The Li fe and Works of Muhamadi Kijuma
A Thesis submitted by
Mohammad Ibrahim Mohammad A bo u Egl
For the Degree of PhD.
At The Universi ty of London
December 19S3
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"Thy Lord hath decreed that ye worship none save Him,
kindness to parents.
age with thee,
mercy,
If one of them or both of them were to attain old
say not "Fie"
them a gracious word.
and (that ye show)
unto them nor repulse them, but speak unto
And lower unto them the wing of submission through
and say: My Lord!
Have mercy on them both as they did care for me
when I was l i t t l e " ,
Quran 17: 23-24,
To my parents
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Abstract
/>
The Life and Works of Muhamadi Kijuma
The purpose of this thesis is to investigate the life and works of
Muhamadi Kijuma of Lamu.
Province.
Kijuma's life
Lamu is one of the districts of Kenya's Coast
(1855-1945)
spans almost the entire colonial
period.
Little was known about his life and works before this research worker
started collecting Kijuma's own manuscripts found in Europe and East
Africa,
documents of the period,
and facts from the memories of the old
people at Lamu who were still alive when this worker arrived there in
1980.
Kijuma was a scribe,
calligrapher,
composer of songs and dances, musician
and maker of musical
instruments.
In the first chapter,
Kijuma's
gen ealogy and his life is dealt with in detail.
The remaining chapters investigate mor e closely the various activities in
which he engaged,
particu larly after his return from Zanzibar
in 1908.
The first of these was the singing competitions in which Kijuma took an
active part,
and by which the Colonial Office in Lamu managed to change
the political,
its own.
economic and social structure of Lamu to replace it with
The cultural and the religious aspects of these singing
competitions are discussed.
tarabu has been discovered,
imported it into Lamu,
The origin of what is called in Swahili
as well as the fact that it was Kijuma who
that Kijuma was a moving force amongst those who
made tarabu known all over East Africa,
; a kinanda in Lamu,
and that he was the first to make
and to compose the dances called Mwasha and K i n a n d a .
4
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The main tool of the singing competitions was the Swahili song, and the
following subject discusses Kijuma's s o n g s , and deals especially with
K ijuma's mafumbo "Kiddles and metaphors",
and to sh,ow that these mafumbo
were used by Kijuma in his songs only, hot in his poems.
The bulk of
these songs were collected from Kijuma's compatriots in Lamu,
and Mombasa in Kenya,
and are edited here for the first time.
Matondoni
Kijuma's
composing of songs inspired h i m to compose also long poems and to copy
th em out artistically.
Therefore,
the third subject comprises all the
literary works which Kijuma either composed and scribed,
or only
-scribed.Some of these have been identified for the first
Ki juma's
compositions, or as simply scribed by him.
time as being
Other manuscripts
have been identified as being the works of other poets,
although it has
been alleg ed by other Swahili scholars that they were Kijuma's
compositions.
identified.
Kijuma's sources for composing these poems have also been
This third subject shows that Kijuma indirectly participated
in prese rving Norther n Swahili literature,
and producing valuable data
upon whi ch the scholars of Swahili are still depending.
The main sources
for this subject were Kijuma's manuscripts found at the School of
O r ien tal and Africa n Studies, London,
Dar-es-Salaam,
E u rop ean
clients.
visual art,
subject
and in Hamburg,
in the U n ive rsity College of
and Kijuma's
correspondence with his
Kijuma's talents enabled him to produce many works of
including title-pieces for his manuscripts.
is: Kijuma as a craftsman
( F u ndi).
Under this heading, all
K i j u m a 1s available works of visual art are discussed,
skilled in sculpture, wood-carving,
decorative knitting.
showing that he was
drawing, calligraphy,
tailoring,
and
It is important to note that Kijuma introduced many
symbols in these artistic works.
dis played for the first time.
religion.
So, the fourth
These symbols are discussed and
The fifth subject deals with Kijuma's
-
This research worker came,
thesis might have been:
later,
5
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to realise that the title of this
Kijuma's religion, because it was found out, by
reading all about this subject,
that all the preceding subjects are
relevant to the questions which arise in the consideration of this
subject.
In addition to this,
it is the only aspect of Kijuma's life
which Swahili scholars and missionaries have written about in some
detail.
They have considered Kijuma as a Christian,
available data, Kijuma must have been a Muslim.
subject,
but judging by the
T h e sixth and final
discusses Kijuma's p e r s o n a l i t y , extrapolating from his own poem
Siraji which is transliterated,
translated,
and given in the appendix.
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Acknowledgements
It is my p leasure to acknowledge a debt of gratitude to my supervisor
Dr, Jan Knappert whose constant encouragement and advice,
every stage of writing this thesis,
which attended
enabled me to complete it.
Thanks
are also due to: My tutor Mr. F.D.D. Winston wh ose remarks proved
particularly valuable in ordering the material;
to my teacher Sheikh
Yahya Ali Omari whose unfailing help made the transliteration,
transcription,
possible;
and translation of the Swahili texts,
in this thesis,
to Bibi Maryamu M, al-Bakariy of Lamu and her kind sisters,
Bibi Fatuma, Bibi Zena, and the late Bibi Asia for making the mafumbo
found in Kijuma's songs easily understood;
to Prof. Dr. Ernst Damman for
supplying me with copies of all his correspondence with Kijuma and the
Swahili manuscripts of Kijuma found in Hamburg;
to Revd. John Williamson
for showing me his Swahili collection, made by Kijuma, and for giving me
copies of some of this collection;
to the contemporary Swahili poet
Abdilatif A b dall a for his providing the phonetic symbols for all the
Swahili poems,
of K i a m u , found in this thesis;
to Mrs. Caroline Fawsy and
Miss Jill Manley for correcting and reviewing my initially clumsy
English;
to all those m entioned in the Bibliography as sources of
information;
to Mrs.
S.A, Jacomb for her typing this thesis;
Dr. J.E.M. Maw for her saying to me:
and to
"I am here your second mother",
after she had learned that my dear young mother died on 15th April 1982,
leaving her only will:
"Do not let my son, Mohammad,
while he is abroad studying",
know of my death
but later I knew of her death from my
friends.
To a number of Institutions I am especially grateful: Al-Azhar University
of Egypt through which I got my scholarship and which made my stay here
for the last six years possible.
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The libraries of the School of Oriental and A frican Studies of London,
and of the University College of Dar-es-Sal aam for their good facilities
which were easily obtainable.
I wish to recognise my deep debt to my faithful and beloved wife, Nadia,
who made my study and stay here very comfortable and enjoyable;
and to my
daughter Asmaa and son I b r ahim for forgiving me for not finding them
enough time to play with.
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Abbreviations
Allen
= Mr. J.W.T, Allen.
A.W.
= Dr. Alice Werner.
B.S.O.A.S.
= Periodi cal publication,
Bulletin of the School of Oriental
Studies, which came in 1938 to be named:
The School of
Oriental and Af rican Studies, London University.
E.A.L.B.
= East Africa n Literature Bureau.
E.D.
= Prof. Dr. Ernst Dammann.
Hamburg
= The archives of the Seminar Fur A fri kanis che Sprachen,
U niv ersity of Hamburg.
Sh. Hinav/y
= Shiekh Mbarak Ali Hinawy, Liwali of Mombasa.
J.K.
- Dr. Jan Knappert, London.
J.W.
= Revd. John Williamson, Nairobi.
Lambert
= Mr. H.E. Lambert, Nairobi.
L.H.
= Prof. Lyndon Harries,
Meinhof
= Prof. Carl Meinhof, Hamburg.
Ms.
= Manuscript found in S.O.A.S.
Mss.
= Manuscripts found in S.O.A.S.
S.O.A.S■
= School of Oriental and African Studies, London University.
Swahili
= Bulletin of the East African Inter-Territorial Language
Madison.
Committee, which in the 1 9 6 0 ‘s became known as: Journal of
the East African Swahili Committee, and in the 1970's
became known as: Journal of the Institute of Swahili
Research, Univers ity of Dar-es-Salaam.
U.C.D.
= Universi ty College of Dar-es-Salaam.
W.H.
= Mr. Wi l l i a m Hichens,
W.T.
= Revd. W i l l i a m Taylor.
Z.E .S.
= Zeitschrift fuer Eingeborenen Sprachen, Hamburg.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
pp.
Abstract
3 - 5
Ack nowledgements
6 - 7
Abbreviations
8
Table of Contents
9 - 14
Chapter I
15 - 42
1.
Muhamadi Kijuma's G enealogy And His Life,
15
2.
Kijuma's Grandfather Omari.
15
3.
Kijuma's Father Abu Bakari.
16
4.
Kijuma's Mother Mwana Kamari.
17 - 23
5.
Kijuma's Life.
23 - 37
6.
Notes.
38 - 42
Chapter II
1.
43 - 91
The Singing Competi tions which Kijuma
organised under the colonial g o v e r n m e n t ......
43 - 46
2.
Ngoma va Dhili,
46 - 52
3.
Ngoma ya Mwasha.
52 - 58
4.
The visit of Sultan Hamoud to Lamu in 1901,
and the origin of the tarabu.
59 - 69
5.
Ngoma ya Beni
69 - 79
6.
Ngoma ya Beni outside Lamu.
7.
The economic,
8.
(in Lamu),
79 - 81
cultural, and religious aspects
of the singing competitions.
82 - 85
Notes.
86 - 91
Chapter m
1.
Kijuma the composer of songs,
of the mafumbo).
92 - 157
(and his use
92
-
108
10
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2.
-
The songs which are relevant to Kijuma's
singing competitions.
109 - 126
3.
Love songs.
126 - 147
4.
Miscellaneous songs of Kijuma.
147 - 152
5.
Notes.
153 - 157
Chapter IV
158 - 279
A
Kijuma as a Scribe and a poet.
158 - 169
B
Kijuma and W.T.:
170 - 179
C
1.
The Gospel of St. John.
2.
Utendi wa Kozi na Ndiwa.
Kijuma and A.W.,
170
171 - 179
(Meinhof, and Lambert).
180 - 223
1.
Acrostic on the Divine Attributes.
2.
Acr ostic of Dura L. Mandhuma.
3.
Utendi wa Nana Werner.
183
4.
Kisa cha Sayyidna Isa.
183 - 186
5.
Utendi
wa Mkunumbi by
6.
Utendi
wa Yusufu.
7.
Utendi wa Mwana Kupona.
8.
Liongo,
and Takhmis of Liongo.
9.
Shairi
la Liongo.
196 - 197
10.
Utendi
or Hadithi ya Liongo.
198 - 202
11.
Lyrics attributed to Liongo
12.
Lamu.
13.
Fragments of Utendi wa Yusufu.
207
14.
List of Divine Names.
207
15.
List of Birds.
207
16.
Utendi wa Ayubu.
207 - 209
17.
Mashairi from the Lamu Chronicle.
209 - 211
18.
Muh. Kijuma.
Habar i za ........ s a b a a .
181
182 - 183
186 - 191
191 - 194
195
(Ushuhuda).
195 - 196
202
- 206
206 - 207
211
-
212
11
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D
E
-
19.
Kisa cha Kijana,
212
20.
Habari ya uzuri wake wa^ sura za Muhammad.
21.
Utendi wa Hunaini.
212 - 213
22.
Ufungu o Maneno ya Miiraji.
213 - 214
23.
Kisa cha Kijana.
24.
Inkishafi.
25.
Tabaraka,
26.
Utendi wa Kut awafu Muhammad.
218 - 219
27.
Mikidadi na Mayasa.
220 - 221
28.
Stories about the people of Shela.
221
29.
Kuku na Kanu.
221
30.
Ngamia na Paa.
212
215
215 - 216
217
221 - 223
Kijuma and W.H.:
224 - 237
1.
Kisa cha Kadhi na Haramii.
224 - 225
2.
Kisa cha Kadhi.
3.
Siraji.
225 - 227
4.
Utendi wa Esha.
227 - 229
5.
Wajiwaji.
6.
Nasara wa Arabu.
7.
Khabari ya Waganga
8.
Binti Yusufu.
9.
Mzigo.
234
10.
Shufaka.
235
11.
Khabari
12.
V i s a vya Sungura na Fisi.
225
229
230 - 231
....
juu ya asili
231 - 233
233 - 234
ya Shiraa.
Kijuma and E.D.:
1.
W e dding customs in old Lamu.
2.
Abdur-Hahma ni na Sufiyani.
3.
Kishamia,
235
235 - 237
238 - 242
238
238 - 239
239
-
F
G
12
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4.
A p o e m from Siu.
239
5.
A po e m in the Siu-dialept.
240
6.
Utendi wa Safari.
240
7.
Hini ni A.I.U.
240 - 241
8♦
Utendi wa Herekali.
241 - 242
Kijuma and J . W . :
242 - 245
1.
Khabari ya Katrifu.
242 - 243
2.
Utendi wa Musa na Nabii Khidhri.
244 - 245
Notes.
248 - 279
Chapter V
280 - 333
1.
Kijuma as a craftsman
2.
Kijuma as a wood-carver and a sculptor.
281 - 286
3.
Kijuma as a wood-carver.
287 - 294
4.
Kijuma as an artist of drawing and
(Fundi).
280 - 281
calligraphy.
295 - 318
5.
Kijuma as a designer of title-pieces.
318 - 319
6.
Kijuma as a tailor and a knitter.
319 - 321
7.
Notes.
322 - 333
Chapter VI
334 - 401
1.
Kijuma 's religion.
334 - 359
2.
Kisa cha Sayyidna Isa.
360 - 376
3.
Utendi wa Mkunumbi.
376 - 377
4.
Utendi or Hadithi ya Liongo.
377 - 378
5.
Siraji:•
378 - 380
6.
Nasara wa Arabu.
380 - 382
7.
Wedding customs of old Lamu.
8.
Utendi wa Safari.
382 - 385
9.
A.I.U,
385 - 388
382
10.
13
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Notes.
394 - 401
Chapter VII
-
402 - 417
1.
Kijuma as a person.
402 - 404
2.
Kijuma the believer.
404 - 405
3.
Kijuma the family man:
405 - 407
i)
As a son,
v.
ii)
As a husband.
iii)
As a father.
406
iv)
As a relative.
407
405
405 - 406
4.
Kijuma as a member of society.
5.
Kijuma the friend.
408 - 410
6.
Kijuma the opponent.
410 - 411
7.
Kijuma as neighbour.
411
8.
Kijuma as employee.
412
9.
Kijuma as employer.
412
10.
Kijuma and the needy and the handicapped.
412
11.
Kijuma and the lazy and trouble makers.
413
12.
Kijuma as a guest.
413
13.
Kijuma personally.
413 - 415
14.
Notes.
416 - 417
App endix A
407
418 - 475
Siraji
418 - 470
Notes
471 -.475
Appendix B
Mandari
476 - 480
"The picnic".
3ix C
476 - 480
481 - 482
The account of Mzee Salim Kheri on Sultan
Hamoud's visit to Lamu.
481 - 482
App e n d i x D
A stamped letter fr o m Bwana Ab dalla Khatibu
of Lamu.
Bib liogr aphy
Illustrations
List of illustrations.
3 Exs,
22 Figures.
24 Plates.
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15
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C H APT ER I
Muhamadi Kijuma's Genealogy
And His Life
By the courtesy of Bi.
Zena M. al-Bakariy, one of Kijuma's relatives,
wa s able to obtain the gene alogy of Muhamadi Kijuma
his paternal side.
(abbr. Kijuma)
I
from
This genealogy was written, by Kijuma himself, on 14
pages of which I have a copy.
His full name was
: Muhamadi Kijuma bin
Abu -Bakari bin Omari bin Abu-Bakari bin Othmani bin Muhamadi bin Ali bin
Muhamadi bin Omari bin Muhamadi bin Abdalla bin Abu-Bakari bin Muhamadi
bin Abdalla bin Ibrahimu bin Yusuf u al-Bakariy.
This Yusufu al-Bakariy
was born in a village called Samaail at Muscat in Oman.
when,
We do not know
but this al-Baka riy and some members of his family emigrated from
Samaail to a town called Yafii in the mountains of Hadramawt.
Yafii,
one of three brothers of the family emigrated to Lamu,
Ngazija,
and another to B a r a w a . 1
Lamu is not known.
From
one to
The name of the one who emigrated to
This family had been and still is known in Lamu as a
respected family from which the governing Council of Lamu town used to
have a member,
2
Kiju ma mentioned no particulars about his forefathers
except for his grandfather, Omari.
Kijuma's Grandfather Omari
Al l Kijuma wrote about his grandfather is that he was a principal Sheikh
of Lamu
3
(Mzee wa mji)
4
during the reign of the Sultan Said bin
Sultan of Zanzibar who reigned from 1832 until 1856.
Nothing more is
known about him, but his children and some of their descendants are known
by name to Bw. Abdalla Khatibu of Lamu.
16
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-
Bw. Omari had the following descendants:
Omari
r
A bu Bakari
Esha
Kijuma
Abdalla
Muh.Khatibu
Helewa
Abdalla Khatibu
5
Omari
Jula
Fatima
.1
Titi
Gaifadi
Toma
Abdalla Imam"7
Abdalla
Esha
K i j u m a ’s Father Abu-Bakari
The only thing Kijuma mentioned about his father was that he was also a
principal sheikh of Lamu,
(1856-1870)
8
of Zanzibar
Lamu, and also a seaman.
Zanzibar,
during the reign of the Sultan Majid
Bw. Abu-Bakari was a professional farmer in
He used to sail for trade between Lamu,
and the Comoro Islands.
been agriculture,
So, his permanent job seems to have
and his occasional one was maritime trade.
a lady called Kamari.
interviewed,
9
Acco rding to all the people of Lamu that I
she was a Sharifa.
This title is given to women whose
fathers or both parents claim to be descendants of Fatimah,
of the Prophet Muhammad.
about 1355.
10
He married
Sharifa
the daughter
(= Mwana) Kamari bore him Kijuma in
Later on she was divorced and Bw. Abu-Bakar i died.
What
we can extract is that he died well before his ex-wife Mwana Kamari, who
died in 1881,
11
because Kijuma's life-history tells us that he was
brought up by his mother Mwana Kamari,
as we shall see.
not by his father Bw. Abu-Bakari,
-
17
-
There is a sentence, written by Kijuma in a letter
7th Ramadha n 1359/October
1940,
12
sent to J.W. on
from, which we can conclude that Kijuma
inherited a dhow from his father.
The sentence reads:
"Na marikabu,
ikisa kungia vita, marikabu kaizanya = Concerning the dhow, after the war
had started,
I sold it."
We know that Kijuma's father was a seaman,
well have had a dhow,
and being a seaman, he may
if not several dhows, of his own.
This suggests
two things, one is that Kijuma inherited that dhow from his father, and
the second is that Bw. A b u Bakari must have been rich for he owned also
farmland.
Kijuma's Mother Mwana Kamari
We must first endeavour to ascertain the name of Mwana Kamari's father,
because she was a disputed daughter according to a letter from Kijuma to
W . H * in October 1937.
Kamari.
13
The letter reads:
"My mother's name is
There are two big quarters in Lamu called Mtamwini and Mkomani.
T h e leader of Mtamwini was al-Sheikh Abdur-Rahmani bin Ahmadi al-Husainiy
who was a Sharifu
(i.e. a man whose father or both parents claim to be
descendants of Fatimah,
judge.
the daughter of the Prophet Muhammad)
and a
The leader of Mkomani was al-Sheikh Muhamadi bin Abu-Bakari,
A l -Sh eikh Muhamadi bin Abu-Bakari married Fatuma bint Ahmadi,
of al-Sheikh Abdur-Rahmani.
the sister
After that, al-Sheikh Muhamadi and al-Sheikh
Abdur-Rahmani q uarrelled with each other until they were about to fight
each other.
After my mother had been born, al-Sheikh Muhamadi lawfully
w a nte d to take her to his home,
the house of al-sheikh Muhamadi)
approached the point of war.
Muhamadi:'Your daughter
(it implies that Kamari was not born in
but al-Sheikh Abdur-Rahm ani refused.
Al-Sheikh Abdur-Rahmani told al-Sheikh
is not yours.'
It
-
After
that,
other).
-
they gave their back to each other,
(i.e.
they ignored each
Before al-sheikh Muhamadi died, he had made a will for his
daughter Kamari.
her her
18
He said:
inheritance'.
"I shall die but Kamari is my child,
so, give
After he died, her inheritance was given to her
but al-Sheikh Abd ur-Rahmani refused to accept it and returned it.
o l d people in Lamu knew this story.
One day my mother received a letter
sent to her and naming her Kamari bint Muhamadi.
letter,
All
Wh en she replied to the
she signed it in her first name Kamari only.
She did not mention
her father's name because of the misunderstanding between her and her
uncle.
My m other's mother was a Sharifa, Fatuma bint A h m a d i . ”
A n y one who reads this letter, will conclude at first that al-Sheikh
Muhamadi was the father of Mwana Kamari since she was addressed in the
letter as Kamari bint Muhamadi,
while her own son Kij uma did not give his
own view about the proper name of his mother's father in the letter, nor
any where else.
But
it is likely that her father was not al-Sheikh
M uhamadi but Shee Hamadi wa Shee wa Pate,
1.
for the following reasons:
There is no one I met in Lamu who disagreed that Mwana Kamari was a
Sharifa.
It is stated in Kijuma's letter to W.H.
of Mwana Kamari was a Sharifa,
a l-S heikh Muhamadi Abu-Bakari
14
that the mother
It is well known also in Lamu that
was not a Sharifu.
So,
Kamari was a daughter of al-Sheikh Muhamadi Abu-Bakari,
if Mwana
the people
of Lamu w o u l d never call Kamari a Sharifa, because this title can
not go to descendants through the mother's side only but has to go
through the father's or both parents
carry their f a t h e r ’s names.
15
since the children have to
Furthermore,
Kijuma himself mentioned
his mother Kamari as the one whose genealogy goes back to the Banu
Hashim,
16
the same family to which the Prophet M uhammad belonged.
-
2.
The best friend of Kijuma,
19
-
Mzee Salim Kheri of Lamu told me that
Mwana Kamari was a daughter of Mwenye Shee Hamadi wa Shee wa Pate
who was a Sharifu.
That is why Kamari was called a Sharifa by all
the people of Lamu.
3.
Wh e n K ijuma mentioned the children of al-Sheikh Muhamadi bin Abu
Bakari to W.H., he did not include the name of Kamari.
these children as: Nyekai bin Muhamadi,
Zuhura {= Nana mkuu) bint Muhamadi.
Finally,
He named
Khadija bint Muhamadi,
and
17
the q u es tion that remains to be solved is: W h y al-Sheikh
Muhamadi did not stop claiming fatherhood of Kamari to the extent that he
wrote a will for her?
1o
A ccording to Kijuma, al-Sheikh Muhamadi had many wives.
If a Muslim
wants to marry more than one wife, he is not allowed to keep more than
four wives at one time.
19
Al-Shei kh Muhamadi being married to so many
wives, mu s t have divorced others, or others might have died while they
were ma r r i e d to him.
he divorced.
His wife Fatuma bint Ahmadi, was among those whom
But according to the Islamic rules,
to ask her husband for a divorce,
the wife has the right
and he has to carry it out.
So, we can
assume that Fatuma was the one who asked al-Sheikh Muhamadi for a divorce
before becoming pregnant by him, and he unwillingly had to carry it out.
This might have ma d e him compose "The thankless woman".
bitter,
20
He felt
and because of this bitterness he might have intended to create
trouble for Fat uma*s family.
It seems probable that Fatuma married Shee
Hamadi w a Shee wa Pate,
and gave birth to Kamari within nine months after
she had been divorced.
It seems also probable that Fatuma stayed at her
father*s home for about three months to be clear of the previous
marriage.
These three months are called in Islam
'Eddah, a legally
prescr ibed period of waiting during which the woman m a y not remarry after
21
being divorced.
-
20
-
If, then, we assume that
she remarried three months after the divorce,
and gave birth to Kamari
within about six months of the new marriage,
al-Sheikh Muhamadi will have known that his ex-wife Fatuma gave birth to
Kamari within only nine mont hs
pre gnanc y and a birth)
(i.e. 3 for the
'Eddah and about 6 for the
of divorcing her, while the normal period required
for such a birth should be about 12 months (3 for
pregnancy).
'Eddah and 9 for the
He might therefore have found it logical to claim Kamari as
his own daughter, and to
make his claim a sound one, woul d have written a
will for Kamari;
will was refused by the family of Fatuma, and it
but his
was she who had the right, as said before,
Kamari was.
We may assume,
not Sheikh Muhamadi.
Muhamadi.
then,
21
to say who the father of
that she said that it was Shee Hamadi,
That is why her family refused the will of Sheikh
Consequently, we have to agree with Fatuma and her family that
Kamari was the daughter of Shee Hamadi wa Shee wa Pate.
Thus,
the
complete name of Mwana Kamari must be accepted as Kamari wa Shee Hamadi
wa Shee wa Pate.
That
is from her paternal side; her mother was Fatuma
bint Ahmadi al-Husainiy.
Bw. Ahmadi al-Husainiy had the following
descendants:
Ahmadi al-Husainiy
Mwana Jahi
Abdur-Rahmani
Muhamadi bin Fadhili
Salih
23
I 24
Fatuma
Kamari
(Nana Shee)
Zainaba
(Kake)
Ali = Bwana Sena
Muhamadi
22
Abdalla
Fatuma
■
Abdur-Rahmani
Nana
Amini
-
21
-
Mwana Kamari was a descendant of the M a s h a r i f u - f a m i l y .
people,
she was a devout Muslim.
Kijuma states that his mother had been
to Mecca five times for the pilgrimage.
Being a rich devout Muslim,
Mecca for the pilgrimage.
making her son, Kijuma,
mother told him:
According to Lamu
25
She was ve ry rich.
26
she financed a lot of poor people to go to
This financial help went on to the extent of
jealous about his mother's wealth.
Then, his
"Do not feel angry Muhamadi, Allah has given me this
wealth and He will give you the same, but little by little until you
die".
26
It is pro bable that that particular feeling for Kijuma was
expressed by his mother
in the following stanza:
27
Siisi, wewe na mimi
I do not know what there is between you and
Huteki huneni nami
You do not smile, you do not speak with me
Ni hasira hazikomi
It is your anger,
She was considered a scholar
( mwanac huoni}.
me
it does not end.
26
It is likely that she
was ac companied by her son, Kijuma, to Mecca for the pi lgrimage in about
1865,
i.e. when Kijuma was about 10 years old.
28
In about 1875,
she
took h i m and went to Zanzibar to c l aim her right of inheritance in front
of the Sultan Barghash
to take some of her
Some members of her family tried
inheritance unjustly.
the case in his hands.
Suud Hemed,
(1870 - 1888).
She went to the Sultan and put
He considered it and ordered the Liwali of Lamu,
to give her the inheritance which she was claiming.
26
Mzee
Sal im Kheri has stated that Kijuma went with his mother to Mecca twice
after he had gone with her to Zanzibar.
This statement allows us to
con clude that during the years 1876-1877, Kijuma went to Mecca with his
mother for the pilgrimage twice.
obey her
in every respect.
Kijuma used to respect her deeply and
-
22
-
Not only did he do this, but he also advised his son Hele wa to obey the
advice of his grandmother.
not her first husband.
bin Ahmadi,
29
Her husband Bw. Abu-Bakari bin Omari was
She married twice.
The first one was Muhamadi
She bore him a daughter called Tambake and a son called
26
Ahmadi.
K ijuma himself mentioned his sister Tambake in his report to
. . 30
E.D..
It is not known whether Mwana Kamari was divorced or widowed.
The second husband was Bw. A b u Bakari bin Omari al-Bakariy.
one son called Kijuma.
9
She bore him
There is another point to mention in
connection with Mwana Kamari.
It concerns a stanza composed by the
q
people of Lamu in which the name of Mwana Kamari
is mentioned,
Al o a n dAa ni Aziza
The one who started is A ziza
Na Kamari kaoleza
And Kamari followed (imitated)
Kupona amemaliza
Then, Kupona completed it.
Bi. Aziza was the wife of Bw.
Muhamadi.
31
Zena.
thus:
her
She bore him Fatuma, Abdalla and
Mwana Kupona is a well known lady because of her poetic
advice to her daughter.
32
this stanza's composition.
Opinions differ about the significance of
It is said that this stanza concerns these
three ladies who were going to Mecca for the pilgrimage without taking a
9
Mah
•r a m with them.
The Mahra
• m is a man who is related to a woman in a
degree of consanguinity precluding marriage.
33
The M a h ram should
accompany his female relative as long as he is able,
financially,
to make the journey.
other female friends.
alone.
both physically and
Otherwise the lady should go with
If such friends are not available then she may go
Other people say this stanza concerns these three ladies because
they either went alone to.Zanzibar for claiming their proper share of the
inheritance,
26
or because they stood up against their relatives by
34
accepting bridegrooms who were refused by those relatives
.
-
In 1881, Mwana Kamari died.
23
-
27
Kijuma's Life
Although the exact year of Kijuma's birth is not known, we can assume
with reasonable confidence that he was born in about 1855.
Kijuma's relatives called Bw. Abdal la Skanda
his father that Kijuma lived 114 years.
died
in 1945.
35
said that he was told by
We will learn later that Kijuma
That would place Kijuma's birth as being in
statement of Bw. Skanda is supported by a comment which
53491,
reading:
1262/1850".
this Ms.
is
1831. This
found in Ms.
"Muhamadi bin Abu-Bakari bin Omari of Lamu was alive in
If he actually was alive in 1262, we should correct the
equivalent Christ ian year for 1262.
in
One of
(53491).
was born before 1845,
Skanda may be correct.
It
is1845, not 1850 as is written
So, the statement in this Ms.
indicates that Kijuma
It means that the information of Bw. Abdalla
But returning to the other sources from Lamu and
from
the events which took place in Kijuma's life-time, we
that
he was born in about 1855, and not after this date because:
1.
can conclude
There is a note sent by M issionary Cheese from Lamu to W.H.
1936.
The note reads:
"Kijuma
is about 80".
36
in
It seems that
that M issio nary used to mix with Kijuma because he was mentioned in
the Utendi wa Safari
37
of Kijuma,
have known ap proximately Kijuma's
2.
Most of the Lamu people I met,
Mzee Salim Kheri,
in stanza 56.
So, he might
age.
including the best friend of Kijuma,
and the relative of Kijuma's Bw. Abdalla Khatibu,
agreed that Kijuma was about 90 years when he died.
Knowing
that
Kijuma died in 1945, he must have been born in about 1955.
3.
In addition to these two reasons,
follow in this chapter.
there are the events which
will
24
When he was born, his mother called h i m Kijuma "little Juma".
Juma is a
proper name, one of the commonest for, men in the Islamic world.
refers to the holy day of the week.
called in Arabic al-Jumah.
diminutive form of Juma.
Kijuma,
It
This holy day is Friday, and is
in the Swahili language,
is the
When Kijuma's mother was asked by her
compatriots why she called him Kijuma,
talents, people will be surprised.
she answered:
"If he has many
They will enquire:
clever person with so many talents called Kijuma'.
'Why was such a
If he has no talents,
9
it will be a suitable nickname for him".
If one asks people in Lamu
w h y they think Mwana Kamari was of this opinion,
Kamari was a very intelligent lady.
This,
they answer that Mwana
in my view, means that his
mother was trying to p rotect herself against any misfortune which might
descend upon him as a result of an unexpected stupidity of his, and which
might prevent h i m fro m using his creative talents,
if this were the
case, every one would understand that his mother was not to blame, and
that the one to be blamed would be Kijuma himself.
"Yes,
The people would say:
indeed, his mother had a right to call him that."
intelligence of his mother
name Kijuma,
is reflected in his name.
Thus, the
Before leaving the
I have to acknowledge that Swahili scholars are divided over
the wa y of writing this name.
Some write it Kijumwa and others Kijuma.
The present writer prefers Kijuma because, as we have already seen, the
name (Kijuma)
is the diminutive form of Juma not Jumwa.
When we learn
that the diminutive particle in the Swahili language is the "ki", then,
the diminutive form of Juma should be Kijuma not Kijumwa.
this, Kijuma himself never wrote
to be transliterated into Kijumwa, but always,
which has to be transliterated as Kijuma.
In addition to
or even
in all of his writing,
25
-
-
Kijuma grew up as a child in the aforementioned family.
he was sent to the c h u o , an Element ary School.
Abdalla whose grandfather was Ab d a l l a Hamidi.
shops;
In about 1861,
His teacher was Mwalimu
This chuo is used now as
it stands just beside the mosque of Nna Lalo in Lamu.
He was sent
to the chuo in about 1861, as the age of six is the average age at which
parents used to send their children to the chuo in Swahili society.
pupils were taught in this chuo to read Arabic script,
to behave pr operly both in society and towards parents.
is completed,
to write it, and
After this stage
the pupils begin to learn the Quran by heart.
himself referred to his chuo in his Siraji.
38
The
Kijuma
In about 1865 when
Kijuma was ten years old, and while he was still in the c h u o , he
accompanied his mother to Mecca for the pilgrimage.
time that Kijuma went to Mecca.
schooling in the c h u o .
He returned to Lamu to resume his
Arou nd 1870, he left the c h u o , after he had
gained knowledge of writing,
Quranic surahs by heart,
It was the first
reading,
and reciting some of the short
to join the lectures of Mwenye Mansabu in the
Arr audha-mosque in Lamu.
The name of Mwenye Mansabu is in full; Sayyid
Mansabu Abu-Bakari bin Abdur-Rahmani bin Abu-Bakari al-Husainiy.
As we
see, his family is the same as the family of K i j u m a ’s grandmother, Fatuma
. 39
bint Ahmadi al-Husainiy.
That is why the people of Lamu refer to
Mwenye Mansabu as an uncle of Kijuma.
Islamic culture, a poet,
Arabic script.
artist.
40
and an outstanding calligrapher of Swahili in
Not only an outstanding calligrapher,
40
41
He lived from 1243 to 1340/1829 -
He studied at Mecca and at the mosque of Baitu l'-Mukaddasi in
Jerusalem.
9
It is pro bable that Mwenye Mansabu is the one who gave his
student Kijuma the inspiration to compose poetry,
Mss,
but also an
There are some paintings and other artistic items, made by him,
found in the m u s e u m of Zanzibar.
1922.
Mwenye Mansabu was a teacher of
in his fine hand.
to paint,
and scribe
-
26
-
Later on, we shall see to what extent Kijuma became an artist, poet and
scribe.
With Mwenye Mansabu, Kijuma may have studied R isalah "The
message";
Safinah
"The ship"; Ghayah "The aim" - and Durar "pearls".
T h e s e four Arabic books deal with Islamic jurisprudence for beginners.
C o n c e r n i n g Arabic grammar,
Kijuma must have studied the book of
a l - A g ru miyya h because this book was studied by all the beginners in
A r a b i c grammar on the East African coast.
42
There are other advanced
courses in these subjects but I believe that Kijuma did not attend them
as w e shall see later.
Kijuma might have continued his studies with
M w e n y e Mansabu for about five successive years.
was in terrupted by great events in his life.
mother to Zanzibar.
43
After that, his study
In 1875, he accompanied his
In 1876 and 1877, he again ac companied his
mother to Mecca for the pilgrimage.
44
The journey from Lamu to Mecca
and b a c k to La mu took a whole year, travelling in a dhow by sea.
r e tur ned from Mecca,
and went back to his studies, but it seems that his
mo ther arranged his m a rria ge during that year,
1.
He
1878.
It seems so because:
Mzee S al i m Kheri said that his mother had him mar ried before she
died.
2.
It wa s a conveni ent time for Kijuma to get married as he was about
23 years old.
All that is known about his first wife is her first name, Maryamu.
Just b e fore he marr ied Maryamu,
Muhamadi.
26
26
his mother gave h i m the name
Since then, he became known as Muhamadi Kijuma.
His
mother gave him this name Muhamadi when she felt happy with the wa y he
was progressing,
and when she saw the encouraging signs of his career.
She fo r e s a w then that her wish for her son to become a scholar might be
fulfilled*
27
-
-
In addition to this, I believe that she realised that her son was to be
married and later on w o u ld become a father who would need to obtain a
good position in society,
a diminutive name.
so, he must be given a good proper name and not
In 1881, Mwana Kamari, Kijuma's b eloved mother died,
suspecting that her son secretly loved the n g o m a , and tried to learn
music.
Mwana Kamari had sometimes felt suspicious about her son's
inclination towards the n g o m a .
She repeatedly scolded h i m about it, but
each time he was able to clear himself from such suspicion.
cleared himself,
Having
however, he felt angry because of her scolding.
stanza which his mother composed
suspicions.
26
45
The
was also likely connected with these
Furthermore, he probably became interested in musical
instruments at the time he visited Zanzibar and Arabia with his mother in
1875-7.
Kijuma was the first one in Lamu to make and introduce the
k i n a n d a , or g a m b u s i , to Lamu.
46
This is a stringed instrument of the
type of a guitar and is played in muc h the same way.
seven strings,
six of which were previously made of sheep gut, and later
of twisted silk.
copper wire.
47
It usually has
The seventh is the bass string whi ch might be made of
After Mwana Kamari*s death, Kijuma playe d his kinanda
publicly.
Accordi ng to Islamic law,
48
the fortune of Mwana Kamari, money m
houses, and wells, was distributed between her children.
49
cash,
Thus,
Kijuma found himself in possession of some of his mother's fortune, with
a free hand to spend it on anything he liked - I believe that the thing
which he loved most at that time was the ngoma and not education, because
in about 1882, he left his lessons in the Arr audha-mosque to take part in
50
the n g o m a .
Since then he never returned to the lessons but entered
the world of singing competitions
main turning point
50
.
in his entire life.
This change of course was the
-
28
-
The story of how he turned to the world of singing competitions was told
*
by himself to his relative Bw. Abdalla Khatibu:
"While I was receiving
lessons from Mwenye Mansabu in the mosque of Arraudha,
news came to me
that the faction of Mtamwini had beaten the faction of Mkomani in the
singing competition.
Havi ng received this news, I left the mosque and
went out to take part
in the competition."
When Bw. Abdalla Khatibu
asked h i m why he did not return to the mosque to resume his schooling,
Kijuma answered:
"I was seduced by the devil, and descended to the world
in the way of the Prophet A d a m when he was ordered not to eat from the
9
tree, but he did".
It is obvious here that Kijuma later regretted
his action of leaving the mosque to indulge in his hobby of participation
in singing competitions.
Al though Kijuma considered it his destiny, he
later blamed himself for doing it, because,
in his own words, he compared
studying in the mosque to staying in paradise, and leaving the mosque to
Ada m ' s fall from paradise.
Furthermore, Kijuma found out later that a
person cannot make friends without obtaining one of two things,
knowledge,
i.e. education,
or wealth.
At the end of his life, he wished
he could be either a scholar or wealthy.
The following song
51
of his
own composition reveals this:
Nataka kwenda chuoni
Nih ifadhi kula kara
52
I want to go to school
To recite all the Qura n by heart
Kwa nda iande Yasini
. 53
Starting with Y a s m
Y a pili al-Bakara
Then a l - B a k a r a h ^
Huwapatapi wendani
H o w can a person make friends
Mtu akiwa fukara
If he is poor?
^
A
After he had left the mosque, he divorced his first wife Bi. Maryamu.
-
29
Upon asking why he divorced his wife,
I always received the answer that
Kijuma was mkali sana "very hot t e mper ed1*.
He had no children by her,
Fr o m about 1883, he showed an irresistable love for carpentry.
55
That
love was based on his love of art, his wish to increase his money, and
his eagerness to defeat his opponents in the ngoma by making
masanamu. ^
His love of carpentry had induced him to take some lessons
on the subject from Fundi Hamadi Soyo.
26
The student was too
intelligent to require a long time to learn the art of carpentry
(u s a r u m a l a ).
art.
After a short time, Kijuma himself became a teacher of this
One of his students who received lessons from h i m was called
Tabibu.
57
The items which our carpenter used to make were doors,
chests, m a s a n a m u , g a m b u s i , frames, and tables.
one of these tables.
Zanzibar,
thesis.
58
He himself used to have
In the 1930's he gave it to his son Helewa in
Specimens from most of these items are illustrated in this
About two years later he became very determined to learn the art
59
of carving.
The opinion of people in Lamu is divided concerning the
teacher of Kijuma in the art of carving.
Some say that he learned it
from his own observation of the carved doors around him in Lamu.
Others say:
"In just one night, Kijuma managed to learn it from a fundi
whose name is forgotten.
That fundi taught h i m how to carve only one
flower on a piece of wood,
but he did not teach him any more because he
was afraid that Kijuma would one day become his rival in the art.
After
that particular night and through Kijuma's keen observation, he was able
to learn the art to perfection".
learned the art of carving,
In these two years during which he
two important events took place in his life.
The first was his journey to A rabia for the fourth and last time in about
26
1884,
His intention this time was not to make the pilgrimage, but to
learn the musical tunes from the musicians there,
soldiers.
including the Turkish
-
30
-
Kijuma himself told his friend Mwenye Alawy of Wasini about this
intention of 1884 when the latter wa s visiting Lamu just before the First
World War,
60
Kijum a returned to Lamu after he had acquired enough
experience of the requirements of the kinanda to be able to make one of
his own.
He was the first person to construct the kinanda in Lamu,
46
In brief, Kijuma came back to Lamu f rom Arabia qualified not only as a
composer of mu sical tunes but also as a maker of the musical instruments
of his time.
For a p erson who could make a kinanda I believe it would
have been easy to make drums and tambourines as well.
Kijuma was able to make these instruments.
In other words,
The second event which took
place in his life during those two years was his second marriage,
Fatuma bint Bwana Ali Kitole,
■Lady",
in about 1885.
to Bi.
known as Kinana the diminutive form of nana
Her grandmother was a member of the famous and
respected family al-Mahdaliy.
26
I have to acknowledge that Mzee Salim
Kheri was not totally sure whether this wife of Kijuma was the second or
the third one.
If she was the third,
m entioned later wou l d be the second,
the third wife who will be
replacing this one.
Kijuma*s poetry
preserves some stanzas praising his wife Kinana as follows:
1.
Kimo cha kadiri
Of medium stature
Cha kiasi sana
Of the right size
Miy omo mizuri
Beautiful lips
Hata akinena
Even when speaking
Kama santuri
It is like the gramophone
Kimba wangu nana
When my lady sings
61
2
31
-
.
Siwezi kuwanga
I can not enumerate
Wahedi wahedi
One by one
Zitafute zake
Her cheeks
Kama mawaridi
Are like roses
Muwilini
The smell of her body's sweat
A
n
ite
Harufu nda udi
r*
(her qualities)
Is the aromatic aloe itself.
r*
3.
Siwezi
kuwanga
I can not enumerate
Yot e kutamka
Mentioning all
Nacha ya kuzinga
I am afraid of turning in circles
Mambo kufujika
And the words would be spoiled
pua ni upanga
The nose is straight like a sword
Imezosifika
And it has become famous.
Actually,
our poet was right to be afraid, as
he wrote in stanza 3,
because his affairs
did become disordered and
before 1900.
time I ask Kijuma's compatriots about
Every
divorcing his wife,
the answer I received was
"Very hot t e m p e r e d " .
he divorced his wife Kinana
the reason for
that he was mkali sana
He was the kind of person who does not accept any
arguments between a wife and her husband, as stanzas 172-176 in his poem
Siraji explain.
Helewa,
62
Kinana bore him only one son called Ali,
in about 1885.
Kijuma called his son Helewa in the same way in
which Mwana Kamari called her son Kijuma.
Helewa is derived from the
word h a l u a , a common sweet made mainly from sesame-seed.
In a lost song,
Kijuma paraphrased the name Helewa as a toy made of sweets.
died in 1951, 66 years old.
Helewa grew up in Lamu.
known as
63
9
Helewa
This means that he was born in 1885.
-
32
-
His father was then becoming an expert in carpentry and wood-carving.
taught his son this art.
Mlimani Mission in Lamu,
He
Helewa attended some English classes at the
hoping that he could get a better
job.
He did
not attend it alone but with his relatives Garadi bin Abdalla Imam,
Kh alid bin Ab dalla Khatibu, Khalifa and Abdalla Zena,
They were accused
of not being true Muslims since they mingled with the waz ungu in their
9
schools,
so they had to leave Lamu.
Helewa who went to Zanzibar.
They all went to Mombasa except
This was when he was a lad of 15 years old,
. 64
and he went to escape from the poor life
and to look for a good job.
He managed to get a government
job as a carpenter,
the printing office of Zanzibar.
but he later divorced her.
63
then, as a printer,
in
He married Bi. Nasra from Zanzibar
He later married another woman from Mombasa.
He divorced her too and remarried the first Nasra of Zanzibar.
he retired from his work and intended to go back to Lamu,
Nasra refused to go with him.
but his wife
So, he divorced her again.
have any children by either Nasra or the Mombasan lady.
In 1945,
He did not
He went back to
Lamu and there he was p e rsuad ed to marry, hoping he would have children.
The hope was fulfilled when he had a daughter called Esha.
married and now lives in Muscat.
Helewa stayed in Lamu,
Esha is
until
1949, and
during this time he taught his relative Bw. A b dalla Skanda some aspects
of the carver's profession.
In 1949, Helewa left La m u for Mombasa to
teach the art of carving in the Muslim Institute there.
Bw, Abdalla
Skanda attended Helewa's classes in that Institute until he mastered the
art.
Bw. Skanda is now,
in his own words, capable of finishing in an
hour the work which Kijuma used to finish in two weeks.
died and was buried in Mombasa.
In 1951, Helewa
The most important works of Helewa's
carving are the door of the Kenyan parliament which can still be seen
today;
the door of the Sultan's palace in Zanzibar
the house-door of Sir Mbarak Ali Hinawy,
{Baitu L-Ajaib),
Liwali of Mombasa.
and
-
33
-
Bw. Abdalla Skanda taught the following students the same art: Muhamadi
Ahmadi Abdalla, Ab d a l l a Salih,
Abdalla.
Othmani Muhamadi Skanda, and Abdel-Nasir
There is another expert at carving in Lamu called Bakari Shaika
who w a s taught by his father shaika wa Simba.
the other student of Kijuma.
Shaika only.
La m u now.
There
This Shaika wa Simba was
The latter taught carving to Helewa and
is no other fundi working
in the same material in
The students of Bw. Abdalla Skanda carved many doors including
the door of Bw. Omari Faruqi
in Mombasa.
65
So,
it is an obvious
conclusion that the art of carving on the Kenyan coast was and still is
preserv ed only thanks to Kijuma's talent and hard work.
Go ing back to Kijuma' s wives,
63
he began looking for another wife, after he
had divo rced Kinana, Helewa*s mother.
He went to one of his relatives,
called Esha Wa Bwana Khatib u to seek her hand in marriage.
Kheri called her
Mzee Salim
: Esha Wa Bwana Khatibu nduye kina Ahmadi.
that Kijuma was rejected at the beginning.
It seems
Thus, he used his attractive
66
we ap on of composing poetry to persuade her to accept his proposal:
1.
Binti Hemedi
0, daughter of Hemedi
Mwana wa johari
0 , daughter of precious genealogy
Mimi Muhamadi
<•
I am Muhamadi
Ni kama Kamari
I am like the moon (like my mother)
Mambo yakiadi
If the matter
Ne tea Khabari
Let me know.
is settled
-
34
-
2.
Na mimi mwalishi
I am the one who will invite
(for the wedding
celebration)
Napenda kutiya
I would like to add,
Asiye nakishi
Not to be a carver
Ni muovu ghaya
Is very bad.
Hazinyi hawashi
To be
(a useless person) who neither turns the
fire on nor off
Ni m u ovu pia
Is also very bad.
3.
Na tena
la mwiso
/N
Finally,
the person
Aka l a l e kwao
Must go and sleep (settle)
Na kwao ni uso
For them,
Ndio atumwao
The one who is used (sent).
Zikunduke nyuso
Then,
Kwa wakati huo
(i.e. cheerful).
with his relatives
the person is the face
the faces will become wide open
It was a c u sto m that someone other than the bridegroom, would go and
invite people for the wedding celebration, but Kijuma in the second
stanza was ready to bear the whole burden for this occasion on his own
shoulders for the sake of Esha.
He reminded her that he was a skilled
carver and it is not good for a person to be neither a master nor an
employee.
It seems that the hand of the same bride was sought in
m arriage by another man who had neither job nor talent, and the bride's
family was ready to accept him as the bridegroom.
-
-
35
In the last stanza, Kijuma urged his relatives
(the family of the bride)
to accept him as the bridegroom, because he was the
'face'
of the family,
i.e. he was the representative of
that family, because he - as a
- was a member of that family, or
he
relative
- as a relative - was the head of
that family since he was the one to invite people for the occasion.
It
is a custom that the family of the bridegroom send the most respected
person in the family to go to the family of the bride to ask her hand
from her parents.
himself).
In Kij uma's case, he was the one who was sent (by
In this case, how could he be in the positi on of the chosen
one in the family and get rejected by the same family!
At the end,
Kijuma reminded his relatives that he would not find any shelter outside
the family,
if he did not find it
Kijuma's stanzas moved the hearts
him.
Even the old son of Bw.
about his proposal,
proper place,
i.e.
in the family.
of his relatives and made them
Zena, Muhamadi,
6V
agreed with Kijuma
telling h i m that the house to which he went was the
it had the proper bride, and congratulated him by
composing three stanzas.
The first stanza of these is:
Shani akirama
0, most noble
Ndetu sute
It is the honour of
Tut eze kwa hima
To celebrate cheerfully
Mwenye kite
For h i m who has the
Upendalo tama
We will fulfil
Kwa lolote
Whatever you want
Thus,
the marriage was celebrated,
about five years.
accept
Again,
all of us
sympathy
and the couple lived together for
the marriage did not last for a long time.
Bibi Esha was di vorced in about 1900.
It is likely that that divorce was
68
carried out because of Kijuma's mandari.
-
36
-
This mandari harme d his compatriots very much,
but boycott him.
and they could do nothing
Th i s boycotting had no great effect against him,
because of his talents which they needed to employ and also because
Kijuma was invited shortly afterwards by the Sultan Ha moud of Zanzibar in
1319/1901,
69
to become one of his palace musicians.
The main reason
for this invitation was K i j u m a ’s superiority in the singing competitions
against Bw.
Zena for entertaining the Sultan during his second visit to
Lamu in 1319/1901.
latter's death m
Kijuma remained in Sultan Hamoud's palace up to the
July 1902.
palace is not known.
70
The exact year in which Kijuma left the
Althou gh Kijuma wrote,
in a letter,
to J.W, that he
used to play the gambusi or kinanda in the palace of Zanzibar during the
reign of Sayyid Hamoud and his son Ali
definitive dates.
12
(1902 - 1911),
he did not give any
It is p robable that Kijuma left the palace after
the Sultan's financial resources had been reduced and Mr. Rogers,
First Minister, who had ties with Kijuma, had been recalled.
71
the
We can
suggest that he left the palace in about 1908, and arrived in Lamu in the
same year, because Mzee Salim Kheri said that he acquired Kijuma's
friendship in 1326/1908.
He also said that Kijuma came to Lamu after
Sayyid Hamoud had died, and that he was again recalled to the palace by
Sayyid Ali bin Hamoud.
Apa rt from this visit to Lamu,
that Kijuma left the palace before 1908,
it is not probable
simply b e c ause no evidence could
be traced of his living anywhere else but in the p a la ce at Zanzibar from
1901 to 1908.
He returned to Lamu to use his talents once again in the
following fields:
1.
The singing competitions.
2,
Composing songs to assist these competitions w h ich require a
as a main element,
and also to give his attitude towards the
various subjects of life.
song
3.
Composing long poems,
37
-
and scribing them.
Also scribing other poems
composed by different poets.
4.
Pra ctisin g the art of carpentry, wood carving,
drawing,
calligraphy,
sculpturing,
and other crafts as we shall see.
Kijuma devoted his entire life to working in these fields.
discussed in order in subsequent chapters of this thesis.
Kijuma died.
All he left after he had died was 15 cats.
Q
The y are
In 1945,
-
38
-
Chapter I - Notes
1.
Corresp ondenc e with Bibi Zena al-Bakariy.
2.
See p. 45.
3.
A letter from Kijuma to W.H., Ms. 47797.
4.
For
5.
He was one of my informants in Lamu.
6.
She is m e ntion ed in Kijuma's report to E.D.,
7.
He is named in the letter which Bw. Abdalla Khatibu gave me in
(Mzee wa mji),
Lamu,
see: Salim,
1978, p . 9.
see: p. 483.
8.
A letter from Kijuma to W.H., Ms. 47797.
9.
Interview with Bw. Abdalla Khatibu in Lamu,
10
.
11 .
12
.
see: p. 339,
See: p. 23.
See: p. 23.
The Swahili collection of Rev. J. Williamson, Reel I.
13.
Ms. 53490,
14,
His full name is: Muhamadi bin Abu-Bakari bin Muhamadi Nyekai.
was a very famous poet.
He was once introduced to Ali Koti,
He
He
w a s not impressed by Ali Koti's appearance and intended to test him
in poet r y and language.
Zanzibar
(1832 - 1856)
One day,
the Sultan Said bin Sultan of
asked him to meet him in Zanzibar.
He
travelled from Lamu to see the Sultan but the Sultan did not give
h i m an audience.
Al-Sheikh Muhamadi returned to Lamu after he had
stayed many days in Zanzibar to meet the Sultan but in vain.
he grew ve r y sad and composed verses in that mood.
So,
-
39
-
It is not known why he was kept in Zanzibar against his will by the
Sultan,
him,
but it is likely that it was a lesson which the Sultan gave
for, taken from the sultan's point of view it was the
punishment which al-Sheikh Muhamadi deserved because of his quarrel
with al-S heikh Abdur-Rahmani bi n Ahmadi al-Husainiy.
many poems,
contrition".
He composed
One of them is called Shairi la maiiuto "The po em of
It is about a thankless woman w h o m he loved dearly
but who did not return his love.
divorced wife Fatuma al-Husainiy.
It is likely that he meant his
He died in about 1279/1862,
according to a letter from Kijuma to W.H.,
see: Mss. 53490, 53491,
53495, and 47797.
15.
Interview with Sh. Y.A. Omari in S.O.A.S.
16.
The last stanza,
17.
A letter from Kijuma to W.H. who received it on 18th October 1937,
in A . I .0., see:
p. 388.
Mss. 47797 and 53490.
18.
A letter from Kijuma to W.H. in Ms. 47797.
19.
See: p.
20.
See the reference in note 14, p.
21.
145.
39.
The divorced woman is either menstruating or not.
menstruating,
courses.
her
'Eddah will be three Qur'u,
The one Qur'u is meant to be either
itself or the
i.e.,
If she is
three monthly
the m o nthl y period
'clean' period between each monthly period.
Hence,
the divorced woman should wait until three Qur'u pass, and after
that she is free to remarry if she wants to.
Allah wanted to make
these Qur 'u as short as possible to enable the divorced woman to
remarry as soon as possible if she wants to.
husband,
So, He ordered the
who found no alternative but to divorce his wife,
to
divorce her after she becomes clean from her m o n t hly period.
When she becomes
with her.
40
-
'c lean1, he is prohibited from having intercourse
In this time, he may divorce her.
When he divorces her,
one Qur'u out of the three would already have passed.
divorced woman is not menstruating,
and so on, her
remarrying.
her
If the
e.g, because of her age, health
'Eddah is to wait three lunar months before
If the divorced wom a n is pregnant,
'Eddah until delivering the baby.
woman wh o s e husband has died,
she must observe
Concerning the 'Eddah of the
it is four lunar months plus ten
days, whether she was menstruating or not, but if she was pregnant,
again, her
'Eddah extends until the delivery of the baby.
Although
the significance of the 'Eddah is to avoid any pro babil ity of
getting children whose fathers are uncertain,
the woman still has
the main right in this matter, because she is the one to state
whether or not she had any pregnancy.
Allah not to tell lies in this.
That is why she is asked by
See: Quran 2: 228,
also 65: 1 and
4.
22.
He was the main rival of Kijuma in the n g o m a , see: p.
47.
23.
He was a prom inent theologian of Lamu, and Siu,
of Mwenye
Mansabu, Kijuma's teacher,
see: p.
tutor
25.
24.
Mother of Mwana Kamari,
she was known as Nana Shee.
25.
Werner and Hichens,
26.
Interview with Mzee Salim Kheri
27.
Dammann, The East A f ric an E x p e r i e n c e , p . 65.
28.
See:
29.
Stanzas 44, 45, and 75,
30.
See:
p. 339.
31.
See:
p. 20.
32.
See:
p. 195.
33.
Quran,
1934, p . 25,
in
Lamu.
p. 25.
4: 23.
in S i r a j i , pp. 428, 429 and 436.
-
4 1
-
34.
Interview with
35.
See: p. 32.
36.
Ms. 253029.
37.
See: p. 383
38.
See: Stanza 188, p. 465.
39.
See: p. 20.
40.
Harries,
41.
Interview with
Dr. Ibrahim Noor Sheriff of Zanzibar in London.
