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- Permanent Link:
- http://digital.soas.ac.uk/LSMD000335/00001
Notes
- Abstract:
- The poem agrees in most respects with the version published by Knappert (1964). A long preface on religious subjects introduces the narration concerning Muh’dar and Seyyidnaa Aly, which begins in stanza 177. Muh’dar arrives in Mecca ten days after Mohammed’s death, and so he must put his questions to Ali bin Abi Talibi, who answers them all. Then follows the story in which Satan tells Mohammed about the kinds of people he dislikes and likes (stanza 553); then a section on religious duties (stanza 592); and finally (stanza 666) another section on the same, in which Abu Bakr relates instructions from Mohammed. The questions put to Ali are: 1. What man had no mOther and no father? (stanza 223) 2. What woman had no mOther and no father? (226) 3. Who had only one parent, no father? (230) 4. What messenger was neither human nor angel, neither an animal of the jungle nor of the sea? (232) 5. Who was the man whose grave came to him? (259) 6. What creature warned its companions and made them fearful? (290) 7. What ate neither meat nor water but only living things -- and ate but one time? (298) 8. What land did the sun shine upon only once? (333) 9. Who conceived and gave birth in three hours? (389) 10. What mountain gave birth? (464) 11. What two things never move? (503) 12. What two things are always moving? (508) 13. What two entities have extraordinary love for one another? (512) 14. What two can never love one another? (519) 15. What are the traits of a good and a bad person? (522) 16. What thing is the most attractive? (526) 17. What thing is so ugly that one cannot bear to look at it? (528) 18. What part of the body is the first to be created in the womb? (531) 19. What does not rot in the grave? (534) The Qur’anic aya after stanza 498 is 7: 74 instead of the more relevant 7: 73. There is some erroneous repetition between stanzas 402 and 412. The poet identifies himself by the Arabic letters alif, mim and nun (stanza 767), writes that he belongs to the Mahadali tribe (770) and gives the date of composition as 1310 AH. Whether this information describes the inception of the poem or simply one rendering on paper is questionable. ( en )
- General Note:
- Biographical information: The scribe may have resided in Lamu, as suggested at the end of the manuscript
- General Note:
- Date of Composition is unknown
- General Note:
- Languages: Swahili (Roman script)
- General Note:
- Poetic Form: Utenzi
- General Note:
- Extent: 57 leaves (776 stanzas)
- General Note:
- Incipit: Karatasi kwa juhudi, Tashiya ya Bughdadi, Na wino wa aswadi, Utokao Misriyya
- General Note:
- Asia -- Arabian Peninsula -- Saudi Arabia -- Al Madinah -- Medina
- General Note:
- Purchased from Dr. J. Knappert, March 1993
- General Note:
- Scribe: Maryam Binti Yusuff bin Abubakar el-Makhzumiya
- General Note:
- Publication information: Knappert, Jan. 1964. Four Swahili Epics. Leiden, pp. 7-8 and 106-156.
- 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. 123-126
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 380538 ( SOAS manuscript number )
MS 380538a ( SOAS manuscript number )
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