AN ACCOUNT OF MODERN HAUSA PROSE-FICTION

 AN ACCOUNT OF MODERN HAUSA PROSE-FICTION

IN THE 21ST CENTURY 1

Introduction

The area known as Qasar Hausa (Hausa land) is located within the Sahel, Sudan

and parts of Guinea savannah of West Africa extending to north-western parts of

Nigeria and south-western Niger. Within Nigeria, Hausa land extends to Sokoto,

Kebbi, Zamfara, Kano, Jigawa, Katsina states and parts of Kaduna, Bauchi and Gombe

states. While in Niger Republic it covers Maradi, parts of Zinder, Tahoua, Dosso,

Filingue and a patch of area in the Agadez area, see Figure 1.

Although there is the common belief that Islam came to Hausa land in the 14th century,

some scholars are of the opinion that Islam came to Hausa land much earlier than the

mid-fourteenth century. (Bugaje, 1981:12) argued that, although Islam came earlier than

the 14th century, “it was not until the second half of the 15th century that it got the kind of

institutional backing as in Borno and Mali. During this period, changes in leadership,

probably reflecting the increasing presence and awareness of Muslim subjects, in some of

the major Hausa states of Zazzau, Kano and Katsina, brought to power Muslims with

ardent zeal to spread and strengthen Islam.”

By the 18th century, many Hausa mallams have written and reproduced many poems in

the language using the Ajami script. There were several scholars whose works survived to

date. They include Malam Muhammad bn. Muhammad al Katsinawi, Malam

Muhammadu of Birnin Gwari and Malam Shi’itu Abdurra’ufu (Yahaya, 1988). By the

19th century, Ajami became a formal way of communication between scholars. It was the

script used in writing books, pamphlets, letters and other correspondences as epitomised

by the scholars of the Sokoto Jihad, (Adamu and Dantata, 2003).

1Earlier versions of this paper was presented at the International Conference on African Languages and Literatures in

the 21st Century, 6-8 August, 2014.Kenyatta University, Nairobi, Keny and published in Harsunan Nijeriya, Journal of

Nigerian Languages and Folklore , Volume XXVI, ADAM

During the early part of the 19th century, a Fulani scholar living in Gobir Kingdom began

to preach about Islam, establishing schools and imparting knowledge of Islam to common

men. His teaching did not restrict itself to Islamic rituals as is often the case, but also

address the issues current at the time. That scholar was Usmanu Danfodiyo. Together

with his brother Malam Abdullahi na Gwandu, his children Muhammadu Bello, Nana

Asma’u, Nana Maryama, Malam Buhari and Isan Kware and a host of his students, they

produced literary materials and treaties about the current issues affecting Muslims at the

time. They wrote in many languages including Hausa, Arabic, Tamashek and Fulfulde.

They used the medium of poetry not only to educate Muslims, but also to challenge the

existing social order and to mobilise ordinary people to ask for change in the existing

social order which was repressive and cruel. In one of the famous poems by Danfodiyo,

he said;

Let us study, and keep on learning

This gives mankind all that he need

Do not stay among ignorant people

Who violently seize property in Muslim Lands?

These verses from Danfodiyo's Tabban Haqiqa sum up the devotion of the Sokoto

Caliphate to learning and scholarship. The volume of the works of the Jihad leaders show

that despite their other commitments, their devotion to educating the community was

paramount. Isma’il (1979, p. 165) pointed out that more than a hundred works have been

written by the Shehu himself, more than sixty by his brother Abdullahi Fodio, and some

seventy- eight by his son Muhammad Bello. Nana Asma’u who was the greatest woman

writer of her time and who had contributed to women education and liberation provided

the much needed gender balance with sixty-six works (Boyd and Mack 1997 p. vii).

Bugaje (1995) explained that the leaders of the Jihad had specialisations as far as their

areas of concern and expertise were concerned as shown by the Shehu himself in Najm

al-ikhwan:

… So take to reading the works of my brother Abd Allah for he is, on

the whole concerned with the letter of the Shari’a. Take to the reading

the works of my son Muhammad Bello for he is, on the whole

concerned with the preservation of the Political Science of the (Muslim)

community with regard to the persons, aims, time, place, and

(prevailing) conditions. Take to the readings of my works too for I am,

on the whole concerned with the preservation of both….”