42.
Interview with
S ayyid Hasan Badawy in Lamu.
43.
See: p. 21.
44.
See: p. 21,
45.
See: p. 21.
46.
Interview and correspondence with Bwana Mahmoud Mau of Lamu.
47.
See: Ex.K.
48.
Quran 3:
49.
See: p. 21,
50*
For the n g o m a , see pp. 43-91.
51.
Obtained fr o m Mzee Kuwe Abdalla known as Bakowe,
52.
Kara = A small paragraph of the Quran.
53.
Surah 36.
54.
Surah 2.
55.
See: p. 280.
56.
See: pp. 47,
57.
One day,
1958,
11,
Bibi Maryamu M. al-Bakariy of Lamu in London.
p. 27, and Knappert,
201-8.
12, and 176.
in Matondoni.
50, 59 and 64.
this Tabibu went to a girl,
marriage.
1979, pp. 201-3,
in Lamu,
to seek her hand in
He wa s rejected in the beginning because the family of
this girl feared that he might ruin this marriage, but his teacher,
Kijuma,
stood beside him, supporting his engagement, by singing:
-
42
-
Hakuna m wenye kuharibu
There is no one who can destroy
Ilia yeye Wahabu
But He The Bestower.
Thus,
the marriage was completed and Kijuma made a big celebration
for Tabibu.
Interview with Mzee Salim Kheri and his daughter
58.
A letter from Kijuma to E.D, dated 1356/1937,
in Lamu.
of which I have a
copy.
59.
See: pp. 281 - 294.
60.
Interview with the sone
of Mwenye Alawy,
Mualim Saqqaf of Wasini in
Mombasa.
61.
Kijuma belie ved that there were no ugly sounds on the gramophone
but only nice,
62.
63.
sweet voices.
See: p. 461.
Interview wi th Bwana Abdalla Skanda in Lamu.
64.
Stanza 5 in S i r a j i , p.419.
65.
See: Ex. S.
66.
To know the effect of Kijuma's composition on people's hearts,
p. 93,
67.
See:
p. 20.
68.
See:
pp.
69.
See:
pp. 59-69.
70.
See:
p. 6 6 .
71.
See:
p. 6 6 .
476-480,
see:
_
43
-
C H A P T E R II
The Singing Competitions Which Kijuma O rganised^
Under The Colonial Government, As A Medium
For Economic, Political And Social Change
In Lamu
Kijuma grew up in Lamu town where there were two quarters.
quarter was called Mtamwini or Langoni,
Mkomani.
The southern
and the nort hern one was called
These two quarters used to have their own political leaders,
mil itary forces,
poets,
and their own teams for the singing competitions.
It is worth summarising all that is known about the quarters and the
singing competitions in Lamu before Kijuma was born.
Lamu had, until 1812,
two main quarters named Suudi and Zena, the former,
being the southern quarter of Lamu,
one.
and the latter being the northern
The rivalry between the two led to a feud which continued for an
unknown number of years, but eventually,
according to the elders of Lamu,
both sides, being of almost equal strength, decided to make peace on a
certain day.
On that day,
it was decided that each co mmunity would be
responsible for the defence of its own quarter,
leaders and councillors.
furnishing guards,
They also decided that each should maintain its
own section of the town wall, and that each in rotation should supply a
general leader, whose duty it would be to co-ordinate the work of the two
quarters,
this office being held for about four years.
After this, the
town walls were twice extended to allow for the increase in the
population.
Also,
two additional residential quarters were built, the
guards of the original quarters having a certain number of the houses in
the new quarters allotted to them.
2
There were two singing competitions
(Zena and Suudi)
44
-
(n g o m a ) in which these two quarters
used to compete against each other.
referred to by A.H.J. Prins as: Celebration,
handing-over
The first one was
every four years,
ceremonies accompanied by prolonged festivals.
3
of the
The
second was called gungu "A big dish-shaped gong which is usually beaten
4
during the n g o m a " .
In about 1807, when the people of Lamu knew that
the people of Mombasa with the people of Pate were coming to fight them,
they (Zena and Suudi) were invited b y Bwana Zahidi bin Mgumi, who was
then the general leader of Lamu,
to organise an oration-dance called
g u n g u , in order to ask advice of the two quarters,
i.e.
Zena and Suudi.
The ngoma then were the occasions for public announcements,
harangues,
and both freemen and bondsmen had a right to speak in matters
of common poli cy and public interest.
thus:
orations and
We find this noted in an old verse
5
Ngoma ni ya wan a
The ngoma is for youths
Na watu wazima
And for mature folk
Ta ngu waungwana
P r o m the free-born
Hata na wat uma
To -the people of the
Alt hough watuma = watum wa is usually translated as
bondsmen,
'slave',
watumwa were by no means without civic and social rights.
was that of villeinage rather than
the latter term.
As W.H. wrote:
'slavery'
the Swahili
Their status
in the Europea n concept of
"Relations between freemen and watuma
wer e easy-going and as a class the bondsmen appear to have been well
treated and,
both socially and economically, were in a better position
than most of their descendants are as industrialised freemen today".
5
-
45
g
Aro und 1820, the names of Zena and Suudi were replaced by Mkomani
and
g
Mtamwini,
but we do not know exactly why or how, although Prins
explains this replacement as a result of changing conditions in the
.
7
town.
An early reference to these two new names is found in a letter
from Kijuma to W.H.,
reading:
Mtamwini and Mkomani.
"There are two big quarters in Lamu called
The leader of Mtamwini was Sheikh Abdu-Rahamani
bin Ahmadi a l - H u s ainiy who was Sharifu and judge.
was Sheikh Muhamadi bin Abu-Bakari
The leader of Mkomani
{the husband of Kijuma's maternal
3
g r a n d m o t h e r }".
Whe n we realise that Sheikh Muhamadi bin Abu-Bakari died in about
9
1862,
we can assume that these two leaders held their office until the
late 1850's.
Later on, for some time during Kijuma's life (1855 - 1945)
the Mtamwini was led by Bwana Ali Muhamadi Zainu l'Abidina,
Bwana Zena
{= Bw.
Zena).
known as
He was a member of the a l-Ba kariy family, the
most senior lineage in the town.
He wa s a Mzee wa m u i , or member of the
traditional governing council of L a m u .10
plantations and some dhows.
He was an owner of
He and Kijuma belonged to the same
f a mil y11 and Kijuma was also a member of this Mtamwini,
The Mkomani was led by Sheikh Omari Nyekai,
Muhamadi bin Abu-Bakari,
(of the same family as Sheikh
the husband of Kijuma's grandmother).
Omari was also a member of the council of Lamu;
respected.
As we see,
Sheikh
his family was highly
the leaders of the Mtamwini and Mkomani were
representatives of their quarters in the council of Lamu.
This
representation is so important that it may be considered as one of the
keys which will make the analysis of this society possible.
Thus,
46
-
the new Mtamwini could be considered a natural substitute of the
old Suudi, and the new Mkomani a substitute of the old Zena, because the
two new factions,
old ones,
old Suudi,
represented the town's quarters in a way similar to the
(i.e. the new Mtamwini for the southern quarter was the same as
and the new Mkomani for the northern quarter was the same as
the old Zena).
In addition to this,
the Lamu Council,
or Wazee wa m u i .
12
their leaders were both members of
Concerning the singing
competitions between Mtamwini and Mkomani,
they used to compete against
13
each other in the ngoma ya d h i l i .
Ngoma ya Dhili
Dhili means shade.
This ngoma was called thus because it was performed
in two large boats without sails.
decorations of every kind,
These boats were shaded by means of
e.g. Indian cloths,
flowers,
and flags.
It is
probable that Kijuma was the one who invented this dhili as will be seen
presently.
Most,
if not the whole,
take part in this n g o m a .
of the population of the town used to
It was p erformed for one week every year,
Swahili year of the nautical and agricultural calendar.
14
Hence,
the
the
significance of celebrating it was that they w ish e d it to be a prosperous
year
in agriculture and navigation.
The procedure of the ngoma was as
follows:
Two boats were prepared.
to blow the cows'
Each boat had a team, consisting of some women
horns, while others beat a big drum, and some men
carried their display swords and moved them up into the air and down into
the sea.
It was the job of other members to pull the boat by a strong
rope called utari or qambara into the shallow water by the shore.
boat was pulled to and fro along the side of the quay.
The
With much rejoicing,
47
-
all the spectators gathered on the beach to watch
the competition and to listen to the songs.
a jury,
composed of some of the elders,
Besides all this, there was
from both qua rters of the town,
to decide which team had won after the competition was over, but this was
not bef ore a represent ative from each team had come before the jury to
advertise all the advantages of his team, and denounce the disadvantages
of the others.
K iju m a drew a picture of this n g o m a 1s boat,
all this procedure.
15
this ngoma with Bw.
In the beginning, Kijuma used to participate in
Zena by making dolls in the shape of human beings
cap able of dancing like puppets = M a s a n a m u .
important element in helping Bw,
S h eik h Omari Nyekai.
illustrating
These mas anamu were an
Zena defeat the leader of Mkomani,
By these m a s a n a m u , Bw. Zena became so famous that
an e xpression is still used in Swahili describing him and these
masanamu.
It reads:
A m e k a a kama sanamu wa
He sat there like
X6
Zena =
the Zena's
doll.
This is said of a person who just looks with eyes wide -open like an
idiot, and if some one speaks to him, he remains silent.
A r o u n d 1890,
17
the Mtamwini, was divided into two sub-factions,
cal led Nidhamu with Bw.
Bereki,
and the other called
the name of a place situated between the quarters,
and Mkomani,
poet.
Zena as its leader and poet,
one
of Mtamwini
led by a man called Sheikh Jambeni, with Kijuma as its
The cause of this division may have indirectly been a plan made by
the D i st rict Office in Lamu,
B ritish Navy as a sailor.
17
had s omething to do with Bw.
mea ns discipline,
because Bw. Zena was by then employed in the
It is very likely that the name of Nidhamu
Zena's work in the Navy, because Nidhamu
and discipline is the first lesson wh ich the sailor
learns in the Navy.
It shows that
gave to his new faction
the new name
was a name
ofNidham u which
connected with his
job
Bw.
Zena
in the Navy.
-
48
-
It is probable that the authority of that Navy was behind that division
because this divisio n in which their employee
(Bw.
was the first of its kind for the Mtamwini quarter.
time for a quarter
Zena) was involved,
It was the first
in Lamu to be divided into two factions competing
against each other in the singing competitions,
in addition to this, we
shall see p r es ently a clear connection between the District Office and
Bw,
Zena and Kijuma concerning the singing competitions.
the partic ipants
in Bw.
Furthermore,
Zena's faction began later to wear the uniform of
the British Na v y during their competitions as we shall see.
Hence,
it is
not unlikely that that division was planned by the District Office as an
introduction to other divisions which were to come later.
There is
another important point to be made concerning this division.
Bereki-members
joined the Mkomani,
It is that
accepting the leadership of Sheikh
Omari Nyekai and paying no regard to the fact that they had crossed the
streets which form the borders of the town's quarters.
Such a crossing
was ag ain the first move of its kind in the history of the town.
It is
p r o b a b l e that that move was plan ned by the District Office, but
indirectly,
because such a move was the first in a series of moves which
made these factions into singing factions only, and not military and
politic al parties as they used to be.
The aim of the District Office in
this w a s to change the p olitical structure in the town and establish its
own, as we shall see in this chapter.
that Bw,
However,
the oral tradition shows
zena was the one who favoured this division as we see from this
song of Kijuma:
Nali muinga k ikutilia tumbaku
I was stupid when I stuffed your pipe
Kibahalulu kikusumba kwa shauku
And lit the kibahalulu
Samiri
19
tena wala sipigi mkuku
18
with devotion
I will never fill it again,
the first puff.
and draw
-
49
-
The first puff after preparing the pipe reflects symbolically Kijulma's
efforts to get everything ready for Bw.
of the competitions,
before they were divided.
20
Kij uma's riddles or m a f u m b o .
reply.
Zena concerning the requirements
Bw.
It is a good example of
Zena did not leave Kijuma without a
He composed the following song in metaphorical language:
Hoko mefunga mlango hako
Where you are going there is no one there
N imekizengea sikukiona kiko
I looked for the pipe but did not find it,
A s we see, Bw.
Zena was closing the door of his faction in the face of
Kijuma who later went to knock at the door of Mkomani.
Mkomani was opened,
Bw.
The door of
and by letting h i m in, Mkomani defeated Nidhamu of
Zena as the following song of Kijuma shows:
Tw a l i yapamb anya
21
We had gathered together
Dhili na madau
Dhili and dhows
Hi
To teach these
kuwaonya
Wa l o kidharau
Who were scorning us,
Iwapo kufanya
That if someone wants to
Hu f a n y a hiyau
He should act in this way.
act
T h e song also shows that Kijuma'was actually the first person to invent
this d h i l i .
Bw.
Before then,
the dhows had not been shaded.
Zena of Ni d h a m u became very disappointed and vowed to defeat Kijuma
of Mkomani
in the ngoma ya dhili of the new year to come.
end of the 1890's.
B ritish Navy,
It ha ppened that Bw.
sailed to India.
It was at the
Zena, being a sailor
On his return to Lamu,
in the
he brought with
h i m the decorations which he could use to decorate and to shade his dhow
of ngoma ya d h i l i .
Kijuma knew what Bw.
Zena had done.
50
-
So, he became very anxious to know
exactly what kind of decorations he had brought.
his faction,
Shee Ali,
decorations.
Kijuma sent the spy of
to spy and to find out the type of these
The spy returned to Kijuma with a song of his own
composition.
Kijuma baba sikiya
Listen Kijuma,
Moyo towa shitighali
Take the worry out of your heart
Dhili yako nda hidaya
Your dhili is the gift which
Mei tukuza Jalali
G o d has made great
Pwani
When it is shown on the coast
ikihudhuriya
Ndio ya kwanda si pili
my dear sir
It will be the best not the second-best.
In spite of that assurance from Shee Ali that Kijuma's d h i l i , which was
made from native materials, would be the first, Kijuma was still anxious
to display things that
no one had ever seen before.
with a device enabling
it to mock and abuse Bw.
Zena.
He made a sanamu
W h e n the latter
was told about this s a n a m u , he went to a police inspector and they
plotted together to invent false charges against Kijuma who was arrested
and detained.
He did not realise that Bw. Zena was the person behind the
arrest until the D.C.
of Lamu, Mr. Rogers,
returned from a voyage.
a short discussion between the D.C. and that police inspector,
released Kijuma after he had told him that Bw.
the arrest.
Bw.
17
After
the D.C.
Zena was the one behind
From then on, Kijuma sheltered deep ani mosity against
Zena and vowed to compete against h i m in every aspect of life.
Kijuma was released to resume his preparation for the ngoma to defeat Bw.
Zena.
Although the popular memory does not preserve the songs composed
by Kijuma for that particular occasion,
it does recall a song by Bw.
22
narrating his defeat in the following way:
Zena
51
Bwana Zena huwambia
Bw.
Meondoa taazia
The obsequies have ended
Shuka pwani tukayeze
Bw.
23
Zena tells you
Go down to the beach to launch
(the dhow)
Zena is comparing his defeat after the competition was over, to the
obsequies after a dead person is buried.
It seems likely that the arrest
of Kijuma was the result of a collusion between a police officer and Bw.
Zena to detain Kijuma for no more reason than to increase the differences
between Kijuma,
the competitive poet, and Bw.
Zena, the sailor in the
British Navy.
The popular m emo r y about Kijuma does not retain any further details about
ngoma ya d h i l i .
The r e was another ngoma called m w a s h a .
against each other in this n g o m a .
refer to an important event.
died around 1900,
Kijuma and Bw,
Zena competed
Before discussing this, we have to
The leader of Mkomani,
Sheikh Omari Nyekai
leaving Mkomani with no leader for some time.
It is
very likely that Kijuma was Acting leader of Mkomani during that time,
because there is a song showning that he used to take the leadership of
this faction during crises.
24
under the leadership of Kijuma,
After Sheikh Omari Nyekai had died, and
Mkomani,
history,
was divided into two factions,
Nubani.
Pumwani
for the first time in its
one called Pumwani and the other
is a name of a place in the Mkomani quarter.
The term
Nubani is probably derived from a tribe called the Wanubi found in the
Sudan.
16
Some hundreds of these N ubians were sent to Lamu by Sultan
Said bin Sultan of Zanzibar in 1812.
As the chronicle of Lamu records:
"The men of Lamu built for the Sultan a fortress and our lord Said Sultan
placed his men there and appointed.a governor Khalif bin Nasor, with
5
Arabs and Nubians,
a total of 500 men,
and they remained there".
The
Germans too may have brought some Nubians from the Sudan to Lamu around
25
1890.
-
52
-
These Nubians were to work as labourers for the Germans,
the beginning of the 1890's)
for the.British in Lamu.
17
and then (since
What the
elders of Lamu are sure about is that these Nubians were a group of
employees and were never employers.
Comparing the people of Pumwani to
the people of Nubani is like comparing the employers to the employees.
It seems probable that this division was based on the difference between
the classes which had never before penetrated into the singing
competitions in Lamu,
26
Thus,
it is likely that that division was
something introduced by the D.C.'s office through Kijuma to bring about a
change in the social structure,
as we shall see from Kijuma's songs.
is believed that this came about through Kijuma,
Acting leader of the Mkomani,
take place,
excluded,
It
because he was then the
and after the division of the Mkomani had
the Nubani and Bereki joined together, with the Pumwani
under the collective name of Mkomani and Kijuma as its poet.
In addition to this, Kijuma was the one who had links with the D.C.'s
office, after he had been saved by that Office from being prosecuted and
pos sibly jailed.
N idhamu of Bw.
27
This Mkomani of Kijuma used to compete against the
2ena in ngoma ya d h i l i , and also ngoma ya m w a s h a .
Ngoma ya mwasha
Pre vious competitions had taught Kijuma to use his imagination in order
to create a new dance to be used in his competitions against Bw. Zena.
He created this dance after he had left the faction of Bw.
1890.
28
When this dance was first created,
Zena around
it was called kukata shingo
"Cutting necks", and it was thus called because the dancers had to bend
their necks up and down as well as turn them round this way and that.
-
53
-
Kukata shingo was per formed by women and men in two independent groups,
but later on, the kukata shingo of men came to be called goma la
njiwa
29
30
"The dance of the dove", or mazira
"The circle".
To create
this dance, Kijuma managed to attract about twenty one concubines and
adopted them for the purpose of teaching them his mwasha dance.
gave the girls gold chains to put around their necks,
for their hair,
Then,
theirs hands right and left,
horns,
guitar.
bunches of jasmine
to
clarinet,
throwing their legs up in turn, waving
turning their necks up and down,
an irresistable rhythm.
It was
Kijuma b eing the creator of this n g o m a ,
trace six stanzas composed,
round this
accompanied by drums,
cymbals and sometimes an instrument similar
times in his p o e m s 31 and songs.
to a
referred to it many
I was eventually fortunate enough to
I believe,
by Kijuma himself describing the
girls of mwasha dur ing their dance in more detail.
by Allen, and the m i c r o f i l m was given to S.O.A.S.
1982:
He
and dressed them in attractive transparent clothes.
they sang Kijum a's songs,
way and that,
17
Th e y were microfilmed
only at the end of
32
1.
U j i l e tumi basiri
A wise messenger has come
Mmbeja wak o khalili
Your beautiful girl friend
A t o k a o Zinjibari
Who is coming from Zanzibar
Nti ya wenye jamali
The country of the nice people
Kaniuliz a khabari
And asked me the news
Nami kamwambia kweli
A n d I told her the truth
Jam ii ya waswahili
All the Swahili people
Matezo yao ni mwasha
Their dance is the mwasha.
2
54
-
.
H a k u n a maneno tena
r\
There is nothing more to be said
W a l a u nyimbo za kwimba
Nor more songs to be sung (except those used
in m w a s h a )
W a t um wa kwa w a ungw ana
Was his h i y e makayamba
33
The slaves and the noblemen
Are holding the rattles
Kisifuwa si kuona
Seeing is believing
Shani nda ito kutamba
The wonder
U w aon e wa ke pamba
Seeing the elegant women
Sura w a t ezao mwasha
H o w they dance m w a s h a .
is for the eye which roams about
3.
Kha sa watwae maringi
Especial ly when they wear anklets
Wa y a t i e maguuni
On their legs
W a t a n e yao mashungi
A n d comb their hair in long strands
Na nyanda zao nshini
A n d endow their eyebrows with kohl
H u l i w a z a mambo mengi
It causes one to forget many things
Mtu kazi haioni
It will make a man neglect his work
K ha s a wavae kidani
Particularly when they wear necklaces
Na kama ndani ya mwasha
And. chaplets (around their necks)
during
mwasha.
4.
W a n g i a p o libasini
When they put on their raiment
W a m b e j a wake wa ndeo
The beautiful proud w omen
Kwa zisua za Yamani
Wit h clothes of Yemen
Na mataribushi yao
•
A n d their fezes
Waa z i m i e mwashani
A n d dance to the mwasha
Siku waazimieo
Then, they really do it in a big show
-
55
-
So wonderful (what G od alone Accomplished),
Mngu Aitakia o
rs
it will be
J insi watezao mwasha
The way they dance mwasha.
5.
Huo mwasha huo mwasha
This is the true m w a s h a , this is the true
mwasha
Wala si mwasha upuzi
Not a false one
Masiku yote h ukesha
They spend all the nights awake
Hawapati masingizi
Not sleeping a wink
Na ms hindowe kuwasha
Its rhythm burns
Na kama tanga
.
35
,
kwa
.36
ngizi
It is like ginger with syrup
W a t u m w a hawana kazi
Eve n the slaves have no other work
Ela kuifunda mwasha
Except to learn m w a s h a .
6
.
Wa t u m w a wote
A mwendani
A
All the slaves, my friend
Tuwapie msamaha
W e gave them leave from work
Ha-wa-m ai ha-wak-kuni
They have to fetch neither water nor wood
Ni kuitumia raha
But to enjoy themselves
W a m b i w a kaifundeni
They are told: Go and learn mwasha
Hata muy u w e msaha
Until you know it p e rf ectly well
Tuw aw a s i e mubaha
We have given them leave
Hi
So that they learn the m w a s h a .
kuifunda mwasha
A
-
56
-
The songs sung in this ngoma ya mwasha were intended to mock Bw.
Zena and
his faction the Ni dhamu as the following songs show:
Mwasha wa Bini A y ub u mwasha
The mwasha of Bini Ayubu .is it the real
mwasha?
Ukinitukana sitokutukana
If you abuse me, I shall not abuse
tosha
you, it is enough.
Bw.
Zena understood that Kijuma meant him by saying:
Bini Ayubu.
Thus,
he replied:
Nami niatani
nami nambe
r
Let me speak too,
Ukinitukana sitokutukana
If you abuse me,
ngombe
(by saying) you ox.
I shall not abuse you
Kijuma replied:
Huwa nayangawa hufaani
It is probable, but even if it was, what is
the benefit of it?
Watambuzi tambuani
0, people of understanding, Understand:
Mlio wa chuwa utamdhurisha
W h o m will the frog's croaking hurt?
nyani?
It is obvious that Kijuma considered Bw. Zena's melo dy as ineffective and
as noisy as a frog's croaking which inspires no fear,
anyone who hears it.
nor does it benefit
Bw. Zena was infuriated and composed the following:
-
57
-
Na haya yangawe
A n d even if it does happen
N i d ha mu tuwani
0, people of Nidhamu:
Akimea mbawa
What is the worth of the little bird
Be calm
{Kijondi)
Kijondi ni nni
even if it had wings
Lipi
What is there that is not possible
lisokuwa
(nowadays)!
Akhiri zamani?
(Do you not know that we are near)
the end
of the world?
Bw.
Zena is w o nder ing about the change which took place in the town where
the majority of the Mkomani
(i.e. Nubians)
not a long time ago, had been
strangers w h o m he could employ, but had now changed and become his
rivals.
The times had changed and any thing impossible had become
possible.
Kijuma did not leave Bw.
Zena without satirising h i m by composing:
Chuwa nahudha wa marikabu
The frog, the captain of the ship
Ndiwa
hakomi kuhutubu
A
a
The dove does not stop m umbling
Mtu wa kurewarewa na
It is not strange for the staggering person
kuanguka
to fall down.
Kijuma is comparing Bw.
Zena to the frog in making noise,
inability to speak clearly,
and the staggering drunkard.
honourable person, Bw. Zena might walk as a proud man,
comparing him to a staggering drunkard.
of Kijuma was still very active,
Around 1910,
the dove in its
Being a rich
but Kijuma was
the Mwasha-troupe
not only participating
in the singing
competitions in Lam u and outside Lamu, but also in keeping these
competitions alive.
-
58
-
The clear evidence of this is the Utendi wa Mkunumbi which was composed
by Kijuma himself.
31
This active role of the troupe makes us assume
that they must have continued taking part in these competitions until
Kijuma announced his retirement from competing in the ngoma in the
1930's.
1910.
37
38
R. Skene wrote that the mwasha had originated only around
It is very likely that he wrote this, depending only on the
date of the composition of the Utendi wa M k n u m u b i , and omitted to study
Kijuma's songs or even to mention his name as the composer of the
mwasha.
One of the other dances composed by Kijuma and ment ioned by
Skene in his article with no reference to Kijuma is a dance called
Kinanda.
39
The Mwa sha-troupe of Kijuma used to perform this dance
during big celebrations and during weddings.
This dance was performed by
the Mwasha-troupe during Sultan Hamoud's visit to Lamu.
40
This dance
was also m entioned by Kijuma himself in his po e m on Lamu-customs,
stanza 108, as a dance per formed at wedding celebrations.
41
Hence, two
important points should be added to what Skene m e ntio ned in his article
about this dance.
The first is that it was composed by Kijuma.
The
second is that it was performed by female, as well as male performers.
Before leaving the M washa-troupe of Kijuma, we have to refer to a very
important event in which this troupe took part.
Hamoud's visit to La m u in 1901.
life of Kijuma.
It was sultan Sayyid
This event was a great episode in the
Thus, we have to devote a section to it.
-
59
-
The visit of Sultan Hamoud
to Lamu in 1901
In 1901, Sultan S ayyid Hamoud of Zanzibar
Lamu.
When the D.C.
gave Bw.
(1896 - 1902)
planned to visit
of Lamu Mr. A.S. Rogers was told about the plan, he
Zena leave from the Navy to prepare his N idhamu for a big
celebration for the Sultan,
and also asked Kijuma to do the same.
The two men did what they were asked.
factions,
i.e. the Nidhamu of Bw.
displaying what they had prepared.
masanamu.
42
The Sultan was received by the two
Zena and the Mkomani of Kijuma,
What Kijuma displayed was: Five
The first one was made in the shape of a man dressed in
Eur opean fashion
(koti na s u r u a l i )f able to smoke.
shape of a w o man dressed in European clothes,
third in the shape of a woman,
but with no hair.
playing a maruasi.
shape of a kite (k e n g e w a ) able to fly and cry.
Th e second one in the
43
The
The fifth in the
The latter was carried by
Kijuma himself, making it p e rform by means of devices which he alone
knew.
During his performance,
Kijuma was dancing and singing the
following song:
Kengewa lolo
O, naughty kite
Kipata nyakua
If
you get (a chick), snatch it.
Kijuma is comparing himself to kengewa l o l o , and Bw.
Zena to a chick.
is interesting to know that lolo. is an adjective for any one naughty,
noisy,
and very active, who openly outshines other people with these
' 16
qualities.
With these m a s a n a m u , the Mwasha-troupe of Kijuma were performing their
dance, and singing the songs which Kijuma had composed to welco me the
Sultan.
It
-
60
-
Here are some of these songs:
1.
Iweke nzizi judi
Plant the roots of generosity
Bwana ulio roshani
0, Master who
balcony
(is standing)
in the
44
Kumekuya maabidi
The slaves
Wa Bereki na Nubani
Bereki and Nubani have come
Hukuombe a Wahidi
Praying to The One
Uwe taa duniani
So that you may be the lamp of the world,
(subjects)
of
Whe n Kijuma felt that the Sultan had appreciated the perfo rmance of the
Mkomani
(= Bereki + Nubani),
he assured h i m that that performance was
only an introduction to a big celebration to follow:
2
.
Tumetoka tutokako
Ana sa upeo
We came from
A distance with great joy
Kukurubia ulipo
To where you are
Kwa letu pumbao
For our dance
Bwana huno ni mwaliko
0, Sir: This is just an introduction
Maringo yayao
For a big dance to come.
When Kijuma p e rce ived that the Sultan preferred Mkomani's performance,
composed and sang the following:
he
-
61
-
3.
Bwana meipenda — Amu yetu
The Master liked our Lamu
Kisa meipenda - d o l a yetu
Then, he liked our State
Wa tu mwa kumshashia
(We are)
ndilo letu
(d u t y ) .
the slaves,
(Mkomani)
to welcome him is our
As we see, each faction used to consider itself as if it were actually a
state.
This is not surprising since we already know that the early
quarters of Lamu (i.e.
Zena and Suudi,
then Mkomani and Mtamwini) were
actually political and militar y units, as well as competitive in the
ngoma.
This might explain w h y every faction had its own leader, poet,
and council.
4.
Ya Wahidu
A Subuhana
0, the Only One God,
Ya suudu Saidana
a
O, our fortunate Master
Sayyidi Hamudu maulana
Sayyid Hamoud our lord
Tumekuya kwako Bwana
W e have come to you
Kuamkia sute watumwa
We,
Sayyidi
r\ Hamudu
f% maulana
O, Sayyid Hamoud our lord.
Kijuma was asked by the D.C.
of Lam u to entertain the Sultan every day.
all the slaves,
to be praised
Sir
to welcome you
So, the Sultan was entertained by Kijuma and his Mwasha-troupe every day
from morning until 10 p.m.
stayed at Lamu.
17
However,
for the fifty days during which the Sultan
every Thursday of these fifty days Kijuma
and his Mwa sha-troupe had a rest and were replaced by people who recited
the maulidi.
45
During every day of the Sultan's stay in Lamu, Kijuma
composed new songs for his Mwasha-troupe to sing, praising the Sultan.
17
-
62
-
The visit of the Sultan was interrupted on 11th October 1901 by the news
from Zanzibar that General Lloyd Mathews had died.
Gen eral was the Sultan's First Minister,
46
Because the
he had to leave Lamu, but not
before he had invited Kijuma to join the musicians and dancers in the
palace at Zanzibar.
On the day of the Sultan's departure, Kijuma
composed his last song saying "farewell":
5.
Mbwa pumbao
He is the one to be entertained
We t u Sayyidi
Our Master
Pia hao
He surpasses
Huyu mezidi
all others
Enda kwao
He is going home
Nshalla tarudi
A
A
He will return with Al lah's will.
The rest of the chorus reply:
A tarudi
- Nshall a tarudi
A
A
A
A
He will return with All ah's will.
A t a r u d i — Nshalla tarudi
He will return with Allah's will.
6
.
Waunguja
The Zanzibarians
Kope huwapija
Their eyelids are twitching
Hawalali
Bwana humngoja
Ya Jalali
Tamwawik a koja
47
They do not sleep
They are waiting for the Master
The Glorious One
Wil l garland him.
-
63
-
In the meantime, what had happened to Bw.
Zena?
He too displayed
mas a n a m u but they were dressed in native style, and some of them in the
fashion of the native soldiers.
Ni d h a m u to sing.
Also, he composed songs for his faction
One of these songs:
Waja musi sumbuk eni
0 , people,
K u tez
A a nasi Ni dhamu
To compete with us Nidhamu
Huja zenu hufaani
Your arguments have no effect
Haya ndetu maalumu
It is well known that the competition is ours
Yan dis
A h i w e azalini
It is predestined
Jaha metupa Karimu
That The Generous One gave us the honour.
do not bother
Another song pra ising the Sultan and wishing him well:
Rabi takujaalia
May Allah make
Dola yako itukuke
Your state a great one
Rabi takujaalia
May Allah bring
Kulla kheri akwegeshe
For you all happiness
Kwa baraka za Nabia
May our Lord keep you by the
Mola wetu akuweke
blessing of the Prophet.
The other members of N i dha mu reply: Amina, Amina.
It seems likely that the spectators in Lamu preferred the masanamu of Bw.
Zena to those of Kijuma, because in addition to the saying which entered
the Swahili language concerning Bw.
zena and his m a s a n a m u , the oral
tradition preserves a song about them.
people of Lamu,
and reads:
This song was composed by the
64
Sa n a u m wa Zena:
The sanamu of Zena:
)There is an acting-
Huteza hiyao
It dances like
)movement here in the
Kisa kainuka
Then,
Kateza hiyao
And dances like this
)movement of the puppet
Kisa kazunguka
After that it turns
)
this
it rises
)song showing the
round
Kateza hiyao
The natives'
And dances like this.)
respect for their own dress might explain their preference
for the mas anamu of Bw,
La mu even now prefer
shati and s u r u a l i .
masanamu of Bw.
Lamu,
Zena especially when we know that the people of
to wear their kandu and kofia rather than wearing
Although the indigenous might have preferred the
Zena for being dressed in their own style,
the D.C. of
Mr, Rogers, bla med Bw. Zena for this style, and thanked Kijuma for
his masanamu being dressed in European fashion.
left Lamu,
saying:
the D.C.
After the Sultan had
gave his thanks to Kijuma and blamed Bw.
Zena by
"Did I give you leave to dress your masanamu in the fashion of
the Sultan's soldiers?
Kijuma has defeated you".
These words had a strong effect on Bw. Zena, as we shall see in this
chapter.
blame,
It is not unlikely that Mr. Rogers intended, with his words of
to use the singing competitions as a means of changing the fashion
in Lamu, p a r t icu larly when we know that the members of the singing
competitions came later dressed in European fashion,
48
although the
rest of the po pulation in the town were dressed in the native style.
Moreover,
the order of Mr. Rogers to Bw. Zena and Kijuma to prepare their
factions for gre eting the Sultan is considered as an indication of an'
existing relationship between the D.C.'s office and these factions in
Lamu.
-
65
-
Let us return to Kijuma's visit to the Sultan's palace in Zanzibar,
We
find that the Sultan called also on Mr, Rogers to replace the late
General Mathews in J a nua ry 1902.
As Mzee Salim Kheri of Lamu said,
because Kijuma showed the Sultan all the different amusements of Lamu,
the Sultan did not only call on Kijuma to be one of his musicians and
dancers,
but also called on Mr. Rogers to be his First Minister after the
Queen of England had asked the Sultan to choose her British
representative at his court.
The two men, Kiju ma and Mr. Rogers entered the palace of the Sultan in
Zanzibar in J a n u a r y 1902.
the Sultan,
49
Concerning the musicians in the palace of
there were three musical groups there.
composed of thirty-two members.
The first group was
All these men were Swahili.
They had
been led by an Egyptian musician who was a sergeant in a musical troupe
of the Eg yptian cavalry.
It is pr obable that the Eg yptian musician was
one of the Egy ptian musicians sent by the Egyptian government to Sultan
Barghash of Zanzibar
(1870 - 8 8 ),
When the Sultan vi sited Europe in
1875, he was invited by Pasha Ismail of Egypt on his w a y back to
Zanzibar.
The Sultan was a ttracted by the Egyptian music and requested
that some musicians be sent to his palace.
came to the throne
sergeant.
But when S ultan Ali bin Said
(1890 - 3), he dismissed the Egy ptians except for that
The Egyptians were replaced by musicians from the coast led by
the same sergeant,
but he was later replaced by a Swahili musician called
Muhamadi Ibrahimu al-Ajamiy.
Muhamadi was the leader of the musical
group during at least part of the reign of the Sultan Hamoud.
Furthermore,
50
Muhamadi accompanied Sultan Hamoud during his voyage to
Lamu, and other towns on the East African coast.
51
This first musical
group used to pla y Egyptian music from an old repertoire.
52
-
-
66
They not only played Egyptian music,
but also sang in Arabic,
even after
the Egyptians had been asked to leave the palace to be replaced by
Swahili musicians who could not speak Arabic.
their music every evening in the palace.
50
50
They used to play
The second group was
composed also of members from the towns of East Africa.
They played
stringed instruments and were led by the same Major Muhamadi Ibrahimu.
This second group used to play its repertoire during the Sultan's lunch.
The third group was composed of Indian Christians who played European
music.
The Sultan was fond of the first two because of his love for
Egy ptian m u s i c .50
We may suppose that Kijuma joined the first group
because of his good standard of Arabic.
We may also assume that Kijuma
seized the oppo rtunity of being in the Sultan's palace with chosen
musicia ns to dev elop his musical experience as mu c h as he could to become
not only a famous musician but also a teacher of music.
students —
Mbaruk Talsam of Mombasa
(1892 - 1959)
known s o n g - c o m p o s e r , singer and musician.
53
—
One of his
w a s the well
Many tapes on which the music
and the singing of Mbaruk were recorded are to be found in the British
Institute of R e c o r d e d Sound in London.
died in Ju ly 1902.
After a short time, Sultan Hamoud
Mr. Rogers was made the Regent, while the Sultan was
suc ceeded by his son Ali whose mother was an indigenous lady.
Sultan Ali
was then a minor of 17, receiving his education at H a rrow in England.
Thus, his sultanate was governed by the Regent,
until he reached the age
of 21, when he was chosen by the British to fill his father's
position.
reduced.
54
During that period,
the Sultan's financial resources were
In Ju ne 1905, Sayyid Ali came of age and the Regency ceased.
At the end of 1905, Edward Clarke, head of the A f rica Department of the
Foreign Office visited Zanzibar to frame a scheme of reorganisation.
Rogers was recalled and replaced by Brigadier-General A.S. Raikes.
In 1908, Barton became the First Minister.
55
Mr.
A l t h o u g h the exact year
67
-
in which Kijuma left the palace is not known, we
can assum e that he did so in 1908, and returned to Lamu in the same
year.
56
W e assume that the relationship between Kijuma and Mr. Rogers
mus t hav e become closer during their time in the p alace of the Sultan
w h e r e they and they alone knew why they had been invited there,
namely
57
because of the Sultan's reception in Lamu.
I was unable to trace the
life of Mr. Rog ers after he had left the palace to find out about any
r e l a ti onship between him and Kijuma after their leaving the palace.
However, we can assume that Kijuma's relationship with the British must
have become strong through Mr. Rogers who may have plan ned a role for
Kij uma to play in the ngoma ya beni
n g o m a , we must refer to two things.
58
in Lamu.
Before discussing this
The first concerns a poem composed
by Kiju m a and called Wanawake wa Kiamu or B a b u k h e t i .
The second is a
v a rie ty of songs and instrumental performances called t a r a b u .
Concerning
the p o e m B a b u k h e t i , the people of Lamu are divided in their opinion about
the m o tive for its composition.
Some say that it was composed by Kijuma
after some pe ople from Mombasa had come to him in Lamu and asked him his
views about the wome n of Lamu.
question.
Wanawake wa Kiamu was the answer to this
Others say that K ijuma composed it while he was in the palace
of the Sultan in Zanzibar.
The latter
shows that he felt nostalgic.
is. more likely,
In addition to this,
because the poem
the po em might reveal
the internal feeling of Sultan Hamoud towards the Swahili women in
general and those of Lamu in particular.
Su lt an ma r r i e d a Swahili
This might explain why the
lady, by wh o m he had his son Ali.
Although the
p o e m is now sung and recorded on tape by the well-known Kenyan singer
Zainu-e l-Abid een of Mombasa,
it has not yet been printed.
It is worth
*
rep roducing in this thesis,
especially when we know that Lamu women feel
p r o u d when they listen to it.
59
In contrast,
a woman from another
town, will feel jealous when she hears the poem.
-
-
68
If a s k e d to give a summary of that p o e m in one sentence, we would say:
The re are few women who have such attraction as the women in Lamu either
p hys ic a l l y or mentally.
The po e m consists of 19 stanzas of four lines,
each line has 16 syllables,
and the last word of every stanza is the name
of the poet's town Amu, which may indicate how much he missed his town
w h i l e he was in Zanzibar.
C onc er n i n g t a r a b u , Kijuma obtained the musical experience which enabled
him to introduce the tunes of what
Lamu.
61
What
is now called tarabu*^
is the origin of this tarabu?
into
Did Kijuma introduce this
tarabu to other places on the East African coast apart from Lamu?
wo r d tarabu is b o rro wed from the Arabic verb:
overjoyed.
The
tariba which means: To be
The A r abic noun from this verb is t a r a b .
The word tarab has
a range of meanings in the field of music and singing but there is no
par ticular music al or singing theme called tarab in Arabic.
"*
of go od singing is called tarab and every good singer
he is male, and mu triba h if she is female.
•
Every kind
is called mutrib if
Any musical instrument can be
'
c a lle d in Arabic: Alat a l - t a r a b .
The word was borrowed into Swahili as
tarabu in the me a n i n g of a particular type of tune or m elody in a
par ticular song.
The first club founded in East A f r i c a for this tarabu
was a club called Ikhuwan al-Safa
in Zanzibar
the club was given its name in Arabic,
in 1905.
not in Swahili.
62
Furthermore,
It was called by
its founders: Nadi Ikhwan al-Safa Lit-Tarab "The club of the pure
#■
bro thers for the t a r a b " .
»
"n
The second club founded was also given an
A r a b i c name: N a d i a l-Shuub Li t-Tarab "The club of the nations for the
tarab".
It was founded in Zanzibar
in 1907.
62
One of the first clubs
fou nded in Da r - e s - S a l a a m for the tarabu was a club called:
A l - I i ip shan
63
"The Egyptian".
-
-
69
By adding to this what we already know, that the Egyptian musicians were
the first to play mu sic and to sing in Arabic in the palace of the Sultan
in Zanzibar in 1875,
64
tarabu is Egyptian.
Hence, Kijuma took this tarabu from the palace and
imported it into Lamu,
in 1908.
we may conclude that the origin of the Swahili
after he had left the palace and returned to Lamu
Alth ough the above mentioned clubs of the tarabu in Zanzibar
were founded when Kijuma was there, his name could not be traced amongst
those who founded these clubs.
Yet,
it is very likely that Kijuma
con tributed a great deal to the expansion of the tarabu in East Africa
among others by giving his musical experience to his student Mbaruk **5
who founded
the 1920's.
(with Siti Binti Saad)
62
a group for the tarabu in Zanzibar
T h roug h Mbaruk and Siti Binti Saad,
become known to every one in East Africa.
66
in
the tarabu has
Finally, we come to the
conclusion that the tarabu was introduced by the Egyptians to the palace
of Zanzibar, and from the palace (through Kijuma and others)
it spread
all over East Africa.
As we said above,
67
Kijuma left the palace and went back to Lamu to
take part in the ngoma ya b e n i .
Ngoma ya Beni
. Ki juma's return to Lamu coincided with the division of Bw.
into two factions,
called Dari Suudi
69
once called Kingi
68
led by Bw. Zena, and the second
led by a person called Bu-Rashidi.
the echo of Mr. Rogers'
Zena's Nidhamu
It seems that
blame"^ was still reverberating in Bw,
Zena's
ears when he become the first person to adopt the style of European bands
■ for his faction Kingi in Lamu, after
Mombasa.
it had been adopted by the Kingi of
The opposing faction of the Mombasan Kingi,
was called Skochi.
in ngoma ya b e n i .
As Prof* Ranger wrote:
the explorer,
Scots."
men.
71
This
-
"Kirk, the British consul of Zanzibar, J. Thomson,
Sir W. MacKinnon,
Company, G. MacKenzie,
70
founder of the British East Africa
the Company's Administrator at Mombasa,
all were
is to say: The Skochi faction was called after these
Wh e n the Mkomani faction
(i.e. Nubani and Bereki of Kijuma)
found
out about a friendship treaty between the Kingi of Lamu and the Kingi of
Mombasa, whereby the Kingi of Lamu could import all the European musical
instruments it needed and the British Naval uniforms as well,
(Mkomani)
Nyekai,
72
it
united itself under the leadership of the son of Sheikh Omari
Sheikh Fadhili Omari Nyekai,
Mombasa to make a similar treaty.
the "Scottish"
the materials.
and hurried to the Skochi of
However, Kijuma was the one to design
uniforms for the members of his factions,
73
after getting
Since then, the Mkomani of Lamu allowed itself to be
called Skochi as well as Mkomani, and competed against the Kingi of Bw.
Zena in the ngoma
ya beni until 1925.
Before discussing
the procedure
of this n g o m a , the following three points
should be made:
1.
It seems that Nidha mu was divided into Kingi and Dari Suudi because
the members of Dari Suudi could not accept Bw.
zena's adoption of
ngoma ya b e n i , and when they found that Bw. Zena was determined to
adopt this n g o m a , they left the Nidhamu and founded Dari Suudi.
It
was founded
only to die soon, because it had no significant role
in
the singing
competitions.
The only role which its members might
have p layed was that they must have weakened the strength of Bw.
Zena and made him,
in practice an incomplete rep resentative of the
southern quart er of Lamu,
just as had happened when the members of
the Bereki left the Mtamwini.
74
-
71
-
I could not establish whether Sheikh Fadhili Omari Nyekai became
the leader of the united Mkomani faction after he had become the
representative of the northern quarter of Lamu,
like his late
father Sheikh Omari Nyekai who was the representative and the
leader of that quarter or whether he became the leader of Mkomani
without
'legitimate'
representation of the same quarter.
Because I
could not establish this, I cannot derive any conclusion from the
Mkomani being united under the leadership of Sheikh Fadhili, while
Nidhamu was divided at the same time into the Kingi and the Dari
Suudi.
I have to refer to one of the confidential reports of that
time, concerning the political situation in Lamu, which is believed
to have a bearing on these factions being divided,
adopting the European fashion.
united, and
The report, by the D.C. of Lamu Mr.
2
J.H. Clive in Februar y 1933,
was as follows:
"In 1909, one of the man y regrettable incidents which have blotted
the history of the administration of Tana-Land
75
led to the
appointment of Messrs. Hollis and Ainsworth as C ommission of
Enquiry.
Thes e commissioners,
in the course of a very damning
report blam e d the Eur opean administration for endeavouring to break
down the system of native administration, which,
admirably suited to the place and people.
they alleged, was
They said that the
pro vince had been administratively starved, both as regards money
and good men to guide it, that, by neglect,
they had smothered a
country rich in possibilities and decreased the population,
so as
to make the lack of population one of the main causes of
deterioration.
It may be noted that twenty three years after this
report nothing has been done to remedy this last mentioned defect.
-
72
-
Writing in 1922, of the effect of this, report,
the D.C.
of Lamu,
said:
Mr. Dickson,
then
'The unsavoury reputation of the District
has frightened the individual Officer who, generally speaking,
has
pursued a policy of Laissez faire and prayed that he would get away
without personal damage'.
It is probably a fact that those who
have adopted this policy have been most popular with the people of
Lamu".
3.
For the first time in the history of the singing competitions in
Lamu, E u ro pean dress came into fashion among the members of the
competitive factions,
after it had been worn symbolica lly by the
masanamu of Kijuma in 1901.
76
Furthermore,
the names of these
factions came to be derived from foreign words and not from native
ones as they had pr eviously been.
How, when and where did this ngoma ya beni first take place?
The members
of this ngoma used to go outside the town to a place called Mashamba
every Sunday morning during May, June, July, and August every year
make merry, eat,
77
drink, and dance.
78
In the afternoon,
return to where the ngoma would take place.
(i.e. Mkomani or Skochi),
house,
17
to
they would
Concerning Kijuma*s faction
its members used to gather
in the leader's
and from his house they would start to march imitating English
m i lit ary troops,
through the narrow street whic h is now called Mkomani,
singing until they arrived at the end of that street.
back through another street on the quay,
called Darajani where the house of Bw.
lined up in two lines for dancing.
‘■a military drill.
procession.
They would then go
until they reached a place
Zena stood.
17
There,
the men
Their dance was based on the idea of
Sometimes it took the form of a para de or a
At the head of these two lines,
the band stood playing their
■> instruments whi ch might vary from a bugle, a pipe, a n d a dr u m to the
beating of a single big drum.
79
-
-
73
B eside the band stood the group which used to sing the Swahili songs
composed by Kijuma.
Facing the men,.Kijuma's troupe of the Mwasha used
to dance a dance called Changani or Shangani,
under a big umbrella called
a Marudufu which was made of tarpaulin of the same material as a boat's
sail.
29
The rivals went on with their singing,
music until 10 p.m.
dancing and playing
K ijuma composed a huge number of songs for his
faction in this n g o m a , and most of them told the opponents:
been defeated even though you have prestige and money.
wou ld you have done,
if you had had nothing".
this until the beg inning of the 1920's.
moc ked Bw.
Zena's wealth.
80
"You have
I wonder what
The songs went on like
It is clear that these songs
The Kingi then represented the class of the
employers in the town, while the Skochi represented the class of the
employees who were d escribed by Prof. Ranger as a faction full of
tailors, donkey riders and shamba men.
Two songs
82
co mposed by Kij uma and Bw.
Skochi of Kijuma had few members,
stronger.
81
Zena in 1341/1922 show that the
while the Kingi of Bw.
Zena was much
The song of Kijuma reads:
Tungawa watu wa chach e
Tui pange
We must arrange ourselves in rows
W en y e zita tusiwache
Tuw asonge
Pia ipete kitiche
Nairinge
Even if we are few
We should not be scared
of war-mongers
Le t
us face them
The
top (as a toy) has got
Let
it turn around.
its hold
As we see, the song shows that Kijuma's faction had only a few members,
at that time,
compared to Bw.
Zena's faction.
It is very interesting
that Kijuma compared his faction and its activities
(dance)
which remains in balance as long as it spins rapidly.
to the top
-
-
74
Not only this, but also it sticks strongly to the grou nd by its point.
It is as if he wanted to say:
penetrate the ground
other hand,
"We have to stick strongly to our course to
(the power)
the song of Bw.
Kijuma kawape ero
on
which Bw. Zena is
standing".
On the
Zena reads:
0, Kijuma: Give them the news
U w a mb ie
And tell them
Taa haina mngaro
That the lamp (i.e.
Izimie
the faction)
has
no light
It has gone out
Sasa koko nda mparo
Now,
(receive)
the project ile which will
start you itching
Iziwie
Bw.
Try to stop it.
Zena is comparing his song to the k o k o , i.e. a ball similar to the
hard cricket ball made for a strong bat.
it were a projectile.
This makes the ball look as if
That is why koko is translated as
'projectile1 in
the song.
The unequal balance of power between the two factions could not be
allowed to continue for a long time
without a change.
the faction of Bw.
for the third time,
by Bw.
Zena was divided
Zena and a Kambaa
Ranger wrote:
83
led
So,
by a man called Sabirina.
"Sabirina was a man
in 1925,
into a Kingi
84
He was
The oral tradition relates
that the members of the Kamb aa
who were ordinary individuals hoped to
wrench from Bw.
of power in the faction, but it proved
impossible.
Zena the reins
The following song
a metaphorical way:
85
of Bw.
led
As Prof.
of no family, a f i s h - s e l l e r .
ve ry big, very tough, and very black".
17
Zena reveals that hope, but in
Masikini watu hao
Kwa kutaka ure
75
-
The condition of these p eople is deplorable
86
Because of their desire for glory
W a m e l i w a t a pumbao
They left their comfort
Na raha ya bure
And free pleasure
Wal ii t a k a ni wao
They are the ones who wanted it
Nal iwatot ore
Thus,
let regret hurt the m (forever)
It seems likely that this last split of the Kingi happened in
co-ordinati on wit h the members of the Skochi or Mkomani of Kijuma who
we re very few in number, because when the Kambaa came into existence,
som e of these mem bers joined it.
under the lead ership of Sabirina.
Kijuma became the poet of the Kambaa
Wh en Bw.
Zena composed a song
sat irising the K a mb aa calling it: Kambaa mbovu "A rotten palm-rope",
Kij uma replied by composing:
Si K a m b a a mbovu
It is not a rotten palm-rope
Hi ki ni kitani
#s
It is (a strong rope made from)
Hut araji nguvu
One expects it to be strong
Upe po wa Juni
In the June - monsoon
Baa da ya kovu
(You wi ll be forced to make p eace with us
flax
even) after the scars heal
Na jaraha ndani
K i jum a did not leave Bw.
The wounds are still there deep inside
Zena without testing his talent for composing
songs in the same rhyme in which he himself composed.
song composed by Kijuma:
Cf.
the following
Iwapo u mtatuzi
76
-
If'you are a riddle-solver
T a tuw a kitetenecho
87
Solve this riddle
U kiweka wazi wazi
Making it clear
Kama kita tushiyecho
Like something that has become an
unquestionable fact
Uta tu w a p o muyuzi
Whe n yo u (0, pretender of)
knowledge, have
solved it,
Un am bie hiki ndicho
88
Tell me: Here it is.
Bw. Zena must have thought very hard before replying to "Here it is",
in
the following way:
Wau ze wen da matiti
Wapetecho
Wha t have they got?
Ndimi fahali wa nyati
N i s o kicho
I am a buffalo-bull
With no fear
W a l i n e n a sikipati
Hik i ndicho
Ask those who walk with pride and strength;
89
Y o u have said that I could not get it
Here it is.
It is obvious that Bw.
Zena passed his test but not fully, because the
number of syllables in each line is not the same as in his "examiner's".
The riva lry went on between Kambaa and Kingi in such processions of the
ngoma ya beni until Bw,
Ki ju ma stated:
Zena died in about 1933.
90
W h e n he died,
"He who competed against me was my rival,
and he died.
The remaining rivals are the youths with whom I have no more interest to
compete".
91
It was a piece of fortune to obtain the following song
92
of K i j uma which identifies those youths with w h o m he had no more interest
to compete:
77
Sitaki kinyanganyiro
I do not want the scramble
Kwi sha kutoka funguni
I have already withdrawn from the association
W a meb aki kina Charo
Those remaining are the folk of Charo
Na Wany ika-wa Gongoni
And Wanyika of Gongoni
Siliwezi tena kero
I can no longer endure the troubles
Hali yan g u taabani
I am now distressed
The song shows that these members of Charo or
94
(Giryama)
probably p ersu a d e d by the D.C.'s office in Lamu,
93
and Waynika were
not only to become
members in the faction of Kijuma, but also to try seizing the leadership
of the faction by force.
It is important to know that these Wanyika and
G i r y a m a were amongst the Bantu-tribes which had not yet become used to
live in towns.
W e can assume that they were brought into Lamu during the
British rule to work as labourers,
because these tribes were amongst
those which re sponded to calls for labour migration.
this,
95
In addition to
the Giryama had been the first large tribe in Kenya to be deeply
affected by E u ropea n impact since Missionaries worked among and near them
fro m the m i d - n inetee nth century.
95
However,
some of these Wanyika and
G i r ya ma still live in Lamu, but their status is c onsidered to be either
that of stranger or as residents.
96
Bef o r e discussing the role of Ki juma in nqoma ya beni outside Lamu,
there
are two main po ints to be made:
1.
The last division of the Kingi into the Kingi and the Kambaa with
the Mkomani of Kijuma included is seen as a sort of parallel with
social and po litical change in Lamu.
It became clear that the
leaders of these factions were no longer nec essarily
rep resentatives of their own quarters as they had been in the past.
-
78
-
Sabirina who had neither social nor political background became the
leader of the Kambaa which was,supposed to be representative of the
northern quarter of the town.
Comparing Sheikh Muhamadi bin Abu
Bakari and Sheikh Omari Nyekai to Sabirina, we find the two were
representatives of their quarter Mkomani in the governing council
of the town as well as the leaders of their quarter
competitions
(Gungu and Dhili).
in the singing
Sabirina on the other hand, was
not a representative in any of the governmental offices.
In
addition to this, Sheikh Muhamadi and Sheikh Omari were people of
highly respected families amongst their own compatriots because of
their long, w e l l - re corded social backgrounds, while Sabirina,
as
Prof. Ranger wrote, was a man "of no family".
Kijuma p a r t icipat ed in making this change possible.
Looking at his
movemen ts inside these factions, we find that he was firstly with
Bw. Zena in the Mtamwini.
He left the Mtamwini with some of his
friends and joined the Mkomani, after which they called themselves
the Bereki.
By his
joining the Mkomani,
he left Bw.
Zena with no
full representation of the inhabitants of Mtamwini which came to be
called Nidhamu.
He also made it possible for the representation in
the governing council of the town not to be based on geographical
grounds, because he pa i d no attention to the fact that he had
crossed the line that ran between the two q uarters of the town.
When the Mkomani of Kijuma was divided for the first time into the
Pumwani and the Nubani,
the Bereki of Kijuma joined the Nubani, the
faction of employees, wh i l e the faction of employers,
was left too weak to survive.
the Pumwani
With the loss of the Pumwani,
the
Mkomani was also no longer representative of the inhabitants as it
had been in the past.
-
79
-
Furthermore, many members of the Mkomani left it after it had
adjusted itself to the ngoma ya beni as the song of Kijuma
shows.
97
The same thing happened with the faction of Bw.
when the members of Dari Suudi left him.
