9-th, 2004 - 09: 1   (Posted By: Webmaster)
Sonni Ali    

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In their annals the people of the East have told of the pilgrimage of this African monarch; they wondered at the power of his empire but did not speak of him as being good-hearted or generous. In spite of the vastness of his empire, he gave to the holy cities, Mecca and Medina, but 20,000 pieces of gold while Askia EI-Hadj Mohammed [a later Songhay emperor] consecrated 100,000 pieces of gold to the same purpose.

Sonni Ali, together with his brother Selmar Nar, laid careful plans for escape. They carefully charted all the roads that led to Jenny, and whenever Kankan Musa went on expeditions they stole away and hid supplies of food, water, and arms along the way. Finally, after an exciting chase by the guards, they managed to escape. Rallying his people around him, Sonni attacked Jenny, capturing it by storm on January 30, 1468. Impetuously, he took city after city until the forces of Kankan Musa had been driven entirely out of Songhay territory. Then he directed his onslaughts against Kankan's vassals and did not rest until they were decimated. The Humburi, the Mossi, the Teska, the Ghana, the Bara, all came to acknowledge him as their lord. Next he struck at Senhadja Nounon, where he captured the Negro queen, Bikoum Kabi. The Housas, the Senhadata, the Fulbes, the Dias, and the Peuhls capitulated, and marching to Lake Debo, he destroyed the strongly fortified city of Chiddo. After these victories the empire and the power of Kankan Musa collapsed.

Master of all the territory from Timbuctoo to the blue waters of the Atlantic, Sonni Ali now turned his attention to the affairs of his new empire. For a long time he had been galled at having to pay homage to the head of the Mohammedan religion at Mecca, the priests and learned men of which were influencing the people over his head. He wanted to be absolute master in his home, and decided to strike at the Church through its own representatives. He began by ordering their religious rites to be observed in a manner that bordered on derision. Instead of having prayers said five times a day as the Koran ruled, he postponed all the exercises until the evening, when instead of an elaborate ceremony, he made five brief gestures, saying after each, respectively, "This is the morning prayer; this is the midday prayer," and so on to the fifth, concluding with, "Now you may all go home since you know your prayers by heart." Thus a ritual that once took hours was reduced to a minute or two.
The priests, the learned men, and all who made a living by religion, including the faculty of the University of Sankore, plotted against Sonni Ali, whereupon he put to death every one of his enemies within reach, and warned others to cease meddling in political affairs. Es-Saadi, Songhay historian, dwells in detail on this period. In a measure, his enemies secured revenge, for the names they invented for Sonni Ali--"The Celebrated Infidel," "The Horrible Tyrant," "The Great Oppressor"-stuck.

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