Review: Haber, Marc et al. (2016), Chad Genetic Diversity Reveals an African History Marked by Multiple Holocene Eurasian Migrations

 Haber, Marc et al. (2016), Chad Genetic Diversity Reveals an African History Marked by Multiple Holocene Eurasian Migrations, The American Journal of Human Genetics  , http://www.cell.com/ajhg/fulltext/S0002-9297(16)30448-7

Haber at al speculate that there were several migrations of Eurasians rom Arabia,  into Chad beginning around 7200 ya, which led to the origin of R1b-V88, a major y-Chromosome in much of Africa.. These authors wrote:

“We detected the earliest Eurasian migrations to Africa in the Laal-speaking people, an isolated language group of fewer than 800 speakers who inhabit southern Chad. We estimate that mixture occurred 4,750–7,200 ya, thus after the Neolithic transition in the Near East, a period characterized by exponential growth in human population size. Environmental changes during this period (which possibly triggered the Neolithic transition) also facilitated human migrations. The African Humid Period, for example, was a humid phase across North Africa that peaked 6,000–9,000 ya37 and biogeographically connected Africa to Eurasia, facilitating human movement across these regions.38 In Chad, we found a Y chromosome lineage (R1b-V88) that we estimate emerged during the same period 5,700–7,300 ya (Figure 3B). The closest related Y chromosome groups today are widespread in Eurasia and have been previously associated with human expansions to Europe.39, 40 We estimate that the Eurasian R1b lineages initially diverged 7,300–9,400 ya, at the time of the Neolithic expansions. However, we found that the African and Eurasian R1b lineages diverged 17,900–23,000 ya, suggesting that genetic structure was already established between the groups who expanded to Europe and Africa. R1b-V88 was previously found in Central and West Africa and was associated with a mid-Holocene migration of Afro-asiatic speakers through the central Sahara into the Lake Chad Basin.8 In the populations we examined, we found R1b in the Toubou and Sara, who speak Nilo-Saharan languages, and also in the Laal people, who speak an unclassified language. This suggests that R1b penetrated Africa independently of the Afro-asiatic language spread or passed to other groups through admixture.”

Thusly, according to Haber et al, “Chadian R1b emerged 5,700–7,300 ya, whereas most European R1b haplogroups emerged 7,300–9,400 ya. The African and Eurasian lineages coalesced 17,900–23,000 ya”. 

This statement is contradictory. How could Chadian R1b-V88 emerge 5,700 ya, and R1b-M269 emerge7,300 ya—but—“the African and Eurasian lineages coalesced 17,900–23,000 ya”.  The statement is contradictory because how could V-88 and M-269 coalesce 23,000 ya, when they did not  allegedly emerge  until 11-13,000 years after their proposed coalesce time.

In addition, to an incongruent coalesce time, there is no archaeological evidence for migration back into Africa 7,300 ya. we do see evidence of Africans migrating into the Levant. These Africans were Natufians.

By 13,000 BC, according to J.D. Clark said that the Natufians were collecting grasses which later became domesticated crops in Southwest Asia. In Palestine the Natufians established intensive grass collection. Ehret and  Wendorf,  have observed that  the Natufians used the Ibero-Maurusian tool industry and spread agriculture throughout Nubia into the Red Sea. 

   

The Natufians practiced evulsion of the incisors the same as Bantu people and inhabitants of the Saharan fringes. The modern civilizations of the Middle East were created by the Natufians. Since the Natufians came from Nubia, they can not be classified as Eurasians.

  

    Trenton W. Holliday, tested the hypothesis that if modern Africans had dispersed into the Levant from Africa, "tropically adapted hominids" would be represented  in the archaeological history of the Lavant, especially in relation to the Qafzeh-Skhul hominids. This researcher found that the Qafzeh-Skhul hominids (20,000-10,000),were assigned to the Sub-Saharan population, along with the Natufians samples (4000 BP). Holliday also found African fauna in the area.

   

Holliday confirmed his hypothesis that the replacement of the Neanderthal people were Sub-Saharan Africans. This shows that there were no Eurasian types in the Middle East between 20,000-4,000ya, when Haber et al speculated Y-chromosomes R-V88 and R-M269  coalesced .

Moreover, we clearly see the continuity between African culture from Nubia to the Levant. This view is supported by the Natufians who originated in Africa, and took the Ibero-Maurusian tools into Europe, North Africa and the Middle East. 

