1 presents HISTORY OF MUSLIM SCHOLARS & ISLAMIC SEMINARIES OF EAST AFRICA SCRATCHING THE SURFACE Instructor: MOHAMMED ABDULLAH ARTAN Facebook:@mohammed.artan Twitter: @mohammed.artan Instagram:@mohammed.artan 2 Objectives By the end of the webinar, you will: Was Islam’s arrival in East Africa isolated incident? Did Muslim society develop early on in East Africa? Was scholarly endeavours enriched locally? entrepreneurial What Islamic entrepreneurship flourished in East Africa? Did other Muslim scholars travel to study in East Africa? What were the Islamic literary sciences East Africans excelled in? What pioneering scholars hailed from East Africa? SiblingsOfIlm | www.siblingsofilm.com 3 Āl insān 76:1 َ َ ْ َ َ َ ْ َ ٌ َ َّ ْ َ ْ َ ُ َ ْ ً َّ ْ ُ ً هل أ ىت لَع ا ِْلنسا ِن ِحني ِمن ادلهرِ لم يكن شيئا مذكورا Was there not a period of time when man was nothing to speak of? “What th is m e a n s is “does e v e ry m a n w h o ". ُ َّ ُ َ َّ : ْ َّ " وادلهر ِ الزمان الطوِي ل e x is ts re a liz e th a t he w a s n o n -e xis te n t fo r a long time, and he was not a thing worth mentioning, i.e., he « حترير المعىن السديد وتنوير العقل اجلديد من تفسري “ .had no name and he was not spoken of » الكتاب المجيد حممد الطاهر بن حممد بن حممد الطاهر ”. “D a hr (translated here as a time] means a very long time : ) : ( بن اعشور اتلونيس المتوىف 1393هـ انلارش ادلار . Ibn ‘Ashur, M u h a m m a d , al-T a h rir wa’l T a n w ir : - اتلونسية للنرش تونس سنة النرش 1984 هـ عدد , V o lu m e s 30. (T u n is : al-D a r al-T u n is iy ya h اﻷجزاء : v.29, p p . 345-346 30 ,(1984 SiblingsOfIlm | www.siblingsofilm.com 4 INTRODUCTION This short seminary course consists of the following sections: SECTION 01: PRE & DAWN OF ISLAM: Empires, Hijra, African Muslim Identity. SECTION 02: ETHNOGRAPHY: Muslim sources on the geography & peoples of East Africa SECTION 03: GLOBAL EAST AFRICAN SCHOLARSHIP: Mid 13th (650/1252) to 15th (850/1446) century Networks & Influence. SECTION 04: DEVELOPMENT OF ISLAMIC SEMINARIES: Dotted Islamic Seminaries & settlements across the Horn. SECTION 05: DEMISE, DECLINE, AND DESTRUCTION: Economic, intellectual decline and the arrival of European power. SiblingsOfIlm | www.siblingsofilm.com 5 SECTION 01: PRE & DAWN OF ISLAM Empires, Hijra, African Muslim Identity. SiblingsOfIlm | www.siblingsofilm.com 6 SECTION 01: PRE & DAWN OF ISLAM AXUMITE PERIOD: In 525 CE: the Aksumite King Ella Asbeha (Kaleb) invades Yemen, ruled by the Jewish Himyarite King Dhu Nuwas. “A force of 120,000 was to be transported in ships from the coast of East Africa…a contingent from Barbaria [Berbera], which evidently meant Somalia perished, on the way to the launching of the expedition.” [Bowersock, 2013:97] SiblingsOfIlm | www.siblingsofilm.com 7 SECTION 01: PRE & DAWN OF ISLAM AXUMITE PERIOD: In 570’s CE The Aksumite governor of Yeman Abraha (Abramos in Greek) attempted to attract Arabs who used to go to Mecca for trade and pilgrimage by building a Cathedral in San‘a. Kushitic and Semitic peoples of Northeast Africa, and their elephants mainly from East coast Africa (South Somalia, Kenya, Mozambique) perished in the conflicts, while others stayed behind. Some became soldiers of fortune or slaves. SiblingsOfIlm | www.siblingsofilm.com 8 SECTION 01: PRE & DAWN OF ISLAM EAST AFRICANS IN YEMEN AND HIJAZ: al-Jāḥiẓ (d. 255/869) speaks with glory about the invasion of Yemen by Northeast Africans and their attempt to invade Mecca. Al-Jāḥiẓ quotes the Blacks as saying: ْ "وحنن قد ملكنا بﻻد العرب من دلن احلبشة إىل مكة وجرت أحاكمنا يف ذلك أمجع. وهزمنا ذا " ... نوا س وأنتم لم تملكوا بﻻدنا “We were the owners of Arab lands from Abyssinia up to Mecca, and our rules were applied and obeyed by all. We overcame Dhu Nuwas and killed Himyar…but you did not own our lands.” [al-Jāḥiẓ, 1964:1.193] Al-Jāḥiẓ also refers to pre-Islamic poetry on ‘Abyssinian’s invasion’ over the Arab lands. SOURCE: Trials of Identity: Investigating al-Jāḥiẓ and the Zanj in Modern Pro-Black Discourse. SiblingsOfIlm | www.siblingsofilm.com 9 SECTION 01: PRE & DAWN OF ISLAM EAST AFRICANS IN YEMEN AND HIJAZ: In an ancient poem, Quraysh is scorned for fielding Northeast African soldiers: Your cowardly retreat has dishonoured Quraysh, As has your recruiting Blacks with massive shoulders. (Abul-Faraj al-Isfahani, Kitab al-Aghani) The Battle of Badr (2/624) al-Waqidi (d. 207/822) in Kitab al-Maghazi says: “the Northeast Africans [habash] went off, throwing their lances.” [al-Waqidi: 1989, 1.133] SiblingsOfIlm | www.siblingsofilm.com 10 SECTION 01: PRE & DAWN OF ISLAM HIJRA TO ABYSSINIA: The arrival of migrant refugees in Aksum Ethiopia early on allowed Muslims to plant roots in what is the Dahlak Islands (Eritrea) and the important port city of Zayla‘ (Somalia). secretly left Mecca for the port of) ﷺ In Rajab 8bh/614 companions of the prophet Shuʿaybah, near Jeddah, to board on a boat to Aksum (Modern day Ethiopia & Eritrea) The Najāsh, or the King [in Ge’ez] at the time of the prophet was known in Muslim .