Bilala dynasty

The traditional origin stories of the Bilala rulers are similar, and often connected to, the origin stories or rulers of the Sayfawa dynasty, which ruled the Kanem–Bornu Empire. Like the Sayfawa, the Bilala have from the time of their conversion to Islam onwards claimed fictitious Arab ancestry as a source of prestige. or Balal. According to this tale, the Bilala were attacked in Baghdad by Sef (the eponymous ancestor of the Sayfawa) after he had left Yemen; Sef is said to have defeated the Bilala and became sultan of Baghdad. Sef eventually left Baghdad and traveled to "Badinimguro", where he was for 333 years, and then traveled to "N'gibi N'gabulo", where he also was 333 years, before he reached Njimi in Kanem. The Bilala came to Kanem later and the country was divided between them and the Sayfawa. or Djil Sjikomeni. Heinrich Barth (1857) believed Jil was a son of the Sayfawa mai Dunama II Dibalemi. Richmond Palmer (1936) placed him later, as a contemporary of the 14th-century Sayfawa mais Idris I Nikalemi and Dawud Nikalemi. == Oral history accounts ==

Historical outline A general outline of Bilala history can be produced through both Bilala and foreign sources. The Bilala are first recorded to have been in conflict with the Sayfawa in the reign of the 14th-century Sayfawa mai Dawud Nikalemi. Dawud was defeated and killed by the Bilala 1363, and the Bilala were able to capture Njimi, the capital of Kanem. Njimi was retaken by Dawud's successor, Uthman I, The loss of Kanem prompted the Sayfawa to re-establish themselves west of Lake Chad, in the Bornu region. The Bilala ruled Kanem until they lost the country 1630, whereafter they relocated to their present lands around Lake Fitri. Rulers mentioned in Sayfawa girgams The history of the Kanem–Bornu Empire and its rulers is mainly recorded in the girgam, a royal chronicle preserved over the centuries mainly through oral history. Girgams recording the line of the Sayfawa rulers also mention several Bilala rulers, though a complete line of rulers is not recorded. Similar names and details of these rulers are given in girgams translated by Heinrich Barth in 1857 Histories One of the tales translated by Palmer (in several versions) is The Bilala Secession from the Mais of Kanem, which records the Bilala conquest of Kanem and the decades that followed. Depending on the version, The Bilala Secession records a single Bilala ruler (eponymously named "Bilala" or "Bulala") as conquering Kanem and ruling for a century, or a succession of three rulers: • Sultan Bilala (or Lefia) of Fitri, who conquered Kanem from the Sayfawa mai Dawud and ruled for 25 years. • Sultan Sowi, who ruled for 32 years. • Sultan Yari bin Sowi, who ruled for 19 years and was defeated by the Sayfawa mai "Ali Gaji". To make the chronology fit, Palmer identified "Ali Gaji" not as the Sayfawa mai otherwise recorded as Ali I Gaji, but as the earlier Sayfawa ruler Gaji, who the Sayfawa girgam contradictorily describes as having been killed by a Bilala ruler named Mohammed. Palmer suggested that Yari and Mohammed were two names for the same ruler, and that both names were later nicknames. Another tale, The War Between the Bilala and Sayfawa, records Bilala history around the time of the Sayfawa mai Idris IV Alooma. This tale includes a confused account of Sayfawa history; the Sayfawa mais Ali I Gaji (builder of Ngazargamu) and Ali II Zainami (Idris's father) are erroneously equated as the same person and Aissa Koli is erroneously identified as the daughter of Dunama II Dibalemi. The War Between the Bilala and Sayfawa records that Ali married Amsa, daughter of the Bilala ruler Umr (Umar), who was Idris's mother. Idris eventually becomes ruler of the Sayfawa and later leads a campaign in which he defeats and kills his maternal grandfather Umr, also becoming ruler of the Bilala. After Idris, Mai Kunuma (or Mai Mala Ganami), son of Umr, becomes ruler of the Bilala and the Bilala relocate to the Lake Fitri region. Lists (girgams) In Sudanese Memoirs, Palmer translated three lists of Bilala rulers. These lists included a Bilala girgam, with regnal years and some notes, as well as two name lists of rulers. Palmer titled the two name lists as List of Bilala Mais of Kanem (List A) and Origin of the Bilala Kings of Fitri According to the Manuscript of Sarkin Gulfei (List B). The lists do not differentiate between ancestral figures, Bilala rulers of Kanem, and Bilala rulers of Yao (Fitri). According to Palmer, the differences at the end of List A are due to a split in the Bilala lineage, with List A representing the branch of a Bilala prince named Shettima, not of the main line. Palmer believed both List A and List B to be faulty but stated that they supplemented each other, claiming that an approximate full list could be created by combining the two. Palmer also created a comparative list, where several figures were speculatively identified as the same, such as Othman ibn Affan in List A perhaps being the same figure as Muhammad el-Yamani in List B. Hagenbucher's list Frank Hagenbucher wrote down a list of Bilala rulers in April 1967, published in 1968 as part of a larger collection of notes and observations on the Bilala. Hagenbucher's list is limited to the Bilala rulers of Yao, i.e. after their flight from Kanem. Hagenbucher's list begins with Mahamat Djil Essa Tubo, who Hagenbucher identified as the first sultan of Yao. == Recent rulers (late 19th century–present) ==

Lists of Bilala rulers are largely in agreement from the death of Djourab Saxaïr (Jurab al-Saghir) in the late 19th century, though dates are inconsistent and contradictory. This period began with a civil war over the throne between two of Djourab's sons, Hassan Baïkouma (Hassan Bekuma) and Mahamat Gadaï (Muhammad Gadai). Gadaï, based in "Auni (near Meto)", failed to take the throne and was in exile in the Wadai Sultanate for seven years until the Wadai sultan Yusuf defeated Hassan's son Djili and installed Gadaï as ruler. Gadaï ruled until French colonization. The throne has since then been in the hands of the line of Gadaï's relative Hassan Absakine. == See also ==