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- Permanent Link:
- https://digital.soas.ac.uk/LOAA000079/00002
Notes
- Scope and Content:
- This copy of Al-Inkishafi was collected by Hichens in the 1930s. The collector refers to it as an original copy, but this cannot be certain. It is certainly a beautiful and well-preserved manuscript of the famous poem written by Sayyd Abdalla bin Nassir. The pages of the poem in Arabic script are inserted in an outsized hard paper so as to protect this very old copy. The collector has used the blank spaces on the side for his notes on the poem, unfortunately unreadable. This arabic script copy has transliteration and notes in MS 253029.
- General Note:
- Incipit: Bismillahi naiqadimu, Hali ya kutunga hino nudhumu, na Ar-Rahmani kiirasimu basi Ar-Rahimi nyuma ikaye
- General Note:
- Mistari ya kwanza ya hati: Bismillahi naiqadimu, Hali ya kutunga hino nudhumu, na Ar-Rahmani kiirasimu basi Ar-Rahimi nyuma ikaye
- General Note:
- Abdallah ibn ʻAlī ibn Nāṣir = Sayyid Abdallah Ali bin Nasir
- General Note:
- Manuscript dates from circa 1930 A.D. (Gregorian calendar) = circa 1349 A.H. (Hijri calendar)
- General Note:
- Composition dates from circa 1820 A.D. (Gregorian calendar) = circa 1235 A.H. (Hijri calendar). This manuscript is dated to 1967 (1387 A.H.)
- General Note:
- Handwritten manuscript, in blue ink, on ruled paper
- General Note:
- Swahili text inscribed in Arabic script
- General Note:
- Relevant Dialect: Kiamu
- General Note:
- Biographical history: The author of the famous poem Al-Inkishafi is generally agreed to have been Sayyid Abdalla bin Sayyid Ali bin Nasir.His father, Ali bin Nasir, was the great grandson of Sheikh Abubakar bin Salim, mentioned in a version of the Pate Chronicle as a Sharif (descendant of the Prophet) from Arabia. Sayyid Abdalla lived and composed his poetry in Pate during the 19th century.
- Original Version:
- Physical characteristics: original arabic scripts, inserted in an outsized hard white paper
- Bibliography:
- Relevant publications: Sayyid Abdallah A. Nasir. 1972 (1939). Al-Inkishafi: The Soul's Awakening. Trans. and ed. by William Hichens. Nairobi: Oxford University Press. Sayyid Abdallah A. Nasir. 1977. Al-Inkishafi: Catechism of a Soul. Trans. and ed. by J. de Vere Allen. Nairobi: East African Literature Bureau. Hichens, W. 1939. Al-Inkishafi. London: Sheldon Press Allen R. 1946. Inkishafi-A Traslation from the Swahili. African Studies, 5, pp.243-249 Harris, L. 1962. Swahili Poetry. Clarendon Press: Oxford, pp.86-102 Mlamali, Mh. Wa. 1980. Ikisiri ya Inkishafi. Nairobi: Longman Hamza Mustafa Njozi. 1998. The use of Ambiguity in Al-Inkishafi. Afrika und Ubersee, band 81, pp. 227-238.
- General Note:
- See also SOAS manuscripts MS 380548a, MS 256191, MS 253029, MS 196884d
- Funding:
- Digitised with funding from the Leverhulme Trust.
- General Note:
- VIAF (name authority) : Abdallah ibn ʻAlī ibn Nāṣir : URI http://viaf.org/viaf/91224532
- General Note:
- Abdallah ibn ʻAlī ibn Nāṣir is also known as Sayyid Abdallah Ali bin Nasir
- General Note:
- This manuscript of Al-Inkishafi contains 77 stanzas. In a note following the poem, the scribe incorrectly identifies Omari bin Amin as its author. In fact, Omari bin Amin composed the poem known as Wajiwaji, which is similar in form to Al-Inkishafi. The date of composition provided by the scribe is also apparently erroneous.
Record Information
- Source Institution:
- SOAS, University of London
- Holding Location:
- Archives and Special Collections
- Rights Management:
- This item is in the public domain. Please use in accord with Creative Commons license: Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike (CC BY-NC-SA). High resolution digital master available from SOAS, University of London - the Digital Library Project Office.
- Resource Identifier:
- MS 47770 ( soas manuscript number )
MS 380548a ( soas manuscript number )
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