Scholars and Scholarship in the History of Borno

 

Hamsatu Zanna Laminu's Scholars and Scholarship in the History of Borno, a study of the ulama in the history of Borno, is an intriguing work of scholarship. Although unable to read Arabic texts or manuscripts herself, the author had local connections and was able to supplement her sources with field work. Presumably fluent in the relevant local languages and able to access important works of local and Nigerian scholars such as Muhammad Nur Alkali, including locals willing to translate or summarize Arabic manuscripts for her, she was able to create a coherent overview of the ulama's role in Borno. Although less impressive than Bobboyi's dissertation, which likely benefitted from greater resources and research funding, Laminu was able to explicate in just under 100 pages the development of the ulama, the different roles of court-affiliated ulama and independent ulama, and, finally, explore the life of the first Shehu as an example of the ulama's important role in the annals of Kanem and Borno. 

Undoubtedly, this work was unable to go into great depth like Bobboyi. Thus, we are lacking an attempted tabaqat of scholars of Borno from c. 1500-1800. Perhaps not engaging with the works of Lange on a more accurate chronology for the Sayfawa limited her ability to contextualize different ulama in their respective eras. To be fair, Muhammad Nur Alkali, Kyari Tijani, Shaykh Abubakar al-Miskin, and the unavoidable H.R. Palmer are all drawn upon as sources, with Palmer's translated mahrams. In the case of this 1992 monograph, the lack of Dierk Lange's work among her sources on the Diwan may have been an additional impediment to establishing a clearer chronology. Yet the usual references provide enough for a schematic overview of the Islamization of Kanem and the role of Muhammad b. Mani. Later episodes in the relation of the ulama and the Sayfawa are also explored through the mahram texts as well as chronicles such as the work of Ahmad b. Furtu. Fieldwork complements this as Laminu's travels around Borno and discussions with various descendants of the Borno ulama shed additional insights into their evolution and social, cultural, and political roles in an Islamic state and society. 

Where one would have wished for more nuance or analysis is Laminu's suggestion that Islamic education was an avenue for social mobility, even open to the lowly peasant. She did not stress the point, but the extent to which that was true is suggestive. Despite their close ties to the state through the maljis and the state or elite-affiliated networks of the ulama operating sangaya who received land, tax exemptions, gifts, slaves, and livestock from the Sayfawa and other political elites, charismatic malams could develop a popular following. Their importance as educators and participation in marriages and a number of other rituals and rites required interactions with the ruled. If some of them also came from the lower classes, that could be an additional factor in understanding why the independent ulama could, as in the case of the Manga revolt of 1824, lead movements against the central government.