Hence,
Zena
the population of
the town was no longer fully represented by the two factions in its
northern and southern quarters.
Instead of the remaining members
of these factions, being represented ge ographically and
politically,
they were now represented only socially.
This could
be clearly seen when the common members of the Kingi of Bw. Zena
left it and joined the remaining common members in the Mkomani of
Kijuma to form the Kambaa led b y Sabirina,
Not only this, but also
the people of W a nyika and G i ryama came to be leading members in the
Kambaa.
After that time,
the K ambaa became the image of the lower
class and the Kingi the image of snobbishness.
98
This image of
snobbishness did not last for long because of the uneconomic waste
which was the result of the ngoma ya beni as the last pages of this
chapter will show.
By making these two preceed ing points, we come
to the end of Kijuma's role in the ngoma ya beni in Lamu.
The ngoma ya beni outside Lamu
Kijuma also took part in the ngoma ya beni outside Lamu.
to Mkunumbi and Matondoni
99
to take part in the ngoma there.
par ticipation in Mkunumbi will be presently discussed.
presence in Matondoni,
He used to go
he was not only a participant,
His
Concerning his
but actually the
leader and the poet of one of the two factions founded there.
The ngoma
ya beni had found its w ay to Matondoni after his return from the palace
of Zanzibar
in 1908.
In about the same year, he went to Matondoni and
100
formed a faction called Mkunguni
and became its leader and poet.
-
80
.100
The other faction against which he competed was the M t a p w a n i AU,J led by
Bibi zuhura who was its poetess.
The Swahili oral tradition has
preserved many songs composed by Kijuma and Bi.
Zuhura,
competing against
each other in this n g o m a , since about 1908 until the 1930's.
Here is a
song in which Kijuma not only named his faction Mkunguni but also boasted
its superiority over his adversary:
T w awa yua huudhika
We know that you are angry
mambo yetu mwatamani
Because you covet our things
Maisha mtaparika
You will,
for ever, be in grief (because of
this covetting)
Hamuwezi ushindani
For you are incapable of competing
Fahamuni mtachoka
Und ersta nd that yo u will get tired
Kwa dola ya Mkunguni
Of the state of Mkunguni
The most famous of the songs composed by Bi.
Zuhura against Kijuma were
the following satiric ones:
Kandu yashitaki
The garment complains
kadhi niamua
0 , judge,
Mimi sivaliki
I am worn out
Mbona navaliwa?
W h y am I still being worn?
Nimeoza ziki
The stitching round the neck has become
judge between us
rotten
Na p a kukualiwa
A n d also the seat.
Indeed, Kijuma did not keep his clothes clean.
put on new clothes,
101
rags.
From the time he first
he never washe d them until they we re completely in
Bi.
81
-
Zuhura wanted to reveal more about K i j u m a ’s way of life.
Thus,
she
composed the following:
C h aku la chake ni unga
His food is flour
(When he wants to buy something,
Robo zaidi katiti
he buys it in very small quantities,
In more or less a quarter
i.e.)
(of a pound)
Ngu o yake ni kitanga
His cloth is made from matting material
Na malazi ni tiati
He sleeps on the floor
Rabbi tamwetea janga
May G o d send him calamity
HatAa adhuku mauti
Until he dies.
Bi.
Zuhura had o ver stepp ed her limits and had to be taught a lesson.
Hence, Kijuma composed the following song to curse her:
Rabbi takupa kigongo
May G o d give you a beating
Na kisu cha kukuwasha
And a knife's stab to hurt
M ungu akupe ushingo
102
May God give you poison causing pain
Upite ukikupisha
To burn you when you w alk
Mungu takupa zifungo
May God give you shackles
Usifungu ke maisha
To be shackled for ever.
E very Swahili p e r son hearing this song,
in English:
you
said:
"Lahaula".
This is to say
"Oh dear" or "Oh goodness!"
The implication was that Kijuma cursed her with paralysis and incurable
pain.
This is the way in whic h the ngoma ya beni went on in Matondoni until
permanent by-laws were adopted,
103
this n g o m a .
in 1934, which imposed restrictions on
The economic/
82
cultural/
and religious aspects
of the singing competitions
I could not trace any information to confirm that the teams of the
singing competitions either in ngoma ya gungu or ngoma ya dhili in Lamu
also competed against each other
in the number of cattle which each team
could afford to have slaughtered during these competitiions.
As for the ngoma ya b e n i , it appears that its factions did compete also
in the number of these cattle.
ya beni
The songs Kijuma compose d for this ngoma
inform us that there were cows to be slaughtered and meat to be
eaten during the competitions in this n g o m a ,
104
the number of the cattle which were slaughtered.
but he did not mention
We have to thank Kijuma
for being the only one to compose a long poem supplying us with
information regarding the number of cattle which were slaughtered during
the c ompetition in this ngoma in Mkunumbi,
Lamu.
a Swahili town not far from
He used to go to Mkunumbi with his troupe of Mwasha dancers to
support the faction of their ally, Sheikh Ba-Simba,
Shekuwe of the H a n n a u t i
105
faction.
against his opponent
Once, he and his troupe went to
support this Ba-Simba, and because of this support, B a-Simba defeated
Shekuwe.
This was because of the Mwasha dancers since the spectators
gave them much money as a gift with w hich many cattle were bought and
slaughtered, where Shekuwe could not collect enough money to afford the
number of cattle required for competing with Ba-Simba.
wer e slaughtered during that particular competition.
55 head of cattle
Thi s po em of Kijuma
gives a vivid picture of the uneconomic waste which the factions of the
ngoma ya beni caused.
slaughtered in Lamu.
A bout the same number of cattle was also
During one season, more than 40 cows were
slaughtered by one of the La mu-factions in the ngoma ya b e n i .
106
was at the end of the 1950's.
106
This
This uneconomic wa ste meant that no member of these factions could become
rich.
When the D.C.'s Office realised that the economic position in Lamu
could hardly become w or s e than it was in 1934,
107
perm anent by-laws
108
were adopted whi c h imposed restrictions on this n g o m a .
Just before
these restrictions were imposed, Kijuma announced his retirement in about
1934 following Bw.
Zena's death.
In 1941,
and the restrictions were partly lifted.
in the 1950's,
the ngoma was again allowed
109
They were totally lifted
after the economic situation had improved and political
consciousness had increased amongst the citizens.'1’'^
The fact that
they were lifted because of this situation supports the theory of this
chapter that the ngoma ya beni was actually intended to play a political,
economic,
social,
and cultural role in Lamu.
members used to wear were European clothes.
celebrated was always a Sunday,
The clothes which its
T h e day on which it was
i.e. on the Christian holy day of the
week, although the town is Islamic.
It seems likely that the b e n i ’s
message of celebrating it on Sundays was to ask the Muslims of the town
to accept Sunday as being the holiday of the week.
note that the Sunday,
not the Friday,
It is important to
has been the hol iday of the week in
the town until now.
Concerning the religious aspect of the ngoma ya b e n i . Prof. Ranger wrote:
"The founder of the M osque-College Ha b i b Salih, who wa s the most
important Islamic teacher at that time in Lamu did not condemn the beni
dancers in kilts,
and the annual Maulidi festival whic h had developed
under his patronage,
in fact provided the Lamu beni associ ation s with
their greatest o ppor tunity for competitive display".'*'^
The ngoma ya beni was rejected not only by al-Habib Salih
by the rest of the scholars in the town.
112
but also
-
84
-
When this ngoma was introduced to Lamu around 1900, al-Habib Salih of the
Riyadha mosque and his colleagues gave the following formal legal verdict
(Fatuwa):
"Mtu yeyote akihudhuria katika beni,
113
dini".
ametoka katika hadhira
(heshima)
ya
"Any one wh o attends b e n i , is not respecting the religion".
But the D.C.
of Lamu encouraged beni and used to send policemen
keep the ngoma peaceful.
Furthermore,
17
to
the D.C. of Lamu himself acted as
jury from time to time to decide which faction would be the winner of the
competition.
17
The police had to be sent there to pr event clashes
which might occur between the members of the two rival groups.
These
clashes were sometimes inevitable when the members of the factions
collided while ma rching in the narrow streets of Lamu.
sticks were used.
wherever he went.
17
Kijuma himself used to carry a stick with him
As one of his relatives said:
s i m b o , ready to fight".
45
these clashes were ver y serious and
To indicate how dangerous the clashes of this nature were cp.
this report of the D.C.:
"A riot occurred at Faza on 3rd-4th May 1956
between two teams Kingi and Rarua,
Going back to the Fatuwa,
and a man was killed".
it frustrated Kijuma greatly.
enough to acquire two of Kijuma*s songs
this Fatuwa.
"He was always with his
In other Swahili towns in wh ich the same
ngoma ya beni was introduced,
dangerous.
In such clashes,
115
114
I was fortunate
showing the implication of
It hap pened once that two persons who we re supposed to be
observing and respecting this Fatuwa joined the ngoma ya b e n i .
seized this o p p ortuni ty to compose these two songs.
Mwandameni
A
F ollow him
Asipate kuisita
lest he hide himself
Kingia msikitini
If he enters the mosque
Kijuma
The first song reads
-
85
-
Kwa tandi tutamkota
We will capture him with a noose
Shekhe mezoteza beni
The Sheikh who played beni
Yapasa kukatwa kitwa
Must have his head cut off.
The other song is as follows:
Mumekwisa kutwandama
r*
Yo u have followed us
Tu ng awa tu w aumbufu
Alt hough we are outcasts
Mwaliiliani nyama
Why do you eat the meat^^^
Nanyi ni wasitirifu?
A l tho ugh you are persons of dignity?
Beni halina karama
Beni has no miracles
Hatutaki mas harifu
We do not need Masharifu.
117
The main reasons which made the M u s l i m scholars in La m u publish this
Fatuwa were that there were three elements contained in the ngoma ya beni
which they consid ered were against Islamic teaching.
waste of time and money.
The first was the
The second was the clashes between the rivals
which benefitted no one and harmed many.
The third was that the women
and m e n danced in sight of each other.
Finally,
it is remarkable that the ngoma ya beni was banned in 1963,
after Kenya had become independent.
16
-
86
-
Chapter II - Notes
1.
This term is used as
translation for the Swahili term: Mashindano
ya n g o m a .
three elements in these competitiions:
music,
There are
dancing,
and singing p oetic Swahili songs,
2.
Ms. 53829.
3.
Prins,
4.
Harries,
1962, p.
5.
Hichens,
1938, pp. 22-29,
6.
See: p# 43.
7.
Prins,
8.
See: p. 17.
9.
Ms. 47797.
1971, p. 48.
172,
1971, p. 60.
10.
Ranger,
11.
See: p. 20.
12.
For Waz e e wa m u i , see: Prins,
13.
Interview with
14.
'.It has 365 days,
mwaka.
15.
playing
1975, p. 25,
Sheikh Muhamadi
and
1971, p. 12.
’Adnani a l -Ma hdaliy in Lamu.
its begi nning is called Nairu zi or Siku ya
It is described in detail by Sir John Gray,
Sayyid Hasan Badawy of Lamu saw it one day with
Kipanaga,
1955, pp.
1-22.
a man called Bwana
but it could not be traced when I was in Lamu.
16.
Interview with
Sheikh Yahya Ali Omari on S.O.A.S.
17.
Interview with
Mzee Salim Kheri in Lamu.
18.
Kibahalulu = Small torch of twisted cotton or grass.
19*
Samiri = S i a m r i r i .
The verb amiri
is derived from the Arabic verb
'ammara - He filled up or structured.
20.
See: p. 108.
21.
Corr espond ence with Bwana Mahmoud Mau of Lamu.
22.
Interview with Bibi Maryamu
M. A l-Ba kariy of La m u in London*
23.
Tukayeze = tuka
24.
See:
.25.
87
-
(ki) eleza « to make it float, or to launch it.
Song No. 5, p. 112.
Interview with Dr. J. Knappert in S.O.A.S.
26.
See: p. 44.
27.
See: p. 339.
28.
See: p. 47.
29.
Interview with Bibi Asia M. al-Bakiriy of Lamu in London.
30.
Interview with Bibi Somoe Bena in Mombasa,
she was one of Kijuma*s
students in his n g o m a .
31.
See: Utendi wa M k u n u m b i , p. 186.
32.
ReeL C.I,
33•
Makayamba = dry grain shaken inside
Ms,
224.
seed pod of the flamboyant tree
34,
aflat
box made of reed or the
or other tree.
This expression is used when someone wants to describe something he
has seen but is too wonderful for words.
35.
Tanga - tangawizie = ginger.
36 «
Nqizi = a syrup made by a certain procedure,
fr o m the juice
of the
scoconut.
37.
See: p. 76.
38.
Skene,
1917, p. 417.
39.
Skene,
1917, p. 414.
40.
For the text on.the Sultan's visit,
41.
See: p. 238.
42.
Interview with Mzee Sal i m Kheri in Lamu, and correspondence with
Bibi Maryamu M, A l -Bakariy of Lamu.
see p. 481,
The Swahili text, narrated by
Mzee Sal i m Kheri about the Sultan's visit,
43.
Maruasi
is given in the appendix.
is a drum about 8 inches long by 8 inches indiameter.
It
is covered with goat skin at both ends and is beaten with the flat
of the right hand while held in the left by a piece of cord.
44.
-
It was the b a lcony of the building which is nowadays known as the
Lamu Museum,
45.
88
whose door was carved by Kijuma.
Interview wi t h Bwana Abdall a Khatibu in Lamu.
Knappert,
Por M u l i d i , see:
1971, 3 V V .
46.
Por the date of the General's death,
see: Hamilton,
1957, p. 251.
47.
There is a belief among the Swahili p eople that when the eyelids
are twitching there is a p r e sentiment of good news.
48.
49.
See: p. 70.
For the date of Mr. Rogers'
Hamilton,
50.
Mikhail,
entering employment at the palace,
see
1957, p. 252.
1901, pp. 89-90.
As the writer wrote in his book,
he (the writer) was an Egyptian
wo rking in the palace of Zanzibar during the reign of the Sultan
Hamoud.
51.
Ms, 279888, Vol.
52.
E.g. Fareed
18, Ms.
2533.
'L. Mahasin Ban, and Teehak
'Alayya *L.Y o o m B i - S n e e n .
See; N o t e 50,
53.
Jahadhmy,
1966, pp. 61-70.
54.
Hamilton,
1957, p. 255.
55.
Younghusband,
56.
See: p. 36.
57.
See: p. 65.
58.
Beni is derived from the English
59.
See: pp.
60.
For T a r a b u , see Knappert,
1908, p. 246
and Eliot,
1905, p. 35.
word Band.
95-102.
8 , Knappert,
and Lodhi,
1977, pp.
1979, pp.
1971, pp.
110,
116-155, Knappert,
123-4, Knappert,
1979,
1972, p.
pp. 51, 257, 303,
129-132.
61.
I n terview with Bwana Mahmoud Mau in Lamu.
62.
Interview wi t h Bwana Muhamadi Seif Khatibu of Zanzibar in s.O.A.S.
63.
Jahadhmy,
-
1966, p. 100.
64.
See: p. 65.
65.
See: p. 6 6 .
66.
Robert,
67.
See: p. 67.
68•
89
1960,
/
and Jahadhmy,
1966.
Kingi came to be thought of as representative of King Edward VII of
England.
69.
It is not the name of any place in
Lamu.
70.
See: p. 64,
71*
For Kingi of Mombasa,
72.
See: p. 45,
73.
Interview with Bibi Fatuma M. al-Bakari of Lamu in London.
see: Ranger, 1975, pp. 22-26.
For Kijuma's experience in sewing,
see: p. 319,
74.
See: p. 47.
75.
The district which included Lamu.
76.
See: p. 59.
77.
I.e. to eat meat from the cattle which had been slaughtered, which
was another aspect of competing in this ngoma as we shall see in
this chapter.
78.
Interview with Mzee Simaru Mabruk,
Kingi
once a member of the Bw.
Zena's
in Lamu,
79.
Lambert,
1962-3, pp.
18-21.
80.
See: pp.
109-126.
81.
Ranger,
82.
From Bwana Faraji Bwana Mkuu in Lamu, and also to be found in Ms.
1975, p. 81.
380066.
88•
Kambaa means = palm-rope.
84.
Ranger,
85.
From Mzee Sal i m Kheri in Lamu.
1975, p. 81.
-
90
-
86*
Ure = Ur'efu = Mambo m a k u b w a .
87.
Kitefcenecho is used for anything mixed,
the thread w h ich is tangled
or knotted,
knotted
and tangled.
E.g.
so that its ends cannot
be
found.
88.
This song is also mentioned by Dammann,
1943, p. 32,
but with
some
1956, p. 50,
but with no
differences.
89.
This song is also mentioned by Lambert,
comments.
90.
This date was given by Bibi
Asia M. al-Bakariy.
91.
Interview with Sayyid Hasan
Badawy in Lamu.
92.
Prom Bwana
A b dalla Fadhili of Matondoni.
93.
Charo is a
G i ryama tribe.
94.
Gongoni
a place not very far from Mamburui
95.
Harlow and
96.
Prins,
97.
See: p. 73.
98.
Ranger,
99.
Matondoni is a village north of Lamu, the distance between the two
is
in Kenya.
others, 1965, pp. 337, 346, and 348.
1971, pp. 4 and 20.
1975, p. 80.
is about a 3 hours' walk.
100.
Mkunguni and Mtapwani are the names of the two main quarters of
Matondoni.
101.
See: Ms.
380066.
102.
Ushingo is very severe pains caused by a snake-bite,
poison being left inside the body.
103.
See: p. 83.
104.
See: pp. 85, 117 and 123.
105.
Said to be derived from the word Aeronautics.
106.
Interview wi t h Dr. Muhamadi S. Badamana of Lamu.
with the
107.
91
-
A report dated 7th May 1934 from the D.C. of Lamu to the A cting
P.C,
of Mombasa.
See: Ms. 53829.
108.
Ranger,
1975, p. 8 8 *
109.
A report by the D.C. of Lamu, Mr. A.A.M. Lawrence,
in November
1941, Ms. 53829.
110.
Ranger,
1975, p.
144.
111.
Ranger,
1975, p. 87,
112.
Al-Habib Salih was born in the Comoro-Islands,
and arrived in Lamu
not after 1885 and stayed in Lamu until he died in 1935, aged over
8 0 years;
about him, see: Ms,
53503,
and Lienhardt,
1959, pp.
228-242.
113.
Interview with Sheikh Muhamadi Saidi al-Beedh in Lamu.
114.
Ranger,
115.
Fr o m Bibi Fatuma Nyenye in Matondoni.
116.
This refers to the meat of the cattle which used to be slaughtered
1975, p.
147.
during the ngoma competitions.
religious scholars.
117.
See: p.
17.
It was considered as waste by the
-
92
-
C H A P T E R III
Kijuma The Composer of Songs
Having finished the chapter on Kijuma"s singing competitions,
it is
convenient to locate the present chapter here, because the main tool for
the singing competitions was the song.
These competi t i o n s taught Kijuma
how to compose competition songs on various subjects,
and also encouraged
h i m to master the many Swahili words which have a large number of widely
different meanings.
These different meanings were given in verses
composed by various poets who lived on the coast of East Afr i c a before
him.
He had a writing-book containing all these words with their
different meanings in verses.
verses by heart.
Gradually,
1
Moreover,
he could recite all of these
i
Kijuma sent some such verses to W.H.
in 1937.
2
he became very well known as a composer of songs in Lamu.
Apart from his songs for the singing competitions,
songs for many other people.
These people would,
he composed a lot of
at special occasions in
their lives, go to h i m to ask for songs which would express their
feelings.
Most of these occasions were connected w i t h wed d i n g festivals
and love.
K ijuma wou l d be paid 25 cents for a song of one stanza.
3
usually consisted of three lines wi t h 16 syllables a line.
The song
The person
wanting the song had to bring, with him, a piece of paper upon which the
song would be written.
Accor d i n g to the agreement, K ijuma would also
decorate the margin of that, paper by drawing either flowers, birds, or
both.
It is also important to know that Kijuma used to c o mpose such
3
songs at once, without even a delay for thinking.
Thus,
a person who
bro ught his piece of paper for K i j u m a " s song was able to get the song
which he wanted before he left Kijuma.
-
93
-
The song of Kijuma had a great value for the person o b t aining it.
is a story: One day,
there was a m a n'in Lamu, who loved a woman madly.
H e went to her and offered her a lot of money to return his love.
rejected.
He was
Then, he"went to Kijuma asking hi m for a song expressing his
feelings towards this woman.
charged the man 1/2 Rupee.
she loved him dearly.
Thus,
Kijuma composed the song after he had
When the man gave his b e loved one the song,
he got for 1/2 Ru p e e what he could not get
4
for a lot of money.
traced,
There
A l t h o u g h this particular song could not be
the following one can be considered as an example of it:
Kala a l -Nadhim Fi-Lamu = The composer said in Lamu
1.
Nenda mbio
Run {as fast as y o u can)
Siketi enda haraka
Do not sit, go qu i c k l y
Nilonayo
All that is inside my heart
Nena kwa kusikitika
A
Hum b l y reveal it
Wangu moyo
My heart
Kwa mapendi hutangika
Has the agony of love.
Samahani
Par d o n
Kwa raufu nitakia
Ask it for m e from the compassionate
Natamani
I am longing
Kulala kumepotea
Sleep has gone far from me
Sinikhini
Do not deny me (what I want)
Mahaba yana udhia
Love hurts.
-
94
-
3.
Hata
A Kula
Even eating
Halipendi kanwa langu
My m outh no longer likes
Na kulala
As for sleep
Hayafumbi mato yangu
My eyes do not close
Lahaula
Huriipita bui wangu
Oh,
it is a pity
That m y sweetheart passes before me (without
saying: Ho w are you!).
4.
Bui wangu
0 , m y sweetheart
Ni meomba tupatane
I beg you to reconcile
Hali yangu
Sleep and I
Na kulala twepukene
Are opponents
Moyo wangu
(Furthermore) my heart
Haumtaki mwengine
Does not incline to another one.
5.
Sikitika
Give m e sympathy
Enda nami kwa uzuri
Treat m e kindly
Moyo nyoka
O, heart: Be straight forward
U p unguze utiriri
R edu c e the illusion
Kukwepuka
T o be far from you
Moyo wangu haukiri
My heart does not accept.
6.
Umeruka
(Do y o u hear mel)
Usindizi shika mwanda
a l re a d y flown
Hunishika
A c cu s i n g me of
Sleep has
-
95
-
Shari hata kitotenda
Offences which I did not commit
Huzunguka
That makes me turn
Kikipija na kitanda
and toss on the bed.
7.
Yako hamu
Your love
Nin g i z i e hunipara
Is hurting me
Sina tamu
I have no taste for anything.
Kitoona zako sura
Not to see you
W a salamu
Good-bye
Nakuomba msayara
Begging your friendship.
I w a s fortunate enough to trace this song, written on a piece of
(letter)
5
decorated,
paper,
m
Lamu.
The letter is written in Ar a b i c script,
and drawn by Kijuma himself.
K i j u m a drew a bird,
6
At the top of this letter,
but without naming it.
By comparing the beginning of
this song with the beginning of the p o e m Wanawake wa K iamu which Kijuma
composed while he was in the palace of the Sultan of Zanzibar,
realise that they are similar.
7
we will
It is likely that that bird was the one
which Kijuma m e ntioned at the beginning of W a n awake wa K i a m u , since the
beginnings of the two are similar.
Hence, we can assume that the bird
Babukheti which is mentioned in the p o e m W a n awake wa Kiamu is the one
w h i c h Kijuma drew on the top of that letter.
Th e p o e m Wan a w a k e wa Kiamu
reads:
1.
Babukheti kaazime
Babukheti
Hima mbawa za kipungu
(a kind of pigeon): Go urgently and
c
borrow the wings of an eagle
Uye hapa nikutume
Then come to me, so that I can send you
-
96
-
Nikupe maneno yangu
I will tell you my secret
Nina mambo yaniveme
My problems are overwhelming
Ya ndani mwa moyo wangu
Dee p in my heart
Yaniw e l e e utungu
I am much depressed by sorrow
Kuwa ni mbali na Amu
To be far from Lamu
2.
Ni n a mambo y a niveme
My problems are overwhe l m i n g
Babukheti
/■* hukwambia
Babukheti:
Ruka wende sisimame
Fly and go without stopping
Upate kusikilia
So that you arrive there
Kupija mbawa sikome
Do not stop beating
Wata kuziziwilia
your wings
Moyo utwete udhia
My heart is heavy with grief
Kuwa ni mbali na Amu
That I a m far away from Lamu.
I am telling you
(very soon),
3.
Moyo utwete udhia
My heart is heavy with grief
Huwaza na kufikiri
Full of thoughts and m e d i t a t i o n
Muili umeregea
My body is weak
Ziungo hazina bari
My limbs have no strength
Kikumbuka mazoea
Wh e n X recall our intimacy
Mno yameniathiri
I become very much a f f ected
Ndipo katoa khabari
A n d that is why I am saying:
Kuwa ni mbali na Amu
very hard to be far away from Lamu.
It is
4.
Amu kuiona mbali
Seeing La m u in m y mind so distant
Si Amu
It is certainly not the buildings
ile majumba
Hukumbuka wake
*ali
97
-
I remember but the noble ladies
Mngu Aliowaumba
W h o m G o d created
Wakusenyeo jamali
Ladies who accumulate b eauty
g
Ziwavee kimba kimba
The beauty put on them completely
Ai mambo kunikumba
Oh, how unfortunate
Kuwa ni mbali na A m u
To be far away from Lamu.
(lit. matters strike me)
5.
A m u kuna wake
'ali
In Lamu,
there are p r e cious women
W a haiba na urembo
Of beauty and grace
Nyama yao ya muili
Their femininity is evident
Tabia na lao umbo
F r o m their character and figure
Mkindani hukubali
A n y critic will agree
Hapati kunena yambo
That there is no blemish
Hu wapati penye kombo
To be found in
Wa nawake wa Kiamu
The wo m e n of Lamu.
6
.
W a nawake wa K i amu
Wh e n a lady of Lamu
Nyee zake akisuka
Plaits her hair
Maburudisho ya Shamu
And puts on the exotic
Haliwaridi kipaka
Perf u m e from Damascus
Kikaa ttini
h u ramu
s
A n d then sits down,
Hu ngara kimemetuka
Grace
Mwenye hasira huteka
Even an angry man will smile
Kwa wanawake wa Amu
Because of seeing the wo m e n of Lamu.
her
is dazzling
-
98
-
7.
W aitin d a p o sikini
When they clean their skins
Nshi wakazishindiza
And shape their eyebrows,
W a k a t i a na matoni
A n d make up their eyes
W a n d a njema isotuza
With kohl of high quality
N a kishahasi puani
An d put jewellery in their noses
Kisa wakaifukiza
And then perfume themselves with scented
sandal-wood
Mam b o mangi huliwaza
They give much consolation
Wana w a k e wa Kiamu
The women of Lamu.
8.
Wa i f u t a p o na uso
When they clean their faces
Mng i n e w e hayiyangi
There is no other who can show herself off
Wa k a i t a n d a na leso
When they deck themselves with a kerchief
Ya maua ya mayungi
Deco r a t e d with wate r - l i l i e s
M a m boye hupati mwiso
Yo u cannot get at the b o t t o m of their
affairs!
Wala mtu hayawangi
Nor enumerate them
H u liwaza mambo mangi
In many ways
W a n a w a k e wa Kiamu
The women of Lamu are entertaining
9.
W a y a n dikapo usoni
Zipai
9
When they put on their faces
zao za Hindi
Na matavuni
.10
zarani
The Indian ornamental patch of colour
A n d put colour on their cheeks
Ya l o f a n y w a na mafundi
(Colour) which is made by experts
Nduza hela yatundeni
0, my brothers: Watch car e f u l l y
L a buda hamuyatundi
It is probable that you do not consider it
-
99
-
H w ondolea watu kandi
The rich ma n is relieved of his wealth
Wanawake wa Kiamu
By the w omen of Lamu.
10 .
Watiapo na zirungu
When they wear golden buttons
Na tumba za asimini
A n d buds of jasmine
Pamoya na mafurungu
With big silver anklets
Na zingaja mikononi
A n d their red coral on their wrists
Hu s a h a u ulimwengu
A man will forget the w orld
Mtu kazi haioni
A n d neglect his work
Huwazi u duniani
Y o u do not think of the w orld
Kwa mwanamke wa Amu
When with a woman of Lamu.
(in their ears)
(around their necks)
(on the legs)
.
11
Waifun g a p o zikuba
Whe n they wear bouquets of jasmine
Ziwili mbee na nyuma
Two,
Hu w a na huu haiba
Th e y become outstandingly p retty
Mtu akahalimama
A man will be dazzled
Yapo k u w a na akiba
Even if you have savings
Siwaze itasimama
a
Do not think they wi l l remain
Ndi p o siku ya kukoma
That will be the end of those savings
Kwa mwanamke wa Amu
The day you meet the wo m a n of Lamu.
12
in front and at the back
.
Na wangapi wafalume
H o w m a n y kings
Wenye majumba na zana
Owning palaces and a r m aments
W a s o s hikiwa kinyume
Without opposition
Neno lao wakinena
To what they say,
Ta ngu wake na waume
(Including) women and men
-
100
-
Kwa wakuu na wanuna
Whether they are old or young
Wo t e huita manana
The all call:
Wan a w a k e wa Kiamu
The women of Lamu.
"Ladies"
13.
Ni wangapi waungwana
How many free men
W e nye murua na haya
With d i gnity and virtue
Wenye jaha nyingi sana
With much honour
Na ikibali pamoya
A n d success as well
Makuu yao maina
Their names famous
Kwa kula mui kwenea
A n d known everywhere
Wo t e huwaangalia
They all pay attention to
Wan a w a k e wa K i amu
The w o m e n of Lamu.
14.
Ni wangapi matajiri
H o w many rich men
W a fedha na kandi zao
With their money,
Wen y e mali ya fakhari
And pro p e r t y to be proud of
Na watu wawapendao
Liked by their fellows
Watengenyeo bahari
Who have collected wea l t h at sea
Na bara makasha yao
And on land in their cash boxes
Wote huwabusu wao
The y all kiss their
Wan a w a k e wa Kiamu
Wome n of Lamu.
treasures,
15.
Hakuna mtu mmoya
There is not one person
Aonao waipenge
Who sees them lining up in rows
Kaweza kuisiwiya
Can prevent
Kuzinda moyo uzinge
His heart inclining towards them
Ni jinni limekungiya
101
-
As if yo u be caught by a jinn (i.e. he be
madly excited)
H a n a budi tukupunge
(To come back to the n ormal condition)
it is
necessary to be put through the ceremony of
exorcism
Mali yamekwenda tenge
A lot of m oney is lost
Kwa wanawake wa Amu
For the sake of the w omen of Lamu.
16.
Hakuna wake kamao
The r e are no women like these
Nakiweko nadhihiri
If there is one,
I challenge her to come
forward
Wawateni mbali yao
Th e y are indeed exceptional,
Mbali yao munawari
they are absent can others be seen
Sifa zao nisifio
Wh a t I have said of them
Si thuluthi si ushuri
Is not one third or one tenth
Kwani huzidi bahari
Because surpassing the ocean
Sifa za wake wa Amu
Are the qualities of the w o m e n of Lamu.
only when
17.
Y a p o Lidirika ziza
Even if you meet a h a r m l e s s one who is even
ignorant
Lisiloyua kuteka
Of the art of smiling
Paha m u takusawaza
)
A k utiye na mzuka
) Beware,
Mawazo Unapowaza
)
Yote hutayakumbuka
) A l l your thoughts will evaporate
Watu wamefukarika
Peo p l e have become p e n niless
Kwa wanawake wa Amu
Because of women of Lamu.
she will drive yo u mad
-
102
-
18.
Wan a w a k e wa Kiamu
The particulars of Lamu-w o m e n
Y a o hayapatikani
Are not obtainable anywhere
Mtu hawi na fahamu
Wh e n the person takes the Lamu
Mu ngiapo faraghani
Women aside,
N napokhitarishwa Rumu
If I am asked for the choice from Rome
Na Misiri na Yamani
Egypt, Yemen,
Nakhitari paziani
I shall choose to be beh i n d the curtain
Kwa mwanamke wa Amu
With a woman of Lamu.
he falls unconscious
19.
Za Shela na Matondoni
I went about in Shela,
Na Siu nimetembea
Matondoni,
Unguja na Masiwani
Zanzibar, Comoro-Islands,
Mvita
/■* na Pemba pia
Mombasa, and even Pemba,
Za Hindi
* na Arabuni
To India and Ar a b i a
Na Misiri na Ulaya
To Egypt and Europe^^
Sikumuona mmoya
I saw no one
Kama mke wa Kiamu
Like the woman of Lamu.
Siu,
Kijuma was very careful not to allow any other composers to match him in
the same field.
The only one who tried to do so was another composer
c alled Sheikh Sadi.
12
with his intention,
A c tually Kijuma dissuaded h i m from carrying on
using his skill to gain the upper hand in the
following way:
K adara fanya shauri
.
O, Kadara:
Make a counsel
U n ijibu kwa lazima
Y o u must answer me
Shekhe Sadi muhubiri
Say to Sheikh Sadi
103
Naye ni mtu mzima
Who is old:
Ng u o gani shubiri
Whic h cloth is a span
Yenye pindo tumbi ndima
13
Wit h a great amount of selvage?
The d i scovery of the answer
correspondence,
required a long investigation and continuous
but finally it became clear that the likely answer to the
question in the song is: The tongue.
In the case of it being the tongue,
the poet must be comparing the huge number of different qualities and
kinds of words spoken by the tongue to the great amount of selvage in a
piece of cloth.
T h e poet wants to say: Our tongues express many
different views and say numerous different words every day if not every
hour.
In the m o rning they praise Mr. A. using sweet words,
at noon,
insult Mr. B. and p r obably the same Mr. A. using bitter words.
they
In the
evening, they use truthful words, but use the words of untruth later on.
It seems probable that Shekhe Sadi was uncertain about the answer to
Kijuma's riddle,
uncertainty,
because,
later on, Kijuma mocked h i m of this
but in his own way:
Shekhe Sadi m t etemo
Sheikh Sadi is trembling
K yen d a hainui kimo
When he walks,
Wal a hatopata somo
14
We will never see the like of him.
Thi s d e scription of Sheikh Sadi
Sadi wh e n he b e came old.
he does not raise his stature
14
in the song was also a pplicable to Sheikh
Hence,
it was that K i j uma's cleverness
effectively halted Sheikh Sadi's activity in the field of
song-composition,
and made Kijuma stand in this field without a rival.
-
104
-
The number of songs which Kijuma composed, whether revealing himself,
competing in the singing competitions,
selves,
cannot be known precisely since we do not have any written
collection of them,
said,
or revealing other people's inner
but as Mzee Sa l i m Kheri of Lamu and other elders
there must be hundreds if not thousands.
It is p r obable that he
composed no fewer than a thousand songs because of the following reasons
1.
..
15
The role of Kijuma in the singing competitions
required h i m to
compose many songs every year.
2.
Kijunta's songs were in great demand among his compatriots as we
have already seen.
3.
By comparing the number of his songs which his compatriots had
forgotten with the number which they still keep in memory, we find
the ratio is about 7 to 100, because the number of songs which he
composed during the Sultan Hamoud's visit
16
to Lamu was about
4
100
while his songs which could be collected in 1980, dealing
16
with this visit, were only 7.
The same ratio might be also
worked out for the following collection.
W h e n I we n t to East
Africa in 1980, I collected about 200 songs,
Kijuma,
17
composed by
from the local people who could recite th e m by heart.
of these people were natives of Lamu or Matondoni
poet used to compete in the singing competitions.
18
All
where the
So,
if this
number of songs could be collected from K i j uma's compatriots 35
years after he died, how many songs might these compatriots have
forgotten since his death until then?
ratio#
A c c o r d i n g to the above
there must have been more than 2 thousand.
This might
explain that when W.H. asked Kijuma about sending him songs of all
kinds, the latter replied:
thousands".
19
"If you need songs,
y o u will get
A lthough many Mss.
105
-
sent by K ijuma to W.H. were mis s i n g from the
collection at S.O.A.S.,
20
,
there are still about 42 songs bearing
Kijuma's name as the composer in S.O.A.S.
21
All of them are
connected with love, but they have nothing to do with Kijuma's
riddles.
Every one of them has three lines with the same rhyme.
Every line has 12 syllables.
The collection which the present writer made in Lamu and Matondoni
enabled him to determine that there are some songs com p o s e d by Kijuma
which are published in other works of Swahili scholars without giving the
name of Kijuma as the composer.
article "Swahili prosody"
mentioned in Ph.D.
Song No.
22
For
instance,
song No.
is Kijuma's composition.
T he two songs
thesis of L.H., p. 179, are of Kij u m a ' s composition.
3 in the article by Lambert in Bulletin No.
Af rican Swahili C o m m i t t e e , p.
m e ntioned by E.D.
39 in W.H.'s
26 of the East
49 was composed by Kijuma.
is Kijuma*s composition.
Song No. 8a
23
It is worth m e ntioning here that there is a song c o m p o s e d by Kijuma
called Tandi la mahaba "The noose of love", which W.H. wa s very eager to
obtain from Kijuma,
and which was finally sent to him.
T h e long
explanatory letter which W.H. wrote to Kijuma asking for this song
indicates that not only the native p eople were "noosed"
Kijuma's songs,
but also the Europeans.
19
by love of
Here is the song of Tandi la
mahaba
Limekota
Tr a p p e d
La mahaba tandi lako
The noose of your love.
Sitawata
c*
I shall never stop
Ku shukuru zema zako
Tha nking your beneficence.
Hasanta
Thanks;
Kwa milele nami mbwako
For ever I am yours.
(me)
106
Kukupata
Having got you
Nafusi
I have self confidence
imejibati
Tafuata
0+
I shall follow
Moyani mwangu dhati
That which is in the b o t t o m of my heart
Sina nyota
26
I became no longer thirsty.
K ukupata si katiti
Ge t t i n g you was not simple
The songs which were collected from L a m u and Matondoni can be divided
into two categories.
The first one comprises most of the songs which
have no riddles or figurative speech = mafumbo in them,
directly connected with the events of Kijuma's life.
and which are not
T h i s category I
will exclude here, because the main a i m of this chapter
is to discuss the
27
compositions of Kijuma which have m a f u m b o ,
but not before describing
them.
Kijuma c o mposed most of these songs to be sung in wedding
celebrations.
He used to lead the singers who sang these songs,
playing his g a m b u s i .
29
The. pa i n purpose of these w e d d i n g songs was to
wish the bride and brideg r o o m well,
other,
28
advise them to be faithful to each
to overcome any pr o b l e m that might appear,
other according to Islamic morality.
and to live with each
One typical of these songs has 7
stanzas of 6 lines in each and 8 syllables in every line.
The first
three stanzas are asking people not to blame love b e cause love is a fact
in which the lover has no choice.
The rest of the song is advising the
bride to do her best and try to be as patient as the wife of the Prophet
Job, Rehema.
Then, G o d may reward her,
in the Hereafter,
in the honour
of the Prophet Muhammad P.B.U.H.
Before discussing the second category of Kijuma's songs,
we must add that
Kijuma used also to sing irt Arab i c while playing his gambusi
houses of rich Ara b s who were staying in Lamu.
in the
E.g.
he used to sing,
bin Khalfan of Lamu
in Arabic,
107
-
in the house of Liwali Seif bin Salim
(1903-1911 and 1922-1929)
mother of Liwali Seif, Dhahabu,
30
e very Sunday.
n
The
used to recite by heart many Arabic songs
4
sung by Kijuma for her son.
Kij u m a must have b r ought with him many
Ar a b i c songs which were sung in the Sultan's palace in Zanzibar.
32
it
is also likely that he brought with h i m from Zanzibar some booklets of
Ar a b i c songs.
to have,
Moreover,
the Arabic book al-Mustatraf
contains many Arabic songs.
to compose A r a b i c songs,
33
which he used
We cannot assume that he was able
because I did not come across any information
concerning such compositions.
Finally,
it was my good fortune to trace
an A r abic love song written by Kijuma himself in 1912 for A.W.
34
The
text, and a recording, were found in the British I n s t itute of Recorded
Sound in London,
traced.
35
after the notebook of A.W.
in S.O.A.S.
had been
Not only this, but also this Arabic song is found recorded
on tape, sung by Kijuma himself with the music of his gambusi in the same
Institute.
T h e second category is: Songs which contain a large number of mafumbo as
w e have a l r eady seen in his song examining Sheikh S adi's expertise.
p o ets
used mafumbo in their compositions for one or more of
The
the following
reasons:
1.
For abusing or mocking each other.
2.
For testing each other's ability in solving riddles
3.
For speaking figuratively about certain delicate subjects,
(= m a f u m b o ) .
36
apart from abuse or testing one another's skill.
1.
The use of mafumbo in abuse was for the purpose of keeping the
outsiders ignorant about the background of their compositions.
this type of
m a f u m b o , the poets used offensive words,
reference to
names or events.
In
but without
-
108
-
The only persons who could identify to the bac k g r o u n d of the
composition w o uld then be those who were themselves involved in
that background.
2.
The use of mafumbo to test one another's skill had for its purpose
of d emonstrating which poet was to be considered as the most able
amongst them.
3.
In the third one,
the mafumbo were used neither to abuse someone
nor to examine other people's thinking ability,
poets'
but to express the
own concern about unpleasant affairs or crises.
Often,
these unpleasant affairs and crises were a s s o c i a t e d with love and
politics.
In this type of m a f u m b o , the poets expressed their
feelings in a w a y which requires careful study and close
examination to discover the actual intentions of these poets.
The
language us e d in this type of mafumbo is rather difficult, because
it is full of metaphors by means of which the poets do not speak
dire c t l y about the subject they have in mind,
subject w h ich bears some resemblance to it.
but about another
It is interesting that
Kijuma used all three types of mafumbo in his songs.
T h e y are
di scussed in this chapter and also in the p r e v i o u s chapter on the
singing competitions.
A l l these songs give the reader a wider view on K i j u m a ' s m a f u m b o , and his
ability in reflecting his environment and background in these
37
mafumbo.
W e have to acknowledge that not all these songs are
necessarily connected with Kijuma's
conne c t e d with the lives, of others.
life, but some are likely to be
In spite of that,
Kijuma is found in the words of these songs*
the mentality- of
Firstly,
109
-
the songs which are relevant
to Kijuma's
singing competitions
1.
Mpija zumbe ungama
0, player of the clarinet:
Huyayua uliopo
That you do not know your p o s ition
Hizo ni nyamba huvuma
Here,
Za bahari na mipepo
and winds on the reefs in the sea
Heri urejee nyuma
It is better to go back
Iwapo akili ipo
If you have a sane mind.
it is the roaring of breakers
The phrase "0, player of the clarinet"
singing competitions.
C o nfess
refers to K i j uma's opponent in the
Kijuma is comparing hi m to the captain of a ship
risking the passengers'
life on a reef.
In other words,
to compete
against Kijuma is as dangerous as it is to risk sailing across a reef.
Nyamba are hidden reefs,
just below the surface of the sea.
Bw.
Zena,
Kijuma's opponent in the singing competitions, was also a sailor in the
British Navy.
2
38
.
Nauliza wako wapi
I ask where are the m a sters of language?
Kina sahibu Lisani?
Matukano sio wanda
a
Abuses are neither kohl nor scent in a
si mafuta kitupani
bottle.
A
A p wewawao
39.
kwa muyawo
tawea4 * kwa mai gani?
.40
He who was stranded wh e n the tide was high,
which tide will help h i m float?
This song is aimed directly at Bw. Zena, because he was rich and used to
wear expensive clothes.
This c haracteristic of Bw.
song.
Bw.
110
-
Zena is reflected in the mi d d l e line of the
Zena is challenged to match Kijuma's eloquence.
on in his challenge to claim that Bw.
Kijuma goes
zena will never match him in the
field of the singing competitions, nor in the singing of abuses.
spite of all the material assets which Bw.
defeated,
Zena used to have,
because he had no skill in using them.
Thus,
all his wealth w a s unable to carry out what he wanted,
done so if he had not been wealthy!
to the sailor,
in
he was
Zena with
how would he have
The main point in the song is the
poet*s comparing the wealthy man (i.e. Bw.
wealth,
if Bw.
42
Zena) who is unable to use his
who is unable to sail during high tide.
we a l t h were taken away from such a wealthy person,
If the
and the high tide from
such a sailor, much less would they be able to succeed.
3.
W a l a h a kuwa nakhudha
He was not a captain
Pulika ■
ya
* tamkini
*
Listen well
Ba h a r i a baharia
The sailors
A l i w a s i t a fumbani
He had hidden them in the sleeping hammocks
(made of matting)
H u p w e w a iye m u yao
H o w could the ship b ecome stranded though
the tide was high
Na mai hungia ndani
And the water is entering
(the beach).
This song has the same idea and the same object as the p r e vious song (No.
2), but in a different way.
Although the rival of K ijuma used to have
all the equipment which one needs to sail and which all the other sailors
on the ship should be busy using, he (this rival)
not only failed to
sail, but also his sailors were asked to escape when his ship was aground
because of water
receding from it.
-
Ill
-
It seems that Kijuma is referring to what usually took place in the
faction of Bw.
Zena, e.g. being defeated from time to time, and also the
divisions which occurred frequently in the faction.
43
4.
N a hudha punguza tanga
0 , captain,
Baharia w amechoka
The sailors are tired
Ukiiza nami simo
If you refuse,
Hata
r* Kilifi tashuka
I shall get off even at Kilifi
Utabishaye mfumo
H o w will you tack against the wind
Na mai yamevundika
While the water
reduce the sail
I shall take no responsibility
is falling.
The poet is comparing the faction to a ship, the leader of the faction to
the captain of this ship,
the same ship,
the members of this faction to the sailors of
the split of the poet from this faction to getting off the
ship, and facing the majority's feeling to face a strong wind in shallow
waters.
It seems that Kijuma was adopting the m a j o rity's view in the
faction.
Since Kilifi was mentioned in this way,
insignificant place in the view of the poet.
it must have been an
Hence,
it is likely that he
is comparing the insignificance of K ilifi to the insignif i c a n c e of his
opponent's faction.
In this case, he must be threatening the leader of
his faction with the prospect of joining the opponents.
T h i s song argues
that the view of Kijuma in his faction had to be c onsidered and carried
out.
5.
Husafiri mashuhuni
It is travelling in cargo
Bahari
The sea is noisy
ina kilio
Hu t e k w a tanga mtini
The sail is hoisted on the yard
-
112
-
Hupita nyamba. kwa mbio
For passing the reefs q u i c k l y
Nahudha hakuamini
The captain did not believe it
Na kunyanganya shikio
A n d pulled the rudder
Now,
the ship ( K i j u m a 1s faction)
is on the sea,
passage ahead full of reefs and rough waves.
(the leader of the faction)
should do.
(from me).
there is a dangerous
The captain of the ship
becomes frightened,
and unsure of what he
He hastens to Kijuma for consultation, a sking hi m to help*
Kijuma takes command of the ship.
hoisted on the yard.
He orders the sails of the ship to be
D i rected by his own hand,
the ship runs speedily
over the reefs and overcomes all the obstacles.
Then,
all the passengers
are overjoyed and applaud Kijuma.
The captain comes again and takes the
rudder from Kijuma,
Th e song shows that the leadership of
thanking him.
Kijuma*s faction was to be given to hi m during a crisis.
Lipunguze omo tanga
R educe sail in front
Kuna kusi la khatari
There is a strong southern m o nsoon
W a niyua si muinga
Y o u know that I am not ignorant
Kwa tepe henda Misiri
I can sail to Egypt in a tepe
Upetepo tia nanga
Drop anchor when you have arrived
Imbali nawe bandari
Y o u are still far from the harbour.
Tepe or mitepe we r e crafts constructed in the Bajuni Islands off the Lamu
Archipelago and those off the coast of Somaliland.
Du r i n g Kijuma*s time,
the mtepe was still built at Faza fr o m roughly-sawn timbers,
usually
mikoko or mililana "Mangrove timbers* sewn together with coconut fibre
rope.
Not one metal nail was used in the mtepe*s con s t r u c t i o n and even
the rudder was fastened to the vessel with rope.
-
113
-
T he mast was a mangrove pole and its sail was square,
fastened to a yard which could swivel round the mast.
made of matting and
The sides of the
mtepe sloped straight down to the keel without rounding,
and the mtepe
was kept level when beached by pr o pping up the sides with mangrove
poles.
The poet is comparing the one who takes the risk of competing
against him to some one who takes the risk of sailing on the open sea
during the strong southern monsoon,
Kijuma is advising his opponent to
reduce his efforts in the competition, otherwise the opponent will be in
big trouble, because he has no experience how to o v e rcome the danger of
the strong southern monsoon.
wrecked.
Kijuma alone,
In the end, his ship will surely be
because he is the only one wh o can go to wherever
he wants in spite of adversity the lack of facilities as reflected in his
44
using t e p e .
7.
Shoka ni mshindo basi
The axe is just a noise
Mambo yana keekee
But the drill is for the important work
Sheree kwa msumeno
The plane and the saw
Hutinda nyuma na mbee
Cut b a c kward and forward
Wali e l e w e na lipi
Which of the preceding words do you
understand
Ha t a hili
likwelee
In the first line,
rival,
Hay it b e clear to you so far.
the poet is comparing the m a t erial a v a i lable to his
to the big axe in the hands of a person with no experience of
handling it except for using it to make a noise.
O n the other hand, he
is comparing his own perfection in the competition to the professional
carpenter using the craftsman's tools
use.
45
which need training before
-
114
-
Again, Kijuma accuses his rival of lacking the required q u a l ifications to
compete against him.
8
.
K*ishashiya
I enjoy
N yamba iliyo mikali
The reefs which are very sharp
Na miuya
And the rough waves
Mikuu yenye thakili
Big and heavy
Lali moya
It was
Limetimia la pili
A second joined it.
(only)
one (danger)
It is obvious that Kijuma was always ready to face any kind of problem,
and that his d etermination had no limits.
confront dangers.
It was his p l e asure to
The only person w h o m he feared wa s the D.C.
of Lamu,
46
Mr. Rogers.
9.
W e w e mwandamizi
0 , follower:
Mbona henda mbio
W h y are you running all the time
Ushinda mkizi
Quicker than the cuttle-fish
Ndani mwa uzio
Inside the fish-trap
Wangapiga mbizi
Though y o u want to dive
Hayo mai sio
The water is not (quite enough)
Kijuma is comparing his rival who is getting himself ready with all
equipment needed for the competition to a swimmer running very quickly to
dive into the water.
taking it away,
But Kijuma is going to trap h i m in the water by
that is to say, by defeating h i m in the competition.
-
115
-
10
Enda katafute
fundi
a
/■»
Go and look for an expert
A y e akutie mate
To come and spit on you
Kisa wandame bahari
After that, travel on the sea
Wende ikusukesuke
G o and let it shake you
Hasafiri mwana gendi
Th e mwana gendi does not travel
Ila afanye mkate
But by making bread (for him)
As Bibi Maryamu M. al-Bakariy of Lamu explained,
mwana gendi
Later on,
(fundi)
(i.e.
to bless you)
the original meaning of
is: The first born baby whether it was a boy or a girl.
its meaning extended to denote any event wh i c h took place for
the first time in a person's life.
For instance the person built a new
house, a new ship, married for the first time, the c hild was sent to the
chuo for the first time, sailing or travelling for the first time, and so
on.
During such events,
the people used to invite the teacher of the
chuo "Fundi" with his pupils to come and read p u b l i c l y some Qur'anic
Surahs and some prayers,
person - mwana g e n d i .
meal.
After they had finished reading,
Besides that meal,
among neighbours,
song).
asking G od's "blessing" and success for such a
they would have a
there was other food pre p ar e d to be distributed
and the needy (this explains "By m aking bread" in the
This social cust o m is still going on today, but neither publicly
nor outside the circle of the family.
But travelling for the first time
is excluded nowadays because it has become a daily business.
T h e poet is comparing himself to the expert f u n d i , hi s rival to a
newcomer with no experience mwana g e n d i , and the singing competitions to
the sea.
It seems that Kijuma advises his rival to come to him to
receive lessons on the subject before sailing on this sea,
rival will certainly be drowned.
otherwise the
-
116
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11.
Pwani kwa mzungu
For the. European,
on the shore
Kuna marikabu
There is a ship
Mwongoti wa fedha
Its mast of silver
Tanga la dhahabu
Its sail of gold
Wa p e masikini
Give it to the needy
Upate thawabu
To get a reward
(in Heaven).
The song of Kijuma speaks more openly about the fortune and the wealth of
Bw.
Zena.
Because Bw.
Zena was w o rking in the B r itish N a v y and mixing
with the Europeans, Kijuma called h i m European.
Ki j u m a is preaching to
his rival to distribute some of his wealth among the needy.
12 .
Kuna zita baharini
There is fighting on the sea
Wimbi huteta na ngome
The waves q uarrelling wi t h the sea-wall
Chombo chetizie
47
tim
The ship is beached
H ungoja pepo zikome
Wait i n g for the w inds to abate
Msema pweke ni nani
Who is.speaking with himself
(to give me the
courage of)
Nami niketi niseme?
Sitting and speaking w i t h him?
Kijuma is comparing the competition wi t h him (i.e. Kijuma)
battle with a hero.
The song refers to the
Kijuma's opponents used to experience.
to the naval
’h o r r i b l e ’ defeats which
Although the fighting is going on
between the two factions and the flame of war
is everywhere,
suddenly the
enemy's troops stop fighting and begin to tremble b e cause the war is too
fierce.
The enemy prefers a wit h drawal from the b a t t l e - f i e l d before even
thinking of resuming the fight.
-
117
-
Kijuma invites and welcomes any one of his opponents to come forward and
speak even with himself as a sign of, accepting the invitation.
And in
this case, Kijuma will definitely have a conversation with him.
there was no reply to the invitation.
field without a rival.
proverb:
But
So, he continued to stand in the
By this, Kijuma demonstrated that the Swahili
Hsema pweke hakosi, haijui ailiye "The speaker with himself does
not make mistakes
(because)
he is questioned by no one" was not
applicable to him, because Kijuma w ould not allow such speaker to
appear.
If he appeared, Kijuma should question him.
13.
Umari tuwate twimbe
0, Omari:
Hayo yako ni makosa
What you are doing is wr o n g
Kuna na wengi ziumbe
The r e are many people
Waweza,
Can be inattentive (i.e.
A
kuikukusa
let us sing
(who)
they do not do what
should be done)
Shahi hapukuswi ngombe
(Know that)
the composer
is not paid with a
cow
Hupukuswa kwa mapesa
But will accept money.
This Omari was Omari Othmani from Matondoni.
faction M k u n g u m
48
m
Matondoni.
H e was a member of K i j u m a ’s
It seems that this Omari arrived at a
stage where he found it too costly to be a member in the faction because
of the cows which were to be slaughtered in the competition.
Kijuma knew that Omari was to retire from the competitions,
as a member in the faction,
49
When
because he,
could no longer a fford what he used to,
Kijuma advised h i m to make a balance between what he had and what he
should spend in the faction.
In other words,
118
-
it was not necess a r y for the faction to spend according
to what it used to, but according to what it had in credit.
Know that there are many people who afford what they can,
what they should afford.
And know that the songs'
0, Omari:
regardless of
composer, who
represents the important factor in these competitions,
has no rules,
so
that though he prefers to receive gifts of cows to be slaughtered in
these competitions,
a little mone y would do.
The song argues Kijuma
encouraging the members of his faction to keep the competitions going,
regardless of the b ankruptcy which his faction was experiencing.
Actually, Omari othmani took the advice of Kijuma and h a stened to the
field of the competition to sing the following song of Kijuma:
14,
Mpowa sumu hakufa
The one who was given the p o ison
U p o hapa duniani
Did not die.
Mumetaka mumepata
Y o u have got what you wan t e d
Sasa iziwiliyeni
Now,
Hiki ni kiungulia
Rece i v e this
K itawatinda maini
W h i c h wi l l cut your
He is still alive
endure (our competition)
(song of)
._50
kiungulia
liver.
T h e first line in the song tells us that the opponent of Kijuma,
Zuhura,
51
Bi
was comparing the end of the person competing against her
(i.e. Kijuma or Omari Othmani)
to one taking poison.
announced the falsehood of this comparison,
Omari Othmani
and po i n t e d out that the
.• surest evidence of that falsehood was that they were still alive.
The
last two lines are comparing the ones who chose to compete against
Kijuma's faction to the ones who chose to suffer from illness for ever.
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119
-
15,
H u u upuuzi wako
This your folly
Haupambui mpambe
Does not take the dec o r a t i o n of the
decorated one away
Na baa huwanda kwako
When the disaster begins,
L o lote nalikukumbe
Y o u deserve to be pun i s h e d by every kind of
it begins from you
punishments
H a sara nda kitwa
A koko
52
The defeat of the one who has no horns is
certain
K u wana na mwenye pembe
When (he or she)
fights with the one who has
horns
It is likely that Bi.
