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The Arab star-calendar and planetary system in Hausa verse

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 December 2009

M. Hiskett
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Extract

The MS of this poem came to me among the same collection of miscellaneous Hausa and Arabic MSS kindly loaned to me by Alhaji Nasiru, which contained B of the Song of Bagauda. As in the case of this latter, all that could be told me was that the manuscript had come from a malam in Kano City. The poem was attributed to 'Abdullh b. Muḥammad by several local savants learned in astrology whom I consulted. The initial invocation al-'abd al-faqr il raḥmat rabbihi is of course characteristic of 'Abdullh, and Bivar has pointed to the significance of these invocations.

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Articles
Information
Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies , Volume 30 , Issue 1 , February 1967 , pp. 158 - 176
Copyright
Copyright School of Oriental and African Studies 1967

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References

1 Hiskett, M., The Song of Bagauda: a Hausa king list and homily in verseI, BSOAS, XXVII, 3, 1964, 541.Google Scholar

2 Hiskett, M. (ed. and tr.), Tazyn al-waraqt, Ibadan, 1963, 5 ff.Google Scholar

3 ibid., p. 25, 1. 4; also Ḍiy' al-ḥukktm, Arabic text, NRLA, Zaria, 1956, p. 1,Google Scholar 1. 9, and (Hiskett, , Material relating to the state of learning among the Fulani before their jihd, BSOAS, XIX, 3, 1957, p. 551, 1. 4 of the Arabic text.Google Scholar

4 Bivar, A. D. H., Arabic documents of Northern Nigeria, BSOAS, XXII, 2, 1959, 3278.Google Scholar

5 Normally, the Arabic consonants equate to the consonants used in the Gaskiya orthography as follows:

=c q=k

ṭ=d, sometimes ts =ts, sometimes s, sometimes c

=g =z

=h

The diphthong ai or ay should be read as e or ai, according to the received Gaskiya spelling; should be read as o, as in =zo, or frequently as wa, as in taks=takwas. But the ajami scribes are not wholly consistent, and this note is therefore only a guide. As for word division in the ajami script, this is almost totally idiosyncratic and no rules can be stated. I have here reproduced the division of words exactly as the scribe has written them, except that the need to insert oblique strokes to divide up the feet has from time to time broken what is written as a single word in the text. It has not been possible conveniently to indicate where this has happened in the transcription.

6 The text is indistinct. There is possibly a on the lm.

7 On the authority of Malam Isa Kurawa, a Sokotanci form which I have rendered fully according to the usage of Kano.

8 Arabic a sign of the Zodiac.

9 Arabic manzilah lunar mansion.

10 Sic; read

11 Yalla is a Fulani word meaning perhaps, perchance. It is possibly the Arabic 'alla, although it seems improbable that the initial 'ain should change to y.

12 =

13 =su. The extra syllable has apparently been added for the metre.

14 The normal spelling is rarrabi; the ajami spelling is apparently for the metre.

15 Sic; read

16 Arabic ṣabḥ morning.

17 Arabic kingdom. It appears to have been borrowed as a verb. One would expect malaka.

18 Arabic to make numerous, to multiply.

19 The text is somewhat indistinct at this point. is clear, but the preceding word is badly smudged. It appears to be . The Arabic poet is not given in Abraham, but is a fairly common loan-word among the malams.

20 See p. 164, n. 88, infra.

21 This line may be an interpolation. It would fit better at the end of the fasali, and the metre is in any case totally corrupt.

22 The Arabic darri a bright star. Al-Brn (Elements of astrology by al-Brn, translated by Wright, R. Ramsay, London, 1934, 60Google Scholar) uses However, Ibn al-Bann' (Rislat al-anw', translated and edited by Renaud, H. P. J., Le calendrier d'Ibn al-Bann' de Marrakech, Paris, 1948) uses the word throughout for planet. This is perhaps one small indication of the predominance of the tradition in Hausa astrology.Google Scholar

23 See p. 159, n. 8, supra. The plural is an interesting form. It appears to be etymological burujjai with depalatalization of j before a, o, and u.

24 The text is obscure. What appears to be an 'ain could well be a nn with sukn placed in error over it. Shina kai is the only reading which appears to make sense in this context and I have there fore adopted it in the translation, although I have retained the scribe's spelling in the ajami text.

