# Ahmad Alimi

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{{Infobox monarch|
| name         = Ahmad Alimi
| succession   = ''[Mai](/source/List_of_mais_of_Kanem%E2%80%93Bornu)'' of the [Kanem–Bornu Empire](/source/Kanem%E2%80%93Bornu_Empire)
| reign        = 1791–1808<ref name=":0" />{{efn|name=Ahmadreign}}
| predecessor  = [Ali IV Kalirgima](/source/Ali_IV_Kalirgima)
| successor    = [Dunama IX Lefiami](/source/Dunama_IX_Lefiami)
| death_date   = {{circa}} 1808
| spouse       = Lefiya
| issue        = [Dunama IX Lefiami](/source/Dunama_IX_Lefiami)<br/>[Ibrahim IV Lefiami](/source/Ibrahim_IV_Lefiami)
| house        = [Sayfawa dynasty](/source/Sayfawa_dynasty)
| house-type   = Dynasty
| father       = [Ali IV Kalirgima](/source/Ali_IV_Kalirgima)
| mother       = Amina
}}
'''Ahmad''' (Aḥmad bin ''ʿ''Alī<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Bosworth |first=Clifford Edmund |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/New_Islamic_Dynasties/maQxEAAAQBAJ |title=The New Islamic Dynasties: A Chronological and Genealogical Manual |date=2012 |publisher=Edinburgh University Press |year= |isbn=0-7486-2137-7 |pages=127 |orig-year=1996}}</ref>), called '''Ahmad Alimi''',<ref name=":2">{{Cite book |last=Brenner |first=Louis |url=https://archive.org/details/shehusofkukawahi0000bren/mode/2up?q=ngala |title=The Shehus of Kukawa: a history of the Al-Kanemi dynasty of Bornu |date=1973 |publisher=Clarendon Press |isbn=978-0-19-821681-0 |pages=25, 30–32}}</ref><ref name=":3">{{Cite book |last=Azevedo |first=Mario J. |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/Historical_Dictionary_of_Chad/Xd9jDwAAQBAJ |title=Historical Dictionary of Chad |last2=Decalo |first2=Samuel |date=2018 |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield |isbn=978-1-5381-1437-7 |pages=55 |language=en |chapter=ALIMI, AHMAD}}</ref><ref name=":4">{{Cite book |last=Lipschutz |first=Mark R. |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/Dictionary_of_African_Historical_Biograp/QYoPkk04Yp4C |title=Dictionary of African Historical Biography |last2=Rasmussen |first2=R. Kent |date=1986 |publisher=University of California Press |isbn=978-0-520-06611-3 |language=en |chapter=Ahmad Alimi}}</ref> was the ''[mai](/source/List_of_mais_of_Kanem%E2%80%93Bornu)'' (ruler) of the [Kanem–Bornu Empire](/source/Kanem%E2%80%93Bornu_Empire) in 1791–1808.<ref name=":0" />{{efn|name=Ahmadreign|There is general agreement across sources that Ahmad ruled for 17 years.<ref name=":5">{{Cite book |last=Cohen |first=Ronald |url=https://archive.org/details/bostonuniversity02bost |title=Boston University Papers on Africa: Volume II: African History |date=1966 |publisher=Boston University Press |pages=60, 65 |chapter=The Bornu King Lists}}</ref> His reign is sometimes alternatively dated to 1793–1810,<ref name=":5" /> based on an erroneous dating of the fall of [Ngazargamu](/source/Ngazargamu) to 1810.}} Ahmad was a pious, learned, and compassionate ruler, though not an experienced military man. Late in his reign, Ahmad proved unable to resist an invasion of the empire by the [Fulani](/source/Fula_people) during the [Fula jihads](/source/Fula_jihads), culminating in the loss of [Ngazargamu](/source/Ngazargamu), the imperial capital. In the aftermath of Ngazargamu's fall, Ahmad abdicated in favor of his son [Dunama IX Lefiami](/source/Dunama_IX_Lefiami) and died a few months later.

== Life ==
Ahmad Alimi was a son of ''mai'' [Ali IV Kalirgima](/source/Ali_IV_Kalirgima),<ref name=":1">{{Cite book |last=Hogben |first=Sidney John |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/An_Introduction_to_the_History_of_the_Is/LHeQAAAAIAAJ |title=An Introduction to the History of the Islamic States of Northern Nigeria |date=1967 |publisher=Oxford University Press |pages=169 |language=en}}</ref> who he succeeded as ''mai'' in 1791.<ref name=":0" /> Ahmad's mother was named Amina, "the daughter of Talba".<ref name=":32">{{Cite journal |last=Palmer |first=H. R. |date=1912 |title=The Bornu Girgam |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/716085 |journal=Journal of the Royal African Society |volume=12 |issue=45 |pages=83 |issn=0368-4016}}</ref> Ahmad was regarded as a pious and gentle scholar, not a military man.<ref name=":1" /> [Heinrich Barth](/source/Heinrich_Barth), a German explorer who visited Bornu in 1851, stated that the royal chronicles recorded Ahmad as "a learned prince, liberal towards the ''[ulama](/source/ulama)'', a prodigal dispenser of alms, a friend of science and religion, gracious and compassionate towards the poor".<ref name=":6">{{Cite book |last=Barth |first=Heinrich |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=la_zIUj0oiwC |title=Travels and Discoveries in North and Central Africa: Being a Journal of an Expedition Undertaken under the Auspices of H.B.M.'s Government, in the Years 1849–1855 |date=1857 |publisher=Longmans |pages=660–661 |language=en}}</ref> The [Kanem–Bornu Empire](/source/Kanem%E2%80%93Bornu_Empire) had become severely weakened by Ahmad's time. In the decades prior to Ahmad's reign, the empire had suffered defeats against the [Mandara Kingdom](/source/Mandara_Kingdom) to the southwest. The empire may have suffered from a plague during Ahmad's reign, leaving it vulnerable to attack.<ref name=":2" /> According to Barth, this plague had killed many people and had been foretold through a [solar eclipse](/source/solar_eclipse) two years before it began.<ref name=":6" />

