In Dagbon here, truly, we are holding the Muslim religion. I am not a maalam [Dagbani: afa or alifa, afanima], and I don't know all of it, but truly, I am following the Muslim religion. And as I am holding it, I can tell you how we Dagbamba are standing in the Muslim religion. It's not all Dagbamba who are Muslims, and it's not all Dagbamba who pray. Many Dagbamba are still following the gods of the land. And some too are following the Prophet Issa, that is, Jesus. We call them church people. The Muslims don't have trust in the church people because they are not the Prophet Muhammad's people. Those who follow the Prophet Muhammad are more than any other people, because it is his people who will be in front of all other people on the day of judgment. The talk about the Christian fathers is not with us Muslims. It is with the typical Dagbamba. Christianity has come here with people who have entered into us, the strangers and the Ashantis. As for the Ashantis, they didn't have anything to worship on the part of God. When the Christian fathers came, the Ashantis opened their arms and collected the talk of the fathers. As for the Muslim religion, it was Dagbamba maalams who went to turn some of the Ashantis to the Muslim religion. The Asantehene has a Limam. I don't know when they started, but the Ashanti Muslims are there. But even as the eyes of the world are now opened, the Ashanti Muslims are not many. But as for Dagbamba, you will go anywhere in Dagbon and see that they are Muslims. And as for the maalams and the fathers, their eyes don't trust one another, and so those of us who are Muslims, we also don't mind the fathers. We don't get near them, and our talks don't enter one another. They cry, “#8220;God,” and we also cry, “God.” And ours is different from theirs. That is how it is.
I myself don't want the fathers. Truly, they fear God very, very much, but they can spoil our Muslim religion because their praying is different from ours. We are following the Prophet Muhammad, and Muhammad took his forehead and touched the ground when he prayed. And the fathers say that to touch the forehead to the ground is not there. And the fathers say they are following the Prophet Issa. But to us, the Prophet Issa is following the Prophet Muhammad. If somebody is following the chief and somebody is following the Wulana, which one is following the correct way? And so we are following the chief, because every prophet is following the Prophet Muhammad. And the fathers know that the Prophet Muhammad is there, but they don't agree, and they say he is not there. And that is why our eyes don't trust them. But it is not any talk in our Dagbon, and there is no mouth-arguing.
Those who are following the church fathers are there, and they are now coming to be plenty. I told you that the talk of the fathers is for the typical Dagbamba who don't follow the Muslim religion, and they are in the villages. As for them, they gain from the fathers. The fathers do some of their works for them, and they help them on the part of their farming, and they pray to God for them. And so as the fathers pray for them and help them, and these people follow the fathers, it's good for them. In some of the villages, they said are going to bring pipe water and build clinics there for them. And so those who are inside the churches, they get things easily. And those children who are going to join the churches, already their fathers are not Muslims. And even some Muslims, if their child wants, the child will just go and join. As for those who are inside the church, they argue with people and challenge the Muslims a lot. Truly, as for argument, they can argue. Even maalams fear them. If you enter into talks about God with the church people, if you don't take time, they will take you to so many talks about our way of living. As for argument, they argue every time. If you try to count their talks, you will tire. But as for the villagers, they trust the fathers.
But truly, I can say that during the time that the Muslim religion has come to this Dagbon, it is now that most people are rushing to it, and some leave learning other kinds of work and just concentrate on the Muslim religion. As I am sitting, some of my children could not finish reading the Holy Qur'an, but the older ones have finished reading it. The young children coming up are also reading it. But I myself was not able to finish reading the Holy Qur'an. You see that my children are finishing reading the Holy Qur'an, and they are becoming Muslims, but I did not finish it. It is because the time I was learning it, truly, we were doing many things in the drumming, and so I was trying to be beating the drum and learning the Holy Qur'an at the same time, and for a grown man to learn this reading is difficult. And this is the reason why I could not finish reading. And you can see that among my children, not all of them know how to play a drum: they are serious on the part of the Muslim religion.
And to talk about the Muslim religion, and to talk about the maalams and their work, and to talk about where you find the Muslims in Dagbon here, I will start it and we will go. As for the Muslim religion, its talks are many, and as we are holding them, we all know only to our extent. We sat with Abukari Moro from Yendi and we asked about some of these talks, and you know that he is a drummer who has a lot of respect, and so I will add his talk to this one. Truly, there is no one who ever said he wants to know all the talks in the Muslim religion, because its talks are too many. And so I will talk to you on the part of what I know and how I know about my religion. Truly, to talk about the Muslim religion is difficult. When the Holy Prophet Muhammad was alive, he said that there would be different talks inside it. He already knew about this time we are sitting inside, and he talked about it. We have seen it, and it is not only inside the Muslim religion. In everybody's talks, there are different talks. If you are somebody who asks, if you don't use sense, it will come to a time when you can't ask again. And what I am saying now, you have also seen it inside our drumming talks. Some small, small drummers have talked to you some talks about drumming, and you won't know what to do with their talk. But how do you call them? Will you call them drummers or not? They are drummers.
And so now, talks have separated. If you ask somebody, and he gives you some talk, you will hold it. Tomorrow, another one will come and wake up the talk of the previous day. Yesterday you went and heard the talk of the other person, and you held it, and today somebody is preaching, and you will hold that talk and put it inside your pocket. And then another day again, somebody will also preach and wake up that talk. Which one are you going to take? Do you see that Dagbon is big. Can everyone sit in peace? This one is here; that one is there. Everybody is holding his town's talks. That is how it is. And so in Dagbon here, there are differences among the Muslims. Those of us who are the beads, we are those they call Naawunyɛrba, and we are sitting and calling the name of God. Apart from us, there are the Munchiri people and the Ahmadiyya people who have entered Dagbon. Those who are called Munchiri, they have brought their talk from Saudi Arabia, and the Ahmadiyya people have also come here. They are now with us in Dagbon here, and their talk is different from ours. But we are all Muslims. And so how we are holding it, the way the Holy Prophet has said that when a time like this time comes, we should follow the Holy Qur'an and the follow the teachings of the life of the Holy Prophet. That is what the maalams have been telling us.
