The Fellatahs — Their Religious Theories — Rise of Zaky,
or Dam-fodio — He undertakes a Reform — The first Battle —
Zaky becomes King — Conquest of Kashna — Laws — The Wahabites
in Arabia — Mohammedan Protestantism — State of Dar-Niffy —
Anecdote of Wealth — The Fullans conquer Niffy — Zaky’s first
Defeat — Muslim Civilisation — Characteristics of Nations.
The Fellatahs accuse all the other people of Soudan of impiety
and heterodoxy, and maintain that force of arms should be used to
bring them into the right way. They pretend that their neighbours
have changed and adulterated the principles of Islam; that they
have violated the penal prescriptions of the law, by allowing
pecuniary commutations, that is to say, an illicit trade proscribed
by the sacred book; that they have sapped the basis of religion,
and have corrupted the rules of Islam, by proclaiming illegal
and criminal innovations as legitimate; by shameful habits; by
adultery and incest; by the use of fermented drinks; by the passion
for amusements, songs, and dances; by the neglect of the daily
prescribed prayers; by indulgence of all kinds of ill-regulated
desires; and by the refusal of tithes for the poor. Each of these
crimes and shames deserves vengeance, and calls for a Holy War in
all the states of Soudan.
These thoughts had been stirring for many years in the minds of the
Fullans, and electrifying their imaginations, when suddenly there
rose a man amongst them revered for his piety and his religion. This
was the Fakih Zaky, known in Europe as Dam-fodio, which means the
son of Fody. He set himself up as a reformer, and proclaimed a
Holy War. A vast crowd responded to his voice. Then he sent to the
King of Mella, capital of the kingdom of the Fullans, a letter,
in which he blamed him sincerely for violating the precepts of
God and his Prophet; and ordered him to conform to the law that
was pure and holy, to abolish the taxes and customs on transit,
and follow exactly the penal laws enacted by the Koran. “In a
word,” he said, “thou and thy subjects must submit rigorously to
the maxims of Islam and do penitence, or I will rise against thee,
as formerly did the just Abou-Bekr against those who refused the
tithe of Charity.” When the King of Mella received this letter
he was shaken by rage and indignation. “What!” he exclaimed,
“this wretch threatens me with a revolt, and pretends that we
are not Muslims! Let us get rid of him.” He collected an army and
sent it against Zaky, ordering his vizier to put the whole of the
insurgents to the sword, except Zaky, who was to be taken alive and
brought bound. News of the approach of this army was brought Zaky,
who said,—“This is what I desire.” He collected his partisans,
and quietly awaited the approach of the enemy. When they appeared,
he told his men to mount on horseback, but himself, from humility,
got upon a camel, on the back of which was a sheep’s skin. Then
he made this speech: “Remember that paradise is found under the
shadow of swords. These wretches are come to fight for an impious
cause. We have called them into the right way, and to reward us they
threaten us with arms. Meet their attack with courage, and be certain
of victory; for the Prophet has said, ‘Even if a mountain is guilty
against another mountain it is swallowed up in the earth.’”
These words of Zaky filled his partisans with enthusiasm, and they
aspired to the glory of martyrdom. They advanced against the royal
army and routed it, and gathered immense quantities of spoil. Then
Zaky pushed on to the capital, where he defeated the king himself,
and took him prisoner, and slew him, and placed himself on the
throne instead. Then he organised the country and raised troops. He
chose a lieutenant, whom he ordered to comply scrupulously with the
text of the law; to exact only the legal tithes, and to raise no
more taxes than justice commanded. This done, he set out with his
army for Kashna. The hope of plunder collected an immense number of
people to join him; for whatever was taken he distributed, without
keeping anything for himself. From Mella to Kashna there are about
thirty stages, which were traversed without accident. Even when
on a journey Zaky fasted every day, and never allowed many hours
to pass without purifying himself by ablution. When he was near
the city of Kashna, the king, who had heard of the revolution of
Mella, came out to meet him. Zaky now sent a manifesto similar to
that which he had despatched to his deposed prince. The King of
Kashna tore it in pieces, and burst into invectives against the
Fullans, and attacked them, but was defeated and killed. The Fakih
proclaimed himself master of the country, and his troops plundered
the property of the king. He, however, established the severest
rules of justice, and made himself beloved by all. He threatened the
severest punishment to whoever committed the slightest transgression
of the law, or against religion. His criers announced that when the
Muezzin called to prayer, whoever failed to be at the mosque should
be punished with death. After having spent some time in regulating
the country, he announced to his troops that he was determined to
punish all the kings and sultans of Soudan for their injustice and
impiety, and began his march against Niffy.
