Nikolay Dobronravin

West African Islamic Cosmogonies: Traces of a Pre-Malikite Tradition?

Until recently, West African Islam (or, more correctly, that of Western and Central Sudanic Africa
was definitely homogenous. The unity of regional Islam was strong to such an extent, that West
African Islam was totally Malikite, sub-divided into several Sufi turuq, but otherwise quite
uniform.
This uniformity is in itself a paradox, taken into account the origin of Islam in West Africa. There
is no doubt that the new religion (or, in Muslim view, 'the religion') came to the southern fringe
of the Sahara from North Africa. Even more, this was originally a Maghribi phenomenon and a
North African variety of Islam.
If we look at the other elements of West African Islamic culture, it is quite clear that this was
obstinately conservative for many centuries. A striking example

in this field is that of

calligraphy. It might have experienced the influence from the East. but major features of 'Sudani'
script, or scripts, have remained fairly Maghribi, The same may be said of Qur'anic education all
over West Africa.
In this context, one expected element of West African Islamic conservatism is apparently
missing. In North Africa, the mazhab of Imam Malik was neither the first nor unique school of
Islam. Before the 11th century, the Maghrib experienced the Shia (Ismaili) and Ibadi
penetration and prolonged religious conflict, not to mention blatant heresies. In West Africa, the
Ibadites of Tahart were , according any reliable sources, the first Muslims to cross the desert and
spread their views of Islam. When the Malikite school rose to domination over West African
rulers and scholars alike, the previous way of Islam was diminished to a kind of 'tyranny'.
Among the tyrants, there was the famous ruler of the Songhay Empire, Sonni 'Ali, who was
described in 'Ta'rh al-Sdn' as a 'kharijite'.
Another example of criticism aimed at 'wrong Islam' may be found in the oral traditions of the
region. E.g. , in a Hausa poem on Muhammad and his cosmic origins, the poet mentions
mu'tazila as a synonym of kafirai 'infidels'. There is hardly any doubt that the poet did not have
in mind any discussion with the non-existent mu'tazilites, but only heard about the existence of
such a group of Muslims.

The question remains open, how it happened that in North Africa the pre-Malikite tradition has
survived, but in an apparently peripheral area it could not? The standard answer would lie in a
reference to the series of jihads that shook Western and Central Sudanic Africa from the Atlantic
to Lake Chad and from the Sahara to Yorubaland. Indeed, starting with the Shar Bubba war to
the north of River Senegal (today's Mauritania) in the seventeenth century to the creation of the
Sokoto Caliphate in the nineteenth century the reformers (or, more exactly, renewers,
mujaddidun) succeeded in wiping away the previous 'not truly Islamic' way of Islam. Even
though the reform was by no means totalitarian in modern sense, it secured for itself the ground
in the cities and major centres of Qur'anic education. But who were the predecessors of the
mujaddidun?
The standard answer is it was a 'mild' Islam, or the so called Suwarian way, named so after the
famous cleric of Western Sudanic Africa, al-Hjj Slim Suware. As a matter of fact, not much is
known about him, starting with the fact that his works have not reached us or remain
unpublished. Why was al-Hjj Slim so 'mild'? Was it because of the Risla, which us often
quoted in this regard? It is true that Abu Zayd al-Qayrawn wrote about the unbelievers without
extreme zeal. The stance advocated by this Malikite faqh was based on the idea of 'calm'
Islamization. But there is no doubt 'Risla' was a work of reference for a mujaddid as well,
Thus, there is no reason to believe that the 'midlness' of al-Hjj Slim and his followers could be
satisfactorily explained by a few quotation from a work which was not less venerated by the
radical proponents of jihad in Sudanic Africa. If it was not 'mild' Malikism, what did make the
Suwarians look 'milder' than the enthusiasts of the jihad?
I would suggest a different hypothesis: early Suwarians were 'mild', but not because they were
ignorant Muslims, mingled with overwhelmingly non-Muslim society and its rulers. They were
'mild', but not because they kept to some of the more peaceful teachings of the Malikite scholars.
The hypothesis that will be advanced here is that Suwarian 'mildness' had as a basis not a 'kufr'
(unbelief) or bida (innovation), but a different form (or forms) of Islam. This Islam was not a
local heresy, one may argue, but an early import from the Maghrib.
If this hypothesis is followed, what are the candidates for the Maghribi influence in early
Sudanic Africa? The list is not too wide. Such influences could have included the Shia tradition
of today's Morocco, the Ismaili way of the Fatimids and the Ibadi way coming from the
Imamate of Tahart.