The time of Naa Gbewaa, we Dagbamba did not know the Muslim religion. I am not going to count before Naa Gbewaa. Naa Gbewaa and his children, and the black Dagbamba, they were one on the part of their religion. Naa Gbewaa's first-born was Siɣlinitobu, “landing with war,” and he is the one we call Naa Shitɔbu. Siɣlinitobu's first son was Naa Nyaɣsi. Naa Nyaɣsi's first-born son was Naa Zulandi. Naa Zulandi's first son was Naa Naɣalɔɣu. And Naa Zulandi's son was Naa Daturli. And Naa Zulandi's son was Naa Briguyomda. And Naa Daturli's son was Naa Zɔlgu. And Naa Zɔlgu's son was Naa Zunzoŋ. And Naa Zɔlgu's son was Naa Niŋmitooni. And Naa Zɔlgu's son was Naa Dimani, the butcher's grandfather. And Naa Zɔlgu's son was Naa Yenzoo. And Naa Zunzoŋ's son was Naa Dariʒɛɣu. And Naa Zɔlgu's last son was Naa Luro. Naa Luro's son was Naa Tutuɣri. And Naa Luro's son was Naa Zaɣli. And Naa Luro's son was Naa Gungobli. And it was Naa Gungobli who died and Naa Zanjina became chief. It was Naa Zanjina who collected Yendi we said, “Allah Akubaru.” From here up to the Mamprusi land, unless you reached the Mossi land, there was no “Allah Akubaru.” And even from here, unless you reached to the Wangara land, there was no “Allah Akubaru.” When “Allah Akubaru” was entering Dagbon, it was Naa Zanjina who was sitting in Yendi.
And so the Muslim religion was brought here by Naa Zanjina, and from then up till now, we haven't thought of leaving it. Truly, if you follow it, it was during the time of Naa Luro's first-born son Naa Tutuɣri that the Muslims came. And when Naa Tutuɣri left Yaan' Dabari and took the chieftaincy to Yendi, at that time he called the Muslims to come and help him and Yendi will stand. And so it was Naa Tutuɣri who took Yendi from this side to where it is now, and it was Naa Tutuɣri who met the Muslims first. At that time, they were not many. When they came they settled near Damongo, at Larabanga: it's a Gonja town. I have heard that there is a Larabanga in eastern Dagbon, toward Bimbila, but I haven't heard of anybody going there. The one that is common in the mouth of people is the one near to Damongo. People even go there to pray and to see the mosque. The town is called Larabanga because we called an Arab Larabawa. Do you know the meaning of Larabansi? It means Arabs. They were Arabs, and they were red, and Dagbamba were calling them Larabansi people. And they were there. As Kissmal is sitting here, he is of the same family with the Larabawa people. And so before the Arabs came here, they passed Nigeria and went to that side, and some of them sat in the Wangara town, and they gave birth to children with the Wangaras. And when they came, any time the chiefs wanted them, they sent to Larabanga, and the Larabanga people would send maalams here. And so they were Wangaras, and they were Arabs.
It was Sang Sampahi-Naa Ibrahim who told me that before the time Naa Zanjina was the chief, Hausa men also came and sat at the Mossi land and showed the Mossis how to pray Allah Akubaru. And some of them were sent to show the Dagbamba and the Mamprusis and the Wangaras how to pray Allah Akubaru. And one came and showed the Mamprusis. And one came here, and it was Naa Zanjina who was the chief. And he also showed him the prayers. But Sampahi-Naa didn't know the name of the maalam who came. At that time, there was nobody who could write. It was only strong head that we were using. And to cut it short, what we show on the part of our drumming is that Naa Zanjina traveled to the Hausa land, in Nigeria. But we don't know the actual town he traveled to. We only know the town as Boligunawusaz. That is all. It is in Dagbani when they say Naa Zanjina went to Boligunawusa. And this “awusa,” it means a Hausa town. And they said, “They have called him to Hausa.” And they say, “He has gone for Boligu,” that is, “He has gone for ‘calling’.” He has been called and he has gone. And so our drumming shows that Naa Zanjina traveled to the Hausa land, and it was the Hausas who showed him how to pray.
If there were Muslims in Dagbon before Naa Zanjina, it was in Naa Zanjina's time that the Muslims came more, and those who came were Hausas. When Naa Zanjina went to the Hausa land, it was there he met Muslims before he came home. The Muslims had come from Arabia to the Hausa land, and some of the Arabs followed Naa Zanjina home. And when the Hausas came, some of them also went to Larabanga, and some of the Larabanga people also came here, and we have a village called Larabanga at the other side of Yendi. And truly, when Naa Zanjina came from the Hausa land and brought maalams, that was the time the Dagbamba also learned about the Muslim religion. And so it was the Hausas who brought the Muslim religion here. And inside these Hausas, Dagbamba took their children and gave to them and they read, and these children finished reading, and now all of the maalams have become Dagbamba, but their starting was Hausa. And that is why we say that it was Naa Zanjina who brought the Muslim religion to Dagbon here.
Truly, the Muslim religion has helped us a lot on the part of our living. The time Naa Zanjina brought it, our eyes were not open: now that our eyes are open, how much less will we want to leave it? When the Muslim religion was brought here, we were only learning how to read the Holy Qur'an, but now we are learning how to read the Holy Qur'an and also learning what we call Lahilori. It is after we finish the Holy Qur'an that we start the Lahilori. As you are reading the Arabic in the Holy Qur'an, and you are reading the words, this Lahilori shows the meaning of the Holy Qur'an. And so it helps us to understand the Holy Qur'an. It shows the sayings of the Holy Prophet and the works of the Holy Prophet, and so it is like the tradition of the Holy Prophet in the Muslim religion. This Lahilori, if you read it alone and you don't read any other Muslim books, you will know the preachings of God, because this Lahilori teaches us how to live and how to have good living. It teaches us what is good and what is bad. It shows how a child should give respect to his father and mother. It shows again how a human being should pity another person. It shows again that one person is more than another. And truly, no one is more than the other, but in talking of how to live in the world, on the part of what God shows, we are all human beings but one is more than the other. And so there are many talks in the Lahilori, and if someone is able to read it very well, he will get to know so many things that are happening in the world. And so when we started the Muslim religion, we started it with the Holy Qur'an, and now we have added the Lahilori, and we have seen that it is good. If you are inside any bad way of living and you learn how to read this Lahilori, you will run away and leave your bad living. And if your way of living is good and you read the Lahilori to see how good work is, you will increase your good living to be more. And so the Muslim religion has come to help us a lot in our way of living in Dagbon here.
