Some Remarks on the IASAR/423 Manuscript
By Stanislaw Pilaszewicz, Warsaw
The manuscript mentioned in the title of this paper is an example of quite substantial
amount of Hausa writings dealing with the question of hands' position during the
prayer. It has been preserved in the Arabic Collection of the Institute of African
Studies, University of Ghana. Although it has an accession number IASAR/423, no
traces of its description in a provisional card catalogue could be found. It is a 17 pages'
pentastich poem composed by a certain Umam which condemns the practice of cross¬
ing arms during the obligatory Mushm prayer and describes some quarrels which
resulted in riots in the town of Kano and its vicinity.
To pray or not to pray with arms crossed
The practice of crossing arms while praying could be noticed among three types of the Nigerian Mushms. One such group is composed of adherents of the Sanüsiyya brother¬
hood who pray with arms crossed over their chests.' The other one comprises followers of the Mahdiyya, whereas the third one is known as Community of Grace^ or Reformed
Tijaniyya.' During the emirship of Muhammadu Sanusi (1953-1963) there was a
widespread confusion in northem Nigeria over the difference between Mahdiyya and
Reformed Tijaniyya, as both communities were seen in different places to pray with arms crossed. Since the battle of Burmi in 1903, the colonial authorities had suspected
a close link between those two brotherhoods. Such attitude was wholly unfounded as
the relationship between them had been always strained, especially since Mahdiyya started to loose membership to the Tijäniyya\ SaMd b. Hayatu who was related to the
Sokoto dynasty, a well-known follower of the Sudanese Mahdi and leader of Mah¬
diyya, severely contested the Tijänis' practice of crossing arms in his major work Sahih al-khabar. He addressed the Sultan of Sokoto in such way:
"What the members of the Tijaniyya brotherhood have caused regarding praying with
' B. G. Froelich: Us musulmans d'Afrique Noire. Paris 1962, p. 255 ff ; B. G. MARTIN: Muslim Brotherhoods in Nineteenth Century Africa. Cambridge 1976, p. 99-108.
- M. HISKETT: The 'Community of Grace' and its Opponents, the 'Rejecters': A Debate about Theology and Mysticism in Muslim West Africa with Special Reference to its Hausa Expression. In: African Language Studies 17 (1980), p. 99-140.
' J. N. Paden: Religion arui Political Culture in Kano. Berkeley-Los Angeles-London 1973.
Ubid.p. 179.
' Honest news. Khartoum 1957.
arms crossed has reached me. Also I have heard what you are trying to do to stop this problem which is spreading. Surely you are responsible for stopping it."'
Umam, the author of the poem under discussion, condemns the crossing of arms in
a general way, without any reference to a specific Muslim group. However, intemal evidence of the poem points to the fact that it was the ritual practice of the Tijänis which inspired his poetic vain.
The Tijaniyya brotherhood was founded in 1781 at Bu Semghun on Sahara by
Shaikh Ahmad al-Tijäni (d. 1815). He moved to Faz in Morocco, built a zäwiyya, and
spent the rest of his hfe in that town. His sufi order spread into Senegal, and from there it was carried into some other parts of West Africa by Al-Häjj "^Umar Tall (1794-1864),
a Senegalese shaykh and initiator of the Holy War. That ardent Muslim reformer, on
his way to and from Mecca, spent several years in Hausaland, and contracted a close friendship with Muhammadu Bello, the sultan of Sokoto. His activities resulted in the dissemination of Al-Tijäni's ideas and doctrines, both among the mling Fulani aristo¬
cracy, and - in due coiuse - among the Hausa speaking commoners. They were spread
by the Hausa traders and leamed men to other areas of West Africa, especially on the former Gold Coast territory.
