language in the graphics mode: arabic among the kanuri of nigeria

Pergamon Language Sciences. Vol. 17. No. 2, pp. 181-199. 1995

Copyright © 1995 Elsevier Science Ltd Printed in Great Britain. All rights reserved

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L A N G U A G E IN T H E G R A P H I C S M O D E : A R A B I C A M O N G T H E K A N U R I O F N I G E R I A

J O N A T H A N O W E N S

The language of religion is special, but in what ways? Samarin (1976) has suggested that it is different quantitatively from language in other domains, but not qualitatively. It uses the same linguistic elements, but to different degrees. In this paper I describe language use in a religious domain where the very notion of 'language' must be defined in a qualitatively special way. It is suggested that within the traditional islamic educational system, Arabic among the Kanuri of NE Nigeria is first acquired as a 'graphic', an indivisible whole which by its very nature is restricted to the religious domain.

A distinction (as of 1995) in computer processing relates to material stored as text as opposed to that stored as graphics. Allowing for various modifications, a written text stored as text can be freely reworked and changed, within the limits of the program one is working with. A written text stored as a graphic, on the other hand, has the status of a picture. It is stored as a whole, and in general it is difficult or impossible to change the individual linguistic elements of such a text.

In this paper I will argue that in important respects the Arabic language among the Kanuri in NE Nigeria has, roughly, the status of a graphic, an indelible, unchangeable, yet highly prized object important mainly within one crucial domain of Kanuri society. This is the islamic religion.

The link between Arabic and Islam is predicated on the following fact: precisely formulated, Arabic is not the language in which the Koran was written. More accurately, as dogma would have it (Watt and Bell, 1990, p. 83), it is a language of sacred revelation, the language in which God revealed the Koran to Mohammed. For Islam, language and text are an inseparable whole. The relation between language and text, Arabic and the Koran, is thus unique among sacred works: to fully understand Islam one must be able to fully recite and understand the Arabic Koran.

The paper has three main parts. In the first I locate the object of study geo- graphically, historically and culturally, briefly describing the relation between the Kanuri and Islam, and the institution of the koranic school, where Arabic is first transmitted. In the second I will summarize the findings of a questionnaire collected in Maiduguri, Nigeria between 1989-91 pertaining to language attitudes towards

Correspondence relating to this paper should be addressed to: Dr. Jonathan Owens, Bayreuth University, Sprach- und Literaturwissenschaftliche Fakultat Arabistik, Postfach 101251, 95440 Bayreuth, Germany. e mail [email protected].

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and use of Arabic among the Kanuri and in the third I will relate the results of the questionnaire to three interviews I conducted with Islamic scholars in various stages of their study and to other material relating to the transmission of Arabic among the Kanuri.

I. Background The Kanuri-speaking peoples originated in the Central Sahara in what is today

northern Chad, Niger and the Fezzan in Libya. They were among the first of the Saharan peoples to islamize, Lange (1977, p. 98) noting that a dynastic change around the year 1000 approximately coincided with the islamization of the royal family. For the next 350 years the Kanuri dominated the central Sahara, but around 1350 they were forced away from their center east of Lake Chad in Kanem, migrating to the western side of the lake where they established the kingdom of Borno. From their new center in Birni Ngazagarmu on the present-day Nigerian-Niger border they expanded their power, retaking Kanem in the East while extending their power westward and southward. In the nineteenth centuries a series of setbacks curtailed their power, but the Kingdom of Borno emerged more or less intact under British colonial rule, and to this day the Kanuri dominate the politics of NE Nigeria.

Islam has been important among the Kanuri for nearly 1,000 years, though initially it was largely restricted to the royal family (Fisher, 1974, p. 62). Hunwick, (1977, p. 10) sees traditional islamic teaching practices as becoming firmly established in West Africa in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, with Kanem-Borno playing an important role in their dissemination, particularly westwards into Hausaland (Crowder, 1978, p. 32). The reputation of the ruling Kanem-Borno dynasty for devoutness has long been established in West Africa (Crowder, 1978, p. 29; Fisher, 1974, p. 94). The centrality of Islam to the ruling Kanuri hierarchy is clearly demonstrated in an account of the military expeditions by the Kanuri king (mai) Idris Alauma (d. c. 1600), written by the Kanuri (Lange, 1987, p. 19) scholar Ibn Furtu. Mai Idris did much to expand the power of Borno in the sixteenth century, waging war on neighbours in all directions. In his descriptions of Mai Idris' campaigns Ibn Furtu speaks usually not of the Borno troops, but of the 'muslims' as carrying out the campaigns, by implic- ation (rightly or wrongly) against non-believers. Mai Idris himself is generally referred to as the 'commander of the faithful' (recalling a caliphatal epithet), and as one who has made the pilgrimage to Mecca (haajj). Ibn Furtu sprinkles his account with allusions to the Koran and the hadiyth. He also points out the many ways (e.g. building sturdy sun-baked brick mosques to replace the previous reed ones) in which Mai Idris advanced Islam in Borno, and in the final chapter specifically draws out the parallel between Mai Idris' military expeditions and those waged (for Islam) by the Prophet Mohammed himself. Clearly an islamic model was one basis of Kanuri society as early as the mid-sixteenth century.