Here is an example. It is inside the Muslim religion that we got to know weddings and how to receive your wife in your house. In the olden days, if they gave you a woman, you would just take the woman to your house, and that was all. But in the Muslim religion we got to know how to pray the wedding and how the woman will bathe when she gets to your house. If you are given a new wife, the first thing you have to do for the father of your wife is to sit down and say some prayers for him. If you have the means, you will go to the market and buy six pieces of cloth, and six veils, and six scarves. If you don't have the means, you can buy four of each, or three. You will add money to all this and let women carry it to the woman's house. You will fix a day, and you will let women from your house or you will let your mothers go to that woman's house in the night. There is a leaf we call zabla, and they get it in the bush and bring it and dry it and grind it into a black powder; you have been seeing women put that powder on their feet: the women from your house will go to your wife's house and throw it at the woman. The next day, you will send cola to your friends and relatives, and the following day they will bathe the woman. After bathing her, the cloth you have sent, they have sewed some for her to wear, and they will dress her in the cloth before bringing her to your house. It is there at the woman's house that they will tie the wedding. Maalams will sit together and say, “This woman's father so-and-so has given his daughter to this man so-and-so's son, and so we should pray and tie them together.” And the next thing they will say is that now that they have seen the amaliya, it's left with the naming day of a child. And that God should let the heart of the woman and the heart of the man come together. And God should give them food to eat, and give them water to drink, and give them cool heart. This is how the maalams will tie the wedding before they bring the woman to your house. You the husband will not be there. You will be feeling shy, and you will sit in your house and let a friend represent you at the tying place. If you go, it is not forbidden, but you won't go. If you are going to marry a woman, and you yourself will get up and go to sit down with the maalams, it means you have nobody in your house. You will sit coolly at home, and your friend will go with your people, and they will tie the wedding and bring your wife to you. As they have bathed her and dressed her and made her fine, that is the day you and the woman will meet on the bed and you will do what you will do. And there is nothing behind it except that you will both be feeling shy, and so your friend will go to stand in your place, and then they will bring the woman to your house. And all this, we got it from the Muslim religion.
Again, it was in the Muslim religion that we got to know the naming day of a child. If a woman gives birth to a child, on the seventh day they will give a name to the child. You will gather all your friends and gather maalams and sit down and call the name of the child. It is another work for maalams. They will tell the maalams to go and look in the Holy Qur'an and find the day and date when the woman gave birth, and it is in the Qur'an that they will find a name for the child. The name given the child is from the Holy Qur'an, because every day has got its names. If a child is born on a certain day, they will look at the Holy Qur'an to get the name of the child, because that was what they have been doing at Mecca since the olden days. Maybe four names will appear for that day, and the maalam will tell you the names, and you will choose one. If you want, you will ask the maalam, that the maalam knows best, and the maalam will help you choose a name. Before they will call the name, you will share cola to your friends. And on the naming day, the maalams will come and pray, and you will slaughter a sheep, and you will cook food, and add the meat, and share it among all the people who will come to greet you for the naming. They will all come and greet you with twenty pesewas or fifty pesewas or a cedi or whatever; everyone will greet with what he wants. Sometimes one of your friends or relatives will come and tell you that as for the sheep that you are going to buy for the naming, he will buy the sheep for you. Sometimes somebody will stand strongly and give you a bag of corn. This is what we do, and it is help from one another. If you want, you can call a barber to circumcise the child on that day, and there are some people who let them cut the child's penis when the child is born. Others will leave a child till he grows up even to some years old. I'm talking of boys. We Dagbamba don't cut girls; I have heard that the Mossis do that, but I have never seen it. And so this naming is another benefit we get from the Muslim religion.
Truly, we get so many things from the Muslim religion. It is in the Muslim religion that we got to know the Ramadan fast. When the Ramadan moon comes out, every Muslim has to fast from daybreak till sunset. And so if you are following the Muslim religion, you will fast during the Ramadan month. And why we fast, the maalams have told us that our grandfather Adam, when he was born, he was put into a very nice place. There were trees there, and God said he should not take the fruit of one of those trees, but Adam refused and took that fruit. And God says that as our grandfather Adam disobeyed Him, we have to fast, or we will also disobey him. As we are the grandchildren of Adam, we are also doing bad, and we fast so that God will forgive us. And when we die, we are going to the next world, and it is also a nice place. If you don't fast, you won't get a good place in the next world, and so inside this fasting we get a gift that is being put down for us in the next world. And so during the Ramadan month, you will fast. But if you are sick or you have stomach troubles or any sickness like that, God says that you don't have to fast. If you are very, very old, God says you don't have to fast. But if you are a Muslim, and you are a young man or a young woman, and you have health, you have to fast. If you are able to fast, and you fast that whole month, God will forgive you for the bad things you have done. If you don't fast, you are cheating yourself. And the Ramadan fast is another big thing in the Muslim religion.
It was inside the Muslim religion that we got to know how to go to Mecca for the pilgrimage. Before Naa Zanjina, as no one was praying, who would go to Mecca? Only Muslims are allowed to go there, but you need money to go there; if you have no money, you cannot go to Mecca. And in our religion, if you are a Muslim and you have money and you don't go to Mecca, God will ask you why you refused to go to Mecca. And now that we know the going to Mecca, some of our children whom we have sent to the Arabic schools and they learned how to read very well, some of them now have a way to go to universities in the Arab countries and even to farther places like Pakistan. And it is because we are following this Muslim religion that our children are going there.
And so there are many things we Dagbamba got from the Muslim religion. It is inside the Muslim religion again that we got to know how to perform funerals. I have already talked about how we perform funerals. If someone should die, and he was someone who prayed to God, we will go to the funeral house and sit together with our prayer beads and say prayers. Whether a man, a woman, or a child, if that person was inside the Muslim religion, you will go and pray. Or if a chief should die, they will bring out a burial sheep, and a bathing-a-dead-chief sheep, and a prayers sheep. And again, we got to know that if they bring out a pɔŋ, the flat woven pan, maalams will sit around it and say prayers, and we will contribute pesewa-pesewas into it.
It is inside the Muslim religion that we learned how to slaughter animals. The butchers and the maalams: their talks enter one another. Most of the butchers are Muslims, but if a butcher wants to sell meat, even if he is a Muslim, he won't slaughter it himself. If he slaughters it himself, no one will buy the meat. And so he will go and call a maalam to slaughter it before the butcher will cut it. In every town, it is maalams who slaughter. And in most places, they usually have a particular maalam who does it.
And it is inside the Muslim religion that we got to know alms. If you have money and you don't give alms, God will one day ask you why you were in the world with that sort of money and you refused to give it as alms for the poor people. God gives and God takes, and it's not that you used your strength to get the money, and as God has pitied you and given you money, it's good you also pity someone.
And all this, it was Naa Zanjina who brought it. That is why we say that Naa Zanjina lit a lantern and opened the eyes of Dagbon. Before Naa Zanjina, we were in darkness, and the time Naa Zanjina brought the Muslim religion here, our eyes opened, and so we call Naa Zanjina the lantern of Dagbon. When he brought the Muslim religion here and we trusted it and followed its teachings, we came to know many things.
