantinople, and have been obtained by Sudanese pilgrims in Mecca. Professor R. B. Serjeanthas shown me paper very similar to this, though without the crescent watermark, which he obtained in Aden.

^{page 550 note 7} Hausa: ‘any writing not in the Arabic language ’(Bargery, A Hausa-English dictionary). Commonly applied to the locally modified Arabic script in which Hausa is written.

^{page 550 note 8} Not a Fulani word. I believe it to be the Hausa goyi (Bargery, op. cit.) ‘The lucky one.

^{page 551 note 1} A Fulani-English dictionary, Oxford, 1932.Google Scholar

^{page 551 note 2} sic.

^{page 552 note 1} sic.

^{page 552 note 2} Brass, op. cit., 8.Similarly in Delafosse and Vajda.

^{page 552 note 3} Here, and in other names, the scribe often omits the long vowel.

^{page 552 note 4} sic.

^{page 552 note 5}

^{page 552 note 6} Or The text is not clear

^{page 552 note 7} sic.

^{page 552 note 8} Dād in Hausa is pronounced as lām. Thus Muh. b. Sa'd b. Lādān.

^{page 553 note 1} sic.

^{page 553 note 2} Usually

^{page 553 note 3} Or The text is not clear; the reading I have adopted is the one received among the mallams.

^{page 553 note 4} TW (my copies (A) p. 9, (B) p. 10) inserts after this the following lines:

^{page 554 note 1}

^{page 555 note 1} TW (A) p. 21, (B) p. 20:

^{page 555 note 2} TW (A) p. 22, (B) p. 21, inserts the following lines:Poetic licence. Wright, A grammar of the Arabia language. Third edition, II, para. 249.

^{page 556 note 1} TW (A)p. 12, (B) p. 13:

^{page 556 note 2} fol.v.b,1.3:

^{page 557 note 1} 1 TW(A)p. 12, (B)p. 12:

^{page 557 note 2} TW (A) p. 13, (B) p. 13.

^{page 558 note 1} sic.

^{page 558 note 2} Imper. of

^{page 558 note 3} Wright, op. eit., II, 242.

^{page 558 note 4} Wright, op. cit., II, 232.

^{page 559 note 1} Wright, op. cit., II, 246 (b).

^{page 559 note 2} Wright, op. cit., II, 227.

^{page 559 note 3} sic.

^{page 560 note 1} Fodio.

^{page 560 note 2} Gordo: Derived from wara ‘to come ’ (gartaddo(?) ‘one coining back’). (Taylor, op. cit., 208.)

^{page 560 note 3} Jobbo: from jabba ‘to welcome’ (?) ibid., 93.

^{page 560 note 4} Sambo: possibly from suba ‘choose, select’. The name is said to mean the same as al- , but I can find little to support the derivation from suba.

^{page 560 note 5} I have not been able to trace this.

^{page 560 note 6} Abubakar.

^{page 560 note 7} Strictly ‘father’ (Hausa), but commonly used as a term of respect to an elderly man. (Bargery, op. cit., 49.)

^{page 560 note 8} I have not been able to trace a meaning for this.

^{page 560 note 9} ‘Uqba b. Nāfi‘ possibly known as ibn ‘Āmir because of his relationship to ‘Amr b. al-‘Ās, who was his uncle.

^{page 561 note 1} For an account of the origins of the Fulani see Taylor, , A grammar of the Adamawa dialect of the Fulani language. Secondedition, Oxford, 1953,Google Scholar Introduction.

^{page 561 note 2} From Muhammad.

^{page 561 note 3} vide n. 8, p. 552.

^{page 561 note 4} Brockelmann, GAL, Suppl. I, 482; Houdas, , Tārīkh es-Soudan par … es Sa'di. Traduit de l'arabe, Paris, 1900, 69,Google Scholar94,373.

^{page 561 note 5} GAL, Suppl. I, 443.

^{page 561 note 6} Encyclopaedia of Islām, art. ‘al-Sanūsī’; Houdas, op. cit., 70, 75.

^{page 561 note 7} GAL, II, 237.

^{page 561 note 8} ibid., I, 276–7.

^{page 561 note 9} ibid., II, 23.

^{page 561 note 10} has a Sūfistic significance. (Dozy, I, 398.)

^{page 561 note 11} GAL, Suppl. II, 706.

^{page 561 note 12} ibid., Suppl. II, 435.

^{page 561 note 13} ibid., I, 177; Houdas, op. cit., 63, 64, 71, 76, etc.

^{page 561 note 14} GAL, Suppl. II, 69; Houdas, op. cit., 75.

^{page 561 note 15} El, art. ‘al-’.

^{page 562 note 1} Or ‘that which is difficult, (and) that which is easy’; vide n. 3, p. 553.

^{page 562 note 2} vide n. 4, p. 553. These lines, omitted in my copy of the IN, are given in the TW.

^{page 563 note 1} The TW records the circumstances in which this poem was composed. Bawa, Sultan of Gobir summoned the ulema to his court at the time of the ‘īd al-adhā, among them ‘ and ‘Abdullāh. Bawa distributed largess which ‘ refused, demanding instead the strict observance of Islam in the Sultan's territories. This was granted, and ‘Abdullāh composed the poem, in thanksgiving.