The earliest attested use of Arabic in the Kanem-Borno empire goes back to 1391, in a letter written by a Mai to the Mameluke king of Egypt asking for his assistance in putting an end to Arab raids against his kingdom (Saleh, 1976, p. 10). Other

LANGUAGE IN THE GRAPHICS MODE: ARABIC AMONG THE KANUR1 OF NIGERIA 183

important older documents attesting to the use of Arabic include Ibn Furtu's work, described above, and a dynastic list of the Kanem-Borno empire (Lange, 1977), while the Arabic script was even employed in the writing of Kanuri itself (Kanembu dialect) in a seventeenth century commentary on the Koran (Bivar, 1960). Arabic continued to be important during the British colonial rule, many official documents being written in both Arabic and English. Since independence, however, Arabic has had no official status and its use has become correspondingly restricted (see section 2).

In the traditional islamic perspective religious knowledge forms a fundamental part of faith (Rosenthal, 1970, p. 92), and religious knowledge presupposes a knowledge of the Koran. A key institution in the transmission of islamic learning is therefore the koranic school. This institution will be described more fully in section 3. Here it is relevant to note that the curriculum of such schools in contemporary Borno is very similar to the institution as it exists or existed in other Islamic societies. Michaux- Bellaire (1911, p. 424), for instance, describes the elementary school in Morocco in which students with wooden boards (lawh) first learn the forms of Arabic letters, afterwards the verses of the Koran, the entire curriculum being virtually directed towards the correct writing and reciting of the Koran.~ Only after mastery of the Koran did students go on to the active study of the Arabic language and the islamic sciences. Since students often never got beyond the koranic memorization phase of the curriculum, the system did not necessarily produce literate graduates, or in Eickelman's (1978, p. 492) formulation 'Until half a century ago [in Morocco] literacy almost necessarily implied schooling, although schooling did not necessarily imply literacy'. As will be seen in sections 2 and 3 below, Eickelmann's formulation is equally germane to koranic schools in Borno.

The presence, indeed the flourishing presence, of koranic schools in Borno is attested as early as the mid-nineteenth century. The German traveler and scientist Nachtigal, who was in the Borno capital of Kukawa in 1870 (1980, p. 161) remarks on the wandering mendicant scholars who came to the then capital of Bornu, Kukawa, to study the Koran. The picture he paints of them, itinerant, in possession of the wooden slate (lawh), dependent on the alms of others and often supported by the wealthier men in the city, is reminiscent of their social and material position today (see section 3).

While no figures exist for the number of koranic schools in Maiduguri (let alone Borno), where the present study was carried out, they are very numerous. One interviewee, whose brother runs a koranic school, estimated that there were 100 koranic schools in central Maiduguri (Hausari ward) alone, as against 3 modern- orientated islamiyya schools (see n. 18). While I made no census, it was striking that from the brother's school visible on the corner of each of the next 3 streets was indeed another koranic school.

2. Language Use and Attitudes: a Questionnaire Summary Arabic, whether the local dialect (Owens, 1993) or the classical language, it should

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be emphasized, is not, and probably never was a popular lingua franca in Borno. While one can, in a Maiduguri market, do some rudimentary bargaining in Arabic, the only general lingua francas are Hausa, Kanuri and English. Under these circum- stances a questionnaire data-gathering instrument is, at least in the initial stage, more appropriate than others commonly employed in attitude and domain research, like the various versions of the matched-guise test.

3 versions of a questionnaire were prepared. The first a pilot version gathered data from 20 speakers in 1989, and was subsequently revised and expanded in the second version, for which 172 respondents were questioned in 1990. This version was expanded, and a further 72 informants were questioned (1991). In the present study, only data from the second and third versions are used (244 respondents). The 2 versions are the same, except that the third version has 40 questions as against 32 in the second. A number of the questions have multiple parts so that in all, in the most extensive version 105 individual questions were asked. The questionnaire was in English; where necessary those who administered it translated it into Kanuri on the spot.

The questionnaire was administered in Maiduguri, capital of Borno (population 2-300,000), by myself and two Kanuri assistants, 2 teachers in the Department of Languages and Linguistics at the University of Maiduguri. Lacking adequate socio- demographic data about Maiduguri, the researcher is obliged to deal with non- representative samples. To gather a relatively large amount of information via a relatively time consuming questionnaire the path of least resistance was followed. The largest group sampled were students at the University of Maiduguri and Kanuri teachers who were attending a refresher course in Maiduguri sponsored by the Ministry of Education. Thus, although the data was gathered in Maiduguri, a good number of the respondents (45.9% of the 244) live outside of the city in other parts of Borno (1991 borders). In addition to the western-educated segment, 64 illiterates were interviewed as well as 16 who had had a formal schooling in Arabic. Women are seriously underrepresented in the sample, though not by design: there are fewer female than male teachers and students in the society as a whole, and among illiterates the women were shyer than men about answering questions. Figures 1-3 summarize the relevant social and demographic categories covered so far. ~

Although the study was intended to be restricted to the Kanuri, in fact, about 11% of the respondents identified other mother tongues (10 in all) for themselves and their parents. However, only two of these other groups, 'Shuwa Arab' with 5.3% and Hausa with 2 %, had more than a single percentage point. The percentages for spouses

