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Page 1 of 14 Some Anthropologists may regard Kano as a ranked society during its ancient and modern periods. This is because, it was organised largely along kinship lines, there was recognition of prestige amongst individuals and groups, no one was denied access to essential resources for survival and the ruling classes maintained their positions largely by distributing resources extensively within the society “rather than through force” (Nanda 1984: 266). The Kano society was ranked into two groups in the 19th century (Emirate period) based on access and exercise of power. The aristocracy controlled the resources because they have power while the talakawa (or commoners) relied on the aristocracy since they had no power. Prestige was afforded to the aristocracy in relation to their access to power and the potential of exercising it. Yahya (1999: 4) has noted that “the most gifted” aristocrats “succeed their fathers in the hierarchy of the Sarakuna and the rest are released to the society where they become in spirit, the representatives of the Sarakuna in the lower of Kano society”.The three groups of aristocracy are presented according to their status. Kano has modernized social status is now by ascription only and there is sufficient social mobility. The society is gradually becoming more democratic such that ascriptions are merely historical and even at the palace the Sarauta has been very accommodative by recognizing talents and several people who did not inherit and also do not belong to any of the 19th century Jihad families and groups have been givern very high titles. There was precedence even in the 19th century when Ibrahim Bazzazagi was appointed Galadima the most important title which was only next to the Emir.Although it is difficult to classify Kano society according social or economic status nevertheless attempt is made. Olderogge and other Marxist scholars described the pre-colonial Sokoto Caliphate and “other Western Sudan states” as “feudal states resembling medieval states of Europe”. The problem of Marxist interpretaion is that it is too Eurocentric as observed below:Unless it can be shown that any of the above mentioned or other types of social stratification in traditional African envince the same characteristic traits as the units of social stratification in European societies, the argument of class division in traditional Africa cannot be sustained. The belief in the existence of social classes in the African past, simply by analogy to European history is indicative of an Eurocentric propensity. Class labels applied to castes or to other social rankings and hierarchies obliterate the meaning both of the social stratification of a different type than the constituted by social classes.It was also argued that even though “the advocates of the application of the class concept in the analysis of traditional African societies mostly tend to imply the use of Marxist theory”. But “this does not seem to be,- hardly congruent with the spirit of Marxist tradition”. This is because “one can not speak of the existence of private ownership of the means of production in traditional Africa”. In some traditional “African societies rulers and aristocrats were regarded as titular owners of land” but “even in such cases, one can at most speak of control over large areas of land held in trust of the communities”. It was further argued that land was not a commodity and its control “was not tantamount to Marx’s understanding of ownership”. And even though “slaves were a commodity in some traditional African societies”. But the abundant literature on slavery has shown “that slave labor was not a source of surplus production to the extent that it was in the ancient Mediterranean Coast”.The Weberian model of analysis is also problematic this is because Weber assumed that status groups have common life style. And moreover “in many African societies chiefs and nobles did even work in the fields, and did other kind of work as commoners”.It is more convenient to assume that pre-colonial African societies were in various stages of historical transformation and those traits “resembling class structure” were found only in exceptional cases such as the Sokoto Caliphate.ARISTOCRACYThe aristocracy controlled power and wealth; they were also the most prestigious members of the society. Those with sarauta titles were the office holding aristocracy and the non-office holding aristocracy and the commoners held them with higher esteem. The Kano aristocracy could be divided into three groups based on kinship and prestige. ROYALTYThey were the most powerful and throughout the pre-jihad period members of this group were descendants of Bagauda. The head of the royalty and polity was the Sarki (King) and some other members of his family were given