Dantala/Ahmad

Dantala/Ahmad is the central protagonist and narrator of Born on a Tuesday. His birth name, Dantala, means “Born on a Tuesday” in his mother tongue, Hausa. Upon arriving at the mosque and being taken under Sheikh’s wings, Dantala is given the name, Ahmad, which Malam Abdul-Nur sees as more appropriately Muslim. Dantala is from the town of Dogon Icce, where his mother lives and, throughout the course of the book, dies.

Dantala is portrayed as an intelligent and questioning narrator. At a very young age he is able to read both Arabic and Hausa, a fact that in one scene impresses a bus driver. Dantala's intelligence and intellectual avidity is further demonstrated through the fact that he reads every book written in Hausa and Arabic in Sheikh’s library. Throughout the novel, Dantala strives to learn English as well. He loves learning new words and...