Age 15-30 53.3% ( n = 2 3 5 ) 3 1 - 4 5 35.7 4 6 - 6 7 I I

Median age = 30, Mean age = 32.4

Fig. 1. Age

LANGUAGE IN THE GRAPHICS MODE: ARABIC AMONG THE KANURI OF NIGERIA 185

Sex (n = 235) m 83.8 f 16.2

Fig. 2. Sex

Literate, western 68% (n = 244) (secondary or above) Literate, Arabic 5.7 Illiterate 26.2

Fig. 3. Education

are similar. A spot check comparing the Kanuri responses with those of the Shuwa showed no significant differences in the answers, and I have included all the groups in this study. 4

2.2 The results For the most part the tendencies represented in the figures are clear enough that

a simple listing of the frequencies suffices to illustrate the point at hand. Where appropriate, other statistical procedures will be cited, however. For the most part I concentrate on a simple exposition and discussion of the questions, without attempting to elucidate the finer associations between the answers and the various social categories potentially to be found in such a questionnaire. In section 2.3, however, I will indicate briefly one direction such an inquiry might take.

The data can be considered under five general organizational categories: domains of language use, language policy, Arabic compared with other languages, a brief proficiency test, and a summary of comments on one of the questions. If the figure 'n = 72' or something under that number is given, it means that the question appeared only on the final version of the questionnaire, which was administered to 72 respondents. Otherwise the questions were asked of the entire sample of 244, the number of valid responses being cited in parentheses with each question. 5

2.2.1 Domains of use. Under domains I mean all aspects of the context of speaking, including setting, participants, topic and function. The domain category can be divided into two subparts, secular and religious, for reasons that will be obvious upon inspection of the following figures (4-7).

The figures speak clearly for themselves. 6 In all the answers, whether phrased in terms of the users of Arabic, where it is used, in which activities and for which functions, Arabic is a variety restricted to the religious domain. ~ A 3 point answering scale does, of course, leave room for questions, how much 'a little' is for instance. My feeling is that a little is indeed, quite little, as the following would illustrate. In

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How much Arabic do you use at:

Secular

Place none a little much

(a) work 64.4% 30.7 4.9 (n = 225) (b) market 57.5 38.5 3.9 (n = 231) (c) home 48.3 46.2 5.6 (n = 234)

Religious

Place none a little

(d) mosque 11.4 49.2 (e) prayer 2.5 32.8

Fig. 4.

much

39.4 (n = 236) 64.7 (n = 238)

How much Arabic do you use with your friends

none a little much

47.4 46.3 6.4 (n = 234)

Fig. 5. Participants and roles

How much Arabic should the following know

(a) a businessman (b) a religious sheikh

none a little much none a little much

6.3 73.5 20.2 (n = 238) 0 3.3 96.7 (n = 240)

Fig. 6.

Arabic is helpful in

(a) getting a job (n = 237) (b) worship (n = 238)

not useful little very not useful little very

44.7 32.5 22.8 6.3 26.5 67.2 (n = 238)

Fig. 7. Function

admin i s t e r ing the test to a g roup o f un ivers i ty s tudents one lady in a n s w e r to ' A r a b i c is (no t /a l i t t le /very) useful at h o m e ' , (not s u m m a r i z e d here , but g lobal ly c o m p a r a b l e

to the pe rcen t age in (4c)), had a n s w e r e d ' v e r y use fu l ' . U p o n seeing the a n s w e r I b e g a n

speak ing to he r in Arab ic , a s suming that she could indeed use it. It t u rned out ,

h o w e v e r , that she cou ld not unde r s t and any th ing I was saying, and in Eng l i sh she

exp la ined that he r a n s w e r was related to the fact that be fo re b e g i n n i n g any task she

would ut ter the A r a b i c f o r m u l a bi smi llaahi ' i n the n a m e o f G o d ' . The vague ly-

w o r d e d ques t ion did indeed a l low for such an in te rpre ta t ion o f ' v e r y use fu l ' , t hough

equal ly tends to i l lus t ra te the res t r ic ted ex tent to which A r a b i c is e m p l o y e d in a Kanur i

househo ld . In any case, all the r e sponses a re g raded by the same th ree -po in t scale and

the re l ig ious and secular r ea lms rega rd ing the use o f Arab ic are cons i s ten t ly and s ignif icant ly d i f ferent (see n. 7).


2.2.2 Language Policy. A number of questions pertaining to educational policy and politics give a closer idea of the status of Arabic in Borno and in Nigeria generally.

Question 8 (fig 8) helps to locate the status of Arabic along a number of dimensions: it suggests that Arabic has a prominent place within the formal educational domain; it would appear to be an integral part of the early socialization process of the Kanuri judging by the very high 'obligatory' response for primary schools; finally, there is broad consensus that Arabic has an institutionalized role to play in Borno. s

Again the close association of Arabic with, but at the same time its limitation to, Islam is apparent. It can be noted, incidentally, that although there is a positive correlation between the responses to (9a) and (9b), the correspondence is far from being significant (Pearson's R = 0.02694, p = 0.675). That is, those who favor Arabic as a national language for Nigeria are not necessarily (in a statistical sense) those who would advocate that non-Muslims learn Arabic.

Question (9c) can be compared to question 10 (fig. 10).

It is clear that the respondents have quite definite and differentiated ideas about which languages should be learned by whom, where.

Somewhat surprisingly, since it is counter to the doctrine of the uniqueness of the Koran, 93% of the respondents (n = 72) favor the translation of the Koran into Kanuri, an answer which should be understood in the light of the relatively poor translation results discussed in 2.2.5 below.