^{page 563 note 2} This word is written in the text with what appears to be a on the dāl; and it is thus that I have rendered it. But the copyists vary considerably in their renderings of native names, and I believe this name to be not Biddii but bindo ‘a scribe’, from the Fulani verb winda ‘to write ’. Biddūri below may be bindori, from the same root. Taylor (Fulani-English dictionary, 213) gives some support for this, although he does not record these exact forms. Possibly the dāl has assimilated the nūn.

^{page 563 note 3} From Kabi.

^{page 563 note 4} El, art.‘ibn-Malik’; Houdas, op. cit., 63.

^{page 563 note 5} El, art. ‘al-’; Houdas, op. cit., 60, 63, 65, 71, etc.

^{page 563 note 6} GAL, II, 84.

^{page 564 note 1} vide n. 2, p. 555. Omitted in the IN, but included in the TW.

^{page 564 note 2} An ancient Hausa kingdom which lay south of Gobir.

^{page 564 note 3} Usually written Modibbo; a common Fulani honorific name. From the Arabic mu'addib (?).

^{page 565 note 1} The TW also mentions this incident: ‘Then I returned to my country, and found that ‘ had gone to al-Hājj Muḥ. b. Rāj in order to read al-. I followed him, and found that he had not yet started to read. I went in with him to the reading of al-, he reading and we listening to him. This was in A.H. 1201 (A.D. 1786), and God knows best’.

^{page 565 note 2} Houdas, op. cit., 332.

^{page 565 note 3} vide n. 9, p. 561. I have been unable to trace the commentator.

^{page 565 note 4} GAL, II, 23–4.

^{page 565 note 5} Possibly the work of ‘Abd. b. ‘Abd. b. Muh. al-Sijā'ī.

^{page 565 note 6} El, art. ‘ al-Suyūtī’.

^{page 565 note 7} From Bornu.

^{page 565 note 8} GAL, II, 140.

^{page 565 note 9} Arnett, E.J., Rise of the Solcoto Fulani, Kano, 1922, 4.Google Scholar

^{page 565 note 10} GAL, Suppl. I, 545.

^{page 565 note 11} Fulani mo”e ‘good, benevolent’ (?). (Taylor, Fulani-English dictionary, 139.)

^{page 565 note 12} From Mandera (?) Sheet No. I, Sq. C6, on the 1/500,000 Map of Nigeria, Survey Dept. of Nigeria, 1924. Or possibly of a tribe of this name in Bornu, if it is the same person as Ibrāhīm al-Barnawi mentioned above.

^{page 565 note 13} Arnett, op. cit., 9.

^{page 565 note 14} GAL, Suppl. I, 545.

^{page 565 note 15} Possibly K. fi 'ilm al-qawāfī of Abū al-Qāsim b. Ja'far, ibid., I, 308.

^{page 565 note 16} A work on the mystical numerical values of Qur'anie verses. Mailam Abubakar has shown me a copy made by a local scribe. There was, however, nothing by which to date this MS, nor any indication as to who wrote it. It may be of local authorship, but is more likely to be a copy of a North African work.

^{page 566 note 1} I have not been able to trace a corresponding place-name. It may be in Egypt.

^{page 566 note 2} El, art. ‘’.

^{page 566 note 3} Fulani ngāri ‘a bull’ (?).

^{page 566 note 4} GAL, II, 22; Houdas, op. cit., 74, 75.

^{page 566 note 5} GAL, II, 398.

^{page 566 note 6} Of ; GAL, II, 706.

^{page 566 note 7} K. anwar al-burūq of Shihāb al-Dīn al-Qarāfī, GAL, I, 665.

^{page 566 note 8} Of al-Suyūṭī. The TW (see n. 1, p. 557) says: ‘Then after that my heart was moved to visit our Jibrīl b. ‘Umar, may God be pleased with him, for a second time, for we had already visited him for the first time before our departure from our country of Ṭaqal [Degel, Sheet I, Sq. B7, Map of Nigeria] for the country of Zanfara at the time of his return from the pilgrimage again. We were with the , may God be pleased with him, and we met (Jibrīl) while he was at his place called Qūdī, with ḍamma on the qāf and dāl inflected with kasra. We stayed with him for some days, and then our returned home and left me with him. I remained with him for about two months, and read with him al-Kawkab al-sāti‘of al-Suyūŭī, listening to various books read by the students’.

^{page 566 note 9} GAL, II, 89; Houdas, op. cit., 332.

^{page 566 note 10} GAL, Suppl. II, 398–9.

^{page 566 note 11} vide n. 2, p. 557.

^{page 567 note 1} Fulani wōḍa ‘to be good’, boḍḍo ‘good, good-looking’ (?) (Taylor, Fulani-English dictionary, 214).

^{page 567 note 2} I cannot trace any derivation for this.

^{page 567 note 3} Arnett, op. cit., 20.

^{page 567 note 4} Daura: in Sokoto region (Sheet I, Sq. B5, Map of Nigeria).

