Bojang VS Fye: Court Transcript (1927)
Muhammad Bojang VS. Isatou Fye
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Muhammad Bojang VS. Isatou Fye
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Muhammad Bojang VS. Isatou Fye
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On June 6, 1927, Muhammad Bojang appeared before the qadi of Bathurst to enter a claim against his wife Isotou Fye. He took oath that Isatou was "mischievous" and "uncooperative." In his testimony, he narrated:
One Sunday, when we were living at the village of Sutukung, Lower River Region, I quarreled with my wife and she went to tell her parents and the Imam. They asked her to be patient but she refused to be cooperative. One evening she went out. I came home and found a cloth with sperm on it. I asked her if that was not her cloth but she told me not to ask her. The following morning, I greeted her but she did not respond. Then she went away. After some time, I went to one Abdou Manneh and gave him fish money to give to my wife’s grandmother. On my way back, I met up with her. We exchanged insults; I pulled her hair and beat her. Then people came to separate us.
When asked to testify, Isatou in her defense took the oath and stated:
I did not refuse to sleep with him. When we were at Sutukung [village], we used to quarrel. Once we quarreled and he beat me, took a knife and hurt me on my left eye. I was admitted at the hospital. When the Commissioner of the region heard the news of the incident, he gave £3 to me but said he could not adjudicate our problem because of our previous fight in 1926. After that I went to stay with one Bakary Sey but my mother asked me to go back to my husband. When I returned, that night he beat me again and bruised my face. In the morning, I went back to the Commissioner and he asked us to come to Banjul to the qadi. We took a boat from Bambali with one Muhammad Mboge, came to Tankular and to Banjul. In Banjul, we had a fight and I went to see Mamadi Njie and Samba Joof so they could resolve our difference. My husband brought along the sperm-stained cloth. Mamadi and Samba asked me whether the cloth belong to me or not. I explained everything to them. They asked us to reconcile but I told them that I am afraid to live with him. In the morning, other people asked me to return but I maintained that I am afraid to return.
When the qadi had heard the disputants, he asked the wife to forgive the husband for the beatings and accusations but ordered divorce.
The Gambian National Archive
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Creator: Bathurst (Banjul) Qadi Court
Contributing Institutions: The Gambian National Archive; Bala Saho; Walter Hawthorne; Matrix: The Center for Digital Humanities and Social Sciences at Michigan State University
Description: On June 6, 1927, Muhammad Bojang appeared before the qadi of Bathurst to enter a claim against his wife, Isatou Fye. He took oath that Isatou was "mischievous" and "uncooperative."
Date: June 2, 1927
Date Range: 1920-1929
Location: Banjul (Bathurst), Banjul, The Gambia
Format: Text/jpeg
Language: Arabic
Rights Management: For research and educational use only.
Digitizer: The Gambian National Archive
Archive: The Gambian National Archive
Source: Muhammade Bojang VS Isatou Fye: Bathurst Qadi Court Transcript Year Book, 1927; Proceedings: pp. 414/417