{{Short description|Last mai of the Duguwa dynasty}} {{Infobox monarch | name = Selema I | succession = ''Mai'' of the Kanem–Bornu Empire | reign = 11th century (4–62 years) | predecessor = Hu | successor = Hummay | spouse = Tigiram (?) | issue = Hummay (?) | house = Duguwa dynasty | house-type = Dynasty | native_lang1<!--this is a way to get around the Father/Mother, since the gender of Hu is not clear--> = Parents | native_lang1_name1<!--this is a way to get around the Father/Mother, since the gender of Hu is not clear--> = Hu and Bure (?)| }} '''Selema I''' (Sǝlǝma),{{efn|Several rulers of Kanem–Bornu are recorded with both Arabic and Kanuri names and scholars vary in which name is preferred. ''Sǝlǝma'' is this ruler's Kanuri name and is, among others, preferred by Cohen (1966). The ''ǝ'':s in ''Sǝlǝma'' are pronounced similar to the ''oo'' sound in ''book'' or ''look''.<ref name=":03">{{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=41–49, 51, 80, 82 |chapter=The Bornu King Lists}}</ref> ''Sǝlǝma'' means "black" or "dark-skinned" in Kanuri and may be a nickname.<ref name=":03" />}} also recorded as '''Abd al-Jalil''' (ʿAbd al-Jalīl) and '''Abdullah''' (ʿAbdallāh), was the legendary eleventh ''mai'' (ruler) of the Kanem–Bornu Empire, ruling in the 11th century. Selema is identified in the sources as the last ''mai'' of Kanem's original royal line, the Duguwa dynasty. The nature of Selema's relation to his successor Hummay, and Hummay's rise to the throne, are unclear.
== Sources == Information about Selema comes mainly from the ''girgam'', the orally recited royal chronicle of the Kanem–Bornu Empire, which is mainly known through transcriptions and translations by European explorers, scholars, and colonial officials in various copies in the 19th and 20th centuries, most importantly by Heinrich Barth, {{Interlanguage link|Moïse Landeroin|lt=Moïse Landeroin|fr|Moïse Landeroin}}, and Gustav Nachtigal. Richmond Palmer later worked with the same material as Barth, with some additions, and Yves Urvoy also published a study in the 1940s attempting to reconcile various sources.<ref name=":03" /> Because the long timespan separating Selema from recorded history and the lack of contemporary evidence, Selema and the other ''mai''s of the Duguwa dynasty are generally treated as legendary figures of uncertain historicity.<ref name=":03" /> {| class="wikitable" |+Selema I in 19th- and 20th-century European transcriptions of the ''girgam'' !Attribute !Barth (1857)<ref name=":122">{{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=634–635 |language=en}}</ref> !Nachtigal (1881)<ref name=":13">{{Cite book |last=Nachtigal |first=Gustav |url=https://www.loc.gov/resource/gdclccn.02013942v2/?st=gallery |title=Săharâ und Sûdân: Ergebnisse Sechsjähriger Reisen in Afrika: Zweiter Teil |publisher=McFarland & Company |year=1881 |isbn= |pages=394 |language=de |chapter=}}</ref> !{{Interlanguage link|Moïse Landeroin|lt=Landeroin|fr|Moïse Landeroin}} (1911)<ref name=":22">{{Cite book |last=Landeroin |first=Moïse |chapter-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=348 |language=fr |chapter=Du Tchad au Niger. — Notice historique}}</ref> !Palmer (1936)<ref name=":32">{{cite book |last1=Palmer |first1=Richmond |title=The Bornu Sahara and Sudan |date=1936 |publisher=John Murray |location=London |pages=90}}</ref> |- |'''Name''' |''Selma'' or ''ʽAbd el Jelíl'' |''ʽAbdallâh'' |''Abdallah'' |''ʽAbd ul Jalil'' |- |'''Reign''' |4 years |62 years |4 years |— |- |'''Father''' |Shú |Schû |Djelil |Chou |- |'''Mother''' |"a woman of the tribe of the Ghemarma" |— |— |Bure |} Similar as for Selema's direct predecessor Hu, both Barth and Landeroin gave Selema a reign of only four years, which was generally accepted by later authors, such as Yves Urvoy (1941),<ref name=":4">{{Cite journal |last=Urvoy |first=Yves |date=1941 |title=Chronologie du Bornou |url=https://www.persee.fr/doc/jafr_0037-9166_1941_num_11_1_2500 |journal=Journal des Africanistes |language=fr |volume=11 |issue=1 |pages=21–32 |doi=10.3406/jafr.1941.2500}}</ref> Ronald Cohen (1966),<ref name=":03" /> and Dierk Lange and B. W. Barkindo (1992).<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 |pages=223–225 |language=en |chapter=The Chad region as a crossroads |edition=Abridged }}</ref> Nachtigal's version of the king list gave Selema a considerably longer reign of 62 years, also the same length of time as Nachtigal gives Hu.<ref name=":13" /> By counting back in different versions of the king lists, Nachtigal speculatively dated Selema's reign to 1067–1129,<ref name=":13" /> Landeroin to 1066–1070,<ref name=":22" /> and Urvoy to 1081–1085.<ref name=":4" />
