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The Ta'līf akhbār al-qurūn min umarā' bilad Ilūrin: A Critique

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 May 2014

H.O. Danmole
H.O. Danmole*
Affiliation:
University of Ilorin
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Extract

Before the advent of colonialism, Arabic was widely used in northern Nigeria where Islam had penetrated before the fifteenth century. The jihād of the early nineteenth century in Hausaland led to the establishment of the Sokoto Caliphate, the revitalization of Islamic learning, and scholars who kept records in Arabic. Indeed, some local languages such as Hausa and Fulfulde were reduced to writing in Arabic scripts. Consequently, knowledge of Arabic is a crucial tool for the historian working on the history of the caliphate.

For Ilorin, a frontier emirate between Hausa and Yorubaland, a few Arabic materials are available as well for the reconstruction of the history of the emirate. One such document is the Ta'līf akhbār al-qurūn min umarā' bilad Ilūrin (“The History of the Emirs of Ilorin”). In 1965 Martin translated, edited, and published the Ta'līf in the Research Bulletin of the Centre for Arabic Documentation at the University of Ibadan as a “New Arabic History of Ilorin.” Since then many scholars have used the Ta'līf in their studies of Ilorin and Yoruba history. Recently Smith has affirmed that the Ta'līf has been relatively neglected. He attempts successfully to reconstruct the chronology of events in Yorubaland, using the Ta'līf along with the Ta'nis al-ahibba' fi dhikr unara' Gwandu mawa al-asfiya', an unpublished work of Dr. Junaid al-Bukhari, Wazīr of Sokoto, and works in English. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the information in the Ta'līf by comparing its evidence with that of other primary sources which deal with the history of Ilorin and Yorubaland.

Type
Research Article
Information
History in Africa , Volume 11 , 1984 , pp. 57 - 67
Copyright
Copyright © African Studies Association 1984

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References

Notes

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8. Ibid.

9. Ibid.

10. Ibid., 221.

11. Ibid.

12. Ta'līf, chapter 10; Martin, “New Arabic History of Ilorin.”

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16. Ta'līf, chapter 1.

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18. Ta'līf, chapter 1.

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20. Ta'līf, chapter 1.

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22. Ta'līf, chapter 1.

23. Crowther, Samuel A., Vocabulary of the Yoruba Language (London, 1843), v.Google Scholar, and Hethersett's, account in Iwe Kika Ekerin li Ede Yoruba (1st ed., 1911; 2nd ed., Lagos, 1952)Google Scholar suggest that Afonja immediately killed relations and soldiers of Alaafin Aole who were in his army when he decided to attack Iwere. This evidence also differs in detail from that of Johnson, Crowther, and the Ta'līf.

24. Johnson, , History, 191–92.Google Scholar

25. As suggested by Law, “Iwere.”

26. Ta'līf, chapter 1.

27. Ibid.

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29. Smith, “Collapse of the Alaafinate.”

30. Burdon, , Northern Nigeria, 98.Google Scholar

31. Ibid., 15–16.

32. Ta'līf, chapter 1; Johnson, , History, 202.Google Scholar

33. Ta'līf, chapter 2.

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35. Kakaki is a special type of trumpet blown occasionally by the highly-placed in the society. Tambari drums are specially-made drums.

36. Ta'līf, chapter 2. Cf. Johnson, , History, 199.Google Scholar

37. Smith, “Collapse of the Alaafinate.”

38. Ta'līf, chapter 2.

39. Ibid.

40. Ibid.; Johnson, , History, 199.Google Scholar

41. Hermon-Hodge, , Gazetteer, 66.Google Scholar

42. Oral Evidence; Alhaji Elelu, 10 April 1978.

43. Ta'līf, chapter 2.

44. Ibid.

45. Johnson, , History, 204.Google Scholar

46. Ibid.

47. Chief Oyerinde, N.D., Iwe Itan Ogbomoso (Jos, 1934), 31–32.Google Scholar

48. Ta'līf, chapter 2; Agiri, B.A., “A Reconsideration of the Chronology of Ogbomoso History,” Odu, no. 15 (1977), 19–29.Google Scholar

49. Danmole, , “Frontier Emirate,” 50–51Google Scholar; Smith, “Collapse of the Alaafinate.”

50. Ta'līf, chapter 2.

51. Smith, “Collapse of the Alaafinate;” Atanda, J.A., “The Fall of the Old Oyo Empire: A Reconsideration of Its Cause,” Journal of the Historical Society of Nigeria, 5/4 (1971), 477–90.Google Scholar

52. Burdon, , Northern Nigeria, 15–16.Google Scholar

53. Danmole, , “Frontier Emirate,” 254.Google Scholar

54. Ta'līf, chapter 3.

55. Ta'līf, chapter 5.

56. Mockler-Ferryman, A.F., Up the Niger: Narrative of Major Claude Macdonald's Mission to the Niger and Benue Rivers, West Africa (London, 1892), 204.Google Scholar

57. Ta'līf, chapter 3.

58. Johnson, , History, 437.Google Scholar

59. Ibid., 564–66.

60. Elphinstone, Kenneth V., The Gazetteer of Ilorin Province (London, 1912), 18Google Scholar; Hermon-Hodge, , Gazetteer, 73Google Scholar; Cf. Ta'līf, chapter 6.

61. Ibid.

62. For the details see Hermon-Hodge, , Gazetteer, 73Google Scholar; Elphinstone, , Gazetteer, 18Google Scholar; Chief Ojo, S.O., Short History of Ilorin (Oyo, 1952), 34.Google Scholar

63. Ta'līf, chapter 6.

64. Mockler-Ferryman, , Up the Niger, 177–217Google Scholar; Vandeleur, C.F.S., Campaigning on the Upper Nile and Niger (London, 1898), 268–97.Google Scholar

65. Ta'līf, chapter 6; Danmole, , “Frontier Emirate,” 151–60Google Scholar; Gbadamosi, , Growth of Islam, 180–84.Google Scholar

66. Danmole, , “Frontier Emirate,” 156Google Scholar; Lagos Standard, 26 October 1896.

67. Danmole, , “Frontier Emirate,” 161–63.Google Scholar

68. Ibid., 199–216.

69. Ibid.

70. Ibid.

71. Ta'līf, chapter 9.

72. Ta'līf, chapter 10.

73. Ibid.

74. Ayandele, E.A., “How Truly Nigerian is our Nigerian History?” African Notes, 5/2 (Jan. 1969), 19–35.Google Scholar