Strung Pearls: A Poem from the Swahili-Arabic Text

The Swahili poet, Sayyid 'Umar bin Amin bin 'Umar bin Amin bin Nadhir al-Ahdal, Kadhi of Siu, c. a.d. 1856, left a number of poems upon religious themes. These include the best acrostic poems in traditional Swahili literature, e.g. Waji-waji , written in takhmis verse-form. The title of the present work is given in the last verse: ya dura mandhuma , a Swahili form of the Arabic al-Durr al-Manẓum , or ‘Strung Pearls’. The manuscript copy, pasted on two pieces of cardboard, was written by Muhammad Abubakar bin 'Umar al-Bakariy, better known as Muhammad Kijuma, the well-known Swahili poet and scribe at Lamu, who produced most of his best work in the first two decades of the present century.