Thesis Abstract

<p> </p><p>PORTRAIT OF THE ALMAJIRI A STUDY OF THEIR DAILY ACTIVITIES<br>IN PAINTING is aimed at bringing to people’s knowledge the correct use of the<br>word ‘Almajiri’ its origin, development and the present destitute state of the<br>Almajiri. The study was motivated by the ongoing events of destitution, poor<br>living conditions and their abuse by both social miscreants and the Mallams who<br>abuse them. The Almajiri is a boy-scholar who goes to a town outside his<br>hometown against the backdrop of the primary aim of learning the Qur’an. The<br>intention of the research is to raise awareness on the societal ills the Almajiri cause<br>and the ones they suffer. The survey for the research was based on actual visits<br>paid to the various places, which negates the primary aim that has brought them to<br>their town of Quranic study. In the methodology, sketches were made from poses<br>assumed by the Almajiri. The other sketches were based on imaginative<br>composition and photographs taken of the Almajiri. The research was not<br>undergone to condemn anyone, but rather to create awareness for a unilateral<br>structure that will aid the proper organization of the Traditional Quranic School<br>for the Almajiri. The paintings produced are shown in various plates and<br>exhibited as a result of the study carried out. It is observed that for as long as the<br>destitute situation and abuse of the Almajiri persists, the paintings made and<br>exhibited regularly might aid a reversion to the initial ideal of the Traditional<br>Quranic School.<br>vii</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p> <br><p></p>

Thesis Overview

<p> 1.1 Introduction and Background of the Study<br>In an interview with Mohammed in August 2000 he explained that the<br>Prophet Mohammed (PBH) got inspiration from God and the conviction that he<br>was a prophet, sent to spread Islam started receiving revelations from God (Allah)<br>in Mecca. The pagans did not make it a conducive place to preach and teach, in<br>that his disciples; few as they were at the onset were attacked and killed. He fled<br>to Medina with his disciples and continued teaching. At the time such gatherings<br>took place, those who sat round the Prophet Mohammed (PBH) to learn were<br>called ‘Almuhajjir’ which means an emigrant. These were people that went to<br>Medina because of the persecutions in Mecca. In this regard, there are two<br>categories of the Almuhajjir and they are the Dalibi, the self-dependant wealthy<br>traders and the Sahaba that depended on alms, while seeking Quranic knowledge.<br>Sani (2003) states ‘… male children were taken to areas other than their<br>birth places and they stayed for years under the social care of a prominent scholar<br>who fed and clothed them as they acquired Koranic knowledge. By implication the<br>almajiri institution was a boarding school system.’ This antecedence gives<br>credence to the fact that there was a properly organized setup in the past that<br>differs from what currently obtains today, in which the Almajiri has to sleep on the<br>bare floor of the mallam’s anteroom. The Almajiri is not properly fed and clothed<br>as it ones was but he is seen engaged in various odd jobs such as washing clothes,<br>carrying load in market places and even selling black market petrol.<br>xvi<br>In an interview with Usman in June 2004, he said that Usman Dan Fodio in<br>1834 started the traditional quranic school in Sokoto after a jihad of that period,<br>and Arab travellers were also involved in the introduction of the traditional<br>quranic school. He said he had attended the traditional quranic school at home and<br>there were about sixty students in attendance. He blames both parents and the<br>government as the groups responsible for the state of destitution of the Almajiri.<br>He explained that jobless youths are to be held responsible for carrying out<br>sectarian violence and not the Almajiri. In an interview with Haruna in May 2004,<br>who had also attended a traditional school, explained that parents, government and<br>the Muslim Umma should be held responsible for the destitute state of the<br>Almajiri. To this end, he said these three should involve themselves in the<br>financing and control of the traditional quranic school. On the question of<br>violence, he however opined that the jobless youths are the ones used during<br>sectarian violence and not the Almajirai.<br>Most of the people that come to the northern part of Nigeria for the first<br>time say, “An Almajiri is a beggar”. They are given to this misconstrued use of<br>word because they have never even taken it upon themselves to know what the<br>word Almajiri means. The word is from the Arabic word ‘Almuhajjir’ which in the<br>Hausa language is pronounced ‘Almajiri’ and means disciple. But in spite of the<br>slight difference in the pronunciation, the Arabic word means emigrant. The word<br>follower could also be used, in this regard, one that is subjected to the study of the<br>Qur’an.