Excerpts from the Book:
Arabic Literature of Africa, Volume 2: The Writings of Central Sudanic Africa (1995)...Compiled by: Prof. John O. Hunwick
Portion of the Book quoted (Chapter 7);
Kano: Emirs and Tijaniyya Writers (pgs. 276-283)...
"Umar Falke wrote on various aspects of Islam and developed a very rich library that attracted research scholars."
-Professor Y. A. Quadri in his article "The Role of Itinerant Muqaddams in the Spread of the Tijaniyya"
MEANINGS OF SHAYKH UMAR FALKE'S BY-NAMES ("FALKE" & "AL-FALAQI")
"Falke";
In Hausa, Falke means "travelling merchant".
"al-Falaki";
Because of his interest in Astronomy ('ilm al-falak), he was sometimes called
"al-Falaki"
Hence, Shaykh Umar ibn Abu Bakr Falke was
usually called by "Umar Falke" and also "Umar al-Falaki".
'UMAR IBN ABI BAKR RAMADAN IBN ABI BAKR IBN MUHAMMAD AL-MUJAHID AL-TAWARIQI AL-KANAWI AL-TIJANI, KNOWN AS UMAR FALKE
His ancestors had come from Aiir and had first settled in Tahoua before coming to Kano in the 12th/18th century. Umar was born in the village of Gulu near Kano of a Tuareg father (whom he says was descended from the ruling family of Agades) and a Fulani mother, who was a daughter of Ali ibn Harun, amir of Tambawal, and came to Kano in his teens and settled in Bakin Ruwa ward.
Umar bn Abubakr Falke was one of the students of Shaykh Muhammad Salga (Kano).
He left us an account of his teachers and Tijani shaykhs, the Mafaakhir al-jiil al-Kiraam (Umar Falke's book), which allows us to give a fairly detailed account of his scholarly and spiritual training. From his cousin Abu Ja'far Qasim ibn Isma'il he learnt the Qur'an and how to recite it as well as elementary fiqh from the text of al-Akhdari at a tender age. Later, in 1352/1933-4, he married a daughter of his teacher.
In 1339/1921 his father called him to join him in Ilorin where he was engaged in trade. Though he learned the family business there, as well as becoming a tailor, his ambition was always to become a scholar, and throughout his life he combined his scholarly interests with long-distance trading (hence his by-name "Falke") that took him to Lagos and Takoradi.
His next teacher was Sulayman ibn Isma'il al-Kanawi, a Tuareg who had been raised by Umar's father. He was also a trader and eventually went off and settled in Atebubu in the Gold Coast [Ghana].
He studied Fiqh and Arabic grammar with Muhammad ibn Muhammad al-Kanawi al-Muqaddam, a man born in Katsina who came to Ilorin with the deposed Emir of Katsina Abu Bakr (regime 1887-1904).
His first Sufi teacher, who had also taught his father, was Ilyas ibn al-hajj Muhammad al-Kashnawi from whom he learned Hirz al-yamaanii al-sayfii of Muhammad ibn Ali Nisaburi and Dalaa'il al-khayrat of Muhammad al-Jazuli (d. 865/1470).
More important for him seems to have been the muqaddam Muhammad ibn Ali Siraj al-Din al-Kanawi with whom he studied Fiqh, Grammar, Tawhid, who first initiated him into the Tijani tariqa. The teacher later settled in Accra.
Another teacher was Ibrahim ibn Muhammad al-Nufawi (d. 1342/1923-4) with whom he studied Literature, Sufism and Wa'z: then another Nupe scholar settled in Ilorin and specialised in Calculation (Hisab), the Muqaddam Sulayman, who was afflicted with leprosy.
Umar also received instruction from the following: Abu 'Abd al-Rahman Abu Bakr al-Ghundawi al-Qadiri (Qadi Bashe wa-aziz Yawri), Muhammad ibn Abi Bakr al-Ghundawi al-Sudani al-Iluri (i.e. Muhammad al-Amin Nda) who became qadi of Ilorin but was dismissed allegedly because of his strictness (a 14 line poem of his is quoted in Mafakhir, 21-2) and Isa ibn al-Amir al-Fallati (i.e. Balogun Fulani), an associate of the well-known Ilorin scholar Muhammad Begore.