Zuhura of Matondoni is the one to w h o m Kijuma was
referring in the song as "The one with no horns".
phrase
(i.e. the one with no horns)
The me a n i n g of this
is understood fr o m the context when
Kijuma compared himself with the one wh o has horns.
compared himself to a bull, and
Naturally,
Bi,
In other words, he
Zuhura to a beast with no horns.
the bull with horns should defeat the beast with no horns.
other words, Kijuma should defeat Bi.
Zuhura.
In
That is w h y he considered
her as foolish.
16.
Mashauri
After a long dispute
Twaliyafanya hataa
W e agreed upon the plan
Na shahidi
The witnesses
Ni Zamju na Jumaa
We r e Zamju and Jumaa
Shoka Badi
Shoka Badi
Mekumangwa la upaa
Was
(rapped over the knuckles and) beaten on
his skull.
-
120
-
The song concerns the faction of Kijuma in Matondoni,
Th e important
point in the song is that Kijuma showed three functions which the council
of the faction had.
any member
faction.
The first was to deal with any case brought against
in the faction, because this Shoka Badi was a member
in the
The second was to hear the reports of w i t n esses before arriving
at the verdict.
The third was to carry out the verdict.
The verb -
Kumangwa shows that the accused member submitted to the verdict, because
this verb is parti c u l a r l y used in the case of b e ating a carpet or a piece
of furniture for cleaning.
It implies full submission from Shoka Badi.
The song implies that the authority of the faction was like that of a
state.
Furthermore,
the word daula "State" is used in the following song
to refer to the faction.
17.
Daula mkao lipi
Whic h state's faction
Meandika Rahamani
T h e Merciful has pre d e s t i n e d it
Kuiudhi haifai
T o damage ourselves is wrong
R u h u haina thamani
Life is priceless
Twalikwenda kunwa shai
W e went to drink tea
Sasa twarudi muini
A n d now, we are coming back to the town.
The poet is relieved over his faction's victory after a long time of
a nxiety about which faction w o u l d win.
This shows that great
preparations had to be made before the competitions.
This particular
competition was in Matondoni, and each faction was c o n f ident of defeating
the other.
Kijuma asked God's help.
He was given it, so that he felt
proud that his s e lf-esteem had not been lost.
The sign of this victory
was their going to drink tea, be cause tea is usually made for
congratulation.
After they had had their tea,
121
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they went back to the town of Lamu.
18,
Na unazo tatu tama
A
Y o u have three defects
Kikwambia utalia
If I tell you them, you will cry
Rwanda huisi kusema
Firstly, you do not know how to speak
La pili huna tabia
A
Secondly, you have no etiquette
Enenda zako mgema
Go your way, 0, mgema
Ni lipi lalokutia?
What have you got to do wi t h this
53
(competition)?
Mgema was a man called Khalifa bin Alawy.
opponents in Matondoni.
He was one of Kijuma's
The perm anent work of Kha l i f a was to harvest the
coconuts from their trees.
In the song, Kijuma is satirising Khalifa's
three defects mentioned in the song.
19.
Ni udhia tajumuu
It is embarassing to meet w i t h people
Ukitoyua kunena
W i t h o u t a knowledge of h o w to speak
Hayakuwa na nafuu
)
Yambo umezolifanya
) What you have done has no benefits
Sasa uzanya tambuu
Now,
go and sell the leaves of the betel
plants
Mahamra hupijana
Mah a m r a requires the competing.
To make m a h a m r a , wheat-flour
is m i x e d with the creamy juice obtained by
grating the nutty part of coconuts,
After kneading them together,
and with sugar, cardamon,
and yeast.
the dough should be left for some hours to
dry before being cut into small pieces.
-
122
-
These pieces are put on a wooden board after some of the wheat-flour has
been spread on it.
Then,
every piece is stretched with a rolling-pin.
Then it is cut into triangular shapes and put in a pot, which contains
boiling butter,
on the fire.
until it becomes brown.
tray.
The piece should be turned on both sides
Then it is taken out of the pot to be put on a
It is usually eaten with meat,
fish, or just tea.
54
Kijuma was addressing a man called Bin Haji bin Kha m i s i w hose job was
m aki n g native yeast in Matondoni.
Kijuma used to scorn hi m for that job
because he was a member of the rival faction.
K i juma is comparing Bw.
Kh amisi's job to the job of selling the leaves of the betel-plants,
because selling these leaves is also a very humble job in the view of
K i j u m a since it does not require any effort except to collect the leaves
from the farm.
A t the same time, Kij u m a is comparing the work of sharing
in the singing competitions to the work of making m a h a m r a which requires
a big effort and enough experience,
sell them.
not only to make t h e m but also to
An effort is needed to sell them because there are many
pe o p l e trading in them,
A f r i c a n coast.
So,
since they are very p r o f itable on the East
to sell what you have, before the others, you have to
make th e m in per f e c t i o n to attract the customers to come to you and not
to go to others.
preparation,
Thus,
it is a c o mpetitive p r o f e s s i o n involving long
just like the singing competitions wh i c h are the trade of
Kijuma.
20
Twambieni tusiwambe
Tell us so that there w i l l be no need to
slander you
Kunyamaa tumechoka
We are tired of silence
Kuna na wengi ziumbe
T here are many people
Huweza
W ho are neglectful
kuikukusa
(of w h a t should be done)
-
123
-
Kama mwataka upambe
If you want to show off
Tulipeni ngombe sita
Give us' six cows.
The rival faction owes six cows to the faction of Kijuma.
is advising his opponents to slaughter these cows,
show off.
55
So, Kijuma
if they really want to
It seems that they were not ready to slaughter them because he
said that there we r e many people then who neglected their duty.
So, all
that he w a n t e d from them was to let them know if they were going to
slaughter or not.
21 .
Paka nakukanya
O, cat: I forbid you
Usi r a m b e tui
Do not lick the coconut
Ungaj inyong&nya
Though y o u are g r u m bling to yourself
Mangi huyayui
There are many matters w h i c h you do not know
Kama huli panya
If y o u refuse to eat rats,
Na wali h u p o w i ^
Y o u will not be given rice.
juice
Kiju m a is comparing his rival in the singing competitions to the cat.
If
this cat is g r umbling to itself, pretending that it can win the
competition,
to eat the meat and the rice of the competition's victory,
Kijuma will never all o w it to achieve what it is claiming.
surrender and admit defeat by eating its natural nourishment
rats).
If it refuses,
So,
it should
(i.e.
it will neither get those nor anything else,
because it will be continually defeated for its lack of experience.
c
word tui in the song could be read t u i .
n
not lick the leopard.
The
Th e meaning then would be: Do
In this case, Kijuma would be comparing himself to
the leopard., and his rival still to the cat.
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124
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22.
Fundo howa baharini
Thou g h the waterline sinks below the water's
surface
Lakini husafirika
The ship is still seaworthy
Am e n g i a kisimani
The dog has entered the we l l
Mbwa hunya kiipaka
Dirt y i n g itself with its own excrement
Yal i k u w a hali gani
H o w did it happen
Simba kuliwa na paka?
For the lion to be eaten by the cat?
The first couplet refers to the fact that Kijuma*s faction was facing
many difficulties.
difficulties.
agent
In spite of that,
the faction o v ercame all those
The second couplet is a reference to an outsider or an
(= the dog) putting his nose into the affairs
faction without knowledge of its members.
Thus,
(= the well) of the
the members of the
faction did not only quarrel amongst themselves but also allowed that
agent to weaken the faction.
The third couplet is showing the
a stonishment of Kijuma at what had happened that the cat {the rival
faction)
defeated the lion (Kijuma*s faction).
object of the song,
H a v i n g explained the
the reader can e asily recognise all the metaphors in
it.
23.
Nataka kupija simu
I want to send a tel e g r a m
Kuyuza mabara pia
To inform all the continents
H ao si wanaadamu
A
That these p e ople are not h uman beings
M ahala wachekelea
Wher e v e r they go
A b udalla
ufahamu
A
0, Abdalla,
Mwenye nundi ni ngamia
The one wh o has a hump is the camel.
understand that
-
125
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The poet is comparing the superiority of his faction over his rival to
the hump of the camel.
It seems that Kijuma found it insufficient for his rivals to be satirised
only in their country,
so, he wan t e d to let the whole w orld know about
them.
24.
Kulla siku ni udhia
Th er e are troubles every day
Mwanaadamu huchoka
A human being gets tired
Umekiandika chungu
Y o u have put the pot on the fire
H u b u r a 5 ^ na kumwaika
It is bubbling and spilling over
Kunewe kwangata pipa
Like the flea carrying a barrel,
Umetaka kupomoka
Y o u have asked for trouble.
The Swahili people used to use the term "Putting the pot on the fire" to
describe their plotting against someone.
Thus, Kijuma is comparing the
desperation of the one who is plo t t i n g against h i m to the desperation of
the flea trying to carry a barrel.
T h e one who is pl o t t i n g against h i m
here might be his rival in the singing competitions.
25.
Labuda umeifunga
)
Kutaka kunitukana
) Y o u might have intended to abuse me
A s i liye ni muinga
Because you are stupid
Na w e ukali kijana
A n d still a child
Hutia iye mpunga
H o w could you cultivate the rice-plant
Shinani
In the place of the mangroves'
la mlilana?
roots?
-
126
-
The poet is comparing the impossibility of his defeat
to the
impossibility of the rice-plants being grown amongst the roots of the
mangroves'
trees.
Knowing this and still competing against him,
it would
be a stupidity of the rival.
Before leaving Kijuma's songs in the singing c o mpetitions to discuss some
of his love songs, we may give here one of his songs w h i c h is to be
considered as a reference to the involvement of the colonial government
in the competitions and also the concern of the faction's members about
the policy of this government:
26
.
Sifanyeni masikhara
It is not to be taken lightly
Sirikali
The government is strong
ina nguvu
Walimuweni majura
Wa r n the stupid people
Wasifanye ushupavu
Not to be stubborn
Zitawapata khasara
The loss will get you
Muzidishapo uwovu
If your evil increases.
It seems that the members of Kijuma's faction w e r e going to rebel against
the policy of the government, but Kijuma urged t h e m not to.
Secondly: Lo v e Songs
1.
Nalisikia zamani
I heard once upon a time
Bahari yali na fungu
That there was a reef in the sea
Katia mbeu tobweni
There,
Riziki kanipa Mngu
G o d pr o v i d e d me with susten a n c e
I cultivated a seed in a hole
127
Sitolima tena pwani
But I shall not cultivate any more on the
coast
Hondoka na jembe langu
I shall go away wi t h my hoe
The poet is comparing Lamu to a reef in the sea, his mar r i a g e partner to
a hole on that reef, his marriage to cultivating that field by planting
the seed, his getting a child to sustenance given by Go d from that seed,
his divorce to his leaving with his spade, and his intention not to marry
any more to his intention not to c u l t ivate any more on that place.
Also
the sexual allusion in the association of the hole in the reef with the
tool of cultivation,
said:
the spade,
is obvious.
As Bi. Fatuma Nyenye
58
..
59
"When Kijuma returned from the Sultan's p a l a c e in Zanzibar,
there were rumours that he might remarry, but he disclosed his intentions
in composing this song".
Since then, Kijuma lived w i thout a wife until
he died, but wi t h his heart full of amorous thoughts as the following
songs will show.
As we said before,
these songs do not necessarily refer
to Kijuma himself, but could be referring to the lives of other
people
60
2
Ni ndweo upeo
The e x treme intoxication
Maradhi ya nyonda
Is the illness of love
Yana mishangao
Is astonishing
Na kuuma zanda
It causes regrets
Umtukiyeo
The one w h o m you hate
M w a p i z e ^ kupenda
Imprecate love upon h i m
Although this love-song has no metaphors,
it is g iven here to illustrate
Kijuma*s passionate feelings about the subject.
-
128
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3.
Ndu yangu sahiba
0 , m y close friend:
N a taka yakini
X want certainty
Yako matilaba
There is a desire
Ninayo moyoni
I have in my heart
Asili ya huba
The root of love
Mwandowe ni nni?
What is its cause?
The answer to this question can be given in the following song of Kijuma
4.
Takwambia nawe
I shall tell you
Utuwe makini
Be at rest
Nakupenda nawe
I love you
Uyue ya ndani
That is what is in my heart
Ito likiona
When the eye looks
Moyo hutamani
T he heart desires.
5.
Moyo tuwa
0, heart; Be settled
Subiri sipapatike
Be patient,
Na yangawa
Even if they (those affairs)
Huyayui mwiso wake
You still do not know the end of them
Lisokuwa
What is there impossible?
Ni lipi sihadaike
Do not be deceived.
do not be agi t a t e d
happen,
This song is obvious, but it is given here to show only that Kijuma knew
nothing called impossible in the field of love.
-
129
-
6.
Mola wangu hunituma
My G o d is trying me
Asubuhi na yioni
Morning and evening
H unipeka kusimama
He sends me to stand
Na mtuye simuoni
Looking for His p erson w h o m I cannot see
Mwalimu nipa azima
0, teacher: Give me an amulet
Niifunge kiuononi
To tie around my waist.
In this song,
the lover is in the p o s ition of an e m ployee who was
employed by God,
or by the fate w hich has been w r i tt e n for hi m by God.
So, the poet is comparing love to a job.
because it was ordered by God.
it out.
62
Hence,
This job has to be completed,
the lover can do nothing but carry
That is to say, his loved one was very dear to him, and he had
no strength to stop loving her,
although his b e loved one paid no
attention to his love, even by allowing him to see her.
unable to see her in reality,
So,
if he was
he should go to a talisman-maker who might
enable him to see her in his dreams by giving him an amulet.
7.
Dunia
haikaliki
/%
It is too difficult to live in the world
Kuna miwa hunitoma
A
Because it has thorns pr i c k i n g me
Na akhira hakwendeki
A n d it is not possible either to go to the
Hereafter
Siyatanguliza wema
Because I have not done good deeds
Kikwambia husadiki
A
Y o u do not believe me w h e n I tell you
Kwekeza siko kufuma
To a i m is not the same as to hit.
-
130
-
It seems that this song is connected with the p r e ceding one
(No. 6 ),
because the first couplet shows that the lover became desperate in this
w o r l d because of an unobtainable love* - The second couplet hints that the
lover was thinking of suicide,
but later on, he changed his mind when he
r e alised that he will forfeit paradise.
The third couplet refers to the
only remaining alte r n a t i v e before the lover,
i.e. to speak about his
love, but again this will not be enough, because he is really a person of
action.
8
Siwezi
tena
matata
A
I can no longer cope with the problems
Nenda kaketi utuwe
Go,
Kwani kuzipanga zita
W h y do yo u intend quarrelling,
Hatuziisi mwandowe
Q ua r r elling the cause of which we do not
sit, and relax
understand
Mpija konde ukuta
The one who hits the wall wi t h his fist
Huu m i z a mkonowe
Hurts his hands.
The poet is comparing the love given to a beloved who does not
reciprocate this love, to a wall which has no feeling.
That is to say:
To love such a w o m a n is the same as to hit a wall.
the lover will be
h u r ting himself.
to himself: Go,
So,
When the lover did not see any glimpse of hope, he said
sit, and relax.
9*.
Siweke zitendo
) Do not act foolishly
Z isizo maana
)
U k i k o s a pondo
If you lose the pole,
U v uzi hapana
There is no fishing.
T h e poet isassuming
Know
that love
actions.
131
- .
the role of the wise lover adv i s i n g
isfounded
on
human beings;
two elements: U n d e r s t a n d i n g and good
He compares these two elements for lovers to the punting-pole
for pushing the f i s h i n g - b o a t .
Also,
the punting - p o l e and fishing
symbolise the action of having intercourse and getting children.
10
.
U s iifanye muinga
Do not be a fool
Sikiza nikueleze
List e n to my explanation
J a m b o lalilonipinga
T h e thing w hich w o r r i e d me
Napenda unisikize
Is you not listening to me
U s i l e pweke husonga
Do not eat alone, o t h erwise y o u will
be
choked
Ni p a nami nikondeze
Give me something too,
let me taste it.
T h e poet is comparing the beloved one who knows that she is loved by
someone w h o m she does not love,
choke in his food.
to the one who is eating alone and will
She will eat alone,
being a wanted person,
because she will feel proud of
oblivious to the one wanting her.
Th e poet
reminds her that such a condition is not going to continue,
will be choked,
i.e.
she will be h ated by her lover.
because she
So, the poet is
advising her not to allow herself to be loved wit h o u t requiting her lover
the same love.
11.
Watakeni maashigi
Invite the lovers
Hata na mimi niwepo
Let me be there
.
.
.6
Niye m w a t o w e gogi
I may come and remove their pride
132
Kwa kikanda na kipepo
By (sitting together fanning the fire with)
a little matting bag and fan
K i t i a moto hazigi
64
When the expert treats
C h u m a taatiwa papo
(the wounds)
with a cautery, he will leave the burning
iron bar there (i.e. on m y wound)
T h e poet is comparing deep love to an incurable deep wound.
To
understand his comparison fully, we have to explain it in detail.
seems that the poet
(or the one for w h o m the song wa s composed)
It
was
a c cused by other lovers that he had not been sincere in his love.
He
wa n t e d to prove that he was the mo s t sincere, and they were the ones
w h o s e love was only superficial in comparison to his.
them in this song to compete in the field of love.
So, he invited
Th e p r o cedure of the
competition began when the hazigi came to cure the w o u n d s of their love
by burning them with a heated iron bar.
The lovers sat down to fan the
fire to make sure that the bar wo u l d become very hot.
The moment at
which the hazigi put the bar on the wounds of the po e t ' s rivals to cure
them, was the moment at which they cried out.
That
is to say that their
wounds were not deep deadly ones and thus they felt the heat of the bar
ve r y quickly.
on his wound,
On the contrary the poet, when the hazigi put the same bar
left the bar there forever without feeling any pain,
be cause the wound was deep and deadly,
and wi l l never be cured.
Hence,
the poet competed with them and p r oved that his was the only true love
w h i c h he w a n t e d to prove.
12
.
Wat a k e n i maashigi
Invite the lovers
Wa l o wazuri wa kwimba
Who are experts at singing
Siupati usindizi
I do not get any sleep
-
133
-
Wala mato sikufumba
Nor did I close my eyes
Sumu hunwa kwa mtuzi
Is the p oison drunk with soup
Au humiza kipumba?
Or swallowed as a tablet?
The poet is examining the lovers
(his rivals)
in their experience of love
by asking them the question found in the song.
symbol of a slow death,
death.
In this case,
and poiso n e d tablets are a symbol of a quick
the poet must be comparing the suffering of a
fruitless love to a slow death,
death.
Po i s o n wi t h soup is a
i.e. which in the end ought to lead to
And he is comparing suicide to a quick death.
So,
these lovers
should prefer a quick death to a slow one to prevent long suffering.
This song has another version, also by Kijuma, as follows:
Nataka
kukuuliza
A
I want to ask you
A shaji ulilokwimba
O, lover wh o had sung:
N i lele kwa usindizi
I have slept,
Mato yangu sikufumba
With m y eyes opened
Sumu hula kwa mtuzi
Is the poison taken with soup
A u humizwa zipumba?
Or swallowed as tablets?
sleeping
13.
Moyo wangu una nni
0, m y heart: What is the matter with you?
Hulia kucha na kutwa
Y o u are crying morning and evening
Humshiriki shetani
Y o u are following the devil
Kwa yambo usolipata
For something y o u cannot obtain
Aliyekufa ni nani
Whoever died, that
Kilio kikamleta?
Crying restored to life?
-
134
-
T he poet is comparing the beloved with her indifference,
to a dead person
with neither feeling nor sense.
14.
Moyo huwati k i y o m b o ^
The. heart does not stop crying
Hata kula hudiriki
It even has no chance to eat
Moyo kiuwonya mambo
When I p reach to my heart to have good
manners.
Kataa hauwonyeki
It does not obey the pre a c h i n g
Moyo hupijwa kwa simbo
Someone e l s e ’s heart gets beaten by sticks
W a n g u sharuti bunduki
But m i n e requires a gun.
The poet prefers shooting his heart in order to be killed at once, to
letting himself be killed slowly by love.
The h earts of other lovers are
able to forget their love after some preaching which is compared to
beating, while the punishment
the p oet's heart deserves is compared to
shooting.
15.
Moyo wenee shughuli
The heart was overwhelmed by worries
Kwa kukosa matilaba
For mis s i n g what it desires
Na kunena ni muhali
It is impossible to speak
Moyo wangu una ruba
My heart has fears
Ta kupijia suali
I shall ask you
Nani alao kashiba?
W h o has eaten and w a s satisfied?
The question in the song is addr e s s e d to a beloved one who promises her
lover to return his love but doesn't fulfil the promise.
-
135
-
So, the meaning of the question will be: Who has been p r o mised love
without it being fulfilled and was satisfied?
For the poet to use the word "eaten",
in the song,
instead of "promised",
he, being in this position, must be comparing himself to the hungry one
who was promised a meal,
but it was not brought to h i m even to taste a
little.
16 .
Kilacho nyuki nayua
I know what the bee eats
Ni zitu zenye thakili
Things w h i c h are not good
Hutond o l e a maua
It wanders between
(all kinds of) flowers
(whether they are good or bad)
Na majiti ilo mbali
A n d big trees far away
Nayo ingawa yaua
Alt h o u g h the honey kills,
Siyati kula asali
I will not stop eating it.
The poet is comparing the beloved one to the bee,
and her love to another
person to the bee roaming among bad flowers, his love for her being like
the honey which kills.
i.e. loving her.
In spite of that, he will c o n t i n u e eating it,
Concerning his saying: Things wh i c h are not good,
there
is a Swahili saying: Huyui kilacho nyuki, asali hun g e i r a m b a = "You do not
know what the bees eat.
If you did, you would not lick up the honey".
Regarding his saying: The hon e y kills, he means:
will cause a fatal illness.
Ea t i n g too much honey
He is saying that the lover,
in the song,
w a s too much in love with his lady and he will go on loving her so,
although he will die because he knows that she has another flower in her
life.
-
136
-
17.
Nalikikupenda
1 loved, you
Pendo la imani
W i t h faithful love
Kikufanya wanda
(For me) yo u are the kohl
Kitia matoni
Wit h which I coloured my eyes
Kalama
66
.
, ,
ni simba
And all surprise! y o u were a lion
Hunila za ndani
Eating me from inside.
The poet is comparing the beloved one who, in his presence,
but is faithless behind his back,
lover's heart.
is faithful,
to the lion who is p r e y i n g on the
This reflects his faithful love for her since her
faithless love killed him in this way.
This faithful love is well
expressed in the first lines of the song.
18.
Bui wangu mwenye sifa
0 , my bel o v e d of be a u t y
Ndoo nikupe khabari
Come,
Nikupe la maarifa
Let me give you wisdom,
La mila na dasituri
Manners and guidance
Kizima na chenye ufa
The c o mplete or the c r acked
Ni kipi chenye khatari?
Whi c h one of them is dangerous?
let me give you news
This question is addressed to the beloved.
In this question,
the poet is
comparing the love which another lover - who has another beloved - feels
for her,
to something weak and cracked.
At the same time,
the poet
(or
the one for wh o m the song was composed by the poet) w h o has no other
beloved ones but her,
and perfect,
is comparing his love for her to something strong
neither weak nor cracked.
-
137
-
19.
Wa k o kurrati
A
’aini
Your delight of the eye
Simuwate maridhia
Do not leave the intimate friend
Utakalo kwangu tama
67
Whatever y o u want,
just express it
Nambia hela nambia
(and I shall carry it out)
Chungu kimevuya nyama
The meat leaked out of the pot
Mtuzi umebakia
And the gravy is still there.
It is indeed very strange for a solid material to get out through the
wall of a pot, while the liquid remains in the pot.
strange when we realise that the "meat"
It will not seem so
is a symbol of the loved o n e ’s
body,
and the "gravy"
Then,
the m e aning of the song will be as follows: T h e girl was dearly
loved by her lover.
l o v e r ’s hands,
20
is a symbol of false promises and sweet words.
She slipped from his embrace and fell into another
leaving behind a kiss or just a sweet word.
.
Kipendi khalili
0 , sweet heart:
Umenisukuma
Y o u have rejected me
Umenibadili
Y o u have changed me
Dhahabu kwa chuma
Gold for iron
Mia kwa miwili
The eater w i t h two hands
Hana mwiso mwema
Comes to no good end.
The poet is comparing the beloved w h o has another lover to one who eats
with both hands.
Of course such an eater will overeat. It
that that another
lover
is compared to iron, because the poet was
just as gold can be changed for iron,
gold (Kijuma)
for
iron
seems likely
i.e. this b e loved has
(another lover).
changed
given away
That
138
-
is to say she degraded Kijuma by loving that other lover.
21 .
Naliifunga kibobwe
68
I tightened the strip of calico around my
waist
Tumbo zikawa utungu
(It w a s so tight that) my stomach hurt
Ukanitimbia tobwe
(In spite of that) you have dug a pit for me
Usiche Mwenyezi Mungu
Without fearing A l m i g h t y Go d
Nenda msobe msobe
I a m going dizzy
H a t i m a ya pendo langu
That is the conclusion of my love.
The first couplet is a symbol of the lover's devotion to his beloved
one.
him,
So, he iscomparing
after he had
the b e l o v e d one who p r e f e r r e d another
lover to
devoted his life to her, to the one wh o dug a pit to
bur y h i m while still alive.
This made h i m feel vertigo.
22 .
Mbui wangu mwendani
0 , m y sweetheart
Twaa kisu kakinowe
Take the knife and sharpen it
Humgegera
69
zamani
Y o u have been stabbing m e for a long time
Sifi sipiji mayowe
I do not die, I do not cry
Kikiniuka shingoni
If the knife jumps away from my neck,
K itakutinda mwenyewe
It wi l l cut yours.
The knife of the beloved and the knife of the poet are the symbols of the
satirical words which reveal the faults of both.
the latter sharp.
T h e former
is blunt and
That is w h y the be l o v e d one could not kill him,
although she had been stabbing at him with her knife for a long time.
-
139
-
So, he is threatening her that he will use his knife*
stab h i m any more,
If she is going to
he will kill her at once with his own sharp knife.
Kijuma's "knife" was very sharp indeed.
His c o m p a triots assured the
present writer that every one used to do his best to avoid his satirical
words.
23.
Tapia mafundi wako
Seek refuge with your teachers
Wak u o n y e la kufanya
A n d let them guide you to what you should do
J u m l a mahaba yako
A l l of your love
Nimekwisa kuyasoma
I have al r e a d y studied it
Pa k a wengi wangaweko
A l t h o u g h there are many cats
W a m e w azidisha panya
The y let the number of rats increase
T he cats are symbols of lovers who pretended that they loved the beloved
one.
The rats
(making holes in the house) are symbols of the disgrace
which these lovers will cause her.
Because these lovers do not truly
love her, they will spoil her reputation everywhere,
so,
mocking her by saying: G o to them and seek refuge there,
the poet is
and for me, I
have no interest any more.
24.
W a dirikene watomi
T he fishermen assembled
Mitoni hupima mai
To me a s u r e the w a ter-level
Huy a p i m a mavundifu
To mea s u r e the higher
Mavundifu na maukai
A n d lower current
Pono meshika kioo
Pono was caught by the fish-hook
Kioo huvutwa hai
A n d was pulled in alive.
-
140
-
Pon o is a kind of fish which is always lazy, quiet,
m e d i u m size, and very soft, and shiny.
good.
and torpid.
It is of
It has a wi d e mouth, and tastes
The most significant point in this comparison is that this fish
has worms inside its head.
70
T he poet is comparing the beloved who has more than one lover to the
p o n o , and her lovers disputing about her to the fishermen measuring the
level of the water's current.
was
Co m paring her to the pono implies that she
1r o t t e n ' .
25.
Ukitaka nyumba
If you want a house
Kajenge barani
Build it outside the town
Na dirisha lake
A n d make its window
Ekeza kusini
T o wa r d s the southern di r e c t i o n
Yu a hana nyee
Know that she has no hair
Shanuo nda nni?
What is the use of the comb?
The beloved's house should not be inside the town.
Her proper place
should be the forest, because she was not a civilised person.
After the
poet locates the house in the forest, he designs it in such a way as to
make its windows face the south,
come.
from where the he a v y rains and wind
The poet wants her to suffer the hardships of the forest, rains
and drought.
A person with no such experience cannot imagine how she
will suffer in such a house.
In the end the poet states that her other
lovers were only flattering her by pretending that she was attractive
enough to be loved.
hair.
to her?
In fact,
she had no attraction,
So, why do the lovers give her credit
she even had no
(the comb)
which is not due
-
141
-
26.
H u o n a kama ufiye
I feel as if you have died,
Hali uko duniani
A l t h o u g h you are alive
Mola niishukuriye
I thank Go d that
A f a o hapatikani
The de a d person is no longer there
N i n a o wengi w e n d e e
I ha v e ma n y friends wh o have died
Uchenda wewe ni nyani?
If you die, who are you?
The poet is telling the beloved one that,
for him,
that their relationship has come to an end.
it does not matter
Furthermore,
he is thanking
G o d that his r e lationship with previous beloved ones have ended and will
never return.
H e compares them to the dead wh o s e names are forgotten.
27.
A s o chake
T h e pe r s o n who h a s nothing
Hu p i t a kiuma zanda
Bites his fingers all the time
(saying I
wis h I had this and that)
C h o m b o chake
If he owns his own boat,
Kikimiliki huvunda
It w i l l break
Sisumbuke
Do not bother
Nazi ni tui la kwanda
The t asty part of the coconut
is the first
nutty part.
The poet is c omparing the person who h a s no sweetheart to the person who
bites his fingers wishing to have one,
the p e rson w h o fails in his love
affairs to the p e r s o n whose boat b r e a k s at the m oment of owning it, and
the sweetness of the virgin girl to the taste of the first nutty part of
the coconut.
-
142
-
This last line implies that he is also comparing the d eflowered woman to
the remaining hard part of that coconut when the milk has been drunk from
it*
When the poet advises himself not to bother,
he implies that all the
w o m e n he had loved were deflowered ones, not virgins.
w a s an unlucky lover,
p arts of the coconut.
That is to say he
since he compares the deflowered ones to the hard
Moreover,
the relationships with these deflowered
w omen come to a quick end as the mi d d l e couplet implies.
28.
N ali t e m a tuka
X have cleared the bush
H i
To live in
kubarizi
K a tia mipaka
I have put up fences
Y a nyaka na nyezi
In mo n t h s and years
Konde ya shirika
The field of sharing
Kulima siwezi
I cannot cultivate.
It seems that the bel o v e d one, this time, was not civilised, and the
lover made a great effort and took much time to teach her good manners.
After he had m a r r i e d her and taught
her, he
found but that she had
another lover,
The
poet is
comparing teaching her to be
to the clearing of the
bush to
live in, and her having more
a good wife,
so he left her.
than one lover,
to a field owned by
more than one farmer,
and his not
wa n t i n g such a wife to his not w a n t i n g to cultivate in such a field.
29.
Satu likamea ndaro
71
(Although she was like)
up as a ghoul,
Likani o n y a tamaa
She showed me hope
a serpent and grew
-
143
-
Kaona mbeu nyororo
X thought a soft seed
Mara moya itazaa
W o u l d qui c k l y bear fruit
Kisuke chake ni kero
(But X realised that her fruit)
the corncob
was disgusting
Nimekonda sikusaa
(Thus), I soon s hrivelled up.
Although the b e l oved one gave her lover trouble,
hope of success.
to his heart.
she also gave hi m some
But he found out that she wished only to give trouble
In the end, she left hi m dying slowly because his
continuous thinking of her had made hi m stop eating.
So, the poet is
comparing the beloved one to a serpent who grew up as a ghoul, her soft
wor d s to the soft seeds, and the love expected from these soft words to
the fruits expected from the trees.
were disgusting.
and soon,
But he found out that the fruits
The result of this was that the lover became very thin,
it seemed he would die.
30.
Takwandika
I shall wr i t e your name
Katika madafutari
In the registers
Nikweleze
I shall explain to you
Maneno ya kukhitari
In chosen words
Siwi ngonda
I shall not be like a dried fish
Katafutwa
kwa utari
r*
a
4*
Ngonda
72
To be sought for its defects.
is eaten on the coast, only w h e n a person has no m o n e y to buy meat
or fresh fish.
70
The song implies:
Do not make me "a last resort"..
I
do not want to be used wh e n you do not have anybody else who is better
than me.
-
144
-
31.
Nalipoiona nyumba
Wh e n I saw the house
Moyo walinihairi
My heart was confused
Kachelea watu kwamba
I w a s a f raid that pe o p l e wo u l d gossip
Na we w e huniaziri
A n d that you wo u l d shame me
Laiti nisiwe simba
I w i s h e d I were a lion
Karuka kakukhasiri
I w ould jump on you and destroy you.
The song shows that the lover was very much in love with this woman,
her love for her lover seems to be only a courtly one.
but
If he were not
afraid of people backbiting and of her exposing him, he w ould rape her.
The poet compares the one who rapes women to the lion wh i c h preys on
animals.
32.
Walip o k u w a huwezi
W h e n y o u were sick
N alikufanyiza dawa
I cured you
Kiungo ni tangawizi
A n ingredient was the ginger
Mai ni mai ya vua
A n d the water was rain water
U k i s a maliza dawa
W h e n y o u recovered
U menda zako kuoa
Y ou we n t away to marry
This song was composed by Bi.
Kijuma.
marriage.
(another).
Zuhura of Matondoni g iving her opinion of
It is not improbable that Kijuma sought Bi.
Zuhura's hand in
She rejected his prop o s a l because she c o n s i d e r e d him not
faithful in his love and reminded hi m of the fate of one of his wives who
looked after h i m when he was not well.
After he had recovered, he
divorced her and went on to marr y another.
73
The medicine d a w a , in the song,
145
-
is also considered as a symbol of the
w a r m relations between a man and his-wife.
Kijuma did not leave Bi.
Zuhura wit h o u t a reply:
73
33.
Maneno yako hukomi
Your gossip has no end
Wata k a nami ninene
Y o u want me to get excited
Kuoa si kwanda mimi
I wa s not the first one to get married
Watangulie wangine
Others had preceded me
Kwa hadithi ya Mtumi
Ac c o r d i n g to the Ha d i t h of the Prophet
Sharia ni wake wane
The law allows four wives.
Not only the Hadith of the Prophet, but also the Q u r a n allows the M u slim
to mar r y up to four wives.
number
It should be made clear that that permitted
in the Q u r a n is conditional.
T h e Muslim is a l l o w e d to marry more
than one wife only if he is sure that he can do justice to them.
74
If
he fears that he cannot do justice especially regarding the time that he
should spend with each one and the comforts w hich he should afford each
one,
then he should marry only one, not more.
75
At the same time, the
Q u r a n says:
"You will not be able to do justice between wives, however much you
wish to do so.
in suspense.
76
ever Forgiving,
But do not turn altogether
from one,
leaving her as
If you do g o o d and keep from evil, Lol Allah is
Merciful*■
77
These Ay a s altogether give the obvious
instruction for every M uslim man
wanting to be on the safe side, to m arry only one wife as long as his
matrimonial life with one wife is a normal one.
I.e each one of the
couple is healthy and performing their male and female functions.
-
146
-
34,
Laitani
If only.
Ni mwamba laiti
O, who is saying:
.78
Wa yangani
The luck in the air
Hutafuta pa kuketi
Looking for a place to settle
Muwateni
Leave it
Haina mato bahati
Luck is blind
Luck,
If only
in Kijuma's view, has no eyes because it gave h i m "the blind eye",
though he was the one who deserved mu c h luck b e cause of his numerous
talents.
In spite of those talents, he did not get what he wished.
As
we see, Kijuma compares his bad luck in love to something blind and
floating in the air unable to find the wa y to Kijuma,
Finally,
these love songs might be ended with the f o l l owing two songs
which give Kijuma's opinion of the wives and the h u s bands of his time in
general.
The first one:
W a k e wa kisasa
Tod a y ' s wives
Mb ovu hali zao
Are bad
Waki k o s a pesa
If they lack money,
Ha wana pumbao
Th e y will stop their intimacy
Kheri kuwakosa
It is better not to have them
Kama kuwa nao
T h a n to have them.
-
147
-
The second one:
W a ume wa sasa
Toda y * s husbands
Ni madungudungu
Are bad
H u n g i a mekoni
They go into the kitchen
Kufunuwa zungu
To take the pots'
N a n a pika tule
lids off
Lady: Cook so that we may eat
Nguo zina Mngu
The clothes have God"
(i.e. will be supplied
by H i m ) .
As we see, his opinion about the wives and the husbands of that
particular time was that they had no interest in their mar r i a g e execpt to
get their pockets full of mon e y and their bellies full of food.
That is
to say that the basis of their matrimonial relationship had become
materialistic,
and not also spiritual as it should be.
Miscellaneous songs of Kijuma
Political songs:
1.
Nungu aliwata shimo
The p o r cupine left its hole
Kakimbilia juani
To run to the sun
Kipita kiata miwa
Eve r ywhere it passes,
Kushonewa zerehani
To be used in sewing machines
Tunganena tungateka
Though we chat and smile,
Matumbo h a y e z i k a m
79
it leaves prickles
(Our) stomachs cannot be ignored.
-
148
-
. ,
T h e poet is comparing the colonial government,
being a harmful but rarely seen creature.
to the porcupine,
80
as
It seems that this government
was forced to offer the citizens some useful goods,
bec a u s e the poet
compares it again to a porcupine which appeared for a wh i l e on a sunny
day to get rid of its old prickles, w h i c h may be used in sewing
clothes.
81
the end,
T h e s e useful goods m a d e the citizens chat and smile.
In
the poet is wa r n i n g this government against being indifferent to
the empty stomachs of the citizens.
It is worth m e n t i o n i n g here that the
colonial government was the first to impose taxes on the citizens of
Lamu, who complained b i tterly about these taxes as being a heavy
burden.
54
T h e r e is another song of Kijuma about these complaints:
Ni kupiga hodi hodi
(The tax collector)
Kila siku mara tatu
Thre e times every day
Waekeni mashahidi
K e e p witnesses as is the c ustom
Kama waekao watu
of other people
Mungu tusalimu kodi
God m a y save us from taxes
Majumba hayana zitu
Because the houses have nothing.
W h e n the government imposed these taxes,
knocks
at the doors
some of the Swahili people
pr eferred to leave their farms and belongings without
rather than report them and then be taxed.
reporting them
But the gov e r n m e n t came and
took all of these unreported farms into its ownership.
54
However,
the
second couplet in this song reveals that the poet wa s a sking his
compatriots to stand up for their
they could not,
rights and pr e v e n t such high taxes.
they should revolt.
If they revolted,
w o u l d have no alternative but to stop taking the taxes.
the government
If
-
149
-
The stranger should restrain himself from intervening in the affairs of
relatives
Mkiona masharia
If yo u see disputes
Ya wat u wao kwa wao
Agai n s t the people of the same clan
T ahadhari kuingia
Be careful, not to intervene
T u lepuke shari lao
To avoid their evil
N gombe na mbuzi wamoya
The cow and the goat are one kind
Mtu mbali ni kondoo
The stranger is the sheep.
The poe t is a d vising every one not to involve himself
relatives.
If these relatives have any problems,
himself clear of any kind of intervention,
directly or indirectly,
in the affairs of
the outsider must keep
otherwise he might be accused,
of causing the problem.
In the last couplet,
the
poet is comparing the relationship between relatives to the similarity
b etween the cow and the goat.
found in their hair,
colour,
E.g. the similarity b e t w e e n them is to be
and milk.
C o m p aring t h e m to the sheep, we
find the latter does not have this similarity, and that
compared it to the outsider.
In fact,
m a n y . Swahili p r overbs on the subject.
is why the poet
this compar i s o n is adopted from
One of these p r o verbs is as
follows:
Ngombe na mbuzi ni w a mwe
(wamoja), mtu mbali ni k o n d o o : "The cow
and the goat are the same, the outsider
is the sheep".
T h e quali f i e d K i j u m a who is not respected
Kuwa simaku
82
siizi
To be magnetic I do not refuse
K uyar a r u a magome
To destroy the rocks
(on the shore)
Kwa kulla alohasidi
A n d e very envious p erson
-
150
-
Kwa ito asin i o n e
Wi t h his eye, he sees me not
S i ndano huwa na uzi
The needle can have its thread
Na kushona
A n d yet prove sewing impossible.
The p o e t
isishone
is c o mparing himself - as a qualified person but not respected
by his society - to a needle with a thread but which does not sew.
So,
he w i s h e s he could be magnetic and destroy all the rocks i.e. the
barr i e r s which stand between him and the respect of his society.
Then,
those w h o envy h i m w o uld no longer disregard him.
T h e hes i t a n t person
S ahi b a mwenye muruwa
O, virtuous friend
N a k u u l i z a suala
I ask you a question
I m ekuwa imekuwa
A year has passed without my
Y a p a t a mwaka siyala
eating
Mtu hu l a akanawa
Does the person eat, and then wash (his
(anything)
hands)
Au h u nawa akala
Or wa s h them, and then eat?
A l t h o u g h this song might be conne c t e d with the be l o v e d wh o was hesitant
in her love for the lover,
it has a wider meaning b e c a u s e the question
found in it is addr e s s e d to a person who is hesitant in any circumstances
and u n a b l e to decide what is right and what is wrong.
Th e answer to the
q u e s t i o n of the song is: It is pre f e r a b l e to wash the hands before and
after eating,
es p e c i a l l y when we realise that the Swahili people prefer
to eat with their hands,
following the P r ophet M u h a m m a d ' s way of eating.
-
151
-
But if asked to choose one thing only,
the right answer w o u l d be: It is
better to wash the hands before than after eating,
b e cause the eater on
the Kenyan coast used to eat with the other members of his family,
sharing the dishes.
So,
it is better to have clean hands when eating
w i t h other people than unclean ones.
To have unclean hands after eating,
will not harm any one else.
A person should be content with what he has
Ulimwengu una tata
The w o r l d has problems
Siikuwe
Do not be proud
A m b a o wamkamata
Whom e v e r you hold
Simtowe
Do not let her go
A mekushikisha uta
(Otherwise)
Kxtunguwe
83
the hare
ha s made you
hold the bow.
T h e hare is a symbol of a cunning and clever person.
84
is used to symbolise a cunning and deceitful woman.
In the song,
it
A l t h o u g h the song
shows that it was addressed to a certain married man, who was going to be
seduced by the cunning woman,
for a Swahili p erson it could be addressed
to any person o w ning anything.
It seems probable that the marriage of
that man for w h o m the song was co m posed was unhappy.
the "hare" was attempting h i m to ma r r y her instead,
first wife.
At the same time,
after divorcing his
It seems that that man asked Kijuma's advice,
given to him thus: Kn o w that the world is full of problems,
without them.
If your wife causes problems,
"hare" will not also cause them.
to m a rrv this "hare*.
So,
and it was
and no one is
it does not mean that that
keep your wife,
do not divorce her
Otherwise this "hare"
152
-
knowing that you carried out w h a t she suggested
even before she was married to you, will put many other conditions before
you may touch her.
out. Then,
The s e conditions might be impossible for you to carry
you will find yourself with nothing but h o lding a bow.
other words,
In
you will find yourself q u a r r elling and fighting that "hare"
all the time.
D e aling before judging
Mkono wa shoto
The left hand
Si kama kulia
Is not as the right one
Kuo n a kwa ndoto
T o see in the dream
Si kushuhudia
Is not to witness reality
Ukali wa moto
T he fierceness of the fire
Ni kuutotea
Come s up wh e n it is stirred.
This is a message to those who give judgement on any m atter before
studying it deeply: You know nothing about it.
to inquire into it.
To know it well, you
have
Then, y o u will be able to come to its heart.
The last song to be concluded in this chapter is a song without m a f u m b o ,
but it does concern Kijuma's satisfaction with
his o n l y
son Helewa.
Radhi ya Azizi
The satisfaction of the M i g h t y One
Mwanangu unayo
And
Na wako mzazi
You, my son, have got them
Ni mweupe moyo
The heart is pure
Hini ni hirizi
This is an amulet
Fungamana nayo
For y o u to keep.
(also of) your father
(towards you)
-
153
-
Chapter III: Notes
1.
Interview with Sayyid Hasan B a dawy in Lamu.
H e said that he tried
hard to find enough time to go to Kijuma to learn these different
meanings,
2.
but he could not find the time,
Ms. 53490.
T h ere are other such verses composed by Muyaka,
1979, pp.
182-194.
3.
Interview wi t h Bwana Abdall a K h atibu in Lamu.
4.
Interview with Mzee Salim Kheri in Lamu.
5.
From Bwana A d a m Ismail.
6.
See:
Ex. 4,
7c
See:
p. 67.
8®
Kimba kimba = kinguvunguvu - strongly,
9.
Zipai = vipaji = Rou n d patch on the forehead.
10,
Zarani = Special dye to be put on the cheeks.
11,
see: Abdulaziz,
It can be no coincidence that S ultan Sayyid H a m o u d travelled to all
these countries.
See: Al-Mughiriy,
12,
1399/1979,
p. 288.
He was a conte m p o r a r y of Kijuma.
He lived and died in Lamu.
I
have a letter containing some love songs composed and w r itten in
A r abic script by Shei k h Sadi himself.
13c
Interview with Bibi Fatuma N y enye in Matondoni.
She was a member
of Kijuma's faction in the singing competitions.
14.
Interview with Sheikh Muhamadi
15.
See:
pp.
43-91.
16.
See: pp. 60-62.
17c
I have the m recorded on tapes.
'Adnani al- M a h d a l i y in Lamu.
18.
154
-
They are:
Mzee S a l i m Kheri,
bin Haji,
Bwana Mahmoud Mau, Bibi Amina Kheri,
Bwana Muhamadi Saidi, Bwana Abdalla Fadhili,
Mzee Kuwe A b d a l l a known as Bakowe, Bibi Fatuma Nyenye,
Baishi,
Bibi Somoe Bena, Bibi Fatuma Hassan,
Bwana Omari
Bwana or
Mwana Juma
Bibi Azani Waswedi,
and others mentioned elsewhere in the thesis.
19.
Ms. 253028.
20.
See: pp.
21.
Ms.
22.
Hichens,
158-279.
193 291, and Ms. 55 microf i l m e d by Al l e n
1962/3,
p.
on Reel No. C.I.
116.
It is important to know also that this song (No. 39) was considered
as Kijuma's composition by:
Noor Shariff and Feidel,
23.
Dammann,
24.
Ms. 53491.
25.
1973, p. IX.
1943.
It is written,
in the Ms. as l i m e k u t a , but it should be limekota to
have a meaning.
26.
It is w r o n g l y written n y o t o . Th e r e is
27.
See: p. 360.
28.
Interview with Mzee
no nyoto in Swahili.
Salim Kheri, his daughter Amina,
his
relative
Bibi Rukayyah, and others in Lamu.
29.
See: p. 27,
30.
MS. 53829.
31.
Interview with the ex-Liwali of Lamu Bwana Am i n a l - M a ndariy in
Mombasa,
and also Mzee Salim Kheri in Lamu.
32.
See: pp.
65-69.
33.
See: p.
34.
See: Fig. A.S.
35.
See: p.
178.
158.
36.
Abdalla,
1978, pp.
37.
See: p. 402.
38.
See: p. 47.
39.
The active verb
jahazi imepwewa
155
-
18-20.
of apwewapo is kupwa = to recede,
of
the tide,
= the tide fell down leaving the boat on
e.g.
the shore,
and mai y a mekupwa = the water ebbed.
40.
Muyao ( Kuyaa)
41.
Tawea = ataolea
42.
See: pp. 56-57.
43.
See: pp. 47-79.
44.
45.
'high tide", e.g. mai
yameyaa = It ishigh tide.
= he will float.
For more details about t e p e , see:
The tools w h i c h are mentione d
Kijuma p r o b a b l y used
Ms. 53829.
in the song give
them inhis
us
a hint
carpentry and carving.
that
See: pp.
280-294
46.
47.
See: p. 338.
Chetizie = kimeketi - it anchored, or beached.
48.
See: p. 79,
49.
See: pp. 82-83.
50.
Kiungulia = G a stric disorder causing eructations.
51.
See: p. 80.
52.
When the koko
head),
(the stone of the mango)
is used with kitwa {the
the m e a n i n g w o uld be - T h e stupid one, but in the context of
this song ■ The one with no horns.
53.
M g e m a : T h e O n e who taps the coconut trees to get the palm-wine.
54.
Interview wi t h Sheikh Yahya
55.
See: p. 82.
56.
This song is also given, but wit h o u t comments,
49.
57.
Ali Omari in S.O.A.S.
Kubura = T o begin boiling.
by Lambert,
1956, p.
-
156
-
58.
Fr o m wh o m this song was obtained in Matondoni.
59.
See: p.
36.
60.
See: p.
108.
61.
Apiza = Swear
62.
Although amulets are condemned in Islam,
at,
or curse.
there are still ignorant
people who believe in amulets as a means of affecting the hearts oflovers or beloved ones.
unreadable writing.
Quranic Ayas.
wrist,
63.
The amulet is usually wr i t t e n in
It might contain some pr a y e r s or even some
Some of these pe o p l e tie the amulet around the
and others around the waist.
Gogi = getting too much and feeling so proud of it that it becomes
a disease.
M g o g i , plural W a g o g i , is used for such a person or
persons.
64•
Hazigi » The expert who treats with a cautery.
It
wa s an
old
custom b y which some people used to cure some of their actual
wounds, but this time (in the song)
the w ounds we r e love wounds.
65.
Kiyombo = kilio » crying.
66.
Kalama = kanama = kumbe - A n d all of a sudden.
67*
Tama « tamka « To say,
68.
Kibobwe: A n y kind of cloth wh i c h is tightened a round
69.
K u g e g e r a : To notch,
70.
Interview with Bibi Maryamu M. Al-Bak a r i y of
71.
Ndaro = Spirit,
72.
Utari = ukosefu - Defect, mistake.
73.
to express.
nick,
incise,
waist.
indent.
Lamu in London,
“ Interview with Bwana A b dal l a Fadhili in Matondoni.
74.
Quran 4,3.
75.
Quran 3,4.
76.
I.e. as if she were neither mar r i e d nor free
responsibility of marriage.
the
from the
77.
Qur a n 4,129.
78.
Y a n g a n i : It could be anything floating in the air looking for
place to settle.
a
The poet specified that thing as luck when he
used the wo r d bahati at the end of the song.
79.
80.
Hayezekani = Haya-izikani = Cannot be neglected.
It is known that the porcupine is a night animal which does not
normally appear during the day-light,
81.
82.
unless it is disturbed.
See: p. 319.
The Swahili p e o p l e assume that the magnet was formed from earth
which was burned as a result of thunder and lightning.
Hence,
believe - as Bibi Maryamu M. al-Bak a r i y of La m u said - that the
element of d e struction is found in the magnet.
83.
Kitunguwe = K i tungule = Sungura - Ha r e or rabbit.
84.
Steere,
1928, p. viii.
they
-
158
-
CHAPTER IV
Kijuma As A Scribe And A Poet
Two stanzas of Kijuma's own c o m p o s i t i o n ’*’ give us a very relevant
introduction to this chapter
Unipe wino mweusi
Let me have black ink
Na ya Shamu karatasi
Wi t h S yrian paper
Na kalamu ya unyasi
And a reed pen
Nipate kuyandikia
That I ma y write with it
Na kibao cha fakhari
Together wi t h a good board
Ni pijie misitari
That I m a y mark lines w i t h
Khati zende kwa uzuri
That the writing may look nice
Zifuate moya ndia
A n d be straight in a line.
[
By the 17th C e ntury the art of writing,
on the coast,
had attained a very
2
high standard.
M a n y Mss. were destroyed by the Portuguese,
have been lost by the ravages of time.
upon their work
and others
The care which the scribes spent
is made plain in those stanzas w hich f requently preface
3
epics and which d e scribe the materials used.
The two stanzas above
name the materials that Kijuma used for his writing.
that Kijuma used was cut from a reed,
The pen or stylus
in the manner of the European quill
pens, although the modern steel pens imported from E u r o p e and India were
in use while he was alive.
Black ink was made by h i m from rice, burned
black and then ground to a fine powder which was mi x e d with a little
resin and lemon juice and sometimes lamp-black.
-
159
-
He also used red ink, prepared locally from the m z i n gefuri plant
Orellana),
(Bixa
which yields a reddish orange dye.
T h e ink-well or container
is known as kidawa cha w i n o .
Wi t h regard to
the paper which was used we find that in early times, w r iting was done
upon a papyrus made from the split leaves of palms.
Shamu)
Indian,
and European paper came into use.
Later, Syrian,
(ya
P r o m the 18th Century
onwards Swahili scribes frequently w rote their works upon British
hand-made paper of high quality.
If these were not available to Kijuma,
he could make paper of the same
4
qu a l i t y by hand.
To line the paper,
Kijuma used a kibao or board.
silken cord was wr a p p e d in parallel around the board,
A
the paper was then
p r e s s e d upon the corded board and rubbed so that p a r a l l e l ridges or
mistari were impressed onto the paper at such d i s tance apart as was
required.
V e r t i c a l ridges,
likewise impressed, di v i d e d the paper into
c"
four or more equal columns'^ each to take one m e asure or kipande of the
full stanza's lines of the composition.
The Swahili Mss.
5
of Kijuma are not infrequently ad o r n e d with a coloured
title-piece or U n u w a n i .
In the last years of his scribing,
this work,
European wate r - c o l o u r s were used for
but before that the pigments were of Arabian,
Indian, or local
manufacture.
It was K i juma's c u s t o m for the measures of lines of stanza to be marked
or d i vided by stops
flowers.
with red.
(Zituo or Z i k o m o ), shaped like inverted hearts or
The s e are usually outlined in black,
and sometimes filled in
Wh e n quotations are introduced into his compositions,
they are
usually marked in red ink.
Befo r e enumerating the Swahili Mss. wh i c h Kijuma scribed,
refer to the m e thod we shall follow in this respect.
we have to
I found myself having to chose:
160
-
either to restrict myself to the Mss.
which Kijuma m e ntioned himself as being their scribe,
in
or to identify the
features of his own handwriting and to make these features the criteria
by which we can judge the Mss.
whether or not scribed by him.
following the second option,
the Swahili Mss.
time,
(i.e.
the unsigned and undated Mss.),
I originally had the intention of
but after I had thoroughly gone through all
found in S.O.A.S., U.C.D., and H a mburg for the second
I chose to follow the first option,
because it had b ecome clear to
me that there are some other scribes whose h a n d w riting is similar to
Kijuma's,
in particular,
Having said this,
are unknown,
the scribe A b d u S a l i m Ibn 'Aawadh B a s f a r .6
it is still useful to refer to the Mss. whose scribes
and whi c h might have been scribed by Kijuma.
The main aim of this chapter is to identify all the p oems w h i c h were
composed by Kijuma,
be omitted,
and his main sources for composing them.
in this chapter,
were scribed by him as well.
It may not
to mention also all the literary works which
By this m e n t ioning and identifying, we may
become more appreciative of Kijuma's contribution to the pre s e r v a t i o n of
Northern Swahili literature and of the valuable data of wh i c h the
scholars of Swahili are still gra t e f u l l y using.
w r itten in Arabic script.
All his works were
W e can divide them into four categories:
1.
Works Kijuma copied as a scribe,
either in Swahili or Arabic.
2.
Works Kijuma scribed after he had translated them from the Arabic
text into Swahili prose or, more often, Swahili poetry,
3.
Works he scribed after he had translated them f r o m the dialect of
Mombasa or others into the dialect of Lamu.
4.
Works he scribed after he had composed them in Swahili poetry,
either fro m his own cultur a l background,
or recital.
or from native narration
A ccording to my reading,
161
-
there are two points to be made before we begin
with the first work that Kijuma scribed.
1.
As we shall see throughout this chapter,
Kijuma c o m posed some Swahili
poems and left them without signing them as their composer or giving the
date of their composition.
Moreover,
was the composer of one of his poems,
he disclaimed in w r iting that he
as we shall see later.
that he did so under hard circumstances.
financial, political,
We assume
These c i r c u m stances were
and religious.
C o ncerning the f i nancial ones, when I went through all the correspondence
between Kijuma and his European clients for w h o m he s c ribed most of these
works,
7
I o b served that when paying him,
they did not differentiate
b e tween the poems which he scribed after he had c o m posed them and those
w h i c h he had himself scribed but w h i c h had been c o m posed by other poets.
Instead of paying him more in cases of where he was the composer as well
as the scribe,
they p r eferred to order the poems w h i c h had been composed
by the old poets who had lived before him.
E u r o p e a n clients about payment.
He never ar g u e d with his
It happened once that W.H. and J.W.
ask e d h i m about the price they had to, pa y him, and he replied:O
■According to your estimation".
