Malim Ahoenoe Emene, a Tuareg Marabout
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Malim Ahoenoe Emene
Holy men in the Tuareg culture are called marabouts. The marabout I know best is Malim, the husband of Elhadji’s oldest sister, Hadji Kuri. Unlike Christian denominations where there are formal courses of study and special ceremonies associated with becoming a minister or priest, a Tuareg man who decides to become a marabout learns about the traditions and beliefs by studying with a learned marabout in a Koranic school. There is no “graduation” from the studies, nor are marabouts employed by specific mosques. Rather, they are informally consulted by people in the community regarding spiritual matters.
Malim is an Inadan, the subgroup of Tuaregs who make jewelry and other things. He was born in Teyazar, a village in the Air Mountains, about 70 years ago. When he was a young man he made mats, awls (knives the women use to make holes in leather), axes and small camel seats. He moved to Agadez, the largest town in the Tuareg territory, when he was in his early 20s. There he made real camel saddles and learned to work bronze, nickel and silver. He worked with the Koumamas making jewelry and things Tuaregs use, such as knives, until his eyesight began to fail.
When Malim was quite young he decided to become a marabout. He studied in a Koranic school in Agadez. There he learned to read and write Arabic, read and discussed the Koran with his mentor and absorbed the Tuareg traditional beliefs. After about 10 years of study his teacher decided that Malim was sufficiently learned to be called a marabout.
As is discussed in the August 2007 Newsletter, the Tuareg religion is a combination of Islam and the pre-Islamic animist beliefs in the spirits. Malim has a small mud brick room in the back of his compound set aside for his religious activities. A single bulb and the light from the open door illuminate the room. There he keeps his copy of the Koran, a few other Arabic books that interpret the Koran, a pen used to write with charcoal “ink,” paper for blessings and wooden tablets. He spends many hours alone in the room reading passages from the Koran aloud, saying prayers as he fingers his string of beads much like a Catholic nun with a rosary, and preparing gris gris and blessings for people.
Tuaregs believe that there are many spirits about, and that some of them are evil. From infancy on Tuaregs wear “amulets” containing “gris gris” to protect themselves from these bad spirits. Gris gris is a passage from the Koran that the marabout selects specifically for a particular person’s protection. After talking with the person Malim carefully copies the passage on paper with charcoal ink. He then folds it and gives it to the person with instructions to encase it in silver, leather or some other material. This is the amulet. The amulet is worn around the neck or sometimes carried in a pocket. A particularly powerful amulet is a leather belt with seven pockets, each for a different gris gris.
Another way of receiving protection from the evil eye is to drink the gris gris. I have seen three variations of this ceremony. I had no idea what to expect or the significance of the ritual the first time Elhadji took me to see Malim. We sat in his room while he said prayers aloud. Then he put a wooden tablet on which he had already written words from the Koran in charcoal ink into a bowl of cool water and rinsed the words from it. He handed the bowl to Elhadji who drank deeply and then passed it to me to do likewise. We quietly left the room and rejoined the noisy crowd across the road at Elhadji’s house. I felt a serenity that was difficult to explain.
Malim often visits me in my house in the mornings. Sometimes he brings an envelope containing a piece of paper on which he has copied a passage from the Koran over and over dozens of times. I get a bowl of water, take the paper from him and swish and squeeze it until all of the charcoal writing has dissolved into the water. While Malim recites prayers I take the bowl in both hands and drink the blessing.
Effes Bella’s father is a marabout in Timia. (See December 2007 Newsletter about Effes.) He writes the blessing on the inside of a ceramic bowl and then washes the ink off into the water.
There are amulets to protect the house from bandits and evil spirits. Malim places his gris gris on a small square of cardboard and then painstakingly wraps thread around it to completely encase the blessing. The one he gave me is hanging over the front door. My friend Homidou (August 2007 Newsletter) had his marabout make a house amulet for me that is a ball covered in yarn. That one protects my bedroom.
Before I stayed in my house for the first time Malim said prayers and performed a ceremony to rid to place of any lingering evil spirits. I was not there for that event because the Tuaregs wanted the house ready for me when I arrived. Later Malim came with seven amber colored stones which he buried by my front door to scare off any thieves who might try to break into the house. As he placed each stone he spit on it and recited a prayer. Then the hole was filled in and more prayers said. As far as I know the house has not been burglarized.
Marabouts are asked to offer prayers for people in need, such as for those who are ill. When a person dies they accompany the men of the family to bury the body. They also perform certain rites. For example, on the first day of Tabaski each family in the neighborhood brings its mouton (sheep) out to the sand street. Malim slits the throats of the animals as he says prayers. During the naming ceremony for a baby, which takes place on the seventh day after birth, the marabout kills the mouton (or goat if the family is too poor to buy a mouton) as he cries out the name of the infant.
One of the important ceremonies takes place before Tuaregs travel. After everything is packed Malim gathers everyone together to say prayers for safe passage. Although I don’t understand Arabic I now know the ritual as I have gone through it many times before heading off into the Sahara or south to Niamey.
People who receive blessings generally slip some money into the marabout’s hand. It must be done quietly. Malim never looks at the money in the presence of the person and as far as I know the gratuity is never discussed. It provides a little income for Malim and his family.