الدر المنظومة
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Material Information

Title:
الدر المنظومة
Series Title:
Hichens Collection :
Alternate title:
Dura li mandhuma (MS 53500a)
Creator:
Ahdal, 'Umar bin Amin bin Nadhir Sayyid 'Umar bin Amin bin Nadhir al-Ahdal ( Author, Primary )
Kijuma, Muhammad ( contributor )
اهدل، عمر بن امين نظير الاهدل
Publication Date:
Language:
Swahili
Physical Description:
2 f.
Materials:
Paper ( medium )
Technique:
Handwritten manuscript : Written in black and red ink on two pages mounted on cardboard, with a brown and pink binding; paper is slightly damaged

Subjects

Subjects / Keywords:
Swahili poetry ( LCSH )
Islam ( LCSH )
Religious belief
Religious practice
Imani za kidini
Uislamu
Kiswahili mashairi
Faith ( LCSH )
Mazoezi ya kidini
Islam -- Customs and practices ( LCSH )
Genre:
Poem
Utenzi
Poetry ( LCTGM )
Spatial Coverage:
Africa -- Eastern Africa -- Swahili Coast
Coordinates:
-9.633997 x 39.778998

Notes

Abstract:
This poem 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.’ This manuscript, scribed by Muhammad Kijumwa, appears to be the one used by Harries for his publication (1962) of the poem. The verses for ‘twei’ and ‘thwei’ were evidently forgotten in the first instance, and then inserted in much smaller writing. As with most material in Arabic script, the reader must be prepared to adjust a direct transliteration to correspond to the Swahili context. Thus, for example, the word in the second kipande of verse 12 that would be directly transliterated as ‘kira’ should be rendered as ‘kenda’ or ‘kwenda.’ With this in mind, the cataloguers would suggest a transliteration that differs on some lexical points from that of Harries (1962). In their reading, ‘kutufata’ in the first kipande of verse 11 becomes ‘kutungata’; ‘yatamshibu’ in the second kipande of verse 13 becomes ‘yatamsibu’; ‘hari mteu’ in the last vipande of verse 14 becomes ‘huenda mteu’; ‘udharawu’ in the second kipande of verse 15 becomes ‘ukasahau’; and ‘wa hapa’ in the first kipande of verse 17 becomes ‘huwamba.’ In verse 26, the third vipande becomes ‘wulati amri yake’ -- instead of ‘wake,’ which would seem to replicate an error made by Kijumwa in scribing. ( 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’
General Note:
Date of Composition is unknown
General Note:
Languages: Swahili (Arabic script)
General Note:
Dialects: KiAmu
General Note:
Poetic Form: Utenzi
General Note:
Extent: 2 pages
General Note:
Incipit: Andika mwandishi khati utuze, isimu ya Mola utangulize
General Note:
Incipit: ادك مديش خط اتوز اسم يمل اتغليز
General Note:
Archival history: Abou Egl (1983) quotes Alice Werner, who wrote that the poem Dura li-mandhuma ‘was copied for me in 1912 by Kijuma of Lamu.’ Abou Egl identifies the present manuscript as the one to which Werner refers
General Note:
VIAF (name authority) : Kijuma, Muhammad : URI http://viaf.org/viaf/43775563
General Note:
Africa -- Eastern Africa -- Swahili Coast
General Note:
Purchased from Kegan Paul, 6 October 1948
General Note:
Scribe: Kijuma, Muhammad
General Note:
Publication information: Harries, Lyndon. 1962. Swahili Poetry. Oxford: Clarendon Press; pp. 118-127
General Note:
Copies in Latin script at SOAS: MS 53496; MS 210006; MS 210007; and MS 210008
General Note:
A religious poem in Swahili in the original script
General Note:
Neat Swahili (Arabic script) hand

Record Information

Source Institution:
SOAS University of London
Holding Location:
Archives and Special Collections
Rights Management:
This item is believed to be in the public domain
Resource Identifier:
MS 53500 ( SOAS manuscript number )
MS 53500a ( SOAS manuscript number )