{{Infobox monarch| | name = Muhammad IX Ngileruma | succession = ''Mai'' of the Kanem–Bornu Empire | reign = 1811–1814 | predecessor = Dunama IX Lefiami | successor = Dunama IX Lefiami | burial_place = "Balangwa" | house = Sayfawa dynasty | house-type = Dynasty | father = Ali IV Kalirgima | mother = Amina }} '''Muhammad IX'''{{efn|Some chronologies of Kanem–Bornu rulers omit the 14th-century Muhammad II Manza, lowering the regnal numbers of later rulers of this name. This ruler is then considered '''Muhammad VIII'''.<ref>{{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=35, 146}}</ref>}} (Muḥammad bin ʿAlī bin Ḥamdūn<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, 129 |orig-year=1996}}</ref>), called '''Muhammad Ngileruma''',<ref name=":0" /> was the ''mai'' (ruler) of the Kanem–Bornu Empire in 1811–1814.<ref name=":0" /> Muhammad Ngileruma came to power after his nephew Dunama IX Lefiami was deposed in a palace revolt. Little is known of political developments in his reign, though he is credited with founding Kafela as a new imperial capital. Muhammad Ngileruma was deposed without a fight in 1814 and Dunama was restored to the throne.

== Life == Muhammad Ngileruma was a son of ''mai'' Ali IV Kalirgima ({{Reign}}1750–1791).<ref name=":2">{{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=82 |chapter=The Bornu King Lists}}</ref> Muhammad'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>

By 1811,<ref name=":0" /> the reign of Muhammad's nephew Dunama IX Lefiami had inspired considerable discontent among the courtiers and nobility of the empire. Dunama had failed to deal with the invasion of the empire in the Fula jihads, with leadership instead mainly falling on the scholar and religious leader Muhammad al-Amin al-Kanemi.<ref name=":22">{{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=35–36}}</ref> Al-Kanemi's growing influence and power as a result of his victories also represented a threat to the empire's establishment.<ref name=":22" /><ref name=":3">{{Cite book |last=Brenner |first=Louis |title=Dictionary of African Biography |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2012 |isbn=978-0-19-538207-5 |location= |pages=289 |chapter=Kanemi, Muhammad al-}}</ref>

In 1811,<ref name=":0" /> Dunama was deposed in a palace revolt and replaced as ''mai'' with Muhammad Ngileruma. The conspirators argued that they were acting justly by pointing to the fact that Dunama had become ''mai'' with the abdication of his father, Ahmad Alimi, and had thus irregularly acceded to the position while his predecessor was still alive.<ref name=":22" /> The conspirators expected Muhammad Ngileruma to return the empire to the state of peace and security it had enjoyed prior to the Fula jihads, and to contain the ambitions of al-Kanemi. Muhammad Ngileruma does not appear to have opposed al-Kanemi, however, instead employing him and his warriors as the empire's defense force.<ref name=":22" /> A permanent capital was re-established at Kafela, close to al-Kanemi's capital at Ngurno.<ref name=":22" /> The previous capital, Ngazargamu, had been destroyed in the Fula jihads.<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> Little is known of the political developments in Muhammad Ngileruma's reign, though he appears to have held his position only tenuously as different factions in Kafela and Ngurno struggled for influence.<ref name=":22" />

Muhammad Ngileruma's reign came to an end after just three years, when al-Kanemi supported the restoration of Dunama IX.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":3" /> The ''mai'' had, like Dunama, failed to lead the resistance against the Fulani. Muhammad Ngileruma was also a man of deep religious convictions, and had imposed unpopular legal strictures at court. With the pretext of preparing another campaign against the Fulani, al-Kanemi summoned leading courtiers to Ngurno. The courtiers who did not support Dunama were outnumbered and forced to comply. Upon hearing of the conspiracy, Muhammad Ngileruma left Kafela quietly without a fight. Al-Kanemi, Dunama, and their supporters then rode to Kafela and again invested Dunama as ''mai''.<ref name=":22" /> Muhammad died some time later and was reportedly buried at a site called Balangwa.<ref name=":32" />

== Notes == {{Notelist}} == References == <references /> {{Kanem–Bornu rulers}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Muhammad 09 Ngileruma}} Category:Rulers of the Bornu Empire Category:19th-century monarchs in Africa