The original contact of Kano with Tijäniyya came from the early nineteenth-century
visit of Al-Häjj 'Umar Tall on his way to Mecca, when some Hausa mallams were ini¬
tiated. The adherents of Tijäniyya must have existed there prior to the colonial period, but they were mainly involved in individual worship and activity. The reintroduction of this brotherhood to Kano took place in the early colonial period, mainly through the
agency of North African initiators who managed to influence both the Hausa and the
Fulani leamed men. The accession of Emir Abbas (1903-1919) marked the beginning
of continuous links between Kano mlers and the Tijäniyya order (with one exception,
that of Usman, 1920-1926) and symbolized at the same time the dissolution of Kano
dependence on Sokoto. This political aspect precipitated the process of a mass re¬
orientation of the Fulani mallam class from Qädiriyya to Tijäniyya. Close behind them the Hausa and Beriberi leamed men also began to be familiar with Tijäniyya.
Until the emergence of Ibrähim Niass (1900-1975), a Senegalese shaykh and holy
man, the West African Tijänis were following the mihtant tradition of Al-Häjj 'Umar
Tall. Associated later in his life with Medina-Kaolack, he took Prophet Muhammad as
an example and tried to imitate him in all aspects of his daily life. At the age of thirty he declared pubhcly that he was "Saviour of the Age": this mystical titie imphes divine election and a gift of certain supematural powers. At about the same time he received in a vision a divine gift of fayda (hausa: faila ov paila) - "infusion of grace". It gave rise to the name Jamä'^at al-Fayda - the "Community of Grace", by which die fol¬
lowers of Ibrähim Niass describe themselves till now.'
With the feeling of divine election, and having t)een widely accepted as the eschato-
' Paden: op. cit. (note 3), p. 179.
' Hiskett: op. cit (note 2), p. 102.
logieal Saviour of the Age, Shaykh Ibrähim Niass got ready to spread the ideas and doctrines of the Tijäniyya in order to extend its membership. In 1937, on pilgrimage to Mecca, he allegedly met Abdullähi Bayero, the Emir of Kano, already a leading Tijäni.
During Bayero's reign many foUowers of Tijäniyya shifted their allegiance to Ibrähim Niass. They are referred to as members of the Reformed Tijäniyya in Paden's study.'
They became also known as adherents of Ibrählmiyya or Kaolackiyya, 'Yan Kabalu
('Those who pray with arms crossed"). Jam 'iyyar Ibrahim ("Community of Ibrahim") and 'Yan Ahali ("Members of the Family").
Members of the Community of Grace claim sixty miUion adherents in West Africa.
The movement of Ibrähim Niass differs from that of Al-Häjj 'Umar Tali's tradition in two respects. Firstly, it has abandoned the physical militancy and retumed to a more pacific concept of the "Holy War in heart". Secondly, Shaykh Ibrähim taught his
followers to perform obligatory Muslim prayers with arms folded accross the chest
(Ar.: al-qabd, hausa: kabalu or kablu) whereas the 'Umarians and other Mushm groups pray with hands free at their sides (Ar.: al-sadl, hausa: sadlu).
According to Ousmane Kane, grandson of Ibrähim Niass, the Shaykh may have
abandoned the praying with arms hanging down and started to pray with arms folded
across the chest as early as in 1930.' In such a way he differed from the majority of the
Senegalese Mushms who - as followers of the Mäliki school of law - prayed with
hands free at the side.
With the growth of the Community of Grace there were increasing requests for
Ibrähim Niass to visit local communities which accepted his teaching. He used to be
welcomed with a great enthusiasm in the major urban centres to which he came. The
present author witnessed the splendour and ovation Ibrähim Niass received in Accra.
In 1951 he came to Kano on his way to Mecca. It is claimed that during that visit he was seen for the first time to pray there publicly with arms crossed. In course of time,
for the masses of his Kano supporters this became a symbol of their allegiance to
Reformed Tijäniyya; for non-members it was a symbol of heresy.
The problem of the proper arms' position during the obhgatory prayer was regarded
as extremely important by Mushms. In 1950s and 1960s the question of whether it is
proper to pray with arms crossed or hanging down became the subject of the main
religious dispute in Nigeria between Qädiriyya and Tijäniyya, and even between the
different branches of Tijäniyya itsetf. It led to quarrels, and even kiUings had occurred.