In 1345/1927 Umar Falke moved to Lagos. Here again he took every opportunity to meet and study with resident or visiting scholars, Among these were Ahmad ibn Isa al-Nufawi, a Muqaddam (and briefly a qadi in Nupeland), whom he describes as being "the author of useful books", with whom he studied mainly grammar and fiqh, but al-Nufawi was also skilled in sand-divination/geomancy (ilm al-raml). Also Shu'ayb al-Kanawi al-Yakuwi, a pupil of the well-known scholar of Madabo ward in Kano, 'Abd al-Rahman Sayudi; with him he studied the Mukhtasar of Khalil, and othe fiqh texts, as well as the astronomical text of Abu Muqri, before Shu'ayb went off to Accra and then back to Kano.
A very important contact was the Sharif Muhammad ibn Mawlana Ahmad ibn Mawlana Ayyub al-Kanawi, known as Zangina, who had settled in Lokoja, and who came to Lagos at the beginning of Ramadan 1349/20 January 1931. From him he received a renewal of his Tijani wird.
In Lagos he met a number of Tijanis from outside Nigeria, Among them was Sharif Ahmad ibn Salih al-Marrakushi who arrived in 1353/1934-5, and in the following year came the Sharif Ahmad Baba ibn Muhammad al-Amin al-Shinqiti, a Qadiri who had taken up residence in Zaria in 1350/1931-2), and may have been converted to the Tijaniyya by Khadija al-Shaykha al-Qaria. Ahmad Baba was a muhaddith and a grammarian, having written a commentary on the Alfiyya of Ibn Malik.
Another distinguished Sufi visitor to Lagos was the sharif Ahmad ibn Abu Bakr al-Fasi al-Idrisi, known as al-tibr al-dhahab (raw gold) who arrived in 1356/1937-8, travelling with the Emir of Kano 'Abd Allah ibn Bayero who was returning from the pilgrimage. After six months stay in Kano the sharif returned to Lagos and there became close to Umar Falke, giving him ijaza (diploma/license) for hadith and for the Tijani tariqa and various Tijani books.
Another member of their circle was a Syrian Tijani 'Abd al-Latif al-Shami al-Hashimi who later moved to Abeokuta where he opened a store.
Finally, al-hajj Muhammad al-Mahdi Ibrahim al-Magrabi al-Mallawi who seems to have avocated a sort of pan-Sufism, and in particular the union of Tijani tariqa with others-a heresy in the eyes of Umar Falke.
Back in Ilorim again for a visit to his father in 1356/1937-8, he had contact with Muhammad Aturkumami Wazir Bida whom he already met earlier in Lagos; also Muhammad al-Hawsawi, mufti of Jos, Adam ibn Abi Bakr Muqri, the mufassir and muqaddam, though the dates and places of meeting with the last two are uncertain.
In Mafakhir, which takes his life down only to 1357/1938 he mentions only one other important contact, Mahmud ibn Salih al-Kanawi al-Madabawi whose teaching of the Mukhtasar he used to attend on his visits to Kano.
He gives three silsilah (spiritual connection) for his attachment to the Tijaniyya:
(1) from Muhammad ibn Ali ibn Siraj al-Din al-Kanawi in Ilorin in 1341/1922-3;
(2) from Mustafa ibn Muhammad al-Sudani in 1344/1925-6 who gave him permission to initiate others without further reference;
(3) from Abdul-Salam ibn Abi Bakr of Lokoja through Zangina in 1349/1930-1 he received another silsila.
Then in Abeokuta in 1352/1933 Zangina gave him permission to appoint ten muqadams, and in 1257/1938 Zangina authorized him to give each of these ten muqadams authority to appoint ten others.
According to Paden (1973), he accepted the spiritual authority of Shaykh Ibrahim Niasse in 1937 and in 1946 went to Kaolack to study with him.
