{{Infobox monarch| | name = Hummay | succession = ''Mai'' of the Kanem–Bornu Empire | reign = 11th century (12–23 years)<br/>{{Circa}} 1085–1097{{efn|name="HummayReign"}} | predecessor = Selema I | successor = Dunama I Umemi | death_date = {{circa}} 1097 | death_place = Egypt (Fatimid Caliphate) | spouse = Kinta | issue = Dunama I Umemi | house = Sayfawa dynasty | house-type = Dynasty | father = Selema I (?) | mother = Tigiram{{efn|name="HummayMother"}} }} '''Hummay'''{{efn|The spelling of Hummay's name varies between sources. Variations include ''Wume'',<ref name="Palmer1912">{{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=74–75 |issn=0368-4016}}</ref> ''Hume'',<ref name="Cohen1966">{{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=51, 56, 61, 73, 80–82 |chapter=The Bornu King Lists}}</ref> ''Humé'',<ref name=":0222">{{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=635 |language=en}}</ref> ''Ume'',<ref name="Cohen1966"/> ''Umé'',<ref name=":0222"/> ''Umme'',<ref name="Cohen1966"/> ''Oumé'',<ref>{{Cite book |last=Landeroin |first=Moïse |url=https://archive.org/details/documentsscienti21911miss/page/348/mode/2up |title=Documents Scientifiques de la Mission Tilho (1906–1909): Tome Deuxième |date=1911 |publisher=Imprimerie Nationale |pages=48 |language=fr |chapter=Du Tchad au Niger. — Notice historique}}</ref> ''Urne'',<ref name=":32">Palmer, H. R. (1926). History Of The First Twelve Years Of The Reign Of Mai Idris Alooma Of Bornu (1571–1583) (Fartua, Ahmed Ibn). p. 110.</ref> and ''Humai''.<ref name=":6">{{Cite book |last=DK |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/Africa/-VrbEAAAQBAJ |title=Africa: The Definitive Visual History of a Continent |date=2024 |publisher=Dorling Kindersley Limited |isbn=978-0-241-69051-2 |pages=108 |language=en}}</ref> He may be counted as Hummay I if the later ''mai'' Amarma is counted as Hummay II.}} was ''mai'' (ruler) of the Kanem–Bornu Empire in the late 11th century, ruling approximately 1085–1097.{{efn|name="HummayReign"|King lists (''girgam''s) and chronicles translated in the 19th–20th centuries assign Dunama a reign of either 12 years (Barth, Palmer, Urvoy), 22 years (Nachtigal), or 23 years (Landeroin).<ref name="Cohen1966" /> Due to this and to differing dates and calculations for other ''mai''s, various dates have been given for his reign, including 1086–1097 (Barth), 1085–1097 (Palmer), 1085–1097 (Urvoy), 1070–1093 (Landeroin), and 1129–1151 (Nachtigal).<ref name="Cohen1966" /> Cohen (1966) considered a reign of 12 years most likely.<ref name="Cohen1966" /> Lange (1984) dated Hummay's reign to 1075–1086,<ref>{{Cite book |last=Lange |first=Dierk |url=https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000184287 |title=General history of Africa, IV: Africa from the twelfth to the sixteenth century |date= |website= |publisher=University of California |year=1984 |isbn=978-92-3-101710-0 |editor-last=Niane |editor-first=Djibril Tamsir |pages=261 |language=en |chapter=The kingdoms and peoples of Chad}}</ref> whereas both Stewart (1989) and Bosworth (2012) used Palmer's dates, 1085–1097.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Stewart |first=John |title=African States and Rulers: An Encyclopedia of Native, Colonial and Independent States and Rulers Past and Present |publisher=McFarland & Company |year=1989 |pp=146}}</ref><ref name="Bosw">{{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=126–129 |orig-year=1996}}</ref> Hiribarren (2016) assigned Hummay a shorter reign of just five years, 1075–1080.<ref name=":7">{{Cite book |last=Hiribarren |first=Vincent |title=The Encyclopedia of Empire |publisher=Wiley |year=2016 |isbn=9781118440643 |pages=3 |chapter=Kanem-Bornu Empire |chapter-url=https://www.vincenthiribarren.com/pdf/Hiribarren_-_2016_-_Kanem-Bornu.pdf}}</ref>}} Later tradition records Hummay as the founder of the Sayfawa dynasty, which went on to rule the empire for over seven centuries. Hummay is sometimes erroneously referred to as the first Muslim ruler of the empire, a distinction that belongs to the earlier ''mai'' Hu. The nature of Hummay's rise to the throne and the fall of the preceding Duguwa dynasty is unclear since most sources identify the last Duguwa ''mai'', Selema I, as Hummay's father.
