Hummay (Hummay bin ʿAbd al-Jalīl), also referred to as Umme, Houmé or Hume, was the '' mai'' of the

Kanem–Bornu Empire The Kanem–Bornu Empire was an empire based around Lake Chad that once ruled areas which are now part of Nigeria, Niger, Cameroon, Libya, Algeria, Sudan, and Chad. The empire was sustained by the prosperous trans-Saharan trade and was one of the ...

in 1085–1097.

Life

Hummay is considered to be the founder of a new dynastic line in Kanem, the Sayfawa dynasty. Although he was of Kanembu origin, Hummay and his dynasty claimed descent from a

Yemeni Yemen, officially the Republic of Yemen, is a country in West Asia. Located in southern Arabia, it borders Saudi Arabia to the north, Oman to the northeast, the south-eastern part of the Arabian Sea to the east, the Gulf of Aden to the south ...

noble named Saif ibn Dhi Yazan. other African dynasties of this time sometimes made similar claims to Arab origin as a source of prestige. Despite being seen as establishing a new dynasty, later sources indicate that Hummay was the son of his predecessor, Abd al-Jalil I and Abd al-Jalil's consort Tigiram. The "dynastic shift" has sometimes been attributed to religion, with Hummay perhaps being the empire's first Muslim ruler. This is incorrect, however, since both Abd al-Jalil and Abd al-Jalil's predecessor Hu were Muslim. The spread of Islam during Hummay's reign apparently provoked some dissension in the empire, which caused the

Toubou people The Toubou or Tubu (from Old Tebu, meaning "rock people") are an ethnic group native to the Tibesti Mountains that inhabit the central Sahara in northern Chad, southern Libya, northeastern Niger, and northwestern Sudan. They live either as her ...

to break from imperial rule and move east. Hummay's consort was named Kinta and was of Toubou origin. Hummay is said to have performed the

Hajj Hajj (; ; also spelled Hadj, Haj or Haji) is an annual Islamic pilgrimage to Mecca, Saudi Arabia, the holiest city for Muslims. Hajj is a mandatory religious duty for capable Muslims that must be carried out at least once in their lifetim ...

twice. He died in Egypt during his third voyage, while accompanied by his son and successor Dunama I Umemi.

References

Rulers of the Kanem Empire 11th-century monarchs in Africa {{Africa-royal-stub