The objectors maintained that all Nigerian Muslims who were foUowers of the Mähkl
law had to pray with arms at the side. Although they admitted that crossing arms was appropriate for followers of die Shäfi'i law school, they still claimed that all Nigerians
were by birth followers of the Mälikl law school. So the adherents of Reformed
Tijäniyya in Kano were, with few exceptions, followers of the Mäliki law, but despite
' Paden: op. cit. (note 3), p. 69.
' R. Loimeier: Auseinandersetzungen im islamischen Lager. In: Muslime in Nigeria. Religion und Ge¬
seUschaft im politischen Wandel seit den SOer Jahren. Ed. by JAMIL M. ABUN-Nasr, Münster-Hamburg 1993, p. 127-164, here: 136.
this they would often refuse to pray behind any imam who did not cross his arms. On the other hand, Mushms not initiated into the Reformed Tijäniyya would avoid praying under the guidance of an imam with his hands at the side. Both parties called each other unbelievers and fought fiercely for the control of the mosques. Let us add that theoretically - it is possible for a brotherhood affiliation to form a cross-cutting cleav¬
age with a legal school affiliation. So it would be admissible for members of the
Reformed Tijäniyya to contain adherents of both Mäliki and - let us say - Shäfi'i law school which allows for praying with arms crossed.'"
In tiie 1960s the question of the proper holding of arms during the obligatory prayer
was used in pohtical controversies and debates between Ahmadu Bello on one side,
and the Northem Elements Progressive Union, Emir Muhammadu Sanusi, and Tija¬
niyya on the other." This controversial matter was even discussed by the Kaduna
Council of Mallams, an organization of the leamed men class of Northem Nigeria
created by Ahmadu BeUo (Sardauna of Sokoto) with regard to the naturahzation of the brotherhoods' existing leadership. As early as in 1963 a special Inquiry Commission
was created which had to examine the question of arms holding. The members of the
Commission were Nasim Kabara (a Kano leader of Qädiriyya), Tijani Usman (a Kano
leader of Tijäniyya), Husaini Adamu and Abubakar An-Nafaty - both tmsted friends of
Ahmadu Bello.'^ During the second meeting of the Kaduna Council of Mallams
(August 1-3, 1964), after a considerable debate, it was finally agreed that both kablu (praying with arms crossed) and sadlu (praying with arms at ease) were admissible:
"[...] both sadlu and kablu are neither obligatory nor traditional (sunna) in the prayer.
Therefore praying in both ways does not invahdate the prayer. Whichever a praying man follows, il is good. So it is aUowed for the man praying with arms crossed to pray behind one [imam] holding arms at the side. The one praying with hands at the side may pray behind one [imam] with the arms crossed. It is not good when one abuses the other.""
In 1965 serious riots broke up in a few villages of the Argungu district which
resulted in 11 victims. They were clashes between local people and police forces as a result of a poorly prepared vaccination action against smallpox. The Argungu clashes
were falsely presented by mass media (especially by Kaduna Broadcasting Corpora¬
tion) as a stmggle between members of Qädiriyya and Tijäniyya. All that induced
Abubakar Gumi, a rehgious adviser of Ahmadu Bello and Grand Qadi of the Northem
Region, to summon different fractions in front of the Kaduna Council of Mallams in
order to resolve finally the question of kablu and sadlu. At the third meeting of the Coimcil which was held on Jime 18, 1965, it was decided by majority vote that imams
Paden: op. cit. (note 3), p. 200.
" LOIMEIER: op. cit. (note 9), p. 137; R. LOIMEIER/S. REICHMUTH: Bemühungen der Muslime um Einheit und politische Geltung. In: Muslime in Nigeria. Religion und Gesellschaft im politischen Wandel seit den 50er Jahren. Ed. by JAMIL A. Abun-Nasr. Münster-Hamburg 1993, p. 41-82, here: 42-45.
" Loimeier: op. cit (note 9), p. 137.