The last version is very attractive, but it would be rather difficult to prove it. The contacts
persisted during several centuries, but were then apparently cut or transformed in to something
else. More perspective seems to be the choice between Shia and more radical Ismaili
influences.
To understand which of these strains may be a better candidate for the early influence in Sudanic
Africa. there are two types of sources to be explored. First, these are written sources, mostly, but
not necessarily, in Arabic written or copied in West Africa, Second, there are some oral sources,
usually in the form of an epic, which also seem rather stable or conservative in performance.
Following Mervyn Hiskett, one could describe the latter as an example of 'Islamic poetry'.
To my mind, in a society with a long Muslim tradition the very notion of Islamic versus unIslamic poetry sound rather weak. In the case in question, however, Hisketts' terminology may
be retained., as the major themes and concepts of poetry which will be discussed below, are all
about Islamic' and 'Islamic poetry' in this sense.
In this paper I will try attract the attention of the readership to the cosmology (or cosmologies) in
written and oral poetry as well as glosses to manuscripts. The second topic, which is, in my view,
even more important for deciding on the correctness of the hypothesis on pre-Malikite Islam,
concerns a text from the Trinity College Library, Dublin.
This is a manuscript of the first half of the eighteenth century. Not too ancient, will one say, but
the value of this manuscript lies in the fact that it might be a copy from a much earlier
manuscript also used in West Africa.
In this manuscript, as many as ten creations of Adam are discussed. In today's common sense,
this is quite ordinary, taking into consideration the widespread practice of software-releasing in
the last decade. So, in this West African cosmology, Adam we know was not the first and only,
but a kind of beta version of the final product.1
What is very interesting in this regard, is the condensed style of description, whereby all the
previous versions of Adam are listed. All of them are supplied with specific names, place of
birth, duration of reign and the vivid features of this reign.
1 The idea belongs to my colleague, Prof. Oleg Redkin, to whom I am grateful for
this unexpected comparison.

As a whole, this looks like a standard entry in a biographical dictionary. Is it just occasional, or
could it be possible that a manuscript in the Islamic periphery retained the traces of a scholarly
work written in North Africa?

Ten Adams and their biographies.

The beginning of the work:

The creation: Muh ammad- 4 angels al-arsh wal-kurs wal-lawh al-mah fz
10 dams, first of them dam al-Tuyr, who lived 1077 years.
Hris ( ), who reigned for 1700 years and died in the land of al-qayr ()
al-Bahum (), [vocalized], who reigned for 1000 years and died in the land of Hilla ()
al-Gh[u]rb (), who reigned for 77 years and died in the land of (no name)
J[i]nn al-l() , who reigned for 1000 years and died in the land of Rm ()
4400 years wa lam yakun ah ad f bat n al-duny ill Huwa wah dahu
J[i]nn al-Thn () , who reigned for 1700 years and died in the land of Qbil (?)

dam al-Bund () , who reigned for 1000 years

2000 years no one on the Earth(?)
Abu Suh l () ,who reigned for 1000 years and died in the land of Hind ()
2000 years no one on the Earth(?)
F[u]rss (),who reigned for 1000 years, without Sun or Moon, and died in the land of
Fltms ()
1000 years no one on the Earth(?)
al-Umr ()-?,who reigned for 1000 years, without Sun or Moon, only the light of
Muh ammad
Then God created everything, starting with Jibrl
Adam and Eve had 40 children,everyone died except Nh )
Nh had 300 children, among them(?) al-Salm (al-Sm?), Yfith al-ajam (the only case where
I see this word written like that in a West African ms) and al-Hm (sic) kharaja minhu Yjj waMjj
2100 years: dam to Nh
3050? Years: Nh to Ibrhm
175 years: Ibrhm to Ms
599 years: Ms to Dud
1011 years: s to Muh ammad
1130 years: min Muh ammad h att al-n 1141/1728-9?