K ijuma realised that that estimation
w o u l d only be high if he claimed that the p o e m to be scribed was in the
po s s e s s i o n of someone else at Lamu or elsewhere such as Shela and Kau,
and that to be scribed,
either a particular
had become too old.
its possessor made a c o n d ition of receiving
sum of money,
or a new copy because the original one
In this case,
the European client had to pay Kijuma
twice, once in order to get the p o e m scribed,
the copy to be given to the lender.
and the other payment for
-
162
-
Wh e n Kijuma found that that clai m was the most pro f i t a b l e one,
he
c o mposed some poems pretending that these poems were composed by unknown
poets who had lived before him.
To support this claim,
he inserted
neither
the name of the composer nor the date of the composition of these
poems.
W.H.
himself gave some hints showing that he could see through
this trick when he listed some of these poems,
e.g.
the Utendi wa
9
10
M i i r a n i , as being Kijuma's own composition,
although the
c orrespondence between the two contains nothing to show t h i s . ^
seems likely that W.H.
It
knew of this through Sh. H i n a w y of Mombasa.
He
w o u l d inquire from the Sh, H i n a w y whether these Tendi and Hadithi were
Kijuma's own comp o s i t i o n or not.
Hadithi ya kozi na Ndiwa in Oct.
Hinawy,
For example,
1933, W.H.
after Kij u m a had sent W.H.
sent it wi t h a letter to Sh.
asking his comments on the H a d i t h i .
The introduction of this
letter says:- "1st transliterati o n made from Ms. w r i t t e n by Kijuma of
Lamu,
copied by him from a Ms,
in posses s i o n of a w o m a n at Lamu,
according to his letters and received Oct.
letter dated 21st May 1936, W.H.
1933".
12
An d in another
returned to ask the Sh. Hinawy:- "Is the
Q
Hadithi wa kozi na Ndiwa one of Kijuma's own poems?"
Actually,
I could not trace the reply of the Sh. Hinawy,
that this p o e m is one of Kijuma's own poems.
but I believe
13
Having mentioned the financial element, we ought to refer to the
religious one.
Throughout this chapter,
we will obs e r v e that most of
these Tendi and Hadithi whi c h Kijuma composed and s c ribed without
inserting his name as their composer were Islamic,
learned,
in 1900, wh e n Kijuma had been asked by the G e r m a n missionaries
at Lamu to choose between being jailed by the D.C.
released under condition of accepting Christianity,
14
latter.
As we have already
of Lamu or being
he chose the
-
163
-
Kijuma might therefore have found it better not to insert his name as the
composer of these Islamic Tendi and H a d i t h i , as he w o u l d have been
inviting the missionaries to question the sincerity of his choice,
especially since most,
missionaries.
if not all, of his clients we r e themselves
Having said this, I should add that these clients might
themselves have intended not to investigate more about the scribe of
these Islamic T e n d i , even if they suspected that Kijuma,
to become a Christian, was the composer.
Moreover,
wh o m they wanted
I should add that
some of Kijuma's clients did their best to exclude a n y thing that might be
regarded as Islamic in their pub l i cation of Swahili anthologies composed
by M u s l i m poets.
E.g. W.H. want e d a Swahili book entitled:
Maisha ya Washairi na Malenga ambayo Mashairi yao yaliomo.
"Khabari za
Biyadi W.
H i c h e n s " , to be p u b l i s h e d by the Inter-Territorial L a n guage Committee of
East Africa.
A n d on the 27th May 1939, W.H.
Secretary of that Committee
15
sent a letter to the
to introduce the book to him, writing
"I have been careful in selecting the pieces for the p r esent anthology to
exclude anything that might be regarded as Islamic".
never published.
16
This book was
There is a typescript copy in SOAS library, Ms. 53491.
Regarding the political element,
it is explained in detail,
17
represented in Utendi wa M k u n u m b i .
and clearly
-
164
-
2* S h e m o n e y whi c h Kijuma rec e i v e d for copying these T e n d i .
A l t h o u g h it is difficult to estimate the exact sum of m o n e y that Kijuma
rec e i v e d from this job, we should be ab l e to c a l culate the average of
this s u m when we know that he obtained (in a 4 year period,
f r o m W.H.
180 Shilingi,
a n d M w a n a Kupona,
19
two copies of the two b o o k s M i qdadi na Mayasa
4 pencils,
s o m e small and big brushes,
.ink, writing paper,
d i a r y .20
from 1933-36)
a rubber,
4 sharpeners,
18
a pocket-knife,
some bottles full of dif f e r e n t colours of
envelopes,
a box for putting cigare t t e s in, and a
And according to Kijuma's corresp o n d e n c e w i t h E . D .,21
k i j u m a was paid
i n kind e.g.
(in a 2 year period from 1937-8):
coffee,
tea,
10 Shilingi and p lenty
sugar, biscuits, candles,
bahasha ya k i f u n d i ,
m k a t e m z u r i , m a a n d a z i , m b o g a , a copy of Utendi wa Kozi na N d i w a , and some
p i c t u r e s of Jesus, on the cross.
On 2 7 t h Safar 1 3 5 7 / A p r i l 1938, Kijuma
told E.D. in a letter that he preferred receiving m o n e y to receiving such
jaaterial goods.
K i j u m a and J.W.
The final available correspondence is that between
- Kijuma received f r o m J.W.
(in a 3 year period,
1943-45): 40 Shilingi and some sheets of paper to w r i t e on.
from
In return
for receiving this m o n e y and goods, K i j u m a composed and scribed a large
n u m b e r of Swahili literary wor k s and sent them to th e s e three gentlemen.
A l l of these works will be mentioned in this chapter.
s u m of m o ney wit h the standard of income at Lamu,
If we compare this
esp e c i a l l y during the
1930's, we will be able to estimate the v a l u e of t h e m o n e y which Kijuma
r e c e i v e d from these three only.
In 1933, a road-worker was p a i d 12 shilingi and a ration per month,
t h e casual labourer
(kibarua) was p a i d 1 Shilingi p e r day.
In 1934,
s t a n d a r d of inco m e for the same worker went down to 8 Shilingi and a
r ation per month, but the casual labourer was still e m p l o y e d at 1
Shi l i n g i per day.
22
while
the
-
165
-
E.D. wrote:- "We met Kijuma in 1890 in the little p r i n c i p a l i t y of Witu,
where he was w o rking as the Sultan's scribe.
Wh e n troubles arose after
the A n g l o - G e r m a n agreement according to which G e rmany t r a n s ferred her
protectorate of W i t u to the British, a British expedition restored law
and order.
Kijuma told us that he himself wrote the p r o c l a m a t i o n of the
B ritish Commander-in-Chief to the people of W i t u and p i n n e d it on a
t r e e«
" .23
I have to point out that the chrono l o g y of Kijuma tells us that he might
have worked as a scribe for the Sultans of Wi t u from about 1887 until
about the beginning of 1891, because his c h r o nology c o n tains no other
specific data about that period.
During that p articular p eriod the
Sultans of Witu were Ahmed IX bin Sultan Fumo Luti known as Simba
(1862-1889),
24
and his son Fumo Bakari
(1889-1891).
Before giving details about that proclamation,
we have to deal with the
way in which Kijuma could have become the scribe of these Sultans.
It is
likely that this came about through his relations wi t h the Ge r m a n agent
in Lamu, Mr. Gustav Denhardt.
Also,
it is likely that Kijuma was
introduced to Mr. Gustav by the German m i s sionaries Heyer and Pieper who
were working at the G e r m a n Neukirchener Mission in Lamu.
M ission started work at Lamu in 1877,
who could help th e m
23
W h e n that
its mission a r i e s sought a scribe
.
.
.
.
write in Arabic script some B i b lical stories m
Swahili to be d i s t r ibuted in pamphlets by the missionaries.
25
It seems
that these missionaries could get Kijuma for the job in the 1880's,
particularly after he had left his s c h o o l i n g .20
W h e n Mr. G u s t a v
Den h a r d t arrived in Lam u in 1884 to work for the G e r m a n government as an
agent or as its consul,
27
. . .
he contacted these G e r m a n mis s i o n a r i e s
because they wou l d have been best placed to give him their experience
about Lamu if not about the coast as a whole.
Also,
Mr. D e n hardt wished
to be instructed in the Swahili language and the culture of its speakers.
-
166
-
Kijuma was there to fulfil the need of the consul,
time,
in the course of
the relationship between Kijuma and Mr. Den h a r d t became strong,
the two men became close to each other.
Hence,
and
the consul p l anned for
Kijuma to be employed as a scribe in the court of the Sultan Ahmed Simba
and his son Fumo of Wi t u who were p r o tected by the G e r m a n government,
also advised by it through Mr. G u s t a v and Mr. C l ement Denhardt.
and
28
Their assistance and advice led the S ultan Simba to b e come a rival of the
S ultan of Zanzibar who was supported by the British - in claiming
territories and custom-duties.
This cl a i m of Sultan Simba was, however,
adjusted by an A n g l o - G e r m a n treaty negotiated in 1890,
by w hich the
G e rman government agreed to surrender all the land it occupied or claimed
north of the o r iginally defined British sphere of influence, placing
under British control in the Sultanate of Wi t u the islands of Manda and
Pate and all the coastal strip up to the Juba to wh i c h G e r m a n y had also
laid claim.
Germany,
in her turn, p u r c hased the rights of the Sultan of
Zanzibar within her sphere of influence,
and left the B r itish government
to assume an exclusive protector a t e over the Sultanate of Zanzibar.
sultanate of Witu,
excluding the islands of Pate and Manda,
The
was
recognised by the British, who undertook to maintain the Sultan.
Complaints were immediately received from G e rman r e p r e sentatives that
their countrymen were being systematically per s e c u t e d by the Sultan of
Witu,
because he alleged that they had sold him and his country to the
British,
after having encouraged hi m to resist the d e mands of both the
Br itish and the Sultan of Zanzibar.
25th August 1890,
Trouble was brewing,
and when, on
a m a n named Kuntzel who had formerly been employed
drilling troops for the Sultan of Witu,
landed with ten G e r m a n mechanics
at Lamu and announced his intention of going to Witu to set up saw mills,
the British consular agent endeavoured to d i s ssuade him,
success.
but without
Kuntzel reached Wi t u on 14th Sept.
companions,
prisoners,
timber,
167
1890,
and found that three of his
who had preceded him, had been d i s armed and were practically
and that the Sultan had refused them p e r m i s s i o n to cut
Next day the Germans tried to leave Witu,
refused to allow them to pass.
but the gate-keeper
Kuntzel drew his revolver and shot him.
The inhabitants of Wit u flew to arms and massacred all the Germans,
except two, who escaped,
them.
all
with the S ultan making no effort to retain
The G e r mans threatened to land troops at W i t u unless the British
government took action,
and at the end of October 1890, Admiral Fremantle
l anded 950 men including 150 of the I.B.E.A. C o m pany's troops.
burnt, martial law procla i m e d and a reward of Rs.
capture of the Sultan Fumo Bakari.
W i t u was
10-000 offered for the
The British f a v oured placing Witu
under the Sultan of Zanzibar as a separate and p e r s o n a l sovereignty,
and
p l acing the a dministration of the territory in the hands of the I.B.E.A.
Company,
but at this juncture the ex-Sultan was killed in early 1891.
Alth o u g h the Sultan's younger brother, Fumo Bakari,
took over the
g overnment of the outlaws for a time, an agreement was soon reached with
the notables of Witu,
whereby the last of the a l - N a b a h a n y rulers was
deposed and p r ovided with a suitable subsistence allowance.
agreement might be the one which was scribed by Kijuma,
This
and we would
consider it as the first known document Kijuma had scribed.
In 1895, Omari bin Muhamadi,
Sultan of Witu,
who had formerly com m a n d e d the forces of the
was n ominated Sultan and remained a faithful friend of
the British until he died in 1923.
T h i s Omari bin Muhamadi was the one
who asked Kijuma to carve the doors of his m a nsion and the mosque of
Witu.
29
It is important to mention here that K ijuma c o mposed a Hadithi
narrating the superiority of Ger m a n y over any other countries,
E n gland
30
which imposed taxes on the p e ople of Lamu.
31
especially
-
168
^
This Hadithi could not be traced anywhere,
remembers its first stanza.
but Mzee S a l i m Kheri still
It reads thus:
H adithi nitaitunga
I shall compose an epic
Duniani
That is known everywhere
ilozinga
Ambayo kama muanga
A n d which is like a light
Kul l a mtu kusikia
That every person will know.
A f t e r Kijuma had returned from Witu to his town Lamu in about 1891,
until about 1910,
he was,
for scribing, by W.T.,
from time to time, p r o bably called,
as we shall pre s e n t l y see.
and
to Mombasa
In June 1893, Kijuma
was employed by the Neukirchener Mission for scribing.
32
I could not
trace anything w h i c h he scribed for this Mission.
In addition, Kijuma used to scribe for any one of his compatriots who
a s k e d him.
O n 22nd Shawwal 1312/April 1895, he scribed an Ar a b i c book called
al-S a i f u al-Qatii
Maraburui.
"The cuttinq sword" for Bw. Ali A m a n a l - B usaidv in
It has eight chapters, called w i r d s .
m e a n a section of Quran,
sometimes with some invocation,
a ctu a l l y what this book contains.
an d some invocations.
K i j u m a wrote:
and this is
It contains some of Q u ranic sections,
It has about 150 pages.
In the end of this book,
"It was written by the humble for Allah,
Bakari bin Omari known as Kijuma.
Amin.
The wo r d wi r d is used to
O* Allah:
Muhamadi bin Abu
Forgive hi m and all Muslims,
It was finished on the night of 22nd of the b l e s s e d Shawwal 1312
A.H."
It is important to state here that the bulk of K i j uma's scribing was done
for Europeans who were interested in Swahili literature,
m a k e contacts wit h Kijuma.
and who could
-
169
-
T hese Europeans are given here in chronological order according to their
contacts: W.T.,
33
- - 38
39
E.D.,
and J.W.
A.W.,
34
Prof.
Meinhof,
35
Lambert,
36
W.H.,
37
-
170
-
Kijuma and W.T.
Concerning W.T.
contacts with Kijuma,
it is likely that they got in touch
through the missionaries of the Neukirchener m i ssion at Lamu in the
1890's.
W.T.
used to go to Lamu, especially when it w a s planned at one
time that the M o m basa mission of the C.M.S.
Muslims.
40
should work among
Under this project, W.T. was likely able to employ Kijuma
to scribe the G o s p e l of St. John,
41
and Utendi wa Kozi na Ndiwa as we
shall prese n t l y see.
1.
The Gospel of St. John
This Gospel was p r i n t e d in Arabic script,
a photographic process.
Mombasa
(Kimvita).
42
after it had been reproduced by
It is written in the Swahili dialect of
It has 73 pages.
I had a copy of it from J.W,
A r o u n d 1940, Kijuma translated the Go s p e l of St. John f r o m Kimvita into
Kiamu for J.W.
xn S.O.A.S.
He also made a title p i e c e for it.
45
It is to be found
46
A l though the exact date for all the items w hich K i j u m a scribed for W.T.
is not known,
for W.T.
we can give c. 1890 as the time during w h i c h Kijuma worked
I believe that Kijuma was either going to or coming from
Mombasa when he went to Mamburui to do the c a l l i graphy of al-Saif
^ f
al-Qatii in 1895.
47
#
fr o m Zanzibar,
48
I may add that,
in 1908, when K ijuma was returning
he may have been employed by W.T.
not for some months,
for some days,
in Mombasa to scribe whatever W.T.
_
^
if
asked him to.
49
2.
This
171
-
Utendi wa Kozi na Ndiwa
is the story of how the Prophet Moses was put to the test by a hawk
and a dove, which were
'really'
the angels Michael and Jibrail*
They
were disguised as these two birds to see if the Prophet would ransom with
his life the dove to w h o m he had p r o m i s e d his protection.
The prophet
pa s s e d the test.
50
The p o e m was translated from the A rabic
into Swahili verse according
to stanza 5-6.
W a s Kijuma the translator?
I believe so
for the following reasons:
The p o e m has
37 stanzas in one version, and
35 inother versions.
51
one having 37 stanzas is found in both Arabic
The
52
and R o m a n scripts.
The Arabic one seems to have been written by a scribe wh o was unfamiliar
with writing in Arabic script.
by a European.
Swahili Mss.
This makes me b e lieve that it was written
A l t h o u g h the book of the R e g i s t r a t i o n Entry for the
in S.O.A.S.
tells us that the donor of this Ms. was unknown,
it gives us the date of the Ms.'s
as 28.5.1943.
both W.T.
(i.e. No.
54022)
This date is the very date at which m a n y Swahili Mss, for
and W.H. were b e queath e d or donated to S.O.A.S.
que s t i o n is that, was this Ms.
not ma d e for
W.H.
from W.T. or
but for W.T. because W.H.
The remaining
W.H. I b e lieve that it was
ob t a i n e d a different Ms. of
the same text from Kijuma as we shall see p r e s e n t l y
54022)
a c c e s s i o n in S.O.A.S.
.
This Ms.
(i.e.
has two items not found in the other Mss. of the same poem.
The
first of these two is the p o e m ' s title: Kala a l - N a d h i m "The poet said",
*
This title was used by Kijuma to refer to poems w hich he composed but for
53
which he did not want to sign his name as the composer.
is that in stanza 36 which is not found in the other Mss,
his name as Muhamadi thus:-
The second
the poet gives
Na yangu isimu tawambia
172
-
And my name I shall men t i o n it to you
kiiratili
Ya kwanda
rt ni mimu na ha
ft
The first
54
chowe
(letter of it)
is M,f then, r H,
i* M, 1
55
mim u na dali
and D,
Huomba Karimu Anijazi wana
I pray the Generous
na mali
children and wealth
Na katika dini A n i vike
One to reward me
with
niwe And may He crown me as ascholar in the
alima
field
of religion.
I remind the reader that Kijuma's mother w i shed him to become a
scholar.
56
It is signficant that the early Eu r o p e a n m i s s i o n a r i e s used
to call Kijuma Muhamadi.
57
write only his forename.
Hence, K i j u m a might have found it enough to
I believe that W.H.
had good reasons for asking
C Q
Sh. Hinawy if the poe m was one of Kijuma's own composition.
The other stanza in this Ms. not to be found in others reads:-
Na sasa tawanga baitize
Listen,
now I shall enumerate its stanzas
pulikizani
Nyingi sikutunga ni sabaa
I did not compose much,
they are 37
w a thalathini
Na nyote malenga muonapo
If you p oets see a mistake, correct it
kosa towani
An i t o l e a o tamuyua una
An d the one who takes out
huruma
I know him he will be kind.
Apart from these two stanzas,
except for some words,
(mistakes for me)
all the Mss. of the p o e m are the same
and in the order of the stanzas.
B e f o r e giving an
index showing those differences, we have to refer to t hese other Mss.
After Kijuma had offered W.H.
59
Kozi na N d i w a ,
W.H.
173
this poem,
in 1933, e n t i tling it Utendi wa
gave h i m thanks and urged him to send it with a
60
title-piece and pictures drawn of the Kozi and the N d i w a .
exception,
Kijuma sent W.H. all he had ordered.
61
explanation for the difficult words in the poem.
S.O.A.S.
is W.H. ' s transliterati o n of the poem.
is prefaced:h i m from a Ms.
"1st translit.
Moreover,
Wh a t
62
Without
he gave
is found in
The transliteration
of -Ms. w r itten by Kijuma of Lamu,
copied by
in possession of a wo m a n at Lamu, a c c o rding to his letter,
and received Oct.
1933".
They should be 35 only,
It is wrongly counted as having 36 stanzas.
because the last lines are counted as stanza 36,
while they are written in prose,
revealing the d i s g uised characters of
the Kozi and N d i w a .
In the 1930's, Kijuma wrote the same p o e m for Miss E.B.M. Lloyd,
this is now in U.C.D.
It is microf i l m e d by Allen for S.O.A.S.,
64
the title: Hadithi ya Mtumi M u s a .
with the Ms. of W.H.,
In 1936/7,
It has 35 stanzas.
and bears
Comparing it
X found no difference.
65
In the introduction to this publication,
wrote:- "With the help of my informant,
p o e m in Lamu.
Kijuma,
the ones of W.H., Miss Lloyd,
so they will be considered as one Ms,
w hile the Ms. of W.T.
Comparing it
only one word is found to be different,
It reads Musa instead of Mola as in the Ms.
These last three Mss.,
he
I wo r k e d through this
I had no indication who the author was".
with the Ms. of Miss Lloyd,
similar,
and
the same p o e m was written and explained by Kij u m a for E.D. who
publi s h e d it in 1938.
stanza 33.
63
will be given the code A.
(= B.)
in
of Miss Lloyd.
and E.D.
are
in our comparison,
Here is an index showing
the differences between A. and B. in their stanzas:-
-
174
i
A
1 - 4
B
1 - 4
A
B
15
16
5
6
6
5
34
7
-
35
35
-
7
3666
-
8 - 1 4
8 - 1 4
3766
-
—
15
16 - 33
17 - 34
.
Stanza 7 which is found in Ms. A., and not in B,,
Na kula mtumi alieta na
reads:
And every prophet bro u g h t miracles
miujiza
Kuonya kaumi wachongoka
To prove for the g uided p e o p l e who do not
wasioiza
refuse
Na Musa kalimi dalilize
The miracle of Moses wa s in speaking
zake rongoza?
Allah)
Zalimu
And in the stick*The one who considers,
simboni aonao
kahalimama
(guidance)
(to
will
be wondering.
And stanza 34 reads;
Takaoandika kauweka mwake
The one who wishes to wr i t e it and keep
nyumbani
at home
Na mwenye kutaka kuazima
A n d the one who w ishes to b orrow it
kwa kutamani
Moliwa Rabuka tamjazi
ulimwenguni
Alla h may reward h i m in this world
it
for love,
-
175
-
Na kesho akhera aione yake
A n d in the hereafter,
karama
blessing.
Before leaving this poem,
mic r o f i l m e d by A l len
68
I have to refer to a version of it found
.
in S.O.A.S.,
scribe or the date of its scribing.
handwriting,
he w i l l experience
but without any comments about
its
Comparing its w r i t i n g with Kijuma's
I believe that it w a s w r itten by him.
It also has 35
stanzas.
Having learned that this version was obtained fr o m Sh, Hinawy's
collection,
or W.H.
69
I conclude that
it was w r itten by K ijuma either for A.W.
I w o u l d like to draw attention to the fact that the title of
this version is a totally Arabic one reading: Kissat M u s a Mafah al-Bazi
•*
' "
™1 "
w a ' L - H a m a m "The story of Moses with the hawk and dove".
This gives us proof that the p o e m was translated fr o m an Arabic booklet
of the same title.
by B.D.
It might be a booklet similar to the one referred to
and J.K.
in:
Knappert,
Apart from these
two
works (i.e. the Gospel and
the Swahili Mss.
1978,
U tendi wa Kozi na
at S.O.A.S., O.C.D,, and in H a mburg contain no reference
to other works Kiju m a might scribe for W.T.,
which Kijuma scribed for W.T.,
but b efore leaving the works
I have to make some n e c e s s a r y comments on
part of an article written by L.H. w h i c h reads as follows:
the Werner papers in the library of the S.O.A.S.
70
"Among
is a set of photos
(3
in, x 2 in.) of the Mss. of two separate, poems in the Swahili-Arabic
script known as Utendi wa Barsisi and Utendi
is a provisional
former.
47706)
and
wa H a s i n a .In loose
notes
partial t r a n s literation into Ro m a n script of the
In the Taylor collection of the same library is a book of
Swahili Mss.
in the Swahili Arabic script
(Swahili Mss. Vol.
I, Acc. No.
by the poet and scribe Muhammad Abubakar K ijuma of the present
century.
N d i w a ),
-
176
-
This volume includes a p o e m about wh i c h Taylor makes the following note:
'This Utendi was composed in response to a request for the Utendi wa
Barsisi and the U t e n d i wa Hasina - two distinct compositions,
but
Muhammad mi s u n d e r s t o o d and composed this Utendi upon the combined theme'".
F i r s t l y , these two separate poems of Barsisi and H asina m e n tioned in the
article by L.H.
are found in Ms, No.
47779 in S.O.A.S.,
and it is
pos s i b l e that A.W. ma d e photos of them fr o m W .T.'s p a p e r s when she wanted
to examine the Taylor papers before purchasing them for the library of
- ■ - *71
S.O.A.S.
Barsisi
We shall see later that A.W.
did not list Ha s i n a and
in any of her works as poems she ever possessed.
know w h y L.H. did not mention the number of this Ms.
one collected by W.T.?
A.W.
Moreover,
mad e by W.H.,
Instead,
Thus,
I do not
47779, which was the
he m e n t ioned the set of photos made by
there is a p o s s i b i l i t y that these sets of photos were
not by A.W.,
because W.H.
said in a letter
72
sent to Sh.
Hinawy:- "I am sending you a small pho t o g r a p h of the first page of the
Taylor Ms. of B a r s i s i , and I also enclose a p h o t o g r a p h of a Ms. about a
certain Mwana H a s i n a , about w h o m we have no information whatever".
It is of interest to know that W.T. mi g h t have got these two poems from
Kijuma, because w r itten in Arabic,
Barsisi in this Ms.
on the back of the first page of
47779 are the following words "This is the book (i.e.
whi c h includes the poems of Barsisi and H a s i n a ) of a l - Sayyid
al~Mahdaly".
wife Kinana.
Hasina
75
.
The family of al-M a h d a l y is the m a t ernal fa m i l y of Kijuma's
73
J.K. published these two poems of Barsisi
The only difference between the Hasina of J.K.
Ms. 47779 is that
that of J.K.
alone,
74
in the Ms.
Hence,
there are two Quranic Ayas,
it became clear that,
and this of
76
not-found in
through K i j u m a and Kijuma
these two poe m s came to the light of publication,
not com p o s e d by him.
and
though they were
S e c o n d l y , unfortunately,
Ms.
177
-
47706 the number given by L.H.
article, and which was supposedly written by Kijuma,
from the library of S.O.A.S.
is catalogued in that
since before 1978.
has been missing
Moreover,
library under the collection of W.H.
T h i r d l y , the note that L.H.
W . T . 1s but W.H.'s.
77
considered to be by W.T.
Wh e n W.H.
in his
this Ms.
not W.T.
is not actually
asked K ijuma to send h i m the Utendi wa
Barsisi na H a s i n a , Kijuma quickl y combined the two separate poems
(i.e.
Hasina and B a r s i s i ) and made them one p o e m in the name U tendi wa Barsisi
na H a s i n a , and sent it to W.H.
The first 24 stanzas,
78
on 30 Dhu Al - H i j j a 1342/April 1934.
of this combined Utendi are a lmost identical to the
same stanzas in the separate Utendi wa H a s i n a .
The rest of it varies
only in minor
detail from the separate Wa B a r s i s i , e s p e cially in the
number of the
stanzas.
This co mbined one has 122 stanzas,
while the two
separate poems of Barsisi and Hasina have 218 and 204 stanzas
79
respectively.
This combined one is edited by J.K.
aware of this
fabrication,
the two poems
were different. Kijuma replied to him:- "It is
he
sent K i juma a letter,
W h e n W.H.
became
reminding h i m that
right that
the poems of Barsisi and Hasina are different, but y o u brought me two
riddles when you said:
and then asked me:
riddles".
80
I.e.
'One story of Hasina and the second of B a r s i s i 1,
'Complete'.
Thus,
I followed the same kind of
and completed the two together, mak i n g them as one,
. paying more attention to riddles (Mafumbo)
dealing with the literature of his nation.
than to the fact that he was
I believe that that aspect of
Kijuma was one of the main reasons which made Allen say:- "An impartial
study of Kijuma's work indicates that he was enthusiastic,
keen to please his clients".
81
Examining the texts of the Utendi wa
Barsisi p u blished by L.H., we find that the same Utendi
transliterated and typed by W.H.
and 2 1 0 0 1 1 .
but he was too
is also available
into R o m a n script in the Mss.
210010,
-
178
-
They contain two identical texts of the Barsisi
are applicable to the one of L.H.
in R o m a n script, which
These two Mss. give the same
information as that found in the introduction of L.H.,
but I failed to
find a reference to them by L.H.
I had to refer to
in his introduction.
this information because most of it w a s given by K i juma to W.H.
in Ms.
47781.
This Ms.
(47781)
was copied by Kijuma in the Arabic and Swahili languages
to show the sources from which Barsisi was adopted.
sources,
K ijuma gave two
one called: A l - M u s t a t r a f , and the second: The Forty Hadith, or:
Al ^ A r b a i n i H a d i t h i .
The complete title of al-Must a t r a f
is: Al-Mustatraf
•
Fi kulli Fannin Mustadharf
' a 1-"1
"The exquisite in every elegant art".
written by Muha m m a d Ibn Ahmad al-Ibshaihi
82
.
Kijuma used to read this
book, and to go through it with other scholars in Lamu,
letters to W.H.
in 1933.
83
It is
as he said in
It includes various stories and Arabic
verses of every kind.
Re g a r d i n g al-Arbaini H a d i t h i , there is more than one book explaining and
commenting on that al-Arbaini H a d i t h i .
One is called:
al-Saniyyah F i - a l - K a l a m *Ala al-ArbaTini al-Nawawiyyah,
•*
84
al-Nawawiy.
Accordingly,
scribe,
Kitab al-Majalis
by Abi Zakariyya
A n other copy is in the same British Library.
85
we should acknowled g e that Kijuma was not only a poet and
but also a source of information.
Alt h o u gh we do not know for
Qg
sure whether K i juma copied and supplied W.T. with other works
or not,
we may say that that contact of W.T. with Kijuma made the latter open his
mind to recognise the value of collecting and pre s e r v i n g Swahili verse.
Since then, he did all he could,
verse,
not only to c o llect and preserve Swahili
but also to develop his talent for composing long epics.
This
explains how K i juma could supply A.W. with a huge hoard of Swahili Mss.
within a short p e r i o d of time.
-
179
-
Before detailing these M s s . , I have to mention here two works which
Kijuma completed around 1900.
In about 1895, K i juma composed the p o e m of Al i k a kama Harusi
about
1900, Kijuma copied Kitab a l - M a d i h .
the Prophet Muhammad.
while I was in Lamu,
250,
.
In
It is an Ara b i c book praising
He copied it to be read in the mo s q u e
the celebration of the Prophet's birth.
87
8 ft
during
A l t hough I could not trace it
I would estimate the number of its pages at about
because another book of the same subject was found in S . O . A . S .89
Kijuma and A.W.
Wh e n A.W.
180
-
(and Meinhof and Lambert)
arrived in East Africa in 1911,
to Kijuma by the missionaries at Mlimani
was then Mr. C.S. Reddie and whose name
poems which was composed for A.W.
91
90
she was pr o b a b l y introduced
in Lamu or the D.C.
of Lamu who
is m e n t ioned in one of Kijuma's
Kijuma gave her his utmost help,
and for her, he scribed the following Mss., which are wr i t t e n here in the
same w a y as is found in her list.
1.
Acrostic,
2.
qtendi wa Nana Werner.
3.
Kisa cha Sayyidna I s a .
4.
on the Divine Attributes?
Utendi wa Mkunumbi by Muh. Kijuma.
5.
Utendi wa Y u s u f u .
6.
Utendi wa Mwana K u p o n a .
7.
Shairi la Liongo.
8.
Liongo Fumo copied
9•
Lamu.
10.
92
from Mzee bin Mahadhoo's book.
Fragment of Utendi wa Y u s u f u .
11.
List of D i vine Names.
12.
List of birds.
13.
Utendi wa Ayu b u I part.
Mashairi from the Lamu chronicle.
15*
Mashairi
16.
Habari za
(Historical)
which Mr. R eddie lent for me to copy.
-----*---------------
sabaa.
In another list inside the same notebook, A.W. wr o t e : - "Mss.
Muhammad Kijuma 12-10-20.
- Kisa cha Kijana (Kitete, mke wa S u l t a n i ) .
- Habari ya uzuri wake wa Sura M u h a m a d i .
sent by
-
181
-
~ Utendi wa H u n a i n i .
- Ufunquo maneno ya M i i r a j i .
- Kisa cha Kijana
Offers:
(Kwalina mzee zamani za n y u m a ) .
93
- Inkishafi.
" Tabaraka
(interlined Ar.).
" Utendi wa T a wafu M u h a m a d i " .
We are now going to deal with all these Mss.
in detail taking them one by
one, and in the same order as they are listed,
because it seems likely
that these p r evious 16 Mss. were given to A.W. while she was on the coast
1911/2.
1. Acrostic on the D ivine A t t r ibutes
Having listed this Ms., A.W. put a que s t i o n mark,
1.
in the following way:-
Acrostic on the Divine Attributes?
We do not know w h y she put it, but it seems likely that she was not sure
about the correct title of the Ms,
a 1-Asinai
Allah,
94
95
Kijuma.
"The G o o d Names".
T h e r e is a p o e m c alled Tayyib
It deals with the 99 A t t r i b u t e s of
in Arabic and Swahili as well.
It was not c o m posed by
It wou l d not be accurate to suggest that this Ta y y i b al-Asmai
was what A.W. meant, because that .poem is not an Acrostic.
In addition
to this, A.W. m e n t i o n e d nothing about that p o e m in her pub l i s h e d works,
neither with the title: Acrostic on the Divine Attributes,
al-Asmai.
nor: Tayyib
-
182
-
Hence, what we can assume is that the title given here of this Ms. was
wrong, and that the correct title mi g h t be the one of the remaining two
Swahili poems called Acrostic.
Dura
'1- M a n d h u m a .
the Dura
96
One is W a j i w a j i ,
and the second is
I would presume that A.W. meant that the Acrostic of
' 1- M a n d h u m a , not of the W a j i w a j i , because she a gain mentioned
nothing in her works about W a j i w a j i .
mentioned the Dura
Thus,
O n the contrary,
11-Mandhuma in her works,
she not only
but also pub l i s h e d
97
it.
the correct title for this Ms. should be:
Acro s t i c of Dura L-Mandhuma
In this case, A.W. was the first p e r s o n to bring this D u r a to Europe
through Kijuma in 1912.
she herself wrote:- "This p o e m was copied for me
in 1912 by Kijuma of Lamu".
Fortunately,
98
this p o e m is still found in S.O.A.S.,
in Kijuma's handwriting.
99
It has 2 pages with 29 stanzas.
included the first page in her p u b l i s h e d one.
that,
in Ar a b i c script and
98
A.W.
It is interesting
later on, L.H. p u blished the same p o e m with the same page of Arabic
characters w h i c h is included in the
one of A . W .100
E.Dc also p u blished it in his book.'^'*'
destroyed in Germany,
and with help
The whole p o e m has also been put on
heart*
E.D, said:- "A copy of
it was
fr o m Kijuma, was put together
record by K i juma wh o knows
again.
it by
The record is now kept in the p h o netic l a b o ratory of the
Hansische U n i v e r s i t a t " .
This record was lost in 1945 during W orld War
n .102
It is worth referring to another Dura
11-Mandhuma found in Sh. Hinawy's
collection and which could be in Kijuma's handwriting.
to U.C.D.
It found its way
through Allen who microf i l m e d it, and this m i c r o f i l m is now
103
kept in S.O.A.S.
-
183
-
It is not known wh e n or for w h o m it was copied,
was w r itte n for W.H.
sent to J.W.
Finally,
the same po e m was wr i t t e n by Kijuma and
on 1st Ram a d h a n 1355/Nov.
Ukawafi wa Alfu
105
.
That
but it is likely that it
is why J.W.
1936.
104
It is entitled:
called it so in his writing.
106
2. Utendi wa Nana Werner
As we understand from the title,
this Utendi should be about the
qualities and deeds of A.W.
herself.
Indeed, A.W. did refer to it in one
of her p u b l i cations saying:
"Another composition of Muh. Kijuma's may be
w o r t h noting as a curiosity - the Utendi w a Nana W e r n e r , addressed to the
pr e s e n t writer,
in accordance with what,
I believe,
is a common practice
among native teachers who possess the least degree of skill in Kutunga
mashairi.
On what prin c i p l e it is c alled an U t e n d i , I have never been
able to discover".
Nevertheless,
107
I could not trace this Ms. anywhere.
3. Kisa cha Sayyidna Isa
The first E u ropean scholar who referred to it was A.W.
articles.
In 1918,
in one of her
she wrote:- "Kisa cha Sayyidna Isa (356 stanzas)
- a
life of Christ following the accounts in the Quran and the M uslim
tradition.
written,
I have not been able to ascertain when,
but am informed that it is 'old'".
108
or by w h o m it was
In 1920, A.W.
gave a
different statement about the sources from which this Kisa was derived.
She said:- "A p o e m whose subject matter
is derived
(indirectly,
no doubt)
fr o m the N ew T e s t a m e n t and the A p o c ryphal Gospels is the curious Qissat
Sayyidna I s a .
-
184
-
The only information furnished by the Swahili who tra n s c r i b e d
that it is
109
it is,
'old* which may mean anything from sixty years to six
centuries.
I see no reason to doubt his good faith,
and he is certainly
not backward in acknowledging the compositions wh i c h can partly or w holly
be attributed to his authorship.
But this p o e m seems to me to show a
closer acquaintance with the Gos p e l s than is usually p o s s e s s e d by Mo s l e m
writers.
P o ssibly the copyist has to some extent m o d i f i e d or added to
his text".
110
She added in the same reference:- "It may be worthwhile,
at a later date,
determine,
to transcribe and translate the w hole poem,
in order to
if p o ssible whether any new elements have been added in its
passages into Swahili".
We draw attention to this addition because we will ne e d it later.
1920, A.W.
Gospels.
poem*
Since
took it for granted that the p o e m was based on the Apocryphal
111
These were the main p oints which A.W. m a d e about this
Alt h o u g h this po e m could not be found in A r abic characters,
it
could be found in R o m a n c h aracte r s in the handwriting of A.W. herself.
It w a s deposited,
to U.C.D.,
113
microfilmed,
112
m
S.O.A.S.
after
and it was the one on w hich E.D.
it had been brought
relied for his
114
publication.
After comparing the handwriting in w h i c h this Ms.
(204) was written wi t h that in the other Mss, w r i t t e n by A.W.
in
115
S.O.A.S.,
I found no differen c e at all.
At the end of this Ms., the
date is given as:- "10th Dhul Haj 1330 = 1922".
The date of A.H. does
not actually correspond with the A.D. one, because 1330 A.H. = 1912 A.D.
I assume that A.W, wrote:- "1922" as the date of her t r a n sliteration for
this p o e m w h ich had been scribed for her by Kijuma in 1330 A.H.
case,
In this
her intention in 1920 of finding a later date to transcribe the
whole p o e m was fulfilled in 1922.
-
185
-
Thus, we come to the conclusion that Kisa cha Sayyidna I s a , published by
E.D.
is the one which was transli t e r a t e d by A.W.
and it was not a different one from A .W.'s Ms.
from her original Ms.,
as E.D. had concluded in
his book, p . 1 2 .1 1 ^
I agree with E.D,
that this p o e m was composed by Kijuma,
and I add here
that it w a s c o mposed while A.W. was there on the coast in 1911/2,
since
she w a s the first person to obtain the poem.
Concerning the sources from whic h Kijuma derived this poem,
I disagree
that they were either the New Te s tament or the A p o c r y p h a l Gospels,
am convinced,
after a long investigation,
but I
that the source of Kijuma for
this was an Islamic book written in A rabic called: Q a s a s al-Anbiyai
•
*
a l -Musamma bi-al-rA r a i s , "The nar r ation of the Prophets'
c a l l e d The brides",
stories which is
by Abu-Ishak Ahmad bin I b rahim al-Thafalabiy.
are copies of it in S.O.A.S.,
copies,
“
and in the British Library,
One of these
in the B r itish Library, was p u b l i s h e d in C a i r o in 1859.
story of Jesus is on pp.
making my comparisons.
There
The
413-439 of this copy, on w h i c h I shall rely for
It is likely that Kijuma c o u l d get a copy of this
book in Lamu, or rather that he bought it from Zanzibar while he was
there at the S u ltan's p a l a c e .116
In this book,
the story of Jesus is related in more detail than Kijuma
gives
in the version publi s h e d by E.D.
As Kijuma says
found
it too long to translate every thing
in stanza 305,
about Jesus, thus,
he
in this
poem, he s u mmarised the story which is detailed in this A r abic book.
The stanzas 4-28 are derived from p.
29-48
from p.
415.
417.
Stanzas 81-112 fr o m p. 418.
140-178 from p. 420.
,p. 422.
Stanzas 49-75
fr o m p. 416,
S t anzas
Stanzas 179-209 from p. 421.
from p. 426,
Stanzas
76-80 from p.
Stanzas 113-139 f r o m p. 419.
Stanzas 261-290 from p. 423.
Stanzas 295-304
414 of this A r a b i c book.
stanzas
Stanzas 210-260 from
Stanzas 291-294
from p. 424.
Stanzas 306-315 from p. 431.
-
186
-
S t anzas 3X6 until the end of the p o e m (stanza 348)
are derived either
from various lines here and there in the same book, or fr o m the poem's
own thoughts.
E.g.,
the data given m
Stanza 344
117
is not found in
this Arabic source of Kijuma.
On 15th Dhu A l - H i j j a 1357/Feb.
1939 Kijuma told E.D.
that he used to have
the p o e m of Jesus according to the Qu r a n but it was lost, and he promised
to send E.D. another one.
118
However,
the c o r r espondence between the
two was interrupted by W o r l d War II, and the p r omise could not be
fulfilled.
E.D,
In 1361/1942,
Kijuma was able to fulfil the promise, not for
but for J.W., when he sent him a poem, with a little
title-piece,
mic r o f i l m e d
119
46
entitled:
in S.O.A.S.
Hadithi ya Sayyidna I s a .
It is now
It has 314 stanzas, plus about 21 Ayas.
It
tells the same story as the one published by E.D., but in different
words.
Kijuma made it plain in the final stanza of this Hadithi that his
source was the Q u r a n and the Hadith.
120
An d to be m o r e specific,
I
would say that the source of Kijuma in this, was the same Qasas
9
*
al-Anbiyai which is not only based on the Q uran and Hadith, but also on
different views of various scholars.
It should be bo r n e in mind that the
Muslims believe in everything derived from the Quran,
Hadith,
121
then,
the correct
but anything from any other source is disputable.
4.
Utendi wa Mkunumbi by Muh. K ijuma
Finally, I was fortunate enough to trace the date on wh i c h A.W.
this Utendi fro m Kijuma.
I traced it written down b y A.W. herself in a
Ms. given to S.O.A.S,, only at the end of 1982 A.D.,
Allen.
122
:
obtained
by Mr. Hubert
She wrote:- "Utendi wa M k o n u m b i , by Muh. K i j u m a of Lamu.
This copy he scribed for me sometime b e tween J a n u a r y and J u n e 1913".
could not trace this copy in its Arabic characters.
I
-
187
-
A l t h o u g h L.H. p u b l i s h e d this Utendi in the 1960's,
wr i t t e n
in A r a b i c script,
relying on a Ms.
found in S.O.A.S., he did not supply us with
the name of its composer nor its copyist.
one copied by K i j u m a either for A.W.
I assume that that Ms. was the
in 1913
123
or for W.H.
in the
124
1930's
.
However,
it was tran s l i t e r a t e d by A.W.
for getting the Utendi published
the Ms.
in 1964.
125
and was used by J.K.
It has 154 stanzas.
In
(197) w h i c h was given to S.O.A.S by Mr. Hu b e r t Allen, A.W.
wrote:- "Meinhof's copy of Mkonumbi was made later and dated 20th Shaaban
1331,
i.e. on or about Jul y 26,
in the same year
(1913)".
it was also
made b y Kijuma, as we shall pres e n t l y see.
It has 157 stanzas,
stanzas more than the one publ i s e d by J.K.
These three stanzas are given
later.
I obtained a copy of this one,
t itle-piec es made by Kijuma.
in Hamburg,
It has two
126
This Utendi is the only work to which A.W.
K i juma's work b y writing:-
f r o m E.D.
i.e. 3
*--------
referred in her notebook as
b y Muh. Kijuma".
W h y d i d she do that?
B e fore answering this question,
writing,
127
Utendi.
I have to note that K i j u m a disclaimed,
in
any identification of himself as the composer of this
So, it seems likely that A.W. w a nted to remind herself all the
time that the Uten d i was K i juma' s own composition by her writing:- "----b y Muh. Kijuma".
The important q u e stion still to be answered is, why did
Kijuma, as the composer of the poem,
composer?
deny,
in writing,
that he was its
It is prob a b l e that K ijuma did so for pol i t i c a l reasons,
shown
in the following discussion:In 1918, A.W. wr o t e : himself,
"Utendi wa Mkonumbi
(150 stanzas)
by Muh. Kijuma
c e l e b rating a fairly recent event - a kind of faction-fight
a r ising out of the Chama
128
dance".
-
188
-
In this U t e n d i , K i j u m a c o n t r a r i l y ,stated that the E n glish D.C.
of Lamu,
w ho s e name is given at the end of the Utendi as Mr, Reddie, was on the
spot and directly tackled the matter by giving orders to stop the
129
fight,
w h i l e A.W.,
in a letter to W.H.
in the 1930's,
said:- "I
130
e n c lose a letter
from the late Mr. Reddie,
D.C. of Lamu, giving some
information about the faction fight at Mkonumbi.
the Balozi was Mr. Reddie, who,
however,
You will notice that
says he was not on the
131
spot".
A.W.
told W.H.
be c a u s e W.H. came later
132
of the U t e n d i .
that the Utendi was c o m posed by Kijuma,
in the 1 9 3 0 's, and confirmed Ki j u m a as the author
In spite of this confirmation, L.H.
came later yet
and raised the q u estion whether K i juma was the author or only the scribe,
but Allen,
in his review for the Utenzi wa Mkunumbi of L.H.,
W.H. that the p o e m was composed by Kijuma.
133
agreed with
The observer of these
moot points, will note straight away that Kijuma had inserted
co n t r adictory data in his poem,
w h i l e he w a s not,
w h i l e he was.
by saying that the D.C. was on the spot,
and that he himself was not the composer of the U t e n d i ,
T h e s e contrary data ar i s e from each other.
Kijuma wanted
to show the readers that the p o l i c y of the D.C.'s O f f i c e wa s against the
faction-fight
(i.e. the singing competitions), while, as we explained in
detail in the chapter of the singing competitions,
the D.C.'s Office was
a ct u a l l y e ncouraging and planning for these singing competitions.
134
S i nce K i j u m a had full cognizanc e of supplying us wi t h false information,
he m a y have d i s c l a i m e d the a u th o r i t y of the Utendi for one of two
reasons:-
189
1.
Fearing to be q u e s t i o n e d by someone
informed of the matter)
1.e.
(especially those who were well
about the reason of his giving false information,
saying that the D.C. was on the spot while he was not,
and showing
that the government was against these competitions w h i l e it was for it.
2
.
To make it near l y impossible for any person to c o n strue any links between
the distinct role of Kijuma in these competitions and his close
connection with the Office of the D.C.
It seems as if K i j u m a thought that the trouble he gave us b y disclaiming
the authorship of the Utendi was not enough and thus w a n t e d to complicate
the matter further by adding three extra stanzas in the Ms. which he made
for Prof.
Meinhof.
In one of these 3 stanzas, K ijuma tried to support
his disclaimer by saying that that Utendi was w r i t t e n by a p erson called:
Sheikh Ali.
Here,
the 3 stanzas are given in the same numbers as they
are numbered in the Ms. of Prof.
Meinhof
81
Ki s a kumuona simba
After
Hula nyama kitotumba
Op e n l y eating the meat
Na utuni wa kumwimba
(Giving Shekuwe)
Shekuwe kaitetea
Shekuwe defended himself.
(Shekuwe) had seen Simba
the utuni
135
to mock hi m
153.
Musambe nataka haki
Do not think I want an advantage
Kwa hili kuishiriki
By taking part in this
(competition)
136
-
190
-
Hutimiza uashiki
(But) to fulfil m y love for it
Naye huwatatukia
And (to prove)
that he
(simba)
is more
exalted.
154.
K a tabahu
Shekhe Ali
A
It is w r i t t e n by Sheikh Ali
Mwenye nuru za akili
W h o has an enlightened mind
137
A t a k a o huniduli
______
T he one who guides me
N d iye Mola Jal i a
Is the G l o rious God.
A s we see in stanza 154, Kijuma attributed the U tendi to Shekih Ali. But
our Composer
stanza 116,
(Kijuma)
138
forgot that he had al r e a d y n a m e d Sheikh Ali,
as one of his best friends.
It reads
Somo yangu shekhe Ali
My friend Sheikh Ali
Mkaoni mbwa jamali
In the camp is most a f fable
Haw a a yake kamili
His passion is perfect
Na ghera kumzidia
And his zeal grows on him.
A p a r t from these previous 3 extra stanzas, the copy of Prof.
resembles the one p u blished by J.K.
of the stanzas.
in
Meinhof
in every detail except in the numbers
These numbers do not correspond to each other as the
following index shows:
-
191
-
K 139
M 140
1 - 7 5
1 - 7 5
76 - 87
88 - 99
88
Th e words,
76
89 - 92
77 - 80
93 - 98
82 - 87
99 - 151
100 - 152
152 - 154
155 - 157
in stanza 155 of M's copy, are a little different from K's,
It reads:
N i m e t engeza muyinga
I, an ignoramus, have a r r a n g e d it
Nis i o y u a kutunga
Wit h o u t knowing how to compose
Mimi Kijuma muan g a
I am Kij u m a whose origin
Asili al-Arabiya
is Arabian.
T o s u m up, there are good reasons for saying that the Utendi wa Mkunumbi
was both composed and copied by Kijuma and that it found its way to
E u r o p e through A.W.
and Prof. Meinhof.
5. Utendi wa Yusufu
This is one of the poems which Kijuma himself composed,
ma d e copies for the Europeans,
and from which he
and also for his compatriots.
:came to Europe for the first time through A.W.
The p o e m
In 1918,
192
-
she wrote:- "I have a modern version of a p o e m on Joseph,
nearly 800 stanzas, by a living and yery prolific writer,
in
Muh. Kijuma of
Lamu, who informed me that he had used both the Koran and the Old
Testament as his s o u r c e " .141
are four other Mss,
Al t h o u g h this Ms. was l o s t ,142 there
extant on the same subject wr i t t e n by Kijuma.
One
for Prof. Meinhof, one for E.D., one for J.W., and the fourth for one of
his compatriots.
The Ms. of Prof.
Meinhof has 732 stanzas, plus about 53 Q u ranic Ayas,
is dated 20th Muha r r a m 1332
143
/Dec.
1913.
little decoration, as: Kisa cha Y u s u f u .
The Ms. of E.D. has 763 stanzas,
J u mada Al-Ukhra 1356/Aug,
1937.
Its title is written with a
144
plus about 58 Ayas.
dated, I found its date in a letter
145
and
Al t h o u g h it is not
from Kijuma to E.D. as 23rd
Its title is w r i t t e n wi t h decoration as:
—
—
146
Hadithi ya ya*akubu na Y u s u f u .
The Ms. of J.W.
is entitled:
_
_
147
Hadithi ya yaakubu na Ibnihi Yusufu.
«
*
It has 755 stanzas and about 55 Ayas.
1356/ J a n . 1938.
T he fourth one
Maimun of Lamu.
It is dated 6th Dhu Al-Qaada
It is now found in S.O.A.S.
46
is found in the A llen collection,
from Bi.
2aharia bint
148
At the end of this Ms. the date is written, but it is not complete,
it cannot be read.
It has 791 stanzas and about 57 Ayas.
so,
As we see, the
shortest Ms. of these 4 has 732 stanzas, and the longest one has 791
stanzas,
it is unnecessary to print a l l the extra stanzas in the longest
Ms., especially as I realised,
after m aking a comparison,
that the
content of the story is the same in all the copies, a l t h o u g h the number
of their stanzas is different.
"Four Swahili Epics",
149
Because J.K. p u b l i s h e d the Ms. of E.D,
I find it sufficient at this mom e n t to take
this published version as a specimen in order to ma k e comparisons.
in
-
193
-
All that Kijuma did was to add some stanzas to one Ms. and to omit some
fr o m the other.
In spite of this addition and omission,
about two things.
The first:
n a r r a t e d in other copies.
Not to change the essence of the story
The second:
invocation, wr i t t e n in Arabic,
translated as follows:-
to include
a particular
in all the copies. This
invocation
is
"0 , Listener for the ones crying for help.
H elp e r for the ones appealing for aid.
of the grieved ones".
he was careful
0,
0, The One w h o relieves the grief
This invocation is inserted after stanza 127 in
the first Ms., and stanza 134 in the second and in the third one, and
after stanza 161 in the fourth one.
It is important to know that this
invocation is found in p . 121 of the source,
from which I am assuming,
that Kijuma derived his U t e n d i , and translated it into Swahili verse.
Actually,
it is the same as the source of K i s a cha S a y yidna I s a , i.e.
Q a sas a l - A n b i y a i ,150 p p . 117-151.
*v
P . 117 is transl a t e d within
stanzas 4-35.
P . 118 within 36-52.
with i n 53-80.
P . 119
P . 120 w i t h i n 81-123.
P . 121
within
124-141. P . 122 w i thin 142-154.
P . 123
w i t h i n 155-178.
P . 124
within
179-207. P . 125 within 208-228.
P . 126
w ithin 224-246.
P . 127
within
247-257. P . 128 w i t h i n 258-271.
P . 129
wi t h i n 273-294.
P . 130
within
295-324. P . 131 within 325-364.
P . 132
w i t h i n 365-367.
P . 133
w i t h i n 368-394.
P . 134 within 395 - 397.
P . 135 wi t h i n 398-405.
P . 136
within
405-437. P . 137 within 438-468.
P . 138
w ithin 469-524.
P . 139
within
525-550. P . 140 within 551-571.
P . 141
w ithin 572-591.
P<142-3
w i thin 592-601,
P p . 144-7 within 602-640.
P . 148 w i t h i n 641-670.
w i t h i n 671-686.
P . 150 w i thin 687 - until the end.
P . 149
But there are some
p o i n t s in the story of Kijuma w h i c h differ from the st o r y of Qasas
+
L-Anbiysfi.
For example,
in Qas a s al-Anbiya*i:
*
X5 X
4
W h e n the brothers of
4
J o s e p h decided to drop him into the well, a m e r chant ca l l e d Malik bought
h i m f r o m his brothers as their escaped slave.
-
194
-
Malik ibn Darari sold Joseph to *Aziz Misr * The treasury Minister of Egypt
whose name was Katflr
ibn Rahlb.
Ra'abil, saw the b e autiful Joseph,
refused and was
W h e n the wife of Katfir, Rail bint
she tried to seduce him.
Joseph
jailed, and later released to replace Katflr.
al-Rayyan ibn al-W a l i d of Egypt asked Katfir to resign.
The King
After he had
resigned, he died, and J o seph was a s k e d by the King to marry RaTl.
Jose p h ma r r i e d her,
he found her still a virgin b e cause her ex-husband
Katfir had been impotent.
However,
When
They had two sons called:
Ifralm and Misha.
in Kij u m a ' s poem:- Katfir w a s a very rich ma n who bought Joseph
from the same Malik
King of Egypt,
152
wife zulaikha,
ibn Darari an d sold h i m to fAziz Misr who also was the
but Kiju m a di d not name this King.
saw the handsome Joseph,
act, but he refused,
153
then was jailed.
W h e n the King's
she asked h i m to p e r f o r m an evil
154
Later on, he was
r e leased by the Ki n g who himself retired and gave the ki n g d o m to
Joseph.
155
-tRail, who was the daughter of that King, w a s m a rried to the
rich K*a t
#f i r .156
After Katfir
had died,r Zulaikha left his h o u s e ,f15^
* #
— c—
158
and J o s e p h chose Rail to marry.
she was still a virgin,
impotent.
to beg.
159
Later on,
W h e n he m a rried her, he found that
because her ex-husband Katfir had been
Zulaikha saw Jo s e p h when she w e n t to the palace
J o s e p h was then told by G o d to ma r r y Zulaikha who was then old
and no longer beautiful,
but Joseph pra y e d to Go d to gi v e her beauty.
Zulaikha returned to the age of 12 as a very b e a u tiful girl.
two sons:
——
— —
Ifraim and Misha,
different points,
Zulaikha,
and a daughter: Rehema.
160
Th e y had
I found these
especi a l l y what h a p p e n e d c oncerning J o s e p h and
in another Arabic book called al-Mustatraf wh i c h was in
Kijuma's possession,
as we said b e f o r e .161
c o - o r dinate the two themes of the story,
It seems Kij u m a w a nted to
found in these two sources,
order to compose his Utendi wa Yusufu in his own way.
in
-
195
-
6 . Utendi wa Mwana Kupona
This
is a didactic po e m and consists of advice - m a i n l y on the conduct of
ma r r i e d life - given by a wom a n to her daughter,
composition,
1911/2.
it is not Kijuma's
but was copied by hi m for A.W, when she was in Lamu in
It has 98 stanzas and is reproduced in f a c s imile in "Harvard
Af r i c a n Studies".