Holliday wrote: "The current study demonstrates African-like affinities in the body shape of the Qafzeh-Skhul hominids. This finding is consistent with craniofacial evidence (Brace 1996) and with zooarchaeological data indicating the presence of African fauna at Qafzeh (Rabinovich and Tchernov 1995; Tchernov 1988, 1992)" (p.64). The continuity in the spread of Sub-Saharan fauna, flora and physical type in the Levant between 4000-23,000 ya, means that  R1 more than likely originated in Africa,  instead of Eurasia. Haber et al (2016) is invalid and lacks archaeogenetic evidence to support their conclusions.

References:

J.D. Clark , "The origins of domestication in Ethiopia", Fifth Panafrican Congress of prehistory and quaternary Studies, Nairobi,1977

Christopher Ehret ( "On the antiquity of agriculture in Ethiopia", Jour. Of African History 20, [1979], p.161)

Trenton W. Holliday. (2000) "Evolution at the Crossroads: Modern Human Emergence in Western Asia, American Anthropologist,102(1).

F. Wendorf, The History of Nubia, Dallas,1968, pp.941-46). 

Bantu in Mozambique carry R1 M269

Rowold , Perez-Benedico , Stojkovic , Garcia-Bertrand , Herrera . On the Bantu expansion. Gene. 2016 Nov 15;593(1):48-57. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0378111916305704 , report the discovery of Southeast African Bantu carriers of R1-M269

In West and Central Africa populations exhibit extremely high frequencies (61% to 95%) of R1b1-P25, or V88.  In contrast, two of the three Southeast African Bantu populations genotyped in this study, display  polymorphic levels of M269  in Central Mozambique 9% and Maputo 1%.

Rowold et al, speculate that M269 was introduced into Southeast Africa by Arabs or Western Europeans.

R1 originated in Africa and spread into Eurasia. I specifically stated the frequency of R1 among African populations throughout my 2011 paper.

Many Sub Saharan Africans carry R1b1b2. Wood et al (2009) found that Khoisan (2.2%) and Niger-Congo (0.4%) speakers carried the R-M269 y-chromosome. The Khoisan also carry RM343 (R1b) and M 198 (R1a1) (Naidoo et al., 2010) The Gonzalez et al article  found that 10 out of 19 subjects in the study carried R1b1-P25 or M269. This is highly significant because it indicates that 53% of the R1 carriers in this study were M269, this finding is further proof of the widespread nature of this so-called Eurasian genes in Africa among populations that have not mated with Europeans.

The Whiteout of Blacks in Ancient History

The white race is not monolithic. Often white populations that recently migrated into a region are passed off in history text as the original historic population that in reality were Blacks or Negroes.

History as written today is nothing but falsehood. For example, here is a Sumerian:
 

But instead of showing Sumerians in textbooks scholars provide pictures of Gutians from Lagash:

 

 

Without the concept of race the lie being taught that the Sumerians were non-Blacks--Gutians-- will exist forever, since text book publishers only publish what they want us to believe.You can continue to follow the Eurocentrists propaganda that erases Blacks from ancient history--I would rather stick to reality.

The Gutians were Southern whites. They did not look like the Sumerians, who were Blacks.
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Gutians
'

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To understand whites you have to realize that there are a number of white populations. The European whites can be divided into at least two groups the Northern and Southern Europeans. The Northern Europeans mated with the Black Europeans, but for the most part they were able to maintain a much lighter complexion.

The Southern Euopeans were less numerous so they retain a much darker complexions than the Northern Europeans. The Nordic whites, although they may have blond hair, retain big lips and wide noses and may represent some sort of Albino origin.


The second Sub- group of whites are the Syrians, Turks and Indo-Aryan speakers. The ancestors of these whites are the Gutians. They are Mountain people that originated in the Highlands of Central Asia and Mesopotamia. First mention of these whites go back to Sumerian and Akkadian times.

The Niger-Congo speakers introduced R1a and R1b to Europe during the Kushite expansion.
The Semitic speaking Africans followed the Kushites into Europe. First mention of these Semites are in Egyptian and Sumerian documents as Puntites and Meluhites. Another Semite tribe was the Akkadians of Mesopotamia. The Ethiopian Semites spread haplogroups G, I and J to Eurasia. 