Truly, if you say you are going to count all the things that we Dagbamba have got from the Muslim religion, you cannot count all. In Dagbon here, if a chief is made a chief, maalams will come together and say prayers, and they will read the Holy Qur'an, and when they finish reading, the chief will slaughter a cow. And again, it was inside the Muslim religion that we got to know that a man should not marry more than four women. Those who are not Muslims, some of them can marry five or ten or more women in Dagbon here, but a Muslim will not do that. And again, we got to know that if an animal is not slaughtered, you shouldn't eat it. If you want to eat, you have to ask if the animal was slaughtered. And a Muslim doesn't eat pork. If a Muslim eats pork and prays, the prayers are not there. And again, the Muslim religion doesn't want you to drink drink. And the Muslim religion doesn't want you to make sacrifices to the gods or shrines. And a Muslim too doesn't have sex with somebody's wife. If you do that, whatever prayers you say, you have no prayers.
And so our everything is inside the Muslim religion. And everything we are doing, we put something from the Muslim religion inside. If you build a new house here, you don't just enter it and start living there with your family. You finish everything, and then you ask some maalams to come into the house and sit and say prayers before you will bring your things into the house. Even if you want to change the room in which you are staying and move to another room, you will go and find maalams to go into that room and say some prayers before you will move into that room. Even in our living, if you quarrel with your friend, you have to separate the quarrel in a Muslim way. The Muslim religion shows that it is not good to be annoyed with your friend or any person. The Holy Qur'an shows that if you quarrel with your friend in the morning, and by the evening you haven't talked to one another, if you die, you will not go to heaven. People will let a maalam talk to the two of you, and the maalam will tell you, “This is what God has said, and you don't know whether you are keeping yourself in this world or not, and so fear God because you can die any time.” And as I have told you that we Dagbamba call the name of God in everything we do, that is why we who are following the Muslim religion do our everything inside it.
And inside the Muslim religion, what is first is that you should know that God is there. And you should fear God. Fear God like what? You don't do bad to anyone. If you see that there is something worrying your friend, and you have the means, you can do it for him. You will see someone sitting down and he cannot do any work, and you know that it is such-and-such a thing that is worrying him; if you have the means, do it for him. And if you don't look at anything, you should look and know that God is there. Sometimes you will see somebody whose eyes are open but his living is not good; you will think in your heart and say, “If I do this thing for that fellow, he would be very happy, and his people too would be happy.” When you do it for him, it is God you fear; the person is not the one who has begged you for it. Sometimes someone will beg something from someone, and the fellow will have it and not give it to him. As he has refused, the one who begged for it should know that he is not the one who has refused, but rather it is God who has refused. Look again, and you will see that sometimes you will take something and say, “I am putting this thing down for this fellow”; you say it in your heart but you have not told the fellow. When you don't give it to that fellow but you take it to give to another fellow, you should know that it is God who has said you should do that. And so we just look at what is happening and know that God is there. You will sit with someone and you will not like his talk; you don't want your eye to see him. As you don't like him, if you should fall on the ground and you are dying, he will not care. And even you yourself wouldn't mind that if it is daybreak, that fellow will die. But he is not dying, and you have no way to take a knife and cut and kill him. You must know that it is God who is putting that fellow there, and you must know that it is God who is saying that as you don't like him, you cannot do anything to him. And so it is good that you know there is God, and you will fear God. That is how fearing God is.
And so if you are following the Muslim religion, if you want your child to fear God, when you bring forth your child and he grows up, you can send him to go and start reading the Holy Qur'an. As he is reading the Holy Qur'an, if he also gives birth to a child and that child does not learn to read it, it doesn't matter. I have told you that as I am sitting, I didn't finish reading the Holy Qur'an, but my children have finished reading it. My father didn't read the Holy Qur'an, but my father's father read it. It is someone who prays who is called a Muslim, but the Holy Qur'an is like the foundation of a house, and so it is good when you are following the Muslim religion and you know how to read the Holy Qur'an. And so if you want your child to be standing well inside the Muslim religion, you will send the child to the Arabic school. A child who learns well can become a maalam. What lets someone be a maalam? Someone who reads the Holy Qur'an, and he prays well, and he does the work of God, and he follows what God wants, he is a maalam. He fears God.
When you want to send your child to the Arabic school, you will take the child to a maalam. It is in these maalams' houses that we have the Arabic schools. You will get forty pesewas and give it to the maalam and say, “I am giving you this child, and so you should collect him, and I am giving you this forty pesewas, and so you should buy a whip.” The maalam will get your child and put him down, and he will put a prayer we call Awuzu inside the child's mouth, and he will be showing him like that until the child begins learning what we call yizibli, that is, chapters. The child will be learning in the mornings and in the evenings, and he will be learning like that until he finishes. If there are many of you in an area, you can gather all your children and give them to a maalam. And so boys and girls can be going to the Arabic school to learn to read the Holy Qur'an. Even an old person can go to an Arabic school; they don't refuse anyone. But what a child will learn easily, for an old person to learn it is difficult. A child doesn't look at anything; he hasn't got thoughts; he hasn't got “I am going to do this” or “I am going to get this” or “I am going to buy something for my wife to eat.” But when an old man enters Arabic school, when he wants to read, thoughts will come into his heart. He will learn something, and in about four hours, he will lose it. He cannot sit down: he has been eating from his legs, and he will want to get up and use his legs to go round and get something. They will show him the prayers, and something will be worrying him and will come and enter inside his learning, and he will forget. That is why the learning of an old person is difficult. But as for a child, the only thing worrying him is to eat and be satisfied. When he eats, there is nothing disturbing him again. Within six years to ten years, he will finish learning the Holy Qur'an. That is why we send children to the Arabic schools. When a child is small, he can learn, but when he is grown, he cannot learn well again. This is what I know about it.
A child who cannot read well or who doesn't learn the Holy Qur'an will go and enter the white man's work. If not that, he will go and be farming. If not that, he will go and learn his hands' work. But the one who reads well and learns the Holy Qur'an well, everyone who knows him will respect him. And inside his learning, he will be getting. He will use his learning to be eating. Even you yourself, as you are sitting, you will respect him. He has learned his work well. What you want from him, he has it and he knows that you want it. If somebody learns work and doesn't learn it well, he doesn't gain from it. But the one who learns his work well, whatever work he is doing will be benefiting him. That is the way of the whole world, and for the maalams too, it is the same thing. A maalam who has learned the work, you will go to his house and see many people there, and they will all be praising him. He will be getting food to feed all of them. The food will be coming from somewhere and entering the house. He will be sitting down, and people will be bringing money and giving him, and he will be eating. Everything is useless to him. And it is that he has learned the Holy Qur'an well. That is how it is.
