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The Hausa Man and His Language and Culture Least He Forgets By Ndiameeh Babrik,
I do not know whether to admire my Muslim Hausa brothers' forgetfulness or to pity him for it.
One thing I personally admire about the Yoruba man is that he teaches his child his history and culture to the later. That is why you have a Yoruba Muslim called Bola Tinubu or Tunde Fashola or even MKO Abiola all Yoruba native names and likewise the Kanuri man despite the fact that they embraced Islam one thousand years before it was eventually forced on the Hausa man by the Fulanis from Senegal. The forgetfulness of the Hausa man is legendary. I advise my Hausa brothers especially those Muslims amongst them who want to write in the press to cross check facts and read history first before putting pen to paper.
I am really very surprise that a Hausa man can ignorantly actually lay claim to 'Kaftans', the long shirt, 'Zanna Bukar', the long cap or hat, the turban and many others which he had borrowed from the Arabs or the Fulbe as recent as 19th century. He behaves like the Somalian who is more Arabic than the Arab man.
No wonder a Hausa man who came to Jos Plateau from Kano in 1994 will swear with "Walahi talahi" that his grandfather was born in Jos and he does not know where he comes from. I mean as recent as just last year 2009AD, Dr Aliyu Tilde, to his chagrin wrote in all his columns castigating his Hausa brothers especially the Muslims amongst them for borrowing and embracing everything Islamic and by implication all the Arab culture whole hog and thereby threw away the whole Maguzawa 'Hausa' culture totally. Please check Dr Aliyu Tilde series on gamji.com for explicit and comprehensive Arab culture and words that have totally displaced and replaced native Hausa language and cultural practices. Hausa actually means "Ya hau Sa'a." literally meaning he is riding a cow. Referring to the Fulbe conqueror that came on his horse to Daura during the conquest of the Hausa land by the Fulbes from Senegal.
For those who may not have the time to go that far, let me freshen your memory and to tell you that more than half of the Hausa language is borrowed language as much as all the Hausa culture is as foreign to Hausa man and land as to the Plateau man, Kogi man, Adamawa man or even Nupe man in Niger state or Kwara state. The Hausa man cannot therefore take pride in telling anybody for that matter that his culture has permeated the North or Middle-belt region. The culture he is claiming to be his is Arab and Fulbe culture pure and simple. I challenge a Hausa man to write anything to the contrary.
The Kaftans for example is a dress that came from Turkey which originated from the Iranian/Iraqi axes over 2000 years. It came to the Hausa land via Senegal when the Islamic jihadists conquered the Hausa land.
Islam as a religion came to the old Bornu empire 1000 years before Usman Dan Fadiyo the Fulani man from Futa Jallon Senegal conquered the Hausa land barely 200 years ago. If there is any group in Nigeria who should pride in Islam, it is the Kanuri man who accepted Islam on his own terms but certainly not a group that was conquered by the Fulanis and had the religion forced down their throats. Of course the long cap called the Zanna Bukar has its origin yet again with the Kanuris and that is why it is called "Zanna Bukar". From there it reached the Hausa land. Even "Babanriga" is a Tuoareg and Barbers attire which originated from the middle-east originally came to Northern Nigeria via Senegal and of course Islam.
I cannot remember of any name now that is pure Hausa language in origin as all the Hausa names that I remember are all bastardised Arabic names or borrowed literally. Name them, Adamu, Nuhu, Ali, Ibrahim, Iliyasu, Dauda, Suleiman, Hassan, Hussein, Talatu, Danjuma, Ladi, Saidu, Abubukar, Usman Asabe, etc. All the above are the corrupted forms of Arabic and in fact Jewish names. Iliyasu for example is the corrupted form of Eliyahu in Jewish language which literally means "The Lord is God!” All the names of the days of the week from Ladi, Litinin, Talata, Laraba, Alhamis, Juma'a, and Asabar are all corrupted Arabic words which the early Hausa men couldn't pronounce properly when they were forced to convert to Islam. Therefore for any Hausa writer to falsely lay claim to these Arabic words as Hausa words is tantamount to stealing and a disservice to humanity.
Just like the Hausa man again has borrowed a lot of words and culture from the Yoruba language. Words like 'Ashana', matches, 'Gele', Scarf, 'Ali Gogoro', originally Onile Gogoro in Yoruba language are all borrowed words and culture. Just like after admiring the Nollywood films for sometimes, the Kano guys have crafted the Kannywood.
As for entrepreneurship, I am yet to understand what the average Hausa man is bragging about? Is the Maigadi, watchman job? Is it the Mai ruwa job, water vendor; Is it the Dan achaba job? Is it the Shoe shiner Job? Is it the Mai shayi job? Is it the Motor park tout job? Or is it the almajiri system? These are jobs anybody anywhere can do any day without formal training. That is why most of the Hausas are ready made tools to be used to forment religious crises any time any day because most of the jobs they do are casual and therefore they lazy around. When it comes to entrepreneurship, we have to look up to the Igbo and Yoruba people. The major reason why the Hausa man is always quick to riot and burn people's property is the fact that he has nothing to lose. Since he is always a mai guard, mai ruwa or mai shayi. He envies others and therefore is quick to burn the market like the Jos main market, Bukuru main market or Katako market.
I advise my Hausa brother to seriously teach his children that more than half of all Hausa words are Arabic words while about a quarter are borrowed from the Yoruba language. It is important to make it clear here that the Fulani is actually distinct from the Hausa man. They may have the Islamic religion to some degree in common.
The Hausa man should sheath his pride for now for more than half of his language is borrowed from Arabic, half of his culture and way of dressing is not native to Hausa but originated from Senegal and Middle East. Only the Yorubas and the Kanuris can glow with pride for maintaining their culture but certainly not the Hausa man who behaves like the Hankaka, (the Raven). For more information please read the History of West Africa from AD 1000. Thanks for your time,
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