I am beginning to believe that after the Hittites defeated the Hatti and Kaska and other
peoples belonging to the Hurrian and Mitanni kingdoms, these people were uprooted and forced into Iran.The lost of Anatolia to the Hittites, probably forced these people to become nomads.

In Iran they probably formed a significant portion of the Proto-Arya population. Here they may have met Indo-Iranian speaking people,who may have practiced a hunter-gatherer existence, that adopted aspects of their culture especially the religion and use of Mitanni religious terms and chariot culture.

Joining forces with the Mitannian-Hurrian exiles they probably attacked Dravidian and Austronesian speaking people who probably lived in walled cities. The Austronesian and Dravidian people probably came in intimate contact during the Xia and Shang periods of China.

I have to reject the Afghanistan origin for the Indo-Iranian speaking people because the cultures there in ancient times show no affinity to Indo-European civilization. Given the Austronesian and Dravidian elements in Sanskrit and etc., I would have to date the expansion of the Indo-Aryan people sometime after 800 BC, across Iran, India down into Afghanistan, since the Austronesia people probably did not begin to enter India until after the fall of the Anyang Shang Dynasty sometime after 1000 BC. 

This would explain why "the Vedic and Avestan mantras are not carbon copies of each other",they may have had a similar genesis, but they were nativised by different groups of Indic and Iranian speakers after the settlement of nomadic Hurrian and Mitanni people in Iran. 

PaleoAmericans lived first at the Serra da Capivara National Park

Dr. Guidon says the first PaleoAmericans lived at Pedra Furada in Brazil.




The first Americans lived in the Serra da Capivara National Park. Dr. Guidon claims that people from Africa had established settlements at this site 100kya.




The Cerra de Capivarains probably landed on the Coast of Brazil and made their way to Serra da Capivara National Park. Sailing down the South American rivers or overland the Cerra de Capivarains made their way to Monte Verde in Chile 33kya.


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PaleoAmericans were at Arroyo del Vizcaino by 30kya.

Khoisan Introduced haplogroup R1 among the First Europeans

Myres et al argues that the neolithic European gene pool was probably influenced most, by events in Western Europe, rather than intrusive pioneer farmers from the Near East(1). They argue that R1b  lineage , phylogeographic and temperal patterns support a Central European origin for this clade and not a recent genetic heritage from Anatolia.

The archaeogenetic evidence fails to support this conclusion. The genetic, craniometric and archaeological evidence all support a Khoisan , rather than Southwest Asian or Central European origin for R1b, just like the Khoisan origin of hg N among the Aurignacians and Salutreans.

The presence of R1 among the ancient Europeans also supports their Khoisan origin . C. M Schlebusch, in her PhD Dissertation Genetic Variation in Khoisan-Speaking populations from Southern Africa , found R1b widespread among the Khoisan. She noted that the percentage of Khoisan carrying Rb1 was:

Karretjie  0.105

Khomani  0.182

Nama    0.071

Naro      0.500

Herero  0.067

Among the Herero 0.067% carried R1a1.

The Khoisan first crossed into Europe from Africa, landing in Iberia 44kya.

Can Color Terms be Used to Describe Racial Groups: "Yes".

Races exist. The terms black and white to identify a particular race  are legitimate trms to classify members of a particular race. The precise scientific definition of Black is what ever  people agree on.

In ordinary language--colloquial talk--the above also holds true. But , we must remember that in  ordinary  language  words have  meaning  only when  they are  reducible to  their  definitions  and the  class  boundaries  of these  definitions. As a result, the definition of  of a word may often fail to reflect the meaning of a particular word used colloquially .

 Consequently, precision in language is sometmes lacking –often the colloquial form has little in common with the actual definition of a particular word—yet people accept the usage of a particular word, as the valid definition of a word.

For example, in the applied linguistic course I teach, I often begin the class by asking my students the question “what does the word love mean”.

They respond with various words based on their own interpretation of the word ‘love’ especially my female students.The definitions they give for ‘love’, include, love is respect, love is understanding your mate, and etc.  After I place the words on the board I have someone read a dictionary definition of the word. This definition is: affection and sex.

My students are often surprised that their definitions have nothing to do with the actual meaning of the word ‘love’. I use this to illustrate that the word meanings we subscribe too, based on popular usage may have little validity with the dictionary meaning of words.

This illustrates that in ordinary language words have meanings different from there dictionary meanings and they are not reducible to their book definitions and the class boundaries of these definitions since people may agree on a colloquial definition not included in the book definition. This means that the definitions of words are dynamic and can not be restricted to definitions listed in a dictionary.

