[1] The Tarikh al-Sudan relates that his father was Za Yasoboy, and as a son of a subordinate ruler of the Mali Empire he had to serve the Mansa.
Paolo de Moraes-Farias, citing contemporary epigraphic evidence and the existence of a giant of the same name in Tuareg mythology, argues that this founder, and likely his successor as well, were invented by the chroniclers.
[5] The word may have a Malinke origin meaning "a subordinate or confidant of the ruler", referring to their status as vassals of the Mali Empire.
[6] Dierk Lange disputes both the idea that the Sonni descended from the Za and that they were vassals of Mali, rather linking them with the Zaghe kings commemorated in the funeral stelae found at Gao-Saney.
He theorizes that the Zaghe, followers of Sunni Islam, became known as such, and were the Za's rivals for the throne of Gao until finally defeating them in the early 15th century.