In another ''girgam'' translated by Palmer, Selema's (Abd al-Jalil's) name was given simply as ''Jil'', which Palmer interpreted as possibly related to "Jion or Ajon, the Jukon equivalent of the Egyptian god “Osiris”".<ref name=":6">{{Cite book |last=Palmer |first=Richmond |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZKqbDwAAQBAJ |title=Sudanese Memoirs: Being Mainly Translations of a Number of Arabic Manuscripts Relating to the Central and Western Sudan |date=2019 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-0-429-60370-9 |language=en |chapter=Notes on the Girgam |orig-year=1928}}</ref>
== Life == Most versions of the ''girgam'' present Selema as the son of his direct predecessor, Hu,<ref name=":03" /> who may have been a woman.<ref name="The Archaeology">{{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}}</ref><ref name=":8">{{Cite book |last=Cunliffe |first=Barry |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RHW6EAAAQBAJ |title=Facing the Sea of Sand: The Sahara and the Peoples of Northern Africa |date=2023 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-267474-6 |pages=248 |language=en}}</ref> Landeroin instead states that Selema was the son of a man named Djelil, with unclear relations to preceding ''mai''s.<ref name=":22" /> Selema's other parent may have been named Bure, though that name is only given by Palmer.<ref name=":03" /> Barth identifies Selema's mother as a "woman of the tribe of the Gemarma (Maghárma?)".<ref name=":122" /> Palmer identifies her as "a daughter of Bikoru, of the clan of the Amarma (i.e. of the Kauwar Oasis)".<ref name=":7">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. 109.</ref>
Selema was the second Muslim ruler of Kanem, after Hu.<ref name=":5" /> He may have ruled at a time of intense internal crisis as the empire transitioned from officially following traditional religions to Islam.<ref name=":5" /> Selema was followed on the throne by Hummay, who is considered the founder of a new dynastic line, the Sayfawa dynasty.<ref name=":122" /><ref name="The Archaeology" /> The ''girgam'' nevertheless presents Hummay as Selema's son, making the nature of this dynastic shift unclear.<ref name=":5" /> The name of Hummay's mother, and thus Selema's consort is given by Barth as Tikramma and by Palmer as Tigiram.<ref name=":03" />
According to Barth, Selema died at a site called Ghumzú.<ref name=":122" /> Palmer stated that Selema was buried at a site called Masar.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Palmer |first=Richmond |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZKqbDwAAQBAJ |title=Sudanese Memoirs: Being Mainly Translations of a Number of Arabic Manuscripts Relating to the Central and Western Sudan |date=2019 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-0-429-60370-9 |language=en |chapter=LVI.–List of Mais of Bornu Down to 1808 A.D. with Approximate Dates |orig-year=1928}}</ref> One ''girgam'' translated by Palmer in 1912 refers to Masar as "Masar of many mosques".<ref name=":322">{{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> A ''girgam'' translated by Palmer in 1926 places Selema's death in "the land of the Gamaram (i.e. Damarghu)".<ref name=":7" />
== Dynastic shift == The ''girgam'' places the emphasis of the dynastic shift from Duguwa to Sayfawa on adherance to Islam. The passage 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=":122" /> as merely religious, with both technically being the same royal lineage.<ref name=":5" /> This interpretation is demonstrably incorrect since both Selema and Hu were Muslims.<ref name=":5" />
The dynastic shift may be a reference to Selema being overthrown by Hummay,<ref name=":5" /><ref name="The Archaeology" /> 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 |encyclopedia=Oxford Research Encyclopedia of African History |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 }}</ref> Kanem is generally believed to have been founded by the Zaghawa people,<ref name=":3">{{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=":2">{{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><ref name=":42">{{Cite book |last=Bosworth |first=Clifford Edmund |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=maQxEAAAQBAJ |title=The New Islamic Dynasties: A Chronological and Genealogical Manual |date=2012 |publisher=Edinburgh University Press |isbn=978-0-7486-2137-8 |pages=128 |orig-year=1996}}</ref> who are associated with the kingdom in Arab sources from the 9th to the 11th century.<ref name=":3" /> 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" />
== Notes == {{Notelist}}
== References == {{Reflist}} {{Kanem–Bornu rulers}}{{DEFAULTSORT:Abd al-Jalil 01 of Kanem}} Category:Rulers of the Kanem Empire Category:11th-century monarchs in Africa