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A seventeenth-century chronicle by Ibn al-mukhtār: a critical study of Ta'rīkh al-fattāsh

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 December 2009

N. Levtzion
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Extract

In 1853, Heinrich Barth visited Timbuktu, and ‘was so successful as to have an opportunity of pursuing a complete history of the Kingdom of Songhay. … These annals, according to the universal statement of the learned people of Negroland, were written by a distinguished person of the name of Ahmed Baba’. With this chronicle at his disposal, Barth was able, for the first time, to present a meaningful outline of the history of the Songhay empire. Circumstances prevented Barth bringing back a complete copy of the manuscript. In the 1890's, however, following the French occupation, three manuscripts of that chronicle reached Paris, to be edited by 0. Houdas and E. Benoist, translated by Houdas, and published in 1898–1900. Houdas proved that this chronicle, Ta'rīkh al-Sūdān, had been written not by Ahmad Bābā; but by another scholar of Timbuktu, ‘Abd al-Rahmān al-Sa'dī, born in 1596. The chronicle ends in 1655, which may be taken as the date of its completion.

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Articles
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Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies , Volume 34 , Issue 3 , October 1971 , pp. 571 - 593
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Copyright © School of Oriental and African Studies 1971

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References

1 Barth, H., Travels and discoveries in North and central Africa (Minerva Library), London, 1890, II, 290–1Google Scholar .

2 Houdas, O. and Benoist, E. (ed.), Tarihh es-Soudan, par Abderrahman es-Sa'di, Paris, 1898; French translation by Houdas, Paris, 1900; both reprinted 1964 (hereafter TS), introduction to translation, pp. xi–xvGoogle Scholar .

3 O. Houdas and M. Delafosse (ed. and tr.), Tarikh el-fettach, par Mahmoûd Kâli et I'un de ses petits-fils, Paris, 1913, reprinted 1964 (hereafter TF). Ch. Monteil was probably the first to write the history of the Western Sudan by adding the evidence in TF to that of TS: see his Les empires du Mali, [extrait du Bull, du Com. d'Ét. Hist, et Sc. d'AOF, XII, 3–t, 1929,] Paris, 1930, reprinted 1968.

4 There is an error in the conversion of the Muslim date. A.H. 950 should be A.D. 1543–4. In fact, the history of Songhay in TF is pursued to 1599 with some references to the seventeenth century. Dubois had access to the first part of the chronicle only, probably to the end of eh. X in the translation.

5 Dubois, F., Timbuctoo the mysterious, London, 1897, 301–2Google Scholar . The italics in the final sentence are mine.

6 Copies of these fragments—forged and distributed by Shehu Ahmadu Lobo of Massina—are deposited in the Bibliothèque de I'Institut de France in Paris (Fonds de Gironcourt), MS 2405, pièce no. 2; MS 2406, pièce no. 73; MS 2410, pièce no. 174. Another copy ia in the Bibliothèque Nationale, MS 5259, pp. 74–8. See Hunwick, J. O. and Gwarzo, H. I., ‘Another look at the de Gironcourt papers’, Research Bulletin CAD (Ibadan), III, 2, 1967, 94–5Google Scholar .

7 TF, introduction to the French translation, p. vii; see also the account of a descendant of Mahmūd Ka'ti in Dubois, , op. cit., 303–4Google Scholar .

8 TF, introduction to the French translation, pp. viii–xi.

9 TF, p. 13, 11. 16–17, p. 66, 11. 16–18; trans., 18, 127.

10 TF, introduction to the French translation, p. xii. See also Dubois, , op. cit., 135–7Google Scholar .

11 TF, introduction to the French translation, pp. xvii–xviii.

12 TF, MS C only, p. 58, 11. 16–19; tr., 113.

13 TF, MS C only, p. 16, 1. 16; tr., 26, 126.

14 TF, MS C only, p. 17, 1. 3; tr., 27.

15 TF, p. 82, 11. 1–5; tr., 153. Unless otherwise mentioned the text of MS A appears also in MS C.

16 See tr. p. 153, n. 6, where the translators add that Muhammad Askia was 25 years old in 1468. Significantly, the copyist of MS C has Sambo () instead of Ka'ti () as in MS A. Perhaps he was aware of the disagreement with his own earlier fabrication that Ka'ti was 25 in 1493.

