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A Structural-Functional Analysis of the Poetics of Arabic Qaṣīdah: An View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by IUScholarWorks A STRUCTURAL-FUNCTIONAL ANALYSIS OF THE POETICS OF ARABIC QAṢĪDAH: AN ETHNOLINGUISTIC STUDY OF THREE QAṢĪDAHS ON COLONIAL CONQUEST OF AFRICA BY AL-ḤĀJJ ῾UMAR B. ABĪ BAKR B. ῾UTHMĀN KRACHI (1858-1934) Muhammed Al-Munir Gibrill Submitted to the faculty of the University Graduate School in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree Doctor of Philosophy in the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Cultures, Indiana University March 2015 Accepted by the Graduate Faculty, Indiana University, in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Doctoral Committee: …………………………………………………… Professor Salman Hassan Al-Ani (PhD) …………………………………………………. John Henry Hanson (PhD) …………………………………………………. Eileen Julien (PhD) …………………………………………………. Paul E. Losensky (PhD) Date of Dissertation Defense: February 20, 2015 ii © 2015 Muhammed Al-Munir Gibrill iii I dedicate this thesis to John Henry Hanson and his wife Amie Who are the architects of this achievement iv Acknowledgments Words will not adequately express my deepest gratitude and sense of indebtedness to all those who have directly or indirectly contributed towards my achieving this academic goal. However much I try to recall names there will always be omissions that my inefficient memory will inadvertently skip. I can only crave the indulgence of all to know that I am thankful. As such I will first like to thank my dissertation committee members for their graciousness and tolerance in exhaustively reading over my work and then assiduously helping me shape it to approved critical scholarly standard. - Professor Al-Ani, you have overwhelmed me with your compassion, devotion, encouragement, understanding and ḥilm throughout my studies in Indiana. You have always verbally and silently inspired me to be positive and hopeful in my academic endeavors even when predicaments came at times to cloud my horizon. This work would not have been successfully accomplished if you had not, without any hesitation, promptly stepped in to help rescue me when I became stranded. Your genuine feelings of love and sympathy have been a solace to me and they shall continue to help me look upon life smilingly. Jazākum Allah bi ulūf al- barakāt wa al-khayrāt fi al-dunyah wa al-ākhirah, bi jāhi al-Rasūl al-Ḥabīb. - Professors Eileen Julien and Paul Losensky, I have benefitted a lot from your critical guidance in class as well as in the course of writing this dissertation. My sometimes dilatoriness have never prevented you from being understanding, tolerant and kind. Thank you. v - John, it is almost impossible to express my heart-felt gratitude to you. From the very beginning you have been the architect of this historical stage of my life. When I lost hope of ever realizing my dream you awoke me, guided me me from Accra to Indiana. You even paid the application fees! And ever since I arrived here, you have supported me financially, materially, spiritually; and you continuously kept faith in me solving all problems that came my way (problems that would have hindered my progress and made this project still-born). Your tolerance and selfless devotion to nurture goodness in people is saintly and rare. I only pray that my little effort has brought you some consolation and satisfaction. On my part, suffice that only God knows the contents of our hearts and how we feel; I pray He recompenses you thousandfold and more than what is in mine. I will also like to thank the department of Near Eastern Languages and Cultures of Indiana University for awarding me the necessary financial support that enabled me undertake these studies. I am grateful to the faculty, administrators and staff, past and present for their continuous support; I am especially grateful to all the chairpersons from Professor Nazif Shahrani to Professor Asma Asfaruddin; the director of Graduate studies, Professor Steve Vinson; the department coordinator Connie Sue May as well as the late Elaine Wright. I wish to express sincere thanks and gratitude to Professor Suzanne Stetkevych, from whom I learned so much and for her supervision of some of this work. I am also thankful to the African Studies Program of Indiana University for awarding me a research grant to cover some cost of my research. I will like to express my gratitude to the Director Professor Samuel Obeng for his personal assistance as well as the staff of the Program especially the Assistant Director Professor Maria N’Gate and the Managing Editor of the Africa Today vi journal, Hassan Wahab, for giving me a summer employment. I will also wish to register my gratitude to the Office of International Students for their endless efforts in facilitating my stay as