sarauta titles. The jihad movement in Kano overthrew the Kutumbi dynasty and that was the end of their royal status. During the reign of the first Emir, Sarkin Kano Sulaiman (1807-1819), the society was not ranked hence there was no royal family. His successor Sarkin Kano Ibrahim Dabo restored the sarauta titles and aristocracy. His family thereafter known as Sullubawan Dabo became the royal family and his descendents remained the royalty and they were respected as the most prestigious family in Kano especially the lineage of his grandson Sarkin Kano Abbas. NOBILITYThe second sub-group of the aristocracy were the nobility. Bagauda came to Kano with other “men of the princely clan” who formed the core of the nobility. Their descendants retained the noble status and the heads of the various families were given titles derived from the names of their progenitors with prefix of Dan. For example Dan Buran, Dan Isa, Dan Akasan, Dan Kududufi, Dan Darman and Dan Goriba. When Sarkin Kano Ibrahim Dabo restored the pre-jihad titles and the aristocratic hierarchy he relegated all the descendants of the jama’ah (community) who fought the jihad to the status of nobility thus they could not aspire for the highest office of Emir which he tactfully reserved for his descendants. He compensated the heads of their families with titles. VASSALAGEThe third sub-group were the vassals called as such for lack of alternatives, because they controlled the territories, which were not the fiefs of the royalty or nobility. The ancestors of the vassals were chiefs before the imposition of central government by the Bagauda and his descendants. From the reign of sarkin Kano Ibrahim Dabo Manyan Dagatai (Territorial Chiefs) and their families were the vassals because they controlled territories, which were not fiefs and they were responsible to the Sarki and not to any member of the nobility. The forefathers of the vassals also participated in local jihad camps in their territories.ULAMAThey were the Islamic Scholars and they have been a distinct group since the reign of Sarkin Kano Yaji (750-787AH/1349-1385) when the Wangarawa Ulama first arrived in Kano from Mali. Another set of Fulani Ulama from Mali came to Hausaland including Kano during the rign of Sarkin Kano Yakubu (856-867AH/1452-1463). The Ulama remained influential and earned prestige because of Islamic knowledge and piety and they assisted the aristocracy by offering prayers for success. Even though some families were associated with scholarship especially the Madabawa who were the descendants of the Wangarawa, but unlike aristocracy mere descent cannot earn Ilm (knowledge) for an individual. Likewise anybody could be an‘alim (scholar) and member of the Ulama group by acquiring knowledge even if his ancestors were not Ulama.All the Jihad leaders in Kano were ulama but after about twenty-five years most of the descendants were not ulama, but members of the nobility. Most of the Mosques and schools established by the jihad leaders were taken over by scholars who were not their descendants. During the early colonial period, Sarkin Kano Abbas involved the Ulama in Emirate administration and he created the offce of Babban Mallami (Senior Scholar), which he conferred on Mallam Suyudi of Madabo, although he was not from the Wangarawa clan of Madabo. His student Mallam Salga had the largest number of followers and students who became the most influential Ulama in the history of modern Kano.COMMONERSBelow are the commoner’s sub-groups arranged in descending order of status-honour in the society.MERCHANTSThe pre-capitalist Kano society afforded atajirai (merchants) the opportunity to accumulate capital by trading. Majority of the merchants were migrants most of them were Agalawa, Tokarawa and some were Arabs. In one century these migrants “transformed their status from the lowest-born to the most prosperous commoners” which they attained through perseverance and determination to improve their status “within a social order which permitted such mobility”. In the 19th and 20th centuries C.E. wealthy merchants acquired status through aligning themselves with aristocratic families. During the Kano civil war of the 19th century some wealthy Arab merchants helped the Yusufawa faction. The same group influenced Lugard’s choice of Sarkin Kano Abbas.Some of the ingenious merchants shifted to groundnut trade during the colonial rule this helped them to maintain their wealth and consequently their prestige in the society. Their descendants also modernised and ventured into manufacturing through joint venture companies with Europeans and Levantines thus maintaining their social status. Recently some members of the merchant class have acquired more seats in the Emirate Council as well as the Majilisar Sarki (Emir’s Court) the most socially prestigious body in Kano tradition.The