17 TS, p. 108, 11. 12–16; tr., 177.

18 TS, p. 46, 11. 19–20; tr., 77.

19 TS, p. 43, 11. 5, 17–18; tr., 70.

20 TS, p. 39, 11. 3–4; tr., 64; see also p. 65, 11. 9–10; tr., 106.

21 TS, pp. 34, 1. 19–35, 1. 5; tr., 57.

22 TS, p. 170, 11. 9–10, p. 212,11. 10–16; tr., 260, 324. He was appointed qāḍī of Timbuktu in 1585 (ibid., 31; tr., 52).

23 See above, among those born during th e reign of Muhamma d Askia.

24 TS, p. 43, 11. 12–15; tr., 71.

25 TF, 108, 111–13; tr., 199–200, 205–7.

26 On Askia's, Dāwūd relạtions with Muḥammad, Aḥmad b.Sa'īd, b. and Muhammad, , Baghyu'u, see TF, p. 113, 11. 10–14Google Scholar ; tr., 207–8; TS, p. 108, 11. 6–10; tr., 176; on Askia, Dāwūd and Aḥmad, al-Ḧājj, Bābā's, Aḥmad father, see TF, p. 115, 11. 6–16Google Scholar; tr., 210.

27 TF, pp. 118, 1. 14–119, 1. 1; tr., 217.

28 Indeed, the translators were aware of this absurdity, so they offered the following translation: ‘Aïcha-Kîmaré, femme du eâdi Mahmoûd Kâti, qui l'emmena à Tombouctou où elle mourut sans avoir été touchée par lui’ (my italics); certainly because he was too old. The Arabic text reads: arḥalahā ilā Tinbuktu wa-mālat fī ‘iṣmatihi, which should be translated: ‘he took her to Timbuktu, where she died under his marital protection’. On the meanings of 'iṣma, see Lane, E. W., An Arabic–English lexicon, London, I, Pt. v, 1874, 2066–7Google Scholar. See also TS, p. 158,1. 10, fa-kānat fī 'iṣmatihi, translated (244) ‘celle-ci demeura sous sa puissance maritale’.

29 TF, p. 108, 1. 11; tr., 199.

30 TS, p. 131, 11. 8–9; tr., 209.

31 TF, pp. 150, 1. 5–152, 1. 3; tr., 269–71.

31 TS, p. 211,11. 6–10; tr., 322.

33 Brun, Joseph, ‘Notes sur le Tarikh-el-fettach’, Anthropos, IX, 1914, 595–6Google Scholar.

34 Hunwick, J. O., ‘Studies in the Ta'rīkh al-fattāsh. (1) Its authors and textual history’, Research Bulletin CAD (Ibadan), v, 1–2, 1969, 57–65Google Scholar. I am grateful to Dr. Hunwick for sending me this paper before its publication, and for the reference to Brun's article.

35 On this date (1553), see Brun, , art. cit., 596Google Scholar, and Hunwick, ‘Studies’. It is based on Dubois, (op. cit., 302)Google Scholar who says that ‘Koti survived Askiya the Great by fourteen years’. As Muḥammad Askia died in 944/1538, Ka'ti should have died in 958/1551 and not 1552–3. Dubois's statement is not a tradition recorded in Timbuktu—as suggested by Brun and Hunwick—but a figure Dubois calculated himself. He says that the history of the Fatassi ends in 1554 (950) [sic], see p . 571, n. 4, above—which he probably took as the date of the author's death. In the following passage where Dubois stresses that Ka‘ti was a contemporary of Muḥammad Askia he says, by the way, t h a t Ka'ti survived Muhammad Askia by 14 years. The basis of Dubois's calculation is certainly wrong, as t he chronicle does not end in A.H. 950. Also, Dubois obtained only nebulous information on Ka'ti in Timbuktu, which could not include such precision.