Granted the populations associated with the words: negro, blanco etc. are not exact descriptions of the ‘races’ they are used to represent, yet people accept them as adequate descriptors for diverse “races”. This is why based on the color lexemes associated with a particular cultural group there can be more than the three races we find associated with western culture, based on the color a group may use to identify a racial group. No matter the colors associated with diverse races---population groups use to define a racial group—the race and the color people use to describe that race are valid ‘scientific terms’ since they reflect the agreed upon definition/descriptor of a particular racial group by that particular population.

Since people say races exist—there are various races agreed upon by members of a particular society based on their world view. These races are also represented by color lexemes agreed upon by populations who have defined a particular race, by a particular color term. Racial categorizations are therefore based on a groups agreed upon descriptor for a particular population/racial group. Since the term applied to a race is accepted by members of the community that term is real, scientific and valid.

This results from the fact that science is ‘knowledge gained by observation and experimentation’. People observe that other human beings in a particular geographical region share physical features which they group as a race. This agrees with the definition of race:  “any of the major groups into which human beings are divided based on some physical features such as color of hair and skin”.

This makes any population defined by a particular “color” a legitimate racial group for that particular population.

Thusly the ancient Blacks when they came in contact with Caucasians and Mongoloid people they used color terms to describe themselves: Black, as opposed to the new population they came in contact with e.g., the term ‘white’ for Caucasians.

By the rise of the River Valley civilizations we see caucasoids in Mesopotamia/Anatolia. I have seen no iconographic evidence of whites in Africa before 1200 BC. After 1200 BC we see the Hua invading China,and the Peoples of the Sea invading Egypt and Mesopotamia.

First mention of whites is by the Sumerians who note invasions by the Gutians, who they referred to as 'wild men', coming down from the mountains into Sumer.



Gutian..Sumerian


By Akkadian times, the Mesopotamians began to call themselves sag gi ga 'black people' to differentiate between themselves and the Gutians.

The white group to appear in Mesopotamia which represents the European white type was the Hittites. The Black tribe in Mesopotamia was called Hattic-- not  Hittite.

In China, the Hua tribes came down from the mountains and began to attack the Black people. The black Chinese began to refer to themselves as 'li min'='black people'.

The textual evidence indicates to me that there were no whites in Africa. It also shows that when Blacks came in contact with non-Blacks they used terms to describe themselves as 'dark or black' in comparison to to new folk they encountered in their migrations out of Africa.

Interestingly, these non- Blacks invade the Black nations from montainous areas e.g., Gutians, Caucasus Mountains (caucasians), Huangshan mountains (Hua/Contemporary Chinese people).


The use of sag gi ga in Mesopotania, and li min in China make it clear that Blacks recognized different racial groups. They would have been familiar with albinos in Africa, so they probably would have never referred to themselves by racial terms--unless the Gutians and Hua were recognized as racially different from themselves.

Islamic Education in West Africa

ABSTRACT

In this paper the author reviews the history of Islamic education in West Africa. It explains the origin and curriculum of traditional West African Islamic educational institutions and its manifestations in contemporary Africa.


There is a long history of Islamic education in West Africa. Islamic education in West Africa is the result of both West African and Arabic educational inspiration.

According to Ivor Wilks (1968) and Charles Hunter (1977) Islamic education wads diffused to West Africa by Ibaadi clerics from North Africa. The major founder of Islamic learning in West Africa was the 12th century Shaykh, al-Hajj Salim Suware, founder of the Jakhanka clerical tradition and scholars at the University of Sankore.

The most wide spread educational tradition in West Africa, was founded by al-Hajj Salim Suware. Al-Hajj Suware encouraged learning among the Serakhulle and other Manding speaking people, and a tradition of pacifism and withdrawal from political affairs by their educators and religious leaders.



There is a long tradition of Islamic learning in West Africa. Muslim scholars traveled throughout the Muslim world in search of knowledge.

As early as the last quarter of the 10th century there was a mosque in Cairo for the people of Takrur. In Cairo the West Africans had homes in a special section of the city. (Trimingham 1962, pp.41-42)

African Muslims have a long tradition of Arabic scholarship. Many of their documents were written in Arabic, or in their own languages in the Arabic script. Dr. J. O. Hunwick (1962) has found over 400 African Muslim authors, who wrote 2000 books. But there are few inscriptions on royal tombstones or mosque in West Africa. Nor did the African Muslims mint coins .

