₦airaland Forum

The legend was centered on the activities of one Bayajjida or Abu-Yazid. He was believed to be a prince from the kingdom of Baghdad in the Middle East. According to the story, he was a white skinned adventurer probably from Arab extraction. He was said to have developed a misunderstanding with his father the king of Baghdad and ran out of the kingdom with some of his loyalists due to that confusion. His movement took him to western Africa where he first took residence in Kanem Empire.
The Mai (king) of Kanem sheltered him and gave him his daughter Magira Daud to marry. The king separated him from his followers and this did not go down well with him. Having lost his followers, he became afraid of his life and fled westwards leaving his wife and the son of that union called Biram. On his way, he met a blacksmith and requested that a sword be made for him.
On his way he came to a town called Daura. The town as at that time was ruled by a woman queen called Dauranama. In Daura, he observed that the town was facing a major problem. The only well from where they got their water had a snake in it. The snake will not allow people to draw water form the well anytime it comes out. Bayajjida attacked and killed the snake. This act of bravery made the queen to marry him and made him to settle down in Daura. The union between Dauranama the queen and Bayajjida produced a son called Bawo.
Bawo was said to have gotten six sons who are believed to be the founders of six Hausa kingdoms. They were Kano, Rano, Katsina, Zaria (Zazzau), Gobir,and Daura. All these together with Biram the son of Bayajjida and the daughter of Mai of Kanem make up the Hausa Bakwoi States (the legitimate ones).
The queen as well was said to have made a concubine available for Bayajjida. The claim was that union of Bayajjida and the concubine produced sons namely Kebbi, Zamfara, Gwari, Jukun, Ilorin, Nupe and Yauna. These seven sons were according to the claim were the founders of another seven kingdoms. They are referred to as the Hausa Banza Bakwoi (illegitimate states).
Critical Analysis
The theorists of this claim believe that it can explain the origin of the Hausa but the legend has a whole lot of unresolved issues or make up.
1) This theory tends to explain to some level the foundation of some Hausa kingdoms. The theorists claim that it explains the origin of the Hausa is very wrong and unacceptable based on analysis.
2) The explanation about Daura and her queen created a picture of an already existing people with an organized political structured headed by a queen. For someone to claim that a visitor founded an already existing people may not be a very acceptable fact.
3) According to the tradition of the foundation of Gobir, Bawo was not mention as having played any role. The tradition did not explain the kinship or link towards Bawo or his father Bayajjida.


www.africablast.com/2013/05/the-legend-was-centered-on-activities.html?m=1



cc Lalasticlala fynestboi Philosopher Historian

GST 111

False of course

scholes0:
False of course

What exactly is your problem. This is false but the oduduwa trash is true. Smh
@fulaman,fulanimafia nd co hw come buhari is fulani man from daura if the same daura is regarded of one of the true hausa state

darfay:
What exactly is your problem. This is false but the oduduwa trash is true. Smh
@fulaman,fulanimafia nd co hw come buhari is fulani man from daura if the same daura is regarded of one of the true hausa state

It's because of the Fulani conquests of Usmanu Danfodiyo, the founder of the Sokoto caliphate.

Origin of Hausa? I say no, rather a fictitious tale, a very interesting one, but just a myth.

I think if you read the story you'd see the part that explicitly states that bayajidda met some people. I think the bayajidda story will be better suited to explain the origin of the language not the people, the language is afro asiatic afterall. But as to dp origin of the hausa people, that you cannot prove,I think the diversity of the hausa people proves that the hausas even the truest are not of the same ethnicity rather unified by the umbrella of language and culture.

ValhallaDrabek:
I think if you read the story you'd see the part that explicitly states that bayajidda met some people. I think the bayajidda story will be better suited to explain the origin of the language not the people, the language is afro asiatic afterall. But as to dp origin of the hausa people, that you cannot prove,I think the diversity of the hausa people proves that the hausas even the truest are not of the same ethnicity rather unified by the umbrella of language and culture.

So It's a fact to you? Not a myth..

Freemanan:
So It's a fact to you? Not a myth..

It's plausible concerning the theory of the origin of language, but that of him being the progenitor of the hausa people is very questionable.

ValhallaDrabek:
It's plausible concerning the theory of the origin of language, but that of him being the progenitor of the hausa people is very questionable.

I thought so too... And moreover, Iraq and West Africa aren't two places to tag along when Migrating...

Something that sometimes bothers me about these stories is this. They say the journey begins in the middle east. But how did they manage to cross the sahara desert in those days to get to west Africa? Or was there another route?

Cc freemanan

Teempakguy:
Something that sometimes bothers me about these stories is this. They say the journey begins in the middle east. But how did they manage to cross the sahara desert in those days to get to west Africa? Or was there another route?

Cc freemanan

If that is your cause of argument then you are utterly clueless. How did middle eastern scholars and traders make it to west Africa back then I ask?

