₦airaland Forum

Baaballiyo:
I do not think she speaks Fulfulde well, but she understands it well because she was once married to a Fulani man from Adamawa (Mubi)and lived there for almost 20yrs after her marriage with the Emir's father ( Ciroma Aminu Sanusi) was dissolved by Emir Sanusi 1. So the present Emir (sanusi 2) have half brothers and sisters that speak Fulfulde fluently, but he and his full sister donot speak or even understand Fulfulde.

As for the Sultan not speaking Fulfulde that is normal for fulbe Royal houses in the North~West, non of them speak it any longer due to a policy which the Shehu ( Usman bi fodiyo ) himself promulgated in secret to all fulbe Royal houses after the Jihad was successful.

Baaballiyo, your posts are always very instructive. I wouldn't be surprised if you were a Sullubawa Dabo .
Can you elaborate about the policy that was promulgated in secret by the Shehu?

GorkoSusaay:
Baaballiyo, your posts are always very instructive. I wouldn't be surprised if you were a Sullubawa Dabo .
Can you elaborate about the policy that was promulgated in secret by the Shehu?

Apologies, for not responding in time; too much events conspired against the will to reply.


After the jihad was successful Sokoto city was built and made the administrative Capital of the Caliphate. But a little confusion arose as to which language should be used for administrative correspondence, so most were supporting the use of fulfulde, this was then refered to Shehu and Shehu asked them " Was this jihad of ours undertaken to promote the fulbe course (race) or to promote the Islamic faith ? They answered that the jihad was to promote the Islamic faith. Then he said;

Those who imposed their language and culture upon a subdued territory are conquerors not Jihaadist. Our struggles were undertaken to promote the Islamic faith, to free the poor from being oppressed and promote their faith and well being not to impose upon them our language and culture.

Thenceforward the following policy was enacted and communicated to all Fulani Amirs secretly.

1. All official correspondence should be made in Arabic or Hausa Languages.

2. In areas were Hausa is not the common language the lingua franca of that area should be used as the official language of that area.
They were also advised/cautioned not to do anything that will make their subjects feel their language or culture is inferior to that of the Fulani.

This policy made all fulbe royal houses in Hausa land conduct their official affairs mostly in Hausa language since Arabic was not commonly spoken. So at the initial stage fulfulde was relegated to domestic lives of the royals. But still within their houses apart from their immediate family most of their servants, coutiers and bodyguards were of Hausa extraction or speak Hausa, so it meant they tend to speak more Hausa officially and domestically. The second generation of the royals became proficient in both Hausa and fulfulde but from their third generation downward Hausa overtook fulfulde as their first language up to a point that they can't speak it anymore. By my own deductions the last emir of Kano to speak fulfulde fluently was Amir Muhammad Bello (r. 1882-1893) , Tukur, Aliyu Babba, Abbas and Usman were also believed to have speak it partially ( not fluently ) .


It is interesting to know that although Shehu was not alive when Ilorin, Nupe, and kontagora were captured but this policy was also applied there, that is why today their fulbe royals speak only the local language of those areas as their first languages, I think that's what made people like "Lawani" think the emirs of Ilorin are not of Fulani descent.


But the case is different for the Northeastern part of the caliphate in areas like Adamawaa, Gombe, Muri/Jalingo and some part of Bauchi emirates, the policy can not be applied in these areas because, they do not speak Hausa at that time and do not have a lingua franca, the region consisted of a mosaic of small pagan tribes that did not have any common language. So the fulbe royals over there were abled to hold onto their language and culture and were also abled to conduct both their domestic and official affairs in fulfulde this lead to many locals learn fulfulde, there was a time when fulfulde in this region was the lingua franca, but gradually it gave way to the encroaching and conquering power of the indomitable Hausa language. Today Hausa language is the lingua franca of that region. I believe that is why up to present the Fulanis in this region are speaking fulfulde.
NOTE: Even these areas that do not speak Hausa did not correspond with Sokoto or Gwandu ( as the case may be) in fulfulde, they mostly used Arabic.

I called it a secret policy because it was not transmitted in writing to all Amirs but verbally.