162
p r e s e n t w h e r e abouts
The Ms. was sent to A m erica in 1916, and its
is u n k n o w n .165
On 3rd Shaaban 1331/July 1913, K ijuma wrote another Ms. on the same
subject, with two title pieces,
stanzas.
164
for Prof. Meinhof.
It also has 98
165
In 1933, the same p o e m was written, by Kijuma, w i t h interlinear
annotations,
sketches,
p o e m with A.W.
and a title page,
166
wh o published the
in 1 9 3 4 . 162
The text of W.H. was reprinted
Poetry"
for W.H.
167
in Mambo L e o , and ag a i n in "Swahili
by L.H., p p . 27-86.
7.
Shairi La Liongo
8 . L i o n g o Fu m o copied from Mzee bin Mah a d h o o ' s book
T h e r e are four mai n works of Swahili verse dealing with Liongo:1.
Takhmis of Liongo.
2.
Shairi La Liongo.
3o
Utendi or Hadithi
ya Liongo.
4.
Lyrics att r i b u t e d
to Liongo.
A.W. us e d the above title to refer to all the items she got from Kijuma
co nnected with Liongo.
On a later date,
the four works giv e n above,
168
she detailed this title within
but she also used to refer to the
169
Ta k h m i s of Liongo as: Mashairi ya L i o n g o .
-
196
-
She mentioned this Takhmis in her wr i t i n g s
whether
it was c o pied for her by Kijuma.
got this Takhmis copied by K i ju m a
170
168
but wi t h o u t stating
The one who did state that A.W.
was Prof. Meinhof who also
obtained the Takhmis of Liongo from Kijuma, and p u b l i s h e d it in
1 9 2 4 / 2 5 . Furthermore, Prof.
Meinhof printed,
in this publication,
some verses in A r abic script as a specimen for dif f e r e n t copies of the
T a k h m i s , that of Kijuma being included.
171
A T a khmis wa s copied by
172
Kijuma and sent to W.H,
in 1933.
Wi t h the help of Sh. Hinawy, W.H.
, . 173
transliterated and translated it.
Shairi La Liongo
C o ncerning the title of Shairi La L i o n g o , A.W. used this to mean the p o e m
of Liongo which begins:- Pijiani mbasi...
written in sheets,
. .
175
handwriting.
174
and is still in S.O.A.S.
It has 50 stanzas, was
in Kijuma's
A.W. t ransliter a t e d it, and her t ransliteration is in
the same Ms. 47795.
It was not composed by Kijuma.
In 1934, Kijuma copied another Ms. of the same text for W.H.
copied on a scroll, and included some pages of glossary.
17 6
It was
This
scroll is no longer found in S.O.A.S., although it wa s referred to by
L.H.
177
as:- "A Ms. copied by Ki j u m a for A.W.
Ms. 4779.5".
1.
178
Wh a t is actually found in this Ms.
The Ms. of A.W.
on 4 sheets,
and to be found in
is:-
in Arabic script and in Kijuma's
handwriting.
2.
7 pages of glossary in Arabic script and in our scribe's
handwriting.
3.
The transliteration of Shairi La Liongo in the h andwriting of A.W.
herself.
-
197
-
This Shairi was translated, and typed by W.H.
179
Ano t h e r copy of the
Shairi La Liongo was made by our scribe and also ex p l a i n e d by hi m for
E.D.
in 1936.
The latter published it with a G e r m a n translation in
180
1940.
It h a s 50 stanzas and is the same as the Ms. of A.W. in all
but three respects
1.
Stanzas 21 and 22 replace each other.
) are switched round
2.
Stanzas 32 and 33 replace each other.
J
3.
Stanza 45 in the Ms. of E.D.
stanza 46 in the Ms.
of A.W.
i s ,not found in the Ms. of A.W.,
is not found in the Ms, of E.D.
This Shairi has also been p ubli s h e d with notes given by Lambert.
contains 51 stanzas,
and
i.e. one stanza more than in those of A.W.
181
182
It
and
183
E.D.
Also stanza 5 in L a m b e r t ’s Ms.
A . W . ’s.
Apart from this,
is different fr o m that in
the two poems are similar except for some words
and in the order of the stanzas as the following index shows:-
...
A.W.
Lambert
1 - 4
1 - 4
6 - 3 1
6 - 3 1
A.W.
34 - 40
Lambert
A.W.
34 - 40
44
41
Lambert
41
44
45
46
46
47
32
33
42
43
33
32
43
45
47 - 50
48 - 51
The r e is another copy of the Shairi La Liongo w h i c h I b e lieve was written
by Kijuma,
but without a date.
What is known is that it was found in Sh.
H i n a w y ’s collection, and was m i c r o f i l m e d by Al l e n for S.O.A.S.
leads us to assume that it was copied for W.H.
in the 1 9 3 0 ’s.
184
This
-
198
-
Utendi or H a dithi ya Liongo
Regarding this U t e n d i , A.W. wrote:- "A po e m on Liongo,
in 234 stanzas
(exclusive of some verses attri b u t e d to the hero, wh i c h are embodied in
it),
Ms..
seems to be classed as U t e n d i , as it is also ca l l e d Hadithi in the
It may perhaps be accounted for by prolonged oral transmission
which led to their being gradually modernised".
18 5
This Ms.
longer found in the library of S.O.A.S in Arabic script,
is a copy in Rom a n script.
Ms.
186
is no
although there
On 30th May 1934, W.H. p h otocopied the
of A.W. and sent the copy to Sh, Hinawy to tran s l i t e r a t e and
translate, and to make notes and comments.
the Ms. back to W.H.
1st Shawwal 1331.
the same text.
introduction.
189
sh. Hinawy sent
W.H. wrote on the
"Translit. Translation.
(Liwali of Mombasa)
transliterated Ms.,
In 1936,
after comp l e t i n g the work on it.
first page of his transliteration:Mbarak Ali H i n a w y
187
1936".
188
Notes by
At the end of this
it is w r itt e n that the Ms. was w r i t t e n by Kijuma on
This Ms.
(193293)
One has 244 stanzas,
190
consists of two typescripts of
with three pa g e s as an
The data found in this introduction wa s a c t ually given by
K ijuma to E.D. who sent it to W.H. wh i l e E.D. was in La m u in Sept.
1936.
The first 123 stanzas of this typescript are tra n s l a t e d into English.
The second typescript has 231 stanzas, an d the ve r s e s att r i b u t e d to
Liongo are excluded.
All stanzas of this second t y p e script are
translated into English.
Th i s typescript might be the transliteration of
another Ms. w r itten by Kijuma for W.H.
in the 1930's.
strengthened by what Allen wrote in his catalogue,
191
This p o s s iblity is
n amely that the
Utendi of Liongo in Kijuma's ha n d w riting had been c o l l e c t e d by W.H.
Unfortunately,
it.
this Ms. has been lost from S.O.A.S,
and I could not trace
-
199
-
T h e only trace of Kijuma's handw r i t i n g for this Utendi is to be found in
"Swahili Poetry" by L.H.
192
wher e he gave the first p a g e
Utendi as a specimen of Kijuma's handwriting.
193
But it is still difficult
to determine fr o m which Ms. this specimen has been taken.
this difficulty,
of this
In spite of
I assume that that specimen was taken from the Ms. which
Kijuma wrote for W.H., because it has a title-piece which Kijuma sent to
W.H.
A.W.
193
did not discuss the authors h i p of this H a d i t h i , but W.H.
later tried
194
to ask Kijuma himself about its author.
Kijuma was:- "I do not know,
reply made W.H.
state,
The reply he received from
it was composed a long time ago".
for a time,
195
This
that the author of Hadithi ya Liongo
196
wa s unknown.
so ask e d Sh.
It seems however that he suspected Kij u m a ' s reply, and
H i n a w y about the reality of Liongo's l e gend
of the Hadithi ya L i o n g o .
and the author
Sh. H i n a w y asked his friends to make inquiries
about the author of this Hadithi
in Lamu.
The con c l u s i o n s of these
inquiries was that that Hadithi had been composed by Kijuma.
This
finding made Sh. H i n a w y - who was too careful to a ccept a n y uncertain
information about the hi s t o r y of Swahili Literature
197
- write to
W.H.:~ "The consensus of opinion both in Mombasa and L a m u etc.
L i ongo exists only as a myth.
is that
Many Tendi are just imaginations only and
not based on true h i s t o r y ...... . and Kijuma's H a dithi ya Liongo and
other poems are simply putting in verse from their own elaboration what
some p e ople say about the m y thi c a l L i o ng o and i n c orporating old songs of
a dance called G u n g u
all that any
.......
No one believes and there is no proof at
of the poems about Li o n g o were the w orks of
and except for the Hadithi ya Liongo. - wh i c h is Kij u m a ' s
can quote for certain the authors of the other poems".
W.H.
198
Liongo himself
work - no one
Since then,
never ment i o n e d this Hadithi w i thout mentioning Ki j u m a as its
199
author.
Later on,
200
-
in 1962, L.H. p u blishe d selected passages from this
_ .... . 200
Hadithi.
In 1964,
by J.K.
the transliteration of the Ms.. of A.W.
in Dar-es-Salaam,
203
201
w a s p u b lished
202
but comparing it with the other
transliterations found in S.O.A.S.,
I found dif f e r e n c e s in some words,
the number of the stanzas, and in the order of these stanzas.
in
It is
important to compare the number and the order of these stanzas in every
Ms. w i t h the one publ i s h e d by J.K. - (K).
As we said before,
the Ms.
193293 has two typescripts with transliterations of Hadithi ya L i o n g o .
The first has 244 stanzas
(Ms. B).
204
= {Ms. A)
and the second has 231 stanzas =
The first comparison is between K and Ms. A.
Ms. A
Ms. A
107 - 115
56*
116
57 - 104
105 - 106
106 - 114
56
104
103
127 - 244
115 - 232
105
* - Th i s stanza is not found in K.
It reads
L i ongo akakubali
Liongo agreed
Kuwa m o y a yao hali
T o be one of them
Wach e n d a kula mahali
And they went everywhere
W a k i t e m b e a pamo y a
W a n d e r i n g about together.
0
- The s e two stanzas are likely to be songs a t t r i b u t e d to Liongo
himself,
rhyme.
because they are not only different in words
from K, but also in
Their
201
-
rhyme is Ka w h ile the rhyme of the p o e m is y a .
H e r e they are:-
/
Ak a n e n a " Saada hukutuma
He said:
Kijakazi huyatumika
Y o u have not yet d e l i vered my message
Enda kamwambie mama
Go tell mother
Mjinga hayalimka
I send you Saada
She is inexperienced and not yet alert
Hafanyi mkate pale kati tupa W h y not make a loaf and in the m iddle place a
kaweka
file
Kaauwa pingu makozi
That I ma y file away the chains
yakaneuka
dro p off me
K a tatata
+
ja m w a n a nyoka*
That I might creep a w a y like a snake.
- This stanza is not found in K.
It is as follows:-
N a mashairi ni haya
There are the verses
W a l o k i m b a kwa umoya
W h i c h they we r e singing together
Na w a t u wa k i p o k e y a
Others taking the chorus
Na L i o n g o u pamoya
W h i l e L iongo was with them.
After this stanza,
and they
the 10 verses attributed to L iongo are mentioned, and
counted until number 126.
in his "Swahili Poetry",
A l l of these 10 verses are p u b l i s h e d by L.H.
p p . 63-64, using the t ypescript of W.H.
The second compar i s o n is between K and Ms. B:-
MS. B
-
Ms. B
K
1 - 4 9
202
114208
1- 4 9
,
K
MS. B
-
174
175
K
50
51
115
115
175 - 227
176 - 228
51
50
116 - 169
116 - 169
228
230
52 - 55
170
172
229
229
-
171
170
230
231
56- 103
172
171
231
232
173
173
52 - 55
56205
57 - 104206
-
104 - 105
105 - 113
106 - 114
207
-
174209
R e g a r d i n g the other two copies of Hadithi ya Liongo found in Mss. 205000
a n d 210013,
other.
which each have 252 stanzas,
I found them similar to each
Thus, I shall give them the code: Ms. C to co m p a r e them with K in
the following index:
Ms. C
K
1 - 5 5
1 - 5 5
Ms. C
5 6 210
57 - 104
56 - 103
K
105 - 106211
104 - 105
107 - 115
106 - 114
Ms. C
K
135
115
136 - 252 116 - 232
1 1 6 212
Lyrics att r i b u t e d to Liongo
Con c e r n i n g these lyrics, A.W. w r o t e in 1927:- "A whole collection of
lyrics attributed to Liongo
Kijuma,
(of w hich a copy was m a d e for me by Muh.
from one in the p o ssess i o n of Mzee bin M a h a d h o o of Shela)
still
213
awaits publication".
She died in 1935, and the collec t i o n was
neither p u b l i s h e d nor given a description.
collec t i o n the na m e of Ushuhuda.
W.H. came later and gave this
-
203
-
The evidence that that name was given to this c ollection and not to any
other, will be disc u s s e d further down*
Before speaking about this
collection in detail, w e should refer to some verses con n e c t e d with
Liongo, and copied by Kijuma for A.W.
These verses number about 36, and
are to be found transliterated by A.W.
in Ms. 210015.
a re three comments on these verses.
In this Ms. there
The first comment is:- "Poems
a ttributed to Liongo, and we r e recited by Mzee bin Bis h a r o in Witu to
O 1 A
K ijuma who wrote them down hast i l y in A rabic characters".
The
second:- "The following songs are said to be songs m a d e by L iongo when he
was going to war with wasegeju".
The third:- "The following,
songs of Liongo whe n he was returning from the war".
These songs
describing the return from the war were p u b l ished by A.W.
G o i n g back to Ushuhuda, W.H.
obtain".
216
in 1927.
215
used this term for the first time on 16th
Nov. 1936 in his correspondence with A.W.
w rites to me of Ushuhuda
too, are
He wr o t e to her:- "Kijuma
(nakla ya khati ya asili) which,
he says, he can
W.H. w r o t e this, after he had sent a letter to Ki j u m a on
6 th Ju n e 1934, a s k i n g him to look for the original c ollection of Liongo's
lyrics of w h ich he had made a co p y for A.W. in 1912.
p u rchase the original book of lyrics.
217
W.H. wanted to
On 5th R a j a b 1353/Oct.
1934,
K i j u m a replied to h i m saying that these lyrics of L i o n g o wh i c h he had
copied for A.W. wi t h the help of Mzee Mahadhoo of Sh e l a had been written
down by one called Ushuhuda.
The same Mzee had b o r r o w e d the original
book from an o l d woman of Shela who sold the book to a E u r opean called
Bwana Keri for 25 Rupees.
Later on she wr o n g l y sued M z e e Mahadhoo on the
grounds that she did not get the book back.
Some time later,
After this,
they both died.
the B.C. of Lamu Mr. C usack looked for the book
everywhere but w i thout success.
voyage, pa s s i n g Kau,
K ijuma went on saying:
"Once,
I was on a
and wi t h some one there, I found U s h u h u d a w hich is
like the o r iginal book of Shela.
-
204
-
W h e n I told the B.C. about it,
he w a n t e d it, but its owner made
a
condition that I had to make a
copy for h i m before s e lling it.
After X
had copied it for him, I took the original to the B.C., wh o paid the
owner 20 Shilingi for the original,
ma d e for the owner.
If you
and also p a i d m e for the copy that I
(i.e. W.H.) want this co p y of Kau, I would be
c onfident that its owner might
accept 10 Shilingi for it, but this is not
before writing the owner another copy.
do so".
217
And for your sake, I am
ready to
On c e W.H. was informed thus, he i mmediately used this te r m
U s huhuda in his correspondence with A.W. and Sh. Hinawy.
W.H, worked on
the copy of A.W.'s collection of these lyrics and other collections on
the same subject which will now be detailed.
O n 25th Nov,
1935, he sent
copies of these lyrics, which he himself entitled U s h u h u d a , to
Kijuma,
218
Mr. Whitton,
219
and Sh. Hinawy,
asking them to review his
transliteration and to establish the dates of these lyrics'
and the dates of their composers.
W.H.,
composition
in his letter to these three
gentlemen, a cknowledged that that Ush u h u d a was made from three Mss., one
of nearly 200 poems and made by Kijuma, a second of about 180 poems made
b y an unknown scribe, and a third of about 32 poems w r i t t e n in Roman
script, made by C l a n d g e
(i.e. W . H •)•
of Rabai and w hich had been sent to him
217
The name of Ushuhuda led Sh. H i n a w y to ask W . H.:- "I do not
know why you call these poems U s h u h u d a .
I have a Ms.
of all these poems
which I obtained from La m u some time ago, some of w h i c h I have
incorporated in the collection.
composed by other poets.
They ar e not poems of Li o n g o but
I wi l l certainly try and co l l e c t as much
information about them as you w a n t but it will take time",
220
W.H.
replied to Sh. Hinawy:- "I called those the Ush u h u d a be c a u s e that was the
name under which they were supplied to me,
221
impression that these songs related to Liongo".
Br. W e r n e r was under the
222
-
205
-
Having gone thoroughly through all the Mss.
in S.O.A.S.,
I found that
W.H. made a comparative study between these three Mss. which he called
Ushuhuda in Ms. 53498 which is entitled: Chuo cha Diriii
of Diriji".
223
"The book
I found also that the Ms. which W.H. m e n t i o n e d as having
been made by Kijuma is Ms. No. 47708 and is still to be found in
S.O.A.S.
This Ms.
is pre f a c e d by W.H.
himself as:- "Marriage Dances and
other songs composed about 1700 - 1800, were w r itten b y Kijuma,
poet and scribe
in Aug.
1913.
It was
224
the Lamu
copied by h i m from a Ms, book
in the possession of Mzee Mahadhoo, who had b o r r o we d the book from its
owner."
225
It became clear that W.H. wa s referring to the collection
of lyrics, which Kijuma had copied for A.W., by using the term U s h u h u d a .
I found too that the Ms. whi c h W.H. m e n t ioned as one ma d e by an unknown
scribe is the Ms. 47707 and is still there in S.O.A.S.
pre f a c e d by the following notes:- "Given
This Ms. 47707
(i.e. this Ms.)
is
to me by Miss
Werner 1933 for purposes of publication", with the signature of W.H.
below.
Another note says:- "Dec.
1933,
Sir Cl a u d H o l l i s has written that
h e has no objection to this book being retained, Nov.
note says:- "This book belongs to J u d g e Hamilton,
me.
I (i.e. Hollis)
1934".
Another
Mombasa, who lent it to
am only borrowing it wi t h the A f r i c a n society as
Judge Hamilton m a y wish to ha v e it returned, w i t h the signature of
Hollis,
dated Mar c h 11 - 1910".
226
This is to say that Sir Claud
b orrowed the book from Jud g e Ha m i l t o n and gave it to Miss Werner who gave
it to W.H.
to W.H.
for publication.
As we see again,
this Ms, was not supplied
under the name of Ushuh u d a as he told Sh. H i n a w y in his letter of
25th Nov. 1935.
None of these Mss.
2*2.7
were supplied to W.H.
under the
name of U s h u h u d a , but they were a c t u a l l y Mss. which he had received from
A.W.
-Thus,-the question which still needs to be as k e d i s : “Did Kijuma
send the Ms. of Kau, about w h i c h W.H. wrote to A.W.?
entitled Ushuhuda?
If so, was it
Alt h o u g h the Mss.
in S.O.A.S.
we can assume that W.H.
206
-
do not supply us with the decisive answer,
had a Ms. entitled U s h uhuda ma d e by Kijuma,
be cause there are two Swahili Mss. in Arabic script c alled U s h u h u d a .
wa s made by a scribe called:
One
Dawud bin Saim bin Da w u d a l - N a u f a l i y in
228
1311/1893-4, and is to be found in S.O.A.S.
The other was made by
Kijuma, and although it is not to be found in S.O.A.S.,
it should be made
clear that Kijuma did indeed make a Ms. called Us h u h u d a as the following
story shows.
When I ment i o n e d all that has been wr i t t e n about Ushuhuda
to J . K . , he gave me three photoc o p i e d pages
the Swahili
229
containing 9 poems of
in A r a b i c script written, as I believe,
b y Kijuma.
230
The
231
first of these p a ges contains two poems
Hu n o ni U s huhuda
232
with a tit l e - p i e c e reading:
"This is the U s h u h u d a * .
Thus, we can confidently
state that these three pages are a specimen of a lost Ushuhuda written by
K i j u m a for one of his clients.
9.
In 1918, A.W.
Lamu
revealed what was meant by Lamu when she w r ote:- "A Shairi
of thirty five stanzas headed
(L a m u ? and seemingly w r i t t e n to celebrate a
wedding.
233
It begins: Alika kama h a r u s i " .
that A.W.
once thought
234
It is i n teresting to know
that this Shairi was a t t r i b u t e d to Liongo and
w a s circulating as a Ms. at Lamu.
235
In 1962, L a mbert made it clear
that this Shairi of Alika kama harusi was composed by Kijuma.
He wrote
"The p o e m (i.e. Ali k a kama h a r u s i ) recorded here was ha n d e d to me in Lamu
in Feb.
1929, by the author,
the famous Kijuma, Muh. A b u Bakari Umar
al-Bakariy, who was then an elderly man.
p o e m many years before,
He told me he had wr i t t e n the
at least 35 or 40 or even more.
It is perhaps
the best of the imitations of the well-known Ode to Mw a n a Mnga,
236
t raditionally attributed to the hero Liongo*.
-
207
This po e m has 41 stanzas.
10.
Fragments of Utendi wa Y u s u f u
Utendi wa Y u s u f u has been already dealt with in detail.
11.
A l though A.W.
237
List of Divine Names
did not refer to this list in her publication,
mea n the 99 Attrib u t e s of Allah.
12.
she might
238
List of Birds
T h i s could not be traced anywhere.
13.
Utendi wa Ayubu
239
I Part
This p o e m on the Life of Job was scribed by Kijuma for A.W.
Shawwal 1331/Sept.
1913*
A c c o r d i n g to Kijuma,
on 2nd
its composer is unknown,
and it was composed at least two hundred years ago.
240
A typescript of
it was made by A.W. and sent to Prof. Bates, Ha r v a r d University,
for
p ublication in H a r vard A f rican S t u d i e s , but owing to the war and Prof,
Bates' death,
it was not published.
241
“
Despite the fact that the Ms.
in its Arabic characters is not found in S.O.A.S.,
by A.W.,
is still there.
242
its typescript, made
It has 391 stanzas plus 4 Ayas.
It was
242
pu b l i s h e d by A.W.
Dar-es-Salaam.
243
in 1921-3,
and w a s reprinted in M ambo Leo in
-
208
-
T h e first 204 stanzas of that typescript were p h o t o c o p i e d for U. C . D . 24 ^
On 5th Rajab 1353/Oct.
for W.H.
245
1934, Ki juma wrote another Ms. on the same subject
It too has 391 stanzas plus the same number of Ayas.
usual, Kijuma enclosed a g l ossa r y with the Ms. he sent to W.H.
glossary
246
As
This
is found in S.O.A.S.
Fortunately,
two Mss. of the Utendi wa Ayubu m a d e by K i j u m a are to be
found m i c r o filmed in S.O.A.S.
The first one was made for J.W. on 10 shaaban 1356/1937.
stanzas plus 3 Ayas,
247
Ayubu♦
46
It has 382
with a little title piece reading: Hadithi ya
The second one was m a d e for Dr. C.G. Richards,
to h i m by J.W.
248
on 7th Rajab 1357/1938.
reading: Utendi wa Ayubu rAlaihi e s - S alaam
upon him".
It has 387 stanzas
250
and was given
It has a title-piece
249
"The p o e m of Job, peace be
251
plus 3 Ayas
.
H e r e is an index
showing the findings of the com p a r a t i v e study made be t w e e n the Ms. of
A.W.
(= A),
the Ms. of J.W.
(= B ) , and the Ms. of Dr. Richards
(= C),
regarding the number of the stanzas.
A
B
C
A
B
C
i - n 252
1 - 1 1
1 - 1 1
242
-
243
12 - 106253
12 - 106
12 - 106
243 - 277
241 - 275
244 - 278
107 - 117
107 - 117
278
117
“
118
279 - 306
276 - 303
280 - 307
118 - 149
118 - 149
119 - 150
307
-
308
151
308 - 386
304 - 382
309 - 387
152 - 242
387 - 391
106a - 116
150
151 - 241
150 - 240
279
-
-
209
-
T h e last thing to be added is that through Kijuma the U tendi wa A yubu was
the first of the Swahili epics to reach a w i d e p ublic in Europe and on
the coast of East A f r i c a - in Europe, when A.W. p u b l i s h e d it, and on the
East African coast when it w a s reprinted in Mambo L e o .
->
14.
15.
Mashairi
Mashairi from the Lamu C h r o n i c l e
(historical) which Mr. R e d d i e lent for m e to copy
T h e s e two wor k s could not be traced as two separate ones.
The only
Swahili verses belonging to the Lamu Chr o n i c l e and w r i t t e n by Kijuma were
found in a Ms. at Hamburg, wi t h two title-pieces reading:
"Haya ni
Ma shairi ya watu wa Amu Walijib i a n a na wa t u wa Pa t e na wa t u wa Mombasa
w a l i p i j a n a kisa watu wa Lamu wa k a pipana na w a t u wa M o m b a s a ".
112 lines,
or 56 stanzas.
h a n d of Muhamadi
1331"/ J u l y 1913.
254
At the end of this Ms., K i j u m a wrote:- "By the
bin Abu Bakari bin Om a r i Kijuma,
It was copied
in 10 Shaaban
for Prof. Meinhof.
the library of the La m u M u s e u m in 1980.
I saw a copy of it in
I believe that this Ms.
one w h i c h was referred to by A.W. when she gave it the title:
f r o m the Lamu Chronicle",
It has
because,
is the
"Mashairi
in 1918, she m e n t i o n e d it in one of
her writings by saying:- "A series of poems a d d ressed to each other by
t he heads of contending factions at Lamu, about 1812".
1812 w a s the year
The year of
in which the battle took place bet w e e n the people of
La m u against the people of Pate
of A.W.
255
is not found
in S.O.A.S
and Mombasa.
256
in this case, the
Ms.
It is important to know that A.W.
got
; the history of Lamu in prose fr o m Kijuma, because her notebook contains
.some pages in which an incomplete account of Akhbar La m u "The history of
Lamu"
is written.
p u b l i s h e d by W.H.
This history is similar to the beg i n n i n g of the one
in "Bantu Studies" Vol. XII.
-
210
-
A J W . als o obtained the h i story of Pa t e and Siu written by Kijuma,
t h e r e a r e 8 pages,
in Rom a n script,
in Ms. 53489 entitled:
because
"History of
S h e i k h Muh. Mataka and Sultan Ahmadi P a t e from Ms. by Muh. Kijuma in Dr.
A- W e r n e r ' s possession".
Actually,
w r i t t e n b y K i j u m a f r o m J.K.
I obtained p h o t o copies of 6 pages
Th e y are entitled: Kh a b a r i ya Sheikh
..Muhammad Mataka na Sultani A h ma d P a t e .
On the last page,
the date of
257
w r i t i n g is w r itten as 1339/1920.
W i t h these 6 pages,
there are 4
oth e r p a g e s entitled: Hini ni khabari ya Sheikh M u h a m m a d Mataka, Sheikh
w a Siu na S a y y i d Maj i d bin Said Sultan Z a n z i b a r .
b y K ijuma.
T h e y were also written
It is possible that these 10 pages were copies from an
o r i g i n a l Ms. wri t t e n for A.W.
I n 1933, W.H. rep e a t e d l y
258
in 1920.
asked K i j u m a to send h i m all that was known
a b o u t the h i story of Lamu, Witu, Siu, Pate,
a n d the songs dea l i n g with that history.
the o r igins of Lamu's people,
Letters
259
from Kijuma to
s h o w that K i j u m a sent h i m some of these his t o r i c a l accounts and
p r o m i s e d h i m to send mo r e of them.
Owing to the fact that the bulk of
K i j u m a ' s Mss. ha v e been lost from S.O.A.S, 8 pages on l y in Kijuma's
260
h a n d w r i t i n g remain there, with the title: Hadithi ya P a t e na S i u .
S u c h histor i c a l accounts enabled W.H. to type the s i g n i ficant historical
e v e n t s w h ich had taken place on the coast of East A f r i c a since 600 until
2g1
1890 A . D .
It also enabled h i m to make the important footnotes which
w e r e p u b l i s h e d b y h i m in Khabar Al-Lamu of Shaibu Faraji al-Bakariy.
I n 1929, K i j u m a h a nded the Hadithi ya Pate na Siu to La m b e r t in Lamu.
L a m b e r t p u b l i s h e d it in transliteration with comments.
-an e p i s o d e in the life of Muham a d i Mataka of Siu.
262
It concerns
This episode is the
e a m e a s the first 4 pages of that h i s t orical account wh i c h Kijuma might
h a v e sent to A.W.
in 1920 with the title: Khabari ya S h eikh Muhammad
rMataka n a S u l t a n i Ahmad Pate.
Also,
211
-
in 1929 Lambert was given by K ijuma the K h abari ya Sheikh Muhammad
Mataka Sheikh wa siu na Sayyid Majid bin Said Sultan Z a n z i b a r *
went through it with Lambert word for word.
It gives the same h i story
that was sent by Kijuma to A . W . , but in different words.
published in transliteration by Lambert.
263
Kijuma
It was also
As L a m b e r t wrote:- "I
transliterated it into Roman characters and then went through it word for
w o r d with the late Kijuma who was a very enthusiastic, p a tient and
p a i n s taking student of his own language,
responsible not only for
recording a great number of examples of northern "Literature" but also
for some original verse of great interest and m e r i t *.263
264
In 1936/7, Kijuma wrote 9 pages
of Khabari za Saidi bin Sultan na
Bwana Mataka na Sultan A h m a d , and Khabari za Siu no P a t e , for E.D.
we r e publ i s h e d b y E.D.
transliterated,
in "Afrika Un d Ubersee",
265
They
after he had
and translated th e m into German.
On 7th Ramadhan 1359/1941, Kijuma sent a letter with the Hadithi ya Zita
za Siu to J.W., and in the same letter told h i m that he wo u l d send him
Khabari ya Zita za Muhammad Mataka na S ayyid M a j i d n a Khabari ya Zita za
Pate na Lamu, Khabari
zake za z a m a n i .
Wh a t was found wi t h J.W. on these
266
historical subgects, were two pages
entitled: K h abari ya Pate and
whi c h had been written by Kijum a in 1363/1944.
The last point to be made about the source of these historical accounts
is that many of them were hande d down fr o m father to son by word of mouth
16.
Ha b a r i z a
Sabaa
The blank space in the title stands for an unreadable wo r d beginning with
the letters wa but of which the other letters are not clear.
In addition to this,
212
-
the words H abari and Sabaa in the above title did
not help in deriving the unreadable word, because such a work could not
be traced anywhere.
Mss,
17.
sent b y Kijuma 12.10.2026 ^
Kisa cha Kijana
(Kitete, mke wa Sultani)
This story could not be traced in A . W . ’s collection,
but a similar title
was found in W . T . ' s collection reading: Mwana wa mtu na k i t e t e .
It
is written on three little pages in R o m a n script, p r o b a b l y in the
handwriting of W.T.
It seems to me to be different from the one of A.W.
because kitete in W . T . ’s story is an animal (mongoose)
begotten by a
person, and not a wife of the Sultan as the title of A.W. says.
13.
Habari ya uzuri wa k e wa Sura za M u h a m m a d
J u dging by the title,
it should be a literary work nar r a t i n g the b eauty
of the Prophet Muhammad.
Again, we could not find this work, but it is
likely to be something similar to the 10 stanzas that we r e published by
J.K.
in his article of "Swahili metre".
19.
I w o uld repeat what J.K.
p r operty of A.W.
270
269
Ut e n d i wa Hunaini
said about this poem:- "A Ms. was once the
The r e is no trace of the Ms. now,
m e n t i o n e d by B a m m a n n or Allen*.
271
it is not
-
213
-
H u n a i n is a place in Arabia where the Muslims,
led by the Prophet
Muhammad, won a battle after they had been defeated in the same spot.
Hunain
is recorded in the Quran by name..
20.
272
Uf u n g u o Maneno ya Miiraji
A l t h o u g h A.W. here is listing the g l o ssary of the M i i r a j i , she listed the
p o e m itself in one of her articles by writing:-
"There are various poems
in c i rculation - translated or not - which deal with the Miiraji - the
p rop h e t ' s night journey from Mecca to Paradise,
J e r u s a l e m on the way.
273
another
seeing B e t h l e h e m and
One of these is p r inted in Biittner's Anthology,
(in a different metre)
has been sent me in Ms.
274
from
275
L a m u b y Muh. Kijuma".
A.W.
d i d not give us any other data about the Ms. of Kijuma,
W.H. a n d E.D.
o b tained it
276
the p o e m will be d i s c u s s e d further bec a u s e they also
from Kijuma,
Wh e n K i juma offered W.H.
8 th Jumada Al- U k h r a 1352/Sept.
offer,
prose,
278
but through
and the Ms.
279
1933, W.H.
this Ms.
277
on
gratefully a c c epted the
was sent, not only in verse,
on 30th Dhu Al-Hijja 1352/April 1934.
but also in
In the Ms. 53491, W.H.
cou n t e d this p o e m as being Kijuma's own composition.
I w o u l d add that
K i j u m a translated this p o e m from an Ar a b i c prose ve r s i o n into both
Swahili verse and Swahili prose, as we shall see presently.
p r o s e version is to be found
version,
typed by W.H, in the Ms. 53497.
in the same Ms., has 664 stanzas. Com p a r i n g
Some of the
T h e poetic
this version with
the version that was w r itten and explained by Kijuma to E.D., we find
that the version of E.D. has
280
660 stanzas.
s i m i l a r :except in some words
and in the order of some of the stanzas.
The two versions are very
-
214
-
But the last stanzas in W . H.'s version is c l early dif f e r e n t from E.D.'s,
because the last stanza in E.D.'s version gives the date for the poem's
writing,
281
w h i l e the last stanza of W.H.
r e a d s :-
W a s a l a m u nimekoma
Goodbye,
I have finished
Cha Miraji kisa chema
T h e go o d
story of Miiraji
Kwa karama ya K a r i m a
Wi t h the
blessing of Th e G e n e r o u s One
Nguvu a tatutilia
May He give us the strength.
C o ncerning the Arab i c source on wh i c h Kijuma relied in c o m posing his
M i i r a j i , it must be that he ob t ained his information from more than one
book, because the p o e m contains facts not to be found in one Arabic
source alone.
E.g. although the information found in the Swahili p o e m
about the story of Miiraji
is ve r y near to the same story n a r rated in an
Ar abic booklet called: Al-lsrafa Wa-al-M i i r a j i L i - a l - N a b i y by k b d u Al l a h
O QO
Ibn cAbbas,
stanzas 27-31,
in the Swahili v e rsion of E.D., contain
information not to be found in this A rabic booklet,
A r abic book called:
but found in another.
Nuzhat al-Majalis wa Muntakhab a l - N a f a i s , by cAbdu
—
—
283
ar-Ra h m a n a s - S a f u r i y al-Shafiiy.
It should be emp h a s i s e d that Kijuma had more than one A r a b i c source from
which he translated his Miiraji into Swahili both ve r s e and prose,
because in a letter to E.D,, Ki j u m a p r o m i s e d h i m to send this Arabic
284
source of the Miiraji .
was fulfilled,
It is not known whether or not the promise
but it is likely that it. was not either because W o r l d War
II prev e n t e d h i m from doing so or b e cause Kijuma's c o l l e c t i o n might have
got moth-eaten.
letter
28 5
The latter is qu i t e p o s s i b l e in the light of a
fr o m K i juma to J.W.
(who w a n t e d the M i i r a j i ) in w h i c h he was
told that the Miiraji had got moth-eaten.
•21.
Kisa cha Kijana
215
-
(Kwalina mzee. zamani za nyuma)
This might be one of those short stories upon which A.W.
comment in any of her writings.
The 3 Mss.
286
forgot to
It cannot be traced.
to follow are the Mss. w hich Kijuma offered to send to A.W.
22. Inkishafi
Abo u t this poem, which is not Kijuma's own composition, A.W. wrote:- "The
Northern version of the Inkishafi, obtained by C a p t a i n Stigand at Lamu,
originall y contained 78 stanzas but the Ms. used by h i m was imperfect,
287
and the printed copy only begins with stanza 8 .
I a m enabled to
supply the missing ones from a copy sent me by Muh. Kij u m a of
Lamu".
288
She supplied the missing stanzas with some of Kijuma's
explanations of the poem, and the m e a nings of dif f i c u l t words.
Kijuma sent A.W.
288
two copies of the I n k i s h a f i , an old one copied by Omar
bin A b u d showing careless mista k e s - as A.W. a s s u m e d - w hich had been
corrected in a second copy made by Ki j u m a himself.
of A.W.
1933
289
coast.
are not found in S.O.A.S.
288
Af t e r that W.H.
Th e s e two copies
asked Kijuma in
to send h i m the oldest Ms. of the Inkishafi found on the
On 30th Dhu Al-Hijja 1352/April 1934,
sent h i m an I n k i s h a f i ,
adding:- "I have copied it from an old book and sent it to you without
copying another one,
290
On 30th May 1934, W.H.
(i.e.
to keep for myself)".
sent Sh. H i n a w y a letter
291
telling him that
Kijuma had sent h i m an old I n k i s h a f i , and went on to com p a r e it with the
published ones
in the Stigand and W . T,*s edition.
292
-
216
-
In the same letter, W.H. wrote to Sh. H inawy that he was looking forward
to receiving his work
(i.e. of Sh. Hinawy)
p u blication in his name.
293
in letters
294
latter was asked about the poem ' s composer,
the meaning of d i fficult words.
title-piece
296
295
on the Inkishafi for
from W.H.
to Kijuma,
the
the date of composition,
and
He was also asked to make a
for the I n k i s h a f i , and to illustrate all the animals,
birds, and insects,
297
which are m e n t i o n e d in the poem,
each on a
separate paper.
On 25th May 1936,
298
W.H. q u e s t i o n e d K ijuma about his h a ving told
Missio n a r y Cheese that there was an o l d Inkishafi
scroll.
As a result, W.H.
news about it.
in Siu, w ritten on a
aske d Ki j u m a to look for this scroll and give
In fact, Missi o n a r y C h eese was the one who had told W.H.
about the scroll in a letter to him:- "Kijuma has two copies, scrolls,
one m a d e by himself from a scroll in Siu, and a second m a d e by Mwenye
Mansabu
299
of a l-Husainiy family".
Kijuma sent this scroll to W.H,
It is not known whe t h e r or not
Wh a t is known is that there are
specimens for two Mss. of the Inkishafi copied by Kijuma,
p u b l i s h e d by W.H.
W.H. wrote.
me b y J.K.
301
300
in his A l - I n k i s h a f i ,
and it w a s co p i e d in 1910 as
The second specimen is two p h o t o c o p i e d p ages given to
T h e first page represents the beginning of the poem and the
second represents the final stanzas,
scribing.
One was
but no date is given for the poem's
I believe that these two pages were p h o t o c o p i e d from the Ms.
which Kijuma wro t e for A.W.
in 1920/1, because the first pa g e has the
same annotations and illustrations w h i c h A.W. det a i l e d in her "Some
Missing Stanzas
(i.e. the first 7 s t anzas of A l - I n k i s h a f i ) P r o m The
N o rthern Ve r s i o n of The Inkishafi poem".
302
-
217
-
23. T a bar a k a (interlinar Ar.)
Ta b a r a k a
is the first word for two Qu r a n i c Surahs.
Bl essed is He
303
It means:
(i.e. Allah).
It is not known whether or not A.W. accepted Kijuma's offer to send her
this p o e m which deals with the transitoriness of e a r t h l y
invites us to reflect on
things
and
our lives and return to A l l a h ' s path. She did
not refer to it in any of her pu b l i s h e d writings.
It w a s t r a n s l a t e d from the Arab i c verse into Swahili verse by Kijuma's
teacher Mwenye Mansabu.
the copyists, K i j u m a
This explains why in most,
included,
interlined with the Arabic.
used to co p y it in the Swahili form,
It has 145 stanzas in Swahili,
number as the A r a b i c verses.
"Interlinar Ar.";
if not all cases, all
304
the same
A.W. w rote the t itle w i t h the note:
this led me to believe that she o r d e r e d the Ms.
from
K i juma and saw it in its A r abic and Swahili form.
Kijuma wrote this Ms.
in
the same form for the m o s q u e of Nna Lalo at Lamu
305
and it is still found there.
Ramadhan,
Tabaraka is read d u ring the month of
in La m u and other places on the coast.
W h e n the w o rshippers
finished their prayer of al-Tarawih, they wo u l d read one p a r agraph
(about
306
5 verses) each evening,
In 1936/7,
first in A r a b i c and then in Swahili.
E.D. o b t a i n e d a Ms. of this text, w r i t t e n by Kijuma, during
the former's stay on the island of Lamu.
Also, Kij u m a w o r k e d on it with
him, after w h i c h E.D. p u blished the Swahili text of the poem, with a
G e r m a n t r a n s l a t i o n .300
1
-
24.
218
-
307
Utendi w a Ku t a w a f u Muhammad
I do not believe that A.W.
received this p o e m from K i j u m a because I
observe that the only version of Kutawafu to wh i c h she referred in her
w r i t i n g s 308 is the one which wa s pub l i s h e d by Dr. B u t t n e r ,309 and
which has 264 stanzas.
It seems that the same thing which had happened
to A . W . , h a ppened later to W.H., wh e n Kijuma told h i m in his letters
that he had the p o e m of K u tawaf u kwa Muhammad if he w a n t e d it.
be traced in W . H . ' s collection,
it is probable that A.W.
310
It cannot
and W.H,
felt
no ne e d to p o ssess the p o e m since it had already been pub l i s h e d by Dr.
Buttner.
O n 27th Safar 1357/April 1938, K ijuma wrote the p o e m and sent it to E.D,
who still has
it.
It has 251 stanzas and 3 Ayas.
w r i t t e n after
stanzas
15, 27,
and 33.
311
Th e s e Ay a s are
Th e y are the same as the ones
p u b l i s h e d in B uttner's book after stanzas 18, 31, a n d 37.
Comparing the
two versions,
I found them similar in everything but for some words,
the number of
the stanzas, as we l l as their order. In a d d ition to this
difference,
the v e rsion of K i j u m a has 14 stanzas wh i c h are totally
d i fferent in words from the version of Buttner.
These 14 stanzas are the
ones w i t h the following numbers:- 3, 7, 9, 36, 57, 61,
143,
162,
185,
the stanzas'
and
192, and 239.
111,
139, 140,
T h e following index shows the d ifference of
n u mbers and their orders, between Kij u m a ' s version
the version of Buttner
(=B).
(-
K) and
-
219
-
............1
K
B
1 - 2
1 - 2
1
111
B
K
-
171
B _J
175
!
i
i
4
3
-
112 - 116
114 - 118
172 - 184
4 - 6
4 - 6
117
120
185
7
-
118 - 121
121 - 124
186 - 188
189 - 191
8
10
122
126
189 - 191
193 - 195
9
-
123 - 138
127 - 142
192
-
10 - 25
14 - 29
139
-
193 - 204
196 - 207
26 - 35
31 - 40
140
-
205
209
-
141
143
206 - 229
211 - 234
41 - 60
142
144
230 - 238
236 - 244
-
143
-
239
-
61 - 63
144 - 161
145 - 162
240 - 242
245 - 247
61
-
162
-
243 - 245
249 - 251
62 - 92
64 - 94
163 - 165
164 - 166
246 - 247
253 - 254
166 - 169
168 - 171
170
173
36
37 - 56
57
58 - 60
93
94 - 110
96
97 - 113
!
j
256 - 258
251
J
At the end of Kijuma's version,
248 - 250
176 - 188
262
.. . . . . . . . . .
there is a page of g l o s s a r y written by
him.
Kijuma offered J.W.
did not have it.
the same poem,
In 1956,
312
but the latter
told me that he
the p o e m (not wr i t t e n by Kijuma) was edited
w i t h an English translation by Allen.
The remaining point to be made is that the stanzas 4-5 of Kijuma's
v e r sion give the A r a b i c source from which the p o e m w a s translated.
source could not be traced,
verse a n d prose,
That
but I could trace another source of Arabic
narrating the same story as that of the poem,
book called: H a dhihi Qiss a t Mu^ a d h Ibn Ja b a l
313
a l - N a b i y y Salla A l lah rAlaih wa S a l l a m .
it is a
(Radhiya A l l a h fAnh) wa wafat
I
I
I
-
!
What else did A.W.
220
-
get from Kijuma, which was not listed in her
writing-book?
T h ere are three such works with the following t i t l e s :1.
Utendi or Hadithi ya Mikidadi na Mayasa.
2.
Stories about the peop l e of Shela.
3.
Kuku na K a n u .
T h e y are det a i l e d here:-
25.
Mikidadi na Mayasa
This p o e m was copi e d by Kijuma and sent to A.W. not after 1918, because
in the same year she wrote:- "I found that a Sharifu living at Bomani
village not far from Mambrui),
had a copy of M i k idadi na Mayasa and some
time later, had it written out for m e by Muhamadi Kijuma".
166 stanzas,
characters,
A.W. p u b l i s h e d it
(a
315
could not be traced.
in 1932.
Th e poem,
In 1933, A.W.
314
It has
in A r abic
received a letter from
Sh. Hinawy telling her that he had finished reviewing Mikidadi na Mayasa
which was enclosed in the same l e t t e r .3 '*'6
It is likely that Sh. Hinawy
kept a typescript of the p o e m in his collection.
Th i s t ypescript might
be the one which helped A l len in publishing his long v e rsion of the same
317
poem.
1930.
The same text of A.W.
318
A.W.
had been pub l i s h e d earlier
m
raised the ques t i o n of the poem's o rigin - if it had any
Arabic reference, when she w r ot e ; - "Indeed, no one c o n v e r s a n t with A rabic
Li terature w h o m I have consu l t e d seems even to recognise the story, which
ma y belong to some local tradition imported by the e a r l y settlers from
319
Oman".
The story of the p o e m is act u a l l y found in Arabic
Literature, and it is narrated in a kind of mixed p r o s e and verse.
On 30th Sept.
320
1935, W.H. asked Kijuma about the composer of this poem,
321
and the date of its composition.
In Feb.
221
-
1936, Kiju m a replied to h i m that he did not know because it was
composed a long time ago.
26.
322
,
Stories about the people of Shela
These were dictated by Kijuma to A.W. not after 1919.
stories, each one relating to a m a n in Shela.
and translated by A.W.
T h e y consist of 3
T h e y we re transliterated
323
27. Kuku na Kami
This
is a p o e m which takes the fo r m of a dialogue bet w e e n Kuku "Fowl" and
Kanu "Fox".
Ka n u
In 1918, A.W. w r ot e : - "A curious little d i a l o g u e between an
(civet cat?)
and a fowl,
sup p o s e d to represent,
powerful man and one of low estate.
This was sent m e fr o m Lamu by Muh.
K i j u m a who o b tained it from the W a t i k u u
mainland) and says it is "Old".
324
respectively, a
(Swahili of the northern
The p o e m has only 8 stanzas.
publi s h e d it, wit h Kijuma's own notes,
She
after she had t r a n sliterated and
translated t h e m .325
Before leaving the works which Kij u m a wrote for A . W . , there is a final
p o e m still to be discussed.
It is thought it was w r i t t e n by Kijuma for
her, but she only referred to it indirectly, w i thout g iving further
detail.
This p o e m is:-
28. N gamia na paa
In 1926, A.W. wrote:- "Alluding, of course,
to the legend of Muhammad and
the camel, which appears to be a favourite theme in East Africa.
-
222
-
I have a long Swahili po e m on the subject".
■alluding"
stanzas,
326
she was
since she m e ntioned neither the scribe,
nor the date of getting the p o e m written,
indeed
nor the number of
but K i j u m a might have
been the one w h o w r ote it for her since he was her chief informant and
scribe,
parti c u l a r l y when we realise that K i juma used to have it.
On 30th Dhu A - H i j j a 1352/April 1934, Kijuma offered W.H.
poem,
327
and the offer w a s accepted.
Raj a b 1353/Oct.
characters,
1934.
The S.O.A.S.
but it is now lost.
329
It was sent to h i m
the same
328
on 5th
used to have the p o e m in Arabic
Wh a t is still there is the
330
transliteration made by W.H.
It contains 414 stanzas,
but these
should only be 413, because the first stanza is a c t u a l l y in Arabic, not
Swahili.
In addition to these stanzas,
there are Q u r a n i c Ayas, but as
330
W.H, wrote:-
"They are not numbered".
It is likely that W.H. got
the p o e m transliterated with the help of Sh. Hinawy.
In 1936, E.D.
obtained the sam e
p o e m from Kijuma, and p u b l ished it in 1940.
Co m p a r i n g it with
the copy of W.H., it has only 343
stanzas less than
that of W.H.
stanzas,
331
i.e.
70
The two poems begin w i t h the same
stanzas, and are similar until stanza 141 on p. 304 of E . D . ' s edition.
Then, the two poems narrate the same story, but in d i f f e r e n t words.
What
is here worth m e ntioning is that E.D. borrowed a book of Swahili poems
from Sh. H i n a w y in Mombasa containing fragments from this p o e m "The Camel
and the Gazelle".
He
(E.D.) n o t e d down the d i f f e rences appearing in
these fragments which he called B.
He said:- "As far as B presented a
better style I have used it in m y text and noted down the text of A
the copy made by Kijuma for him)
in footnotes".
332
(i.e.
I have noted that
some stanzas fr o m this B text are to be found in the copy of W.H.
-
223
-
This leads me to assume that these fragments
(i.e the ones which E.D.
called B) had been culled from one of Kijuma's copies given to A.W. or
W.H. who used to send their copies to Sh, Hinawy for transliteration.
this case,
Kijuma.
In
the only one through wh o m the po e m came into existence was
The p o e m says that it was translated fr o m an A rabic source into
Swahili verse.
of Kijuma,
333
Hence,
I believe that the p o e m wa s the translation
because he used to translate many w orks from A r abic prose into
Swahili verse as we have al r e a d y seen in this chapter.
T he same p o e m was obtained by A l l e n from a lady who c ould recite the
who l e of it by heart,
d i fferent source,
However,
334
and this could be c o n s idered as representing a
since her text shows variations.
that lady was only able to recite the p o e m after her m emory had
been refreshed by the copy of E.D.
(i.e. the copy of Kijuma).
Swahili ladies used to know ma n y poems by heart,
composed by Kijuma,
Secondly,
including the ones
e.g. the mother of Bi. Maryamu M. a l - B a k a r i y used to
recite Utendi wa Y u sufu
335 ,
336
by heart.
Now, we come to the end of the literary works which Ki j u m a made for A.W.
By finishing the works which he made for her, we have al s o finished the
list of works which he made for M e inhof and Lambert,
work which Lambert may have obt a i n e d from Kijuma,
it, is a story called: Mze e na ziiana z i t a t u .
T h e only remaining
but without mentioning
I p r e s u m e that Lambert
obtained it from Kijuma, because it was obtained in A r a b i c script from
Lamu.
This short story is publ i s h e d w i t h a title:
"Mzee na zijana
z i t a t u , a story in Kiamu, a n not a t e d by H.E. Lambert".
337
.
-
224
-
Kijuma and W.H.
i
Now, w e are to deal with the literary works which Ki j u m a either composed
or scribed,
and sent to W.H.
in England.
W.H. w h i c h we have a l ready mentioned,
Ap a r t from the works he sent
he also sent h i m the following:-
K i s a cha Kadhi na Haramii
This p o e m of the J u d g e and the Thief w a s sent by K ijuma to W.H.
1934,
but it was wr i t t e n in Roman script
338
not Arabic.
sta t e b y w h o m it w a s written in the R o m a n script.
Missionary Langenbach
339
K ijuma did not
It ma y have been
w r i t t e n by any one of Kijuma's European clients, after
t r a n s l i t e r a t e d fr o m the Arab i c script.
in April
it had been
A l t hough it w a s said that
taught K ijuma to wr i t e and to read in Roman
script,
I do not believe that Kijuma ever copied S w ahili Mss.
script,
simply b e c a u s e no work in R o m a n script survives which was
o b v i o u s l y w r i t t e n b y Kijuma.
A n d there is a letter
in wh i c h we read that
W.H. w i s h e d K i j u m a could read and w r i t e in Ro m a n script,
could not.
340
T h i s p o e m is not found in S.O.A.S.
K i j u m a w r o t e the same p o e m
it in 1957.
342
341
poem,
so evidently he
However,
in 1936,
in Ar a b i c script for E.D. w h o p u b lished
In this publication, E.D. w rote that K i j u m a had written
it f r o m a Ms. o w n e d by a pers o n called Bwana Bataia.
Zanzibar
in Ro m a n
in 1937,
W h e n E.D. went to
he found an Ar a b i c booklet, with the same story of the
p u b l i s h e d in Bombay in 1920/1.
342
I obtained a co p y of this
b o o k l e t from Sh. Y. A. Omari of Mombasa.
Th e booklet c o n tains 16 little
pages,
and it is t o tally in ac c o rdance w i t h the s tory in the Swahili
poem.
The booklet
Fortunately,
343
Library.
is entitled: Hadh*a Kissat
Maah a l - H a r a m i i .
*• --al-Kadhl
^
I could trace this story,
in Arabic,
in the British
-
225
-
C o m p a r i n g this A r a b i c title with the p o em's title, we find no
difference.
It is a good example of the kind of A r a b i c booklets which
we r e taken by Kijuma as sources for composing some of the Swahili verse.
An old lady in Mombasa,
called N a n a Kwao,
poem, and she a s s u r e d Sh. Y.A. Omari
used to ha v e a copy of this
in 1959 that it w a s c o m posed by
344
Kijuma.
I fully agree wi t h this.
The p o e m has 212 stanzas, with
reference to 15 Q u r a n i c Ayas and 7 Hadithis.
Ki s a cha Kadhi
T h e r e is also a story dealing with another
gatherer,
not wit h a thief.
The story is a short one and in prose.
was w r i t t e n by K i j u m a and sent to W.H.
1352/April 1934.
judge but wi t h a wood
345
It
on 30th Dh u A l - H i j j a
It is hot found in S.O.A.S., but in H a m b u r g I obtained
a copy from another version mad e for E.D. wh o received it from
K i j u m a ^ ® on 23rd J u m a d a A l - U k h r a 1356/1937,
E.D. p u b l i s h e d i t . ^ ^
It w a s wr i t t e n by K i j u m a in Ara b i c script, with a little title-piece
— - 348
reading: Ki s a cha K a d h i .
* ♦
«
It ha s 6 pages.
The st o r y of how these
pag e s came to be wr i t t e n is that K i j u m a got some paper fr o m E.D. on which
to w r i t e for h i m wh a t was asked for.
w e r e 6 sheets left over.
story.
After he had w r i t t e n this, there
Rathe r than wa s t i n g them, K i j u m a wrote the
349
Siraji
This U t e n d i is the one which I s e lected to edit in full in this thesis,
because it is a l m o s t the only one co m p o s e d by K ijuma w h i c h relies on what
his h e art and m i n d dic t a t e d to h i m in advising his o n l y son Helewa.
-
226
-
In composing it, he did not rely on historical events n a r r a t e d by his
predecessors,
nor on Arabic sources as was his usual custom,
but on what
he himself felt to be a guidance leading to hap p i n e s s in this world and
the one to come.
He was no doubt c o m p letely sincere wh e n he said:- "I
have to express what is in m y h e a r t " •
350
This fact has m a d e this
Uten d i the only one to express his true feelings, and that is why it
should be taken as an example to speak about h i m as a person.
351
a clear mirror through which his essential being is reflected.
explains why Kiju m a called the p o e m Siraji "The Lamp".
352
mentioned it to W.H.,
the latter ordered it.
354
was sent to W.H., but I assume that it was sent,
the lost Mss.
from S.O.A.S.,
353
This
He had a
strong feeling that it represented something bel o n g i n g to him.
referred to it, he said: Utendi wa n g u "My poem".
It is
Wh e n he
After he had
It is not known if it
and then was lost with
because a typescript of the p o e m was found
in the collection of Sh. H i n a w y
scripts for transliteration.
355
to w h o m W.H.
used to send Arabic
T h e Mss. of the p o e m found in S.O.A.S. w e r e
356
not w r itten by Kijuma but by others.
to work on all the Mss.
each other.
listed
356
For pri n t i n g this poem, I had
and compare them, wo r d for word, with
H a v i n g finished this work,
I was able to trace the p o e m
w r itten by K i j u m a himself w i t h one of his relatives ca l l e d Bw, A b dalla
K h atibu in Lamu.
I obtained a copy of it w hile I was in Lamu.
I had to
put my previous c omparative work aside and rely on this copy for
printing,
since it was the only one found in K i j uma's handwriting.
was written on 9th Jumada A l - U k h r a 1346/December 1927.
