Awlad Muhammad Dynasty and Borno

Habiba Wada's El-Hesnawi's thesis, Fazzan Under the Rule of the Awlad Muhammad: A Study in Political, Economic and Intellectual History is a must for anyone interested in the history of the Fazzan region of Libya. Although focused on the Awlad Muhammad dynasty which dominated the important area of the Central Sahara from c.1500 to 1813, the El-Hesnawi draws on the earlier history of the Fazzan and its importance in trans-Saharan trade. Indeed, the Fazzan is distinct for being one of the earliest regions important in trans-Saharan trade since Antiquity. And the Awlad Muhammad dynasty itself is a testament to the Fazzan's central role as a crossroads of Egypt, the Maghrib and the Sudan. For any deeper understanding of Kanem-Borno in its Saharan and Sudanic context, one must include the Fazzan in the analysis. Based on oral traditions and some of the surviving documents from the Fazzan, Tripoli, Ottoman, and European archives, a glimpse at the Awlad Muhammad becomes feasible.

Most of the thesis focuses on the Awlad Muhammad dynasty's Fazzani context. It's origins began with Muhammad al-Fasi, a sharif who chose to settle in the Fazzan after returning from Mecca. Said to have come from the Maghrib or western Sahara, El-Hesnawi's thesis emphasizes the importance of the Fazzan as a region of settlement and stop on the pilgrimage route for those coming from the West. Murabitun and those of sharif origin were especially welcome for their piety and Islamic scholarship. Muhammad al-Fasi appears to have used that to build a power-base and eventually establish a ruling dynasty that persisted until the 19th century. In some respects, the rise of the Awlad Muhammad mirrors that of the "Istambulawa" of Air in the 1400s. Like the early sultans of Agades, Muhammad al-Fasi was a mediator between conflicting groups in the Fazzan. 

Through their ability to arbitrate and neutralize opposition (or most of it, save the Khurman), the Awlad Muhamamd established a relatively stable dynasty that united most of the Fazzan. According to El-Hesnawi, patronage of the murabitun and those of sharifian origin helped tremendously with buttressing the new order. In addition, certain Arab and regional chiefs were given tax-free status and incorporated into the regime. Like the Sayfawa of Kanem-Borno, land grants and tax-free exemptions were awarded to several murabitun who then served in the administration. The Awlad Muhammad later relied heavily on slave officials, heavy taxation on the commoners, duties on trade, and the region's geography to thrive economically. Indeed, El-Hesnawi cites evidence of past wealth in what are today ruined villages or destitute areas of the Fazzan. Agriculture, however, once thrived in the oases and the Fazzan even exported some crops to other regions like Tripoli. 

In short, the Awlad Muhammad built a stable regime on the foundations of trade, support for the pilgrimage, taxation (often onerous, but perhaps mainly due to unscrupulous officials), and heavy patronage for Islamic scholars. The administration inherited terms of Kanuri origin, but El-Hesnawi suggests the meaning of the terms in practice often differed. In fact, the author suggests the period of direct Kanem rule of the Fazzan was rather brief. Due to political instability among the Sayfawa and then the wars with the Bulala, it is likely that the Banu Nasir dynasty appointed by Kanem became independent very quickly. This dynasty, which perhaps was the origin of the Kanuri titles used by subsequent Fazzani rulers, was proceeded by the Khurmans and a period of political chaos or conflict. 

As for the Fazzan's relations with Borno and the Sayfawa, El-Hesnawi's thesis argues against some of our assumptions. For instance, due to the constant conflicts between the pashas of Tripoli and the Awlad Muhammad, it is possible that the dynasty was not politically aligned with the Sayfawa. The interest of the Sayfawa dynasts in direct ties with Tripoli support this contention. In fact, when an Awlad Muhammad ruler did indeed flee to Borno due to an invasion from Tripoli, he was executed. Ibn Ghalbun and other sources claim Umar b. Idris did this because the Fazzani sultan had blinded his nephews, but Borno's close ties with the rulers of Tripoli would have also been a factor. Indeed, this helps explain why so many Awlad Muhammad rulers fled to Katsina or Agades in the 1500s and 1600s rather than Borno. The Sayfawa, eager to maintain close ties with Tripoli as the northern terminus of trans-Saharan trade (and the origin of European and Mediterranean goods), might have been more often than not on the side of the pashas in Fazzan-Tripoli conflicts. 

