Part 1: Early Islamic to Pre Colonial EraWeek 6:The Palace Harem, Kano (Northern Nigeria)[15th – 18th Centuries]

Palace Harem, Kano (15th-18th c.)

•Heidi Nast,Concubines and Power: five-hundred years in a Northern Nigerian Palace

• Focus of this week’s study

• Puts the Harem – specificallyconcubines – at centre ofstate formation

Palace Harem, Kano (15th-18th c.)

Entrance to Emir’s Palace (above);Interior courtyards (right)

Hausa States, Kano (15th-18th c.)• Kano Emirate: origins in Hausa States

• like Usman’s principality (Ottoman Empire), clearly in formation 13th c.

• Unlike Usman: Hausa States not Muslim until c. 1400s

• Unclear exactly how, why local leaders became Muslim

• Several explanations

Hausa States and Islamization

"There is a story that the Prophet appeared to Abdu Rahaman in a dream and said to him, 'Get up and go west and establish Islam.'Abdu Rahaman got up and took a handful of the soil of Medina and put it in a cloth and brought it to Hausaland. When-ever he came to a town, he took a handful of the soil of the country and put it beside that of Medina. If they did not correspond, he passed that town.So he journeyed until he came to Kano. And when he compared the soil of Kano with Medina soil they resembled one another and became as one soil. So he said, 'this is the country that I saw in my dream.'"

• Murray Last, “Historical Metaphors in the Kano Chronicle” p.xx

(‘Resources’)”

Hausa States and Islamization• ‘Islam by the book, Islam by the market: most likely

related to Hausa States’ relationships with western neighbours• Islam adopted by Tekrur King (9th c.)

• Ancient Empire Ghana: became Muslim 11th c. (controversy over how: conquest? Peaceful conversion?)

• Mali ‘Mansa Musa’ made pilgrimage in 13th c.

• ‘Dalla’ tributary to Islamized Borno 1400s

• Centre trade networks attaching it to north, west, east

Hausa Statesc. 1215

Hausa Statesc. 1453

Hausa Statesc. 1648

Hausa Statesc. 1789

Pre-Islamic Kano: “DALLA”

Long-Distance Trade: Kano1500s

Hausa States and Islamization• Late 15th C.: new ruler established power in Mali

successor state - Songhay Empire

• Established by jihad – “in name of Islam”

• Posed questions of al-Maghili [religious scholar, southern Algeria]: how to be a good Muslim Ruler?

• Questions concerned property, commerce, slavery: seeking legitimacy of rule

Hausa States and Islamization• Exchange provided insight into what early West

African ‘Muslim’ society looked like:

• ambiguities, syncretism

• real ‘impact’ of Islam when only ruler/court was Muslim

(see ‘Resources’, J.O. Hunwick, Trans./ed., Sharia in Songhay: Replies of al-Maghili)

• Al-Maghili also advised Emir of Hausaland

Hausa States and Islamization• Mali -- Mansa Musa (13th C): Descriptions of

pilgrimage

• Said to have taken 1000s of concubines ‘dressed in fine clothes and jewels’

• in Egypt, scholars told him that if he “possessed all the beautiful daughters given him by his subjects [understood to mean the ‘concubines’ above], he must marry them”

• But at the same time, “he could only marry four wives…”

Hausa States and Islamization• Seems to have led to understanding that a good

Muslim Sultan, because of being limited to four wives, should increase the number of his concubines:

• Hence the story of the late 15th century ruler of Hausalandwho announced his commitment to Islam by ordering the catching of slave girls and women to populate his new harem – presumably Mohamed Rumfa the ‘Arab King’

Hausa States and Islamization• Apocryphal or not: reflects tensions of transition

from matrilineal to patrilineal society

• In matrilineal society, descent and inheritance traced through females

• ‘possessing’ (or potential possessing) of women given to ruler critical to political strength of state/empire: women establish blood relations between ‘royal’ and ‘non-royal’families ‘tying’ political elites together

• Women held recognized political power

Hausa States and Islamization• ‘Islam’ restricted traditional female roles through

marriage but offered comparable influence through concubinage: principle of umm al-walad

• Al-Maghili’s ‘replies’ (to ruler of Songhay, contemporaneous with his advice to Emir Rumfa of Hausa States)* emphasized importance of recognizing paternity between master and slave woman

• Spoke to essential difference patrilineal/matrilineal society: when property, blood lines trace through male ‘paternity’ is critical

See Nast’s discussion of al-Maghili’s advice to Rumfa (pg. 63) ‘The Crown of Religion concerning the Obligations of Princes

Hausa States and Islamization• Story [oral tradition] of Malian Sultan who did not

recognize his son by his concubine: it is said that…

• she remained in slavery, as did her son

• when grown, the son brought civil war to the land seeking his ‘rightful’ power

• Whether true or not, importance lies in clear expression of centrality of Islamic ‘moral’ authority as measured by rights of paternity and umm al-walad to society

Hausa States and Islamization• That said, cannot be assumed that ‘transition’

immediate or complete:• A late 15th century Queen of Hausaland was immortalized

in a poem referencing her mortar of ‘scented Guinea wood’and her pestle of 'solid silver‘

• she is called both "Amina" (Islamic name) and "Gumsa“(Traditional name)

• She asks Allah (Islam) to give her the long life of a frog and the dignity of an eagle (Traditional values)

Poet collapses into one cultural identity the definition of power in belief systems of two different but not necessarily competing worlds: reflection of ‘moment in time’