" Taron Manyan Malamai Don Kyautata Sha'anin Addini. ("Gathering of big Mallams in Order to Improve the Rehgious Matter"). In: Gaskiya ta fi kwabo, 19.11.1965 (Nr 1237), p. 7.
should not be allowed to pray with arms crossed:
"Whichever imam, whether he is appointed by the administration or the Native Authority, or is chosen by the community, should pray with hands at the side, even if he previously used to pray with arms crossed. If he continues to pray with arms crossed, and people start to complain, he will be urged to stop it. If he refuses, he will be dismissed. If, however, a man does not preside over people's prayer and prays for himself, even if he prays behind an imam, he may do whatever he wants: to cross arms or to keep hands at the side."''' In the light of that quotation the statement of R. Loimeier" seems to be a little
simplified. According to his report the Kaduna Council decided that in the future
imams would not be allowed to practise kablu, if the majority of people assembled for the prayer in a mosque were adherents of the Mäliki school of law: they had to pray with hands at the side.'*
The Reformed Tijäni mallams refused to agree to such restriction. When news of the decision reached Kano, there was a considerable amount of anger and tension, among both mallams and the ordinary members of the Reformed brotherhood.'^ After Ahmadu Bello had been murdered during the military coup on 15th January, 1966, the regula¬
tions conceming kablu ceased to be observed. In further pohtical whirlings resulting in the outbreak of the civil war some more important problems arose. In 1971 Abubakar Gumi in one of his law interpretations admitted that both kablu and sadlu are in ac¬
cordance with the sunna of Prophet Muhammad.
Writings on hands' position during obligatory prayer
The major work by Ibrähim Niass directed to this question is Raf al-Mu'^allim ("The Raising of the Teacher")"* quoted in IASARy423 manuscript (p. 7, stanza 20). In part II he absolves people from strictiy following the four orthodox law schools and discusses on crossing arms when praying." Ibrähim Niass is said to have promised to offer his own library to such a person who could find a hadith justifying the practice of sadlu.
Nasim Kabara responded to the challenge in 1958 by his writing Qam' al-fasäd fi
tafdil al-sadl 'alä 'l-qabdfi hädhihi 'l-biläd ("Extinction of What is Disgraceful: On tiie Priority of Sadi over Qabd in this Country"). In that work he claimed to have found a proper hadith. Besides, he recalled to his readers' mind that sadi had been practised in the Hausa country since centuries. It is only when Ibrähim Niass started to pray with arms crossed people began to quarrel and became disunited.
The defence of the Reformed Tijäniyya was undertaken by Muhammad Sani
" Ihid
" Who follows J. N. Paden: Ahmadu Bello. Zaria 1986, p. 550.
Loimeier: op. cit (note 9), p. 137 f
" Paden: op. cit. (note 3), p. 184-186.
" Ibrahim Niass Alhaji: Raf al-mu'alllm. ("The Raising of the Teacher"). Cairo: Matba'at al- Mashhad al-Husaini n.d.
" PadeN: op. cit. (note 3), p. 126.
Kafanga, a leamed man from Kano. In Sabil ar-rasäd ("A Way in the Right Direc¬
tion") he tried to prove that Kabara's hadith was unreliable and that neither sadi nor qabd were mentioned in it. What is more, a long-lasting practice could not be regarded as the proper one only because it had been used for centuries.^"
The poem which inspired us to make the above considerations has no formal title:
we propose to identify it by its incipit Bi'smi' l-Lähi 'l-Hamidi ("In the Name of Praise¬
worthy God"). It contains 49 pentastichs with the word kirfi functionning as an extemal rhyme. Every pentastich has its own intemal rhyme. Its author is a certain Umam, raler of Lanibä (?). If its chronogram shäda murqä had - besides the symbolic meaning ("He started a heresy") - a numerical value, it would point to 1344 A.H. (1925 A.D.).
However, it does not refer to the year of the poem's composition: as it is visible from the intemal evidence it must have been composed during the reign of Emir Muhammad Sanusi in Kano.