Ulama have assisted merchants in their efforts to gain prestige in the society by encouraging them to spend more on religious activities such as building mosques and Islamiyya schools. Previously the aristocracy who relied on Islam for legitimacy exclusively did these. CRAFTSMENThis group includes all specialises professions such as blacksmiths, tailors, dyers and leather workers. They were the core of the economic middle class of the pre-colonial period. The economy of the period encouraged the traditional industry and Kano was a booming centre of leather and textile products. The craftsmen were the skilled workers of the pre-colonial period although most of them were self-employed. Their social status was higher than that of the peasantry, other members of the society looked down upon some craftsmen such as the butchers. Some members of the aristocracy engaged in tailoring hence the profession was regarded as prestigious in pre-colonial Kano. PEASANTSThe manoma (peasants) were the basic producers of Kano society. Most of them were rural dwellers who engage in subsistence agriculture. During the pre-colocial period they paid their tax in the form of the Islamically sanctioned Zakat to the aristocratic fief holders. They engaged in crafts production in form of ci rani (seasonal trade) during the dry seasons of the pre-colonial period. They were the lowest in the social hierarchy of freeborn Kanawa. The colonial system pauperised them through monetary taxation, which forced them to produce groundnut and less food crops. Thus they became victims of famine and poverty. Their situation was aggravated by exploitation through extortion by the agents of the ruling class. Many of them joined the NEPU (Northern Elements Progressive Union), which promised social emancipation. POSITION OF WOMENPolitical roles of elite women in Kano have been documented. And from available sources they seem to have had political influence before and after the jihad of Shehu Usman Danfodio.The Institution of mai babban daki (literarily owner of the big room) or queen mother perhaps came into existence during the reign of Sarkin Kano Abdullahi (1499-1509 CE/973-980 AH) who bestowed the title on his mother Hauwa and also built a house for her at Dausayi in the walled city of Kano. He was Rumfa’s son and successor. Her influence was acknowledged when she prevented Dagachi from succeeding in his sedition against the Kano Kingdom while Sarkin Kano was absent. Dagachi had connived with his native Bornoans to take Kano but fortunately Sarkin Kano Abdullahi through diplomacy persuaded Sarkin Borno and a truce was reached.Mai babban daki Hauwa was also the mother of another successfull King, Sarkin Kano Abubakar Kado (1565-1573 CE/973-980 AH). It should also be noted that her husband was the most celebrated King of Kano, Muhammadu Rumfa (1463-1499 CE/867-904 AH). She might have gained influence because of the status of her husband. People sang praises in her honour and one of the popular songs during the reign of her grandson Sarkin Kano Kisoki (1509-1565 CE/914-972 AH) was:“Mother ! Kano is your country.Mother ! Kano is your town.Old lady with the swaggering gait, Old lady of the royal blood, guarded by men at arms”.Mai babban daki Lamis was also another influential queen mother of the pre-jihad period. She was the mother of Kisoki (1509-1565 CE/914-972 AH), who was also the grandson of the first mai babban daki and a very innovative King. He instituted the title of Dan Iya to commemorate her status and he bestowed it on his full brother. SLAVESThere were two sources of slaves in pre-colonial Kano. The original sources were warfare and kidnap. Some prisoners taken during warfare in Hausaland were forced into slavery as farm or domestic labourers and some others were sold. Individuals kidnapped from enemy territories were also made slaves. The soldiers and the kidnappers were members of the aristocracy who were the largest slave owners. It has been suggested that the spiritual inducement of waging Jihad against pagans converged with the aristocratic material interest of acquiring slaves from amongst the pagan Niger-Congo speakers. This may have also been the reason for the reluctancy of the aristocrats in the Islamising the pagans.The second source of slaves was procreation through marriage of male and female slaves. They were regarded as inferior human beings hence there was rarely any marriage between freeborn and slaves. If one person owned a slave couple, their children became his slaves, but if different persons owned them they became the slaves of the owner of the wife. These second generation slaves were called Cucanawa and they not sold. Many slave owners took their concubines from their Cucanawa.Islamic law and traditions regulated slavery in pre-colonial Kano. Slave owners were allowed to punish their