In a preface in rhymed prose, Áhmed el Bakáy, having enumerated ten
generations of his ancestors, addresses his letter to all into whose
hands it should fall, of his brethren and friends among the Arabs, the
Tawárek, the Fullán, and the Sudán, in the land of El Islám, and
especially in the land of Ála Fódíye, the noblest of the sons of
ʿAbdallah and ʿOthmán the Imám, among whom the Imám ʿAlí ben Mohammed
Bello is distinguished: next, to those in the land of the faithful and
humane, his brethren of the people of Bórnu, and especially their
excellent Sheikh ʿOmár: and lastly, to all Moslims in the land. He then
enters on his subject of recommending to them the Christian traveller in
the following terms:
“Our and your guest, ʿAbd el Kerím Barth, the English Christian, has
visited us from your part, and we honoured him suitably, and were not
wanting to him in anything, and befriended him openly and privately, and
defended him from nomadic wanderers and settlers, until we restored him
to you in safety, just as he came from you in respect. Now there is no
fault to find with our present reception of him, nor with your treatment
of him in time past; for the guest of the munificent is munificently
treated, and injury to the good is forbidden; and it is the nature of
the good and pure to be helpful, just as malice is the disposition of
the wicked; and kind acts and intentions are acceptable both to men and
to God. But you require to be urgently admonished to treat our and your
guest with honour, beneficence, and equity. And do not be deluded by
those who say, ‘Behold, he is a Christian! let no kindness be shown to
him! let it be counted acceptable to God to hurt him!’ For such
sentiments are contrary to the Kurán and the Sunna, and are repudiated
by men of intelligence. It is written, ‘God does not forbid your showing
kindness and equity to those who do not wage war with you on account of
your religion, nor expel you from your abodes, for God loves the
equitable.’[100] And God says (in reply to those who say ‘we are not
bound to deal equitably with the heathen,’)—‘Nay: with whoever is
faithful to his pledges, and fears God, for God loves those that fear
him.’[101] And we have heard from the saints about the dispositions of
the prophets, and their inculcation of beneficence to all men. The
Prophet used to say, ‘Whenever honourable persons come to you, receive
them with honour!’ and he used to show respect to all that came to him,
whether they were Moslims, or Kitábis[102], or infidels. And he gave
injunctions concerning those among them who were on terms of compact,
and those who were on terms of tribute; so that he said: ‘Whoever kills
a companion[103], shall not smell the odour of Paradise; and its odour
can be perceived at a distance of 500 years’ journey.’ And his
forefather, Abraham, was kind to everybody, so that God mentions him in
his book with reference to his generous conduct to guests, and extols
his mildness in his altercation with the angels sent on account of the
unbelievers; for he says,—‘He disputed with us about the people of Lot;
lo, Abraham is humane!’[104] And an embassy from the Christians of
Najrán came to the Prophet, and he received them with honour, and did
them justice, as it was his disposition and his custom to do; then he
made a treaty with them on terms of tribute, and did not molest them or
their religion after he had invited them to accept El Islám, and they
had received his missives: and he kept faith with them. This, too, was
the way he treated the Jews of Medína, before he went to war with them.
Thus God says: ‘Thou wilt not cease to discover deceivers among them,
with few exceptions; but forgive them, and pardon them, for God loves
the beneficent!’[105] And they used to salute him by saying, _‘Assilám
ʿalaika!’_[106] with Kesra of the Sín; but he used to make no other
answer but ‘And on you!’ At last ʿAísha observed it, and reproached
them, and cursed them; but he reproved her. So she said, ‘Did you not
hear what they said?’ And he replied, ‘But did not you hear how I
returned their salutation? Now, what I wished them will be granted, but
what they wished me will not be granted!’ And it was only as respects
the enemies of God—persons fighting against God and his Prophet, and
waging war with the adherents of El Islám for the sake of their
religion—that the Prophet forbids what he forbade as to this mode of
treatment. The injunction with regard to such is what God says: ‘O
Prophet, persecute the unbelievers and hypocrites, and be severe with
them!’[107] Thus every believer has a special statute. There came to me,
one day, a man of the Fullán, of the Fullán of the West, who pretended
to be learned, but who had no learning, who said to me, ‘Does not God
say, “You will not find any people who believe in God and the last day,
loving those who resist God and his Prophet,”[108] (and the rest of that
verse), and yet you love this Christian unbeliever?’ I replied, ‘Do not
you, too, obey this other word of God? “God does not forbid you to show
kindness and equity to those who have not borne arms against you on
account of religion, and have not expelled you from your dwellings, for
God loves those that deal justly; God only forbids your being friends
with those who bore arms against you for the sake of religion, and who
expelled you from your abode, or who aided in expelling you.”’[109] Then
he held his tongue. So I said to him, ‘Speak! do you think that one of
these verses abrogates the other? If so, you lie, and are made a liar.
