On Hausa Magic

I read this story from Abduljalil Ismail Ajis, who got it from Ismail Auwal, who also got it from Sada Malumfashi's page.

A PERFORMANCE OF TWO

A story is told of an event in 1988 at Bayero University Kano, where Ahmad Tahar Adamu, known as Baba Impossible, and Aliyu Muhammad Bunza engaged in an intense debate showcasing Hausa magic. This event was part of the activities for the Hausa week at the Department of Nigerian Languages and Linguistics. The packed hall for this demonstration had in attendance the former governor of Kano state during Nigeria’s second republic (1979–1983), Alhaji Abubakar Rimi. On one hand, there was Baba Impossible, a supporter of Hausa magic, and on the other, Bunza, a Sunni Muslim determined to debunk Hausa magical practices as nothing but trickery and deception.

Bunza believes these magical practices involve misdirection that create an illusion and provide the audience with something else they can focus on. Throughout the demonstration, Baba Impossible displays his Hausa magical prowess to the cheering crowd, while Bunza debunks and demystifies them as nothing more than trickery that anyone can master with practise. Bunza believes that Hausa indigenous magic and medicine use various levels of misdirection to deceive their patronizers; he considers the practice an innovation, heresy, on Islam—a bidi’a. In contrast, Baba Impossible sees Hausa magic as an extension of religion, where faith and culture intertwine; he draws the power of the Hausa indigenous magic system from his own Islamic faith. 

Baba Impossible will perform feats like pulling ten nails from his nostrils, killing a bird only to revive it later, and conjuring a coin from an unsuspecting audience member. Each time, Bunza will unravel the secrets behind these tricks. The process repeats over and over to the delight of the crowd. Soon, Bunza is winning the debate on how Hausa magical systems do not differ from any illusion or magical trick all over the world. He insists that the indigenous Hausa medicine and magic system is nothing but trickery—until Baba Impossible decides to unveil his final act.

THE FINAL ACT

The tale continues as such: For his final act, Baba Impossible requests that ten empty glass bottles of soft drinks be arranged on the stage of the hall at Bayero University Kano. Even his adversary, Bunza, is confused about what this magic trick will entail. Silence settles over the hall as curiosity hangs in the air, with breaths held in anticipation. Baba Impossible, satisfied with the arrangement of the bottles, turns to face the audience, talking directly to Governor Abubakar Rimi and his professors seated at the high table. For his final act, he announces, he will pace from one end of the arranged bottles to the other ten times.  On the tenth trip, he warns, anyone remaining in the hall will die. Bunza chuckles at the hilarity of the act and dares him to begin.  There is uneasy tension in the audience. 

Baba Impossible takes the first trip, a second trip, and a third. Some students at the back start trickling out of the hall. By the eighth trip, there are loud murmurs and visible anxiety in the audience. People continue to troop out while others stand by the doors and windows. After completing the ninth trip, as he embarks on the tenth, there is pandemonium in the hall as everyone dashes for the exits. There is no one on the high table either; even the former governor fears for his life.  As he takes to his heels, Baba Impossible’s professor orders him to stop. 

Baba Impossible obliges. He stops in the middle of the tenth and final trip, alone in an empty hall. The debate and demonstrations are over. Baba Impossible mutters, ‘Show me who does not believe in our indigenous Hausa magic again?"