<br>xvii<br>Most of the time, people coming to the north for the first time, on hearing<br>the word Almajiri have invariably become the culprits to the mis-use of the word<br>Almajiri. Just as much as they have seen those who are called by the name, they<br>are quick to join in calling such boys, Almajiri without trying to find out the<br>meaning of the word. As far as they are concerned, any boy of about age 6 to 15<br>or 16 in tattered cloths with or without a bowl in his hand is an Almajiri. On this,<br>Mohammed in the August interview of 2000 stated that “the girls cannot be<br>allowed to go far from home like the boys because of the obvious risk being raped<br>and misled into prostitution.” Nevertheless, the Islamiyya School makes it<br>possible for both the boys and the girls to attend a quranic school that is not far<br>from their houses. It is pertinent to note at this juncture that the Islamiyya school is<br>one in which the boys and girls that attend are those that live within their parents<br>and only trek to the Mallam’s house for the lessons. Each child also pays a fee of<br>between 200 to 400 Naira monthly.<br>1.1.1 Objective of the Almajiranci<br>According to the National Council for the Welfare of the Destitute (2001) it<br>explained that the traditional Quranic school has two objectives, which are, to<br>impart intellectual and moral training through the domestic enrolment, in which he<br>attends the school daily from home, and the boarding enrolment that completely<br>exposes the Almajiri to the dual opportunity of becoming a Mallam on completion<br>of his study and even learn any trade of his choice. The syllabus of the Almajiri is<br>split into two stages, namely, the lower and advanced studies. When a pupil is<br>xviii<br>enrolled, he is expected to start from the beginning but can stop at the end of the<br>first three levels. The following are the levels in this order of precedence:<br>Level one: Babbaku is the one in which the Almajiri learns to identify the<br>different Arabic alphabets and learn the pronunciation, written on a wooden<br>slate.<br>Level two: Farfaru is the level that enables the Almajiri learn the Arabic<br>vowels, this is said to take a longer period since it is more difficult.<br>Level three: Zube is said to be easier and faster to learn as it entails<br>learning, reading and writing of the Qur’an. The Almajiri is made to write<br>the whole of the Qur’an in parts from beginning to the end. This marks the<br>end of the elementary level. This is also called Sauka, meaning graduation.<br>This is always marked by a public recitation of a portion of the Qur’an after<br>which a feast is held for the graduated Almajiri. After these three levels, an<br>Almajiri may decide to proceed to the higher level of becoming well versed<br>in the Qur’an and even become a Mallam.<br>Level four: Haddatu is the level in which the Almajiri is expected to<br>memorise the whole of the one hundred and fourteen chapters of the<br>Qur’an. He is then made to revise the Haddatu in a special class called<br>Tishe/Tilwa.<br>Level five: Satu is the final stage in which the Almajiri is made to write<br>portions of the Qur’an from memory until he completes this task flawlessly<br>on sheets of paper. There will be a musabbah reading before his write up is<br>xix<br>accepted and such an Almajiri is hence called a Hafiz. This level marks the<br>end of the Almajiri’s study of the Qur’an and may decide to go and<br>specialize in any area of his choice.<br>The second objective of the Almajiranci is to engender moral development<br>in the Almajiri. The Almajiri is taught the significance of Islamic culture and<br>discipline, to understand the Quranic values system and live by them, the essence<br>of communal belonging and the unity of the Muslim Umma. The Almajirai are<br>taught the virtues of habits such as dressing and eating habits. These are lessons<br>taught by both the Mallam and the Almajirai that have reached the fifth level of<br>there study.<br>Though the traditional Quranic school does not have the type of<br>organisationl set-up the western form of education has, it still has its own laid<br>down precepts strictly adhered to by Mallams that firmly follow these laid down<br>precepts. This aids discipline in the rank and file in both age, between the<br>Almajirai, and the Mallams in their knowledge of the Qur’an. According to the<br>National Council for the Welfare of the Destitute (ibid) it explained that on the<br>basis of age, the Almajirai starts with the lowest age group called the Kolo. These<br>are aged between four to eleven years old. The Titibiri are the adolescent age<br>group ranging from twelve to about sixteen. The Gardi are aged from seventeen to<br>young adults.