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- Permanent Link:
- http://digital.soas.ac.uk/LSMD000092/00001
Notes
- Abstract:
- The first item of this MS is the famous Utendi wa Abdurahmani na Sufiani, however incomplete as it misses the beginning and the end. For a more complete description of this poem see Mss 255733a (Hichens). The poem narrates of the legend of Sultan Sufiani and Abdurahman, the son of Abu Bakr, two historical characters who lived in Mecca at the time of the Prophet and who became Muslims at that time. The second item is an uncomplete version of the story of ‘Ndiwa na Kozi’ (hawk and dove) that narrates the story of the Prophet Moses and his encounter with the angels Michael and Jibril, the latters metaphorically embodied by a hawk and a dove. Although, it is referred as an hadithi, this is a poem in the Utendi form. This same story entitled ‘Hadithi ya Ndiwa na Kozi’ can be found in MS 53497e (Hichens). According to Abou Egl (unpubl. 1983), this story was originally translated from the Arabic by Kijumwa who gave it to Hichens in 1933. The same poem was also given to E Dammann who published it in 1938. The third item is long untitled Utendi that narrates the story of Shimtw bin Khatwab, an Arab, who went to the Prophet in order to be islamised, however on the way he encounters many adventures. This story is an Islamic legend. This is followed by the poem, Dura-li-Mandhuma, which is a religious admonition and prayer composed in an acrostic style. Its title is a Swahili form of the Arabic words ‘ad-duraru al-mandhum,’ meaning ‘strung pearls.’ The acrostic style works as follows. In the first verse, each of the first three vipande begins with the same letter of the Arabic alphabet (alif); in the second verse, each of the first three vipande begins with the next letter (bei), and so forth. After Dura-li-Mandhuma, there are 17 of the Prophet’s saying, hadhit. And afterwards, there is a waadhi, religious poem, also written in an acrostic style of using each letter of the Arabic alphabet in each verse. The manuscript ends with fragment of the famous poems ‘Wajiwaji’ and ‘Utendi wa Miqdadi na Mayasa’ ( en )
- General Note:
- Biographical information: Harries (1962) writes that Sayyid ‘Umar bin ‘Umar bin Amin bin Nadhir al-Ahdal was kadhi of Siu around A.D. 1856. He also wrote the poem ‘Wajiwaji.’ -- The poet was a member of the al-Buhry family, a well-known family in Tanga. His father, grandfather and great-grandfather were poets, and his grandfather was the Mazrui governor of Mtang’ata. The published works of Hemed Abdallah Said al-Buhry include the History of Africa that appeared in 1952 as a supplement to Tanzania Notes and Records, in a translation by E.C. Baker, a work that was said (by the author’s son) to have been written at the request of German officials. His published poems are Utenzi wa Seyyidna Huseni bin Ali; Utenzi wa Kutawafu Kwa Nabii; Utenzi wa Kadhi Kassim bin Jaafar; Utendi wa Qiyama; Utenzi wa Vita vya Wadachi Kutamalaki Mrima; and Utenzi wa Abdirrahmani na Sifiyani.
- General Note:
- Date of Composition: 1954 AD1373
- General Note:
- Languages: Swahili (Arabic script)
- General Note:
- Dialects: Northern
- General Note:
- Poetic Form: Utenzi
- General Note:
- Extent: 63 leaves
- General Note:
- Incipit: Muru bunu Ajlani-asanbiye nawe yuwani ungiziye kasrani-mkewe tumwa nabiya
- General Note:
- Donated to SOAS in 1982
- General Note:
- For Dura-li-Mandhuma see also SOAS University of London manuscript Mss 53500, 210008, 210007, 210006 (Hichens); for Utenzi wa Abdurahmani na Sufiani see Mss 255733a and 53497 (Hichens); for Miqdadi na Mayasa see MS PP MS 42, S/23-S/27 (Whiteley paper) and MS 255733b (Knappert); and, for Wajiwaji see Mss 380554b (Knappert), 53496c (Hichens), 279888, Vol 5-MS 329 and Vol.6-MS 341 (Allen)
- General Note:
- Other copy: SOAS University of London microfilm: M1008, reel 14
- General Note:
- VIAF (name authority) : Buhriy, Hemedi bin Abdallah : URI http://viaf.org/viaf/149191397
- General Note:
- Asia -- Arabian Peninsula -- Saudi Arabia -- Makkah Region -- Mecca
- General Note:
- Publication information: Harries, Lyndon. 1962. Swahili Poetry. Oxford: Clarendon Press; pp. 118-127.Hemed Abdallah Said al-Buhry. 1961. Utenzi wa Abdirrahmani na Sufiyani. Trans by Roland Allen, with notes by JWT Allen. Nairobi: EALB.
- General Note:
- Publication information: Knappert, Jan. 1967. Traditional Swahili Poetry. Brill, Leiden.
- General Note:
- Publication information: Knappert, Jan. 1979. Four Centuries of Swahili Verse. London: Heinemann, pp. 210-217.
- General Note:
- Publication information: Knappert, Jan. 1999. A Survey of Swahili Islamic Epic Sagas. Lewiston, New York; Queenston, Ontario; Lampeter, Wales: Edwin Mellen Press; pp. 32-33.
- General Note:
- Publication information: Knappert, Jan. 1971. Swahili Islamic Poetry. Brill, Leiden.
- General Note:
- Publication information: Dammann, Ernest. 1940. Dichtungen in der Lamu Mundart des Suaheli. Hamburg, de Gruyter.
- General Note:
- Publication information: Dammann, Ernest. 1938. Eine Suaheli Dichtung Uber Moses den Habicht und die Taube. Z.E.S., 26, pp.1-14.
- General Note:
- Publication information: Abou Egl, Mohammad. 1983. The LIfe and Works of Muhamadi Kijumwa. PhD thesis, SOAS-University of London, pp 171-175
- General Note:
- Publication information: Knappert, Jan (ed). 1964. Utenzi wa Mikidadi bin Alasuadi na Mayasa Mkewe (Mombasa version), ed by Jan Knappert. Kiswahili 34 (1): 120-29.
- General Note:
- Publication information: Werner, Alice. 1932. The story of Miqdad and Mayasa: from the Swahili-Arabic text . Medstead, Hampshire: Azania Press.
- General Note:
- Publication information: Shariff, Ibrahim Noor. 1988. Tungo Zetu. Trenton, New Jersey: Red Sea Press., pp. 56-57. (Wajiwaji)
Record Information
- Source Institution:
- SOAS University of London
- Holding Location:
- Archives and Special Collections
- Rights Management:
- This item may be in the public domain. Its status has yet to be assessed.
- Resource Identifier:
- MS 279888-Vol.9 ( SOAS manuscript number )
MS 395 ( SOAS manuscript number )
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