Moreover, the Awlad Muhammad rulers, being so close to Kawar, might have preferred Katsina and Agades as sources of refuge and political support due to fears of a Sayfawa expansion. For instance, other scholars suggest part of the reason Idris b. Ali (Idris Alooma) sent an envoy to the Ottoman capital was due to their own territorial interests in the Fazzan. El-Hesnawi, on the other hand, said the mission was partly motivated by the Ottoman official briefly in charge of the Fazzan invading as far as Kawar or Lake Chad. In our opinion, the Awlad Muhammad probably were eager to maintain some distance from Gazargamo to preserve their own autonomy. However, the necessities of trade and the short route between Tripoli and Lake Chad through the Fazzan meant trade, contact, and migration were probably constant. The Awlad Muhammad, as El-Hesnawi indicates, were additionally friendly to all pilgrims passing through their domain. The numerous Sayfawa mais who performed the hajj often passed through the Fazzan, which would have created close ties already strongly based on trade, Islam, and cultural exchanges.

Last but certainly not least, El-Hesnawi cites one tradition suggesting a large-scale movement of people from Kanem into the Fazzan during the 1200s.  This could be true, as the Diwan indicates that mai Arku established colonies of slaves in Kawar during the 11th century. It is not inconceivable that the Sayfawa rulers in the 1200s were not pursuing similar colonization policies. Indeed, this might explain part of the strong Kanuri and Sudanic influence in the Fazzan noted in European sources. After all, the Awlad Muhammad princes and rulers were sometimes noted to be brown and "black" and Kanuri and Hausa were widely spoken in Murzuq and other parts of the area. This cannot be solely due to the large-scale slave trade that persisted for several centuries. The importance of "black" qadis, settlers, traders, pilgrims, and princes passing through or living in the Fazzan must have contributed to the "Sudanic" character noted by European or Ottoman travelers. After all, even the capital of Murzuq used Kanuri words to designate parts of the city and the people sang songs in the "Sudanic" style rather than that of the Maghrib. The Fazzan of the Awlad Muhammad was, like that of previous Fazzan polities, profoundly shaped by the Central Sudan and a testament to the Sahara as a bridge rather than barrier. If only we could trace this earlier in the period of the Garamantes and uncover more sources on Fazzan's links with Lake Chad.

A History of North Africa

Charles-Andre Julien's History of North Africa: From the Arab Conquest to 1830 is one of those good introductory overviews for the history of the Maghrib. Unfortunately leaving out Libya, which is our primary area of interest for North Africa, Julien covers the rest of the region from the Arab conquests to the 19th century. Beginning with the Byzantine period and the lengthy Arab conquests and spread of Islam, the book then shifts to the major Islamic dynasties and states which dominated parts of North Africa, like the Aghlabids, Imams of Tahert, Fatimids, Hafsids, Alawi dynasty, Almohads, Almoravids, and Regencies of Algiers and Tunis. 

We can't lie, sometimes one gets lost in the various names and dynasties over 1000 years. But Julien mostly retains the reader's interest and occasionally delves into other topics, like the spread of Islam, Sufism, the Barbary corsairs, the political economy of Tunis and Algiers, and how the Sharifian dynasties held Morocco together. Since the text was originally published several decades ago, we're sure that archaeologists and historians have shed more light on the Arab conquest and perhaps today's scholars would avoid phrases like "Berber inertia" to characterize what Julien describes as societies trapped in a civilization that hadn't changed much since the 7th or 8th centuries. 

Moreover, it would be interesting to read a history of North Africa that attempts to integrate a Saharan and Mediterranean perspective on the region. Julien, of course, mentioned the Moroccan invasion of Songhay and Hafsid relations with Kanem, but he seems to have bought into the idea that the Islamic civilization of the Sahel was an implanted Maghribi one while also minimizing the importance of the trans-Saharan trade. We have a lot more books to complete on North Africa before we can explore this, but we know Braudel will be on our reading list to help us understand the Mediterranean and, perhaps, how the Saharan "sea" was connected to it.