Addendum:
Shaykh Umar Falke's (book)...."Mafaakhir al-jiil al-Kiraam, pgs 42-3" mentions about Khadijah al-Kubra bint Ahmad Fal al-Maghribiyyah and mentions a visit of hers to Zaria (Nigeria). Although 'Umar did not meet her, he relates a dream he had about her.
Wazir Bida (Aturkumami) spent his exile in Ilorin, mainly as the guest of Ahmad ibn Abi Bakr Omo Ikokoro. He taught many prominent scholars of the town, including Umar Falke in 1356/1937-8.
Source: Arabic Literature of Africa II (Prof. John Hunwick)
An authentic boom of religious literature in Arabic and in Hausa ajami (Arabic script) was promoted in Nigeria in the mid-twentieth century by followers of the Senegalese Ibrahim Niasse (d. 1975), himself a prolific and penetrating Sufi author. The Nigerian Niassene literary revival had its center in Kano, where a scholarly network formed that combined the innovative legal teachings of Muhammad Salga (d. 1938) with the Sufi doctrine of the Fayda transmitted by Ibrahim Niasse. Together – and at times in competition – with a popular Qadiri network championed in Kano by Nasir Kabara, the Nigerian Niassene group especially contributed to the popularization of Sufi poetry in Arabic and Hausa, but its scholars were also active in other literary genres (pedagogical pamphlets, jurisprudence, Tijani doctrine). Among the representatives of this group is ‘Umar Falke (d. 1962), whose private library constitutes the richest collection among the Herskovits Library’s Arabic manuscripts. This period coincided with the development of new techniques for producing and distributing the written word, through the so-called “market editions” of Arabic books (many examples of which are found in the Hunwick, Paden, and to a lesser extent, Falke collections).
SHAYKH UMAR FALKE'S BOOKS/PUBLICATIONS
1. al-Ajwiba al-Falakiyya.
On hudud and doubtful hadith
2. Alaqat al-murid ma'a shaykhihi.
3. al-Asmaa' al-Barhatiyya.
On the secret knowledge of Solomon and his wazir Asif ibn Barhaya.
3a. Asmaa' nisbatii fi'l 'ilm wa'l-tariqa
4. Awn al-murid al-faanii fii hubb Abii'l-Abbas al-Tijani.
Poem in praise of Ahmad al-Tijani,
Opens: al-Hamdu li 'llah 'alaa'l-in'aami ** 'Ammat w-shaa'at saa'ir al-ayyami
4a. Bishaarat al-akhilla al-ajyaal bi-dhikr man tashayya al-shaykh al-Hadi ibn Sayyid Mawlud Faal.
Alternative title for Shaakirat al-ni'am.
Publ. translated in MOHAMMED, Abdullahi (1978), 203-5.
5. Faa'idat al-'Ishrinaaya.
6. Fatwaa on the use of the title shaykh.
7. al-Habl al-wasila fi asl al-khirqa wa'l-mubaaya'a wa'l-mushaafaha al-mutashaabika.
8. Jadwal al-haqaa'iq min al-manaazil.
Perhaps an appendix to his Mabaadi' al-tasawwuf.
9. Mabaadi' al-tasawwuf.
10. Mafaakhir al-jiil al-kiraam wa taraajim al-'ulamaa' wa'l awliyaa wa'l-a'yaan.
On his teachers and his Sufi shaykhs. Completed 2 Rajab 1357/28. August 1938, with later marginal notes to 1954.
Publ. summary translated in MOHAMMED, Abdullahi (1978), 174-205.
11. Miftaah al-Qutbaaniya
Mystical secrets revealed in a dream on 13 Rajab 1379/12 January 1960.
12. al-Munaajat al-qudsiyya min nafahaat al-ilaahiyya 'alaa bisaat al-Tijaniyya
13. Qaal al-Shaykh.
On Sidi Ahmad al-Tijani and other leaders of the tariiqa, written in 1354/1935-6.
14. Qasaa'id (Poems);
i. Daliyya: Al-hamdu li'llah l-aziimii ** al-Mufdil al-mutaghammidii.