Al-Zuhri, writing in Andalusia (Spain), in the Mid-12th century said that leading men of ancient Ghana made the pilgrimage (hajj ) to Mekka, this suggest that West Africans were also studying the zahir al-culuum branches of learning. Moreover, the Islamist Jalal al-Din al-Suyuti (d.1505) author of the Tafsir al-Quran, in his biography Tahadduth bi ni cma Allah , mentioned many of the West African shaykh (teachers/leaders) whom he taught in Cairo, Egypt.



The African cleric/teacher restricted the use of Arabic to his teaching. Often these scholars will deliver many of their lectures on advanced Islamic studies in their own native languages. Educators in West Africa are called by many names including: Afaa, Mallam, Alufa, Shaykh, al-Wali or al-Faqih. the term fudi, is employed to designate a man of learning among the Manding, Soninke and Fulbe people. Among the Jakhanke/Jakhanka clan, a student becomes a fudi when he completes al-Suyuti's Tafsir al-Quran.



ORIGINS OF ISLAMIC EDUCATION

Muslims became interested in Arabic learning so they could understand heritage, and read the Muslim holy book called the Quran. The Muslims believe that the Quran is the word of God Allah).



The Islamic sciences include the Quran, and hadith. In the Quran , surah (chapter) Yunus 3-7, we find a summary of the Islamic sciences:



"Verily, your lord is Allah, who created the heavens and the earth in six periods then he settled Himself firmly on the Throne, He governs everything. There is no intercessor with Him save after His permission. This is Allah, your Lord, so worship Him. Will you not then mind? To Him shall you all return. The promise of Allah is true. Surely, He originates the creation, then He produces it, that He may reward those, who believe, and do good works, with equity; and as for those who disbelieve, they shall have boiling water to drink and a painful punishment, because they disbelieve. He it is who made the sun radiate a brilliant light and the moon reflect a lustre, and ordained for it proper stages, that you might know the count of years and the reckoning of time. Allah has not created this system but in accordance with the requirements of truth. He details the Signs for a people who possess knowledge.

Verily, in the alternation of night and day, and in all that Allah has created in the heavens and the earth there are Signs for a God fearing people" 

These passages from the Quran, make it clear that Muslims must seek knowledge, because it helps the Muslim become closer to Allah. It was the Muslim sufi who first established the idea that a Muslim obtains a special type of grace called baraka. 

The hadith (sayings of the Prophet Muhammad) demands that a Muslim seek out knowledge. Prophet Muhammad left many sayings referring to the quest of knowledge by Muslims including the following:

"The quest of knowledge is obligatory for every 

Muslim. Verily the men of knowledge are the inheritors of the prophets.

Seek knowledge from the cradle to the grave".(Shalaby, 1954, p.62)

THE ISLAMIC SCIENCES

It is clear from the Quran and the hadith that it is the duty of the Muslim to seek al-culuum al-qliyyah (intellectual sciences). This makes the seeking of cilm (knowledge) sacred to Muslims. Conversely this meant that the awkaaf (endowments) for educational institutions and libraries was an important aspect of Islamic culture.

Given the necessity for Muslims to seek learning/knowledge in all its diverse and intellectual stimulating forms, allowed the non-Arabic speaking followers of Islam to make their traditional sciences part of the Islamic sciences upon their adoption of Islam. Study of the natural sciences was acceptable to Islamic educational traditions if they did not conflict with the teachings of Islam. This led to the scientific knowledge of sub-Saharan Africa, India , Greece , Mesopotamia , and Egypt to became absorbed into the Islamic sciences, via the educational system.

The Islamic sciences are usually referred to as al-cilm al-husuuli (acquired knowledge). In West Africa, the Islamic sciences are divided into various branches and sub-branches of learning. Whereas the Arab Islamic sciences are primarily based on Greco-Egyptian materials the West African Islamic sciences are basically of indigenous inspiration. This does not mean that the sub-Saharan African Islamic sciences have incorporated nothing into their educational curriculum from the North African system, but it should be made clear that much of the West African Islamic curriculum was of Black African origin.

The Islamic sciences are divided into two basic educational systems the ulama (ulaama) system and the madrasah systems. Under the ulama system, a student studies under an Islamic scholar at his residence. Under the madrasah (or Koranic school) system on the other hand, a group of students study in a classroom setting.