A Thousand Years Ago in Mauritania

I've always been fascinated by Mauritania and the Sahel region of Africa more broadly. My interest in the Almoravids and Sahel-Saharan relations began with my studies of Wagadu/Ancient Ghana, particularly in how foreign academics have tried to label conflicts as rooted in 'racial' differences instead of interrogating local concepts of ethnic difference, religion, and land. One of these days I'll write an overly long post on relationships between Saharan societies (such as Sanhaja Berber groups or Massufa, for instance) and those of ethnic groups in the Sahel and savannas of West Africa (Soninke, Mande, Fula, and many others). This lecture is a little too focused on Islam and religion for my taste, but certainly worth a listen. 

Afro-Iberia: Blacks in Medieval and Renaissance Iberia

These pictures in no way imply that the majority of "Moors" in medieval Iberia were "Black," but merely serves as a powerful reminder of the racial diversity of Muslim-dominated Iberia, as well as the conspicuous presence of "Blacks" in Christian Iberian art. The above image depicts the judgment of Moorish captives by a Christian Iberian king in the 1200s or 1300s, while the image below, from the early 16th century, depicts a black slave in Portugal serving as a domestic in the home of a wealthy Portuguese man. The latter image depicts the presence of enslaved Africans, often non-Muslims, from West Africa or even further south in Central Africa, who were popular domestic servants, indicators of status for wealthy elites, and, by the end of the 15th century, a common site in Lisbon and other southern Portuguese cities and parts of Andalusia.

I do not know if this is from the 16th century, but it's supposedly a depiction of Juan Latino, an African-descended professor and writer of Spain, educated and capable of writing poetry in Latin and lecturing in the university. He, according to research by Henry Louis Gates and other specialists on Black Spain in the 1500s, responded to anti-black prejudice by linking his African roots with Biblical Ethiopia. 

The above image represents European imagination on carnal knowledge of Arabs and Blacks, suggesting that it's immoral for a white, Christian woman to sleep with a dark-skinned, presumably Muslim, servant or slave. It's from the late 1200s, after the Reconquista was building in momentum and, though the black servant is seen burning, the white woman is saved by the Virgin Mary. Supposedly the image above depicts a dream, but an obvious anti-Muslim, anti-black prejudice can be detected in the seeming moral that interracial, interreligious and interclass love is frowned upon.

From the 1300s, this Jewish cartographer from Spain depicts the legendary Mansa Musa, of the Mali kingdom, whose fame and wealth was renowned throughout the world after his Hajj. His gold seems to be luring a light-skinned Arab or Berber trader and there is nothing to suggest anti-black attitudes or prejudice in the image, only the notion of fabulous wealth and unlimited gold to be found in this region of West Africa, which was linked to the notion of a "River of Gold" Europeans hoped to reach in West Africa. Muslim cartographers from North Africa also had a similarly fantastic idea, believing there was a Palolus, or island of Gold somewhere in West Africa south of the Mali empire, which was really the Wangara goldfields in non-Muslim lands.

 

This image depicts a black slave in the bottom right.

A retrato of Juan de Pareja, a black Spanish painter and acquaintance of Velazquez. He was a ladino, that is, an acculturated Afro-Iberian, fluent in Spanish and had this portrait done in 1650. Black ladinos would also play a significant role in the Spanish conquest of the Americas as well as a cultural presence in some cases, where slave and slave-descended communities assembled in parts of cities, such as Seville. Other well-known ladinos include Eleno/a de Cespedes, an Afro-Iberian transgendered person who was socially accepted as male despite being officially seen as a woman, even marrying a woman until Inquisition authorities intervened in their life.

From the 13th century, it depicts a dark-skinned, "Negroid" Moor playing chess with a light-skinned male. Likely from Alfonso el Sabio's Book of Games, it shows the influence of Muslim and Moorish games such as chess on Christian Iberian kingdoms. This black man does not seem a slvae, based on his dress, though he is barefoot. Images like these could be representative of reality in that some dark-skinned Berbers and West Africans likely entered Iberia as elites and military leaders following Almoravid and Almohad conquests. Furthermore, blackening Moors and equating Saracens with blacks was another way of denigrating them. 

 

From an early 15th century Iberian map, we see a depiction of a dark-skinned Berber or "Moor" in the West African Sahara or Sahel, about to engage in trade with the still-legendary Mansa Musa of Mali.

Likely from the 13th century, it depicts Moorish invaders, most of whom depicted as looking almost European, with one prominent black rower.

Another image of dark Moors playing chess, although other images depict light-skinned Moors playing chess.