In the following institutions should Arabic be:

not taught at all optional obligatory

primary 0.4% 11.5 88.1 (n = 244) secondary 1.2 35.8 63 (n = 243) university 2.5 69.8 27.7 (n = 242)

Fig. 8.

Should Arabic be:

(a) the national language of Nigeria (b) learned by non-Muslims in Nigeria (c) learned by all Muslims

yes no

37.1 62.9 (n = 240) 41.2 58.8 (n = 238) 83.3 16.6 (n = 240)

Fig. 9.

Should non-Kanuri in Borno learn Kanuri yes no

87.9 12.1 (n = 240)

Fig. 10.

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2.2.3 Comparison between Arabic, Kanuri and English. A number of questions elicited information by direct comparison between languages.

The answer to (12) comparing the usefulness of English and Arabic should be understood in the light of the discussion in 2.2.4 below. That Arabic is over- whelmingly judged to be more beautiful than Kanuri (fig. 13) is doubtlessly to be attributed to the orthodox belief among Muslims that the Koran, being God's word, is the most perfect piece of literature composed.

A second set of questions (figures 14, 15) asked about the national identity of Hausa, Kanuri, Arabic and English in two ways. One question simply asked if each of the four languages is a Nigerian language (yes/no, N = 72). The responses for Hausa and Kanuri were close to 100% 'yes' for each. For Arabic and English the percentages were somewhat lower, with Arabic being significantly (p = 0.0030) preferred to English:

A second question asked for a ranking: 'which language (of the four) is most Nigerian (1 = most Nigerian, 4 = least).' There were 59 valid responses (out of 72), those who gave a ranking for each of the four languages. On this ranking Hausa fares slightly better than Kanuri, which is reasonable if one considers that Hausa is spoken all over norther Nigeria, Kanuri mainly in Borno in the NE. Both of these languages were ranked much better Arabic and English. The complete rankings of Arabic and English are interesting and are given in Fig. 15.

On this measure English fares somewhat better than Arabic, capturing, as it were,

Arabic Kanuri English

Which lg. is more useful in Borno 8% 89.6 (n = 240) 9 not asked

Fig. 11.

Which language is more useful 75 not asked 25 (n = 243)

Fig. 12.

Which language is more beautiful 82.8

Fig. 13.

17.2 (n = 237) not asked

yes

Is Arabic a Nigerian language 64.3 Is English a Nigerian language 41.3

Fig. 14.

no

35.7 (n = 70) 58.7 (n = 61)


(a) Arabic (n = 59) (b) English (n = 59)

1 0% 11.9% 2 22.6 25.4 3 44.6 16.9 4 32.7 44.1

(1 = most. 4 = least Nigerian)

Fig. 15.

more first and second place votes. ~° I will not speculate on the causes of the difference with (14), beyond noting the old linguistic adage that a 2-termed system is conceptually different from a 4-termed one.

2.2.4 Some Comments. A number of questions asked for elaboration through the question 'why?'. One of these was, 'Should non-Muslims in Nigeria learn Arabic, why' (= 9b). Out of a total of 238 who responded to the yes-no question, 200 commented on their answer. I have classified 130 of these on a binary typology defined by the parameters religious/secular on the one hand and positive/negative on the other. Some examples will make the typology clearer.

'Should non-Muslims in Nigerial learn Arabic? Why?

(1) Religious, positive (= 'yes, they should learn it'). 'They may become Muslims', 'to convince them of Islam', 'to know the shari'a' (islamic religious law), 'Arabic helps to read and understand the Koran'.

(2) Religious, negative (= 'no, they should not learn it'). This category contains both orthodox and extreme views about the status of Arabic and Islam. On the extreme end are explanations such as the following: 'because of their ignorance', 'they are unholy to touch the Koran', 'it is not meant for them'. Less provocative, what one might call objective views are the following: 'it is not part of their religion', 'it is only restricted to Muslims'.

(3) Secular positive. 'They are living together with Muslims', 'to promote religious tolerance and understanding', 'it's a language like others', 'Arabic is one of the major official world languages', 'for business and communication'.

(4) Secular, negative. 'Nigeria is no Arabic country', 'Arabic is difficult', 'Arabic is not spoken', 'their language is English'.

70 answers were not classifiable, most of these because they were too laconic ('unimportant', 'impossible', 'many Muslims'). Unfortunately, the questionnaire took too much time to administer to allow for a more detailed explanation of these answers. The classification itself is admittedly rough, and for a number of questions I had to read into an answer an interpretation which for one reason or another is open to another classification, 'To promote religious tolerance and understanding', for example, I have interpreted as a secularly orientated response, though if it is interpreted ecumenically it could equally be classified as 'religious, positive'. The vast majority

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of the classifiable responses, however, allow for the rough typology illustrated above.

Generally speaking, the religious opinions emphasized that the Arabic language is an identity marker of, if not in some sense the property of, Muslims, to which non- Muslims are not entitled, or for whom it is irrelevant. The positive religious responses saw the transmission of Arabic as a step towards conversion of non-Muslims to Islam, whereas the negative ones often saw non-Muslim users of Arabic as intruders. On the secular side, the positive responses emphasized the fact that Arabic is a world language, whereas the negative ones saw Arabic as irrelevant to non-Muslims, particularly in the pan-Nigerian context.

The quantified results are as shown in Fig. 16.