36 TF, MS C only, p. 16, 1. 16, p. 65, 1. 18; tr., 26, 126.

37 TF, MS C only, pp. 54, 1. 16–55, 1. 2; tr., 105.

38 TF, MS C only, p. 17, 1. 3; tr., 27.

39 TF, 9–82; tr., 5–154.

40 TF, introduction to tr., pp. xviii–xix.

41 TF, p. 29, 11. 10–11, p. 53, 11. 12–13; tr., 49, 102.

42 TF, p. 48, II. 3–5; tr., 92.

43 TF, pp. 45, 1. 6–48, 1. 3; tr., 85–92.

44 TF, tr., 332. It concerns the islamization of the Dya dynasty in Songhay. On the relation-ship between TF and the second appendix, see below, pp. 580–2. Only the French translation of the second appendix was available to me (see p. 580, n. 64).

45 TF, p. 152, 11. 3–8; tr., 271–2.

46 TF, p. 129, 11. 14–15, p. 142, 11. 7–10; tr., 236, 257.

47 TF, pp. 72, 1. 11–74, 1. 8; tr., 138–41.

48 TF, p. 75, 11. 2–3; tr., 142. Another reference to Ismā'īl Ka'ti as the narrator of an account (about the grant to the sharīfs, following the accidental homicide of a sharīf by Dāwūd Askia) appears in MS C only (TF, p. 116, 11. 15–16; tr., 213): ‘myself, namely the qādī Ismā'il Ka'ti, I was present’.

49 TF, p. 89, 11. 13–14; tr., 168.

50 TS, p. 276, 11. 16–19, p. 300, 11. 2–5; tr., 421–2, 454.

51 TF, p. 108, 11. 7–8, p. 109, 1. 9; tr., 100, 201.

52 TF, p. 49, 1. 7, p. 175, 11. 16–17; tr., 95, 308.

53 TF, p. 84, 1. 4, p. 70, 11. 14–15; tr., 158, 135.

54 TF, p. 75, 11. 2–3; tr., 142.

55 TF, p. 44, 11. 4–6, p. 52, 11. 5–8, 10–11, p. 85, 11. 4–6, p. 92, 11. 13–15, p. 126, 11. 5–6, p. 146, 11. 10–11, p. 155, 11. 12–13, p. 182, 11. 13–14; tr., 83, 100, 159, 174, 230, 263, 277, 318.

56 TS, p. 170, 11. 6–7; tr., 260.

57 TF, p. 52, 11. 12–15, p. 85, 1. 9, p. 93, 11. 1–5, p. 115, 11. G–10, p. 121, 11. 6–7, 9–11, p. 178, 11. 7–12; tr., 101, 160, 174, 210, 221–2, 312.

58 TF, p. 91, 11. 8–11; tr., 171.

59 TF, pp. 182, 1. 14–183, 1. 1; tr., 318.

60 TS, p. 296, 11. 11–13; tr., 449.

61 TF, pp. 33, 1. 16–34, 1. 7, p. 44, 11. 12–15; tr., 57–8, 84.

62 TS, p. 295, 11. 12–15; tr., 448.

63 TF, p. 100, I. 10, p. 107, 11. 16–17; tr., 187, 198.

64 I could not locate the Arabic manuscript of the second appendix, of which the French translation only is given in the published volume. The textual comparison is therefore somewhat deficient.

65 TF, tr., 2nd app., 329–35.

66 TS, 2–6; tr., 4–12.

67 TF, tr., 2nd app., 335; TF, p. 32, 1. 15; tr., 56.

68 TF, 33–42; tr., 56–80.

69 TF, p. 42, 1. 18; tr., 80.

70 TF, MS C only, pp. 10, 1. 17–11, 1. 2; tr., 9–10.

71 About 17 pp. of the Arabic text are on al-ṣājj Muḥammad Askia compared with some 27 pp. on Dāwūd Askia.

72 TF, tr., 2nd app., 327.

73 TF, tr., 2nd app., 338.

74 TF, p. 52,11.4–7; tr., 100.

75 Compare TF, p. 44, 11. 2–6 (tr., 83) with TF, tr., 2nd app., 337.

76 TF, pp. 45, 1. 6–48, 1. 5; tr., 85–92.

77 TF, pp. 48, 1. 13–49, 1. 13; tr., 94–6.

78 TF, p. 72, 11. 11–12, p. 75, 11. 5–6; tr., 138–9, 142.

79 TF, tr., 2nd app., 332–3.

80 ibid., 328. Without the Arabic text at my disposal, I prefer to quote the French translation, rather than risk a double translation.