CC:
Maisuya1.

No apologies needed at all, Sir. Everyone has his obligations outside of Nairaland .

Thank you for the answer. Informative as always. There's so much to write about our culture, about Shehu, about Kano, about Nigeria...etc.
The policy was very fair to the body of people, but it saddens me still .

Emir Muhammad Bello of Kano seems to be one of the most interesting figures. If I recall correctly, the Kano chronicle was compiled during his reign and you said also, that he wrote a History of Kano, later completed by the Emir Bayero. I have to get these books....

Baaballiyo:
Apologies, for not responding in time; too much events conspired against the will to reply.


After the jihad was successful Sokoto city was built and made the administrative Capital of the Caliphate. But a little confusion arose as to which language should be used for administrative correspondence, so most were supporting the use of fulfulde, this was then refered to Shehu and Shehu asked them " Was this jihad of ours undertaken to promote the fulbe course (race) or to promote the Islamic faith ? They answered that the jihad was to promote the Islamic faith. Then he said;

Those who imposed their language and culture upon a subdued territory are conquerors not Jihaadist. Our struggles were undertaken to promote the Islamic faith, to free the poor from being oppressed and promote their faith and well being not to impose upon them our language and culture.

Thenceforward the following policy was enacted and communicated to all Fulani Amirs secretly.

1. All official correspondence should be made in Arabic or Hausa Languages.

2. In areas were Hausa is not the common language the lingua franca of that area should be used as the official language of that area.
They were also advised/cautioned not to do anything that will make their subjects feel their language or culture is inferior to that of the Fulani.

This policy made all fulbe royal houses in Hausa land conduct their official affairs mostly in Hausa language since Arabic was not commonly spoken. So at the initial stage fulfulde was relegated to domestic lives of the royals. But still within their houses apart from their immediate family most of their servants, coutiers and bodyguards were of Hausa extraction or speak Hausa, so it meant they tend to speak more Hausa officially and domestically. The second generation of the royals became proficient in both Hausa and fulfulde but from their third generation downward Hausa overtook fulfulde as their first language up to a point that they can't speak it anymore. By my own deductions the last emir of Kano to speak fulfulde fluently was Amir Muhammad Bello (r. 1882-1893) , Tukur, Aliyu Babba, Abbas and Usman were also believed to have speak it partially ( not fluently ) .


It is interesting to know that although Shehu was not alive when Ilorin, Nupe, and kontagora were captured but this policy was also applied there, that is why today their fulbe royals speak only the local language of those areas as their first languages, I think that's what made people like "Lawani" think the emirs of Ilorin are not of Fulani descent.


But the case is different for the Northeastern part of the caliphate in areas like Adamawaa, Gombe, Muri/Jalingo and some part of Bauchi emirates, the policy can not be applied in these areas because, they do not speak Hausa at that time and do not have a lingua franca, the region consisted of a mosaic of small pagan tribes that did not have any common language. So the fulbe royals over there were abled to hold onto their language and culture and were also abled to conduct both their domestic and official affairs in fulfulde this lead to many locals learn fulfulde, there was a time when fulfulde in this region was the lingua franca, but gradually it gave way to the encroaching and conquering power of the indomitable Hausa language. Today Hausa language is the lingua franca of that region.
NOTE: Even these areas that do not speak Hausa did not correspond with Sokoto or Gwandu ( as the case may be) in fulfulde, they mostly used Arabic.

I called it a secret policy because it was not transmitted in writing to all Amirs but verbally.

CC:
Maisuya.

GorkoSusaay:
No apologies needed at all, Sir. Everyone has his obligations outside of Nairaland .

Thank you for the answer. Informative as always. There's so much to write about our culture, about Shehu, about Kano, about Nigeria...etc.
The policy was very fair to the body of people, but it saddens me still .

Emir Muhammad Bello of Kano seems to be one of the most interesting figures. If I recall correctly, the Kano chronicle was compiled during his reign and you said also, that he wrote a History of Kano, later completed by the Emir Bayero. I have to get these books....