After a short opening doxology, both in Arabic (two hemistichs outside the stanzaic pattem) and in Hausa (two hemistichs of stanza 1), the author points to the topic of his
work which is the question of crossing arms when praying. In the same stanza 1 he
asks also for blessing with regard to the Prophet, his family, companions and those
"who follow the way of friendship". In stanza 3 a diversity of opinions is mentioned which happened in the poet's time and which referred to the crossing of arms during the obligatory prayers.
In the next stanzas (4-6) Umam informs the reader that many honourable and
well-known persons used to pray with arms at the side: the Prophet, his companions, followers, and Mälik bin Anas, the founder of the Mälikiyya law school which spread out all over West Africa. He avows that at the very beginning the Prophet was praying with arms crossed but he left the habit after some fifteen days. The great rehgious leader and reformer in the Hausaland:
6. Dan Fodio was praying. His community were praying.
They prayed with hands at the side. We Mälikls, we should pray, According to Mäliki law, let us reject crossing arms.
In this stanza, there is a reference to some legal hmitations. The author claims that the followers of the Mähki law school, and such are all Nigerians by birth, must pray with arms at the side.
When presenting his own point of view, Umam takes into account some old local
traditions:
7. Why, your father was praying. Your grandfather was praying,
Look at the praying tradition. There was no crossing, [then] lifting arms
in prayer.
Such is my wisdom on crossing arms.
-° Loimeier: op. cit. (note 9), p. 137.
8. There was a hesitation on crossing arms. Some took crossing arms as obligation, Some recommended crossing arms. Well, crossing arms is a weak argument.
According to texts on crossing arms.
In stanzas 9-10 the poet reminds the readers of the fact that in Maliki and Hanbali schools the crossing of arms is forbidden. However, it is practised by the Shäfi'is and became sunna for Hanafis. The leamed men tried - continues the author - to point out that tiie arms' crossing was superrogatory for Muslims and this would be quite evident on the Resiurection Day (stanza 11). From this place on, Umam starts to name numer¬
ous authorities, and to quote titles of their works deahng with the question under discussion. Besides some authors (Mälik bin Anas, Bukhäri, Muslim, Sidi Khalil) and their books quite known to us there are many others, identification of which needs more research.
In stanza 20 the poet starts to tell the story of a conflision caused by a certain imam.
He used to quote Raising of the Teacher, a dieological work written by Shaykh Ibrähim Niass. It is only from this passage that we leam for sure it was a Reformed Tijäniyya group of Mushms who were responsible for the "trouble". Those riots, very poorly
documented, started in Umam's town Lanibä (probably a locahty close to Kano) and
in due course affected also the city of Kano. Ya'qubu, the mler of Lanibä, asked the imam to stop his practices:
26. Such were the words of the town raler, But he took no notice of them.
He only shmgged his shoulder. And he took the oath.
That until death he would be crossing arms.
27. 1 made a long story short. We shall meet with the imam on the
Resurrection Day, After that an uproar broke out. Even there, in tiie city of Kano,
We did very well with crossing arms.
Eventually the rejecters of the arms' crossing brought their complaints to Mu¬
hammadu Sanusi, the Emir of Kano in years 1953-1963. It is rather strange to leam that
"The king settied the quarrel, at that time the crossing of arms was invalidated" (stanza
29). It is well-known that Muhammadu Sanusi himself was a very ardent follower of
the Reformed Tijäniyya, and he should not have denied the ritual gestures practised by himself.
In stanza 30 a fierce fighting is mentioned, but no details are provided. Starting from stanza 31 on, the autiior names those mallams and other noble men of Kano who declared themselves against those who cross arms (stanzas 38-44). This passage also needs additional research. It starts as follows:
38. You who cross arms, you have got Don't forget our arguments, arguments,
Mukhtasar is our argument, It outshines your argument.
How could you reject it and cross arms?
In stanza 45 the poet announces his intention to "close" his poem. In the next one he
avows that he composed it on advice of a certain mallam Garba, the reciter. In
stanza 47 and 49 the final doxology and prayers are placed, whereas between them, in stanza 48, one can find the name of the audior and a ramzf\ At the very end there is an Arabic prayer in which the poet praises God and asks Him to forgive all the believers, living ones and dead, men and women.