As for the work of the maalams, their work is praying: for example, if you are going round to find money, if you find a maalam to be supporting you by saying prayers for you while you are outside, walking and struggling to get the money, those prayers will help you. God says that we should beg Him; and He says again that if we beg Him, He will give us. It's not that God Himself will come and give out the money. If God is going to give us, He will give to a human being, and the human being too will give to a human being. It is because God says He makes a human being. And so don't be begging God for something and think that God is going to give it to you Himself. God will give it to someone else and that fellow will bring it to you. And so if you ask God for something and you don't get it, don't think that God didn't give you. You should think of what you have, and you will get to know that God has given some different things from what you were expecting to have. And so these maalams, as they know the Holy Qur'an and they know how to pray very well, they will help in whatever you want to do, just because of their prayers. If you are holding a problem, they will look inside the Holy Qur'an, and they will tell you what God wants, and at the same time, they will say some prayers for you. And by then you will see that your problem will reduce. Even somebody who is not a Muslim, if he gets money, he can send some of his money to the maalams to say some prayers, either for long life or the increasing of his wealth, and God will answer the prayers. God does not say that that fellow is not a Muslim and He will not do what the fellow wants. In the Holy Qur'an, God didn't say that only Muslims should beg Him. God only wants the prayers, and that is how it is.
And so how a maalam gets, it is from his praying. There will be somebody who wants something from a maalam, and he will go and tell the maalam to pray for him. The maalam will pray, and the fellow will get what he wants. It will not be daybreak, and ten people will come and greet that maalam. As the maalam helps them, they will also give the maalam. And there are some maalams who have not learned the work well, and it is hunger that is going to kill them. And so a maalam who is good is the one who can solve people's problems because he is standing well inside the Muslim religion. And apart from the maalam who knows his work, there is someone who will read the Holy Qur'an and will not follow it. If you read the Holy Qur'an and you don't fear God, you are not a maalam. If you read the Holy Qur'an and you don't pray, you are not a maalam. If you read the Holy Qur'an and you don't do what God wants, you are not a maalam. If you read the Holy Qur'an and you don't pity a human being, you are not a maalam. If you read the Holy Qur'an and you tell lies, you are not a maalam. And so a maalam is someone who reads the Holy Qur'an and fears God. How God says we should fear Him, the maalam fears Him like that. How God says we should pray, he prays like that. He does not take God to be just somebody; he says that God is the only God. If he gets something bad, he takes it and says that God has given it to him. If he gets something good, he takes it and says that God has given it to him. And all this is what we take to know a good maalam. And that is how it is.
If you are a Muslim, and you father and forefathers were Muslims before you, then by now all of your family will be Muslims. If you are given birth in such a family, whatever happen, you will be a Muslim. The maalams are like that. The whole family is Muslim: they don't do any sacrificing to the gods again. Their everything is the Muslim religion, and they are all maalams. They are following everything that God has shown, but those of us here are not holding all of it. There are some Muslims, the wife does not go out of the house. They show that the man is the one who will go to the market to buy things for the wife and child. When such a woman brings forth, and the child comes to grow a little, it is the child who will be going to the market to buy food and cooking things and come and give to the mother. As for these maalams, if you follow them, you will see that many of them are Hausas. I last told you that everybody in Dagbon has the way he started. If you look at the time Naa Zanjina brought the Muslim religion here, he brought maalams from the Hausa land. When they came, they married and gave birth to children. The children those maalams gave birth to also gave birth to children. That is why every place you go in Dagbon here, you will find somebody who understands Hausa or who is mixed Hausa and Dagbamba. This is what I know on the part of the maalams.
Truly, it was the maalams who showed us how to pray, and those of us who are following the Muslim religion, our everything is praying. As I have said that if you didn't learn to read the Holy Qur'an, it doesn't matter, it is because what God wants is that your should be praying and begging him. And so in Dagbon here, we say that those who are following the Muslim religion are people who pray, and those who are holding it and doing its everything and at the same time reading, they are the ones we call real Muslims. In the Holy Qur'an, God says that if He makes any person, that person should pray to Him, and if someone refuses God, he is harming himself. If you go to read the Holy Qur'an but you refuse to pray, your reading of the Holy Qur'an is useless. It would even have been better if you had left it. That is how it is.
Truly, there is a difference between someone who is from the family of the Muslims and someone who has decided to pray and is a prayer. But sometimes it happens that someone who prays will be more than the one who can read the Holy Qur'an. It's just like learning English. You can see somebody speaking English, but he has never been to school, and he will force himself and even learn how to write English. And you can see somebody who has been to school, but his writing is not good, and he doesn't even want to speak. This is how it is. And so sometimes you will see people who are praying, but in their families there is nothing on the part of the Muslim religion. It's only that they feel the interest to pray and they are saying the prayers.
And what the Holy Qur'an says, and the maalams have also told us, the Muslim religion does not refuse anyone from praying to God. Even to be a maalam, if you want, you can just go and enter it. The maalam's work doesn't show that it follows the family. In Dagbon here, we have the types of work which follow the family, and you cannot just go and enter them. If you want to enter, they will ask you. But people enter maalam's work and it isn't any talk; those who enter it are just not many. A Muslim doesn't make any separation of people: if someone's parents are not Muslim but he wants to be a Muslim, he can be a Muslim. And so how the Muslim religion is, if you get up and you want, you can enter inside it. It doesn't refuse the prayers of anyone. The Muslim religion doesn't refuse women. The Muslim religion doesn't refuse the child of a soothsayer. It doesn't refuse the child of a tindana. It doesn't refuse the child of someone who follows the jinwarba, those who dance on fire. You John, if you want to enter into the Muslim religion, you will enter and there will not be any talk. The Muslim religion doesn't say that you should be from this place or that place. What the Muslim religion wants, it only wants you to be praying to God, and it is only God you know. This is how praying to God is.
And those of us who pray, and what God has showed: when you are praying to God, you should be clean. When you want to pray, you will get water, and you will wash your penis and anus; and you will put water in your mouth three times; in your nose, three times; take water and brush your head; wash your face, three times; your right hand, three times; your left hand, three times; wash your legs and your feet. And you get up and stand on your praying mat. And you take your heart and give to God. You will say that God is the One you are praying to; you are not seeing anyone except God. He is the One who gives you; He is the One who does not give you. He gives good; He gives bad. And so you are standing in front of God just to say these prayers so that He will forgive you for any bad that you have done, and you know that He is there holding all human beings. This is what you say in your heart before you start praying.
As for the prayers themselves, there is no choosing: God has showed how to pray in the Holy Qur'an; we pray five times each day, and the prayers are different. But in all the prayers, you will stand and raise your hands and say, “There is only one God,” and so you will greet God. And what is remaining is for you to say some verses from the Holy Qur'an. That is the praying. Truly, if you are not learned in the Muslim religion, you can use only one verse to say all the prayers. If you lie down and sleep, in the morning you will get up about four o'clock, and getting to five o'clock you will pray Subaai, and you pray it two times. I am showing you how we call the names of the prayers in our Dagbani. From one o'clock getting to one-thirty in the afternoon, you will pray Azafari, and you pray it four times. By three-forty-five in the afternoon you will pray Lahisari four times. At six-forty-five you will pray Magarbi three times. And the last one is at seven-thirty, and that is Ishai, five times. And there are some prayers we call Naafila, and when you finish praying you will sit down and add these prayers. You will add two to the Subaai prayers, two to the Magarbi prayers, and three to the Ishai prayers. And this is the way of prayers.