Siraji.
proverbs.
It
It is entitled:
It has 209 stanzas plus 10 Qu r a n ic Ayas and 2 Arabic
357
On 27th Safar 1357/April 1938, Kijuma promised E.D.
h i m a Ms. of the poem,
that he w ould send
and informed h i m that the p o e m had not yet been
358
published.
It is not known if the promise was c a r r i e d out.
What
227
-
is known is that the p o e m has not been p u b l i s h e d be f o r e being
printed in this thesis,
'
Utendi w a Esha
After Kijuma had offered W.H.
this U tendi in September 1933,
latter gratefully ordered it on 14th November,
in April 1934,
361
1933,
360
359
the
and it was sent
362
it is entitled: Utendi wa fEsha na M u h a m m a d .
In
363
1964, J.K. w r ote
that this poem,
in the h a ndwriting of Kijuma, was
364
found in S.O.A.S
But I did not find it there.
Wh a t is there are
only 3 pages containing the g l o s s a r y of the p o e m in the handwriting of
K i juma
365
and the translit e r a t i o n of the po e m ma d e b y W.H.
transliteration,
362
This
to which I ma y give the code A, has 155 stanzas.
should be 151 stanzas only,
be cause W.H. wro n g l y co u n t e d the two Qu r a n i c
A y a s found in the p o e m as 4 stanzas.
and counted as 3 stanzas
It
(108-110).
T h e first A y a is after stanza 107,
Th e second is after stanza 118 and
co unted as stanza N o . 119.
On 27th Safar 1357/April 1938, Kijuma sent the same poem, written by
him,
366
to E.D. w h o p u b l i s h e d it in 1940.
Quranic Ayas, and 2 pages of glossary.
367
It has 153 stanzas,
2
This version will be given the
C o d e B.
In 1937, Dr. C.G. R i chards o b t a i n e d a Ms. of the same p o e m wi t h a
title-piece
368
from Kijuma.
it to Dr. Richards.
369
T h e latter sent it to J.W.
It h a s 156 stanzas and the same 2 Q u ranic Ayas
plus one page as a glossary.
370
These three Mss. A, B, and C,
order of the stanzas.
and J.W. gave
The code C will be g iven to this Ms.
show dif f e r e n c e s in some wo r d s and in the
T h ese different words are shown by J . K 0 in his
p u blication of the poem.
b e t ween these thr e e Mss.
371
What remains to be shown is the difference
in their stanzas thus:-
c
B
228
-
A
C
B
A
1 - 6
1 - 6
1 - 6
113 - 114
112 - 113
111 - 112
7
-
7
115
-
113
8 - 9 1
7 - 9 0
8 - 9 1
116 - 120
114 - 118
114 - 118
92
91
-
A Q u ranic Aya T h e same Aya The same
Aya, but
counted as
93 - 103
92 - 102
104 - 107
103 - 106
-
121 - 136
119 - 134
120 - 135
108 - 112
107 - 111
103 - 107
137
-
136
138 - 156
135 - 153
137 - 155
92 - 102
119
Q u r a n i c Aya The same Aya The same Aya
but counted
IS
108 - 110
W a s K i j u m a the composer of this poem?
A l t h o u g h the p o e m was brought into existence for the first time through
W.H.,
it is still d i fficult to know if K ijuma was the composer, because a
Ms* of the same p o e m was also given to E.D. by a p e r s o n c a lled Sheikh Sef
372
bin Abdalla.
T h e significant point in this is that the Ms. of
373
S h eikh Sef bin A b d a l l a has a stanza
K i j u m a * s Mss.
another Ms.
This
wh i c h is
not found in
any of
leads us to p r esume that the p o e m wa s to be found
rather than one of Kijuma*s.
In spite of that,
it is still
likely that S h e i k h Sef was the. one wh o inserted that stanza,
he w a s copying f r o m Kijuma's version,
in
even though
it is also likely that Kijuma was
the one who cr e a t e d the circumstances wh i c h a l lowed S h e i k h Sef to copy
the Ms.
for E.D.,
friends.
Thus,
fees fr o m E.D.
.
e s pecially since they (Kijuma
it is likely that Ki j u m a wa n t e d
by supplying h i m with the poem.
,
;'v
and Sh.
Sef)
were
Sh. Sef to receive some
-
229
-
What about the A r a b i c source from w h i c h the p o e m was translated?
Actually,
there is more than one A rabic source relating the story of
Mwana Esha,
374
but the source which has all the details found in the
po e m could not be traced.
menti o n e d in Quran,
375
little Arabic booklet,
Mafah a l - H a r a m i i .
376
A l th o u g h the body of the p oem's subject is
the Arab i c source of the p o e m might be a very
e.g.
similar to the booklet of Ki s s a t al-Kadhl
Such small booklets are rarely to be found.
..377
Wapiwaji
This is an acrostic p o e m of 29 stanzas.
It was not com p o s e d by Kijuma.
After W.H. had ordered it from Ki j u m a the latter c o p i e d it and sent it to
h i m in Dhu Al Qaa d a 1354/Feb.
1936.
378
379
script.
W.H.
received it on 26th March
Since then, W.H. went on asking K ijuma about the poem's
composer,
words,
1936.
the date of its composition,
and the mea n i n g of the difficult
Kijuma's notes on the p o e m are found in 8 p ages of Arabic
380
The s e pages are transli t e r a t e d in Ms.
po e m itself,
in Arabic characters,
the pro p e r t y of S.O.A.S.,
381
53496.
should be in S.O.A.S. as it was once
it is not there now.
W h a t is there is
only the transliteration, whic h was pub l i s h e d by L.H.
seems^ that Kijuma sent W.H.
in 1962.
a title-piece for the poem,
that title is found in Ms. 53496,
Alt h o u g h the
but without comments.
382
It
because a copy of
In 1936, Kijuma
explained and copied the same p o e m for E.D, who p u b l i s h e d it in
1939,
383
scribe,
At the end of the 1930's,
for J . W . , on a scroll.
384
the same p o e m was w r itten by our
T h e r e is another Ms. of the p o e m
which I see as of Kijuma's handwriting,
whom, at Lamu,
it was written.
385
but it is not k nown when or for
As a matter of fact,
the po e m was p ublished for the first time.
through Kijuma,
-
230
-
Na sara w a Arabu
The literal m e aning of the title is; C hristians a n d Arabs.
that according to the meaning,
"Christians and Muslims".
386
it wo u l d be better tra n s l a t e d as
However,
who was the composer of the poem,
"Europeans and Arabs"
1.
E.D. wr o t e
I say that a c c o r d i n g to Kijuma
it w o u l d be better to translate it as
for the following reasons:-
Kijuma clearly said,
in stanza 2,
387
that the p o e m was not about
the comparison of religions, but of customs.
2.
W h e n Kijuma came to compose the p o e m in 1936,
he (Kijuma) was composing a p o e m of:
a n d Arabs are"
3.
he informed W.H.
that
"What kind of people Europeans
(W a z u n g u na W a a r a b u jinsi z a o ) ,
It would not be a sound religious comparison,
388
if w e compared Islam
and Chri s t i a n i t y through the followers of each religion, because,
not all Chris t i a n s are be having according to w h a t C h ristianity
teaches,
teaches.
nor do all Muslims behave according to what Islam
But it wou l d be a sound comparison,
if we compared the
two religions themselves, and that is what Ki j u m a avoided.
Kijuma pro m i s e d W.H.
f 388
completed.
that he w o u l d send h i m this p o e m after
The Mss.
received by W.H.,
it had been
in S.O.A.S. do not refer to the p o e m being
but I believe that it was received be c a u s e it is listed
among the Mss. which had been c o l l ected by W.H., and w e r e lost from
S.O.A.S,
389
In 1936, Mrs. D a mmann copied the p o e m from a Ms.
Bataia in Lamu.
390
I assume that this Ms. of Bwana B a t a x a was written
by Kijuma who studied the p o e m with E.D.
1941.
391
in p o s s e s s i o n of Bwana
It has 128 stanzas.
in Lamu.
E.D. pu b l i s h e d it in
E.D. wr i t e s that Kijuma,
in this poem,
was looking for leadership, and that this leadership should come from
390
Europeans not from Arabs.
-
231
-
I agcee with E.D., but I have to examine the s i n c erity of Kijuma in
relation to this leadership.
W a s he' r e a l l y sincere?
X would like to make it clear that Kijuma never w i s h e d himself to be
a n ything but a Mswahili whose origin was Arabic.
The evidence of this,
is to be read at the end of most poems composed b y him,
poem.
392
including this
At the end of these poems he expressed his p r i d e in being
Mswahili with Arab ancestors.
Th e r e is no contrad i c t i o n between this
p r i d e and being led by n o n-Ara b s (Europeans), but to w i s h himself an Emir
fighting against these E u ropea n s for the cause of the Arabs,
absolute contradiction.
In 1936,
this is the
there was fighting bet w e e n Arabs and
Jews in P a l e s t i n e (then a m a n d a t e d territory under Br i t i s h
administration).
A t that time, he w i shed he were yo u n g enough
to Palestine and fight beside the Ar a b s as Emir.
394
393
to go
X see Kijuma here
as an Arab leader who want e d to lead his subjects in the fighting against
the occupiers.
W h e n Kijuma realised that his wi s h w a s impossible, he
pa r t i cipated in the fight by another means:- after m o n e y h a d been
collected in Lamu to help the Muslims of Palestine, he sa i d that that
money was not enough.
394
Hence,
it is likely that K i j u m a might have
been ask e d by one of the B r iti s h adminis t r a t i o n in L a m u to compose this
poem.
And to plea s e him, Kiju m a gave h i m what he w a n t e d to hear and read.
Khabari ya W a g a n g a na Khabari ya W atawi
na Khabari ya w atawi wa falaki
The meaning of the above title is:- "Affairs of the n a t i v e doctors,
magicians, and the astrologers".
in Islam,
to be performed,
Islamic society who did so.
A l t h o u g h these aff a i r s are prohibited,
there are a few ignorant p e o p l e living in the
-
232
-
Th e object of per f o r m i n g
them is to earn money or any other profits
any kind of food-stuff),
especially from the ignorant p e o p l e living in
this socieity,
(e.g.
by p r etending that these magicians can i n f l uence their
hearts, and even their p sycholo g i c a l and physical performance,
e.g.
if
there is a p e r s o n of these ignorant p eople wanted to be loved or hated by
some one, he or she w o u l d go to one of these W a g a n g a to do what was
wanted,
and so on.
In L a m u society,
is considered as immoral.
So,
the pe r s o n p e r f o r m i n g such affairs
these affairs can be con s i d e r e d as a kind
of the superstition which could be found anywhere in the world.
D i d Kijuma p e r f o r m such affairs?
I could not trace any information to c o nfirm that K i j u m a did so.
The
information that I could obtain is that he m a y have h a d some experience
in the scientific field of m e d i c a l he r b s and p r e s c r i b i n g t h e m for
patients.
H e gain e d this experience from one of his best friends called
Sa y y i d Muhamadi Makawiy.
This Muh a m a d i came later to be a very famous
395
p h y s i c i a n on the K e n y a n coast.
C o n c e r n i n g K i j u m a ' s exp e r i e n c e in
this field, Mzee S a l i m Kheri said:- "Al ikuwa Tabibu, a l i f a n y a dawa ya
matumbo,
na kulla namna anafanya dawa, na fundi wake a l i k u w a Sharifu
mmoya anaitwa S a y y i d Muhamadi al-Makawiy,
Furthermore,
alikuwa shemeji w a k e * .
the same Mzee S l a i m Kheri identified one pa t i e n t as an
Indi a n called B a gamoyo w h o m Kijuma cured.
R e g a r d i n g Khabari ya W a g a n g a , on 18th Ma y 1933, W.H. a s k e d Kijuma to send
hi m the book in w h i c h all these Khabari were written.
a l -Ukhra 1352/Sept.
396
O n 8 th J umada
1933, K i jum a sent W.H. what he ha s as k e d for, and
informed him that he (Kijuma)
book into Swahili prose.
397
had translated these Kha b a r i from an Ar ab i c
This work sent by Kijuma co u l d not be
traced in S.O.A.S.
Later on, W.H.
tried to get the abov e - m e n t i o n e d A r a b i c book either from
398
K i juma
or Sh. Hinawy.
-
233 -
Sh. Hinawy pro m i s e d W.H.
to look for such a book, after a s s uring hi m that
such books are available
in Egypt.
399
It is not known
Hinawy's promise came to fruition.
It is
Ar abic book was traced in S.O.A.S.
It was obtained
Lamu.
if the Sh.
important to know that such an
by A l l e n from
400
Binti Yu s u f u
After A.W. had di e d in 1935, W.H. sent K i juma a letter
compose an elegiac verse in ho m a g e to her.
Mashairi
401
asking h i m to
Kijuma c o m p o s e d it in
(stanzas of 4 lines of 16 syllables), and sent it to W.H.
Al-Q a a d a 1354/Feb.
1936,
composed in Utendi
(4 lines x 8 syllables), and not in Mashairi as W.H.
had ordered.
402
Our composer
in Dhu
(i.e. Kijuma) w a n t e d it to be
T h e p o e m has 22 verses.
p o e m in Kijuma's handwriting,
Th e S.O.A.S.
but it is now lost.
used to have the
Fortunately, W.H.'s
transliteration of the poem, w i t h the first four verses transl a t e d into
En g l i s h is still to be found in S.O.A.S.
publ i s h e d yet.
403
Since it will be too long
T h e p o e m has not been
to pr i n t it in the thesis, a
s u m mary of it is given here.
A.W. was:Intelligent,
404
kind, and m a y be forgiven.
m a y be forgiven.
406
Courageous.
407
distinguished and enlightened person.
knowledge.
409
. „ 412
married.
415
minded.
mysteries.
says:
Wise.
410
405
Humble, bea u t i f u l and
We r n e r wh o s e father J o s e p h was a
408
P a i n s t a k i n g for
Fulfilling everyone's wish.
413
T h e great traveller.
,
414
A great loss.
.
416
H a v i n g listening ears, a n d active.
417
Fe a r i n g God,
Everyone is sad.
411
Not
Broad
Solver of
.
.
418
and having endless merits.
V e r s e 19
In verse 20, the date of r e c e iving the news of
her dea t h is given as Juma d a al-Aula 1354/Sept.
1935.
In verse 21,
234
-
the name of the composer is given as Ki j u m a who travelled
with the lamented one from Lamu to Pate,
Siu, Rasini,
and Witu.
In the
last verse, Kijuma reveals to us that W.H. was the one who a sked h i m for
this elegy.
M zigo
This p o e m of "Burden"
419
had been com p o s e d by Ali Koti of Pate,
then copied by K i j u m a for W.H,
verses.
The poem,
in September 1936,
in Kijuma's handwriting,
420
It has 10
is to be found in Ms. 47754,
The notes on the p o e m made by Kijuma are t r a n sliterated by W.H.
53490, and it is in this Ms.
and was
in Ms.
that the transliteration of the p o e m itself
is found.
Ali Koti, a poet of Pate,
Lamu
421
spot.
and Sh. Muh. bin Ab u Bakari, the poet of
used to test each other
in composing Swahili v erse on the
Such Swahili verses were copied by Kijuma and sent to W.H.
42n
Besides these verses there are other miscellaneous verses composed by Sh.
Muh.
bin Abu Bakari, which were copied and sent by K i j u m a to W.H. who
transliterated them and translated some of them.
verses with comments on them by Kijuma.
T h r e e more works were ordered b y W.H.
T h e y n umber about 35
420
from Kijuma.
A l t h o u g h these works
were mentioned in their correspondence to each other,
reference to s h o w that they w e r e received.
Khabari
juu ya asili ya Shiraa,
there is no
Th e s e w o r k s are:
and V i s a vya Sungura,
sungura na fisi na sungura na s i m b a , etc. etc.
yaani
Shufaka,
kisa cha
-
235
-
Shufaka
This po e m of "Compassion" was m e n t i o n e d once in a letter fr o m W.H.
Kiju m a on 2nd Ju n e 1936:
to
"I want also a copy of Shufaka but do not be in
a hurry for i t " . ^ ^
It was published,
with the English translation,
by J.K.
423
It has 295
stanzas.
Khabari
juu ya asili ya Shiraa
This "account about the origin of S h i r a a " was ordered by W.H.
November 1933,
In the past,
in Ms. 253028,
on 4th
but it could not be t raced in S.O.A.S.
the ladies of La m u used to wear the Shiraa.
V i s a vya Sungura,
424
i.e.
Kisa cha Sungura na fisi
c- u 425
na Sungura na Simba
This
is one of the works
in S.O.A.S.
It might be
426
which W.H. or d e r e d
similar to the one p u b l i s h e d b y Steere, because
the title is almost the same.
A t the house of the late
verses,
but is not to be found
427
Sh. Hin a w y in Mombasa,
two copies, w r itten in Roman script.
I saw some Swahili
T h e first was w r itten in a
handwriting similar to W.H.'s and the second was typed,
Hinawy.
T h e s e Swahili verses are entitled:
the hyena".
composer.
It has 18 verses
(4
I believe that Kiju m a
he is referred to in two stanzas
15 - 16, and read thus:-
s upposedly by Sh,
Shairi La Fisi
"The p o e m of
428
x 16),but with no reference
was the
to
its
composer for this poem, because
but indirectly.
T h e s e stanzas are
Nos.
-
236
-
15.
A t unusuru K a rimu
May the .Generous One give us victory
Na huii mwamba wa kusi
Over that reef which a p p e a r s during the
south monsoon
Fisi wote
mahadimu
A
A
Am o n g s t all the hyenas men t i o n e d
Fisi huyo ndie fisi
There is no real hyena but this one
Hana nyumba m a alumu
He has no particular h ouse
Kaz i e ni kudadisi
His
^ , .429
job is spying
Ujapo mpa fulusi
Even if yo u give h i m gold and silver
Hashibi ila mzoga
He will be satisfied o n l y with a corpse
16.
Kuna huyo b a rigumu
Th e r e is this trumpet
Nafusi yangu nakisi
I, my s e l f assume
Labuda ndie tamimu
Th a t that hyena is likely to be the leader
Mwenye ngoma na gambusi
W i t h the dance and the guitar
Jina lake halivumu
His name is not famous
Kwa watu kumhususi
T h e p eople scorn hi m
U j a p o mpa fulusi
Even if yo u give h i m m o n e y
Hashibi
H e will not be s a t i sfied but by a corpse.
ila mzoga
K i juma used very much to compare himself to a reef, a p p e a r i n g in the sea
during the south monsoon.
he used to stay.
431
430
which
H e used to have a note-book to w r i t e down the
defects of his compatriots.
play guitar,
He was always c h anging the house m
432
H e w a s not only the per s o n to dance and
but he even was the one to create them.
was scorned by his compatriots.
434
433
Finally, he
-
237
Having referred to himself as a spy,
the last stanza
(No.
18)
-
in these two stanzas,
he came,
in
in the poem* and made it clear that the composer
of the p o e m had to finish it lest he should be identified as a spy.
made me believe strongly that K ijuma was the composer of the poem.
This
Here
is this last stanza in the poem:-
Tamati yangu nudhumu
I finished m y composition
Sasa nimewaruhusi
Now, I give you per m i s s i o n to go
M u sije kunihasimu
Lest you come and break off friendship,
Mkaniita
Identifying me a spy
jasusi
Mkapigiyana simu
Sending telegrams to each other
Na kunandika
matusi
n
A i m i n g abuse at me
Ujapo mpa fulusi
Ev e n if yo u give m e valuables
Hashibi
I wi l l not be satisfied but by the corpse,
ila mzoga
Befo r e leaving this S h a i r i , it might be useful to refer to stanza No.
7
435
in which Mr. Rogers, with w h o m Ki j u m a had contact,
foreign occupier,
posing as a native.
is shown as a
In the same stanza,
Mr. Rogers is
shown as a Fisi who was a tyrant.
Wi t h this S h a i r i , we come to the end of Kijuma's c o r r e s p on d e n c e with
W . H . , but before leaving this correspondence,
mentioning that K i 3uma p r o m i s e d
437
A.I.U.,
but the Swahili Mss.
not the promise was fulfilled.
436
W.H,
it m i g h t be worth
to send hi m a p o e m entitled:
in S.O.A.S. do not inform us whether or
-
238
-
Kijuroa and E.D.
Beside the pr e v i o u s l y m e n t i o n e d literary works K ijuma gave E.D.,
the
following works were also delivered:-
Wed d i n g Customs in Lamu
Or Customs of old Lamu
It was composed by Kijuma,
but with no date given.
It is likely that it
w a s composed in the 1930's because it was not mentioned anywhere before
that date.
It was written in a draft found in the p o s s e s s i o n of Bwana
Bataia who lent it to E.D.
1940,
439
in 1936.
438
T h e latter p u b l i s h e d it in
It has 112 stanzas.
Abdur Rahmani na Sufivani
It emerges from the last stanza
a wom a n slave.
this wom a n
440
(654)
that the composer of this p o e m was
In spite of this, I ha v e to state my doubts about
slave being the composer of the poem. I a s s u m e that the p o e m
was composed by K i juma himself, but
he might want
making the a u t h o r s h i p of the p o e m over to her.
to do her a favour by
In m y view,
this woman
slave must have been known to Kijuma, because he informed E.D. that she
lived in Siu,
440
but he gave no more details about her.
remarkable
to note that the name of this w oman is
stanza,
the poem, as Liwazi "The entertainer".
in
It is
gi v e n in
the last
-
239
-
Wh e n we know that the job of the members of Kijuma's M w a s h a Dance,
441
who were concubines, was to entertain the people, we can a s sume that that
Liwazi was a member of Kijuma's Mwasha troupe,
that Kijuma used the verb "Liwaza"
e s p e c i a l l y when we realise
and its synonyms in his p o e m (stanza
3) about the dance of the Mwasha troupe.
442
In add i t i o n to this,
Ms. of the p o e m was in the pos s ession of Kijuma,
in his own handwriting from the ve r y beginning.
thanks to Kijuma,
440
Allen,
443
not of any one else and
440
Th i s is to say that
the p o e m was p u b l i s h e d for the first time in Europe.
It was given and explained by Kijuma for E.D.
1940.
the
in 1936 who p u b l ished it in
It is a different version f r o m the one p u b l i s h e d by
and from the ones co l l ected b y W.H.
444
and J.K.
445
,
although it has the same title and tells the same story.
Ki s h a m i a
This p o e m of " C l o a k 1' or "Blanket" w a s composed by K i j u m a ' s teacher Mwenye
Mansabu.
to E.D.
Kijuma copied it for a na t i v e c alled Bwana Ba t a i a who gave it
In 1936, E.D. had studied the p o e m with Kijuma,
and in 1940 it
446
was published b y E.D.
It has 38 stanzas. Again,
for the first time in Europe through Kijuma.
it was published
This p o e m has been
pu blished and parti a l l y translated into English by J.K.
447
A p o e m f r o m Siu
In September 1936, Kijuma copi e d this p o e m (which co u l d be entitled
Fahali
"The bull")
which was c o m posed by the poet M a hfudhi of Siu.
K i j u m a had copi e d it in Siu-dialect,
he also tra n s l a t e d it into the
Lamu-dialect for E.D. who p u bl i s h e d it in 1939/40.
stanzas.
448
It has 13
After
-
240
-
A p o e m cursing the Somalis in the S iu-dialect
of Swahili,
dealt with by E.D.
E.D. wrote that he, as a linguistic interpreter,
services, as he so often did, of Kijuma.
ha v e copied,
Lamu-one.
explained,
449
once again used the
This m e a n s that Kijuma may
and tra n s l a t e d the p o e m from Siu- d i a l e c t into the
T h e p o e m has 89 stanzas.
It was composed by the same Mahfudhi
of Siu.
Utendi wa Safari
On 11th Jumada A l - A u l a 1356/Aug.
23rd J u m a d a A l - U k h r a 1356/Sept.
E.D. w h o p u b l i s h e d it in 1940.
1937, Kijuma c o m p o s e d this U t e n d i .
On
1937, he w rote it down and sent it to
450
It has 63 stanzas.
451
T h e Utendi in
452
its Arab ic script
has a title-piece.
It speaks about the
453
voyage of Profe s s o r and Mrs. D a mmann
Takwa,
Kenya.
Manda, Pate,
Kijuma,
Siu, Rasini,
to Lamu, Shela,
Mtangawanda,
Malindi,
Matondoni,
and Mombasa in
their informant, was accompanying them on this voyage as
guide and interpreter.
Hini ni A.I.U.
kwa maneno ya kucha Mngu
This p o e m of "A.I.U. wi t h words of fearing Allah" was c o m posed b y Kijuma
on 20 t h J u mada Al-U k h r a 1356/Nov.
Safar 1357/April 1938.
p o e m Kijuma composed.
1937.
Kijuma sent it to E.D. on 27th
It is an acrostic poem.
It is the only acrostic
Great poets are expected to compose such poems,
but it w a s not easy for K i juma to compose this poem, and only after he
had h o ned his talents could he compose it.
Tw o letters f r o m Kijuma to
454
W.H.
(undated letter
in Ms, 47797) and E.D.
reveal this exertion.
-
241
-
Comparing this acrostic with the acrostic of Du r a
455
'l-Mandhuma,
I
found that K i juma b o r r o w e d 25 words for his acrostic fr o m the Dura
1l - M a n d h u m a .
It was pro b a b l y quite easy for hi m to bo r r o w from this Dura
since he could recite it by heart.
poem.
457
It has 31 stanzas.
456
In 1980, E.D. p u b l i s h e d the
It admonishes us to fear A l l a h by
remembering the time of our death which is inevitable.
Kijuma was addressing himself in this poem.
It is likely that
458
Utendi wa Herekali
The correspondence between Kij u m a and E.D. shows that the former had
promised to send the latter this U t e n d i .
T h e p r o m i s e involved Kijuma
w a i ting until he got the Utendi f r o m someone b efore sending it to
E.D.
459
Whether Kijuma got the Utendi from that p e rson and sent it to
E.D., or whether he sent a copy of it made by himself is not known from
the correspondence between them.
J.K. wrote that E.D. acquired two Mss. of Herekali
both were lost during the war
in Germany.
in La m u in 1937, and
However,
impeccable copy of Kijuma*s Ms. s u r v i v e s .^60
Mrs. D a m m ann's
In this case, we can
state that K i juma did fulfil his previous p r omise and sent E.D.
the
Utendi.
had come
It is likely that one of the two Mss. a c q u i r e d by E.D.
f r o m Mombasa not fr o m Lamu,
that E.D.
because the Swahili Mss.
in S.O.A.S. tell us
obtained a Ms. of Ch u o cha H e r ekali from Mombasa.
i ncluded the copy made by Mrs. D a m m a n n from Kijuma's Ms.
J.K.
in the 8 Mss. on
. 462
which he relied and which he listed in his Ph. D thesis.
p r i n t e d in this thesis has 1150 stanzas.
461
The utendi
-
242
-
The r e are other works p u blishe d by E.D., which do not however say whether
th e y were copied by Kijuma, al though the footnotes of t hese published
w o r k s bear the interpretations of Kijuma.
T h e amulet of Anzarun,
464
and D u a
465
463
Th e s e w orks are: F a t u m a ,
"A prayer of Supplication*.
T h e r e are works which Kijuma had pr o m i s e d to send E.D., but the
correspondence between them does not show whether that p r omise was
466
T h ese works are:- Utendi wa K h a d i j a ,
Utendi wa Isibani
fulfilled.
or K a t r i f u .
4 • — —
However,
Kijuma came later and copied the p o e m Katrifu for
# .
J.W.
Kijuma and J.W.
Khabari ya Katrifu
♦ *
In addition to the previous works wh i c h Kijuma sent J.W.,
he also sent
h i m the following works:U t endi wa Musa na Nabii Khidhr Kw a Khabari ya Quran,
and U tendi wa
Katrifu.
On 7th Ram a d h a n 1359/Oct.
works.
467
which J.W.
received them,
46
but they mu s t have been r e c e i v e d after the date
These two w orks are found m i c r o f i l m e d in
First, we deal with K a t r i f u .
*«
composition,
K ati r i f u or Isibani
468
It has 327
There are 7 other v e r s i o n s entitled:
(= S e s e b a n i ) which were listed b y J.K.
p u blicat ion of these 7 versions.
469
It was not K i j uma's
but was written b y Kijuma in A r a b i c script.
stanzas plus a Quranic Aya.
stanzas.
these two
The correspondence between t h e m does not su p p l y the date on
given and not before.
S.O.A.S.
1940, Kijuma offered J.W.
in his
Th i s p u b lished ve r s i o n has 450
.
.
Fortunately, J.K. p u b l i s h e d it wi t h a c o m p a r a t i v e study
with the other versions listed.
-
243
-
Owing to the fact that J.W.'s Ms. did not arrive at S.O.A.S.
end of 1982, J.K*
could not list it in his publication.
Ms. with the one p u blished by J.K.,
story,
but J.W.'s Ms.
(= W)
is shorter.
3, 20, 26, 27,
two are the same except
Comparing this
I found t h e m na r r a t i n g the same
In spite of this, W has 8
stanzas not to be found in the version of J.K.
are numbereds
until the
(= K).
29, 38, 49, and 196.
These 8 stanzas
A p a r t from this,
the
in some words and in the order of some stanzas.
Here is an index showing this order:-
34
33
149
35
14 -
36 - 37
35 -
17 - 28
18
38
29
39
45
40 - 41
20
21 - 23
24
30 - 32
43
26 -
148 - 188
236 - 240
189 - 195
242 - 248
46 -
197 - 200
249
252
49
201 - 219
254
272
54 - 59
220 - 224
274 - 278
225 - 227
282 - 284
228
281
60
71 -
229 - 230
279 - 280 •
81
231 - 267
286 - 322
268 - 271
324 - 327
272 - 287
329 - 344
85 - 110
288 - 298
346 - 356
121
112 - 141
299 - 327
387 - 415
122 - 148
143 - 169
63
64 - 65
30
Aya
31
66 - 91
33
226 - 233
<?0 - 69
29
45A
176 - 183
50 - 59
41
32
198 - 224
196
42
25
175
92
84
-
244
-
R e gardin g the second work whic h K i juma sent to J.W. U t e n d i wa Musa na
Nabii Khidhr kwa Khabari ya Quran,
A y a s included.
it has only 88 stanzas,
R eferring to the p r o p h e c y of al-Khidhr,
scholars consider him as a Prophet,
but with 12
some M uslim
but the ma j o r i t y of scholars consider
h i m as a very true believer ac c o rding to the q u a l i f i c a t i o n s given to h i m
by A l l a h in the following Aya:- "One of Our servants,
unto w h o m W e had
given mercy from us, and had taught h i m knowledge f r o m Our
presence*.
470
Alt h o u g h the above title for the p o e m w a s used by Kijuma
in his correspondence with J . W . , the p o e m was given another title after
it w a s written.
This Hadithi
It is now entitled:
Hadithi
ya Nabii Khidhr na M u s a .
is considered as an explanation
of the
Q u r a n i c Ayas which
relate the story of the prophet Moses an d his c o m p a n i o n ’a l - K h i d h r .
story is to be found in Surah 18, Ay a s 60-82.
K i j u m a interwove 11 of
these A y a s in his p o e m (6 6 , 67, 70, 71, 73, 74,
and one other A y a
(No.
143)
This
76,
78, 79,80, and 82),
from Surah 7.
T h ere is nothing mentioned about the poem's composer.
I believe that
Kijuma is the one who composed it for the following r e a s o n s :1.
T h e p o e m has some words which Ki j u m a used to use,
"Lord*
in stanza 22, Bwana wetu "Our Lord"
"Pleasure" or "Happiness"
in stanza 72.
e.g. Maulana
in s tanza 26, and Saada
He had to use such words a
great deal while he was in the Sultan's pa l a c e at Zanzibar.
Moreover,
he used these words m a n y times in the songs by which he
greeted the Sultan Sayyi d Ha m o u d in Lamu,
2.
471
If we look at the length of the p oems (this one included) which he
composed in the late 1 9 3 0 's, we will note that they were all short,
especially if we compare them with the ones which he composed
between 1910 and 1930,
3.
e.g. Yu s u f u
472
473
and M i i r a n .
I draw attention to the fact that that Surah
(i.e. No.
18) was the
474
one which Kijuma engraved around the walls of the witu-mosque.
-
245
-
This might explain why he chose a story from this surah as a
subject for one of his compositions.
It is important to know that
the same story was traced in Swahili prose,
handwriting.
475
but in very bad
It is likely that he relied on such a prose-text for
one of his sources.
W h i l e w r iting about this p o e m which deals with the P r o p h e t Moses,
I would
like to refer to another poe m dealing with the same Pro p h e t but with
Firauni
476
poem
J.W.
"Pharoah" and not al-Khidhr.
Kijuma o f fered J.W.
. ,
ai
.
entitled: Utendi wa Musa na Firauni kwa Khabari ya Quran,
told me that he did not receive it.
Finally,
a n d J.W.
but
It could not be traced.
there are about eleven pages written by K ijuma as glossaries for
the works which he sent J.W.
S.O.A.S.
this other
46
T h e s e pages are m i c r o f i l m e d in
Wit h these glossaries,
the c orrespondence b e tween Kijuma
comes to its end.
I wrote at the beginning of this chapter that I w o u l d list the works of
w h i c h the scribe was unnamed but which might have been copied by Kijuma;
they are the following
!•
B a d i r i , a long epic about the battle of Badr.
stanzas.
477
Allen obtained it from Husain Sheikh of Pa t e in 1965.
also called H e r e k a l i .
Tabuka,
3*
477
479
Katrifu,
has already been discussed.
4.
477
480
Andharuni,
has been referred to.
5.
Fatuma,
6.
Utendi wa watoto w a n e .
has been referred to.
482
481
It wa s obtained by Al l e n from Bi.
Zaharia bint Maimun of Lamu in 1965.
contains about 20 stanzas.
477
478
2.
477
It has 4500
It has 14 pages, each page
T h e four children here are the children
of the four orthodox Caliphs, A b u Bakr, Omar, Othman,
and Ali.
7.
483
Kitab a l - M a d i h ,
Muhammad.
same Bi.
8*
It was obtained by A l l e n from the
Zaharia of La m u in 1965.
This is in A l l e n ' s collection fr o m the same Bi.
in 1 9 65.485
9.
485
Buruda.
10.
T w o pages of a wedding sermon.
11.
The first page of T a bara k a
396.
For B u r u d a , see: Swahili Islamic P o e t r y of J.K.
487
486
485
found in Ms. 279888, Vol.
9, Ms.
All e n o b tained it form Bi. Khadija Moh a m e d of La m u in 1965.
V e r y recently,
Swahili Mss.
in June 1983,
488
not found in
from Mrs.
L.
the library of the S.O.A.S.
Harries.
received seven
A l t h o u g h the n a m e of Kijuma is
any of them, it is believed that he was
of these seven Mss.
1.
-
an incomplete book p r a i s i n g the prophet
It has 200 pages.
484
Wajiwaji.
Zaharia
246
the scribe for two
These two are written in Arabic script.
A large collection of Swahili songs on various subjects,
composed by various poets.
and
This collection is similar to those
489
which have been a l r eady discussed under the term of U s h u h u d a .
2.
It has
40 pages.
U t endi
wa F a t u m a , or Hadithi ya
3 Qur a n i c Ayas and a Hadith.
for that one p u b l i s h e d by E.D.
p o e m read,
Fatuma na A l i ,
has 430 stanzas plus
it is considered as another version
463
As the last stanzas of the
the composer was M wenye S a y y i d Am i n i w a S a y y i d Othmani
al-Mahdaly.
Before leaving this chapter,
there is only one point to be made.
Allen
inserted the two poems of Loho ya Kihindi and Shairi La S h i l i n g i , in his
catalogue,
490
as being Kijuma's composition, but after long inquiries
in Lamu and Mombasa,
composed by Kijuma.
it became certain that these two po e m s were not
-
247
-
Loho ya Kihindi w a s composed b y Bw. A b d a l l a Boke,
T h e famous singer
Zainu L - A b i d e e n of Mombasa set this po e m to m usic and o ften sang it*
is to be found recorded on tape.
a s s u r e d me that
This singer, and others as well,
it
491
it was c o mpose d by Bw. A b dalla Boke.
Shairi La Shilingi was c o mpose d by Bw. Hemed bin A b d a l l a al-Bahriy.
I
found a typescript of it in the collection of Sh. H i n a w y with a note
saying that this Shairi was composed by Bw. He m e d bin A b d a l l a al-Bahriy,
-
248
-
Chapter IV - Notes
1.
Stanzas 2-3, of Hadithi ya L i o n g o , Ms.
193293.
2.
Ms. 253029.
3.
E.g. see: Knappert,
4.
See: p.
5.
I have seen one of Kijuma's kibao with E.D,
1969A, p. 8 6 .
295.
in Hamburg, also a
small box in whi c h the material used in the scribing was kept.
6.
Ms. 279888, Vol.
7.
Swahili Mss.
12, Ms. 485.
in S.O.A.S., U.C.D., and K i juma's letters,
to E.D. and
J.W., of w h ich X have copies.
8.
Ms. 253028.
9.
This Utendi is publishe d b y E.D.
In an interview with E.D.
See: p. 213.
in Hamburg, he said that the composer of
this Utendi was not known.
10.
Mss. 53491,
and 53495.
11.
See: W.H,, Swahili Mss. in S.O.A.S.
12.
Ms. 53497.
13.
See: p.
14.
See: pp. 337-340.
15.
H e was then Mr. B.J. Ratcliffe.
171.
Later on, he b e came known as Rev.
J. Ratcliffe, Reader of the Inter-territorial l a nguage for Ke n y a
colony.
See: The preface of: A Standard English- S w a h i l i
Dictionary.
16.
Ms. 53491.
17.
See: pp.
18.
See: p. 220.
19.
See: p.
20.
186-191.
195.
Mss. 253028, and 47797.
-
249
-
21.
I have copies.for this correspondence.
22.
Ms. 53829.
23.
Dammann, The East Afric a n E x p e r i e n c e , p. 6 6 .
24.
See:
p. 281.
25.
See:
p. 335.
26.
See:
p. 27.
27.
Jackson,
28.
Salim,
Also,
29.
30.
See:
)
1930, pp. 3-5, 6-13.
1973, pp. 22, 23, 45, 51, 53-60,
63-65, and 70.
See Ms. 53829.
p. 290.
Interview with Mzee Sal i m Kheri in Lamu.
31.
See:
p. 148.
32.
See:
p. 334.
33.
He had been one of the C.M.S.
M i ssionaries to Mo m b a s a and Prere
town since 1880.
It seems that he retired in 1904, and died
1927 in England.
T h e most,
if not the whole,
in
of W . T . ' s Swahili
collection w a s taken over by the library of the S.O.A.S., A.W.,
W.H.
in a way that is shown in the following letters.
from that library sent to Mrs. W.T.
in 1927:
and
In a letter
"With regard to the
Mss. y o u sent, we are unable to give any opinion whatever on
behalf
of the library.
has
Prof. A.W.
has all your pa p e r s and when she
had time to deal with them, the matter will be laid b efore the
library sub-co m m i t t e e w h o wi l l then decide whether or not they
should be purch a s e d for the school.
W e bel i e v e Miss A.W.
is also
writing to you to this effect".
Wh e n W.H. w a n t e d to order some Swahili Mss.,
collected by W.T.,
f r o m S.O.A.S.,
the reply of the library in 1936, was:
bought two Swahili Mss.
from Mrs. W.T.
in 1930,
her the s u m of £10 on 6 th May of that year.
"We
for which we paid
-
250
-
Un f o r t u n a t e l y our Swahili and other A f rican Mss. we r e put into
stores when we moved from F i n sbury Circus.
Thus,
for now, we
cannot know whether or not these Mss. have the numbers which you
mentioned".
H o w A.W, o b t a i n e d some of W.T.'s collection is not known.
What we
are sure about is that she obtained some items of that collection
because in the following letter w hich was sent to her by W.H.
1934 we read:
"Many thanks for the W.T.'s notebooks,
some idea of the extent of the material,
for you.
when we have
I w i l l not forget a fee
I a m somewhat concerned, however, as to how much more may
lie hidden in the W.T. papers.
Both of the n o t e b o o k s which you
have sent me contain a good deal of Liongo,
included,
in
as far as I can see at present,
some of it not
in other sources.
But
even where it duplicates other material it should p rove a useful
check".
See: Mss.
12/112,
253028, and 210013.
34.
In 1893,
the collection of Dr. C.G. Richards,
Also, Knappert,
1979, pp. 233-239.
she went to N y a s a l a n d as a teacher of the Church of
S c otland Mission.
In 1911,
she was awarded a s c h o l arship and spent
two years in research work in the coastal towns of British East
Africa.
He r e she p e rfec t e d her studies in Swahili thanks to
Kijuma, her
teacher.'
Swahili and
Bantu,
In 1912, she was ap p o i n t e d Professor of
retired in 1930, and died in 1935.
The
corresp o n d e n c e went on between her and Kijuma until she died.
It
is important to know that Kijuma gave her the n i c k n a m e Binti Yusufu
"The daughter of J o s e p h " .
See: Mss.
35.
253028, also:
Doke,
1943, p. 61.
H e was born
in 1857 at B a rzwit in Pommern, w h e r e his father was a
pastor.
himself became a pastor at Zizow in Pommern.
He
-
251
-
Jie .had come into contact with Af r i c a n Natives in his youth,
some of
^whom h a d be e n sent to G e r m a n y from various M i s s i o n fields.
He was
i n .bamu just before the First W o r l d War where he met Kijuma and
^obtained some Swahili Mss. as we shall see later.
S e e s Doke, 1943, pp. 56-59.
36.
H e spent a great deal of time wi t h Kijuma at Lamu,
J32 9 .
especially in
Kijuma not only wrote for hi m some of his literary works,
.but also taught h i m to compose Swahili verse.
A c t u a l l y the student
b e c a m e a d istinguished poet of Swahili, and his Diwani
o f this.
is a proof
In 1959, he p u b l i s h e d his: Wimbo wa K i e b r a n i a , the
-foreword to which is a p o e m with stanzas rhyming at three points in
a JLine (there are 14 lines)
in praise of Kijuma.
Th e y are
^entitled: Kumbusho la M a r ehemu Muhammad A b u Bakari Umar al-Bakariy
A l i v e n i f u n d i s h a N i p ende Ushairj. wa K i s w a h i l i .
sSee b a m b e r t ,
37*
1959, and Knappert,
H e w a s one of the British
1979, pp. 234-5.
police force in East A f r i c a in the
3 3 2 0 ' s.
H e reached the rank of Captain.
England,
he collaborate d with A.W.
Ha v i n g come back to
He himself wr i t e s
in a l e t t e r :-
"•The pos i t i o n of the coll a b o r a t i o n between the late Dr. Werner and
m y s e l f w a s as follows.
In 1930, having been m u c h interested when
I n .Africa in Swahili culture,
I decided to try and preserve in book
?foxm wha t at that time w e r e thought to be the few existing Swahili
C l a s s i c a l L i t e r a t u r e works.
isgreed to collaborate.
-bhen in'Medstead, Hants.
I
I put the idea to Dr. Werner and we
set up a private h a n d - p r e s s at my home,
It w a s upon this press that two volumes,
i n p r e p a r a t i o n of which Dr. A. Werner and I d i d collaborate, were
^produced.
3334.
T h e y we r e Miqdadi Na Mayasa 1932,
and Mwana Kupona
Bot h were p r o d u c e d as limited editions of 300 and 250
.
^copies
-
253. -
After the death of W.H.: in about 1943,
the p u b l i s h e r s Kegan Paul
p u r c h a s e d some of his Swahili collection from Mrs. W.H.
Kegan Paul sold it to the library of the S.O.A.S.,
Later,
and the rest of
W . H • 1s collection was given to the same library by Mrs. W.H. as a
gift.
38.
.
He spent 6 months in Lamu,
that period,
E.D.
from J u l y 1936 to J a n u a r y 1937.
During
he stayed at the Neukirchener M i s s i o n in Lamu.
arrived in Lamu,
Before
he had been recommended to K i j u m a by A.W.
just before her death.
Also,
the German M i s s i o n a r y W. May of the
Neukirchener Mission told K ijuma about E.D. and his plans shortly
before his journey to Lamu.
V e r s e for verse,
E.D. worked with K i j u m a every day.
they w e n t through all the poems
included in E.D.'s
book: Di c h t u n g e n in der L a m u Mundart des S u a h e l i , Ha m b u r g 1940.
'■ Having returned h o m e to Germany, he
Kijuma until Wor l d
L u theran Pastor.
Pinneberg
39.
E.D. was Professor
to c o r r e s p o n d w i t h
of religion, an d
a
I was f o r tunate to meet h i m at his home in
in 1980,
He was working,
War II
continued
in
wher e he gave me much help.
Taita and K a bete in Kenya,
as a missionary.
The
correspondence between h i m and Kijuma took p l a c e be t w e e n 1936 and
1944.
I met him at B r o m l e y in 1982.
originally made by Kijuma,
His Swahili collection,
that
has a story to be told:
In 1981, the Institute of C o m m o n w e a l t h Studies, U n i v e r s i t y of
London, was a s ked by the Ke n y a n government to p r e p a r e a complete
list of all Swahili Mss.
in England.
By J.K., I wa s introduced to
Dr. Ann e T h urston of that Institute that I mi g h t he l p in preparing
that list.
-
252
-
It was intended to produce further volumes in the same series,
which we called the A z an i a n Classics,
but before any further
collaboration was possible, Dr. A. Werner's illness and death
supervened".
253028).
The letter was sent to the S h eldon Press.
(See: Ms.
W.H. was able to acquire a quantity of Swahili Mss. and
notes which had belonged to the late W.T.,
to A . W . , and others.
A l l these Mss. were from A.W.'s Estate, given to h i m by Miss M.
Werner
(Alice's sister).
Th e s e Mss. are n u m bered as 37 items,
including 3 letters from Kijuma to W.T., which I could not trace.
At the end of the list where the titles of these 37 items are found
is written:- "I (i.e. W.H.)
thereby a c knowledge to have received of
Miss M.H. Werner sole executrix of the will of Dr. Alice Werner,
d e e d . , the a bove-mention e d documents a n d books an d I accept the
same in full discharge of all claims and demands upon or against
the Estate of the said Dr. A. Werner.
1936".
S ignature W.H.,
Dated this 2nd day of Dec.
Ms. 53491.
It is worth m entioning that there are some Swahili works which the
U.C.D.
obtained from the collections of A.W. a n d W.H.
But the
question is how did the U.C.D. obtain them?
A.W* and W.H.
used to send copies from the Mss*
they had to Sh.
Hinawy of Mombasa, asking h i m either to tra n s l i t e r a t e or to review
their transliteration, and send them back to England, and sometimes
Sh* Hina w y was asked to keep some copies of these Mss.
collection.
in his own
Most of this collection was a c q uired by the U.C.D. and
East A f r i c a n Swahili Com m i t t e Via J.K. and Mr. Allen.
Incidentally, all the Swahili Mss. found in the U.C.D. are now
available m i crofilmed by Al l e n in S.O.A.S.
The correspondence between Kijuma and W.H.
we shall see.
took pl a c e in 1 9 3 0 's, as
Voluntarily,
254
-
I worked in the strong room in the
S.O.A.S., with a list
library of
of Swahili Mss. which had a l r e a d y been
made
by Dr. T h urson from the catalogue of the library of S.O.A.S.,
see whether or not all the Swahili Mss.
to
in the strong room were
listed.
I had great hopes of tracing el e v e n Mss.
listed.
Later on, in 1981, Dr. T h u rston told m e that J.W. was
going to give his Swahili Mss.
C o mmission in London,
that were not
to Mr. Mnjama of the Kenyan Hi g h
for the K e nyan government.
I got in contact
with Mr Mnjama, and arranged an interview with J.W.
November 1981.
J.W.
on Monday 9th
showed me all the- items of his Swahili
collection which he had o b tained from Kijuma.
me copies of these items, and,
H e p r omised to give
on the spot, he k indly gave me a
copy of the Hadithi ya Sayyidna I s a , and a copy of the Gospel
according to John.
to S.O.A.S.
Having left the home of J.W.
to inform
Mrs.
in Bromley,
I went
Seton at the l i brary of S.O.A.S. about
the collection, wishing S.O.A.S.
could obtain a copy of it.
Seton contacted J.W.
but he refused.
about that,
Mrs.
Furthermore, J.W.
asked Mr. Mnjama to tell me that I would not be all o w e d to have
copies of that which I was pre v i o u s l y promised.
At the same time,
Mr. Mnjama assured me that I w o u l d be able to ob t a i n copies from
himself,
after he had obtained them from J.W.
A fter J.W. had
received a p r esent from the K e n y a n government, h e h a nded the
collection to Mr. Mnjama.
On 18th Ja n u a r y 1982,
desired copies from Mr. Mnjama,
I obtained the
i.e. copies of the w hole of J .W.'s
collection.
In return,
I enabled Mr. Mnjama to obtain copies fr o m copies in
that I was able to have t h e m photoc o p i e d in H a m b u r g with the help
of E.D.
Prof.
The s e Mss. of H a mburg we r e scribed b y K i j u m a for either
M e i nhof or E.D.
-
255
-
T h e copies which Mr. Mnjama received from me, w e r e the following
p o e m s :-
-
1.
Kis a cha Yusufu.
2.
Hadithi ya Yaakubu na Y usufu
3.
Kisa cha Kadhi na Haramii.
4.
Utendi wa Safari.
5.
Utendi wa Kufa kwa Muhammadi
6.
Utendi wa Muhammadi na Esha.
7.
Kisa cha Kadhi
Fortunately,
S.O.A.S.
from Mr. Mnjama.
could m i c r o f i l m J.W.'s Swahili collection
(See: Rev. J.W. Col l e c t i o n in S.O.A.S.).
40.
Williamson,
41.
Interview with E.D,
42.
Swahili St. John,
1947, p. 3.
Bible Society,
45.
(in prose).
in Hamburg.
New T r a n s l a t i o n , London, B r itish and Foreign
1914.
See: Fig. A., J.W.
reproduced it w i t h some m o d i f i c a t i o n as shown in
Fig. W.
46.
See: Rev. J. W illiamson collection, Reel I.
47.
See: p.
48.
See: p. 36.
49.
Harries,
50.
See: p.
51.
Ms. 54022,
52.
Allen collection, M,
53.
See: p. 93.
54.
Ha chowe m e ans the open letter H
55.
These letters together read: Muhamadi.
56.
See: p. 26.
57.
See: p. 334.
168.
1952, p.
158.
175.
it was collected by J.K.
1008, Reel 2, Ms. 51.
(i.e.
).
-
256
-
58..
See: p. 162.
59.
See:
60.
"A letter dated 18th May 1 9 3 3 “ , Ms. 253028.
61.
“A letter dated 17th Nov.
62.
Ms. 53497.
63.
See: p. 330.
64.
Reel 8 , Ms. 264.
65.
Dammann,
66 .
This stanza is given above.
67.
Zalimu = Zalikuwa zimo n d a n i .
68
.
"A letter dated 8 th Jumad'a A l - Ukhra 1352"/Sept,1933, Ms. 47797.
1 9 3 3 “ , sent by W.H., Ms.
253028.
1936-38.
Reel Cl, Ms. 53.
69.
Ms. 279888, Vol.
70.
Harries,
I, p. 5.
1964, p. 17.
In the same reference, pp.
19-33, L.H.
published Barsis in Arab i c and R o m a n script with its English
translation.
71.
See: Footnote No. 33 in this chapter.
72.
Dated 14th Nov.
73.
See: p. 30.
74.
Knappert,
1 9 6 4e,
75.
Knappert,
1964a, pp. 91-105.
76.
One Aya written after the stanza 102, and the second after the
stanza 108.
1933, Ms. 253028.
They are success i v e l y No. 185 S urah 3, and No. 79,
Surah 4.
77.
That is what I was told, w h e n I ordered this MS.
S.O.A.S.
in the library of
It had a collection of romantic and religious tales,
m o s t l y in verse, Utendi w a M k u n u m b i , Ngamia na p a a , E s h a , and
Iiiongo.
78 o
"A letter No. 3 “ , in Ms. 47797.
-Barsis na Hasina.
It reads:
"Takabadhi Utendi wa
-
257
-
Nami katika karatasi zako nimeona hadithi mbili,
mo y a ya Barsisi.
sio.
Mimi n i metengeza kwa akili yangu.
Knappert,
80.
"A letter dated 5 R a jab 1353"/Oct. 1934, Ms.
81.
Dammann,
1964F, p p . 87-93.
25328.
1969, p. 315,
There is a copy of it pu b l ished at Beirut in 1864,
British Library,
83.
Ms. 47797.
84.
Al-Nawawiy,
85.
No.
Sijui ndio au
Ikiwa sio, niarifu namna upendao".
79.
82.
moya ya Hasina,
see: Al-Ibshaihi,
found in
the
1864, pp. 186-7.
1304/1878, pp. 94-96,
14521, b.5;
the story of Barsisi is found in pp. 42-3.
8 6 . We may a s sume that Kijuma copied the Takhmis
of Lio n g o for W.T.
It
is important to know that W.T. presented the T a k h m i s of L iongo to
the British M u s e u m (Nr. Or. 4534).
It contains 28 stanzas,
paper roll, and was acquired in 1891.
different scribes.
It was scribed by two
One of th e m was called Mu h a m m a d bin Ab d a l l a
Amir w h o s e handwriting begins fr o m stanza 8 until the
Takhmis.
in a
T h e first 7 stanzas we r e copied
end
of that
by an unknown scribe.
I
would assume that these 7 stanzas were copied b y Kijuma, because
they show some features of his style of writing.
C o m p a r e these 7
stanzas with Shairi La Liongo of Ms. 47795 in S.O.A.S, which was
copied by Kijuma.
I also a ssume that K ijuma c opied m a n y of the
poems included in Ms. 47754 in the S.O.A.S.
W.T.'s Mss. which W.H. pur c h a s e d in 1936.
poems,
political,
is one of
It co n t a i n s various
moral, and amatory, w hich we r e c o m posed
by
different poets.
Finally, the Ms. 41960 of W.T.
h a v e been
copied by Kijuma.
It contains
social, and historical poems.
87.
T h i s Ms.
See: p. 206,
also may
a collection of short religious,
It has about 240 stanzas.
88.
See: p. 337.
89.
It has 200 pages,
258
-
but it is incomplete.
See:
Ms.
279888, Vol.
5,
Ms. 330.
90.
See: Foo t n o t e No. 34 in this chapter.
91.
See" Utendi wa M k u n u m b i , p.
92.
Through the help of Miss M. B ryan of S.O.A.S,, I was fortunate to
trace the notebook of A.W.
amongst the p apers wh i c h were in the
po s s e s s i o n of the late Prof. A.N. Tucker in S.O.A.S.
notebook I found a list of the Swahili Mss. w h i c h A.W.
from K i juma as is shown above.
received
I was allowed to bor r o w this
notebook wi t h 11 other items from Miss Bryan.
p a ssed on to J,K.,
In this
T h e y have now been
and are u l t i mately to be stored in the library
of S.O.A.S,
93.
I.e. K i j u m a o f fered to send her the poems to follow.
that A.W.
replied to h i m in the positive,
b e c a u s e A.W.
the Inkishafi and Kutaw a f u in her articles,
94.
There are two Mss.
by Allen,
We can say
referred to
as we shall see later.
entitled: T ayyib a l - A s m a l , col l e c t e d from Lamu
in his collec t i o n of Ms. 279888, Vol.
8, Ms. 384, and Ms.
366.
95.
See: p. 297.
96.
See: p. 229.
97.
Werner,
1928-30.
98.
Werner,
1928-30, p. 561.
99.
Ms. 53500.
100.
.
102.
101
Harries,
1953a.
Dammann,
1940a, p. 328.
Interview wi t h E.D.
in Hamburg.
103.
Reel Cl, Ms.
104.
"A letter fro m Kijuma to J.W."
53.
f r o m which I ha v e a copy.
-
259
-
105.
I have a copy of it.
106.
Williamson,
107.
Werner,
1918, p. 127.
108.
Werner,
1918, p. 126.
109.
She means Kijuma, as she said before in her notebook,
110.
Werner,
1920, p. 27.
111.
Werner,
1926-7, pp.
112.
Reel Cl,
113.
Ms. 204.
114.
Dammann,
115.
E.g. Mss. 47795,
116.
See: p. 36.
117.
See: p. 375.
118.
BA letter from Kijuma to E.D." of which I h a v e a copy.
119.
See: Fig.
120.
See: The last stanza
121.
There are many conditions ne c e s s a r y to accept a H a d i t h as a *
one®
1947, p. 4.
107-8 , and also,
see.: p
1928, p. 355,
Ms. 204.
1980.
210015,
53497, and 253028.
I.
(No. 314)
in the poem, p. 308.
T h e s e conditions are exp l a i n e d in detail and are studied in a
’ subject called fIlm a l - H a d i t h .
it is a big subject in the Islamic
world.