The categories for study in the Islamic system is divided into two broad categories zahir and batin studies. The zahir studies make up the Islamic science of society as a whole. The batin studies include divination, medicine and occult knowledge. (Winters 1987)

In general, because of the existence of a pre-Islamic educational system in Africa before the adoption of Islam by many West Africans we find that zahir studies follow the Arab model of education. The practical sciences on the other hand, or batin studies combine the Arab and the African sciences, or are wholly African in origin.

In the African Islamic tradition of learning, zahir studies refer to the study of the scripture and sources of Islam. The zahir curriculum includes three areas:

Tawhid (theology)

I. Science of Society fiqh (law)

Madh (laudation)/hadith



Tafsir (Quranic commentary)

nahw (grammar)

II. Logic lugha (literature)

poetics

III. Practical Sciences

arithmetic

astronomy

music

geography

Natural Sciences 

agriculture 

botany-zoology

mineralogy

geology

The batin studies deal with esoteric studies or secret knowledge based on the symbolic or mystical interpretation of the Quran. This includes knowledge about divination, mathematics, khatam (charm making) and tibb (medicine). To become a Shaykh (or very learned man) one must master both the zahir and batin learning. 

ZAHIR STUDIES

If we were to categorize the zahir curricula in West Africa we must conclude that they are founded on either 1) the Suwarian tradition of the Western Sudan, or 2) the Timbuktu tradition in the central Sudan. The zahir studies in West Africa is based on the Maliki fiqh or school of Islamic law. The Maliki school of Islamic jurisprudence, is the earliest school of law to appear in Arabia.

The Maliki fiqh was founded by Malik ibn Anas, author of the Muwatta. The Muwatta, studies in detail the deeds and sayings of the Prophet of Islam. These deeds and sayings of the Prophet Muhammad are called the Sunnah.

The usual zahir curricula of most West African schools included the study of the Quran, one or two simple prayer books; the study of fiqh through the analysis of the Risala, by Ibn Abi Zayd; and the Tafsir al-Quran, by al Suyuti. It was Touba Jakhanke, who centralized the use of the Tafsir al-Quran, in West Africa.

Another important text used in West Africa to study fiqh was the Mukhtasar. Among the Hausa speaking people of Nigeria the Mukhtasar is often considered on the same level as the Quran.

The major text for advanced study in most West African schools in West Africa is the Mudawwana, by Sahun. It is used by most West African educators, except the Jakhanke.



BATIN STUDIES

The term batin studies refers to the study of medicines, divination and the making of charms. The batin studies usually deal with the mystical importance of Arabic letters and their corresponding numbers. This type of batin study is usually called huruuf (letters).

Batin studies began with the memorization of the numerical values of the Arabic letters. After this stage the student goes on to study khatam (seal or ring).

The khatam is a series of diagrammatic magic squares. There are three types of khatam , the muthallathu or squares three by three, the murabbacu or squares four by four, and the mukhammasu squares five by five. These khatamun (plural form of the word khatam).

In the batin institution the student learns to make different types of charms. The most important batin charm is the kaba koi naso 'bottled white liquid'. This charm is composed of a bottle which contains a white liquid and six pieces of paper. On four of these slips of paper passages from the Quran are written in Arabic script. Tables of numerical calculations are written on the final two sheets of paper. The kaba koi naso was sought by people interested in obtaining political authority.

Another common batin form, was a charm called sofo by the Manding, it was written on paper and placed inside a leather pouch, or the horn of an animal. This amulet was worn around the neck, arms, waist or ankles and was suppose to bring one good luck.

THE TEACHING LICENSE

The Muslim educator must have a license to teach. The student after studying under a recognized educator earns a license to teach called the cijaza. The cijaza is also called sanad ,it documents the chain of authorities who passed on information to the student's teacher.

METHOD OF ISLAMIC LEARNING

In the African Islamic education tradition children usually learn the Quran at home and how to write the Arabic script. Their style of writing Arabic is called ajami.

The student begins his study of the Quran by constantly memorizing the first surah of the Quran, the Fatiha, for two weeks. then the student moves on to learn additional lines of the Quran. To learn the Quran each surah is recited loudly by the student.