== Origin and rise to the throne == Hummay's rise to the throne of Kanem in the late 11th century is by later sources considered to have marked the rise of a new royal dynasty, the Sayfawa dynasty.<ref name=":0222" /><ref name=":4">{{Cite book |last=Insoll |first=Timothy |title=The Archaeology of Islam in Sub-Saharan Africa |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2003 |isbn=0-521-65171-9 |pages=273 |chapter=}}</ref> Earlier ''mai''s are said to have belonged to the empire's original dynasty, the Duguwa dynasty.<ref name=":5">{{Cite book |last1=Lange |first1=Dierk |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qDFcD0BuekQC |title=General History of Africa III: Africa from the Seventh to the Eleventh Century |last2=Barkindo |first2=B. W. |date=1992 |publisher=UNESCO |isbn=978-0-85255-093-9 |edition=Abridged |pages=223–225 |language=en |chapter=The Chad region as a crossroads}}</ref> The nature of Hummay's rise to the throne and what is meant by the dynastic shift is unclear. Most versions of the ''girgam'' (the empire's royal chronicle) records Hummay as the son of his direct predecessor, Selema I (who is also called Abd al-Jalil).<ref name="Cohen1966" />{{efn|name="HummayFather"|Out of the lists translated in the 19th–20th centuries, Barth, Palmer, Urvoy, and Landeroin all identify Hummay's predecessor Selema (Abd al-Jalil) as Hummay's father. Landeroin is the only to disagree, and instead names Hummay's father as Biri.<ref name="Cohen1966" />}} Hummay is called "ibn Abd al-Jalil"<ref name=":32" /> or "ibn Selema"<ref name=":6" /> in several sources, and sometimes given the epithet ''Jilmi'' ("son of Jil", i.e. Abd al-Jalil).<ref name="Palmer1912" /><ref name="Bosw" /> Hummay's mother was named Tigiram{{efn|name="HummayMother"|Barth (1857) recorded Hummay's mother as Tikramma,<ref name=":0222" /> Palmer (1926) records her as Teigaramt,<ref name=":32" /> and Palmer (1936) calls her Tigiram.<ref name="Cohen1966" /> Cohen considered Tigiram to be the likely correct version.<ref name="Cohen1966" />}} and hailed from the Kay (Koyam) tribe of Dirkou.<ref name=":0222" /><ref name=":32" />
The passage in the ''girgam'' about Selema ends with "That is what we have written about the history of the Banū Dūkū;{{Efn|"Descendants of Duku", i.e. the Duguwa dynasty}} we shall now proceed to set down the history of the Banū Ḥummay,{{Efn|"Descendants of Hummay", i.e. the Sayfawa dynasty}} who professed Islam".<ref name=":5" /> The difference between the Duguwa and Sayfawa ''mai''s has thus often been interpreted, for instance by Barth in 1857,<ref name=":0222" /> as merely religious, with both technically being the same royal lineage.<ref name=":5" /> Hummay is thus sometimes erroneously identified as the empire's first Muslim ruler;<ref name=":0222" /> this interpretation is demonstrably incorrect since both Selema and Selema's predecessor Hu were Muslims.<ref name=":5" />
The dynastic shift may be a reference to Selema being overthrown by Hummay,<ref name=":4" /><ref name=":5" /> who could have been falsely linked to the former dynasty as Selema's supposed son in the royal chronicle.<ref name=":5" /> The reason for Selema's overthrow in this case is unknown. Hummay might have been an adherent of Sunni Islam whereas Selema and Hu were Ibadi Muslims.