In praise of the Prophet. Also known Daal dawaamat sayyidi.
ii. Hamziyya: Bi-thanaa' al-ilaahi abda'u shi'iraa ** Wa bi-hamdin wa-innanii anshaa'u.
In praise of the Prophet.
iii. Jiimiya: Ilayka ya rabbi iilajun wa-ikhraajuu ** Fawwadtu amray humuumin kun bi-tafriijii.
On letter magic,completed 6 Dhul Qa'da 1370/9 August 1950.
iv. Lamiyya: Al-hamdu li'llahi ladhii bi-kammaalihi ** Wa jamaalihi wa-jalaalihi'l-mutawaalii.
In praise of Muhammad Bello ibn Uthman, Wali Katsina.
v. Miimiya: Wa-li'llahi'l-Khalqu jinnan wa-insahum ** Ghawaamida asraarin mataa maa taruumu.
On the merits of learning, dated 1363/1943-4.
vi. Miimiya: Aquuluu bi'smi Rabbii idh hadaani ** Bi 'irfaanii bihi 'Abd al-Salami.
Verses in praise of the Tijani shaykh ibn Abi Bakr al-Kashnaawii al-Lukujii (d. 1353/1934-5), also called Jawharat al-hisaan, 8 verses given in Mafakhir, 36.
vii. Nuuniyya: Siraaju amaanin bihi tazdaahu iimaanaa ** Mu'ayyadun fi tariiq al-haqqi ridwaanaa.
In praise of the Tijaniyya and the family of Ibrahim Niasse and the people of Kaolack.
viii. Ra'iyya: Ya raamiyan li'l-sirri wa'l-asraarii ** yammim dhawiihi 'alayka bi'l-ahraarii.
ix. Ta'iyya: Shamsun 'alaa ufuq al-'ulaa hal ittala'at ** Am baadarat badr al-huda fa-adaa'at.
In praise of an unnamed sharif.
x. Ta'iyya: A-laa haama bi'l-awtaani Su'daa ghariirataa ** Taruuhu wa-taghduu taaliban li'l-ahibbatii.
In defence of the Tijaniyya, composed in 1356/1937-8.
xi. Ta'iyya.
Dated 9 Rabii I 1353/22 June 1934.
xii. Fii mad'h jamaal 'Abd al-Nasir.
Opens: Wa-la-sawfa tamnahu maa tamunnu li-dhii'l-dunaa ** Fa-hunaaka tudriku yaa 'Abd al-Naasirii.
15. Rihla.
On his journey to Lagos and Takoradi.
16. al-Rihla al-ghawthiyya wa'l-bishaara al-faydiyya al-Ibraahimiyya al-Kawlakhiyya.
Poem on his visit to Kaolack.
Opens: Ilaa'l-Rahmaani 'azza wa-jalla ** Wa-Mu'tii kulli maa yu'malu.
17. al-Rihla al-Hijaziyya.
On his pilgrimage of 1368/1946.
Publication translated in MOHAMMED, Abdullahi (1978), 168-73.
18. Sa'aadat al-daarayn.
Poem in praise of the Tijaniyya.
Opens: Sa'aadat layaaliikum madaa ikhwaanii ** Li-zawaajikum bi-sa'aadat al-daaraynii.
19. Shaakirat al-ni'am wa-muskirat al-huyyam also called Bishaarat al-akhilla' al-ajyaal bi-dhikr man tashaayya' al-shaykh al-Haadii ibn Sayyid Mawluud Faal.
Poem to celebrate the safe return to Lagos of Shaykh Haadii ibn Mawluud Faal after his pilgrimage, dated 1370/1950-1.
Opens: Akhilla'i 'alaama tunaazi'uunii ** Bi-a'alam al-hudaa qaarabtumuunii.
20. al-Silsila al-madh'habiyya.
Silsila for Qur'anic study.
21. al-Su'aal wa'l-jawaab.
Questions and answers on the Tijaniyya, written in 1355/1936-7.
22. Ta'lif fii 'ilm al-huruuf wa'l-awfaaq.
23. Tuhfat al-musaafir.
Verses on the merits of travel and on the travels of the Prophet and the awliyyaa', written in 1365/1945-6.