ValhallaDrabek:
If that is your cause of argument then you are utterly clueless. How did middle eastern scholars and traders make it to west Africa back then I ask?

I'm utterly clueless. You're indeed very right.
I've never heard a chance to study them. Which is why I'm asking you guys. After all, we are all here to learn from each other.

Teempakguy:
I'm utterly clueless. You're indeed very right.
I've never heard a chance to study them. Which is why I'm asking you guys. After all, we are all here to learn from each other.

I think a reliable route would be through north Africa and then proceed to west Africa. They cross the sahara like they cross desert in the Arabian peninsula. Camels are reliable means of transport.

1. coming from Baghdad
2. the illegitimate sons

these two are false cus there's no way a man can travel that distance in one lifetime...he didn't see any city to reside permanently? hard to believe

Nupe had a different history of their origin, Ilorin was founded by Yorubas

infact I doubt all the names listed there. ..they just appear cus at one time or another Hausa led by fulanis controlled those cities

darfay:
What exactly is your problem. This is false but the oduduwa trash is true. Smh
@fulaman,fulanimafia nd co hw come buhari is fulani man from daura if the same daura is regarded of one of the true hausa state

Oduduwa story is not false it has only been distorted by many ignorant folks
but there are still some who hold the true story

Teempakguy:
Something that sometimes bothers me about these stories is this. They say the journey begins in the middle east. But how did they manage to cross the sahara desert in those days to get to west Africa? Or was there another route?

Cc freemanan

just like igbos love to claim israel

look muslims will love to claim arab origin
Christians and religious jews will love Jewish origin

macof:
Oduduwa story is not false it has only been distorted by many ignorant folks
but there are still some who hold the true story

Oduduwa met an already existing yoruba people in ife nd sent his son to rule over an already existing yoruba states.

darfay:
Oduduwa met an already existing yoruba people in ife nd sent his son to rule over an already existing yoruba states.

To add more CLARITY to your post, the real Oduduwa was ORIGINALLY from another Yoruba community called Oke Ora in the same Osun State which is just 8 miles away from the current Ile Ife (spelled and pronounced as "Ufe" in the Ife dialect). This is why BEFORE a new Ooni (Oba) of Ife is to be crowned, he has to go to Oke Ora as part of the Ile Ife ceremonial rites of crowning a NEW traditional ruler. As a person who is a veteran of world, African, and Nigerian history right from the early 1980s, I can confirm these historical and archaeological traditions are LARGELY accurate based off of the works of the iconic historians such as the Emeritus Professor Akinjide Osuntokun (who clocked 80 as of 2022 and he was Nigeria's former Ambassador to Germany), Professor Banji Akintoye, then the U.S.-based Professor Toyin Falola, and much more.

Just as you rightly stated, Oduduwa met people already there in modern Ile Ife who constituted the ancestors of the current Oba of the oil and gas-rich Ugbo Kingdom [The Olugbo of Ugbo Kingdom, Oba Frederick Akinrutan, the oil and gas mogul founder of Obat Petroleum, and the Forbes-listed richest traditional ruler in Nigeria] in the Ilaje area of Ondo State who are pure Yorubas from Ife as well.

The Oduduwa Dynasty is regarded as the beginning of the 3rd Dynasty in Ufe (Ile Ife) as CLEARLY stated in an interview I read 3 years by the current Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Enitan Ogunwusi. It's the 3rd Dynasty because other people and Dynasties have existed in what is now known as Ife many centuries BEFORE Oduduwa was even born and arrived in modern Ife slightly over 1,000 years ago from the mountainous hills of Oke Ora (Oke means hilly mountain in Yoruba while "Ora" is the name of a Yoruba deity).

So, Oduduwa is ALSO NOT the ORIGINAL founder of ALL the modern Yoruba-speaking people [as being FALSELY bandied around by some non-Yoruba folks who are NOT familiar with the original Ufe (Ile Ife) history, including Yoruba history and cosmology] BUT is just one of the many Yoruba ancestors from centuries ago. Oduduwa is however credited with being the progenitor of the vast number of Yoruba kings or Obas today with the exception of some Obas such as Frederick Akinrutan who is CLEARLY descended from the original ruling Dynasty that existed in Ife before the arrival of Oduduwa from Oke Ora to start the 3rd Dynasty. Ifa divination was then consulted and Oba Frederick Akinrutan's forebears where instructed by Ifa divination to stop the sporadic battlefield attacks on Oduduwa's team and move to another location. The family compounds and family lineages of the original people in Ife before Oduduwa arrived still exist in Ife and intermarriages have taken place among them and the Oduduwa Dynasty descendants.

Hope this helps.