well as granting me some allowance to cover my fees. The staff has always been forthcoming and willing to help. In 2010 the Institute for the Study of Islamic Thought in Africa (ISITA) of Northwestern University (Evanston, IL), generously hosted me as visiting scholar and facilitated my access to the Institute of African Studies (Legon) Arabic materials (that included Alḥājj ῾Umar Krachi’s works) for my research. I thank the Director Professor Muhammad Sani Umar P.hD, his Assistant, Rebecca Shereikis PhD and the staff of the Melville J. Herskovits Library of African Studies for their gracious assistance. My gratitude also goes to indefatigable staff of Indiana University Library, Bloomington, for their efficiency and devotion in facilitating access to materials. I will also like to express my gratitude to the University of Ghana for granting me leave to pursue this PhD. Finally, I will also like to express my gratitude to Hannah Essien PhD for being so true a friend and for her support in so many ways that I cannot count. Special thanks also to Miss Mpolokeng Lesetla, David Tezil, Cindy Beaule and Renee Branham. Thanks too to the African professors, workers and students who were the diasporic family during my stay in the USA. vii Muhammed Al-Munir Gibrill A STRUCTURAL-FUNCTIONAL ANALYSIS OF THE POETICS OF ARABIC QAṢĪDAH: AN ETHNOLINGUISTIC STUDY OF THREE QAṢĪDAHS ON COLONIAL CONQUEST OF AFRICA BY AL-ḤĀJJ ῾UMAR B. ABĪ BAKR B. ῾UTHMĀN KRACHI (1858-1934) This study examines three poems composed by a West African Muslim scholar known by the name Alḥājj ῾Umar b. Abī Bakr b. ῾Uthmān Krachi (1858 – 1934). He was born in the Northern Nigerian city of Kano where he completed his education. He then settled in the mid-Volta region of present-day Ghana to teach, write and serve as community leader. This moment coincided with intensive colonial invasions into the region and Alḥājj ῾Umar viewed it all with mixed feelings of presentiment and hope. Within a period of seven years, he composed the three poems which came to be known as his “colonial poems” to give account of the historical clashes between the European forces and Africans that culminated into the official establishment of colonial administration across the region. The first two poems were composed in Arabic in 1899 and 1900 respectively, while the last one was composed in 1907 in Hausa Ajami (the native language of the poet). The three poetic narratives are considered from a structural-functional analytic perspective derived from the theoretical formulations of van Gennep and Victor Turner regarding the ritual transformational tripartite process of the Rite of Passage. Following Professor Suzanne Stetkevych’s pioneering study of the Arabic qaṣīdah, ῾Umar’s qaṣīdahs have been examined as representing the trajectory of a life-changing ritual transformation in the poet’s world view (as well as Africa generally) motivated by the European colonial invasion of Africa from 1884 to around 1910. The tripartite structures of the poems (the viii nasīb or prelude, the rahīl or journey and the ghard or closure) are analyzed on the basis of the tripartite structure of the rite of passage: pre-liminal/separation, liminal/margin, post- liminal/re-aggregation that correspond to the symbolic ritual process of the poet’s psychological transformation. …………………………………………………… Professor Salman Hassan Al-Ani PhD …………………………………………………. John Henry Hanson (PhD) …………………………………………………. Eileen Julien (PhD) …………………………………………………. Paul E. Losensky (PhD) ix A Note on the Transliteration I have followed the Library of Congress system. x Note on Translation All translations from Arabic to English are my own, except where otherwise mentioned. xi TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter I 1 1. Introduction 1 1.1. Historical Background 1 1.2. Colonialism and the Islamic Factor 4 1.3. Tradition of Arabic Learning and the Qaṣīdah Appropriation in West Africa 8 1.3.1 Ajami Literature 13 1.4 Postcolonial Studies and the Neglect of Arabic Literature 16 1.5 Methodology and Research Framework 20 1.6 Literature Review 23 Chapter II 31 Life and Works of Al-Ḥājj ῾Umar b. Abī Bakr b. ῾Uthmān al-Kabawī al- Kanawī al-Salagawī 2.1. Formative Years 31 2.1.1. Kano 32 2.1.2. Sokoto 36 2.2. ῾Umar in Salaga 39 2. 3. ῾Umar’s Life in Kete-Krachi 47 2.4. ῾Umar’s working relations with Europeans 52 2.5. Spiritual Transformation 55 2.6. General Impact 56 2.7. ῾Umar’s Literary Works 60 2.7.1. ῾Umar’s Poetry 61 2.7.1.1. Shi῾r al-madḥ (Praise Poems) 64 2.7.1.2. Shi῾r al-hijā’ (Satire Poems) 67 xii 2.7.1.3. Shi῾r al-rithā’ (Elegiac Poems) 73 2.7.1.4. Other Poems 75 2.7.2 ῾Umar’s Prose Writings 83 Chapter III 85 Mashra῾u mā’i al-Khabar or The Dawn of Africa’s Rebirth 3. 1. Introduction 85 3.2. Mashra῾u as Pre-liminal Stage in Africa’s Colonial Experience.
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