<br>The Kolo and Titibiri are the ones found studying in the first three levels of<br>Quranic studies, and after graduating can either leave the school or continue. The<br>xx<br>Gardi are those that have attained the teacher-in training status and assist the<br>Mallams in giving lessons in the first two levels of the Almajiri syllabus.<br>However, the Gardi do not go about to beg for money and food, which they are<br>expected to bring and is shared by the Gardi. Apart from begging, they engage in<br>other industries to eke-out a leaving such as laundry, manicures, sewing caps and a<br>host of other noble engagements.<br>Among the Mallams is a categorisation that is only recognized through the<br>Quranic knowledge attained. These are the Mallams, Alaramma and the Gwani.<br>The Mallam is the lowest ranked person in the knowledge of the Qur’an and is a<br>word generally used to mean teacher, and only has students learning under him.<br>The Alaramma has both Almajirai and Mallams learning under him. The Gwani is<br>the most respected person in the knowledge of the Qur’an and has only the<br>Mallams and the Alarammai that come to seek deeper knowledge of the Qur’an.<br>1.1.2 The Almajiri<br>The Almajiri is a boy who is born into a family, just like every one else.<br>He has a father, a mother, sisters, brothers and every other member of the<br>extended family. He has friends. He is a human being. He has, just like every<br>other human being, dreams, taste, aspirations and hopes, among others. He is not<br>a myth. But it will be pertinent to mention without the intent of committing any<br>act of sacrilege that he has become a victim to the religious tradition that has been<br>passed down over the years to impart into him, the knowledge of the Qur’an<br>through several years of Arabic lessons.<br>xxi<br>The phenomenology, therefore, of the Almajiri is that he does not visit<br>home on a set date, like a holiday, as he seldom gets any visit from his home. This<br>is not to insinuate rejection, but perhaps to aid him concentrate on his studies, he is<br>left to ‘himself’, to discover his God (Allah) on the pages of the Qur’an.<br>Invariably, he is no less than any one or better, but deserves a fair treatment, or a<br>better one, as his future which is plagued by the state of destitution, begging and<br>abuse, by some of the Mallams under who he is learn the Qur’an and also has him<br>abused.<br>1.1.3 The Quranic School<br>The Quranic school system have no organized boarding facilities, even<br>though it has in the past boarded the Almajiri with a much better boarding<br>condition that it is now. The payment of school fees, scholars say was done, based<br>on the individual Mallams discretion, in that, he either depends on some bountiful<br>givers of alms in the form of clothes, food and money, for both the Mallam and the<br>Almajiri. This money is given almost as regular as once in two months. There<br>was a Quranic recitation to also ‘graduate’ those who have proven themselves to<br>be ‘men’ among the Muslims. To this end, they graduate into the waiting arms of<br>either going back to their homes permanently or stay back in their ‘new found<br>homes’ to trade.<br>Macleod (2001) stated that<br>the King (Fahd) also poured cash into<br>scores of new Islamic Universities, which<br>began to turn out thousands of fresh<br>religions activists’.” But something<br>xxii<br>unexpected happened”, he quoted a former<br>Western diplomat as saying in Riyadh,<br>that, “instead of this wonderful utopia,<br>where young men were attracted to<br>academia to learn about Islam, you got<br>thousands of religious graduates who<br>couldn’t find jobs.<br>Just as important or paramount as religious education is, there is a great<br>need for the Almajiri to acquire formal education by drawing a time-table for the<br>Traditional Quranic School or some form of vocational education such as trading,<br>be taught to them, to enable them get self employed, preventing them from<br>roaming the streets and being abused or manipulated after the completion of their<br>Quranic education.<br>According to Mohammed, still from the August interview in 2000,<br>explained that in the social context the Almajiri is expected to have a proper<br>knowledge of the one hundred and fourteen chapters of the Qur’an. Religion is<br>primarily designed to guide the conduct of ones life as it affects every aspect of<br>living. This in turn will make the society a better place to live if everyone adheres<br>to the teaching taught to him or her as an individual.<br>While in the traditional context, the Almajiranci is one handed down from<br>one generation to the other to propagate the teachings of the Qur’an in order to<br>have it reflective in the lives of every Muslim, old and young, male and female.