The untold story of Hausa speaking community in Sudan, by Dr Furera Bagel
My first pleasant encounter with a Hausa speaker in Sudan was on the first Eid I was away from home when we went to a park in Omdurman for a picnic organised by some of the Nigerian community living over there. As I was standing aside having a conversation with a friend, I noticed two lovely Sudanese ladies opposite us also chatting, and one of them was gazing intently at me. After a while, I became very uncomfortable with her looks, I said in Hausa, “Ko me yasa wannan ta matsa mun da kallo haka oho!” imagine the astonishment at hearing the pretty Sudanese girl reply in Hausa saying, “Ta yaya bazan kalle ki ba, naji kina Hausa?’
I later learned that there are about three groups of Hausa speakers in the country. The first group is those who journeyed for Hajj from Hausaland and never got to return home. Thousands of Hausa people have passed through Sudan because it is on the Hajj route and some of the intending pilgrims got stuck there due to finished resources on the way back home while many never got the chance to cross the Red Sea and see the Holly Land.
The second group is those who migrated after the British conquest of the Sokoto Caliphate in 1903, that was when Sultan Attahiru decided to migrate to the holy city because he couldn’t live under the rule of oppressors and unbelievers. He even penned a fiery poem titled Al-Nasara. In it, he cautioned his people about the dangers of living under the rule of unbelievers. Even though some may now be regretting this move. I remember a funny story I heard about an old man who attended a Sudanese wedding and saw some girls dancing while wearing indecent dresses. The old man sighed and said in Hausa, “Had our forefathers known the indecency would reach us here, they wouldn’t have bothered migrating from Nigeria!”
This second group can be found mainly in the Blue Nile State. There is even a town named Maiwurno, which is populated by Hausa and Fulani descendants of Sultan Attahiru, Ahmed Misau, Gwani Muktar, and the other people who migrated with them. Their traditional ruler is well respected by the Nigerian community and he always gets invitations to events organised by them. Maiwurno people are so hospitable towards Nigerians, that nearly all who visit the country get an invitation to visit the town and enjoy their love and hospitality.
My third pleasant encounter with Hausa in Sudan was when I went shopping for vegetables and fish at Suqh-Al-Marqaz together with my 4 male classmates. At a moment I got so tired that I decided to take a break from walking, so I told them to go ahead and finish their shopping while I wait for them at the spot. As they walked on leaving me there I heard a voice beside me say in Hausa, “Ki zo ki zamna a karkashin lemana ki jira su don akwai rana da yawa” When the vegetable vendor noticed the look of incredulity on my face he laughed and said, “Are you surprised? sit on this stool and I will show you many Hausas in this market. We don’t speak to each other in any other language but Hausa!”
As I sat under his umbrella, he ordered a cup of tea for me from an Ethiopian tea vendor seated close by and proceeded to tell me how proud they always feel when they meet Hausa people like me coming to the country to study or to engage in lawful businesses. He said they keep a low profile and are not too proud to showcase their heritage anymore due to the influx of some migrant Hausas who go to the country to engage in begging and other unpleasant professions like rummaging through garbage (what we call Baban Bola), and even criminal acts like thievery. He said that the third group had made them very ashamed to identify as Hausa and they never relate to or speak Hausa to them. But people like us make them proud so they are always eager to converse in Hausa with us.
As we continued to talk under the big red umbrella, people continued to come over and have a conversation with him in Hausa. Some were there to shop while others were his fellow traders, but all of them had to stop in front of his umbrella to show some love.
My first encounter with Hausa in the Sudan, which wasn’t pleasant at all, happened on my first day in Khartoum, and within my first hour in the city. We have just arrived home from the airport, and while we were waiting at the gate I saw some female beggars come to the window to beg. I asked one of my colleagues who went to pick me up from the airport if there are also beggars in the country just like in ours and to my surprise one of the women in the window said, “Ashe ma mutanenmu ne!”
I see beggars every Friday since my house was very close to the mosque and even though I give sadaqah, I find it hard to strike up pleasant conversations with them because they always try to be buddies with me just because we speak the same language, it embarrassed me just like the Baban bola who also try to strike a conversation whenever they see Muhammad and me.
But apart from those few unfortunate ones, meeting Hausas in Sudan was a very pleasant experience for me. From that time I went on to research the language situation in an area called Takamul. My guide took me to a community leader to introduce me to him, telling him in Arabic about me being a Nigerian student of the Jami’a Ifriqiyyah (International University of Africa), and that I was there to conduct interviews and FGDs. The man finished listening, turned to me, and said. “Kina lahiya?’
I have made friends with the Hausa girls I met at weddings who invited us to their house and their mother came to ask us what Hausa food we wanted to eat. As she started mentioning the different varieties I realised that I have never heard of some of them. Then it dawned on me that those must be some of what was being eaten in Hausaland when their ancestors left, but we now don’t.
I realised that those people have been able to retain some cultural aspects that Nigerian Hausas have abandoned, like that of putting lalle on the groom, food, and dressing. They even have a Hausa Day for their weddings, where they eat Hausa foods and dance to Hausa music.
When I asked one of my friends how they were able to maintain their language despite the threat of endangerment by Arabic, she said it was through marriage. Traditionally, Hausa boys weren’t allowed to marry from other cultures but the girls can marry anyone, That was how they were able to maintain their identity for hundreds of years.
Another amazing thing about the Sudanese Hausa is their love for the motherland; I have had countless Raksha (keke) drivers ask me if I was a Nigerian, and when I answered in the affirmative, they would tell me that they too were Nigerians, even though they meant Hausas, They would even mention places their forefathers came from. Places like Misau, Jigawa, Kano Sokoto, and the rest. They have not forgotten even though they, their parents, and grandparents have never been to Hausaland, they know those details about themselves.
They are people with dual identities that they are both proud of.
Dr Furera Bagel is a lecturer at Bauchi State University, Itas Gadau. Email: fureragarba@gmail.com