erring slaves by imprisonment or any other corporal punishment. But Imam Umaru has reported that: “people have nothing but contempt for slaves in Hausaland. The slaves suffer: people look at slaves as worthless creatures; they do not consider them human beings; and they treat then harshly”. This contradicts Yeld’s observation that there is ample evidence that even farming slaves were well treated, a fact which is supported by the very small percentage of desertions after Lugard’s abolition of slaves”. Freeing of slaves was greatly encouraged by Islamic law and moral teachings. For example atonement for accidentally killing Muslim or deliberating breaking the fast of Ramadan at the wrong time was freeing of a slave. Some slaves were allowed by their masters to engage in any craft or trade while they paid an agreed amount in cash or kind as tax, this system was called murgo. Some slaves were also allowed to purchase their freedom (fansar kai) unlike in other slaving societies.Slavery and wage labour co-existed in pre-colonial Kano. The slaves who worked on plantations were the lowest in status. The aristocrats and few merchants owned the plantations whose settlements were called gandaye (singular gandu). Merchants who accumulated capital from long distance trading acquired slave estates in the countryside of Kano city towards the end of the 19th century CE. This was a strategy of diversifying their investments; the plantations were also used in large-scale subsistence food production because most of the merchants had many dependents. Many merchants used slave labour for producing or processing commodities for long distance trade.Apart from economic gains which the aristocrats derived from slavery they also benefited biologically by copulating with their slaves. The Kano Chronicle has reported that Sarkin Kano Muhammadu Rumfa “was the first Sarki who practice “Kame” this was the order of taking slaves as concubines from royal slave quarters such as Indabawa. Rumfa “appointed Durman to go round the dwellings of the Indabawa and take every first born virgin for him”. Enslaving Muslims was illegal under Islamic law. It has even been suggested that the enslaving of Muslims was one of the causes of the Jihad of Shaykh Uthman . All the jihad leaders wrote against the enslaving of Muslims. Shaykh Uthman was reluctant to allow the enslavement of Muslims under whatever grevious conditions. For example in Wathiqat ahl al-Sudan he wrote: “You are obliged to make war upon oppressors, but their enslavement is unlawful; you are obliged to make war upon apostates, but in the matter of their enslavement there are two opinions, the widespread one being its prohibition, and the other that the perpetrator of this act does not disobey the law if he is following an authority which asserts its lawfulness”Likewise Muhammad Bello wrote in his Infaq al Maisur that:“The people from Yorubaland catch slaves from our land and sell them to the Christians, so we are told. I mention this to stop people selling Muslim slaves to them, because of those who buy them. Harm will result from this”True to his missionary calling and also in his effort to maintain the legacy of Miller, Kukah has consistently promoted anti-Fulani propaganda and condemned the Jihadists for pursuing political and economic motives. He quotes his missionary brother Trimingham, who wrote:It might not appear to be in slave raider's interest to narrow his field of conversions, but the Fulani of Northern Nigeria regarded conquered territory, whether the inhabitants were Muslims or pagans, as reservoir of slaves. Kukah quoted his missionary brother who based his assumption on speculation but refused to quote a traveler and an eyewitness who visited nineteenth century Sokoto Caliphate and wrote about slavery thus:In the northern provinces there is no longer any opportunity to catch slaves, in fact the Hausa must consider themselves lucky if this fate does not overtake them at the hands of the Kebbi, Gobirawa or Maradi. So here slave raids are no longer made: the pagan tribes who live in Zaria itself have gained protection by paying tribute. On the other hand, small slave raids are still undertaken in the suzerain states of Keffi and Nasarawa, and also in Nupe, Bauchi, Gombe, and Muri. Large numbers of slaves to be sold abroad come from Adamawa but these are mostly obtained from the pagan tribes themselves.Kukah did not even mention this journal in his bibliography because his aim was to indict the Fulani and one of such ways was to falsely accuse them of enslaving Muslim. Staudinger’s observation is clear evidence that they neither carried out nor sanctioned such activities. A missionary will certainly not accept such evidence even from a fellow Christian. Similarly another missionary Reverend Father Kenny of the Dominican Order of Priests rather than