Ahmad of Bornu
| Ahmad | |
|---|---|
| Mai of the Kanem–Bornu Empire | |
| Reign | 1791–1808 |
| Predecessor | Ali IV |
| Successor | Dunama IX Lefiami |
| Issue | Dunama IX Lefiami Ibrahim IV |
| Dynasty | Sayfawa dynasty |
| Father | Ali IV |
Ahmad (Aḥmad bin ʿAlī[1]), also called Ahmad Alimi,[2] was the mai of the Kanem–Bornu Empire in 1791–1808.[1]
Life
[edit]Ahmad succeeded his father Ali IV[3] as mai in 1791.[1] Ahmad was a pious and gentle scholar, not a military man.[3] Ahmad ruled a severely weakend Kanem–Bornu Empire. In the decades prior to Ahmad's reign, the empire had suffered defeats against the Mandara Kingdom to the southwest. The empire may have suffered from a plague during Ahmad's reign, leaving it vulnerable to attack.[2]
Near the end of Ahmad's reign,[3] by 1807 at the latest,[4] the Kanem–Bornu Empire became threatened by the Fula jihads.[3] When Daura was attacked by Fulani forces, Ahmad sent assistance to the town.[3] To Ahmad's eyes, the Fulani attacks in his realm amounted to a Fulani revolt against his rule. Ahmad sent a letter to Usman dan Fodio, commander of the movement, inquiring of the cause of the attacks. Ahmad stated that his people were Muslim, that he considered himself to be the Commander of the Faithful in Bornu, and that the attacks were thus unjust. Usman replied that he had not known of these initial attacks and invited the mai to join him in their struggle. Ahmad refused since the Fulani had engaged in hostility against him and his people.[2]
In 1808, the Fulani drove Ahmad's forces out of Nguru, which left the way open to Ngazargamu, the Kanem–Bornu capital.[3] In March 1808,[3] the Fulani captured and destroyed Ngazargamu.[5] The imperial treasury, and some captured royal princesses, were sent as spoils of war to Usman dan Fodio.[2] Ahmad had escaped from the capital with as many of his family and courtiers as he could gather. Their party made their way as far east as they could get, close to Lake Chad, and gathered his advisors to decide the next course of action. Most of the empire south and west of the destroyed capital had also been devastated by the Fulani, leaving the empire on the brink of collapse. Ahmad was an elderly ruler by this point and had become blind with age. Ahmad decided to abdicate in favor of his son, Dunama IX Lefiami.[2] Many of Ahmad's advisors accepted the abdication only reluctantly since it improper for the mai to end their reign before death. Ahmad died just a few months after his abdication.[2]
References
[edit]- ^ a b c Bosworth, Clifford Edmund (2012) [1996]. The New Islamic Dynasties: A Chronological and Genealogical Manual. Edinburgh University Press. p. 127. ISBN 0-7486-2137-7.
- ^ a b c d e f Brenner, Louis (1973). The Shehus of Kukawa: a history of the Al-Kanemi dynasty of Bornu. Clarendon Press. pp. 25, 30–32. ISBN 978-0-19-821681-0.
- ^ a b c d e f g Hogben, Sidney John (1967). An Introduction to the History of the Islamic States of Northern Nigeria. Oxford University Press. p. 169.
- ^ Lavers, John E. (1993). "The al-Kanimiyyin Shehus: a working chronology". Berichte des Sonderforschungsbereichs. 268 (2): 179–186.
- ^ Stapleton, Timothy J. (2013). A Military History of Africa: The Precolonial Period: From Ancient Egypt to the Zulu Kingdom (Earliest Times to ca. 1870). Bloomsbury Publishing. p. 81. ISBN 978-0313395697.
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