(Quoted in Ismail 1979 p.170)

This movement led to a strong Islamic revivalism which resulted in the collapse of Hausa

city-states and the establishment of what came to be known as the Sokoto Caliphate in

1804. It must be noted that the 1804 revolution in Hausa land depended greatly on the

intellectual foundations of the movement. The literary and religious productions in Hausa

which is the lingua-franca of the caliphate were done through the Ajami script. Hausa

people continued to use Ajami for all their correspondences and especially for

educational and literary purposes. Poetry was the most important genre during the

pre-colonial period and it remained so until the 20th century. The choice of poetry might

be seen as the influence of the Arabic language and literature, so much that the poetry

written in Hausa is based on Arabic meter and prosody. Drama and fiction have not been

written, or no evidence existed during the pre-colonial period.

Colonial Period

The colonial period began in 1903 when the British colonial force conquered Sokoto, the

seat of the Caliphate and established colonial rule. The colonial period lasted for over half

a century and its legacies had profound and everlasting effects and impact on the position

of literary production in the Caliphate. Bugaje (1997 p.85) argued that in the whole of the

former emirates of the caliphate, the Islamic Tradition of learning and scholarship (which

was strengthened by the Jihad) came under colonial redefinition. One of the irreversible

colonial policies that will affect the future of learning and scholarship in the Caliphate,

was the introduction of Western education popularly known as boko. The introduction of

boko leads to the introduction of a new form of writing different from the dominant form

of writing which is Arabic and Ajami). The British, through the advice of Vischer (Dan

Hausa) decided to dump the use of Arabic and Ajami for English and Roman script

(Phillip, undated).

Lord Lugard was also of the opinion that “the scholars of the future would thus be drawn

to ‘the endless storehouse of Western literature’ and ‘the priceless heritage of Christian

thought’ rather than ‘the somewhat sterile heritage of Muslim literature and the religion

of Islam” (Crampton, 1975 p.99). The argument, spurious as it seemed, was used as an

‘objective basis’ for dumping the Ajami script. The dumping of Ajami script is not merely

a smooth replacement of one script by another. It implied a complete turning point in the

history of learning, scholarship and education in the former Caliphate’s emirates.

The dumping of Ajami and the adoption of Roman script had a lasting influence, on not

only learning and scholarship, but also literary production. One colonial officer, Rupert

M. East stands out as the major catalyst of introducing the Hausa people to creative

fiction and drama in written form. People told stories in form of folktales and hikaya, and

did aspects of drama-like tashe during fasting periods, but had not committed such to

writing, thus these two genres have not been explored by Hausa people before then. It

was Rupert M. East, according to Adamu (2010) that facilitated the first writing

competition that produced Hausa novelists like the revered Abubakar Imam, whose novel,

Ruwan Bagaja-(The water of Cure), won the first position). First Prime Minister of the

Federal Republic of Nigeria, Alhaji Abubakar Tafawa Balewa (Shaihu Umar), Malam

Sani Gwarzo (Idon Matambayi), Muhammadu Bello Kagara (Gandoki) and of course,

John Tafida Wusasa and R.M. East (Jiki Magayi). Earlier Hausa novels undoubtedly

reflected the state of the society as well as the dominant social framework in existence.

They manifest an interwoven influence of Hausa-Arabic-Islamic cultures. Themes, plots,

characterisation and styles of these works were substantial and relevant in the context of

their time.

From the first set of prose-fiction books produced by the likes of Imam came the second

generation of Hausa novels and novelists. The second generation of Hausa novelists

continued on the same framework. Thus, in novels like Iliya Dan Mai Qarfi, Da’u

Fataken Dare, Nagari Na Kowa, Tauraruwar Hamada etc, one sees the continuation of

multi-cultural integration and the triumph of virtue over evil.

The third generation of Hausa writers, on the other hand, thrust towards opening new

thematic frontiers. This may be related to the influence of their time. In the works of this

generation of writers, there is a manifestation of a new culture as well as a new social order. There is somehow a complete change in theme, style, plot, and characterisation

language. This generation was so diversified that new thematic frontiers were opened.

Instead of writing about kings and kingdoms, witches and thieves, princes and princesses,

horses and swords, they wrote about governments and politics, bourgeoisie and

proletariats, cars and guns, and terrorism and smuggling