^{page 567 note 5} El, art.' ibn Barrī’.

^{page 567 note 6} GAL, II, 697.

^{page 567 note 7} vide n. 2, p. 563. This appears to be from the same root. Mallam Abubakar says that gh is an archaic and Sokotanci form of the possessive prefix jam which occurs in the Adamawa dialect; thus ‘owner of writing’.

^{page 567 note 8} Arnett, op. cit., 126.

^{page 568 note 1} A village in Sokoto province. Jibrll lived there, as did ‘ also for some time. It may be the Maradu of Sheet I, Sq. D6, Map of Nigeria, but Mallam Abubakar thinks that it no longer exists.

^{page 569 note 1} Bello. First Fulani Sultan of Sokoto after the Shehu ‘ ibn Fodio. Author of many works (see Kensdale, op. cit., pp. 10–11) including the Infaku ’l-maisuri. (Abbrev. InfM. Paraphrased and part-translated in Arnett, op. oit.; Arabic text established by C. E. J. Whitting, London, 1951.)

^{page 571 note 1} viden. l, p. 569.

^{page 571 note 2} Arnett, op. cit., 3 ff. To avoid confusion Arabic proper names are given in the Hausa form used by Arnett. Titles of works are given in Arnett's rendering, with the corrected transcription in brackets.

^{page 571 note 3} The Hausa form of by which title ‘ ibn Fodio is generally known.

^{page 572 note 1} Arnett, op. cit., 6.

^{page 572 note 2} Ibid., 6.

^{page 572 note 3} Houdas, op. cit., 67.

^{page 572 note 4} The Songhay conqueror (1492–1529).

^{page 572 note 5} Muḥammad ‘Abd al-Karīm , a Muslim divine of Tlemcen who is credited with having revived Islam in the Sudan. Sometimes referred to as ; d. 1530–40.

^{page 572 note 6} Arnett, op. cit., 19.

^{page 572 note 7} Houdas, op. cit., 64.

^{page 572 note 8} Arnett, op. cit., 19.

^{page 573 note 1} al-fettach, Tarikh, trans. Houdas and Delafosse, Paris, 1913.Google Scholar

^{page 573 note 2} Palmer, H.R., ‘The Kano Chronicle’, Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, xxxviii, 1908, 79.Google Scholar

^{page 573 note 3} History and description of Africa, London, Hakluyt Society, 1896, 829.Google Scholar

^{page 573 note 4} Travels (Minerva Library of Famous Books), London, 1890, 175 ff.

^{page 574 note 1} vide n. 8, p. 566.

^{page 574 note 2} TW (A) p. 13, (B) p. 13.

^{page 574 note 3} TW (A) p. 51, (B) p. 49.

^{page 574 note 4} (Schools) TW (A) p. 56, (B) p. 53.

^{page 574 note 5} vide n. 1, p. 565.

^{page 574 note 6} ‘Licence to teach’.

^{page 574 note 7} vide f.iv.b, para. 22.

^{page 575 note 1} Particularly the TW, the InfM, and the Hausa Chronicle. (Mischlich, and Lippert, ,‘Beitrage zur Geschichte der Haussastaaten’, MSOS, vi, 3, 1903Google Scholar, in many places.)

^{page 575 note 2} The Kano Chronicle records Fulani missionaries in Kano as early as the reign of King Yakubu (A.D. 1452–63). It states that some remained in Hausaland, while others passed on to Bornu.

^{page 575 note 3} vide f.III.a, para. 9.

^{page 575 note 4} op. cit., 63.

^{page 575 note 5} Arnett, op. cit., 44.

^{page 576 note 1} TW (A) p. 26, (B) p. 26.

^{page 576 note 2} ‘Verily the making ready of arms is sunnah’.

^{page 576 note 3} op. cit., 71.

^{page 576 note 4} Depont, and Coppolani, , Les confreries religieuses musulmanes, Alger, 1897, 293 ff.Google Scholar

^{page 576 note 5} ibid., 320 ff.

^{page 576 note 6} TW (A) p. 32, (B) p. 31; Brass, op. cit., 71.

^{page 576 note 7} Arnett, op. cit., 134 ff.

^{page 576 note 8} Depont and Coppolani, op. cit., 82 ff

^{page 577 note 1} Arnett, op. cit., 3.

^{page 577 note 2} L'Islam dans I'Afrique Occidentale, Paris, 1899, p. 320, pl. VII.Google Scholar

^{page 577 note 3} Arnett, op. cit., 46.

^{page 577 note 4} vide n. 2, p. 557.

^{page 577 note 5} It was with Sultan Bello that Clapperton had dealings on his two visits to Sokoto; Denham, , Clapperton, , and Oudney, , Narrative of travels and discoveries, London, 1826, sect, III, pp. 82 ff.Google Scholar, and Clapperton, , Journal of a second expedition, London, 1829, chap. VGoogle Scholar

^{page 577 note 1} TW (A) p. 13, (B) p. 13, ‘The ode rhyming in “j”’.

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Material Relating to the State of Learning Among the Fulani Before their Jihād

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