Askia Muhammad Bani

Muhammad Bani
Askia of the Songhai Empire
Reign1586-1588
CoronationDecember 1 1586
PredecessorAskia Al-Hajj
SuccessorAskia Ishaq II
DiedApril 9 1588
outside Gao
Burial
Gao
DynastyAskiya dynasty
FatherAskia Daoud

Askia Muhammad Bani was the ruler of the Songhai Empire from 1586 to 1588. A son of Askia Daoud, he was elevated by his brothers after they had deposed Askia Al-Hajj, his predecessor.[1]

Soon after taking power, he had two of his brothers who had rebelled against Al-Hajj and been imprisoned executed. This prompted alarm among his surviving brothers, who began to plot against him.[2]: 359 

The spark for the revolt arose due to the depredations of the Kabara-farma ‘Alū, a royal eunuch slave who managed the administration of Kabara, the port of Timbuktu. He had illegally taxed the merchants and seized property from prominent clerics. When he imprisoned and whipped a slave of the Balma’a (military commander of Kabara) Muḥammad al-Ṣādiq b. Dāwūd, the prince personally confronted the royal official, stabbed him to death, and tossed his body into the street.[2]: 359 

Balma’a Muḥammad, having defied the Askia, launched a rebellion. He was joined by Kanfari Salih, but they soon quarreled over the wealth taken from the Kabara-farma and Salih was killed.[1] Still, Balma’a Muḥammad marched on the capital, Gao, with nearly the entire western half of the empire arrayed behind him. Muhammad Bani assembled an army of 30,000 and awaited their arrival, but the overweight Askia died of heatstroke, or perhaps an epileptic fit, on April 9th 1588, before the battle was joined.[2]: 360 

After discovering the body, eunuch courtiers conspired to have Benga-farma Maḥmūd b. Ismail named as Askia. But another eunuch tipped off Ishaq, the oldest of the sons of Askia Daoud present, surrounded the conspirators and was himself proclaimed Askia on April 10th.[2]: 361 

  1. ^ a b Levtzion, Nehemiah (1977). "5 - The western Maghrib and Sudan". In Oliver, Ronald (ed.). The Cambridge History of Africa Volume 3: From c.1050 to c.1600. Cambridge University Press. p. 439-440. ISBN 9781139054577. Retrieved 12 March 2024.
  2. ^ a b c d Gomez, Michael (2018). African dominion : a new history of empire in early and medieval West Africa. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. ISBN 9780691177427.