It's sad indeed but we're "Torodbe" ( the fula islamic movement ) first before anything else, that was the mentality then, so we value religion above anything.

There's a lot to write especially in terms of online resources. But one thing we're careless about in Nigeria is our history. Especially in the North.

Amir Bello was the last of the Fulani 2nd generation Kano Amirs, the last of the greatest greats.

Please is jalingo part of fulani town.

mujaya1:
Please is jalingo part of fulani town.

It was once part of the Fulani Sokoto empire, it was first under the emirate of Gombe and later became part of Muri Emirate.

Baaballiyo:
Apologies, for not responding in time; too much events conspired against the will to reply.


After the jihad was successful Sokoto city was built and made the administrative Capital of the Caliphate. But a little confusion arose as to which language should be used for administrative correspondence, so most were supporting the use of fulfulde, this was then refered to Shehu and Shehu asked them " Was this jihad of ours undertaken to promote the fulbe course (race) or to promote the Islamic faith ? They answered that the jihad was to promote the Islamic faith. Then he said;

Those who imposed their language and culture upon a subdued territory are conquerors not Jihaadist. Our struggles were undertaken to promote the Islamic faith, to free the poor from being oppressed and promote their faith and well being not to impose upon them our language and culture.

Thenceforward the following policy was enacted and communicated to all Fulani Amirs secretly.

1. All official correspondence should be made in Arabic or Hausa Languages.

2. In areas were Hausa is not the common language the lingua franca of that area should be used as the official language of that area.
They were also advised/cautioned not to do anything that will make their subjects feel their language or culture is inferior to that of the Fulani.

This policy made all fulbe royal houses in Hausa land conduct their official affairs mostly in Hausa language since Arabic was not commonly spoken. So at the initial stage fulfulde was relegated to domestic lives of the royals. But still within their houses apart from their immediate family most of their servants, coutiers and bodyguards were of Hausa extraction or speak Hausa, so it meant they tend to speak more Hausa officially and domestically. The second generation of the royals became proficient in both Hausa and fulfulde but from their third generation downward Hausa overtook fulfulde as their first language up to a point that they can't speak it anymore. By my own deductions the last emir of Kano to speak fulfulde fluently was Amir Muhammad Bello (r. 1882-1893) , Tukur, Aliyu Babba, Abbas and Usman were also believed to have speak it partially ( not fluently ) .


It is interesting to know that although Shehu was not alive when Ilorin, Nupe, and kontagora were captured but this policy was also applied there, that is why today their fulbe royals speak only the local language of those areas as their first languages, I think that's what made people like "Lawani" think the emirs of Ilorin are not of Fulani descent.


But the case is different for the Northeastern part of the caliphate in areas like Adamawaa, Gombe, Muri/Jalingo and some part of Bauchi emirates, the policy can not be applied in these areas because, they do not speak Hausa at that time and do not have a lingua franca, the region consisted of a mosaic of small pagan tribes that did not have any common language. So the fulbe royals over there were abled to hold onto their language and culture and were also abled to conduct both their domestic and official affairs in fulfulde this lead to many locals learn fulfulde, there was a time when fulfulde in this region was the lingua franca, but gradually it gave way to the encroaching and conquering power of the indomitable Hausa language. Today Hausa language is the lingua franca of that region. I believe that is why up to present the Fulanis in this region are speaking fulfulde.
NOTE: Even these areas that do not speak Hausa did not correspond with Sokoto or Gwandu ( as the case may be) in fulfulde, they mostly used Arabic.

I called it a secret policy because it was not transmitted in writing to all Amirs but verbally.

CC:
Maisuya1.

"It is interesting to know
that although Shehu was
not alive when Ilorin,
Nupe," sorry bro, but those lines sounds like you're one of those that believed Sheu Alimi to be Sheu bin Fodi's student which is not true

Roozzaay:
"It is interesting to know
that although Shehu was
not alive when Ilorin,
Nupe," sorry bro, but those lines sounds like you're one of those that believed Sheu Alimi to be Sheu bin Fodi's student which is not true

Ilorin was not under Fulani rule during the life time of Shehu Alimi it only fell to Fulani under his son Abdussalam, and the fact that he (Abdussalam) receive the green standard (Flag) from Gwandu in addition to re-inforcements, makes him a student of Shehu bn Fodio.

