Latest / The Songhai Empire: Africa's Powerful Forgotten Kingdom — Fexingo History / Sonni Ali's Religious War: Muslims vs Traditionalists
Transcript
- Lucas: So we've talked a lot about Askia Muhammad and his reforms, but there's a figure who gets a much more complicated treatment in the sources: Sonni Ali, the actual founder of the Songhai Empire. Luna: Ah, the one they sometimes call 'Sonni Ali the Great' or 'Sonni Ali the tyrant' depending on who you read. Lucas: Exactly. And that split view is really the heart of today's episode. Sonni Ali reigned from about 1464 to 1492, and he expanded Songhai from a small kingdom along the Niger into a huge empire. But the way he's remembered—especially by the Muslim scholars of Timbuktu—is deeply negative. Lucas: The Tarikh al-Sudan, written by Abd al-Rahman al-Sa'di in the 17th century, and the Tarikh al-Fattash, attributed to Mahmud Kati, both paint Sonni Ali as a cruel, irreligious ruler who persecuted the ulema—the Muslim learned class. Al-Sa'di calls him a 'tyrant' and says he killed many scholars. Luna: So is that the whole story, or is there more nuance? Lucas: There's definitely more nuance. First, we have to remember that both those chronicles were written under the later Askia dynasty, which overthrew Sonni Ali's son. The Askias had a vested interest in portraying their predecessor as a bad Muslim ruler. They wanted to legitimise their own rule by contrasting it with his. Lucas: Second, Sonni Ali didn't reject Islam entirely—he had Muslim advisors and used Islamic titles like 'Sonni.' But he also actively promoted traditional Songhai religion. He consulted spirit mediums, performed sacrifices at ancient shrines, and didn't impose sharia law. For the scholars of Timbuktu, who had enjoyed patronage under the Mali Empire and wanted a more orthodox Islamic state, that was a direct threat. Luna: So the conflict was partly about power and partly about ideology. Lucas: Right. And it came to a head in a specific event: the so-called massacre of the Sankore scholars. According to the Tarikh al-Sudan, Sonni Ali ordered the execution of several prominent scholars in Timbuktu around 1470. Some were killed by drowning in the river, others by being thrown from the top of the Sankore mosque. Luna: That's brutal. Was there a reason given? Lucas: The chronicles say they were suspected of conspiring with the Tuareg, who had recently been driven out of Timbuktu. But there's also a tradition that Sonni Ali accused them of being spies for the Mossi kingdoms to the south. Either way, it was a clear message: the scholars were not above the king's authority. Lucas: Now, some modern historians argue that the scale of the massacre may have been exaggerated. The Tarikh al-Sudan and Tarikh al-Fattash were written decades after the events, and they have a clear anti-Sonni Ali bias. Oral traditions from the Songhai region, collected by ethnographers in the 20th century, actually remember Sonni Ali more positively—as a powerful warrior who protected traditional ways from foreign influence. Luna: So there's a clash between written history and oral memory. Lucas: Exactly. And that's really fascinating for us. The written sources come from a very specific elite perspective. The scholars of Timbuktu were part of a cosmopolitan Islamic network that stretched across the Sahara. They wrote in Arabic for an audience of fellow scholars. For them, a ruler who didn't enforce Islamic law and who killed learned men was a monster. But for the farmers, herders, and fishermen of the Niger valley, Sonni Ali was a hero who crushed their enemies and respected their ancestors. Luna: It makes you wonder how much of history is just the winning side's version. Lucas: That's a great point. And it's not just about bias—it's about what counts as evidence. We have these chronicles, but we also have archaeological evidence. At the site of Gao, the capital, excavations have revealed that Sonni Ali built a new palace complex that incorporated both Islamic and traditional architectural elements. So he wasn't just rejecting Islam—he was synthesising. Lucas: And there's another episode that illustrates the tension. In 1490, a visiting scholar from the Maghreb, al-Maghili, came to Timbuktu. He was a strict Maliki jurist who later advised Askia Muhammad. Al-Maghili wrote a famous letter to Sonni Ali criticising his religious policies. Sonni Ali reportedly ignored it, but the letter survives—it's a fascinating document that shows the clash of worldviews. Luna: What did al-Maghili say? Lucas: He accused Sonni Ali of mixing Islam with pagan practices, of not collecting zakat properly, and of allowing women to go unveiled. It's a very detailed critique. But Sonni Ali's response—if he even sent one—hasn't survived. What we do know is that al-Maghili left Timbuktu soon after and eventually ended up in Kano, where he had a more positive influence. Lucas: This religious conflict didn't end with Sonni Ali though. After his death in 1492, his son Sunni Baru tried to continue his policies. But within a year, a general named Askia Muhammad—who had been one of Sonni Ali's commanders—staged a coup. Askia Muhammad made a show of embracing orthodox Islam, and he got the backing of the Timbuktu scholars. The rest is history, as they say. Luna: So Askia Muhammad's reign was partly a religious realignment. Lucas: Absolutely. And it's interesting to think about what Songhai might have been like if Sonni Ali's line had continued. Would it have been a more syncretic empire, like the Mali Empire before it? Or would it have fractured along religious lines anyway? We can't know, but the sources give us a glimpse of the alternatives. Lucas: You know, it's conversations like this that make me appreciate how much history is shaped by who writes it down. And honestly, this show only exists because people support it. If today's episode was worth a coffee to you, that's the link—buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo. Just a small thing to keep us going. Luna: Yeah, it really helps us keep digging into these stories. Lucas: Alright, back to Sonni Ali. One more thing I find revealing: after Askia Muhammad took power, he ordered the construction of a new mosque in Gao, but he also repaired the Sankore mosque in Timbuktu, which had allegedly been damaged under Sonni Ali. That was a symbolic act—he was literally rebuilding the relationship between the state and the scholars. Luna: So Sonni Ali's legacy was deliberately overwritten. Lucas: In a way, yes. But not completely. The Tarikh al-Sudan and Tarikh al-Fattash, despite their bias, preserve important details about his reign. And oral traditions in the Niger valley keep his memory alive. So the picture we have is layered—and that's what makes it so interesting. Luna: It's a reminder that history is never just black and white. Lucas: Exactly. And next time, we'll look at another figure who gets a similarly mixed treatment: Askia Dawud, Sonni Ali's grandson—but that's a story for another day.