Apart from that, on Friday we take the Azafari prayers, the ones we pray at one-thirty, and we take the Azafari prayers to pray Zumma, the Friday prayers. On Fridays, everyone will go to the mosque to pray the Azafari prayers, the one-thirty prayers. You will pray some part and the Limam will also lead you to pray. If you don't go to the Friday prayers, you can pray the Azafari in your house. And so the Zumma prayers have collected the Azafari, because on that day we don't pray Azafari again. As for the Friday prayers, I haven't asked to know what started it, but I think that it was the Prophet Ibrahim who started it and it has come to stand that Friday is a big day for prayers. And what we also learn from the Holy Qur'an is that every Friday in the evening around five o'clock, all Muslims should gather again with their prayer beads, and sit together to remember God. We will pull the beads and call the name of God. When we sit together to remember God with our beads, He will forgive us for the bad we have done.
What is adding again is if the new moon comes out and we finish the Ramadan fast. That is the festival prayers, the Eid' prayers; in our Dagbani we say Iddi. We will all gather at one place on the next day at ten o'clock in the morning and pray. As for that we use the Azafari prayer for it, two times. And what is adding again is the month they go to Mecca to pray, and on the tenth day of that month, those who pray will gather at ten o'clock in the morning to pray. But as for these two days, we also pray the Azafari prayers on those days, and so they don't collect any other prayer. This is how it is.
And what we know on the part of gathering and praying, if you say you are a Muslim in Dagbon here, if they call the prayers, you have to be interested in saying the prayers with other people. If you don't go to the gathering for prayers but rather you always pray by yourself, your gift from God will not be as great as if you are praying in the public. Sometimes you will be praying alone, and you will see that your heart will be thinking of something. Your heart is not in God again, and you are just saying the prayers. After you finish, you may think you have prayed, but you will have no benefit. But in the public prayers, there is someone in front of you leading you. If it is the Limam leading you, or a maalam, he will be standing in front. And God says that if you are praying in the public, whatever happens among you the people praying, the blame is not on you but rather on the one leading you. And so if you are praying alone and you don't pray well, you will only pray without getting anything. That is the way of prayers in the Muslim religion. And this is how the Muslim religion has opened our eyes.
I can tell you that in our North here, we Dagbamba pray prayers more than the Upper Region people. And we pray more than Accra people. And coming to Kumasi, we pray more than they do. If it happens that the talk of the pilgrimage should stand, they know that it is Dagbon that has got prayer prayers more than all of Ghana. And so in Dagbon we have prayed prayers more than all of Ghana. I cannot count the Muslims in Dagbon and give you a number, but I can tell you the number of Muslims in towns. I can say that we have such-and-such Muslims in this town, and we have so-and-so Muslims in that town. And when I show it in that way, I can say that this town's Muslims are more than that town's Muslims. And by that time we can know by example. And truly, if you look, it looks as if in Dagbon here, those who don't pray are more than those who pray, and it seems that they are many, and they are more than us. And if you look again, it seems that those who pray or beg to God, they seem to be more in Dagbon.
There are many types of Muslims. Truly, a person who prays is a Muslim. I have said that as we are praying to God, there are maalams, and leaving those who are begging God. There is somebody who has read. As he has read and he's praying, he's a Muslim. And somebody will be there who has not read but he is praying: he is also a Muslim. And so in Dagbon here, there is a Muslim, and there is a mumin. There are Muslims who have read and Muslims who have not read, but when we call somebody al-mumin, it is Arabic and it means that he has given belief or trust, and so he is a believer in the Muslim religion. Someone who has read, and he is praying, and he has faith, we call him al-mumin, that he has given trust. And somebody who has not read but he's praying and he has faith, he is also al-mumin. And so if it is those who have read the Holy Qur'an, then in Dagbon here those who pray will be more than those who have read the Holy Qur'an, because those who are praying are very many. Those who have read, they are not as many as those who pray.
Muslims can gather in some town, say Nanton, and those who are praying are more than those who have read the Holy Qur'an. In Savelugu, I know that those who pray are many, and they haven't read: they are only praying. In Kumbungu, I can show you that those who pray are more than those who don't pray. In Kumbungu I haven't seen many typical Dagbamba, those who beg the gods; Savelugu is like that; Nanton is like that, too. Those who read the Holy Qur'an or just those who are begging God, if it is those who beg God, they are different from those who have read, but they are all following the Muslim religion. And so how I will count it, I will count those who are praying to God in a Muslim way. And if there is a town, say, where many of them are reading, and they are real Muslims, I will show you. And so I think it will be good if I group the Muslims together with those who pray, and I show in different towns whether they are more than those who beg the gods of the land. And I will separate it according to the towns.
Those we call typical Dagbamba are those who follow beg the buɣa, the gods of the land, and they beg the baɣyuya, the family gods. Such a person, we call him chɛfira, pagan. But apart from the Muslims I am counting, we have some people who pray to God, and they also beg the buɣa. And there are some who beg the baɣyuya, and they also pray to God. And so they are worshipping the gods and they are also praying prayers. As for someone like that, because he prays, they cannot call him chɛfira, but they will call him adiini munaafichi — a hypocrite in the religion. We don't count them into prayers, because they are not standing in one place. God said we shouldn't take Him and add Him to somebody. He is His only person. It is God who made that thing, and you go to say that if that thing is not there, then you are also not there. And then you say that He is God again, and that He is making you get what you want. It is God who made the gods, and then you come to say God again. And on whom are you standing, and behind whom are you standing? Those who worship the gods, if they were just standing that it is God they are worshipping, it wouldn't have been a fault. But as they have separated His Name, that one is not sweet. And so as for them, they are many, but they are not among those I am counting.
Truly, in Dagbon here, we have some towns which are god-towns. Do you see Tolon? In Tolon-Naa's land there are those who pray, and there are those who don't pray, too. And in Tolon-Naa's land and all his villages, those who don't pray are more than those who pray. And those who don't pray, I am saying that they don't beg God in a Muslim way. They are worshipping the gods, and if they don't sacrifice to the gods, what we call the buɣa, then they will be making sacrifices to their houseshrines, what we call the baɣyuya. And so these towns are god-towns. And I will take it and separate them for you.