The interesting distribution of figures here is that the 'yes ' answers (non-Muslims should learn Arabic) are supported with a secular reason in the large majority of cases, whereas the 'no ' answers, again by a large majority, tended to be religiously grounded.

2.2.5 Competence. One might expect, given the high esteem in which Arabic is held, that the respondents would have at least some basic competence in Arabic. To test this the questionnaire included 4 simple Arabic sentences written in Arabic which were to be translated (into English or Kanuri). The first 2 sentences had a religious association, the last two did not. The degree of difficulty rises from sentence 1 to 4, though it should be noted that even the most difficult sentence is quite a basic one.

(5) (a) al-kitaab ' the book' also = The Koran (b) laa ilaaha 'illaa llaah_'There is no God but God' (c) dahabat il-bintu 'ilaa s-suwq ' the girl went to market ' (d) dakara l-ustaad nuqta muhimma ' the professor mentioned an important point'

The answers were graded on a 5-point scale: 0 was given if none of the expressions could be answered, 1 if the first could be, 2 if the first 2, 3 if the first 3, and 4 for all. It happens that the difficulty scale 1 -4 was never violated: if expression 4 could be translated then so could 3, and so on. The basic results are given in Fig. 17.

To the extent that the short test is representative of a knowledge of Arabic, it appears that only a relatively small percentage (15.4) have at least a basic grasp of the language.

For the total sample, it can be noted, there is no significant correlation (p = 0.101) between scores on the translation test and number of years Arabic was reported

secular religious

no 18 45 yes 59 25

Fig. 16.


Translation (n = 241)

Score frequency percent

0 80 33.2 1 28 11.6 2 49 20.3 3 47 19.5 4 37 15.4

Fig. 17.

studied. Moreover, even those who report having studied the language relatively long do not score particularly well, on average. For instance, the mean scores of those who studied Arabic 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10 years are as shown in Fig. 18.

Note that the scores show anything but a linear improvement with increasing number of years studied, though often the numbers are too small to allow for significant generalizations.

On the other hand, there is a good positive correlation between reported competence in Arabic and the translation scores. Respondents were asked to evaluate their spoken and written Arabic ability on a 3-point scale, 'Can you read/speak Arabic? well, a little, none at all'. For both spoken and written reports there is a significant correlation with the translation results (p = 0.000) for both questions, Pearson's R = 0.3581 for 'written', .3029 for 'spoken'). ~ It is further interesting to note that a t-test showed that 'educated' vs. 'illiterate' (see 2.3) do not score significantly differently on the translation test (p = 0.54, educated mean = 1.71, illiterate mean = 1.60).

2.2.6 Summary. The survey results delineate the status and function of Arabic within Kanuri society quite sharply. It is restricted to the religious realm in terms of where it is spoken, for which functions it is used, and who should and does speak it. It is an integral part of Kanuri society, in some sense (see figure 13) enjoying a higher prestige than Kanuri itself. While the respondents favor an institutionalized role for Arabic within the educational system, its political role within Nigeria is clearly subordinate to its religious. Arabic derives its legitimacy from its association with Islam and the majority of the respondents see no cause to extend it beyond that domain. ~2

years studied mean score

5 (n = 20) 1.9 6 (n = 8) 1.5 7 (n = 8) 2.5 8 (n = 4) 2 9 (n = 3) 1.3

10 (n = 18) 2

Fig. 18.

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2.3 Western educated vs. illiterate

The summary in 2.2 gave an overview of Kanuri attitudes towards Arabic, no attempt being made to explore the potential fine distinctions in the cross-classification and sub-classification of social categories. It was noted above (see n. 3) that a check of the male/female distinction did not yield any significant differences in the questions discussed in 2.2. On the other hand, a comparison between literate (western education) and illiterate respondents presents a picture of greater contrast which merits brief mention here. T-tests were carried out for 16 questions, and half of them indicated significant differences between the two categories western literate vs. illiterate, as summarized in (6). I have put in brackets the group which has a higher mean positive response to each question, where the difference is significant.

(6) Significant difference Is Arabic a Nigerian language (ill) Is English a Nigerian language (ill) Should non-Muslims learn Ar (ed)

Should Ar. be obl. etc. in university (ill)

Should non-Muslims learn Ar (ed) How much Arabic used at home (ed) How much Ar used in prayer (ed) How much Ar should housewife know (ed)

Non-significant Is Arabic helpful in getting a job Should Arabic be a national lg Should AR be obl/opt/not taught in sec. school Should Ar. be obl. etc. in primary school Should non-K learn Kanuri in Borno How much Arabic used in market Is Arabic helpful in worship How much Ar should sheix know

In terms of the content of the questions there is no obvious trend in the distribution of significant/non-significant results. How much Arabic should be taught in primary/ secondary school, for example is non-significant, university on the other hand significant. It is interesting to observe, on the other hand, that among the questions where educated/illiterate show significant differences, in 5 of the 8 cases it is the western educated who have the higher positive score. Should this prove to be a trend throughout the responses it might suggest that there are in fact extra-religious nuances implied in attitudes towards Arabic, associations relevant to politics and cultural ideology, for instance.