(was Armah Ella-Gabaz (r. 614–631 (أصحمة بن أجبر) sources as Asḥamah ibn Abjar [Mekouria, 1988: 560]. SiblingsOfIlm | www.siblingsofilm.com 11 SECTION 01: PRE & DAWN OF ISLAM HIJRA TO ABYSSINIA: 8bh/614, in the same year, after few months the Muslims heard rumours of Meccan peace and returned to find it hostile. Thus they returned back to Aksum, this time with larger number, over one hundred men and women. This is known as the 2nd Hijrah. (3rd Hijrah to Medina was 1st of Rabi‘ al-Awwal 14th year of prophethood/622). In 6/627/8, after Hudaybiyah, al-Najāshī accepts Islam through a letter sent to him by ُ carried by ْ َّ ْ َ ْ َ ُ َ َّ َ ُ ُ ْ َ ) also asking him to send back) ﷺ the prophet عمرو بن أمية ب ِن خوي ِ ِِل ب ِن عب ِد اهللِ الضمرِي the Muslims. [Najeebabadi, 2000: 1] al-Najāshī is the first monarch to accept Islam, and East Africa as bilad al-Hijra. 13/14! In 9th/630-1, in the month of Rajab, after 3 years of being Muslim al-Najāshī died, year .[death. [Al-Jāmī, 2017: 31-32 ﷺ and half before the prophets SiblingsOfIlm | www.siblingsofilm.com 12 SECTION 01: PRE & DAWN OF ISLAM DURING THE UMAYYAD DYNASTY: He was later buried about ten miles north of Wukro, Tigray, where in the 930’s/1530’s Imām Aḥmad al-Ghāzī (912/1506-950/1543) troops visited him while on route. [ʿArab Faqīh, 2003: 351] In 86/705, in consolidating Umayyad control, Hajjāj b. Yūsuf fought in ‘Uman and, after losing several battles finally won, while the losers fled to East Africa, specifically to Mogadishu, seeking refuge. According to Dixon, al-Hajjaj crushed the revolt of `Abd al-Rahman b. al-Ash`ath (ended in 85/704), he was then free to deal with Oman. [al-Rawas, 1990: 87] Others argue that Hajjāj b. Yūsuf went to “suppress insurrection in ‘Uman by the brothers, Sa‘id and Sulayman, the sons of ‘Abbad ibn al-Julanda ibn al-Mustaqir.” SiblingsOfIlm | www.siblingsofilm.com 13 SECTION 01: PRE & DAWN OF ISLAM DURING THE UMAYYAD DYNASTY: The‘Umanis enjoyed somewhat independence since the Rashidun Caliphate, but the power struggle of the Umayyads and the Zubayri’s (meaning ‘Abdallāh, born to al- Zubayr ibn al-ʿAwwām & Asma’ bint Abi Bakr) brought the area in the focus of ‘Abd al-Malik b. Marwan. [Dixon, 1969: 263] In any case, the defeated party fled, “taking with them their families, property, and those of their tribe who chose to follow them, they reached one of the districts of the Zanj [East Africa], where they abode until their death” [Hersi, 1977: 97]. So ‘Abd al-Malik b. Marwan ibn al-Hakam (25/646–86/705), who reigned 65/685– 86/705 sent scout troops to East Africa. SiblingsOfIlm | www.siblingsofilm.com 14 SECTION 01: PRE & DAWN OF ISLAM DURING THE UMAYYAD DYNASTY: In 75/694, according to anonymously authored Arabic manuscript, within nine years of ‘Abd al-Malik’s reign, one of his generals, a certain Mūsa b. Zubayr al-Khath‘amī or Mūsa Ibn ‘Umar al-Khath‘amī was sent to Mogadishu and Kilwa, already Muslim city states. [Kitab al-Zanuj, Cerulli, 1957: 238]. These East African Muslim states stayed loyal to the Umayyad Caliphate and paid the taxation “kharaj”. The Umayyad promoted the Islamic education “al-Qur’an wa’l din”. This continued and “the people were obedient…to the Bani Umayyah state in Damascus, Syria until its end.” [ibid] )وعلم انلاس قراءة القرآن وادلين وبىن بكلوى حصنا وفيه مجلة أسلحة واكنوا أهل ابلﻻد هل طائعني من أولهم اىل آخرهم اىل ان انقرضت دولة بىن أمية عن دمشق الشام.( SiblingsOfIlm | www.siblingsofilm.com 15 SECTION 01: PRE & DAWN OF ISLAM DURING THE UMAYYAD DYNASTY: “In the year 149/767 arrived ‘Arab tribes from San‘a, ‘Irāq, and from other countries to [settle] in Mogadishu. They numbered 39 tribes including 12 tribes of al-Jid‘ata (al- Shāshiyūn)” [‘Aydarūs, 1950: 46]. Due to these conflicts, groups of Arabian refugees left for Africa. One group moved west to North Africa and settled south of Tripoli, Libya. Another migrated from ‘Uman and sailed down the coast to East Africa.