Africa and the Sahel in the twelfth century AD.

In the fourteenth century AD, the traveler Ibn Battuta visited West Sudan and documented important information about these regions in his book "Tuhfat al-Nuzzar fi Ghara'ib al-Amsar wa 'Aja'ib al-Asfar" (A Gift to Those Who Contemplate the Wonders of Cities and the Marvels of Traveling). This book is considered one of the most important sources that spoke about the history of the Mali Empire. Ibn Battuta referred to a type of dramatic poetry and dance at the court of the Sultan of Mali, who was interested in poetry and invited poets to his council.

Al-Hasan ibn Muhammad al-Wazzan (d. 1552 AD) also spoke about the West African kingdoms, especially the Songhai Empire, in his book "Description of Africa," which he wrote in Rome during his captivity under the name "Leo Africanus."

c) Literature in West Africa: The poetry of West African poets is predominantly religious, especially Sufi in orientation and praise of the Prophet (peace be upon him). A poet in this field is called a "servant of the Messenger." Some poets also became righteous saints and have shrines. Some poets also composed love poems that they wove in the traditional Arabic style.

Due to the similarity of the environment in the Sahel and the Arab countries, and familiarity with pre-Islamic Arabic poetry collections, West African poetry was influenced by ancient Arabic poetry in themes that were predominantly religious and resistance to European colonialism. However, most of what they produced in poetry was a imitation of Arabic poetry. They also composed educational poems in a simple language close to the common tongue, and Sheikh Abdullah ibn Fodio is considered a pioneer in this field.

African Arabic poetry, which dealt with social and national issues, does not differ from Arabic poetry in that it addressed the same poetic purposes: praise, Sufism, elegy, love poetry, description, and didactic poetry.

d) Literature in Nigeria: Nigeria was a region comprising several kingdoms and states; its peoples differed from each other in customs and traditions, and it was called by the Arabs the land of Sudan or the land of