<br>The ‘Makarantan Allo’, a Hausa phrase that translates literally to ‘The slate<br>school’ and is also called as the Traditional Quranic School by some other<br>Muslims, exists till today.<br>Long before now, the Traditional Quranic Schools had been run with ease<br>xxiii<br>some years after 1097 A.D. By this, an Almajiri leaves his home state to another to<br>learn the one hundred and fourteen chapters of the Qur’an without having to roam<br>the streets begging for alms as the situation is now, with the Almajiri Shehu<br>explained in a July interview. Sule-Kano (1998) stated that “the Nigerian political<br>economy being over-whelmingly a neo-colonial one, in which the national<br>economy was created as that of a capitalist economy, it has inherently some<br>internal dynamics that never work in the interest of the oppressed majority.” This<br>he posits to be borne out of the one sidedness of the nations economy, in which the<br>welfare of the general populace is seldom taken into consideration. This in turn<br>has prompted the parents of the Almajiri to see the situation as a vista to ease them<br>selves of the financial burden of fending for their children.<br>The portrait the researcher has painted is not bent on painting the<br>Traditional Quranic School bad, but is intent on drawing a line of challenge that<br>calls for change, a change on the conduct that guides the running of these schools<br>that will prevent these Almajirai from their present state of poor livelihood. In<br>Saudi Arabia and its neighbouring countries teachings continued until about<br>1000A.D. when little children, boys and girls began to be made to learn the Qur’an<br>under a Mallam, the teacher.<br>Thakur and Ezenne (1980) explain that<br>he sits with volumes of the Qur’an on a stool or<br>chair with the pupils sitting in a semicircle<br>round him. As they grew, those who displayed<br>an exemplary knowledge and understanding of<br>the Qur’an through the recitation were made to<br>travel to other Arab Nations to learn and teach.<br>This is against the backdrop of the Prophet’s<br>xxiv<br>(PBH) teachings that they should ‘Seek<br>knowledge even if it can take you the distance<br>between here (Medina) and Sin (China).<br>This necessitated the traders to also take it upon themselves to spread Islam to<br>other parts of the world, such as Africa. This has since made it possible for parents<br>to send their children far from home to literarily seek Quranic knowledge. The<br>success of these was made possible by the gifts given to the Mallams to cater for<br>the Almajiri.<br>Thakur and Ezenne (1980) further stated that ‘As far as Nigeria is<br>concerned a Muslim scholar named Hamed Mohammed Mani and a Kanem ruler<br>who ruled between 1085 and 1097AD’, stand as the pioneers of the spread of Islam<br>in Northern Nigeria. Umme Jilmi’s acceptance of Islam made him have his<br>children taught as early as possible.” This act of having children gather round a<br>Mallam soon spread throughout Nigeria. Suffice to say that Donovan (1999) said<br>that in a little village in neighbouring Niger, a place called Fachi, a man named<br>Kader, the oldest spiritual leader and keeper of the Qur’an in Fachi explained that<br>he has eleven boys that come from a nearby town to learn. In his interview with<br>Kadir he said that he teaches the boys to write and memorize the one hundred and<br>fourteen chapters of the Qur’an. He said further that by reciting the obligatory<br>prayers, they are being brought to religious adulthood. An annual Quranic<br>recitation takes place for the boys to prove their right of passage. In this a boy on<br>successfully reciting the passage given to him to recite by heart also becomes a<br>Hafiz in the eyes of Muslim leaders.<br>xxv<br>In an interview with Isyaku in February 2001 he explained that the<br>traditional Quranic School was originally designed to be a boarding school. The<br>very poor parents send their wards far in recent times, as they could no longer<br>afford to fend for their children. But when it originally started as a boarding<br>school, Muslims gave money, food and clothing to the Mallams to feed the boys<br>they had with them. Elaborating on the Almajirai, Isyaku said that it was not a<br>burden on many of the Mallams to take care of the welfare of his family and the<br>Almajiri. Such Mallams had farms where they grow beans, maize and other crops,<br>where the Almajirai under such Mallams work and are fed. The situations of<br>having them go around begging for alms did not exist. But this did not rule out the<br>fact that they went to the farm to help the Mallam, who they also helped joyfully.