[2]: 359 The spark for the revolt arose due to the depredations of the Kabara-farma ‘Alū, a royal eunuch slave who managed the administration of Kabara, the port of Timbuktu.
When he imprisoned and whipped a slave of the Balma’a (military commander of Kabara) Muḥammad al-Ṣādiq b. Dāwūd, the prince personally confronted the royal official, stabbed him to death, and tossed his body into the street.
[1] Still, Balma’a Muḥammad marched on the capital, Gao, with nearly the entire western half of the empire arrayed behind him.
Muhammad Bani assembled an army of 30,000 and awaited their arrival, but the overweight Askia died of heatstroke, or perhaps an epileptic fit, on April 9th 1588, before the battle was joined.
[2]: 360 After discovering the body, eunuch courtiers conspired to have Benga-farma Maḥmūd b. Ismail named as Askia.