25 For to biyu. This is allowable to preserve the rhyme and metre.

26 For nahu ? See p. 169, n. 136, infra.

27 Sic; read

28 Arabic to invert, turn upside down. A possible confusion with to fall short.

29 Arabic lailatnithe nominative of the dual form of lailah a night.

30 See p. 165, n. 97, infra.

31 For ke; cf. Abraham s.v. shi kin which appears to be a form of shi ke nan.

32 In normal punctuation ma is long. See also v. 46, supra.

33 The text has I suspect that this is corrupt, but can suggest no obvious alternative reading.

34 Arabic February in the Syrian year.

35 See p. 159, n. 11.

36 This may be the scribe's misreading of the Arabic naw' the rising of a star, or possibly nawwara to gleam. I have had to rationalize the translation at this point.

37 One would expect (ga tsayawa).

38 See p. 166, n. 119.

39 Arabic al-ḥisb the reckoning. Cf. Serjeant, , Star-calendars and an almanac from south-west Arabia, Anthropos, XLIX, 34, 1954, 435, Ḥisb The term ḥisb appears to be applied to any collation between the stars and the seasons, and the term star-calendar is the nearest I can get in English with reasonable brevity.Google Scholar

40 Arabic al-'lam One would expect 'slam al-ghayb the invisible world.

41 Arabic the Ram.

42 Arabic and of Aries. The transcription of these Arabic star and planet names in their Classical Arabic and Hausa naturalized forms presents a particular problem of consistency in an article such as this. Where the names occur in what is clearly a Hausa context, I have used the Hausa naturalized form. When the context is that of Islamic astrology in general, I have endeavoured to preserve the Classical spelling and vowelling. But obviously there are border-line cases. What is more, both the Arabic and the Hausa sources are themselves not consistent in the spelling of these names, particularly as regards vowelling. Finally, at one point we are dealing with Fulani naturalized forms! I therefore beg the reader's sympathetic understanding for what may appear to be inconsistencies.

43 Arabic the Belly of the Ram.

44 Arabic the Pleiades.

45 Arabic the Bull.

46 Arabic , , , and of Taurus.

47 Arabic of Orion.

48 Arabic , , , , and of Gemini.

49 Arabic Gemini.

50 y=10; b=2 in the abjad.

51 Arabic and of Gemini.

52 Arabic the Crab.

53 Arabic , , and of Cancer.

54 Arabic of Cancer and of Leo.

55 Arabic , , , and of Leo.

56 Arabic the Lion.

57 Arabic and of Leo.

58 Arabic of Leo. This star is not actually mentioned in the text, but since it is next in sequence and has 13 days we must assume it in this position.

59 Arabic the Ear of Corn.

60 Arabic , , , , and of Virgo.

61 Arabic of Virgo.

62 Arabic the Balance.

63 Arabic , and of Virgo.

64 Arabic and Libra.

65 Arabic and of Scorpio.

66 See p. 162, n. 50, supra.

67 Arabic the Scorpion.

68 Arabic of Scorpio.

69 Arabic and of Scorpio.

70 Arabic the Bow.

71 Arabic , , , , , , and of Sagittarius.

72 Arabic and of Sagittarius.

73 Arabic the Kid.

74 Arabic and of Capricorn.

75 Arabic , , and of Aquarius.

76 Arabic the Bucket.

77 Arabic and of Aquarius.

78 Arabic , , , and of Aquarius.

79 Arabic and of Pegasus.

80 Arabic the Fish.

81 Arabic of Pegasus.

82 Arabic of Andromeda.

83 See V. 12. This would make Leo up to 31.

84 The number four presumably refers to the remainder from Bacfnu Hutu. As for the other numbers in this series, neither I nor my informants have been able to make anything of them. It does strike one, however, that the last three figures twelve, eight, eight add up to 28 which is the total number of stars in the calendar. The poet may have split the number 28 in this way simply to fit his metre, since ishrin da takwas would not give him the same value as goma sha biyu takwas takwas and his meaning may be that the remaining four days should in turn be divided into 28 parts, each of which is to be attributed to a star in sequence. However, this is a pure guess and I really do not know what this verse means.