Near the end of Ahmad's reign,<ref name=":1" /> by 1807 at the latest,<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Lavers |first=John E. |date=1993 |title=The al-Kanimiyyin Shehus: a working chronology |url=https://publikationen.ub.uni-frankfurt.de/frontdoor/index/index/year/2006/docId/1826 |journal=Berichte des Sonderforschungsbereichs |volume=268 |issue=2 |pages=179–186 |jstor=}}</ref> the Kanem–Bornu Empire became threatened by the [Fula jihads](/source/Fula_jihads).<ref name=":1" /> In {{Circa}} 1807, [Fula people](/source/Fula_people) in [Daura](/source/Daura) revolted against the local governor<ref name=":3" /> and swore allegiance to [Usman dan Fodio](/source/Usman_dan_Fodio), leader of the Fulani jihad movement.<ref name=":3" /><ref name=":4" /> Ahmad sent assistance to Daura,<ref name=":1" /> attacked the rebels, and ordered an anti-Fula campaign throughout the state.<ref name=":4" /> Ahmad then began a correspondence with Usman dan Fodio and his son [Muhammed Bello](/source/Muhammed_Bello),<ref name=":4" /> inquiring of the cause of the attacks. Ahmad stated that his people were Muslim, that he considered himself to be the [Commander of the Faithful](/source/Commander_of_the_Faithful) in Bornu, and that the attacks were thus unjust. Usman replied that he had not known of the conflict in Daura and invited the ''mai'' to join him in their struggle. Ahmad refused since the Fulani had engaged in hostility against him and his people.<ref name=":2" />

The conflict with the Fulani escalated into full-scale war. In 1808, the Fulani drove Ahmad's forces out of [Nguru](/source/Nguru%2C_Nigeria), which left the way open to [Ngazargamu](/source/Ngazargamu), the Kanem–Bornu capital.<ref name=":1" /> In March 1808,<ref name=":1" /> the Fulani captured and destroyed Ngazargamu.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Stapleton |first=Timothy J. |title=A Military History of Africa: The Precolonial Period: From Ancient Egypt to the Zulu Kingdom (Earliest Times to ca. 1870) |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing |year=2013 |isbn=978-0313395697 |location= |pages=81 |chapter=}}</ref> The imperial treasury, and some captured royal princesses, were sent as spoils of war to Usman dan Fodio.<ref name=":2" /> Ahmad had escaped from the capital with as many of his family and courtiers as he could gather. Their party made their way as far east as they could get, close to [Lake Chad](/source/Lake_Chad). There, Ahmad gathered his advisors to decide the next course of action. Most of the empire south and west of the destroyed capital had also been devastated by the Fulani, leaving the state on the brink of collapse.<ref name=":2" />

By 1808, Ahmad was an elderly ruler and had become blind with age. He thus decided to abdicate in favor of his son, [Dunama IX Lefiami](/source/Dunama_IX_Lefiami).<ref name=":2" /> Many of Ahmad's advisors accepted the abdication only reluctantly since it was improper for a ''mai'' to end their reign before death. Ahmad died just a few months after his abdication,<ref name=":2" /> probably in 1808.<ref name=":3" /><ref name=":4" /> It is unclear where Ahmad died and where he was buried. Some accounts incorrectly place his death at Ngazargamu.<ref name=":6" /><ref>Palmer, H. R. (1926). [History Of The First Twelve Years Of The Reign Of Mai Idris Alooma Of Bornu (1571–1583) (Fartua, Ahmed Ibn).](/source/iarchive%3Afirst-twelve-years-of-idris-alooma) p. 117.</ref> A ''[girgam](/source/girgam)'' (regnal list) translated by [Richmond Palmer](/source/Richmond_Palmer) in 1912 merely states that Ahmad was buried "in the camp".<ref name=":32" />

== Notes ==
{{Notelist}}

== References ==
<references />
{{Kanem–Bornu rulers}}
Category:Rulers of the Bornu Empire
Category:18th-century monarchs in Africa
Category:19th-century monarchs in Africa

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Ahmad Alimi](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ahmad_Alimi) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ahmad_Alimi?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.