Or, do you think that one is contradictory to the other, and that the
contradiction is in the mind of God? If so, you are a fool, and are made
a fool of, and lead astray, and are led astray. Or do you believe a part
of the book and disbelieve a part? If so, you are one of those of whom
it is said, “Do ye believe one part of the book and disbelieve the
other?”[110] If so, you are an unbeliever, crying out against unbelief.’
Then he asked me to explain to him. So I said, ‘Let it suffice you as to
this mystery and difficulty, that your head is sprinkled with grey, but
that you are ignorant of the book of your Lord which has been revealed
to you, and about the Sunna of your Prophet. For the ordinance about the
hostile unbeliever[111], and the unbeliever who is not hostile, is well
known in the book and in the Sunna. As for the unbeliever who is not
hostile, there is no prohibition to treat him kindly; whereas to deal
justly with him is a positive duty. As for the hostile one, nothing is
said about his being treated with kindness, therefore kindness to him is
not expressly enjoined; but God has only prohibited friendship with him
in preference to Moslims, or helping him against Moslims. But kindness
and equity towards an unbeliever who is not hostile, is manifestly
lawful; whereas friendship with a hostile unbeliever is expressly
unlawful, and kindness and equity towards him are among doubtful duties;
and the unbelievers who are hostile, or hinderers, or contumacious,
belong to one class, and are subject to one ordinance; and with such,
affection—whatever belongs to intimate friendship—is forbidden. This is
the law with regard to unbelievers. As for Kitábis, they are under
special laws, whether they be hostile, or under covenant of peace, or
under tribute. We may marry the women of the Kitábis of any description.
Now, if any one asserts that it is not lawful to show kindness to a
Kitábi, let him tell me what he would do with a Kitábi wife, seeing that
God has commanded us to treat our wives with kindness and beneficence,
and the prophet has enjoined it. Therefore, if this were true with
regard to the Kitábi wife of a Moslim, there would absolutely be no
difference, but that of sex, between her, and her father, and brothers:
so that whatever kindness and beneficence are due to his wife, the
daughter of his connections by marriage, are undoubtedly due to those
connections themselves. And the Emír of Másiná the Fulláni spoke to me
both ignorantly and inhumanely about this Englishman, and insisted on
absurd and frivolous postulates. And he—nay, his doctors, without
learning, piety, or religion—adduced as evidence certain verses from the
book of God, which were revealed about hypocrites, about ʿAbdallah ben
Obbai Ébn Salúl[112] and his compeers; and they disgraced themselves by
the display of their ignorance of the Kurán and Sunna. Nay, they could
not adduce a single word out of the Sunna, nor a sentence from the Canon
Law[113], which is their learning, notwithstanding their ignorance of
it! Since they did not find either in the Sunna or Canon Law anything
that agrees with their aims, but only what is merely contrary to them,
they had recourse to the Kurán, and they perverted it violently,
iniquitously, ignorantly, carelessly, derisively, and sportively. But
woe to them for what their hands have written; and woe to them for the
reward they will reap! Among what I said to them was this:—If what you
aim at were a part of the Mohammedan religion either theoretically or
practically, I would have outrun you in receiving it; and Khalíl ben
ʿAbdallah, and ʿOthmán ben Mohammed Bello, the two descendants of
Fódíye, would have outrun you. Nay, the great Sultan, our lord ʿAbd e’
Rahmán, the son of your lord, Hishám, and the Khakán of the two lands
and seas, the Sultan ʿAbd el Mejíd, the son of the Sultan Mahmúd, the
son of the Sultan ʿAbd el Hamíd, would have anticipated you. As for your
postulate[114], that you have inherited the duty of doing battle with
the infidels, and of hating them, from the time of our fathers and
grandfathers, we are more nearly related to them than you; for you have
no ancestry in it, since you have only adopted your present opinions
about thirty years ago; and a man only inherits from his father and
grandfather. Whose guest is this Christian? And again, in whose alliance
and safe-conduct is this Christian? He is the guest and protégé of the
Sultan of the Faithful, ʿAbd el Mejíd, and of the Imám of the Moslims,
our lord ʿAbd e’ Rahmán. Lo, he inherited the duty of warring with the
infidels from his fathers and grandfathers; and he possesses his
religion from the earliest of the fathers, from the time of the
prophets. But as for the people of Núkkuma[115], they have neither