Opens: Al-hamdu li'llahi 'alaa maa an'amaa ** 'Alayya lamaa manna lii bi'l-makruumaa.
Publ. translated in MOHAMMED, Abdullahi (1978), 206-20.
24. Tuhfat al-wildaan wa-qurrat 'uyuun al-ikhwaan.
Primary Sources for this Collection by Arabic Literature of Africa II are:
1. Paden (1968): 269.
2. Paden (1973): 101-2.
3. MOHAMMED, Abdullahi (1978): "A Hausa Scholar-Trader and his Library Collection: The Case Study of Umar Falke of Kano, Nigeria". PhD Thesis, Northestern University.
4. Umar Falke (1938): Mafaakhir al-jiil al-kiraam wa taraajim al-'ulamaa' wa'l awliyaa wa'l-a'yaan.
SHAYKH UMAR IBN ABU BAKR FALKE
{Accomplished Scholar, Mystic & Trade: The First Person that introduced Fayda Tijaniyyah in Ilorin and its Environ in 1949}
via: The Icon of Mystics (Khalifa Awwal Baba Taofiq)
Shaykh Umar ibn Abu Bakr Falke was nicknamed Falke meaning in Hausa "the trader", he combined trade with missionary activities in which he taught the Tafsir of the Qur'an and initiated people into the Tijaniyyah. He used to visit Ilorin, Abeokuta and Lagos among other places where he had large followings.
It is apt to say that Shaykh Umar Falke was the first person that introduced Fayda Tijaniyyah in Ilorin and its Environ around 1949. Then Shaykh Ibrahim Niass accompanied by Shaykh Sanni Awwal came to invigorate Faydah in Ilorin, on 12th November 1962.
Shaykh Awwal Omupo, Shaykh Bala of Ojagboro, Ilorin and Shaykh Jamiu (Alfa Bulala) of Offa are some of Shaykh Umar Falke's leading Muridun.
Professor Y. A. Quadri in his article "The Role of Itinerant Muqaddams in the Spread of the Tijaniyya" submitted that:
Umar Falke's personal contact with men of substance during the course of his trading in many rural and urban areas boost his financial support for the spread and consolidation of the Faydah al-Tijaniyyah. Umar Falke wrote on various aspects of Islam and developed a very rich library that attracted research scholars.
SHAYKH UMAR FALKE’S ENCOUNTER WITH SHAYKH IBRAHIM NIASSE
In the 1st visit of Shaykh Ibrahim Niass to Nigeria, he brought five copies of his first major work titled: Kaashif al-Ilbaas along with him and he distributed them to;
1. Emir Abdullah Bayero,
2. Atiqu Abubakar,
3. Sani Kafanga,
4. Tijani Uthman and
5. Umar Falke...
In 1946, Umar Falke, Tijani Uthman and Sani Kafanga were the first people that went to Kawlakh from Nigeria to swear allegiance with the Shaykh. The trio spent three years with rigorous Khidma at Kawlakh and they did Tarbiyyah (Spiritual Training) directly from the Shaykh before coming back to Kano in 1949.
Source: The Icon of Mystics (Khalifa Awwal Baba Taofiq)
SHAYKH UMAR FALKE'S ARABIC MANUSCRIPTS: COLLECTIONS WITH 3,323 CLASSICAL ITEMS
{The ‘Umar Falke Collection: New Initiatives for Preservation and Access}
The ‘Umar Falke Collection is the largest of the four Arabic manuscript collections held by the Melville J. Herskovits Library of African Studies and consists of over 3,000 items, the majority of which are 19th and early 20th century manuscripts written in a wide variety of inks on single unbound sheets of paper.
The collection, which is housed in traditional leather wrappers, represents the intact library of ‘Umar Falke, a prominent Nigerian trader, scholar and author, and contains manuscripts on all aspects of Islamic learning and protective medicine.
The collection is particularly strong in works on Sufism and in almost all the branches of Islamic sciences as well as Maliki law and jurisprudence, theology, literature, and grammar.
THE UMAR FALKE (ARABIC MANUSCRIPT) COLLECTION