use Humphrey Fisher’s paper of 1983 or quote Staudinger, he referred to a publication of 1970 and Colvin’s paper which was on commerce generally. He also refused to quote or cite Meyers whose paper was specifically on slavery and both are in the same book. The reason for Kenny’s selectivity is to indict the Fulani and Muslims. Meyers unlike Colvin at least acknowledged some form of Muslim reluctance in this observation:Two considerations, however, would, seem to limit the frequency of wartime slave raids. The first is a religiously motivated reluctance to enslave free people, or at least free Muslims. Of those available to us, many documents of the Fulani jihad express mild opposition to the enslavement of free people – a thing distinct from hereditary slavery. One interpretation of the origins of the jihad suggests that the Fulani reacted to the excesses of Hausa kings, among which was the enslavement of free Muslims. Thus, religious considerations may have curtailed the slave – taking of at least the more zealous soldiers.Although SOAS has been accused of academic racism and hostility towards Islam, at least its PhD should not be blindly anti-Islamic, because in the same school during a seminar on Islam in West Africa Dr. Fisher presented a paper in which he proposed "a simple hypothesis: that a major cause of the jihad in Hausaland in 1804 was the increasing enslavement of free Muslims". The paper documented beyond reasonable doubt the objection of the Jihad leaders to the enslavement of free Muslims. The Oyo Alafinate was a perpetrator of this illegal act hence its destruction by the jihadists. The Kingdoms of Yauri and Kebbi (Argungu) were closer to Sokoto but they were left intact since they were not engaged in that illegal trade. And there was also an informal truce with Borno when it stopped collaborating with the Oyo in enslaving Muslims.Labour mobilization was among the major causes of slavery in Africa. Some historians have arguied that ‘without slavery there were really few effective means of mobilizing labour for the economic and political needs of the state’. Others have also suggested that the slaves were “from small tribes on the highlands where the topography could not support large population. The excess population, which was ejected to the lowlands, became slaves who were used as soldiers or workforce”. But this idea of labour mobilisation was critized as “half-truth” because there were always in black Africa alternative, non-violent ‘means of mobilizing labour’. For example Shaykh Uthman’s highly developed doctrine of hijrah (emigration) was an ‘outstanding example of non-violent mobilization” but he was so successful that violent repercussions were virtually inevitable”
The marxists believe that the ruling classes controlled the producers (commoners) by extracing surpluses from them sometimes by force.
Chodak, S. 1973 ‘Social stratification in Sub – Saharan Africa’ Canadian Journal of African Studies VII: 3: 404
Ibid p. 406
Ibid pp. 407- 408
Ibid p. 407
Ibid p. 408 emphasis mine.
Some writers such as Dokaji, A. Kano Ta Dabo Cigari have suggested that there were three clans, the Bagaudawa, Rumfawa and the Kutumbawa. This may not be correct because the ‘Kano Chronicle’ connected all the Kings of Kano from Bagauda to Alwali, see Appendix and Palmer 1929 ‘The Kano Chronicle’ pp.41.
Such as Ciroma and later Dan Iya and others.
Palmer, 1929: 100
Ibid p.100
See Ado-Kurawa 1989:
See Palmer 1929:100 where it is stated that “the Sarkis of Gano, Dab and Debbi came to Hausaland nine years before Bagauda”.
Such as the following in order of precedence: Sarkin Rano, Sarkin dutse, Sarkin Gaya, Sarkin Kudu, Sarkin Karaye, Sarkin Bebeji, Sarkin Fulanin Sankara, Sarkin Fulanin Jahun, Sarkin Kunchi and others.
Palmer 1929:104 where it is stated that “the Wangarawa came from Melle, bringing the Muhammadan Religion” but according to Asl-al-Wangariyun they came to Kano during the reign of Sarkin Kano Muhammadu Rumfa see Al-Hajj, M.A. 1968 ‘A Seventeenth Century Chronicle on the origins and Missionary Activities of the Wangarawa’ Kano Studies 1:4:8
Palmer 1929:111
Yeld, E. R. 1960 ‘Islam and Social Stratification in Northern Nigeria’ The British Journal of Sociology, p.119
The Ulama had considerable influence on the society because they were the custodians of its moral values. They “determined the acceptability or otherwise of any form of change in Kano” see Yahya, Dahiru 1999:5. The support of the Ulama was required by the ruling classes especially before implementing controversial policies thus enhancing their social prestige. See Lubeck, Paul 1986 Islam and Urban Labour in Northern Nigeria p.23
Lovejoy, Paul E. 1980 Caravans of Kola: The Hausa Kola Trade 1700-1900 p.95
This is an evidence that Kano was a ranked society and not a stratified one since there was social mobility.
