Sharif Bala Gabari of Kano From Scribe T

5HaRifBaLa gaBaRi ofkaNo
• • ••••••••••••• ••• ••••••••••••••••••

FROM SCRIBE TO CALLIGRAPHER '
ｾ＠
orn in the late 1930$ "Mahiru" for exportation; 3) the relatively late - in
(the "skilled one") Sharif Bala comparison with other Muslim countries -
Gabari (also known as Sharif establishment of a local printing industry.
Sala Zaytawa), can be considered today as When printed Arabic books started to
the living legend of the Islamic calligraphic circulate in northern Nigeria, the growing
tradition of Kano, the pulsating commercial public of northern Nigerian readers
heart and vibrant centre of Islamic scholar- who were able to buy books were still
ship in twentieth century northern Nigeria. accustomed to the variant of the maghrebi
The career of Sharif Sala developed during years of C script used in local qur'anic schools, and were not
profound transformation of the book market in Kano, familiar with, or did not appreciate, the Eastern
marked by the conjuncture of three interconnected script available through the imported printing
factors: 1) the phenomenon of religious revival and facilities. Thus, it became necessary for the local
increased Arabic literacy, inspired by two dynamic scholars engaged in the Nigerian Sufi revival of the
Sufi brotherhoods (Tijaniyya Nyassiyya and Qadiriyya 1950s, who wanted to market their writings among
Nasiriyya) whose scholars engaged in extensive a wider audience, to hire a scribe who would write
poetry writing; 2) the integration of Kano - formerly a sample in the local script, and then rely on one
a prominent southern terminal of the trans-Saharan of the newly established local printing companies
trade routes to Libya - in the new, South-oriented, (Oluseyi Press; Northern Maktabat Printing Press) to
economy of Nigeria, wherein Kano became the produce lithographed or photocopied editions that
commercial centre where the agricultural produce would be marketed through the scholarly networks
of the North (groundnuts and cotton) was gathered of Northern Nigerian zawiyas (religious centres linked
before being transferred to the southern seaports D to a particular Sufi order).
Above Sharif Bala Gabari

(photography courtesy of Maimadu Barma Mutai)
Below Examples of calligraphy by Sharif Bala Gabari in

hausawi script. This selection is includes Hausa poetry of I am grateful to Maimadu Mut ai for
Shaykh Nasiru Kabara, suras from the Qur'an and Tijani poetry shanng Info rmat ion and com men ts
7
Above A printed edttion of the Kitab al-shifa from a manuscript copy written by Sharif Bala Gabari in hausawi script.
Sharif Bala wrote down his first complete copy of K;J As a general rule, thinner and slightly more cursive
the Qur'an at the age of 20, and was noticed for the styles tend to be appreciated for prose works, for they
clarity of his script by some of the then emerging Sufi economise the space of a page . Bold, thicker hands
scholars and religious poets of Kano city, who started of a monumental aspect, instead, tend to be used for
hiring him to write sample copies of their writings - writings that are more suitable to ritual recitation, like
especially poetry, both in Arabic and in Hausa ajami the Qur'an, the Da/a'il al-Khayriit. along with highly
(Hausa in Arabic script). Although he wrote a number cherished, almost iconised works of poetry such as
of poems for some prominent Tijani scholars of Kano, the Burda of Imam al-Buslrl, the DTwiin of Shaykh
his main patron would soon become Malam Nasiru IbrahTm Nyass, or the Hausa and Arab ic poems of
Kabara (d. 1996), prolific writer and leader of the local Malam Nasiru Kabara. Over the years, Sharif Bala has
Qadiriyya, whom Sharif Bala considers his religious started to maximise the boldness and angularity of
mentor. his style in order to improve its decorative appeal ,
With rare exceptions, Sharif Bala consistently while at the same time trying to standardise the
wrote in the Nigerian variant of the maghrebi script. dimension of letters, The latter concern can be seen
Transmitted through the Middle Ages to Bornu as a distinctively modern one (traditional Bornu
and Kano, the typical Nigerian hand shares most hands, on the contrary, deliberately avoid regularity),
of the basic features of the other maghrebi scripts that makes his script somewhat sim ilar to a sort of
(andalusian, (asl, sahariiwJ, etc.), like the one-dot hand-made proxy of a printed Nigerian Kufic hand.
qaf, under,dotted (t]" un-dotted final nUn, etc., but Thanks to the regularity of his script, a new hizb
displays, in its most decorative variants used for (one sixtieth) division of the Qur'an always starts at
poetry, Qur'ans and prayer-books, a characteristic the beginning of a new page . This allows readers to
boldness that is reminiscent of the most archaic easily divide the Qur'an (whose sheets, according
forms of Kufic. When interrogated on what styles he to the local use, are always left loose) into separate
uses more often, Sharif Bala proudly emphasises that sixtieths for congregational reading in mosques, an
the Nigerian hand he is using is indeed the modern additional factor that makes Sharif Bala's copies of
heir of Kufic. o the Qur'an especially appreciated.
8
"
..
In the late 19705, realising others among the last generation

