A malam (plural mallamai) is a man of Qur’anic learning. Many teach children, lead prayers, draw up contracts, write letters and serve as judges or advisers to the emir. The highest-ranking ones hold titled offices that combine religious and political authority.
In daily life the mallam is also a healer and counsellor. Salamone notes that many Muslim holy men make amulets in which verses are written in ink and the ink is washed off into a drink, and some read sand patterns or the stars. In this respect they overlap with diviners of older traditions, which is one reason why mallams and spirit specialists are both rivals and neighbours (see the chapter on Beliefs).
- malam · mallamai
- a learned man, teacher (plural mallamai)
- almajiri
- a student boarding with a Qur’anic teacher, often a boy from a rural family
- alkali
- an Islamic judge
- liman
- a prayer leader (imam)
- sallah
- the festival of Eid; babbar sallah is the Great Sallah (Eid al-Adha)
Sources for this article
- Salamone 2010, ch. 1, p. 6; ch. 2, p. 11
- Paden 1973, whole book (Islam and political culture in Kano)