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- Permanent Link:
- http://digital.soas.ac.uk/LSMD000392/00001
Notes
- Abstract:
- The last section of MS 45022 contains a short poem (utenzi) about the legend of the prophet Moses who was put to test by an hawk and a dove that were, in fact, the angels Michale and Jibrail. The poem contains 37 stanzas, with one line in each stanza. The story begins when Moses is sitting under the shade an Ndiwa, dove, approaches him to look for refuge as it is escaping from a Kozi, hawk. The Ndiwa hides under Moses’s legs when the Kozi reaches them too. The Kozi asks Moses why is hiding his risiki (subsistence) that is the Ndiwa. The story deploys metaphorical meanings about life. The characters are caught in a dilemma about their food and livelihood, risiki, that has been allocated to them by God. However, this contains a contradiction in the sense that the Nidwa is the food of the Kozi, but he wishes to escape from this affliction and look for protection under Musa. However, from the point of view of the Kozi, the Ndiwa is his risiki allocated by God. Moses has to solve this dilemma. The story continues with Moses trying to accommodate the needs of both birds, but without much success, as their needs are in such contradictions that are impossible to resolve. Moses even suggests the Kozi to eat a part of his body instead of the Ndiwa. At the end, the Ndiwa and the Kozi reveal themselves as the angels Jibril and Mikail who tested Moses’s actions in a difficult situation. The author, named Muhammed (without further indication of his identity that make us assume that he could be Muhammed Kijumwa), says that to keep this poem in the household will bring reward from God in life and afterlife. The reading of this poem is very difficult because of some unclear lexicon as well as unclear scribing. ( en )
- General Note:
- Biographical information: Muhammad Kijumwa was born circa 1855 in Lamu. He was a poet, scribe, peformer calligrapher, carpenter, tailor and sculptor who taught his son, Helewa, the craft of decorative woodcarving. He assisted many Eurpoean scholars of Swahili literature, including William Taylor, Alice Werner, Carl Meinhof, H.E. Lambert, William Hichens, Ernst Dammann and John Williamson, and was a well-known character in Lamu
- General Note:
- Date of Composition is unknown
- General Note:
- Languages: Swahili (Arabic script)
- General Note:
- Dialects: Northern
- General Note:
- Poetic Form: Utenzi
- General Note:
- Extent: 2 leaves
- General Note:
- Purchased from Mrs W.E. Taylor for £10, March 1930 (entered in Accession Book 21 January 1942)
- General Note:
- Incipit: Nanda kubaini kwa isimu yake karimu na ahrahmani baadaye kirasimu
- General Note:
- VIAF (name authority) : Kijuma, Muhammad : URI http://viaf.org/viaf/43775563
- General Note:
- Africa -- Eastern Africa -- Swahili Coast
- General Note:
- Scribe: Kijuma, Muhammad
- General Note:
- Publication information: Abou Egl, Mohammad. 1983. The life and works of Muhamadi Kijuma. PhD thesis, SOAS, University of London. pp. 171-179
- General Note:
- Publication information: Dammann, E. 1960. Kozi na Ndiwa. Afrika und Ubersee, 44:207-218
Record Information
- Source Institution:
- SOAS University of London
- Holding Location:
- Archives and Special Collections
- Rights Management:
 This item is licensed with the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial Share Alike License. This license lets others remix, tweak, and build upon this work non-commercially, as long as they credit the author and license their new creations under the identical terms.- Resource Identifier:
- MS 45022 ( SOAS manuscript number )
MS 45022c ( SOAS manuscript number )
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