3. Three Interviews As I mentioned earlier, I think the questionnaire elicitation technique appropriate

for researching Arabic among the Kanuri precisely because its domains of use are so restricted: simple observation among the general populace would risk uncovering few clues as to its importance. The questionnaire used, however, was a general one and answers few specific questions about the role of Arabic in Kanuri society and a number of answers deserve fuller elucidation. One question in particular interests me. In the light of the relatively poor Arabic competence shown by the respondents (see Fig, 18) and its restricted domains of usage (2.2.1), how is it that it enjoys a high status.


The observation that the Arabic competence of the Kanuri is not high is hardly a new one. In 1866 the German traveler Rohlfs visited the Borno capital Kukawa which, he noted, enjoyed a high reputation in Black Africa as a center of Islamic learning. His report on a university (Hochschule) with 200-300 students ~3 between 15-25 years of age is not flattering, however:

Their study consists in nothing more than memorizing the koranic verses necessary for prayer, and mechanically learning to read and write the Arabic script, without being able to understand its contents. (translated from the German).

Rohlfs (1874) 1984:213

Relating this quote to the short proficiency test reported on in (figure 18), one might be forgiven for remarking how little matters have changed in the past 150 years. What Rohlfs (and I for that matter so far) did not ask, however, is what the students were doing. He saw them writing and reciting Arabic and assumed they were learning Arabic. Such an assumption is premature, however.

The study of the Koran is embedded in a system of Islamic learning whose foun- dation, as seen in section 1 above, is the knowledge of the Koran. It is indispensable and therefore primary. For the learning of the Koran the Kanuri have developed a five stage system carried out within a system of koranic schools or sangaya. The theoretically complete system is summarized by Mustapha (1987) as follows:

(7) Stage 1, Batata: learning the Arabic alphabet Stage 2, Shadda: being dictated the Koran Stage 3, Tullun Fine: reading the Koran Stage 4, Kaunem: reciting the Koran from memory Stage 5, Sanem or Sate: writing the Koran from memory

Stage 1 is qualitatively different from the others, being concerned exclusively with the mechanics of writing. Stages 2 -5 are concerned only with the Koran. In none of the stages is any independent study of the Arabic language undertaken. Stages 2 -5 represent increasingly difficult steps, though according to my interviewees (see below) the third stage is optional, and indeed they rather downplayed its significance. The Shadda stage 2 also is not compulsory; the third interviewee below, for instance, did not do it. For each of the last 4 (or 2 or 3) stages a set pattern is followed: one starts at the Koran at the end and proceeds to the beginning, and then works one's way to the back again. This is done in a series of steps demarcated by 60 hizb (pl. 'ahzaab), which divide up the Koran into 60 more or less equal units for the purpose of learning it. Students proceed one hizb at a time, and do not go on to the next until they have shown proficiency in the one they are working at. ~4. Note that the process of memorization does not necessarily mean memorization and retention of the entire piece: primarily it means having worked through it in the different stages hizb by hizb. Students can follow part or all of the program; the majority certainly do not reach stage 5, and probably not stage 4 either.

In order to get a better idea of how the system functions--Mustapha's thesis is

194 JONATHAN OWENS

limited to a formal description of the system--I interviewed 3 students/teachers in various stages of the program and visited a number of the sangaya (koranic schools). The main elements in the training of each of the three are similar, as can be summarized very briefly. The interviews included three language tests: one was to read and translate 4 sentences, two with vocalization, two without, from an elementary Arabic grammar book used in some Nigerian schools (Baiogun and Oseni, 1985, p. 81). Conveniently, the sentences from the page selected contained one obvious ortho- grammatical error which could be used to gauge the interviewees knowledge of Arabic. ~5 A second was to read a short hadiyth or story about Mohammed and the third was to read 8 verses from chapter 56 (al-waaqi'a 'The Event', 96 verses in all) of the Koran. These verses were photocopied on one page, and when the interviewees bad read to the end of the page, they were asked to continue reciting from memory.

D. 28 years old, born in Kanem in Chad and speaks Kanembu as his native language, a dialect of Kanuri. At his father's initiative, he began his koranic study in Ndjamena in 1979. When a civil war in Chad broke out he went to Sigal in Nigeria near the Cameroonian border to study with (Kanembu) relatives. In the course of his study he has stayed in 4 locations in all and currently lives in Maiduguri. Traditionally koranic students travel from place to place, sometimes as a group, sometimes indi- viduals separating from one group and joining another. It is said that a change of location helps one's study. In accordance with the koranic school tradition, as a student he, along with his classmates, would beg twice daily for food, and would perform various tasks for his teacher, such as fanning during the rainy season. He has reached the Kaunem stage and has entered the Sanem. He now has 4 students of his own (3 Kanembu, 1 Kanuri), and simultaneously studies with a scholar who lives elsewhere in Maiduguri. From time to time he writes the hizb which he has completed for his teacher and the other students studying with the teacher.

D. did rather poorly on the 4 sentences in both the reading and translation parts: he was not used to reading unvoweled texts, and much of the vocabulary was unknown to him. The word gurfa ' room' (singular form) is rather associated with modern Standard Arabic than with koranic, and he did not know it. He did not note the ortho- grammatical error. The hadiyth, tested for reading only, caused similar problems. The koranic schools in NE Nigeria use an angular North-African Arabic script, somewhat different from the more rounded form commonplace in most modern publications, such as were represented in the tests. In rather striking contrast to his rather halting handling of the first two texts, he could read the Koran well, though possibly he was reciting from memory, since he was able to continue the chapter beyond the point where the written text ended. He said that he could recite to the end of the chapter.