81 e.g.: Wangarabe, Mori Bakr ibn ṣāliḥ in TF, p. 36, 1. 17, tr., 62–3 (common to MS A and the appendix) and in TF, tr., 2nd app., 335 (in the appendix only)Google Scholar; the qāḍī 'l-'Abbās, Abū in TF, pp. 33, 1. 11–34, 1. 1Google Scholar; tr., 57–8 (common to both texts) and in TF, p. 44, 11. 13–14, tr., 84 (in MS A only); al-faqīh al-Silanke, al-Sālih in TF, tr., 2nd app., 338 (in the appendix only) and TF, p. 181, 1. 6, tr., 316 (in MS A only)Google Scholar .

82 Introduction to the translation of TF, p. x. A third isolated page is an extract from TS.

83 TF, p. 11, 11. 6–17, p. 12, 11. 5–7; tr., 13–14, 15.

84 TF, pp. 29, 1. 11–31, 1. 1; tr., 49–51.

85 TF, tr., 2nd app., 329–31.

86 TS, pp. 4, 1. 3–5, 1. 5; tr., 6–9.

87 e.g.: fī ayyām translated ‘du vivant' (TF, p. 82, 1. 1; tr., 153, see above, p. 574); fī ‘iṣmatihi translated ‘sans avoir été touchée par lui’ (TF, p. 119, 1. 1; tr., 217, see above, p. 575, n. 28 and also below, p. 586).

88 TF, MS C only, p. 14, 11. 3–6; tr., 19.

89 TF, MS C only, p. 62, 11. 8–11; tr., 119.

90 TS, pp. 74, 1. 19–75, 1. 1; tr., 123.

91 TF, p. 51, II. 8–13; tr., 98–9 (put in prison by Sonni 'Alī), and p. 71, 11. 11–14; tr., 137 (given a charter and gifts by Muhammad Askia).

92 TS, pp. 72, 1. 12–73, 1. 17; tr., 119–21. TF (MS A only), p. 64, n. 1; tr., p. 124, n. 3.

93 TF, MS C only, p. 16, 11. 12–20, pp. 65, 1. 8–68, 1. 15; tr., 25–6, 125–31.

94 TS, p. 72, 11. 13–14 (tr., 119), on ṣāliḥ Jawara; and TF, p. 82, 11. 5–8 (tr., 153), on Muḥammad Ṭall.

95 On the birth date of Mahmūd Ka'ti, see above. The great-grandsons of Mori Muḥammad Hawgaru were contemporaries of Sonni ‘Ali—TF, p. 51, 11. 8–9 (tr., 99)—and of Muḥammad Askia—TF, pp. 72, 1. 17–73, 1. 1 (tr., 139). It is very unlikely that he himself was still alive to go with Muḥammad Askia to Mecca. Indeed, the concession of MS C only that he was then very old is too liberal.

96 One of these, Gao Zakariyā', is mentioned again by MS C only—pp. 116,1. 15–117, 1. 1 (tr., 212–13)—among the ‘ulamā’ consulted by Dāwῡd Askia. The other ‘ulamā’ mentioned there were second generation to those who made the pilgrimage in 1497, such as the sons of ṣāliḥ Jawara and Muḥammad Ṭall.

97 Hunwick, J. O., ‘Aḥmad Bābā and the Moroccan invasion of the Sudan (1591)’, Journal of the Historical Society of Nigeria, II, 3, 1962, 327Google Scholar.

98 Mawlāy al-'Abbās sounds like a Maghribi name for a sharīf.

99 TF, MS C only, pp. 12, 1. 19–14, 1. 3; tr., 16–19.

100 TF, pp. 68, 1. 19–69, 1. 3; tr., 131–2.

101 TF, MS C only, p. 14, 11. 6–10; tr., 19.

102 Al-SuyūṭῙ, , Ta'rīkh al-khulafā’, Cairo, 1965, 11Google Scholar. Quoted and discussed in al-Hajj, M.A. ‘The thirteenth century in Muslim eschatology: Mahdist expectations in the Sokoto caliphate’, Research Bulletin CAD (Ibadan), III, 2, 1967, 106–7Google Scholar.

