When did she live?

Three main datings are proposed, depending on which source is preferred.

• Early to mid-fifteenth century. This follows the Kano Chronicle, which makes her a contemporary of Muhammad Dauda of Kano (1421–1438). Some scholars accept it.
• Early sixteenth century. This rests on the oral tradition that Amina was a daughter of Bakwa Turunku, combined with a Zaria chronicle’s dates for Bakwa. Some scholars accept it.
• Late sixteenth century. This is the view associated with the historian Abdullahi Smith and with the popular dates of 1576–1610.

The disagreement matters. If Amina lived in the fifteenth century she belongs to the age of the first Hausa city-states; if in the late sixteenth, she lived while Songhai was collapsing and Kano and Katsina were growing rich. The place and manner of her death are also disputed. Traditions mention a place called Atagara or Attagara, near the Niger, and others mention Vom, near Jos. One reference work says her body was never recovered.