The fictionalized Sayf ben Dhi Yazan of The Adventures of Sayf Ben Dhi Yazan: An Arab Folk Epic contains kernels of historical facts while reflecting some of the geopolitical tensions in Mamluk Egypt. The historical Sayf did fight against the Axumite Ethiopians, but Sayfa Ar'ad lived in the 14th century. Moreover, the Axumites were Christians, not worshippers of Saturn, as this folk epic portrays Ethiopia. The Solomonic dynasty's thwarted threat to divert the Nile is also ahistorically recycled as part of Sayf's greatness as he ensures the domination of Ethiopia and the Sudan (Black Africa). By ensuring the Nile flows into Egypt and living up to his lineage as a descendant of Shem, the "cursed" black Africans are subjugated. There are also references to much of the known world, including China, Waq al-Waq, the Zaghawa, the Maghreb, Egypt, Persia, India, and Greece. The Nile River itself almost becomes a character, that mythical river which medieval Islamic geographers believed to traverse most of the African continent. The source of the Nile itself is a land of wonders and perhaps Nubia, or early Islamic writings on Nubia, also influenced the depiction of the African interior in this work of literature. After all, early Islamic sources claimed the pre-Christian Nubians worshipped the stars and, later on, that they claimed descent from Yemen.
Despite some occasionally uncomfortable lines referring to "unclean black Ethiopians" or derogatory allusions to black Africans, valor and conversion of Islam can make them noble. None of the characters are developed or fully-fleshed persons, but Sayf spends much of his youth among the "Sudan" and marries or befriends several of them. Indeed, black Africans could be beautiful, comely, valorous, intelligent, or skilled in this work. Shama, the first wife of Sayf, also seems to have been "black" herself. Moreover, some of the "white" characters, especially Sayf's concubine mother, are the most treacherous, anti-Islamic characters in the story. There is undoubtedly an Islamic bias and emphasis on Arab ancestry, as references to patrilineal descent or Arab virtue make abundantly clear. Ethnocentric and Islamic biases aside, it is difficult to read this medieval work as racist (though there are elements of it). Thus, the epic may reflect an acceptance in the Curse of Ham ideology, yet Islam, which did not exist when Sayf actually lived, and a culture of chivalry could ennoble black characters. Arab lineage and Islam, ultimately, are the most important factors at play here.
Clearly, stories of Sayf and the Tubba'i kings were exaggerated and widely circulated across the Arabic-speaking and Muslim world for centuries before this epic of magic, romance, and war was written down in Mamluk Egypt. Stories and legends of Sayf of Himyar's defeat of the Axumites, or claims his lineage included the greatest kings who had once conquered all lands, probably reached Kanem soon after its Islamization in the late 11th century. Exactly when the Sayfawa dynasty began to claim descent from Sayf is not certain, but it was repeated in North African and Middle Eastern sources throughout the Middle Ages after the state's Islamization. Sayf's appeal to a recently Islamized dynasty must have been part of this circulation of fictionalized tales of the great king. Both influenced by and influencing the circulation of tales of Sayf, Kanem-Borno's ruling dynasty could have shaped the folk epic. It would fruitful to analyze the oral traditions in Kanem and Borno for possible influences on the epic or vice versa.
If stories of his conquests of Ethiopia and the Sudan were already disseminated by the 11th century, then the mais of Kanem might have chosen him as an ancestor to legitimize their own lineage as recent Muslims. Moreover, they might have seen their own conquests and raids of non-Muslim "Sudan" as repeating the feats of the legendary Sayf. For instance, Islamic sources reporting on 13th century Kanem's expansion and raids on the peoples south of Lake Chad or the region of Borno could have been interpreted as another instance in which Sayf b. Dhi Yazan's progeny established their hegemony over pagan "Sudan" who resisted Islam. Indeed, Kanem's expansion in the 1200s might have influenced the folk epic when it was finally written down in Egypt. Kanem pilgrims, students, and traders had already been known in Cairo, so stories of the Sayfawa's conquests in the African interior probably influenced the Sayf epic. Confused geographic notions that the Nile was connected to Lake Chad and much of sub-Saharan Africa could have made it easier to envision Kanem as accessible to (Christian) Ethiopia and pagan "Black Africa" as well. Kanem was additionally known through diplomacy, trade contacts, and as supplier of slaves via trans-Saharan networks to Egypt. All of these aforementioned factors would have meant some people in Mamluk Egypt might have interpreted the Sayfawa dynasty's dominant position in the Central Sudan as evidence of Sayf's conquests of Ethiopia and Black Africa. Like the fictionalized Sayf of the epic, his so-called descendants in Kanem and Borno were pious Muslims, militarily superior, and effective at subjugating infidels.
Like their putative ancestor, the Sayfawa mais were promoting Islam while asserting, through Islamic genealogical and historical modes of thought, an identity as sons of Shem and not "Sudan." Although they were, for the most part, obviously considered "black" in the Maghreb or Egypt, their lineage mattered more than their color or phenotype. This lineage established political and religious legitimacy as well as serving as a challenge to attempts to enslave Kanem subjects. If they were Muslims and descendants of Sayf, then enslavement of them was unlawful. Of course, the chronicles of Ahmad b. Furtu, the Diwan and oral sources commemorate the names of several pre-Islamic rulers of Kanem. These pre-Islamic rulers could have been, like the Zaghawa princess mentioned early on in the epic, easily fused with Sayf through creative genealogical reworking and fictitious marriage alliances. After all, the various foreign wives and lovers of Sayf come to symbolize his conquest of the world, so someone in Kanem could have simply incorporated Sayf into the ruling dynasty through a marriage between him and a "Zaghawa" princess. In the epic, or at least the abridged English translation, the Zaghawa princess is only mentioned once. If, however, the epic was passed down orally and subject to occasional changes by various audiences and storytellers, the earlier "Zaghawa" could have been combined with Sayf through a marriage.
Through such creative retellings of the Sayf story cycles and the political facts enshrined in royal genealogies, the Sayfawa court could easily claim descent from Sayf who defeated the Axumites and gradually moved to Kanem, where the pre-Islamic mais became descendants of Sayf, too. After all, the legends circulating of Sayf make him implausibly Muslim before the life of the Prophet Muhammad, so Kanem's rulers could have retconned their pre-Islamic past. This is part of the reason we find it hard to agree with Lange's assertion that the Sayfawa dynasty replaced an older, Duguwa house. There is simply not enough evidence to prove a dynastic change, nor would it have been necessary. Based on our current evidence, it seems unlikely since all the local written and oral sources claim dynastic continuity. Nonetheless, the fictionalized tales of Sayf b. Dhi Yazan's exploits must have reached Kanem by the late 11th century or early 12th century, if not earlier. Then, after adopting Sayf as their ancestor, reports of Kanem's conquests in the central Sahara and Chad Basin must have shaped the "authors" of the Sayf epic in Egypt. Reading The Adventures of Sayf Ben Dhi Yazan actually strengthens the theory of Abdullahi Smith just as it adds another layer to understanding the historical context of the epic. Such a theory suggests the centrality of Kanem-Borno to constructions of race, difference, and the image of Africa in Egypt and the Middle East.
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