that the Nigerian book market, of professional copyists/scribes
thanks to the introduction of of northern Nigeria, established
printing facilities, was rapidly themselves as artist calligraphers
expanding beyond its traditional and survived the changes of the
borders, and unhappy with local scribal tradition which, after
some of his patrons who, while the boom of locally handwritten,
his photocopied handwritten lithographed and marketed books
books were circulating throughout Nigeria, still from the 19SOs to the 1980s, had started to decline
used to pay him the traditional wage of an ordinary following the spread of literacy in Eastern naskh
copyist for a single work, Sharif Sala decided to script among the younger Nigerian public, promoted
emancipate himself from the role of a traditional by the mushrooming modern Islamic schools. One of
local scribe, reliant on the occasional commissioning the last traditional copyists of Kano, Sharif Bala has
of individual works and unable to establish himself successfully established himself also as one of the
as a professional. With the help of Malam Nasiru first modern calligraphers of Nigeria, and contributed
Kabara and a successful link he was able to establish immeasurably to the transmission of a local legacy
with printers in Lebanon, he started to concentrate of Arabic script which dates back to the very earliest
on the production of remarkably decorative copies Kufic script.
of the most widely appreciated books by Nigerian To date, "Mahiru" Sharif Sala has written fifty-one
Muslims (Qur'an, DallYil, Shifa', Jalfilayn). Consistent manuscript copies of the Our'an, six of which have
with the Nigerian tradition, his copies of the Qur'an been printed (one, today very rare, in the Tunisian
always feature, along with the black ink used for the maghrebi style). He has also written several dozen
consonantic body of the text, also red vowels, yellow copies of the Oa/a'il al-Khayrat, the Kitab al-Shifa' of
hamza, green was/a, and elaborate decorations OadT 'Iyad, etc. He runs a traditional qur'anicschool in
at each rub ' (a quarter of the Ou'an) divisions. His Kano city that has formed hundreds of young huffaz
works are then sent to the prestigious printing press (memo risers of the entire Our'an by heart), and has
Oar al-Fikr in Beirut, Lebanon, to be lithographed transmitted his calligraphic skills to a smal ler circle
- often in colour - and bonded in hardcover. They of committed disciples. He has also established a
are then marketed in Nigeria as prestigious, luxury small independent printing press in Kano. Sharif Bala
editions. In such a way Sharif Bala, and along with thus b rings together the calligraphy ethos and the
him - although probably less successfully - a few modern printing press with great skill and elegance.
Top A printed edition of the Dala'i/ a/-KhayrfJt from a

manuscript copy written by Sharif Bala Gabari in
hausawiscflpt
Left and r ight From a handwritten copy of the

Qur'an by Malam Rablu Dantinki of Kano In hausawi script

Sharif Bala Gabari of Kano From Scribe T

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5HaRifBaLa gaBaRi ofkaNo

• • ••••••••••••• ••• ••••••••••••••••••

Above Sharif Bala Gabari

Below Examples of calligraphy by Sharif Bala Gabari in

In the late 19705, realising others among the last generation

Top A printed edition of the Dala'i/ a/-KhayrfJt from a

Left and r ight From a handwritten copy of the

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