Gender in Hausa Ajami Manuscripts, Images, and Interviews

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Fieldwork Team: Dr. Mustapha Hashim Kurfi (Principal Investigator), Hauwa Usman (Local Project Manager), Alhaji Abubakar Maikudi Aishat (General Field Facilitator). Technical Team: Prof. Fallou Ngom (Project Director and former Director of the African Studies Center at Boston University), and Eleni Castro (Technical Lead, BU Libraries).

The collections on Gender in Nigerian Ajami Manuscripts are copied as part of the African Studies Center’s African Ajami Library. Access Condition and Copyright: These materials are subject to copyright. All rights reserved to the author. For use, distribution or reproduction contact Professor Fallou Ngom (fngom@bu.edu). Required Citation: Materials in this web edition may be cited as: Kurfi, M. H., Hauwa U., Ngom, F., and Castro, E. (2020). African Ajami Library: Gender in Nigerian Ajami Manuscripts. Boston: Boston University Libraries: http://hdl.handle.net/2144/41953. For Inquiries: Please Contact Professor Fallou Ngom (fngom@bu.edu).

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    Video interview with author and manuscript owner Professor Sa’adiya Omar
    (2020-12-20) Kurfi, Mustapha Hashim; Usman, Hauwa; Maikudi Aishat, Alhaji Abubakar; Omar, Sa’adiya
    Video interview with author and manuscript owner Professor Sa’adiya Omar. Professor Sa’adiya Omar, the most celebrated author of women in the Sokoto Caliphate of Northern Nigeria. Professor Sa’adiya currently occupies the position of Nana Asma’u and Modibbo Kilo, the leaders of the Yantaru movement, i.e. Uwartaru (the Mother of the Yantaru). Equally, she had served as the National Amirah (President) of the largest Muslim umbrella organization in Nigeria – Federation of Muslim Women’s Associations in Nigeria (FOMWAN). As at the present, she serves in many capacities and is a member of various Islamic committees in Sokoto state and in Nigeria in general.
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    Malamai Mata a Daular Usmaniyya a Ƙarni Na Sha-tara da Karni Na Ashirin (Women Clerics of the Usmaniyya Empire [Sokoto Caliphate] in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries)
    (2020) Omar, Sa’adiya
    This document contains information on some forty (40) Muslim women educators from Usman dan Fodio’s Sokoto Caliphate. Written by Professor Sadiya Omar in 2017, the work focuses on women clerics who were famous for their knowledge, teaching, and literary writings. They contributed greatly to the spread of Islamic knowledge in their communities. They left a positive impact on the communities. With perhaps the exception of Nana Asma’u, who is widely known, most of the female educators in the manuscript are unsung heroines who are little known beyond the Sokoto Caliphate. The manuscript, Women Clerics of the Usmaniyya Empire in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries, identifies the forty Muslim women clerics who lived in three different eras: 1) those who lived before the Sokoto Jihad, 2) those who lived during the Jihad in the 19th century, and 3) those who lived after the Jihad in the 20th century. The manuscript provides details on the Ƴantaru leaders (“The Associates”) who laid the foundation for the various Modibbos (Female Education Supervisors), a system that has endured to this day. The manuscript also examines the literary works of these women scholars, especially their poems, sermons and admonitions. The author explains that the rationale for writing this book was to serve as a reference point and a source of inspiration and motivation for her fellow women. The forty women educators in the manuscript had worked hard to be educated and to have a positive impact on the lives of many people in their communities, which made some of them famous in the Sokoto Caliphate. This work can serve as the basis for policy formulation on women and girl-child education in Muslim Africa and a means to empower women that is compatible with Islamic traditions.
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    Modibbo Kilo (1901 - 1976): Rayuwarta da Ayyukanta Ta Biyu ga Nana Asma’u bn Fodiyo a Karni na 20 (Her Life and Literary Works, Second Daughter to Nana Asma’u bn Fodiyo in the 20th Century)
    (2020) Omar, Sa’adiya
    This manuscript is about the life of Modibbo Kilo (1901 - 1976): The second child of Nana Asma’u. It traces her roots, education, marital and family life, literary works, beliefs, her quest for knowledge and its dissemination, and ultimately her death. The work is an empirical study that involved methodological triangulation in which the author combined archival research, content analysis of manuscript archives, and ethnographic fieldwork by traveling to various places where Modibbo Kilo had lived. These places include Mecca, Saudi Arabia. While there, she is said to have built classes and mentored men, women and children. The manuscript is divided into four main parts: 1) the life and works of Modibbo Kilo, 2) her literary works, 3) an examination of her manuscripts, and 4) poems composed in honor of Modibbo Kilo. The author dedicated the work to the late Malam Ibrahim Gandi Junaidu who had inspired and supported her to write the work. Originally written in 2018 in Hausa language using Latin script and transliterated into Hausa Ajami in 2020.
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    Ƴantarun Nana Asma’u Ɗan Fodiyo: Tsarinsu da Taskace Waƙoƙinsu (The Associates of Nana Asma’u bn Fodiyo: Their Structures and the Preservation of their Poems)
    (2013) Omar, Sa’adiya
    This document deals with the origin, structure, methods of operation, functions, and literary works (especially poems) of the women Ƴantaru movement published by Professor Sadiya Omar in 2013. Ƴantaru (Hausa: The Associates) is an educational organization that was founded by Nana Asma’u (1783 – 1864), the daughter of Usman dan Fodio. It was a pioneering effort for Muslim women’s education and enlightenment in West Africa. The organization was founded and led by Nana Asma’u and later by Modibbo Kilo and other Muslim female educators who served as supervisors to Jajis (Education Extension Workers). The document was authored by Professor Sa’adiya Omar, who is a member of the Ƴantaru movement, a native Hausa speaker, and a member of the royal family of the Sokoto Caliphate. She currently occupies the position and seat of the Ƴantaru movement leaders (Nana Asma’u and her successor Modibbo Kilo). They are known in Hausa as Uwar Taru (Mother of the Ƴantaru Movement). The document captures the reflects the diacritics of the Hausa Ajami orthography. With over 170 pages, it includes a table of contents and a cover page with an image of the Ƴantaru’s Jajis wearing traditional handcrafted hats. These hats are put on only by women who have been deemed well-educated, well-trained, and qualified to teach and foster moral values in their communities. The hats are similar to academic gowns and hats worn by graduates in commencement ceremonies in Western traditions.
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    Images of Professor Sa’adiya Omar, Yantaru leaders, and Sokoto, Nigeria
    (2020-12) Kurfi, Mustapha Hashim; Usman, Hauwa; Maikudi Aishat, Alhaji Abubakar; Omar, Sa’adiya
    Images of Professor Sa’adiya Omar, Yantaru leaders, and Sokoto, Nigeria