'Stringing Coral Beads': The Religious Poetry of Brava (c. 1890-1975)

Download or read book 'Stringing Coral Beads': The Religious Poetry of Brava (c. 1890-1975) written by and published by BRILL. This book was released on 2018-08-13 with total page 858 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book presents fifty-one didactic and devotional Sufi poems (with English translations) composed by the ulama of Brava, on Somalia’s Benadir coast, in Chimiini, a Bantu language related to Swahili and unique to the town. Because the six ulama-poets, among whom two women, guided local believers towards correct beliefs and behaviours in reference to specific authoritative religious texts, the poems allow insight into their authors’ religious education, affiliations, in which the Qādiriyyah and Aḥmadiyyah took pride of place, and regional connections. Because the poems refer to local people, places, events, and livelihoods, they also bring into view the uniquely local dimension of Islam in this small East African port city in this time-period.