Baaballiyo:
Ilorin was not under Fulani rule during the life time of Shehu Alimi it only fell to Fulani under his son Abdussalam, and the fact that he (Abdussalam) receive the green standard (Flag) from Gwandu in addition to re-inforcements, makes him a student of Shehu bn Fodio.

No bro, Sheu Alimi with the help of believing Yorubas and Nupes defeated Afonja (the then Generalisimo of Yorubas) before proceeding with the Jihad to the South-West reaching Ile-Ife.

Roozzaay:
No bro, Sheu Alimi with the help of believing Yorubas and Nupes defeated Afonja (the then Generalisimo of Yorubas) before proceeding with the Jihad to the South-West reaching Ile-Ife.

Interesting ! This is the first time am hearing this version can you please direct me to your source, because even the lists of Ilorin Emirs started with the name of Abdussalami dan Alimi, not Salih Janta (Shehu Alimi). Besides Afonja outlived the Shehu not the other way round.

Baaballiyo:
Interesting ! This is the first time am hearing this version can you please direct me to your source, because even the lists of Ilorin Emirs started with the name of Abdussalami dan Alimi, not Salih Janta (Shehu Alimi). Besides Afonja outlived the Shehu not the other way round.

I'm sorry, i won't be able to name any source now but promise to do that later. But every available oral sources from Ilorin and even among the Yorubas, made it clear that Sheu actually defeated Afonja, never mind some missionaries accounts on the issue, almost all of them were biased in their writings on the subject matter. Sheu Adam Abdullah Al-Ilory wrote many books about it.

Roozzaay:
I'm sorry, i won't be able to name any source now but promise to do that later. But every available oral sources from Ilorin and even among the Yorubas, made it clear that Sheu actually defeated Afonja, never mind some missionaries accounts on the issue, almost all of them were biased in their writings on the subject matter. Sheu Adam Abdullah Al-Ilory wrote many books about it.

I would surely be waiting, and I also prefer local/native/oral accounts to those written by Europeans, since it seems you are an insider to the info be generous enough to share it with us. Thanks.

Roozzaay:
I'm sorry, i won't be able to name any source now but promise to do that later. But every available oral sources from Ilorin and even among the Yorubas, made it clear that Sheu actually defeated Afonja, never mind some missionaries accounts on the issue, almost all of them were biased in their writings on the subject matter. Sheu Adam Abdullah Al-Ilory wrote many books about it.

I would surely be waiting, and I also prefer local/native/oral accounts to those written by Europeans, since it seems you are an insider to the info be generous and share it with us. Thanks.

Roozzaay:
No bro, Sheu Alimi with the help of believing Yorubas and Nupes defeated Afonja (the then Generalisimo of Yorubas) before proceeding with the Jihad to the South-West reaching Ile-Ife.

The Jihadists never reached Ile-Ife, bro.

Wow. That's all I have to say.

Fulaman198:
Fulbe, bibbe fulbe lessdi afrika, mi noddi on! I want to share this video no matter if you are a Nigerian Fulani, Guinean Fulani, Mauritanian Fulani, Senegalese Fulani, Nigerien (from Niger Republic) Fulani, Ghanaian Fulani, Chadian Fulani, Malian Fulani, Sierra Leonian Fulani, Cameroonian, Fulani, Burkinabe Fulani, etc. etc. you need to remember your culture and your root. A Fulani man or woman does not eat alone and is always giving to those around them. Be finatawa men! Allah wallu en!


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9SExQ1EuzKM

In this song, even though his accent is not a Fulani accent, Vieux is right about the practises of Fulani custom.

^^^^^^
^^^^^^

Eyyah but I can't speak Fulbe

Hello all, I have a transcription job. Fulani transcription and translation. If you can so it please pm me or call 07037348181 or ebony4pink@gmail. com. The payment is good. And we can be given you job on regular basis.