Have you seen Tampion? Have you seen Galiwe? The baɣyuya and the buɣa: these are their towns. The villagers and townspeople of Galiwe sacrifice to the shrines. Have you seen Karaga? In Karaga and in the villages of the Kari-Naa, those who don't pray are more than those who pray. In Gushegu and its villages, those who don't pray are more than those who pray; in Gushegu itself, those who pray are more than those who don't pray, but when the villagers gather, those who don't pray are more than those who pray. Have you seen the towns I am counting? Savelugu, Kumbungu, Nanton, Tamale: those who pray are many. Tolon, Karaga, Tampion, Galiwe: they are for the gods. Gushegu: the villagers are for the gods, and in the town they pray. And so I will take it and go.
Let me start it going to the side of Sunson and coming. If it is Sunson, those who pray are not many, because the Sunson-Naa's villagers are Konkombas. And Konkombas do not pray prayers: that is why fearing God is not in their hearts; that is why for them to kill a person is not difficult. Somebody who prays prayers, if he is going to kill somebody, there is hiding and hiding. And truly, before you will see a Konkomba maalam, it will worry you. Even I don't think I have ever seen a Konkomba maalam. If a Konkomba wants, he can be anything, but we haven't seen his praying. And so as for the Sunson-Naa, all his people are Konkombas. For the Gushe-Naa too, his villagers are Konkombas, and that is why I have told you that they are also like that. In Piong, all the Pionglana's villagers are Konkombas. If you leave Piong and come to Sakpiegu, it is like that, too. You leave Sakpiegu going to Demon, and in the town of Demon, those who pray prayers will be those in the town, and all the Demon-Naa's villages are Konkomba villages. If you leave Demon you will go to Kunkon, and Kunkon too is like that.
As for Yelizoli, it is the townspeople who pray. As for them, I have seen them; it is not that somebody told me. My new wife's father's house is in Yelizoli, and that is why I went and knew there. The mosques they have built in Yelizoli are about six, and if you go there to see those mosques, you will know that truly, they are praying. I think that in Yelizoli town, there will be more than three hundred houses, and so it is a big town, and they are all prayer prayers. But the Yelizolilana's villages are all Konkomba villages, and I don't know the end of his villages. And Korli is also like that, and their eyes are open and they pray. But the Korli-Naa's villages are all Konkomba. Wariboggo at that side, it is like that: they are Konkombas, all of them. Have you seen? Demon too, I have said it. And this is how I know them.
But if it is Kpatinga, I can tell you that all the people in the town pray prayers, and so in Kpatinga, those who pray are more than those who don't pray. Kpatinga is like that. In Yamolkaraga, those who pray prayers are more than those who don't pray prayers, because Yamolkaraga does not have many villages. In Gaa, those who pray prayers are more than those who don't pray prayers. The chief himself prays prayers, and his children are there, and they are all Alhajis because they have gone to pray at Mecca. And if a chief is doing some work, the whole town will also do it.
In Yendi, those who pray prayers in Yendi town, they are more than those who don't pray. But Yendi's villages are Konkomba. And some of Yendi's villagers are sapashini people, Kambonsi: as for them, their praying is slippery, and it is only one-one of them who pray. If you want to see a town were the Kambonsi pray, then it is Diari. Diari's Kambonsi even go to the pilgrimage at Mecca. One of the Diari Kambonsi, Kamo-Naa Kalim, went to Mecca and died there. And so they are people who pray truly and properly.
If you leave Yendi and go to Mion and its villages, they pray. The Mionlana's villages are Kpabiya and Guunsi, and all of them are Muslims, and so they pray prayers more. If you leave Mion and come to Sang, the people who pray are more than those who don't pray. And their villages are not many, and so in Sang they pray prayers more. Leaving Sang and going to Salankpang, those who pray are more than those who don't pray. Salankpang is about fifty houses, and it doesn't have villages, and so those who pray are more than those who don't pray. But if you go to Zakpalisi, it looks as if those who don't pray are more than those who pray. If you leave Zakpalisi, you come to Jimli, and as for Jimli people, they are baɣyuli people: those who pray are not many. If you leave there going to Tijo, those who pray are not many. If you go to Tugu, those who pray are more than those who don't pray, and their villages are not many, but their villagers are not prayer prayers.
If we leave Tugu and come to Tamale, as we are sitting, those who pray are more than those who don't pray. But in the villages near Tamale, the villagers don't want praying. As Kakpaguyili is sitting, there are more than two thousand people there, but if you want to count those who pray, they are not more than fifty people. If you go to Yong Dagbooshe, they don't pray prayers. If you go to Yong Dakpemayili, those who are praying are not many.
In Nanton, I have told you that they pray prayers, many of them. And the Nanton-Naa has some big villages. In Nanton and Ziong, I think that even every woman and child, they all pray there. And there are many people there who are readers of the Holy Qur'an. And they have big maalams who are from there. When some of those maalams die, you will come to hear that big maalams have come from that town again. If you go to Nantonkurugu, it is also like that. And these are not small villages. And so I can say that in Nanton-Naa's town and his villages, those who pray are more than those who don't pray. I can tell you that.
And coming to Voggo's area, in Voggo, those who pray in the town are many. And they have one village which is Muslim: it is called Jegbo, and if it is less than fifty houses, it is less, but I can knock my chest and say that there is nobody in that town who is not praying; even the wives and children, too, they all pray prayers. If you leave Voggo and go to Kasuliyili, in their land and their villages, those who don't pray are many. If you go to Lungbunga, inside the town they pray more than in their villages, and so those who pray are more than those who don't pray. And as for Savelugu and Kumbungu and Diari, I have already told you that they are prayers, too. And that is how it is, and those who pray are many in Dagbon.
As the Muslims are many in Dagbon here, they also have their elders. Every town has Limam, and Naayimi, and Yɛri-Naa. Apart from those elders in the towns, there are many Muslim elders in Yendi. I cannot count all of them, but I will count some of them for you. On the side of the maalams and their elders, Kamshe-Naa is their leader or their elder, but he is not sitting in Yendi. The Kamshe-Naa is at Kamshegu. He is taking his child to give to the Yaa-Naa, and it is this child he has taken to write on the walga for the chief — that is the board the write Muslim writings on — and so they call him Walga-Naa. If there is any Arabic writing at the chief's house, the Walga-Naa is the one who is to write it. And so it is this Walga-Naa who is in the chief's house with the chief. If the chief wants something on the part of prayers, Walga-Naa is the one he will call. Yidan Chim: he is adding to Walga-Naa, and they are sitting in the Yaa-Naa's section, and so they are both in the same section. Let's say that after the Ramadan fast, or in the Chimsi festival, if the chief should slaughter a sheep, if it this Yidan Chim who will fry the meat for the chief, and that is why we call him Yidan “chim”, that is, Yidan “frying.”