<br>He was also an Almajiri, but as a result of his parents’ education an elderly<br>man was called upon to come to the house to teach him daily. His parents have six<br>children, three boys and three girls. The Mallam did not come on Thursdays and<br>Fridays. For hundreds of years, the Traditional Quranic School had spread<br>throughout the northern states of Nigeria. It will raise, from boys to men, Quranic<br>literates both as scholars and Muslims in general. The tradition of having to leave<br>your town to another place to acquire knowledge has been adhered to by many<br>parents. In the last twenty years, eyebrows have been raised about the physical,<br>emotional and psychological state of the Almajiri. The Almajiri has degenerated in<br>status as many Arabic teachers have since had the boys they have sit to learn and<br>live with them abused such as to do one singular thing, beg after their lessons.<br>This is not to imply that the primary aim of teaching Qur’an has been defeated, but<br>xxvi<br>right after the lessons they also engage in various acts that have been destructive to<br>the society and themselves.<br>The Almajiri resort to begging for money, food and clothing for their<br>upkeep and make a monetary return of twenty naira, once every Thursday. They<br>also resort to touting at motor parks, pimping in university hostels and engaging in<br>sexual activities, washing clothes in brothels, hotels and carrying luggage in<br>market places. Sometimes, the Almajirai are used during religious riots to engage<br>in beating of people and burning of churches.<br>In a typical Quranic school, a Mallam has between thirty to as many as<br>eighty boys studying under him, which he mostly cannot cater for as a result of the<br>bad economy. The boys also live in the Mallam’s house. They sleep on mats that<br>soon age into tatters and end up sleeping on the bare ground. The ventilation in the<br>shelter is either poor or the door is blocked by a woven straw mat used as a<br>curtain. This allows mosquitoes and the cold harmattan wind to breeze in. When it<br>rains, flooding occasionally keeps them away from sleeping on the floors, which is<br>borne out of the lack of drainage system in front of these houses.<br>It is pertinent to note that the boys seen in such schools and on the streets<br>are children that come from as far as Bauchi, Borno, Kebbi, Zamfara, Sokoto and<br>the other northern states bordering Kaduna. A boy is told of the importance of<br>quranic education with stories of great prophets that have left their marks on<br>Islam’s sand of time. After this short enlightenment, the boy is either taken to or<br>handed over to a man who will then take the boy to his destination. His luggage<br>xxvii<br>usually little, comprises of about three to four changes of clothes and on rare<br>occasions, money.<br>Departures are usually emotionally laden with mixed feelings, which are<br>evident on the mother. Some times there is physical resistance from the boy that is<br>about to be led away to his fate, as he struggles to wrench himself free from his<br>father or guardian. On the child’s arrival to his destination, he is packed with more<br>words of endearment to have him prepared to become a disciple, an Almajiri, until<br>a time when he can proficiently recite any chosen portion of the Qur’an. It is<br>pertinent to note at this juncture that there is no gender discrimination as it pertains<br>to the evident absence of the girls from the traditional Quranic schools. The<br>researcher was made to know that the girls stood a high risk of rape and<br>prostitution, for which she is not allowed till today to go beyond the<br>neighbourhood to learn the Qur’an.<br>Artistic commentaries on the social misnomer and vises affecting the<br>Almajiri, has been the self – chosen subject of a handful of artists. Artists at most<br>time choose to depict the Almajiri in the figurative abstract style of painting. To a<br>large extent, the Almajiri’s poor state of living which has gone from bad to worse<br>has been turned into a mere fictitious tale of woe, but is very real. Paintings have<br>not being made in picturesque representation of many of the aspects of their life.<br>Many of the paintings only hinge their works on the display of one artistic<br>dexterity or the other.<br>xxviii<br>According to Jegede (1996), he stated that “for the visual artist, mastery of<br>techniques and materials cannot and should not be substituted for message and thrust,<br>otherwise he is a rambler who refuses to advance a thought through his art.” In this, he<br>means that an artist should be carried away by skill use and displays of styles. This he<br>posits to make artists in Nigeria to direct their artistic energies on sociological studies of<br>man. On this, according to Gardner (1980), she explained that Gustave Courbet (1819-<br>77) stated that “to be able to translate the customs, ideas, and appearances of my time as I<br>see them-in a word, to create a living art-this has been my aim.” Against the backdrop of<br>this, the researcher has therefore undergone the study to prick the consciousness of artists<br>to join in the call to effect a positive change in the life of the Almajiri, and other types of<br>social misnomer.