religion, nor learning, nor understanding, nor humanity. What then gives
them any superiority or pre-eminence over those eminent persons, seeing
that they are the tail of mankind, living in the tail of the world, and
that, up to this date, the invitation of the Sunna and of indispensible
duties[116] has not reached them? But there is no need to dilate on what
they say in their perversity, nor on what is said to them in
disputation. The main thing is, that you should know, oh! you body of
believers! that God has sent us prophets with His book and His
ordinances, and has elucidated them, and made them plain; and that
whoever wishes to add to them in what He has enjoined, is accursed and
cast out; and whoever diminishes aught therefrom, is condemned and
punished. Therefore treat the Moslim according to the treatment ordered
for him in the Book of God and in the Sunna of the Prophet, whether the
Moslem be an upright or a careless one; treat the Kitábis as they are to
be treated, whether they be hostile, or under compact, or under tribute;
and treat the Infidel generally as he is to be treated, whether he be
hostile or not hostile: ‘For all are His servants; His will is
irresistible by them; His ordinance sticks close to them; His knowledge
comprehends them.’[117] Whoever treats these different classes with any
other treatment than what He has appointed, errs in his judgment, and is
wicked. And this Christian is to-day the guest of the Moslims, under
their protection, their covenant, and safe-conduct. No Moslim can
lawfully hurt him. On the contrary, to injure him is a burning shame.
Nay, he has the rights of a guest; for the guest of the munificent is
munificently treated; and every believer is munificent, and every
hypocrite is sordid. And does that munificence which is not imprinted in
the disposition, make a believer? The recompense of kindness is by
kindness, in imitation of the character of the merciful Lord. God says,
‘Is there any recompense of kindness except kindness?’[118] And behold,
this man’s nation, the English, have done us services which are neither
doubted nor denied: which are their friendship to our brethren the
Moslims, and their sincerity to them, and their cordiality with them,
and their helpfulness to our two Sultans, ʿAbd e’ Rahmán and ʿAbd el
Mejíd. This is publicly known and acknowledged about the English. It is,
therefore, our right and duty to show gratitude for their kindness, and
to strengthen whatever covenant and confidence there is between us and
them. And I particularly apply this to you, my brethren! Therefore,
whoever belongs to the jurisdiction of our Tawárek, the people of
Karidénne, the kingdom of Alkúttabu ben Kawa ben Imma ben Ig e’ Sheikh
ben Karidénne; and then whoever is behind them of my companions and
friends, Dinnik, the kingdom of my brother, and nephew, and pupil, Músa
ben Bodhál ben Katim[119]; then those behind them of our partisans the
people of Aïr, the Kél-gerés and the Kél-owí; then our darlings, Ála
Fódíye, their learned men, the intelligent and humane, who have the
ordinances and the right of decision, on them be my salutation and el
Islám! the people of the Imám, the high-minded, the son of Bello, the
Imám ben ʿOthmân, the perfect. For, lo! my guest is a guest of theirs,
who has nothing to fear among them, since they profess obedience to
God[120], and know that He protects the ordinances. And especially as
their lord, the Imám Mohammed Bello—God favour him!—said to me, and
wrote to me, with his own hand, that he and his kingdom were at my
disposal so long as it was strung on his string[121]; therefore I have
authority, and I admonish you about my and your guest, indeed about
whatever Englishman shall come after him, whether he come to me, or pass
near you, or abide among you for a time and then return. And what I
demand and charge you, the same injunction I lay on my brethren (though
I have not seen them with my eyes, I have seen them by my faith, and I
count kindred with them by the ties of religion), the people of Bórnu,
especially the Sheikh ʿOmár ben Mohammed the Emír, the Just. Then let
not that which is dreaded hinder you![122] Lo, he is a distinguished man
among the Christians.[123] However there are between us and them such
protectors of El Islám, and champions[124] of the peoples (the
Christians), that if they break through them to get at us, and attack
us, there is no good of life, and no sufficiency in a host. But God is
our reliance: surely He outwits every deceiver, betrays every traitor,
and makes every unbeliever a liar. For He says, in his book, to us, and
to his Prophet, ‘God is your stay, and those of the believers that
follow you.’[125] ‘If they try to deceive you, then God is your support.