Let us here remark a singular coincidence. The war of Reform,
undertaken by the Fakih Zaky, began at the same time that the armed
Protestantism of the Wahabites triumphed in the Hejaz.[46] Whilst
the fiery Fellatah was proceeding with his religious conquests,
Saoud, son of Abd-el-Azeez, the Wahabite, had come out of Derieh,
and marched in arms against Mekka and Medina, under pretence that
the people of the sacred territory had abandoned the primitive
ways of the law of Islam. It was according to these principles of
Puritanism that Saoud destroyed the tombs of the saints and the
companions of the Prophet. He instituted an overseer of police,
whose duty it was to beat those who abstained from the mosque. He
proscribed the use of tumback and tobacco, and forbade the use
of certain books, condemned the custom of praying to the Prophet,
and allowed of no invocation but to God. If he heard an individual
mix the name of the Prophet with his oaths and protestations,
whatever they were, he caused him to be seized and beaten, and said
to him,—“Acknowledge thy fault and expiate it, polytheist that
thou art!” Zaky fell into the same extremes of rigour.
When the Fullans approached Niffy, the inhabitants of that city
came out in arms, but were defeated and cut to pieces. This place
is one of the most remarkable of all Soudan. It is celebrated for
the easy character of its inhabitants, and the well-being which
they enjoy. Strangers are received with benevolence, and some
learned men have fixed their dwelling-place there. The cheapness
of provisions renders life agreeable. The population is rich, and
consists in a great measure of merchants, who, at certain periods,
go upon commercial expeditions to Timbuctoo, to Kashna, and to
other places of Soudan, from whence they bring back merchandise,
and especially slaves. Dar-Niffy is situated south of the states
of Morocco, and carries on an active commerce with that empire.[47]
The city of Niffy, as I have said, is full of very rich merchants,
who carry on a prodigious trade. The following anecdote is a proof
of this:—A merchant of Morocco, who wanted to exhibit his great
wealth, arrived there with at least a thousand slaves and more than
five hundred camels; the great people of the place came to visit him,
and felicitate him on his fortunate voyage. Not knowing the amount
of their fortune, he received them with haughtiness. The chief
was hurt by his airs of importance, but dissimulated his anger,
and resolved to humble the pride of the stranger. He sent several
people to ask what merchandise he had to sell. “I have,” he
said, “this troop of slaves, but I want to sell all together,
camels, cords, sacks, travelling utensils, &c., and I wish to find a
single buyer. If there is any one who can pay the price of my whole
caravan, let him come.”—“Very good,” they replied; “rest
after thy fatigues, and thou wilt easily find what thou desirest.”
Two or three days afterwards, the Morocco man learned that there was
at Niffy an individual the amount of whose fortune no one knew. He
was the chief of the merchants of the city whom he had received so
coldly. This merchant called one of his inferior slaves, who acted
as a clerk, and said to him: “Said, go and buy the whole caravan
of that man, slaves, utensils, camels—everything.” Said dressed
himself in his best, and went, and was received by the Morocco man,
who thought he had to do with the chief of the merchants of the
city. After a few words, Said observed that he had a great number
of slaves to send to some of his correspondents, and had heard that
there was a large caravan to be sold in a mass. The bargain was soon
struck, at the rate of six thousand cowrie shells per head, and the
price of all the other articles was also fixed. The merchant only
kept a slave-woman, by whom he had had a child. The rest were led
away; and Said told the merchant to come in three days, and receive
payment. At the appointed time the Morocco man dressed, and went to
the house of the chief of the merchants, thinking that it was with
him that he had done business. He found him in a handsome mansion,
about which a considerable crowd was moving, whilst he himself sat
in a place apart, like a king, overlooking and directing all this
bustle. When the salutations had been exchanged, the man of Niffy
affected to talk with other persons on matters of business; add it
was not for some time that he condescended to address the stranger,
and say to him,—“Friend, what is the motive of thy visit?”
The other told him that it was to fetch the price of his slaves,
which he had sold to him three days ago. The head of the merchants
affected surprise, and said that he had not found it necessary to buy
slaves for a whole year, and yet had about ten thousand left. “Is
it possible, then, that there is any one else here besides thyself
who could have made this large purchase?”—“Certainly. I
have myself thirty clerks who have slaves, and yet the poorest of
them could have bought thy whole lot.” At this moment a slave
came up, and mentioned that he had bought so many slaves and so
much gold dust, that he had received so many thousands of shells,
&c. His master asked him if it were he that had bought the caravan
of the merchant, but he said, “No.” Then the other clerks were
called one by one, but all denied having heard of the business; so
that the merchant began to think that he had lost his caravan. At
last some one said that he had heard that Said had bought a whole
caravan. “May Heaven confound him!” exclaimed the chief of the
merchants; “he is always doing those kind of things: let him be
called.” Said soon presented himself, and admitted the purchase,
but affected to be angry with the Morocco man for speaking on such
a trifling business to his master, and then requested him to come
and be paid. Having handed over the amount of shells agreed on,
he said,—“May God and his Prophet preserve me from ever buying
again from such as thee! Didst thou consider me to be insolvent,
that thou shouldst thus go and complain to my master? I have bought
much greater caravans than thine without his knowing anything
of it.” The Morocco man was so humiliated by this proof of his
comparatively small importance, that he hastened to leave the city.