<br>1.2 Statement of the problem<br>The conduct that guides the Traditional Quranic Schools has made the boys<br>to be abused by various social miscreants. The Mallams, who take more boys than<br>they can cater for, which in time leads them to touting, pimping, selling petrol at<br>the “black market”, is reason enough for great concern. They are also denied of<br>years of constant emotional and physical contact with their families, which affect<br>them psychological leaving them at the mercy of the negative minds of the society.<br>Many of the paintings produced do not depict the mood, emotional depressed<br>states and challenging throes of life of the Almajiri. There is also the lack of<br>paintings depicting picturesque aspects of the Almajiri’s life in the<br>representational art form, which is easily understood, against the backdrop of the<br>poor level of art appreciation in Nigeria. It is hoped that the constant exhibitions of<br>xxix<br>paintings on the Almajiri will on the long run alleviate the problem the Almajiri is<br>going through.<br>This study is centered on the reversion to the primary ideals of the<br>Traditional Quranic School in which children are made to study only within the<br>perimeters of their parents’ houses and under such conditions, the Almajirai is<br>efficiently catered for which will lead to achieving of the goals set for the<br>Almajirai.<br>1.3 Objectives of the study<br>The objectives of this study are to:<br>I. Depict selected aspects of the negative life events in the lives of the<br>Almajiri in painting which includes their sleeping and living conditions,<br>the beggarly life they live and the things they do to earn a living<br>II. Using the works produced to raise awareness among Muslims on the<br>poor state of the boys who learn under the Mallams that subject the<br>Almajiri to abuse with the hope that the Muslims can contribute in cash<br>and kind, and also regulate a population the Mallams can cater for, and<br>III. Evoke artistically the consciousness of public, government, policy<br>makers, stakeholders and the society as a whole through the exhibition<br>of the paintings produced.<br>1.4 Significance of the study<br>I. This study hopes to make artists understand the role they can play in<br>raising awareness on the present state of the Almajiri to the society.<br>II. This study also hopes to cause the Muslims and Islamic<br>organizations to organise a plan of action to guide the conduct of the<br>xxx<br>Traditional Quranic School.<br>III. This study is also expected to encourage policy makers in both the<br>federal and state governments to seriously look into the destitute<br>state of the Almajiri through the exhibition of the works produced.<br>1.5 Delimitation<br>The Traditional Quranic School exists in many of the northern states of<br>Nigeria. The peculiarity in the stated problems, therefore, has made the scope of<br>the study to be in Samaru and Zaria City.<br>1.6 Justification of the Study<br>Specific attention has been given to the various aspects of the Almajiri life<br>in paintings. The efforts made by many artists give a shallow description of the<br>sordid aspect of Almajiri lives with the use of various painting forms. The study<br>has however, contributed to knowledge, the proper use of the word Almajiri, and<br>the attendant hardships they go through, the abuse they suffer and the problems<br>they pose to the society through the paintings produced in the representational art<br>style.<br>1.7 DEFINITION OF TERMS<br>Almuhajjir: Arabic word for emigrant<br>Almajirai: Plural of Almajiri<br>Almajiranci: State of being a student<br>Almajirci: the same as above<br>Almajiri: It is a compound word in this study, and is an emigrant<br>xxxi<br>Asr: Prayer said around 3:30 – 4:00 p.m.<br>Bara: Hausa word for begging<br>Dalibi: Self dependant scholars (traders) at the time of the<br>Prophet Mohammed (PBH)<br>Hafiz One that displays excellence in the knowledge of the<br>Qur’an<br>Islamiyya Islamic school<br>Kwadago: Hausa word for labour<br>Magrib: Prayer said around 6:30-730p.m. (Sunset)<br>Makarantan Allo: Slate School<br>Mallam: Teacher<br>Muslim Umma: Muslim community/ Muslim members<br>Sahaba: Scholars that depended on alms at the time of the<br>Prophet Mohammed (PBH)<br>Subh: Prayer said at 5-5:30a.m. (Sunrise)<br>“PZ”: Paterson Zochonis; the name of a Company and<br>is also a name used for an area in Zaria<br>Purdah State of seclusion for married Muslim women<br>Talla: Hausa word for hawking<br>Tafsir: Translations and commentary of the Holy Qur’an<br>Zaure: Ante room of a typical Hausa type of house<br>xxxii <br></p>