The Mystery of Tamerlan's Writing

 

The case of Tamerlan, an enslaved African living in Boucassin, Saint Domingue on the eve of the Haitian Revolution, has sparked interest and debate about the presence of Islam among captives in the French colony. A few revisionist scholars assume Tamerlan was a Muslim because of his name and the account of him left to posterity by Colonel Malenfant, who managed a plantation. His position ensured he had easy access to diverse captive population. Nonetheless, based on Malenfant's account of Tamerlan's literacy in two non-Arabic African languages (one associated with "long-haired mulattoes," perhaps the Tuareg), historians know a few details of Tamerlan's life before captivity. Unfortunately, Malenfant lost the examples of writing Tamerlan gave him, and, writing decades after this encounter, could not recall in detail the appearance of Tamerlan's script. He knew it was a long prayer, based on what Tamerlan told him. And Tamerlan assured him it was not Arabic, although some scholars speculate it could have been an example of Ajami writing (adapting the Arabic script to write local West African languages). This has not stopped some scholars (Gomez, Diouf) from asserting a Muslim identity for Tamerlan or concluding his writing was Arabic or an adaptation of Arabic script). But if Tamerlan was indeed using an adapted Arabic script, wouldn't he have been able to communicate that to Malenfant?

However, a Haitian blogger and historian who opposes the lazy historical reasoning of revisionist scholars who thrust a Muslim identity upon Tamerlan, has demonstrated quite clearly how unlikely it was Tamerlan was Muslim or wrote in Arabic or even Ajami. Using Malenfant, he demonstrates quite clearly that the Frenchman would have probably known if Tamerlan was a Muslim based on their rarity and the knowledge of other slaveholders familiar with Muslim slaves. He also, in a series of blog posts, demonstrates how one cannot assume a Muslim identity based on the names of Africans. Names of Arabic or Islamic origin appeared in the colony from European sources, and were sometimes assigned to Africans from non-Islamic parts of the continent (like Central African "Congos). Consequently, the name of Tamerlan and the fact that did not identify his writing as Arabic suggest he probably wasn't a Muslim. If true, however, who was Tamerlan and what was the script he used?

The aforementioned blog posits an intriguing theory. Salnave's article suggests an attractive theory linking Tamerlan to the Bambara kingdom of Segu. It is plausible that Tamerlan had been an instructor to a prince of Segu, and maybe, although there is no evidence for it, was using a proto-N'ko script. Supposedly, at least one Segu leader spent time in Timbuktu centers of learning, and it is not surprising that some West African peoples were familiar with Arabic, Tuareg tifinagh, and Ajami. However, all established theories of the N'ko writing system point to a 20th century origin. If it is true Tamerlan wrote in N'ko, or another Bambara or Mande script (like Vai, which appears to have been invented in the 1830s in Liberia), then researchers or scholars should, hopefully, encounter it in Segu, Timbuktu, or other towns and villages in West Africa where manuscripts were found (assuming they exist and were not destroyed). 

Ajami manuscripts and texts have been located, but Salnave has demonstrated somewhat convincingly that it probably was not Ajami writing, at least based on how Malenfant vaguely recalls it. But if it is not Ajami, does it point to a proto-N'ko or pre-Vai Mande-speakers script? The Vai peoples probably had some form of contact or trade with Mande-speakers further north (not to mention the Americo-Liberians, and the Cherokee among them), so maybe the Vai script in some form or another may have ties to an older system of writing from the Bambara or other groups in Mali? If so, what were the conditions of writing and literacy for non-Muslim West Africans in the 18th century? If most West African writings in local languages, that we know of, have been Ajami and tied to Islamic cultures or scholars, shouldn't there be evidence for non-Islamic manuscripts and book production, besides the Vai syllabary?

What else can one possibly surmise from Malenfant's brief account of Tamerlan? In addition to be an instructor to a prince and maker of books or manuscripts, or so he claims, he told Malenfant that the city from which he came had 300,000 inhabitants.  When he was captured, it took more than 3 months for him to reach the coast, where whites loaded the captives onto slave ships. This suggests he was from deep in the interior or what was most likely West Africa. The city of his king was built in wood, mostly of single-story homes. Salnave speculates that this could be a description of Segu, which Mungo Park estimated to have 30,000 inhabitants and mostly built in clay. If any of this is accurate, then Tamerlan came from a very large city ruled by a powerful king. Segu would fit the bill, although other large urban centres in West Africa did exist in the 18th century (although none would have contained 300,000 people, unless you count the surrounding countryside?). It is possible Tamerlan exaggerated some of these details to give an image of greater grandeur to his African past, but he clearly longed to return home. According to Malenfant, he was one of the "few" Africans who wised to return to the continent, which suggests he probably enjoyed a position of great status. 

Unfortunately, Malenfant's account is too brief and vague to fill in the dots, but it is clear that Tamerlan came from a part of Africa with a history of writing, manuscript production, and large urban centers. One of the forms of writing he was familiar with was possibly the tifinagh of the Tuareg, which was often used for poems, short correspondence, funerary inscriptions. Considering all these factors, one can understand why some historians assume Tamerlan was a Muslim and possibly wrote his prayer in Ajami. With the exception of parts of West Africa, North Africa, Ethiopia and the Horn, and the Swahili Coast, writing systems in Africa with a history of manuscript production were quite limited. One can surmise from Malenfant that Tamerlan was not from North Africa or the Swahili Coast (where a tradition of ajami writing also exists). It is possible but unlikely that he was from Ethiopia or the Horn of Africa. If he was from Ethiopia, who were the long-haired mulattoes he described to Malenfant (fairer-skinned Habasha who maybe wrote in Ge'ez or Amharic)? Where was this large city he described? Gondar? Surely, if Tamerlan was from Ethiopia, it is possible he was a Christian and described the castles of stone in Gondar? And last, but worthy of consideration, was Tamerlan literate in a Central African language, like Kikongo? But that would have likely been composed in a Portuguese-inspired Western script that Malenfant should have recognized.

So, what can one say about the mystery of Tamerlan and his lost text? It seems he was not a Muslim, and presumably did not write Arabic or in Ajami. He was probably from West Africa, which is what Malenfant seems to believe when he later mentions how useful someone like Tamerlan would have been as a guide or navigator to explorers like Mungo Park. If one of the writing systems he was familiar with was tifinagh, then he was probably from the West African Sahel or savanna regions. Salnave's theory of a Segu origin is plausible, although he could have been from other parts of that eco-region. Since the origin of N'ko is most likely traced to the 20th century, although maybe inspired by earlier Ajami writing, Tamerlan's mysterious script could point to an older script that may have existed among Bambara, Mandinka, or other West African peoples. It is possible that he was promoting a system of writing akin to the Vai syllabary, and books were made on paper imported via the trans-Saharan or other trade networks. The chances of an Ethiopian or East African origin of Tamerlan appear unlikely, although some East Africans were sold into slavery in the Caribbean. One cannot completely deny the possibility that Tamerlan was indeed writing in Ajami, but surely he could have explained that to Malenfant when the latter asked if he was writing in Arabic. The mystery endures, at least until one finds documents written in African languages or Arabic from Saint Domingue. Malenfant mentions amulets with Arabic inscriptions used by some of the rebel slaves, but that does not prove they were Muslim (except that some literate Muslims were involved in their production). 

Bibliography

 

Rodney Salnave. "Tamerlan wasn't muslim". February 26, 2017 ; Updated Sept. 25, 2020. [online] URL: http://bwakayiman.blogspot.ca/2017/02/tamerlan-wasnt-muslim.html ; Retrieved on 10/1/2020.