OP: @Freemanan. Aug 22, 2022

The legend was centered on the activities of one Bayajjida or Abu-Yazid. He was believed to be a prince from the kingdom of Baghdad in the Middle East. According to the story, he was a white skinned adventurer probably from Arab extraction. He was said to have developed a misunderstanding with his father the king of Baghdad and ran out of the kingdom with some of his loyalists due to that confusion. His movement took him to western Africa where he first took residence in Kanem Empire.

The Mai (king) of Kanem sheltered him and gave him his daughter Magira Daud to marry. The king separated him from his followers and this did not go down well with him. Having lost his followers, he became afraid of his life and fled westwards leaving his wife and the son of that union called Biram. On his way, he met a blacksmith and requested that a sword be made for him.

On his way he came to a town called Daura. The town as at that time was ruled by a woman queen called Dauranama. In Daura, he observed that the town was facing a major problem. The only well from where they got their water had a snake in it. The snake will not allow people to draw water form the well anytime it comes out. Bayajjida attacked and killed the snake. This act of bravery made the queen to marry him and made him to settle down in Daura. The union between Dauranama the queen and Bayajjida produced a son called Bawo.

Bawo was said to have gotten six sons who are believed to be the founders of six Hausa kingdoms. They were Kano, Rano, Katsina, Zaria (Zazzau), Gobir,and Daura. All these together with Biram the son of Bayajjida and the daughter of Mai of Kanem make up the Hausa Bakwoi States (the legitimate ones).
The queen as well was said to have made a concubine available for Bayajjida. The claim was that union of Bayajjida and the concubine produced sons namely Kebbi, Zamfara, Gwari, Jukun, Ilorin, Nupe and Yauna. These seven sons were according to the claim were the founders of another seven kingdoms. They are referred to as the Hausa Banza Bakwoi (illegitimate states).


Critical Analysis
The theorists of this claim believe that it can explain the origin of the Hausa but the legend has a whole lot of unresolved issues or make up.

1) This theory tends to explain to some level the foundation of some Hausa kingdoms. The theorists claim that it explains the origin of the Hausa is very wrong and unacceptable based on analysis.

2) The explanation about Daura and her queen created a picture of an already existing people with an organized political structured headed by a queen. For someone to claim that a visitor founded an already existing people may not be a very acceptable fact.

3) According to the tradition of the foundation of Gobir, Bawo was not mention as having played any role. The tradition did not explain the kinship or link towards Bawo or his father Bayajjida.


www.africablast.com/2013/05/the-legend-was-centered-on-activities.html?m=1

Interesting takes.

Based off of my prior knowledge of Northern Nigeria history and ethnic origins, I can say WITHOUT a shadow of doubt that:


This is ABSOLUTELY a fictional work of history as the story itself states that the Bayajidda figure met people in Hausaland. This is just a myth referencing the arrival of an alleged new dynasty who was married to a Kanuri maiden, the alleged daughter of the Mai of Kanem-Borno. The Mai is the older title of the traditional rulers or Kings of Kanem-Borno.

However, it's historically TRUE that some Arabs OR Shuwa Arabs known also as "Black Arabs" migrated from modern Sudan and settled in the midst of the larger indigenous Kanuris of Borno, and you will still find them in Borno till today and the minority Shuwa Arabs are officially listed among one of the 250 ethnic groups in Nigeria.

The Bayajidda legend is just a story that suggests that an Arab guy from Baghdad in Iraq came into West Africa via Kanem-Borno [which is very plausible because some Arabs have long visited North Africa over 2,000 years ago even before the full Arab jihadist invasion and conquests from the Arabian Peninsula in the Middle East of North Africa and later the relentless attacks and conquest of the Nubian area now located within the geographical area of the countries of North Sudan and South Sudan from after the period Muhammed the prophet of Islam died in the 600s BCE (7th Century BCE)].

Ilorin itself was founded ORIGINALLY by the Yorubas of the Oyo Empire and the British Colonialists such as Sir Allan Burns, the former Governor General and Acting Governor General of the Gold Coast and Nigeria respectively, CLEARLY acknowledged that Ilorin is Yoruba-speaking and part of the Yorubaland in his famous history book, "The History of Nigeria" of which I have a physical copy in my home library which was published in the 1920s.

The original Hausa folks ALSO have very distinct negroid features as well and do NOT have Arab physical features.

Last but NOT least, this insidious Bayajidda legend has a very strong undertone of the well-known minority ethnic Fulani propaganda after the foreign Fulani jihad conquests in Northern Nigeria from 1803 as can be seen from the highly IRRESPONSIBLE inclusion of distinct ethnic groups of Nupe, Gwari, Jukun, and the singling out of ONLY Ilorin among the Yoruba-speaking towns as part of the so-called "banza bakwoi" or "7 illegitimate states" in Hausa language allegedly descended from the 7 children of the alleged concubine concubine of the mythical Bayajidda figure as stated in the 4th paragraph of the original post of this thread.