An Epic of Old Mali

In the actual written report of Sundiata which follows the Preface in which those words appear, however, there is minimal lengthiness to the Prophet or Islam as sources of eldritch sustenance with lever to Sundiata himself. This is certainly due in part as swell to the nature of the griot's function in the African oral tradition. The composition of Sundiata is told, after all, by such a griot, who was far to a greater extent attached to the traditional African religious perspective than to Islam. As Niane writes,

. . . In ancient Africa, . . . 'griots' were the counsellors of kings, they conserved the constitutions of kingdoms by memory lam alone; each princely family had its griot appointed to preserve tradition. . . . In the very hierarchical society of African earlier colonization, where everyone put together his place, the griot appears as one of the most important of this society, because it is he who, for penury of archives, records the customs, traditions and governmental principles of kings (Niane vii).

This tradition, with its roots in ancient African religions, stands in stark contrast to the Islamic perspective and its reliance on the written text of Muhammad. Sundiata's story, again, can be seen as a bridge between the traditional African religion and the increment of Islam, so that his life and era bring together variant threads from both of these disparate religious perspectiv

At the same time, it is clear that Islam had established itself in the land and in the hearts of leaders in the Sudan forward Sundiata's arrival. Niane writes of the pilgrimage to Mecca of Lahilatoul Kalabi. Attacked by robbers on his return, Kalabi was saved by "God," heart and soul Allah, the God of Islam, because of Kalabi's righteousness. Kalabi "called upon the Almighty and jinn appeared and recognized him as king." Kalabi "was able to return, by the grace of Allah the Almighty" (Niane 2).

Traditions are explicit that the kings of Mali had been Muslims before Sundiata. . . . all the same the traditional biography of Sundiata contains hardly any elements of Islam; rather it emphasizes the role of Sundiata as the great magician.

Though Sundiata came from a dynasty which had already real Islam, at least nominally, in the critical hour of history when he had to mobilise the national resources of the Maninke he turned to the traditional religion for support, to the particularist spirit of the nation rather than to the universalistic put forward of Islam (Ajayi & Crowder 154-155).

July, Robert W. A History of the African People. Prospect Heights, Illinois: Waveland, 1992.

Whatever Sundiata's spiritual tendencies (toward Islam or traditional African religion and its emphasis on magic and necromancy), the necessities of his time were to force him to choose the latter. This is due to the fact that other powerful leaders of his time were themselves great sorcerers. Soumaoro Kante, for example, "was a great sorcerer. His fetishes had a terrible power and it was because of them that all kings trembled before him" (Niane 38). For Sundiata to secure his own kingdom and win emerge disdainful from encounters with those other leaders, he had to build a reputation establish on such magic. He had to speak the religious delivery of the people, which was rooted firmly in traditional African beliefs. In other words, he had to fight fire with fire, or sorcery with sorcery.

In another passag
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