It is He that has strengthened you with His help, and with the faithful,
and has united their hearts.[126] It is, then, by the religion of God
that we are exalted, and are victorious. Religion is weak only through
its professors[127]. The blessing of the Book of God, and the blessing
of his Prophet, be on us and with us! So let not fear seize any Moslim
that they should deceive him and cheat him, on the ground that there is
rebellion against the cause of God among them, and that the Sunna of His
Prophet is violated among them. And whatever there is of slaughter and
battle with him, let him suppress it for its day; for the weakest of men
in sense, and the mightiest of them in ignorance, is he who rushes to
evil when its season has not come, and who is no match for it on the day
when it arrives. And as for me, brethren! I have written for the
Englishman specially a general safe-conduct, in which I have included
every one in my land, and have added thereto your land, in reliance on
your religion and your sure conviction, and in dependence on your
intelligence and humanity. Do you then write for him as I have written,
on the condition of our being subject to our Imám, our Lord, ʿAbd e’
Rahmán, and our Sultan, ʿAbd el Mejíd; and be not like the people of
Núkkuma, for they are like the deaf and dumb, since they are offensive
to me. Lo, I love my guest the Christian! Be careful that he be not
hindered in anything; for the Prophet used to love the Kuraish in spite
of their unbelief in him and their hostility to him. God says, ‘There
has come to you a Prophet from yourselves; grievous to him is your
wickedness; he is anxious about you.’[128] And he said to him, ‘Thou
wilt not direct whomsoever thou lovest.’[129] And he used to love his
uncles, and to delight in their conversion to El Islám, especially Ábú
Táleb; except that he knew the decrees of God about the community, and
was liable to them together with the community. The most ignorant of men
is he who is ignorant of the Book of his Lord and the Sunna of his
Prophet, so that he licenses for himself what is unlawful, and forbids
what is lawful, and draws near to Him with that which removes him to a
distance from Him, and keeps aloof from that which brings him near to
Him; who fancies that he does well as to his actions, while he does evil
as to what is enjoined. God is not worshipped by any act (or rite) but
what he has ordered, and is not approached by a worshipper that he
should remit anything but what is remitted. Now salutation is what is
reiterated to you, and honour is what is wished to you! Farewell!
[Footnote 100: Sur. lx. 9.]
[Footnote 101: Sur. iii. 69.]
[Footnote 102: _i.e._ People of the Book, Jews or Christians.]
[Footnote 103: معاشر]
[Footnote 104: Sur. xi. 77.]
[Footnote 105: Sur. v. 16.]
[Footnote 106: The name of some bitter tree. This story is told in
Mishkât el Masâbih, vol. ii. 394.; but _assâm_ (_destruction_) is the
word there used.]
[Footnote 107: Sur. ix. 74.]
[Footnote 108: Sur. lviii. 22.]
[Footnote 109: Sur. lx. 8.]
[Footnote 110: Sur. ii. 79.]
[Footnote 111: مُحَارِبٌ]
[Footnote 112: This is a noted personage in the Kurán.]
[Footnote 113: الفِقْه]
[Footnote 114: That is, _main principle_ on which you base your wish to
hurt a Christian; or it means _pretence_.]
[Footnote 115: That is, the Fúlbe of Másina. About Núkkuma, or Núkuma,
see the note, Vol. V., p. 517.]
[Footnote 116: الفَرْض]
[Footnote 117: This passage rhymes in the original, and seems to be
quoted from some familiar source; but it is not in the Kurán.]
[Footnote 118: Sur. lv. 60.]
[Footnote 119: See about the Dinnik, p. 562.]
[Footnote 120: ما انتظم في سلكه]
[Footnote 121: ناسبتهم بِنسَبٍ رحمانى]
[Footnote 122: _i.e._ Be not deterred by fear.]
[Footnote 123: إِنَّهُ عَيْنٌ لِلَنصَارَى]
[Footnote 124: El Bakáy means the Emperor of Morocco and the Sultan.]
[Footnote 125: Sur. viii. 65.]
[Footnote 126: Sur. viii. 64.]
[Footnote 127: فَإِنَّ ضَعْفَ الدِينِ مِنْ اَهْلِهِ]
[Footnote 128: Sur. ix. 129.]
[Footnote 129: Sur. xxviii. 56.]