S. was 42 at the time of the interview, a Kanuri born in Maiduguri. He began his koranic study at 7, like D moving from one sangaya to another throughout Borno and partaking in the same social routine as that described for D above. In all he studied in 7 different sangaya (most of them largely Kanuri) and in 1976 (27 years old) completed the Kaunem stage. After dabbling in politics for 4 years he returned to


koranic study, and now teaches about 40 students in his father's sangaya in Maiduguri. It was not clear whether he finished the Sanem stage, though he is now pursuing advanced Islamic studies in Maiduguri (see below).

He did rather better than D on the translation exam, though there were still basic words (like gurfa ' room') which he did not know. His reading of the hadiyth was good, though his comprehension of it poor, and he read the Koran with a very good voice, though declined, for whatever reason, to continue reciting the text on his own from memory.

A. was 34 at the time of the interview. He started koranic studies at 7 and in all studied with 15 different teachers in various places in Borno, many of his teachers being his own uncles and brothers. His father has a koranic school in Maiduguri, as does a brother, where he sometimes teaches. He finished his Sanem stage in 1979 and thereafter began studying in what might be termed a western-orientated private Arabic-medium school. ~6 At the age of 22 he began primary school in the sixth grade, proceeded on to a government secondary school, and in 1990 began studying in the Arabic department in the University of Maiduguri. He has since finished, and intends to study for a Master's Degree in Arabic at Bayero University, Kano. A. is thus qualified in two educational systems, the traditional koranic and the western- orientated, government supported school system.

A. passed all three test without error, detecting the ortho-grammatical mistake in the first test and was able to continue reciting the Koran from memory. He clearly has an excellent knowledge both of the Koran and of Arabic.

In addition to teaching other students, all three use their Arabic for various religiously and quasi-religiously orientated functions such as officiating at naming ceremonies, weddings, and writing good luck charms of various sorts. For each of these an appropriate koranic verse or verses is prescribed.

Besides the basic biographical data a number of questions were posed about the role of Arabic in the koranic education, the answers of all 3 being in broad agreement. The purpose of koranic schools was not to learn Arabic but rather to learn the Koran. Arabic becomes an object of study in its own right only after the Sanem (Sate) stage has been reached. It is only then that A. began studying Arabic and similarly S. has only now begun attending courses on the Arabic language and Islamic law with various scholars in Maiduguri. He says that occasionally he practices speaking Arabic, though did not give the impression that an oral command of Arabic was a high priority lbr him. D. stated that although he would like someday to learn Arabic, for the moment he is perfectly happy having his teachers translate the Koran and works on Islam into Kanembu for him.~7 The opinion of A. is particularly telling, since he is successful within both a tradition which puts a premium on rote learning and one which emphasizes Arabic as an independent language. When asked which qualification he derived more status from in the community, he unhesitatingly stated the traditional one. t8

I am now in a position to return to the question posed at the beginning of this section, how are high status and relatively low comprehension of a language compatible? At

196 JONATHAN OWENS

the most basic stage of Kanuri Islamic learning, and this basic stage can last half a person's lifetime, Arabic is learned not as a text but as a graphic, as a form which embodies the holy scripture. This graphic can be broken down into constituent parts for purposes of memorization and its individual parts, its chapters and verses, have different functions, such as employment in the writing of a talisman, but the role of Arabic does not extend outside the role defined by these functions. It is only when the Koran has been mastered that the textual functions of Arabic become important. At that stage Arabic is needed for the reading of islamic texts and is studied as a subject in its own right. If the average Kanuri accords Arabic a place of high prestige, as likely as not it is not Arabic as text they have in mind but rather Arabic as graphic, for it is only a relatively small percentage of Kanuri who ever are confronted with Arabic as text. Assuming the system 150 years ago to have been analogous to what it is today, we see that Rohlfs' remarks cited at the beginning of this section miss the point of activity he observed. The students he saw were 15-25 years of age. Most of these, very likely, had not yet reached the stage where they were ready to embark on an independent study of Arabic.

Samarin (1976, p. 8) suggests that language in religion is not qualitatively different in terms of its linguistic inventory from language in other domains, but rather differs from other areas of experience in the way in and frequency with which it is used. The case of Arabic among the Kanuri demonstrates the opposite. For the Kanuri, up to an advanced level of koranic knowledge, the religious, document-specific function of Arabic totally dominates the language as a creative, communicative vehicle. Arabic has, as it were, two modes, the graphic and the textual, with that ontological prec- edence. This dichotomy is institutionalized within the Kanuri islamic educational system, and it plays a fundamental role in explaining Kanuri attitudes towards Arabic, in particular the seemingly paradoxical relation of high prestige coupled with low competence in the language.

Ackm)wledgements--Research for this paper was supported by a grant from the Deutsche Forschungs- gcmeinschaft (DFG) in the context of the Bayreuth research program 'Identity in Africa'. I would like to thank Tanya Baumgartner for her help in processing the data.

NOTES

See also Jones, 1983: p. 84 for brief description of the pengajian schools in Java, which appear to have an analagous function. Wilks (1968) concentrates on the post-Koran school phase of Islamic education among the Dyula in the region of Ghana, Ivory Coast, Burkina Fasso and Mali, though he describes aspects of the lower-level koranic school. His description shows many similarities with the system in Borno. Goody (1968: p. 222) points out that generally where education is equated with religious instruction, students learn not reading but rather the Holy Book itself.