Lovejoy P. E. 1980:96 and 141
Lubeck P. 1986:41-87
Lubeck, Paul 1986 Islam and Urban Labour in Northern Nigeria pp. 24 and 36. The Kano society afforded education and religious piety equal or more respectful than commercial success. See Lovejoy, Paul E. 1980 Caravans of Kola: The Hausa Kola Trade, 1700-1900, pp. 41 and 95
Ferguson, D. E. 1973: 229
Lubeck 1986:16 and Hill 1977:204
Kiffe, John 1995 Africans: The History of a Continent Cambridge. P.74
Ferguson, D. E. 1973
where the wife was freeborn and the husband a slave, the offsprint were free and where the wife was a concubine the children were free and she became free after the death of the father
Ferguson, 1973: 230
Lubeck 1986:16
Ferguson 1973: 230
Yeld p. 116 cf Orr p. 201
Al-Qayrawani 1992 Risala an annotated translation by Kenny, Joseph, p.81
Ferguson 1973:232 and Hill 1977:204
Lubeck 1986:26 and Hill 1977:204
Some owned up to 1,000 slaves while the commoners such as merchants rarely owned up to that number
Iliffe 1995: 171 see also Hill, P. 1977 Population, Prosperity and Poverty: Rural Kano 1900 and 1970, pp.200 - 220
Lovejoy 1980:92-93
Lubeck 1986:24
Yahya, D. 1999 “Aristocracy as a Factor in Social Change in the First Millenium of Kano History” pp. 4-5.
literally means to seize, it may also mean kidnap.
Palmer, H. R. 1928 “The Kano Chronicle” p.112
Fisher, H. J. 1985
Hodgin, T. 1975 Nigeria Perspectives 2nd Edition Oxford 247 - 9 or Bivar, A.D.H. 1961, The Watuqat Ahl al-Sudan: a Manifesto of the Fulani Jihad, Journal of African History 2: cf Fisher J. J. 1985:11
Arnett, E. J. 1922 The Rise of the Sokoto Fulani, Kano. Contains an English version of the Infaq, 16 cf Fisher H. J. 1985:11
Kukah 1993: 2 where he cited Trimingham explanatory note 11
Moody, J. 1990 In the Heart of the Hausa States Volume 2 Paul Staudinger translated by; Athens pp. 73- 74 emphasis mine.
See Kenny, J. 2000 The Spread of Islam through North to West Africa 7th to 19th Centuries Lagos p. 217 note 79
Ibid p. 217 note 79 where he included Fisher, A. and Fisher, H 1970 Slavery and Muslim Society in West Africa London as one of his references.
Kenny, op. cit. p. 217 note 79 included Colvin, L. 1971 ‘The Commerce of Hausaland, 1780-1833’ in McCall, D. and Bennett (eds) Aspects of West African Islam Boston.
Meyers, A. 1971 ‘Slavery in the Hausa-Fulani Emirates’ in McCall, D. and Bennett (eds) Aspects of West African Islam Boston.
Meyers, op. cit. p. 178
See Troche, U. Y. 2000 ‘The lies my teacher told me’ New African February 2000 pp. 38-39,
Professor W. B. Sergeant informed Professor Abdullahi Smith that SOAS “is well-known for its policy of “shaking the faith” of Muslim students from abroad”. Smith, A. ‘Islam in Contemporary’ p. 8
Fisher, H. J. 'A Muslim William Wilberforce? The Fulani Jihad as anti-slavery crusade: an enquiry into historical causes'
Fisher, H. J. 1985……….
Yahya, D. 1999…………………….. |
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Last Updated on Monday, 25 August 2008 22:13 |
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Kano Emirs