Kano Palace Harem• This is ‘moment’ in which harem system described,

analysed by Nast took shape:

• Shift to the centrality of concubines (as distinct from wives): key to physical reproduction and economic production

• Redefinition of ‘seclusion’: altering of pre-Islamic concept

• Growing role of Eunuchs: ‘gendering’ of Eunuchs

Kano Palace Harem• Centrality of concubines: political fertility

• Critical to actual formation and rise of Hausa state

• Represented regions from which they came, created/cemented alliances

• Brought valuable information

• Their children born royal princes, princesses (‘free’)

• In turn, married creating new households, alliances

Kano Palace Harem• “… the womb functioned symbolically … as a source

wherein the States primary currency was created: children” (Nast)

• ‘currency’ was multi-functional, as were royal children born into the harem

• ‘harem’ acquired corresponding importance

• Expanded in both numbers and space: Emir Rumfa (16th) said to have had ‘1000 wives’ (concubines)

Kano Palace Harem• Seclusion:

• pre-Islamic Hausa ‘secluded’ ruler: as ‘one who bestowed to or took life from’ his subjects, his humanness (bodily functions, eating, talking…) kept hidden

• Islamic Hausa secluded whole harem: royal family (including ruler ‘Emir’), wives, children, concubines, eunuchs

• Divided into ‘male’ and ‘female’ spaces but in complex way, necessitating ‘male’ and ‘female’ paths, gates

Kano Palace Harem• Nast notes that gendering space within palace not, in

itself ‘Islamic’:

• ‘male’ quarters in the east, ‘female’ in the west

• ‘pathways’ following geographic gendering

• Both can be found in non-Islamic circumstances

BUT: with different meaning

Kano Palace Harem• Islam superimposed its own meanings on pre-Islamic

gendered space:

• Notes building of mosque, quarters for religious advisor who accompanied military campaigns [Rumfa]

• Quranic ‘study’ spaces built by successors within ‘eastern’sector [see diagram]: religious education had ‘important political functions’ (Nast)

Palace Harem: spatial diagram

Kano Palace Harem• In various ways, Nast argues that the ‘ciki’ (the

‘inside’) – the harem – was a spatial articulation of way in which state ‘accumulated, centralized and used women’s fertility and knowledge’ [Discuss]

• ‘patriarchal’ control reflecting Islamic influence

• BUT: centrality of fertility ‘protected’ by seclusion of harem also permitted continuing of pre-Islamic practice of bori (powerful belief system rooted in female fertility) – Nast notes ‘women placed (spatially) beyond scrutiny of male clerics’

Kano Palace Harem• ‘The Kano Nine’: Rumfa’s creation of council Eunuchs

• Unclear process: said that Rumfa’s wife Auwa was daughter of Songhay’s ruler – held power reflective of earlier matrilineal influence

• Rumfa sought to contain this by establishing council of nine eunuchs: reason not addressed by Nast

• Not entirely successful: story of Auwa’s son and grandson ruling

• Her influence deposed two others in favour of another grandson

Kano Palace Harem• Eunuchs seen to better represent patriarchal power of

ruler (called ‘Emir’ under Islam) because of having no competing family claims:

• ‘non-kinship’ base central authority bolstered Ruler’s power

• Eroded potential power of male (blood) kin

Kano Palace Harem• Why did Council (eunuchs) acquire such power?

• Given lands, revenues to administer

• Controlled stables (army based on Calvary, fortune invested in horses)

• Oversaw other male slaves in palace

• Four eunuchs controlled state treasury (various aspects)

• One of Kano Nine -- Maaji – represented treasurers (above) on Council

Kano Palace Harem• Eunuchs also eroded power of Royal (free) women over

accession decisions:

• .. But not without a struggle

• Example of mid-17th century situation when ‘Council’ determined that Queen Mother had ‘overstepped’ authority in attempting to have her son put on the throne and had her deposed

• Queen Mother (date uncertain) lobbied successfully to have her son replace a reputable eunuch on Council

Kano Palace Harem• Eunuch rise to power made Harem ‘theatre of

struggle’:

• Women increasingly realized importance of alliances with eunuchs (or contrarily – against them)

• Eunuchs similarly politically inclined

• Developed particular ‘harem dominated’ palace politics

[not terminology used by Nast but nevertheless, comparable to Peirce, Fay]

Evolution of Eunuchs in Harem

Kano Palace Harem• ‘Politics of Fertility versus Infertility’:

• Reference not to obvious ability to ‘reproduce’ (sexually)

• Rather to kinship networks

• Concubines’ production of children key but ONLY because of kinship relations back to families/regions

• If eunuchs’ influence increased, it was at expense of ‘kinship’

• Suited Ruler/Emir but… had short and longer term impact

Kano Palace Harem• Impact on Free Royal Women:

• Combination concubines, eunuchs: Matrilineage no longer ‘key’

• Concubines created new ‘lineage’ through Emir•

• Change over time: many of these (hundreds) came to compete with each other – diluted direct relationship with village/region

• ‘Queen Mother’: retained right to determine marriages of manumitted concubines

Overall: (Nast argues) Royal women forced to develop new negotiation skills with each other … and the Emir

Kano Palace HaremTo Be Continued:

Concubines and the (re)production of the state

Harem and Grain Market

DiagramRepresentsSchematicDrawing ofAerialPhotograph ofKano

Royal Grain Areas