Controversies over the position of hands during the obligatory prayer could in
certain political and social circumstances become symbols of the stmggle for power.
Such cases were noticed in the 1950s and 1960s in Northem Nigeria. Did the religious
riots mentioned in the IASAR/423 manuscript have a pohtical background? There is
too littie data at our disposal to answer this question. Although Emir Muhammadu Sanusi is mentioned in the poem, a person very involved in religion and politics, it would be faulty to claim that the debates on kablu and sadlu were always an expression
of manipulated pohtical quarrels. The proper ibädä seems to be of the greatest im¬
portance for a North Nigerian Muslim.
-' On ramzi see M. Hiskett: A History of Hausa Islamic Verse. London 1975, p. 169 ff.
Von Anne-Sophie Arnold, Leipzig
Bevor sich afrikanische Kunst und Kuhur die modemen Museen eroberte, dort in
systematisierender Weise präsentiert wurde und als Fremdes und Exotisches der
wissenschaftlichen Untersuchung erschlossen werden konnte, haben sich vereinzelt in früheren Jahrhunderten private Sammlimgen darum bemüht, im Sirme der Erweitemng von Weltsicht und Welterkeimtnis Objekte der materiellen Kultur fremder Völker und
Weltgegenden aufzunehmen, um zum einen wahrhaftig Neues zu präsentieren und zum
anderen mit "Raritäten" den Glanz der Kollektionen zu erhöhen. Das sogenannte Zeitalter der Entdeckungen und die Verwissenschaftlichung des Weltbildes im Gefolge
von Renaissance und Humanismus hatten in nahezu allen Schichten eine enorme
Neugier nach dem bis dahin ungeheuren und unerhörten Fremden gebracht. Dennoch
sind Africana nicht eben häufig in frühen Sammlungen anzutreffen, werm man von
einigen großartigen Kollektionen in Missions- und Kolonialinstitutionen absieht. Um
so notwendiger erscheint damm die Aufgabe, unter einem auf Afrika bezogenen
wissenschaftshistorischen Aspekt auch jene materiellen Zeugnisse friiher, werm
oftmals auch mehr zufälliger Hinwendungen zu Afrika aufzuspüren, zu berücksichti¬
gen, wo nötig zu inventarisieren und, vor allem, zu werten, welche nicht im Zusam¬
menhang mit einer expliziten Hinwendung zu Afrika Eingang in Museen und Samm¬
lungen gefunden haben.
Es ist nun unbestreitbar eine Besonderheit deutscher Kulturgeschichte, daß die
Kleinstaaterei neben einigen großen kulturellen Metropolen - Wien, Berlin, München,
Dresden und wenige andere - eine große Zahl kleinerer und kleinster Residenzen
hervorbrachte, von denen viele mit beschränktesten Mitteln bemüht waren, in Ar¬
chitektur, Kunst und Musik bleibende Akzente zu setzen, und es wäre ungerecht und
historisch falsch, dies lediglich aus dem Bemühen kleiner Potentaten heraus zu er¬
klären, es den großen gleichzutun: Sammeleifer, Bildungsbeflissenheit und ein gewis¬
ser aufklärerischer Geist waren in vielen Fällen gleichwirkende Motivationskräfte. So verhängnisvoll in politischer und wirtschaftlicher Hinsicht das deutsche Partikular¬
wesen und die Kleinstaaterei auch gewesen sein mögen, in kulturhistorischer Hinsicht hat sie uns ein reich differenziertes Erbe hinterlassen. Dies trifft auch auf das ehemals Fiustlich Schönburg-Waldenburgische Naturalien- und Kunstkabinett in Waldenburg in Sachsen zu, das in ungebrochener Kontinuität auch heute einer interessierten Öffent¬
lichkeit zugänglich ist.
Darüber hinaus boten vor allem Handels- und Universitätsstädte im 16.-19. Jh.