THE JAKHANKE TEACHING TRADITION

The Jakhanke people are the Manding speaking specialized caste of Muslim clerics and educators. (Hunter 1977) The Jakhanke people belong to the Soninke people, but they prefer to be called Serakulle. The term Soninke, in West Africa is used to refer to non-Muslim people.

The Jakhanke learning was spread throughout West Africa by the transmission of the teaching tradition from master to student. The usual Jakhanke curriculum undertaken by the Jakhanke student begins with the Quran and ends with study of the Tafsir. There are a total of 28 books that must be mastered before a student can become a teacher. The student is to hand copy these books and take them back to his village where he can begin his own Karanta (school).

SANKORE/ CENTRAL SUDANIC TRADITION

The central Sudani system of teaching , popular in Nigeria was founded by the scholars at the University of Sankore in Timbuktu. Sankore was founded during the Mali Empire by Jedala scholars.

Sankore was highly regarded as a center of learning by Muslims around the world. The curriculum of Sankore consisted of 1) Faculty of Law, 2) Faculty of Medicine, surgery, pharmacology and allied subjects, 3) Faculty of Letters, 4) Faculty of Grammar, 5) Faculty of Geography and 6) Faculty of Industrial Arts. The leading scholar of the Sankore tradition was Ahmad Baba.

Information about Ahmad Baba is found in the Tarikh al-Sudan by al-Sadi. He was born in 1556, and died in 1627. Baba strictly adhered to the Maliki fiqh. Ahmad Baba is said to have written 39 books. He taught both at Timbuktu and Marrakush, Morocco. His writings were used by many militant Islamists in the 18th and 19th century to justify jihads (holy wars) in West Africa. The curriculum founded by Ahmad Baba was made up of 44 books .

In conclusion West Africans have a long history of Islamic education. This educational system is based on both Arab and West African traditions. 

The founders of the West African Islamic education system was established by scholars of Timbuktu and al-Hajj Salim Suware. These systems used in the Central Sudan and Western Sudan respectively, are still existing today (Doi 1985; Winters 1987).

This Islamic education scheme which functions outside the national education system in West African countries plays an important role in the militant Islamic movements that are causing political problems in countries like Nigeria and Senegal.





REFERENCES

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Hunwick, J.O. (1962). Ahmad Baba and the Moroccan Invasion of the Sudan. Journal of the Historical Society of Nigeria 2, 3: 328-334.

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Melanesians did not cross Beringia to introduce mtDNA D4a to Paleoamerican

In the latest article by  Pontus Skoglund, and  David Reich. (2016).A genomic view of the peopling of the Americas,  the authors  claim that the Solutrean hypothesis should be rejected because the Anzick child carried mtDNA D4, which is also carried by the Australo-Melanesians. This hypothesis is groundless because some of the  Australo-Melanesians, especially the Fijians,  claim they came from Tanzania, where , some people carry mtDNA M1, which  Gonder claims cluster with peoples from Oceania.

 Skoglund and Reich (2016), argue that the earliest Native Americans crossed the Beringa into North America, and that this Beringian population is related more to South American Indians, instead of North American Indians[i]. They argue that this population 12,600 years ago, as represented by the ‘Anzick  child of Montana was related to the  Mal’ta population. Anzick child carried  mtDNA D4h3a, and Y-chromosome Q-L54*(xM3) .

In the picture above we see in the middle a reconstruction of the first Europeans, as represented by Mal'ta man. On the left we see Naia of ancient Mexico and to the left of the first European we see Luzia, of Brazil. Luzia and Naia are aleoamericans. Anzick  child would have resembled these Blacks.

It is interesting that Anzick-1 was found in 1968. The Anzick-1 remains were returned to the Anzick family and analyzed by Sarah Anzick who discovered that the skeleton carried mtDNA D4h3a, which is also carried by Native Americans on the West Coast, of North America[ii]. Skoglund and Reich (2016) wrote:

“The most surprising finding was that the Anzick individual is from a population more closely related to Central- and South Americans than to some northern North Americans (including all speakers of Algonquian languages studied to date), despite the apparent common ancestral origin of Native Americans across the continents. This suggests that the present-day population structure of the main ancestry in Native Americans [23] dates back to more than 12,600 years ago [25], and that this diversification divided the ancestry of present-day Native Americans into two main streams, one of which includes the ancestors of present-day Northern Native Americans analyzed (‘NNA’: Cree, Ojibwa, and Algonquin), and the other of which includes the Anzick individual and present-day Central- and South American groups (‘SA’: e.g. Mixe, Quechua, and Yaghan).”