85 An explanation of this system will be found at p. 168, infra.

86 Note that the poet uses the Arabic and not the Hausa rana.

87 Likewise the Arabic Qamar and not the Hausa wata.

88 I have translated according to what appears to be the clear wording of the MS, but am doubtful whether the sense fits. Why should Mars avoid error? Perhaps we should translate On Saturday (night) Mars (rules). Avoid error (O reader!).

89 See pp. 1689 for an explanation of this system.

90 These letters stand for the Arabic names of the seven planets, thus q=Qamar; k=Ktib; z=Zuḥal; ; h=Zuhrah; m=

91 See p. 169.

92 I read wanda as wurin da.

93 See p. 162, n. 50, supra.

94 m=40; h=5, but see p. 169, n. 136.

95 lm, the name of the twenty-third letter of the alphabet, inflected as a diptote noun in the nominative. It is equal to 30 in the abjad. Sometimes the poet employs the letter itself, sometimes the Arabic name, and sometimes the Hausa name, as suits his metre.

96 k=20; h=5.

97 The dual form of the Arabic lailah a night. The use of sai in this context is unexpected. The moon is approximately two and one-third days in each sign. Thus if we read lailah to mean 24 hours, which is legitimate, sai must in this context mean and then, although this is not a conditional sentence. Possibly, however, sai is simply a scribal error.

98 Deli (d), a Hausa naturalized form of the Arabic dl. (See Rattray, , Hausa folk-lore, I, Oxford, 1913, pp. xixxxii for a list of the Hausa names of the Arabic letters. Unfortunately in this instance Rattray does not give deli, but only dl! Deli will, however, be found in Abraham, s.v.) It equals four in the abjad.Google Scholar

99 y=10; z=7.

100 Literally of it, as frequently in this section.

101 lm, in this case uninflected. It equals 30.

102 See p. 162, n. 50, supra.

103 See p. 161, n. 34, supra.

104 k=20; h=5.

105 k=20; j=3.

106 Ha babu is the Hausa name for the Arabic h' (=h) in its initial form and medial form . See Rattray, op. cit., I, p. xxii. It equals five.

107 Ha karami, ibid., p. xix. The Arabic h' (=ḥ). It equals eight.

108 y=10; d=4. See n. 98, supra.

109 k=20; z=7.

110 ṭ=9.

111 k=20; b=2. The poet has inflected this as if it were a triptote noun in the genitive.

112 See n. 106, supra.

113 y=10; h=8.

114 y=10; d=4.

115 k=20; j=3.

116 A form of the Arabic alif not given in Rattray. See Abraham s.v. alu wa minya where it appears to stand also for the Arabic alf one thousand. It equals one in the abjad.

117 y=10; j=3.

118 k=20; w=6. The poet has put a on the ww, apparently for the metre although this is not in fact necessary.

119 ṭ=9; ṭadi (dadi) appears to be a Hausa name for this letter which is known in Arabic as ṭ'.

120 k=20; b=2.

121 The Fatḥ (Hunwick, J. O., A new source for the biography of Aḥmad Bb al-Tinbukt, BSOAS, XXVII, 3, 1964, 587 and 590) mentions Ab 'Abdullh al-Rajrj, a learned Qḍ of Marrkush, and his nephew 'Abd al-Wḥid b. Aḥmad b. Ab 'Abdullh al-Rajrj. The Kano tradition is that it is 'Abd al-Wḥid who is referred to here.Google Scholar

122 These letters are said to stand for five lucky stars, as follows; k ; n=Nuṭḥ; b=Buṭain; ; d=Dabarn.

123 This line is very obscure and I can offer only the following tentative explanation. There are 12 lucky stars of which the poet has mentioned five by their initial letters. I take har da su to be a form of the Hausa anticipatory plural (har da su Audu including Auda and the others); yadabu I take to be y'=10 plus (Hausa da and) b'=2. Each of the 12 lucky stars is said to govern approximately one month of the year or two and one-third agricultural star periods. But I have to concede that I do not clearly understand this reference and am certainly open to correction.

124 Wright, W., A grammar of the Arabic language. Third edition, reissued, Cambridge, 1962, II, 362.Google Scholar

125 Contrast for instance Ibn Qutaiba, Kitb ed. de Goeje, repr., Paris, 1947, examples of Classical rajaz verse at pp. 14, 21, 25, 27, 33.