21 would like to thank Khalifa Ali Dikwa and Allamein Abba Said for their able assistance in helping to gather the data.

~lt should be noted that t-tests comparing men/women for the categories discussed below reveal no significant differences based on sex (for the literate/illiterate contrast see 2.3 below).


4Comparisons (t-tests) were made for the following questions which are discussed in section 2 below: is Arabic helpful in worship/job, should non-Kanuri learn Arabic, should non-Muslims learn Arabic, should Arabic be a national language of Nigeria, should Arabic be a subject in primary/secondary/university, should non-Kanuri in Borno learn Kanuri, should a sheix know Arabic, and the translation. The only significance level recorded under .500 was the translation (p = 0.18), with the Shuwa Arabs scoring better. With such a small Shuwa sample (n = 13) one cannot read a great deal into the results of this series of t-tests. The fact that the Kanuri and Shuwa responses not only do not show significant differences, but, on the contrary, show a high degree of agreement, would encourage one to extend the present survey to other groups in Borno, indeed throughout northern Nigeria. Initial indications would be that ethnicity is not a significant factor affecting Muslim attitudes towards Arabic.

SThe percentages cited are based on the valid responses, i.e. missing values excluded. The data was analyzed with SPSS Windows, version 5.0. The significance level used, unless otherwise stated, is .05.

~Both chi-square and t-scores comparing 'Arabic used in market vs. Arabic used in prayer' and 'how much Arabic shei× should know vs. how much businessman should know' give significance levels greater than .000. Such levels of significant difference are typical for the secular/religious contrasts cited in 2.2.1.

7 Note that the association between Arabic and Islam is fairly categorical. One does not have a situation such as that described by Gal (1979) for Hungarian speakers in a small Austrian town. There Hungarian shows a steady decline in functional domains from older to younger inhabitants, with the religious domain being the one where Hungarian maintains its most widespread use. The patterns documented in section 2 concern older and younger respondents alike, and generally show no gradient: religious domains are for Arabic. non-religious (by extrapolation) for other languages. The situation is diglossic. It appears that Arabic was introduced along with Islam as one technological whole, as it were, and that Arabic has represented the religious domain ever since.

~A further question asking whether Arabic or Kanuri was a more important subject at each of the 3 educational levels was answered by a wide margin in favor of Arabic.

~2 % of the answers were divided between Hausa and English, which were not part of the question.

~'A chi-square cross-table for Arabic x English in (15) gives a significance of .0000, so there are some significant contrasts between (15a) and (15b).

~ To give an idea of where the correlations lie, the 'read Arabic" question produced the following figures, "none at a l l ' = 75/30.9%, 'a l i t t le '= 117/48.1%, ' w e l l ' = 51/20.9%. That is to say, the respondents generally did not evaluate themselves as having a good reading knowledge of Arabic, and in fact their translation tests confirmed this.

~:The results of this survey warrant comparison with analogous ones carried out on Arabic in Arabic countries where generally a diglossic relationship exists between Standard Arabic and the Arabic dialects (e.g. El-Dash and Tucker 1975, Sawaie 1986, Brahimi 1993). Although the methodology in these studies is usually different from that used here, being based on the matched-guise test, the studies do produce some results which, superficially at least, parallel those here. El-Dash and Tucker (1975:47), for instance, report that Standard Arabic (as opposed, for e.g., to the dialect) was not favored as a language for home use (of. (4c) above), and in the same study (49), Standard Arabic is reported as favored in formal and religious speeches (cf. (4d, e)). Similarly, the standard Arabic guise was considered to be more religious than the other guises tested (Arabic dialect, 2 dialects of English). In other domains as well, however, including school as a language of instruction (not a language of study, as in (8)), work, radio and television, Tucker and El-Dash report that Standard Arabic is considered most appropriate. Generally speaking, the studies of language use in Arab countries tend to confirm Ferguson's (1959) classic characterization of diglossia, with Standard Arabic being the theoretically preferred norm in all formal situations. Agreement between these studies and the results reported here is largely attributable to the fact that the religious domain is a sub-part of the formal one. In non-religious formal domains, however, Arabic among the Kanuri has an insignificant role to play.

~Not 2,000-3,000 as reported by Fisher on Rohlfs (1980: p. 162 n. 1).

HThe Koran is arranged from longest chapter to the shortest, which presumably is why its memorization is begun at the end. In the beginning of the study the chapter, rather than the hizb may be the unit of memorization, the hizb system then becoming operative when the chapters become long (around chapter 35).

~ Instead of the verb form masahat 'she wiped', masahah was written, with the nominal feminine suffix -ah (taa' marbu~tah) for the femine suffix -at.

198 JONATHAN OWENS

~6An-Nahda, one of the first such schools, founded by the well-known Tijani scholar, Ibrahim Saleh.

~TThis preference recalling the translation method used at one time in European Hebraic studies (Rabin, 1976: p. 139).

~In the last 10 years the number of quasi western-orientated religious school (known as Islamiyya schools) have grown rapidly in the area. In these Arabic is (purportedly) used as the medium of instruction for many subjects, and is treated as an object of study in itself. It will be interesting to see in what ways these schools affect attitudes towards and competence in Arabic.

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language in the graphics mode: arabic among the kanuri of nigeria

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