 It is surprising that given the fact that the Anzick skeleton was in the possession of Sarah Anzick who is a genomic research her that no one has questioned the results of Sarah Anzick. Since the Anzick skeleton’s DNA could have been contaminated while under the protection of the Anzick family, these results may not reflect the true ancestry of Anzick.

Skoglund and Reich (2016), argue that since the Andamanese and Australo-Melanesians carry D4h3a, this haplogroup had to have entered America via the Beringa around 12,000 BC. The presence of this haplogroup among the Australo-Melanesians is not supported by archaeological evidence.

The Fijians, for example claim they came from Tanzania. The archaeological evidence indicate that the Melanesians recently entered Melanesia from Africa. And that the Melanesian languages have an African substratum and the place-names are identical to West African placenames[iii].

The archaeological evidence indicate that the Melenesians only arrived in their present habitation areas during the Lapita cultural expansion 3-4kya. As a result, the Australo-Melanesians were not in Eurasia 12kya, as assumed by  Skoglund and Reich (2016).

Haplotypes with HVSI transitions defining 16129-16223-16249-16278-16311-16362; and 16129-16223- 16234-16249-16211-16362 have been found in Thailand and among the Han Chinese (Fucharon et al., 2001)[iv], these haplotypes were originally thought to be members of Haplogroup M1. However, on the basis of currently available FGS sequences, carriers of these markers have been found to be in the D4a branch of Haplogroup D, the most widespread branch of M1 in East Asia (Fucharon et al., 2001; Gondor et al., 2006; Yao et al., 2002)[v]. The transitions 16129, 16189, 16249 and 16311 are known to be recurrent in various branches of Haplogroup M, especially M1 and D4. Gonder et al., (2006) for example, noted that the mtDNAs of Tanzanians belonging to haplogroup M1 cluster with peoples from Oceania[vi].

Given the fact that the Melanesians recently entered the Pacific from Africa they can not be the source of the Paleoamerican population that carried mtDNA D4 to the  Anzick child. The fact that the Anzick child carrid DNA related to Mal’ta man, who lived in Europe, supports the Solutrean hypothesis for some of the Paleoamericans[vii]. Since the Solutrean culture originated in Africa and was later taken to Europe it would explain the affinity between mtDNA D4a and  the M1 carried by the Tanzanians who are the ancestors of the Fijians.

End Notes

[i]  Pontus Skoglund, David Reich. (2016).A genomic view of the peopling of the Americas, BioRxiv, retrieved July 20,2016 at: http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2016/06/15/058966

[ii]  Rasmussen, Morten; et al. (February 13, 2014). "The genome of a Late Pleistocene human from a Clovis burial site in western Montana".Nature 506: 225–229. doi:10.1038/nature13025. PMID 24522598. Retrieved March 21, 2015.

[iii] ______________African and Dravidian Origins of the Melenesians, https://www.academia.edu/10306654/AFRICAN_AND_DRAVIDIAN_ORIGINS_OF_THE_MELANESIANS

[iv] Fucharoen G, Fucharoen S, Horai S (2001). Mitochondrial DNA polymorphism in Thailand. Journal of Human Genetics 46 115-125

[v] Fucharoen G, Fucharoen S, Horai S (2001). Mitochondrial DNA polymorphism in Thailand. Journal of Human Genetics 46 115-125; Gonder MK, Mortensen HM, Reed FA, de Sousa A, Tishkoff SA (2006). Whole mtDNA Genome Sequence Analysis of Ancient African Lineages. Molecular Biology and Evolution 24(3) 757-768; and Yao YG, Kong QP, Bandelt HJ, Kivisild T, Zhang YP (2002). Phylogeographic differentiation of mitochondrial DNA in Han chinese. The American Journal of Human Genetics 70 635-651.

[vi] Gonder MK, Mortensen HM, Reed FA, de Sousa A, Tishkoff SA (2006). Whole mtDNA Genome Sequence Analysis of Ancient African Lineages. Molecular Biology and Evolution 24(3) 757-768.

[vii] Winters,C. (2015). THE PALEOAMERICANS CAME FROM AFRICA,jirr.htm2015 Vol. 3 (3) July-September, pp.71-83/Winter. https://www.academia.edu/17137182/THE_PALEOAMERICANS_CAME_FROM_AFRICA