<ref>{{Citation |last=Dewière |first=Rémi |title=The Kanem and Borno Sultanates (11th–19th Centuries) |date=2024 |pages=3 |url=https://oxfordre.com/africanhistory/view/10.1093/acrefore/9780190277734.001.0001/acrefore-9780190277734-e-1147 |access-date= |publisher=Oxford University Press |doi=10.1093/acrefore/9780190277734.013.1147 |isbn=978-0-19-027773-4 |url-access=subscription |encyclopedia=Oxford Research Encyclopedia of African History}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Loimeier |first=Roman |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/Muslim_Societies_in_Africa/cVGZDwAAQBAJ |title=Muslim Societies in Africa: A Historical Anthropology |date=2013 |publisher=Indiana University Press |isbn=978-0-253-02732-0 |pages=84 |language=en}}</ref> Hiribarren (2016) suggested that Hummay seized power with the help of a pro-Islam faction at court.<ref name=":7" /> Kanem is generally believed to have been founded by the Zaghawa people,<ref name="Bosw" /><ref name=":33">{{Cite book |last=Wright |first=John |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dsKlU6Ry8lgC |title=Libya, Chad, and the Central Sahara |date=1989 |publisher=Hurst & Company |isbn=1-85065-050-0 |pages=33}}</ref><ref name=":23">{{Cite book |last=Nave |first=Ari |title=Africana: The Encyclopedia of the African and African American Experience |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2005 |isbn=978-0-19-517055-9 |location= |pages=17 |chapter=Chad}}</ref> who are associated with the kingdom in Arab sources from the 9th to the 11th century.<ref name=":33" /> In the 12th century, the Zaghawa are attested as a separate entity from Kanem, living as nomads in the northeast. Hummay's rise to power could thus be linked to a possible expulsion of the Zaghawa from Kanem. In this interpretation, Selema is then identified as the last Zaghawa ruler of Kanem.<ref name=":5" />
Although Hummay was of local origin (possibly Kanembu), he and his dynasty claimed descent from the Yemeni noble Saif ibn Dhi Yazan, who was conflated with Kanem's legendary first ''mai'' (Susam) in later royal lists. Other Islamic African dynasties of Hummay's time sometimes made similar claims to Arab origin as a source of prestige.<ref name=":4" />
== Reign == The further spread of Islam in Hummay's reign may have provoked some dissension in the empire, which caused the Toubou people to break from imperial rule and move east.<ref name=":3">{{cite book |last1=Page |first1=Willie F. |title=Encyclopedia of African History and Culture |date=2005 |publisher=Facts On File |editor1-last=Davis |editor1-first=R. Hunt |edition=Illustrated, revised |page=231}}</ref>
Hummay ruled for 12 or 22/23 years.{{efn|name="HummayReign"}} He is recorded to have died in ''Masr'', i.e. Egypt.<ref name=":0222" /><ref name=":32" /> One source specifies the precise location as "Rukana, of many mosques".<ref name="Palmer1912"/> The location of his death suggests that he intended to, or perhaps completed, a pilgrimage to Mecca.<ref name=":0222" />{{efn|Page (2005) states that Hummay performed the pilgrimage to Mecca twice and died in Egypt on his third voyage, accompanied by his son Dunama I Umemi. This is in confusion with the death of Dunama, who died in Egypt while on his third pilgrimage.<ref name=":3" />}} Hummay was succeeded as ''mai'' by his son Dunama I Umemi.<ref name="Cohen1966" /> The Sayfawa dynasty ruled the Kanem–Bornu Empire until 1846,<ref name="Bosw" /> becoming one of the longest-ruling dynasties in world history.<ref name=":6" />
==Notes== {{Notelist}}
==References== {{reflist}}{{Kanem–Bornu rulers}} Category:Rulers of the Kanem Empire Category:11th-century monarchs in Africa