103 al-Hajj, M.A., art. cit., 108Google Scholar. ‘Uthmān dan Fodio, in al-Naba’ al-hādī ilā aḥwāl al-imām al-mahdī, quoted al-Suyūṭi's al-'Arf al-wardī fi akhbār al-imām al-mahdī. Al-Hajj adds that a copy of al-'Arf al-wardī which he saw in Istanbul does not contain the passage mentioned.

104 Introduction to the translation ofTF, p. xi. This chapter has not been reproduced in the published text.

105 TF, MS C only, pp. 116, 1. 13–117, 1. 4; tr., 212–13.

106 TF, p. 33, 11. 2–7; tr., 56–7.

107 Hunwick, J. O., ‘Some notes on the term zanj and its derivatives in a West African chronicle’, Research Bulletin CAD (Ibadan), iv, 1–2, 1968, 42Google Scholar .

108 e.g. pp. 61, 1. 15–62, 1. 2 (tr., p. 118, 11. 7–12); pp. 62, 1. 3–63, 1. 17 (tr., pp. 119, i. 1–121, 1. 8; pp. 140, 1. 10–141, 1. 10 (tr., pp, 225, 1. 6–256, 1. 9); p. 143, 11. 2–5 (tr., p. 253, 11. 11–16); pp. 143, 1. 8–144, 1. 10 (tr., pp. 258, 1. 26–260, 1. 16).

109 TF, p. 116, 11. 11–13 ; tr., 212.

110 TF MS C only, p. 15, 1. 4; tr., 22.

111 TF, MS C only, p. 23, 11. 11–12; tr., 37–8.

112 e.g. TF, p. 121, 11. 4–6; tr., 221: ‘During his—namely, Dāwūd Askia's—reign died the qādī al-'Āqib. … His—namely, al-'Āqib's—birth …’.

113 For a review of the passages of MS C only see the appendix, below.

114 Barth, , op. cit., II, 219–20Google Scholar; Bâ, A. H. and Daget, J., L'empire peul du Marina, I, Paris, 1962, 36Google Scholar; Johnston, H. A. S., The Fulani empire of Sokoto, London, 1967, 266–7Google Scholar.

115 For references to ‘Uthmān dan Fodio as amīr al-mu'minīn, see e.g. Tazyīn al-waraqāt, ed. and tr. by Hiskett, M., Ibadan, 1963, 59, 61, 62, 80, 81 (Arabic)Google Scholar; 112, 114, 115, 129 (English trans.).

116 On al-Maghīlī, see Hiskett, M., ‘An Islamic tradition of reform in the Western Sudan’, BSOAS, xxv, 3, 1962, 577–96Google Scholar. For Aḥmad Bābā as a source of authority, see ‘Uthmān dan Fodio, Bayān vmjūb al-hijra ‘alā ‘l-ibād (MS at the University of Ibadan, 82/53).

117 TF, p. 86, 11. 11–16; tr., 162. The recognition of the Ottoman sultan followed the Ottoman conquest of Egypt in 1517.

118 TS, p. 73, 1. 12; tr., 120.

119 al-Wufrānī, Muḥammad b. al-ḥājj, Nuzhat al-ḥādī bi-akhbār mulūk al-qarn al-ḥādī, ed. and tr. by Houdas, O., 2 vols. Paris, 1888–1889, 89 (tr., 157–8)Google Scholar. Al-Wufrānī refers to a book Nasīhat Ahl al-Sūdān by al-Imām al-Takrūri, which has not yet been discovered.

120 TF, p. 11, 11. 6–17; tr., 13–14.

121 TF MS c only, pp. 11, 1. 17–12, 1. 3; tr., 14–15. Hunwick, J. O. (‘Religion and state in the Songhay empire’, in Lewis, I. M. (ed.), Islam in tropical Africa, London, 1966, 309)Google Scholar suggests that what fell into abeyance as the power of Muhammad Askia increased were the privileges he had granted to the Muslims. Our argument, based on the separation of MSS A and C, is that the pre-Islamic customs are said to have been abolished.

122 Ch. Monteil, Les empires du Mali; Niane, Dj. T., ‘Recherches sur l'empire du Mali au moyen-âge’, Recherches Africaines (Conakry), 2, 1961, 33–5Google Scholar.