126 Hiskett, M., The Song of BagaudaIII, BSOAS, XXVIII, 2, 1965, 3701.Google Scholar

127 Renaud, op. cit.

128 Serjeant, op. cit.

129 Ramsay Wright, 237.

130 ibid., 237.

131 ibid., 238. He continues and (an easier calculation) the sixth downwards or the third upwards.

132 Theosophical Publishing House, London, fifth edition, 1963, 1819.

133 Ramsay Wright, 2667.

134 ibid., 267.

135 Ramsay Wright, 100.

136 According to al-Brn (ibid., 100) Mars takes a year 10 months and 17 days to complete the revolution of the Zodiac. Thus 55, not 45, would appear to be the correct figure.

137 Venus takes one solar year, thus 30 days would appear to be the correct figure.

138 Mercury also takes a solar year.

139 It was a cutting given to me by Malam Isa Kurawa which had interested him and which he had taken from a local newspaper some months previously. Unfortunately, he did not know from which of the several Northern Nigerian newspapers he had taken it.

149 The rainy season.

141 Jabha has 14 days. Cf. Serjeant, op. cit., 436. In V. 10, 11, and 56 of our poem it also has 14 days.

142 The harvest season.

143 The cold season.

144 The hot season.

143 Arnett, , The rise of the Sokoto Fulani, Kano, 1922, 4.Google Scholar

146 ibid., 4.

147 For instance, in his Bayn al-bida' , unpublished.

148 Travels and discoveries, IV, London, 1831, 93.Google Scholar

149 Ed. and tr. Hiskett, Ibadan, 1963, 84.

150 Mantanfasa study in oral tradition, ALS, VI, 1965, 34 and passim.Google Scholar

151 For hannu. Such changes are permissible in poetry in order to preserve the rhyme.

152 I am greatly indebted to the Madaki of Kano, Malam Alhaji Shehu Ahmed for the text of this poem.

153 This name derives from an ancient one which passed into Islam. See Hommel, , ber den Ursprung und das Alter der arabischen Sternnamen und insbesondere der Mondstationen, ZDMG, XLV, 1891, 592619.Google Scholar

154 So also this name.

155 The Arabic word means a cubit.

156 The Arabic means the Fish, thus Su is the kirari of the month. Alternatively, but improbably, it is Suu Slither, the kirari of the Fish.

157 This is the kirari of the Harmattan haze because when the haze is down, you cannot see a man with a white horse unless you are right on top of him. It is possible that there may also be some association between kili and the radicals of Ikll.

158 Apparently derived from the Arabic root n'm to be pleasant.

159 A literal translation of .

160 Derived from the root bl' to swallow.

161 See p. 174, infra.

162 A literal translation from the Arabic.

163 An approximate translation based on the root nṭḥ to butt, to gore.

164 The Pleiades are known to the Arabs as See p. 176, infra.

165 It is not at all clear why the root dbr, which means in Arabic to turn back, came to be attributed to this star. However, the root has passed into Hausa to give the noun dabara a scheme, plan, probably via the second form of the Arabic verb dabbara to manage. The dropping of the doubled consonant of the Arabic and its replacement by a long high-toned vowel in the naturalized Hausa form is not uncommon. From this is derived the verb dabarta to devise, obtain with an imperative dabarci obtain, get hold of. Whatever may have been the associations of the original Arabic, the Hausa is certainly logical, since this star appears in May, just before the rains set in.

166 The planets are also known, less picturesquely, as Paleki na bakwai, Paleki na shida, Paleki na biyar, and so on, in descending order of their distance from the Sun. Paleki is the Arabic falak sphere.

167 op. cit.

168 Lunar mansions and early calendars, Journal of Hellenic Studies, LXIX, 1949, 4869.Google Scholar

169 I am most grateful to Professor P. F. Lacroix for supplying these Fulani star names.

170 I owe this and subsequent information on the Yoruba names to Mr. Ismael Balogun, who was kind enough to make inquiries through his father in Lagos. Mr. Ismael Balogun's scholarly interests in this study and in Islam among the Yoruba in general have been of the greatest help to me.