The Muslim elders of Yendi are also there. As for the Yendi Limam, if the Yaa-Naa dies, or any chief who was given his chieftaincy by the Yaa-Naa, or any chief who is a Yaa-Naa's son or grandson, if is it the Karaga-Naa, Savelugu-Naa, Kumbun-Naa, Tolon-Naa, Nanton-Naa, it is Yendi Limam who will go and sit down, and they will say the prayers. If he cannot go, he will send his children to go. The one who is adding to Limam in Yendi is Yidan Kambara. And this Kambara, inside Yendi, when alms should stand, he and Yendi Limam will struggle to eat it. The Limam has got his place where he eats, and Kambara has also got his place. They have all got their sections. And Ʒeemoli too is there, too. Ʒeemoli is the messenger of Yendi Limam. As for Yidan Moli, he is for the Damba. Yidan Moli's starting is from the Mossis, and his children have become Dagbamba now. Mossis call a maalam “mori,” but Dagbamba say, “moli.” It shows that he was a Mossi but now his tribe has become Dagbamba. When the Damba month comes out, he will come and tell the chief, and they will know that the Damba month has come. And the chief will let them beat the Damba. Because of that, some people say that they call him Yidan Mole, that is, he “announces.” And when the Damba day comes and they slaughter a cow, he is for everything of the cow. And any chief who is there in Yendi, he has also got his followers or elders. Yidan Korimoli and Yidan Asachia and Mandaha-Naa and Yidan Tahamoli and and Maalam Albarka and Yidan Kaama and Yidan Kaafa are there again, and they all follow the Yendi Limam at Yendi. Only Yendi has all these maalam's chieftaincies, and truly, no one can know all their work unless someone from Yendi. And these maalam, as they have their leaders, they all have their family doors they pass and enter the maalams' chieftaincies. They know which door they are passing. That is how it is.
And again, if there is a death, or if death should die, it is the Yɛri-Naa who will bathe the dead body. In Yendi, if it is that Yaa-Naa has died, it is Yidan Kambara who washes the dead body. It was one of the sons of Kambara who told me that personally. Apart from that, every town's Yɛri-Naa, if you hear that somebody is Yɛri-Naa, that is what he does. I can say that even if it is on the part of food, he has more food than the Limam. Because if Yɛri-Naa goes to bathe a dead body, there is a bathing sheep they will give him, and they will add money. And if the Yaa-Naa also sends and Yɛri-Naa and his people come, they help the Yaa-Naa to make Yendi stand and it will be nice. That is how it is.
I told you that the time the Muslim religion came here, the maalams came from different towns. We show that it was the Hausas who brought the Muslim religion to Dagbon, but some of the maalams were Wangaras, and some of them were Mossis. Among the Muslim elders, on the part of their starting, it is those from Kambara house who have come from Larabanga. Kambara-Naa and his followers are Larabansi, and so they are Arabs. As we have seen that they were staying with Wangaras, they are Wangaras, but their starting started as Arabs. And if you like, you can say that the Larabanga people are Wangaras, but we call them Arabs. I am going to give an example. If you stay here and give birth to a child, the child will be red like you. And if she doesn't marry a white man and marries a black man, we will come to call her that she is from a white man's family but we don't see her red color again. That is how it is. And so the Larabanga people were Wangaras, but their starting was Arabs. And so truly, there were some Muslims who were Wangaras, and some too were Hausas. But now all of them are Dagbamba, because their fathers married Dagbamba woman to give birth to them.
But if you follow it, you will see that most of the Muslim elders in Dagbon started from the Hausas. The Wangaras are not many at Yendi. Kambara's house, all of them, they are all Wangaras. They are all Larabansi, that is, Wangaras. That is the Kambara line. They are the Larabansi people. And Mandaha-Naa is a Wangara. Apart from that, Yidan Moli, Ʒeemoli, Korimoli, Tahamoli: they are all Mossis. But Kamshe-Naa is a Hausa, and he is the elder of the Muslims in Dagbon. Yɛri-Naa is also a Hausa. Sabali Yɛri-Naa and his followers, they were the ones who trained Naa Zanjina, and they are a Hausa family. And Sabali Yɛri-Naa up to Yendi Limam, all of them are Hausas. Walga-Naa, Yendi Limam, Yidan Chim, Asachia, Zohe Limam, Yidan Kaafa: they are all Hausas. That is how their starting started.
Truly, Kamshe-Naa is a big chieftaincy on the part of the Muslims, and it is at Yendi, but Kamshe-Naa does not sit in Yendi. Sang Sampahi-Naa Ibrahim told me that the Hausa maalam who first came told Naa Zanjina that he would not sit inside Yendi town. And he said that he would let Naa Zanjina take him into the bush and get a fine place to sit. And Naa Zanjina got people, and they took him into the bush, and he said, “This place is good. This is the place I want.” And they cleared the land and built a house and put him inside the house. It is behind Yendi, on the way to Demon. And that man became the Kamshe-Naa, and so he started Kamshegu. This is what Sang Sampahi-Naa said. As for that talk, I had not heard it, but somebody who is at that side, if they have asked to know something like that, I cannot argue to say it is wrong. What I know, it was Kamshe-Naa who came and told Naa Zanjina that he should let them do “Allah Akubaru.” And Kamshe-Naa is the senior elder of the Muslims in Dagbon, and he is a Hausa.
How the maalams were traveling like that in the olden days, it shouldn't surprise you. In the olden days, to travel was difficult, but people were traveling. I have already told you that Naa Zanjina was going around; he wasn't sitting. Naa Zanjina went to the Hausa land, to Nigeria. And so Naa Zanjina was someone who traveled, and he was someone who had sense. It was because of his sense that he came to eat Yendi. If not that, how will somebody be small and eat chieftaincy like that? When he ate Yendi, he didn't go to Yendi itself. When he took Yendi from the Mamprugulana, he just took it from that place and went to Sabali, and he was sitting there. Was that not what I showed you? And again, the Arabs who came here were not only sitting at one place. They were sitting in towns, and they were giving birth to children, and these children were also reading. If you like, you can count them inside the people they were sitting with, because they were not going home again. And so as for the maalams who brought the Muslim religion here, some of them followed Naa Zanjina from the Hausa land. And some of the maalams came and were sitting at Larabanga. And so to me, and how I know it, it was the Hausas who brought the Muslim religion here, and it was Naa Zanjina who brought them. When the Dagbamba were going to start following the Muslim religion, it was Naa Zanjina who started it and it stood. That is why we Dagbamba take Naa Zanjina to be our light.
And so on the part of the Muslim religion and how we are holding it, it has a lot of talk, but I think that what I have told you will do. On the part of the maalams and those who are praying prayers in Dagbon here, this is how it is. And so the Muslim religion, before we finish its talk, there is something else again. And tomorrow, if God agrees, I will come and tell you how we Muslims go to Mecca for the pilgrimage, and as I have told you a little bit about it, I will come and talk about it on the part of myself and my going, and we will talk it into details. And if it will take one day or two days, we will follow it and see.