123 TF, pp. 94, 1. 10–105, 1. 1; tr., 179–94.

124 TF, pp. 30, 1. 3–31, 1. 1; tr., 43–51.

125 cf.TF, p. 142, 11. 4–6 (tr., 257), where even a slight difference in the texts of MSS A and C indicates that the redactor of MS C was anxious to emphasize possession over occupational groups, where MS A suggests authority only.

126 TF MS C only, pp. 27, 1. 10–28, 1. 6; tr., 45–6.

127 Sidibe, M., ‘Les gens du caste au Nyamakala au Soudan francaise’, Notes Africaines, 81, 1959, 13–17Google Scholar .

128 Bibliothèque de l'Institut de France, MS 2406, pièce, No. 46 (ii); See Hunwick, , ‘Some notes on the term zanj’, 49Google Scholar

129 TF MS C only pp. 14 1, 10–15) 1, 10; tr., 19–22.

130 TS, p. 73, 11. 15–16; tr., 257.

131 Quoted from Hunwick, , ‘Some notes on the term zanj’ 51Google Scholar .

132 TF MS C only, p. 55, 11. 14–15. tr., 106.

133 cf. the detailed account of the twelve tribes and their origins in TF, MSC only, pp. 55, 1. 15–58, 1. 14; tr., 108–12. See also the traditions of the origin of different Sudanese peoples as related by Damīr b. Ya'qūb, a disciple of Shamharūsh, in TF, MS C only, pp. 24, 1. 20–29, 1. 11; tr., 40–8.

134 TF pp. 73, 1, 13–74, 1.3; tr., 140–1.

135 Hunwick (‘Some notes on the term zanj’) is concerned with the relationship between the terms zanj and sorko.

136 Barth, , op. cit., ii, 335Google Scholar .

137 Letter from Dr. Brown, dated 17 November 1969.

138 TF MS C only pp 23, 1. 13–24, 1. 3 (tr., 38–9), 1,700 zanj to the sharīf Ahmad al-Saqlī; p. 117, 11. 10–19 (tr., 214–15), 1,500 zanj to the sharīf Ibn al-Qāsim; p. 32, 11. 4–7, and p. 71, 11. 6–10 (tr., 53, 136–7), some 70 villages of zanj to alfā Muḥammad Ṭall; p. 32, 11. 9–11 and p. 71, 11. 3–5 (tr., 54, 136), villages oizanj to alfā ṣāliḥ Jawara.

139 TF, p. 71, 1. 15; tr., 137.

140 TF, p. 109, 11. 6–8, p. 113, 11. 6–7; tr., 201, 207.

141 TF pp. 151, 1, 14; tr., 271.

142 TF, pp. 106, 1. 9–107, 1. 12; tr., 197–8.

143 TF p. 103, 11. 16–17; tr., 182–3.

144 The shurafā' ar e mentioned twice only in MS A (TF, p. 11, 1. 16, p. 107, 11. 1–4; tr., 14, 197). MS C deals in great detail with the shārif al-ṣaqlī (TF, MS C only, pp. 16,1. 20–23,1.19; tr., 27–37) and with his descendants (see n. 138, above). MS C also mentions servile groups which were th e property of Moroccan shurafā' — TF, MS C only, p. 64, 11. 1–7, p. 123, 11. 9–19; tr., 122, 125.

145 These two scholars are mentioned in TS, 72, 74, 78 (tr., 119, 121–2, 130), and in MS A, 72 (tr., 154), as respected scholars, who were closely associated with Muhammad Askia. Of both Sālih Jawara and Muhammad Tall, MS A says that they left no descendants worthy of notice (TF, p. 72, 11. 5–9; tr., 153–4). Yet MS C—which also contains the above information—regards Mūsā son of Sālih Jawara as mukāshif, who sees what other people cannot (TF, MS C only, p. 67, 1. 10; tr., 128). Elsewhere MS C—pp. 116,1. 7–117,1. 1; tr., 213—mentions Nia Dyawara son of Sālih Jawara and Yūsuf son of Muhammad Tall among the prominent ‘ulamā’ consulted by Dāwῡ Askia. MS C is again self-contradicting.

146 An abstract of this paper was presented at the annual meeting of the African Studies Association in the United States and the Committee of African Studies in Canada in October 1969 in Montreal. I am grateful to my colleagues in this field, R. Mauny, V. Monteil, J. Hunwick, and W. Brown who sent me their comments on the abstract of this paper.