Let us now return to the history of the Fullans. Zaky easily made
himself master of Niffy. Struck with the beauty of the country,
and the wealth of the inhabitants, he resolved to build there a
seat of government.[48] He became so fond of the country that he
always returned thither after his excursions. Having rested a year,
and organised the government according to the principles of Islam,
he marched upon Afnou, which is celebrated for the beauty of its
slaves, and soon conquered it as well as Aghadez. Then he proceeded
against Bornou, the Sultan of which fled, as I have related, to
Kanoum. Now it was that Emin preached a sacred league against the
invader, whom he accused of having uttered false accusations against
Soudan, as an excuse for extending his authority. Soon afterwards
Zaky was defeated with great loss, and driven out of Bornou. This
was the first revival of courage amongst the princes of Soudan. It
is singular that the defeat of the Fellatahs coincided in time with
the first reverses of the Wahabites, which took place four or five
years after the period when the French definitively evacuated Egypt.
All these revolutions, which convulsed Central Soudan from Niffy and
Kashna to Bornou, were the consequences, as I have already suggested,
of the sedentary and tranquil life of the inhabitants. Ibn-Khaldoun
has already shown, in his great history, the effects of luxury in
rendering people effeminate. It may be objected that the developments
of industry and wealth in Europe do not produce similar results. But
it must be remembered that, in Islam, whatever refinement exists is
merely material, and has reference to the pleasures of the table,
the relation of the sexes, the laying out of fine houses, furniture,
valuable horses, singing, and domestic festivals. But there is
nothing done for the abstract sciences, nothing for the departments
of knowledge which are the domain of intelligence, the applications
of mathematics to arts and to war, physics, chemistry, medicine,
natural history, botany, and experimental studies. The knowledge
of the Muslim, when he has any at all, is confined to religious and
civil jurisprudence, according to the rite he has adopted. He adds
to this certain theological notions on the unity of God, and the
elements of analytical grammar. This is all that constitutes the
science of the Ulemas, the learned men of Islam, who attack all
those who meddle with human sciences as infidels and philosophers.
I shall now make some observations on the various characters of the
people of Soudan, comparing them with the other countries known
to me. The Forians resemble the Turks something in character,
as well as by a large number of words of their language, by the
ostentation of courage under which they mask their pusillanimity,
by their pride, coupled with their suppleness to humiliation, by
their love of idleness, by their haughtiness, by their fondness for
show, and their eagerness to exercise revenge when an opportunity
presents itself. Like the Turks, the Forians neglect important
things to busy themselves about matters of minor importance. But
that which characterises them essentially, especially those that
are indigenous, inhabiting the Marrah mountains, is an avarice
beyond all expression. Generosity and free and open hospitality are
found only among the kings, who are nearly all of Arab origin. The
Forians are wanting in vivacity of intelligence and in promptitude
of action. This is another feature in which these black men,
habitants of arid and unfertile countries, resemble the Turks,
who occupy a more favourable position.
The temper of the Wadaïans has some analogy with that of the
French. They resemble them even in their fondness for institutions
like that of the quarantine; but, instead of having their narrow
and grasping parsimony, they have the generous hospitality of
the Arabs. I also notice in the councils of the Sultan a certain
resemblance with the parliamentary assemblies of France. The
Kamkolaks, who are in reality Wadaïans of an inferior rank,
are counsellors of the Sultan. If he were to dissent from their
decisions, and oppose the execution of their judgments, they would
probably revolt against him. This is another trait peculiarly French.
The people of Bagirmeh and Katakou remind me of the Italians in
the softness of their language, and the want of energy of their
character. The Birguid, the Tamians, and the Zagawah, are perfidious
and treacherous, like Greeks. Like them, they are base and crawling
when they fall in war into the hands of their enemies. The Fullans
resemble the Russians in their love of aggression and conquest, and
in the care they take to keep armies always ready for that purpose;
but in religious fanaticism they resemble the Spaniards, and for
a single prayer missed would put a man to death. The Bornouese
resemble the English in their somewhat coarse pride, in their
taste for luxury and show, and in their insatiable avidity; but
they are cowardly. Among Dajo and the Bijo, we find the natures of
the Fellahs, or peasants, of Egypt—the same laziness, the same
carelessness of their persons, the same dirt around them. They
submit, without a word, to all kinds of oppressions from their
superiors—to forced labour in every shape. They allow their
children, girls and boys, to be carried away and made to work,
without ever thinking of means of escape from unjust caprice,
or of freedom from odious servitude. This resignation is greater
still among the Berti and the Massalit, who are richer and more
numerous. They turn pale at the slightest glitter of warlike
weapons, and at sight of a few armed men tremble like sheep in
presence of the wolf. A single Forian, with a stick in his hand,
can drive before him two hundred men of Berti.