Mallam Alhaji

Overview

Tremearne describes Mallam Alhaji, also called Mallam Tsofo, as the oldest of the town bori and chief of the Yan Riga. His learned pilgrim character continually prays, sits at a house threshold and carries a walking stick and prayer-beads. The account associates him with old age and eventual death, while saying he harms nobody unless provoked. Invocations seek his help for illness; those reported beliefs belong to the historical community account.

In the dance his human representative walks almost doubled over and coughs weakly, then sits to count beads and read from an imagined Qur’an or a prayer-board. Prayer postures end with a sneeze and the dancer’s withdrawal. Songs praise a white-robed elder and father of many. This passage calls him Yerima’s father but rejects a Doguwa marriage attributed to him in Nigeria. A comparison with an Arabic Angel of Death is Tremearne’s interpretation, rather than an established additional identity.

Origins & earliest records

A. J. N. Tremearne reports interviews and ritual performances during four months in North Africa, alongside comparisons to Nigeria. His foreword credits local assistance and photography but these passages do not identify an individual speaker for every statement.

Records & interpretation

The Ban of the Bori, chapters XXI–XXII, complete selected account pp. 296–298; foreword pp. 13–14 and catalog publication date checked.

Selected bibliography

Documented works and useful reading. This is not a list of every appearance.

1. 01

   The Ban of the Bori: Demons and Demon-Dancing in West and North Africa

   A. J. N. Tremearne, collector and colonial-era interpreter · 1914

   Chapters XXI–XXII, pp. 296–298; role descriptions, performed representation and attributed explanations.

Family, evolution & connections

Yerima’s Alhaji parentage witness

Selected named notices in Tremearne’s 1914 historical Bori account, pp. 296–297.

The Alhaji entry explicitly calls him Yerima’s father. The later Yerima notice names Dundurusu instead. These conflicting witnesses are displayed separately; no mother or shared ancestor is invented. This is source-specific religious genealogy, not biological descent or universal contemporary doctrine.

References

Sources supporting this profile. Linked pages have their own scope and editorial standards.

1. Digitized historical ethnographic account with interviews and performance descriptionsTremearne — Mallam AlhajiResearch access: 2026-10-05
2. Library catalog metadataInternet Archive catalog — The Ban of the BoriResearch access: 2026-10-05

Image credits

A sourced illustration has not yet been added. This gap is included in the coverage record.