122.
Reel Cl, Ms.
123.
Harries,
124.
The. S.O.A.S.
see: Ms.
125.
Knappert,
197.
1967, pp. 8-12.
used to po s s e s s the Ms. of W.H., but
279888, V o l I, p. 8.
1964d, where he wrote,
in p. 8, that the
Swahili Lang u a g e had four texts of M k u n u m b i .
in the H i n a w y collection,
notes in G e r m a n by A.W.
126.
it is now lost,
See: Figs. No.
2 and 3.
C o m m i t t e e of the
O n e of them was found
t ransliterated in R o m a n script, with
-
260
-
127.
Knappert, 1964d, p. 7.
128.
Werner,
129.
Stanzas 23-28,
130.
This letter could not be traced.
131.
Allen, Re e l CX, Ms. 159.
132.
Ms. 53491.
133.
Allen,
134.
See: pp. 43-91.
135.
Utuni = Inedible intestines of slaughtered cattle,
1918, pp.
126-7.
and 44-50.
1975, pp. 55-56.
sometimes paid
as fees to the butcher who s l aughtered the cattle.
Interview with Sh. Y.A. Omari in S.O.A.S.
136.
As it w a s said before Kijuma took part in this competition,
see: p.
82.
137.
Kuduli = To guide.
138.
It is number 116 in the ones published by L.H. and J.K., but it is
number 117
in the one of Prof.
Meinhof.
139.
K stands for the copy p u b l i s h e d b y J.K*
140.
14 stands for the copy of Prof. Meinhof.
141.
Werner,
142.
Knappert,
143.
X have a copy of it from E.D.
144.
See: Fig. 4.
145.
Of which I have a copy.
146.
See: Fig. 5.
147.
See: Fig,
148.
Ms. 279888, Vol. 7, Ms. 351.
1918, p. 124,
1980, p.
101.
in Hamburg.
6.
It has no title-piece.
there are other copies of J o s e p h in S.O.A.S.,
Kijuma.
Incidentally,
but not copied by
One of these copies was typescripted by Sh, Abdur Rahmani
Badawy. See: M.
1008, Reel I, Ms. 118, and Reel 6, Mss. 183 and 182.
-
261
-
149.
Pp. 9-58,
but the Ayas are not included.
150.
See: p.
151.
P. 124.
152.
See:
stanzas 227-228 in:
Knappert, 1964a,
pp. 9-58.
153.
See:
stanzas 230-280 in:
Knappert, 1964a,
pp. 9-58.
154.
See:
stanzas 297-305 in:
Knappert, 1964a,
pp. 9-58.
155.
See:
stanzas 394-422 in:
Knappert, 1964a,
pp. 9-58.
156.
See:
stanzas 423-424 in:
Knappert, 1964a,
pp. 9-58.
185.
Then the role of the King,
in the story,
is finished - perhaps due
to his death.
157.
Kijuma did not explain to us the connection b e tween the
Katfir and Zulaikha's leaving his house.
See:
death of
stanza 425.
158.
Stanzas 426-427.
159.
Stanzas 430-432.
160.
Stanzas 695-717.
161.
See: p.
162.
Werner, 1917.
163.
Werner and Hichens,
164.
See: Figs. 7 and 8 .
165.
I received a p h o t o c o p y of it b y the courtesy
166.
It is not found in S.O.A.S., but it should b e the one of the two
178.
1934.
of E.D. in Hamburg.
Mss. of Mwana Kupona which were lost, b e cause they are catalogued
in the lost Ms.
(1355).
See: Ms.
279888, Vol.
a first pa g e from one of these two lost Mss.
microfilmed on Reel Cl, Ms.
167.
Allen,
168.
Werner,
169.
E.g.
I, p. 8 .
Moreover,
is to be found
169.
1971, p. 56.
1918, pp. 113,
119, and 122,
she used this term to refer to the same
published in: Steere,
1928, pp. 452-469.
T a k h m i s which was
For the number of stanzas,
170.
In 1914.
171.
Meinhof,
172.
Ms. 253028.
173.
Ms. 210013.
174.
Werner,
175.
Ms. 47795.
176.
In Ms. 47795,
262
-
see: p.
257.
1924/5.
1927.
the following note is
Pijiani m b a s i , in scroll,
glossary.
written by W.H.:
"Ms. I of
sent to me by Kijuma 1934, with pages of
Ms. 2 in sheets,
sent to A.W. by the same,
some years
ago".
177.
Harries,
1962, p. 142.
178.
I do not know why L . H . stated that
that scroll was for A.W. and not
for W . H . , as W.H. himself has written.
179.
Ms. 210013.
180.
Dammann,
1940c.
181.
Lambert,
1953.
It is
published in two dialects,
the dialect of
Zanzibar and of Lamu. It is pro b a b le that Lam b e r t obtained the
text of Kiamu from Kijuma.
182.
It is stanza No. 42, in Lambert's version, w h i c h is not found in
A.W.'s.
183.
It is stanza No. 47,
in Lambert's version, which is not found in
E . D . ’s.
184.
Reel Cl, Ms.
185.
Werner,
186.
Ms.
131.
1918, p.
193295.
125.
There are two Mss. of the
O n e dated 1st Shawwal 1331/Sept,
dated.
187.
T h e y were typed by W.H.
MS. 193293.
1913,
same text in Roman script.
and the second is not
188.
Ms.
189.
- Sept.
263
-
193295.
1913.
There are two other copies of- this Ms.
tr a n s literated and translated in Mss. 53493 and 210013.
Each copy
of these two has 252 stanzas, because the songs a t t r i b u t e d to
Liongo are enumerated as 18 verses in each copy,
these 18 verses as A.W.
if we exclude
did, the remaining number will be 234
stanzas as she said.
190.
It is counted as 244, not 234, because the verses attributed to the
hero Lion g o are counted as 10 verses.
This ma k e s the actual number
of stanzas 234 as A.W. had written.
191.
Ms. 279888, Vol.
I, p. 8 .
192.
Harries,
193.
It has a title-piece ma d e by Ki j u m a
1962; The opening of
the book.
reading: Ha d i t h i ya L i o n g o .
A
copy of this title-piece is still to be found se p a r a t e in Ms.
205000 and 53493.
Kijuma made it for W.H.
after the latter had
ordered such a title-piece fr o m Kijuma in "a letter dated 13th
March 1933", Ms. 253028.
194.
"A letter
dated 30th Sept.
195.
"A letter
dated 1354"/1935-6, Ms. 47796.
196.
1935", Ms, 253028.
Ms. 210013.
197.
"A letter
from Sh. H i n a w y to W.H. in Nov.
1936",
198.
"A letter
from Sh. Hina w y to W.H. dated 19,10.1937", Ms,
199.
Mss.
200.
Harries,
201.
Knappert,
202.
Wi t h the songs attribut e d to Lio n g o excluded.
203.
Knappert,
204.
T h e 10 verses attribute d to L i o n g o are counted.
Ms. 253028.
253028.
53491 and 53493.
1962, pp. 48-71.
1980, p. 93.
1964b.
them because they are not included in K.
W e have to exclude
Thus,
264
-
the remaining stanzas w i l l be 234 stanzas c o mpared with 232
stanzas found in K.
205*
It is not ment i o n e d in K, and it is the same as stanza 56 of Ms. A.
206.
After stanza 104,
Liongo,
60.
there are 11 lines, being songs attributed
not p u blished in K, but p u b l ished in: Harries,
1962,
p.
The s e 11 lines are not counted in Ms. B.
207.
T h ese two stanzas of K are not found in Ms. B.
208.
This stanza is not found in K, and is the same as stanza 116
A.
to
of Ms.
T h e r e are 18 verses attributed to Liongo found in Ms. B after
this stanza but not counted.
T h e y are p u b l i s h e d by Harries,
1962,
pp. 63-4.
209.
This stanza of K is not found in Ms. B.
210.
This stanza again is not in K, and it is the same as in Mss.
A and
B.
211.
212.
T h ese two stanzas of Ms. C are the same as Ms. A.
This stanza
is the same as stanza 116 in Ms. A.
A fter this
in Ms. C, there are 18 verses a t t r ibuted to L i o n g o and
counted fr o m stanza 117 until 134.
pu b l i s h e d b y Harries,
they
stanza
are
T h e y are a g a i n the ones
1962, pp. 63-4.
213.
Werner,
1927, p. 50.
214.
It is not found in S.O.A.S.
215.
Werner,
1927, pp. 50-53.
W.H. m a d e the following comment on this publication:
"Werner A.
Fe s t c h r i f t Meinhof pres e n t s some verses which acc o r d i n g to the
m i n s t r e l M z e e b. Bisharo, were songs of Li o n g o wh e n he returned
from war wi t h the Wasegeju.
in:
-
265
-
But Mzee was at error in his assertion.
corrupt and contain many faulty rhymes,
His verses which are very
are little more than a
jumble of half-rem e m b e r e d pieces from various verses of the 18th
and 19th Century,
Muyaka,
the verses 13-16 are fragments from works by
and others are Mashairi typical of ma n y found in the Vyuo
vya D i r i j i .
No n e of them appears to have any reference to the
Lion g o legend.
Liongo"
e.g.
Likewise a "collection of lyrics attributed to
referred to in the same context,
contains,
in fact no
co m p o sitions by Liongo, but is a Ch u o cha D i r i j i . recording the
works of a number of the better known and some anonymous,
18th
C e n t u r y and later minstrels".
See: Ms. 210013.
I ha v e to add here that this comment of W.H. ar o s e from his
corresp o n d e n c e with Sh. Hinawy, as we shall p r e s e n t l y see.
216.
Ms. 210002.
217.
Ms. 253028.
218.
See: p. 283.
219.
See: p. 289.
.
220
"A letter dated 17th March 1936", Ms. 253028.
221. W e will see later that they were not a c tually supplied to h i m but
to A . W . , and he took th e m over.
to A.W.
222
.
223.
Moreover,
they w e r e not supplied
under the name of U s h u h u d a .
"A letter d a t e d 21st May 1936", Ms. 253028.
In the introduction of this book, W.H. e x p l ained his sources as
follows:-
"Prom - 1. Ch u o cha Diriji written by Kijuma and copied
fr o m an older book at Lamu, c.
1912.
2. chuo cha Diriji collected
by Sir R o b e r t H a milton in Kenya c. 1900.
3. Songs wr o n g l y ascribed
to Liongo w r i t t e n by a native, C l a r i d g e of Rabai, with many
errors.
-
266
-
.One finding of W . H.'s comparative study was w r i t t e n as follows:"Notes on contents of the shuhuda
(Kijuma's,
the Hamilton, and the
Rab a i copies).
The Ushu h u d a of Rabai contains 34 M a s h a i r i .
T h e U s h u h u d a of Kijuma's Ms. contains 174 M a s h a i r i .
'The Ushuhuda of H a milton ' s Ms. contains 159 M a s h a i r i .
.33 of the Shuhuda
(the plural of U s h u h u d a ) are in Kijuma's Ms.
4 6 of the Ha m i l t o n ' s Ms. are in Kijuma's Ms.
7 are in all the three Mss.
56 of the Kijuma's Ms. are att r i b ut e d to authors named.
,21 of these are in the H a m ilton Ms.
12 in the H a m i l t o n Ms. appear to bear authors'
names,
some of which
a r e included in 21 a b o v e " .
224.
It has about 200 poems or 541 stanzas, each stanza has four lines
w i t h 16 syllables in each line.
225.
A s we see,
the name of Ushuhuda is neither a ti t l e for this Ms.
(47708), nor a word mentioned in the Ms.
226.
T h e term U s h u h u d a is not again found anywhere in this Ms.
contains m a n y songs whi c h are the same as in Ms. 47708.
of this Ms. 47707 might have been w r itten by Kijuma,
It
Many poems
because the
f e a t u r e s of his handwri t i n g can be recognised.
227.
T h e third Ms.
Habai,
,228..
in Roman characters that was m a d e by C l a r i d g e of
cou l d not be traced.
Ms. 41961.
It is entitled:- "A collection of short poems in
S w a h i l i by divers, writ t e n in A r a b i c script by the scribe D.
Al-Naufaliy".
Going through it, I found it f i n ished with the
f o l l o w i n g wo r d s : - "This book w h i c h is called U s h u h u d a had been
-completed on Thur s d a y 26th Dhu al-Qaada 1311, b y the pen of the
shumble and the needy one to Allah, Da w u d b. S. b. D. A l - N a u f a l i y " .
Co mparing
267
it with the. Mss. of
-
A.W. 47708 and 47707,
some of its 112 poems are included in Ms. 47708,
these 112 poe m s are included in Ms. 47707.
I found
and that
(41961) was Mrs. Taylor
all
of
To find out more about
it, I went through the registration entry of the Mss.'
the library of S.O.A.S.,
that
accession to
and found that the vendor of this Ms,
in 1930, and that the library had acquired
it on 12th J a n u a r y 1942.
229.
The first two pages are marked as the 1st and the 2nd pages, and
.the third one is the final p a g e
(i.e.
in the Ms.).
230.
For any one of his clients who are mentioned in this chapter.
231.
C o m p a r i n g th e m with the poems of the other U s h u h u d a w r itten by D.
Al-Naufaliy,
I found th e m also included in p.
U s huhuda of al-Naufaliy.
10, and p. 6 in
Also, the other poems in these three
p h o t o c o p i e d pages were found in the Ushuhuda of al-Naufaliy.
232.
See: Fig.
9.
233.
Werner,
234.
It is like l y that she thought
1918, p.
126.
this
because Kij u m a might have
informed her so since he was her chief informant,
235.
Werner,
236.
Lambert,
237.
See: p. 191.
238.
See: p.
239.
I pay no regard to these words
A.W.
240.
1926, p. 254.
1962-3b.
297.
(1 part)
in the title given, because
stated in another p lace that she had got a c o m plete text of
Ay ubu from La m u
(i.e.
Werner,
pp. 85-87.
1921-3,
241.
Ms. 53497.
242.
Werner,
1921-3.
fr o m Kijuma),
see: Werner,
1918, p. 115.
243.
Knappert, 1980, p. 87.
244.
M. 1008, Re e l 5, Ms. 58.
245.
Ms. 253028,
-
it is in Rom a n script.
was in S.O.A.S.,
246.
268
but it was lost.
The version in Arabic script
See: Ms. 279888, Vol.
I, p. 8 .
Ms. 47796.
It has 4 pages in A r abi c script and in K i j u m a ’s handwriting.
of these pages are blotted out b y a trace of water.
W.H.
Some
Kijuma told
that the roof of his house had been letting in rain.
See: Ms.
253028.
247.
See: Fig.
10.
248.
Interview with J.W.
249.
See: Fig.
250.
In addition to this,
in Bromley.
11.
there are two pages of glossary, written by
our scribe.
251.
Allen - Microfilms, Ree l Cl, Ms.
252.
After stanza 11 of A,
nor in C.
103.
there is an Ay a wh i c h is found neither in B
A p art from this Aya,
all the other A y a s in A are also
found in B and C.
253.
After this stanza (106) of A, there is a stanza ma r k e d as (106a)
because it was not found in K i j u m a ' s text, w h i l e it was found in
other texts which A.W.
(106a)
107.
obtained fr o m other people.
This stanza
is found in B and C, and is counted in both as stanza No.
It is the only stanza which was not found in A, while found
in B and C.
254.
See: Figs.
255.
Werner,
256.
See: p. 44.
257.
It is the v e r y date on w hich the corr e s p o n d e n c e b e t w e e n Kijuma and
12 and 13.
1918, p. 126.
A.W. w a s taking place.
258.
269
-
Letters from W.H.
to Kijuma da t e d 18th May and 14th Nov,
June and 3rd Oct.
1934, ,25th Nov.
1935.
1933, 6 th
Moreover, W.H, a sked
K ijuma in a letter dated 25th May 1936 to send h i m the historical
account of Lamu,
that written b y Shaibu Faraji al-Bakariy.
letters d a ted 2nd J u n e 1936.
Other
A l l of these letters found in Ms.
253028.
259.
Dated 30 Dhu A l - H i j j a 1352/April 1934, Ms. 47797,
1353/Oct.
1934,
and 5 Rajab
in Ms. 253028.
260.
Ms. 47779.
261.
Ms. 53824.
262.
Lambert,
1963.
263.
Lambert,
1952.
264.
I had th e m p h o t o c o p i e d in Hamburg.
265.
Dammann,
266.
I have pho t o c o p i e s of them.
267.
I.e. 1920.
268.
Ms. 47755.
269.
Knappert,
270.
Werner,
271.
Knappert,
272.
Quran:
273.
Biittner, 1894, pp. 33-51.
1954/5,
1971b, p. 120.
1926-7,
p. 108,
1980, p. 90.
9, 25-6,
For other versions of the M i i r a i i , see: Knappert,
274.
It has not been found.
275.
Werner,
276.
It w a s the same poem,
1926-7,
1980, p. 94.
p. 108.
as Kijuma said in a letter to W.H.,
see: Ms.
253028.
277.
"A letter"
in Ms. 47797.
278.
"A letter from W.H. to Kijuma d ated 14th Nov.
1933",
Ms. 253028.
279.
It is no longer extant
S.O.A.S.,
280.
Damman,
270
-
in Arabic characters.
It was lost from
see: Ms. 279888, Vol. I, p. 8 .
1940a, pp.
1-72.
281.
As 1341/1923.
282.
Ibn Abbas,
283.
Al-Safuriy,
284.
"A letter d a ted 27th Safar 1357"/April 1938, of w h i c h I have a copy.
285.
Dated 26th safar 1364/Jan.
286.
K w a l i n a = Kuli k u w a na "There was".
1933.
1358/1939,
p. 127.
1945.
I have a co p y of it.
Thus,
the m e a n i n g of the title
w o u l d be: Sto r y of youth (once upon a time, t here was an old man).
287.
Stigand and Taylor,
288.
Werner,
289.
"A letter d a t e d 14th Nov.
290.
Ms. 47797.
291.
Ms. 253028.
292.
This com p a r i s o n is inclu d e d in the book of A l - I n k i s h a f i p ub l ished
1926-7a, pp.
1915.
291-4.
1933", Ms. 253028.
by W . H . , 1939.
293.
Sh. H i n a w y fulfilled W . H . ' s expectations, but the I n k i s h a f i , was
p u b l i s h e d by W.H., wi t h the n a m e of Sh. H i n a w y omitted.
Th e work
of Sh. H i n a w y along wi t h the con t r a c t w hich wa s m a d e between h i m
a n d W . H . , saying that the I n k i s h a f i *s work wa s Sh. Hinawy's,
is to
be found in Ms. 256191.
294.
D a t e d 6 th J u n e 1934, 30th Sept. and 25th
Nov. 1935, Ms.253028.
295.
The answers to these questions are found
in
Kijuma to W.H. on 5th R a j a b 1353/Oct.
a letter sent
from
1934, and in notes sent from
Missio n a r y c h e e s e in Lam u to W.H. after the former had obtained
th e m from K i j u m a in 1936, Mss. 253028 and 253029.
296.
He made it, and it is to be seen in the o p ening of A l -Inkishafi by
W . H ., 1939.
-
271
-
The r e is another title-piece by K i juma for the Inkishafi in the
same book, p.
297.
134,
Some of the illustrations were found on a page among the papers to
become the I n k i s h a f i 1s glossary, Ms. 47796.
298'.
"A letter"
299.
I.e. Kij u m a ' s teacher.
See Fig.
14.
in Ms. 253028.
It is likely that the scroll of Mwenye
Ma nsabu was the one whic h was m i c r o f i l m e d by Allen, and is to be
found in S.O.A.S, Reel C2, Ms. 276.
300.
P.
137-143.
301.
Al - I n k i s h a f i of W.H., p.
13 and 144.
Th ere are only 40 stanzas of Kijuma's han d w r i t i n g p r inted in W.H.'
book of A l - I n k i s h a f i .
302.
Werner,
1926-7a, pp.
291-4.
303.
Quran:
304.
T h e Swahili form of it is published b y E.D. as w e shall p r e sently
*
25 a n d 67.
see.
305.
In t e r v i e w wit h Bwana A b d a l l a K h a t i b u in Lamu.
306.
Dammann,
307.
I.e.
1959/60.
the demise of the Prophet Muhammad.
It is not Kijuma's own
composition.
308.
Werner,
1918, pp.
309.
Biittner, 1894, pp. 56-75.
310.
D a t e d 30th Dhu Al- H i j j a 1352/April 1934, Ms. 47797,
1353/Oct.
1934,
114-115.
Ms. 253028.
311.
I have a cop y of it.
312.
A letter of w h i c h I have a copy,
313.
It is found in the British L i brary under No.
1282/1865,
314.
Werner,
pp.
and 5 Rajab
1-35.
1918, p. 125.
dated 1st R a m a d h a n 1355/Nov.
14570,
1936
b. 7, Egypt
-
272
-
315.
It has a t itle-piece made by Kijuma,
316.
Ms. 53503.
see: Werner,
1932,
317.
Allen,
1971, p. 269.
318.
Prof. M e inhof published it for A . W . , after the latter had sent him,
see: Werner,
1930, pp.
1918, p.
1-25.
319.
Werner,
124.
320.
W e h r , 1956, pp. 306-339.
321.
"A letter"
322.
"A letter dated 10th Dhu Al - Q a d a 1354", Ms. 253028.
323.
Werner,
1919, pp.
324.
Werner,
1918, p.
325.
Werner,
1923-25, pp. 527-531.
326.
Werner,
1926-7, p.
in the Ms. 253028.
276-285.
126.
102.
327.
"A letter"
in Ms. 47797.
328.
"A letter"
in Ms. 253028.
329.
MS. 279888, Vol. I, p. 8 .
330.
Ms. 53497.
331.
Dammann,
1940a, pp. 285-327.
332.
Dammann,
1940a, p. 285.
333. . Stanza 58,
in: Dammann,
in some A r a b i c books
Library),
334.
Allen,
1940a.
A l t h o u g h the story is referred to
(e.g. book No.
14560,
e. 2. 1895,
in British
I could not find it n a rrated in detail.
1971, pp. 77-129.
335.
See: p.
191.
336.
Interview wit h Bibi Maryamu M. A l - B a k a r i y of L a m u in London.
337.
Lambert,
338.
Kijuma wrote: "Takabadhi na khabari
Kizungu".
339.
1962-3, pp.
13-14.
"A letter on 30th
Kadhi na mwivi
Dhu A l - H i j j a
1352"
He was a G e r m a n working at Lamu from 1906-1911,
kwa khati
in Ms. 47797.
see:
p. 336.
ya
340.
341.
See: p.
273
-
283.
I have a c o p y of it in Kijuma's handwriting.
Its title is: Kisa
cha Kadhi na H a r a m i i .
342.
Dammann,
343.
No.
344.
Interview w i t h Sh. Y.A. Omari in S.O.A.S.
345.
1957.
14583,
aa. I.
(3), Bombay 1886.
Under the title: Hadithi ya K a d h i ; "A letter from Kijuma to W.H.",
Ms. 47797.
346.
A letter of w h ich I have a copy.
347.
Dammann,
348.
See: Fig.
349.
A letter fr o m Kijuma
350.
Stanza 2, p. 418.
351.
See: pp. 378-380 and 402-417.
352.
Stanza 4, p. 418.
353.
"A letter f r o m Kiju m a to W.H. on 8 th
1933,
1954/5b.
16.
to E.D., of which I have a copy.
in Ms. 47797.
354.
"A letter dated 14th Nov.
355.
M. 1008, Ree l 2, Ms. 49.
356.
There are four Mss.
1933",
in Ms. 253028.
in S.O.A.S., one w r itten in A r a b i c script, by
Faraji B w ana Mkuu of Lamu.
It is entitled:
has 206 sta n z a s plus 4 Q u r a n i c Ayas.
The second,
Lamu.
J u m a d a A ; - U k h r a 1352"/Sept.
M a s hairi ya K i j u m a .
It
See: Ms. 380066.
in A r abic script, w r i t t e n by A b d a l l a bin S alim of
Its title:
Siraji.
and 2 A r a b i c proverbs.
It has 209 stanzas plus 10 Qu r a n i c Ayas,
See: Ms. 279888, Vol.
8 , Ms.
360.
T h e third is in Arab i c script, w r i t t e n b y Muh. J a n b e n i al-Bakariy.
It has 208
stanzas,
see: M. 1008, Reel 4, Ms.
126.
T h e fourth one is a typescript w i t h missing wo r d s obtained from Sh.
Hinawy*s family.
It is entitled:
274
-
Utenzi wa Kilumwa Kumuusia m w a n a w e Bw. H e l e w a .
has 206 stanzas and 4 Qu ranic Ayas.
It
See: M. 1008, Reel 2, Ms. 49.
357.
T h e text, pp.
418 -.475,
358.
A letter of which I have a copy.
359.
WA letter dated 8 th J u ma d a A l - U k h r a 1352", Ms. 47797.
360.
"A letter"
361.
"A letter fr o m Kijuma to W.H. on 30th Dhu A l - H i j j a 1352", Ms. 47797.
362.
Ms. 53497.
363.
Knappert,
364.
Also,
in,Ms.
1964c,
253028.
p. 130.
see: Ms. 279888, Vol. I, p. 8 , to know that it was the
p r op e r t y of S.O.A.S.
365.
Ms. 47796.
366.
It is entitled:
Utendi wa Muhammad na E s h a .
I have a copy of it
from E . D . .
367.
Dammann,
1940a,
368.
See:
369.
Inter v i e w w i t h J.W.
370.
It is found micr o f i l m e d by A l l e n in S.O.A.S., Re e l 8 , Ms. 247.
371.
Knappert,
372.
Dammann,
373.
Stanza 32,
374.
E.g.
375.
Quran,
376.
See: p. 224.
377.
Sh. H i n a w y a s sumed that that w o r d is derived fr o m the A rabic word
Fig.
pp. 73-91.
15.
1964c, pp.
in Bromley.
130-140.
1940a, p. 73.
in: Dammann,
see: Al-Waqidi,
24:
1940a, p. 77.
1966.
11-22.
W a a d h w a adh "Sermon sermon", see: Ms. 193291.
For a d i fferent etymology,
378.
Ms. 53496.
379.
Ms. 253028.
see: Knappert,
1969b,
p. 3.
380.
381.
382.
275
-
Ms. 47796.
Ms. 279888, Vol.
Harries,
I, p. 8 .
1962, pp.
192-201,
383.
Dammann,
384.
I have a copy of it.
385.
Ms. 279888, Vol.
386.
Dammann, T h e East Af r i c a n E x p e r i e n c e ,
387.
See: p. 380.
388.
"A letter in Dhu A l -Qaad a 1354",/Feb.
389.
Ms. 279888, Vol.
390.
Dammann,
391.
392.
393.
Dammann,
1939.
6 , Ms. 341.
p. 6 8 .
1936, Ms. 47796.
I, p. 8 .
1940/1, p. 126.
1940/1, pp.
129-156.
Stanza 127.
H e w a s then about 81 yea r s old.
394.
Dammann, T h e East Af r i c a n E x p e r i e n c e ,
395.
I n t e r v i e w wi t h M z e e S a l i m Kheri in Lamu.
396.
Ms. 253028.
397.
Ms, 47797.
398.
"A letter f r o m W . H . ,
399.
"A letter fr o m Sh. Hinawy,
400.
Ms. 279888, Vol.
18, Ms.
401.
D a ted 30 t h Sept.
1935, Ms. 253028.
402.
Ms. 47796.
403.
Ms. 53490.
404.
V e r s e 1.
405.
V e r s e 2.
406.
V e r s e 3.
407.
V e r s e 4-6,
408.
V e r s e 7-8.
dated 14th Nov.
p. 69.
1933", Ms. 253028.
dated 26th Feb.
2534.
1934", Ms. 253028,
-
276
-
409.
V e r s e 9.
410.
V e r s e 10.
411.
Verse 11.
412.
V e rse 12.
413.
Ver s e 13.
414.
Ve rse 14.
415.
Verse 15.
416.
Verse 16.
417.
V e r s e 17.
418.
V e r s e 18.
419.
Stigand ga v e an account of the p o e m in his book,
1913, p. 89.
Another account was given b y Sh. Hin a w y to W.H.,
found in Ms. 53490.
'
J
Later on, E.D. p u b l i s h e d it.
420.
Ms. 53490.
421.
See: p. 38.
422.
Ms. 253028.
423.
Knappert,
424.
See: p. 339.
Sept.
1940b.
1967.
Also, see: Martin,
425.
See: Dammann,
1973, p. 29.
* "The stories of the hare,
i.e. the story of the hare with hyena,
and the hare wi t h the lion".
426.
"A letter dated 25th May 1936",
427.
"The Hare, T h e Hyena,
428.
O n l y at the end of 1982, this Shairi was brought to S.O.A.S.
Hubert Allen.
in Ms. 253028.
and the Lion",
in Steere,
1928, pp. 323-328.
See: Reel CX, Ms. 224.
429.
F u l u s i : A kind of fish, and is likely to be me a n t as well.
430.
See: pp.
109-116.
by Mr.
431.
277
-
I n t e r v i e w with Mzee Sal i m Kheri, Bwana A b d a l l a Kh a t i b u in Lamu,
B w a n a A. Othmani
in Mamburui.
--432.*
See: p. 316.
433..
See: p. 27.
434*
See: p. 349.
435.
See: pp. 59-67.
436.
In undated letter,
43 7 .
See: p. 240.
438.
Dammann,
1940/1, p.
439.
Dammann,
1940/1, pp.
440.
Dammann,
1940a, pp.
441.
See: pp. 52-58.
442.
See: p. 54.
-443.
El-Hinawy,
44 4 .
Ms. 53497.
445.
Ms. 255733.
446.
Dammann,
447.
Knappert,
and
•
in Ms. 47797.
127.
157-182.
141-213.
1974.
1940a, pp. 276-284.
1979, pp. 204-207.
448.
Dammann, 1939-40.
44 9 .
Dammann, 1941/2,
450.
Dammann, 1940/1,
451.
I have a copy of
452.
See: Fig.
453.
They spent about 6 months over there.
454*
K i juma wrote:
pp. 183-196.
it from
E.D. at Hamburg.
17.
"Watu wengi mahodari w a l i t a k a kutunga A.I.U.
hawakuweza,
hata mimi nilijaribu maru nyingi,
mmepijana,
nimeweza,
lakini h atasa
(baado)
X e t t e r dated 23rd Jumada Al-Ukhra 1356/Sept,
sikuweza,
lakini sasa
kutengeza kwa uzuri".
1937.
-
278
-
455.
See: p.
456.
See: p. 182.
457.
Dammann,
458.
See: p. 386.
459.
A letter fr o m Kijuma on 2nd R abii 1356/May-June 1937.
■460.
Knappert,
461.
"A letter f r o m E.D.
W.H.
462.
182.
1980a.
to W.H. on 1st Sept.
to Sh. H i n a w y on 14th Nov. 1936",
Knappert,
I t
1980, p. 90.
1936", and "a letter fr o m
in Ms. 253028.
1958, p. 109.
is wor t h mentio n i n g that a p h o t o g r a p h of Ki j u m a is to be found
facing the title page.
463.
Damman,
464..
Dammann,
1940a, pp. 214-275.
-465.
Dammann,
1940a, pp. 335-343.
466.
1940a,
pp. 92-140.
A letter f r o m Kijuma to E.D. on 27th Safar 1357/April 1938.
a copy of this.
467.
A letter f r o m Kijuma to J.W. of wh i c h
468.
It is wr i t t e n after stanza 65.
I have
T h e Aya is No. 82, Surah 36.
469.
Knappert,
1969a, pp. 81-104, 264-313.
4 7 0.
Quran,
18:66.
471.
See: pp. 60-62.
472. see: p. 191.
473.
See: p. 213.
474.
See: p. 285.
475.
Ms. 279888, Vol.
476.
A letter dat e d 7th Ram a d h a n 1359/Oct.
-477.
12, Ms. 496.
Ms. 279888, Vol. 2, Ms. 307.
1940.
a copy.
I have
■478,.
See: p. 241.
479-#
See: p.
-480.
See: p. 242.
481^
See: p. 242.
242.
482.
=
483#
Ms. 279888, Vol.
484.
-
'
"The p o e m of four children", Ms. 279888, Vol.
See: p.
4, Ms. 323.
5, Ms. 330.
229.
485.
Ms. 279888, Vol.
486.
Knappert,
487.
279
6 , Ms. 341.
1971a, pp.
165-225.
See: p. 417.
488.
T h e y h a v e not been given numbers yet.
-489.
See: pp. 202.206.
490.
Ms. 279888, Vol. I, pp. 87, and 106.
491.
A m o n g s t t h e m Bwana A h mad Sheikh N a b a h a n y in Mombasa.
£
Th e y bear no information.
-
280
-
CHAPTER V
Kijuma as a C r a ftsman
(Fundi)'
Kijuma was such a skilled craftsman that he g ained the status title:
Fundi "Master".
Not only did the p e o p l e of Lamu call him: F u n d i , but so
did the Europ e a n s who worked and lived in Lamu for mo r e than a short
time, such as Mr. Ch. Wh i t t o n
this t i tle for himself,
1
and others.
2
Kijuma h i m s e l f adopted
and began to use it when s i gning his works,
w h ether these w e r e artistic
3
or literary works.
4
Thus,
I feel
au t h o r i s e d to give this title at the head of this chapter,
I intend to argue that he thoroughly deserved this rank.
especially as
He deserved it
b e c ause he was c a pable of prac t i s i n g s u c cessfully the art of carpentry,
wood-carving,
sculpturing on w alls and tombstones,
paper-making,
drawing,
and calligraphy.-
sewing,
knitting,
All these arts had been
p r a c t i s e d in L a m u and elsewher e on the East A f r i c a n c oast before Kijuma
w as born.
T h e simple e v idence of this is that he wa s taught carpentry
5
and carving by the old m a f u n d i .
s k illed in carpentry,
and Sh e e Juma.
6
Other old m a fundi to be remembered as
carving, and m a s o n r y are Bw, Us i w a Bwana Hamadi
T h e r e are,
until now,
Lamu and dating back a long time.
some carved doors still found in
Th e art of sc u l p t u r e too on w alls and
tombstones had be e n p r a c t i s e d b efore Kijuma*s time.
i nscription is one made in 1244/1828,
m o s q u e of Liwali Seif in Lamu.
Th e most artistic
and still to be seen beside the
K i juma himself r e f erred to one of the
7
v e r y old inscriptions found in the niche of a ruined m o s q u e in Manda.
C o n c e r n i n g the han d made paper,
S.O.A.S. has a Swahili Ms.
of hand made
Q
paper, n a m e l y the H a mziyya whi c h K ijuma sent to W.H.
w r i t t e n in 1207/1792,
in 1934.
it was
-
281
-
We ha v e a l ready seen how and w h y Kijuma managed to learn the art of
ca r p e n t r y and carving,
instruments
10
9
also h o w he learned to make mus i c a l
and m a s a n a m u .
11
Before we discuss h i m as a carver, we
have to answer the following two questions:
1.
H o w much w a s he p a i d for his carpentry,
2.
W h i c h tools did he use for that work?
carving,
and sculpturing?
I d i d not meet a n y one who knew either the exact w a g e K ijuma received or
even the average one for this work.
But I was able to w o r k out his
average wage as a carpenter around 1910 as one Ru p i a
carver as being about Rs.
two.
12
a day, and as a
This w a g e is arrived at fr o m the fact
that the payment for work done by the n ative carpenter wa s eight Annas to
1 R u p i a a day, w h i l e the mason or painters'
Rs.
2 a day.
13
work c o u l d be o b t ained for
T h a t w a g e was very hi g h compared to the w a g e of the
native labourer of the same p e r i o d wh i c h was Rs. 10 a month.
13
C o n c e r n i n g the tools which he used, these were a k nife wi t h a wooden
14
handle,
an adze,
15
a chisel,
a drill, a plane, a saw,
Kiminingu,
and m a n g a p o . 16
K i juma as a W ood-Carver and a Sculptor
Firstly,
as a sculptor.
W h i l e house doors and sailing boats were the
main products of Kijuma's carving,
17
the ma i n products of his sculpturing,
tombstones and mosques'
as we shall see.
walls were
In this respect,
we shall deal with all the available objects which h e sculptured.
In
1306/1888, he cut the epitaph of his first tombstone for the Sultan Ah m e d
Simba of Witu 1278-1306/1863-1888.
18
It was not only the first epitaph
he sculp t u r e d and pai n t e d but it wa s also the first known inscription in
Swahili, using A r a b i c script.
19
He inscribed an epitaph on both the
front and the reverse sides of that tomb.
-
282
-
The epitaph on the front side is wr i t t e n in A rabic and reads as
follows
"The p r a i s e n a m e lion.
Th e deceased, may he be forgiven,
is Sultan
A h m e d bin S u ltan Fumo Luti bin Sultan Sheikh a l - N a b a h a n y died on
17th Jumada Al - A u l a 1306
{1888/9).*
Lo o k i n g at the shape of the epitaph, we are d i r e c t l y reminded of the
shape of the G e r m a n
soliders.
'medal' pr e s e n t e d by the G e r m a n Emperor to brave
This medal was formed from an iron cross, with a segmental
diamond, and w a s formed so as to symbolise strength and firmness.
was a s ked by the Ger m a n agent Mr.
give the deceased
Sultan this medal for his support of the Germans
a g ainst the B r itish and the Sultan of Zanzibar.
G. D e nhardt
21
seems that Kijuma
It
to
22
On the opposite side of the tomb, the epitaph is ins c r i b e d in Swahili in
A r a b i c script as follows:
■The other world.
o n 13 R a j a b 1278
As we see,
23
This is the Sultan who f o unded this place, Witu,
(Jan.
1862)."
the symbols on this side are similar to the ones on the front
side.
'
On 13th September
1894, Kiju m a inscribed an epitaph
Swahili in A r a b i c
script, on a tombstone for the daughter of Missionary
Pieper,
Lamu.
24
in German,
and in
Miss L y d i a Pieper w h o died and was buried at Mlimani in
The epitaph reads as follows;
25
-
283
-
"Lydia
Pieper was born and died on 13th Sept. 1894.
life.
Dea t h is my benefit."
Th e h e a r t in
Jesus is
my
w h i c h this epitaph is inscribed is the symbol of love.
It seems p r obable that Kijuma by then was being given lessons in writing
Swahili in R o m a n script,
because this epitaph is the first work by him
comb i n i n g R o man with A r a b i c writing.
We may recall that later on it was
said that M i s s i o n a r y Langenback taught Kijuma Roman script.
9fi
to ackn o w l e d g e that apart from this epitaph and another one,
came across any other works in Ro m a n script b y Kijuma.
cou l d not speak any languages but Swahili and Arabic.
27
I have
I never
Moreover, he
28
Also, he never
dated a n y of his wor k s with a C h r i s t i a n date except this epitaph, and the
following.
He u s e d to date his works only with Islamic dates, whether
the w o r k was for a M u s l i m or non-Muslim.
A l l these p o i n t s lead us to
a s sume that K i juma was given a draft of this epitaph on a piece of paper
to c o p y onto the tombstone.
It is wo r t h m entioning h e r e that: Once, W.H.
.,
29
sent K i j u m a poems c a l l e d Ushuhuda
in Roman script,
on 25th Nov.
1935,
a s king h i m to correct them in case h e had ma d e some spelling mistakes, or
if he had t r a n s literated some words incorrectly and so on, Kijuma
replied,
on 10th D h u Al-Q a ' d a 1354/Feb.
work on Ushuhuda
to w o r k
1936, that he w o u l d prefer to
in A r a b i c script, bec a u s e it was v e r y difficult for him
in R o m a n script.
In the end, Kijuma asked the help of Missionary
Ch e e s e and went t h rough the poems, but little b y litte.
On 10th Ju n e 1897,
Ja n e Heyer,
Mlimani
follows:
31
Kijuma desig n e d the epitaph of the tombstone of Mrs.
the wife of Missio n a r y Heyer,
in Lamu.
2
T h e epitaph,
30
who died and was buried at
inscribed in English and Arabic,
reads as
284
"Mrs. J a n e Heyer born 23rd Ma r c h 1857, died 10th J u n e 1897.
me,
I will b e hold thy face in righteousness:
wh e n I awake with thy likeness.
Martha:
I a m He,
32
I shall be satisfied,
P s a l m 17,15."
"Jesus said to
the R e s u r r e c t i o n and the life."
S a t u r d a y of J u m a d a A l - A u l a 1344/Dec.
-epitaph
As for
1925 is the date on the following
w h i c h is inscribed in Arabic,
and p l aced at Maz i y a r a ya
.Langoni in s o uthern Lamu:
"In the na m e of Allah,
the Beneficient,
the Merciful.
Saturday
1344, A h m e d bin Bakr died on J u m a d a Al-Aula, year."
:!The 1 3 t h of S h awwal 1349/March 1931 is the date on the e p itaph on a
^tombstone in sou t h e r n La m u as follows:
On 13th of Shawwal 1349
rAli bin H e m e d bin
Ma y A l l a h have m e r c y on h i m
Hhe
inscription of the following epitaph is inscribed by Ki j u m a on a
w o o d e n b o a r d and fixed in cement,
as is shown
33
It reads,
in Ar a b i c
a s follows
""23 L. H i j j a 1357
died.
0, Allah:
(Feb. 1939),
-34
Muhamadi bin K h a t i b u a l - Bawry
F o rgive h i m and have me r c y upon him.
the opening surah of Quran,
Please read
(that Al l a h m ight f o rgive him.)*
(
Finally,
285
-
there are three tombstones about which the p e o p l e of Lamu are
uncertain w h e ther or not they w e r e inscribed by Kijuma.
inscribed on W e d n e s d a y 18th Jum a d a Thani 1337
of Sayyid Nasir bin al-Sa y y i d
T h e first is
(March 1919),
in the name
*A b d u r - R a h m a n i bin Shekhe Pate.
This
epitaph is on a tomb p l a c e d in the southern cemetry at Lamu.
The second epitaph is inscribed in the name of K i j u m a * s teacher Mwenye
M a n sabu
35
—
who died on 20th Sha^aban 1340
(March 1922).
T h i s tomb is
p l aced in the n o rthern cemetry in Lamu.
T h e third and the last one is of Sh e k h e Pate a l - S a y y i d Abi - B a k r bin
a l-Sayyid A h m e d bin Shekhe bin Pa t e S hekhe Abi-Bakr bin Salim.
dated 30th Dhu A l - H i j j a 1343
(July 1925).
It is
It is p l a c e d in the southern
cemetery in Lamu.
R e g a r d i n g K i juma*s sculpturing of the mo s q u e walls, h e a c c o m p l i s h e d two
major works.
The first one was his sculpturing of the w h o l e Surah of the
cave (No. 18).
It w a s sculptur e d on the inside w a l l s of the W i t u m osque
between 1908-22.
It was the same m o s q u e wh e r e Kij u m a ca r v e d the pulpit
and the outside and inside doors.
has 110 Ayas.
36
That Q u r a n i c Surah
(i.e. No.
18)
To s culpture that long surah along the 4 w a l l s of the
building from inside, he must ha v e spent m onths if not a year.
W e have
al r e a d y assumed that this m o s q u e at W i t u was built for the Fr i d a y
congregation.
37
Th a t assumptio n is confirmed by the fact that this
surah was sculptured there, b e c a u s e this particular surah w a s recommended
by the Prophet M u hammad to be read on Fridays®
T h e r e is m o r e than one
H a d i t h inviting Muslims to read this s urah on Fridays.
O n e of these
Hadiths
w i l l be p r o t e c t e d
is:
"Who reads the surah of the cave on. Friday,
38
for eight days from any temptation*.
-
286
-
It is unfortunate that the peop l e of Witu did not try to pr e s e r v e even
one piece of the sculptured stone,
after the m osque was r uined and fell
down in the 1930's.
The second major work s c ulptured b y K ijuma is the ni c h e of the Liwali
Seif's mosque in Lamu.
39
It wa s s culptured in 1343/1925.
not onl y the sculptor of that niche,
Kijuma was
but also the d e s igner of its
40
shape.
The niche is d e signed and inscribed in a m a g n i f i c e n t way.
It
convinces any one who looks at it that K ijuma had gifts as an architect
as we l l as a sculptor.
left sides of the niche.
T h e inscription is found on the front right and
Further
inscriptions are to be found on the
i nside right and left sides of the niche.
H e r e is the inscription on the
front sides:
The r e is no god but Al l a h
T h e possessor, T h e Right, T h e O b vious
M u h a m m a d is a prophet of A l l a h
Si n c e r e in his promise,
the Trustworthy.
T h e inscription on the inside sides is as follows:
H e had built this mo s q u e
T h e m o d e s t one, hoping for the p ardon of his
C_uV
—
Be n e factor Go d
- 41
L iwali Seif bin Sa l i m bin K h a l f a n
Its building was com p l e t e d on
15th Shawwal, year
*
.
.
*
On e thousand three h u n d r e d a n d forty three
^
Hijriyyah
(May 1925)
-
287
-
Kijuma as a Wood-Carver
Before enumerating all the pieces and works which K i j u m a carved, we have
to deal with the main images of his carving.
carving is c a l l e d K u labu
kinds".
16
"A but c h e r ' s hook" or "Grapnel of various
H i s carving is curvaceous;
p i n e a p p l e motif,
T h e type of K i j u m a ’s
and floral motifs,
are more frequent.
c o m b i n e d with the
The traditional l o zenge at the
bottom of each side post of the doors often becomes a flower-pot or a
pineapple.
In general,
the floral motif is a symbol of prosperity.
most of the doors which Kijuma carved,
studs are set.
these studs is pr o t e c t i o n fr o m wi l d animals,
R egarding the name of his carving,
In
T h e function of
p a r t i c u l a r l y elephants.
k u l a b u , it is i n t e r esting to know that
there are Swahili hats e m broide r e d in a type of e m b r o i d e r y called
kulabu.
I have seen one such hat in the Lamu Museum.
Kofia ya vito vya Kiswahili
(kulabu)
It is labelled:
ni ya karne ya 2 0 .
Its embroidery
is believed to be similar to the above-me n t i o n e d carving.
It is not
known whether our carver adopte d his theme of carving f r o m that hat or
vi c e versa.
A c c o r d i n g to the a v a i l a b l e data and da t e d works,
the first
work which K i juma carved is a ho u s e door for the G e r m a n co n s u l in Lamu,
Mr. G. Denhardt.
in place,
42
K i juma did hot only carve that door w h i c h is still
standing in Har a m b e e Rd., but also its i n s c r i p t i o n in A r a b i c
script which reads as follows:
43
"Denhardt^ Kustaf ^fatsuk
Bitarikh 1. 1310 J u mada Al-Akhar"
The initials M.K.
(i.e. Gustave)
normally,
can also be discerned.
twice in A r a b i c script.
(December 1892).
He inscribed the na m e Kustaf
T h e first one is w r i t t e n
and the second one is wr i t t e n in a mirror image.
-
288
-
It is very likely that Mr. G u st a v D e n h a r d t was the one who suggested to
Kijuma that he carve the name in this image, b e cause it wa s the first
time that Kijuma used such an image.
D e nhardt were friends,
44
K n owing that Ki j u m a and Mr.
it is p r o b a b l e that they ex c h a n g e d knowledge.
This might also help to explain the significance of the other symbols
w h i c h Kijuma put on the other doors to be discussed.
T h e second door K i j u m a carved wa s the house door of Bw. Sa i d bin H a m e d
al-Busaidy.
He w a s Liwali of La m u bet w e e n 1893-4.
in 1310/1893.
Th e door was carved
Later on, the British colonial a d m i n i s t r a t i o n moved into
this house, and it remained the residence of the senior admi n i s t r a t i v e
official
(the I.B.E.A. C o m p a n y Agent,
later the D . C . K
In 1971,
the
M u s e u m Trustees of Kenya took it over and opened it as the Lamu M u s e u m in
December 1971.
45
T h e M u s e u m is in K e n yatta Rd., Lamu,
46
On 7th Dhu A l - H i j j a 1314/May 1897, our craftsman carved the third door.
Wi t h the carving,
he inscribed the following inscri p t i o n in A rabic
•
47
script:
"Carved on 7 t h Dhu Al- H i j j a 1314.
In the name of A l l a h the Beneficent,
the Merciful
Master Kijuma."
On the centrepost, he carved a snake with a hand p o i n t i n g his na m e (Fundi
Kijuma)
which is inscribed in the image of an eagle.
A l t h o u g h the trend
in carving in Lamu was towards realism, K ijuma added some imaginative
touches to his door by carving the snake with a hand p o i n t i n g at his
name.
-
289
-
He w a n t e d to show s ymbolically that his name should be eternally
remembere d as the name of a s u p e r i o r ■craftsman.
I use the word
" E t e r n a l l y ’' because the snake is c arved in such a way,
its tail in its mouth.
eternity.
48
Also,
A snake of such a shape is a E u r o p e a n symbol of
I use "Superior"
compared himself to the eagle.
intelligent of all birds.
49
all
was a king among all carvers,
point.
other
birds.
So, by implication,
'other
b e cause he considered him s e l f the most
I have to refer to an important
It is what Bish o p E d war d Steere wrote:
50
the eagle moreover
In other words, K i j u m a as a wood-carver
Having explained these symbols,
mentioned,
it".
The eagle is c o n s idered as the most
refer to other craftsmen.
skilled.
because it is l ikely that he
It is well known that
is considered as the king of
birds'
that it is holding
"Whenever a snake is
something more or less ma g i c a l is sure to be con n e c t e d with
We should remember that the s o ciety of L a m u is Islamic and that
magic is considered as evil and objecti o n a b l e in Isl a m i c societies, but
it is still p o s s i b l e that K i jum a
meant that he had a m a g i c a l (=
unbelievable)
field of carving.
s u periority in
the
All that is known about the h i s t o r y of the h ouse in w h i c h this door is
51
now,
is that Mr. Charles Wh i t t o n
used to live in it.
Kij u m a was a
close friend of Mr. Wh i t t o n and us e d to entertain h i m wi t h his beloved
w o man of Shela, Rehema,
songs.
by p l a y i n g his gambusi and sin g i n g Swahili
52
Kijuma carved other doors in Lamu,
them.
but unf o r t u n a t e l y he did not date
The first of these undated doors is the hou s e - d o o r for the Liwali
of Lamu,
Self bin Salim.
53
W e can as s u m e that Kij u m a c a r v e d it either
between 1909 a n d 1911, after he had returned from Zanzibar
whi l e the Liwal Seif was still in o ffice for the first time
to Lamu, and
(1903-11)', or
between 1922 a n d 1929, when the same Liwali held the same office for the
second time.
-
290
-
I say this, b e cause Kijuma pro b a b l y ca r v e d it wh i l e this Liwali was in
office but it is not known in wh i c h p e r i o d .^6
This ho u s e is now empty.
He carved the second door w i thou t a date in a house s t a nding in Harambee
R d . , Lamu, w h ich he only signed with the Arabic letter
door's lintel.
Again,
(K) on the
this letter is his initial K. for Kijuma.
54
The third door without a date is in the building where n o w the Standard
Bank of Lamu is housed.
It is in Ken y a t t a R d . , Lamu.
A l t h o u g h Kijuma certainly carved other doors in L a m u ,16 he was not
careful to sign all the works he carved.
E.g. L iwali A b d a l l a bin Hemed
of Lamu (1884-8 and from 1889-1903)
used to c ommission K i j u m a to carve
v arious items, p a r t i c u l a r l y tables,
for use in his house.
55
Also, Kijuma w a s the one who w o u l d be asked by the o w ners of Swahili
ships (majahazi)
to carve the names of boats launched at Lamu, and to
paint their s o - c a l l e d eyelets
(vijicho)
on the bows.
boats carved in such a w a y a ttri b u t e d to Kijuma.
Kijuma also carved other works ou t s i d e Lamu.
Zanzibar
T h e r e were about 60
56
After he had returned from
in 1908, Sultan Omari bin Muhamadi of W i t u
(1895-1923)
invited
h i m to come and carve his m a nsio n ' s door and some items of
house-furniture,
pulpit.
to do.
as well as the doors of the m o s q u e at W i t u and a large
We know that Kijuma car v e d e verything that he was commissioned
T h e door of the Sultan's m a nsion was bought and shipped to
Ame r i c a by an A m e r i c a n after Sultan Omari had died in 1923.
This
Ame r i c a n paid 2000 Shilingi for the door, and 500 S h i l i n g i for the
57
mafundi who took the door down from the building.
-
291
-
C o n c e r n i n g the doors of the m o s q u e at Wi t u and its big pulpit, the mos q u e
CQ
w a s collapsed and all the carved doors were d e s t royed in the 1930's.
However,
five carved lintels fr o m these doors r e m ained in good condition
«ls well as some boards from the pulpit.
.new mosque,
When the p e o p l e of Witu built a
they placed these five lintels over
its doors.
A carved
b o a r d placed over the mai n door of this new m o s q u e has the following
i ns c r i p t i o n in A r a b i c : ^
"0, ye w h o believe: Wh e n the call is heard for the prayer of the
day of congregation,
hasten unto remembrance of Allah."
fin
T h i s inscription suggest that this m o s q u e was built for the people of
-Witu to p e r f o r m their w e ekly prayer,
prayers.
as well as their five daily
It is worth mentio n i n g that our carver s t a r t e d his inscription
.on the board by the words "Reme b r a n c e of Allah", a l t h o u g h they should be
at the end of the inscription.
It is likely that he w a n t e d to tell us
t h a t the main use of the m o sque is essentially for r emembering Allah.
T h e second board w h ich is p l a c e d over one door of the m o s q u e has the
following inscription in Arabic:
"0 , ye w h o enter the mosque:
j£ zs> \
Co n t i n u e unin t e r r u p t e d ly wor s h i p p i n g Allah".
A l t h o u g h our carver has not taken this inscription w o r d for w o r d from the
iQnran or Hadith,
he is reminding the w o rshippers of the /itikaf.
’"Remaining in the mosque w o r s h i p p i n g A l l a h for some time w i thout
interruption".
In Islam,
292
i*
— 61
the M u s l i m is asked to p e r f o r m litikaf
remaining in the mosq u e praying,
f r o m time to time by
studying or reading the Quran*
no special time for doing this, but the pre f e r r e d p e r i o d
There is
is the last ten
days of Ramadhan, be c a u s e the pr o p h e t M u h ammad himself used to pe r f o r m
l itikaf in these ten days,
•61
died.
This
but he did so for twenty days in the year he
inscription indicates that that mo s q u e of W i t u was the
Friday m o sque because the M u s l i m w h o has the intention of continuing his
litikaf w i thout
interruption has to make his litikaf in a mo s q u e where
the F r i d a y service is to be held,
to avoid interrupting his litikaf by
going o u tside the m o s q u e to another.
litikaf,
Wh e n the M u s l i m is e n gaged in
he is not supposed to go o u t s i d e the mo s q u e but to eat, go to
the toilet, and wash himself there.
I n side the mosque,
over a door, the third bo a r d is i n s c ribed with the
following Qu r a n i c Aya:
62
"My lord: F o r g i v e and hav e mercy,
for T h o u art best of all wh o show
_ 63
mercy".
T h e fourth boa r d is inscribed w i t h the following p o r t i o n of a Q u ranic
Aya:
64
La
"Whatever of good b e f a l l e t h thee (o man)
is from Allah
And w h atever of ill b e f a l l e t h thee it is
from thyself".
it
-
293
-
The last word in this inscription rindika "Thyself"
"Thyself"
according to the Qu r a n i c Aya,
s hould be nafsika
but the m e a n i n g of the wo r d
*indika in this context is the same as n a f s i k a .
Th e fifth board is inscribed with:
"Ask A l lah the pr o t e c t i o n from w ickedness and evil".**'*
This board is located over the la v a t o r y door.
Our carver
reminds us wi t h
this inscription of the prayer wh i c h the pro p h e t used to say when he had
to go to the lavatory.
That prayer
is:
"In the name of Allah, 0, Allah:
I a m asking thou the pr o t e c t i o n from the male an d female devils".
66
R e g a r d i n g the remaining carved b oards which we re s c a t t e r e d from the
destroyed pulpit, a Fundi c a lle d A b d u r - R a h m a n i M u h amadi bin Bagoor
67
w a s asked by the townsmen to re s t o r e those boards together, making a
small pulpit out of them.
Here are all the inscriptions of those boards,
w h i c h I could not ph o t o g r a p h b e c a u s e of not having a flash:
"In the name of Al l a h the Beneficent,
the
Merciful".
i/x
-JMiM jJ
"There is no god but A l l a h
w
t y \ _________
68
Muh a m m a d is a prophet of Allah"
"Every one that is thereon w i l l pass away
T h e r e remaineth but the c o u n t e n a n c e of thy
Lord of Might and Glory"
69
294
L
j
"Blessed is He who has the m a j e s t y and the
greatness
H e remaineth alone wi t h g l o r y and eternity"
T h i s last inscription is a quot a t i o n of the first line of a p o e m called
70
T aba r a k a
of K i juma's teacher,
Mw e n y e Mansabu.
It is an indication of
t h e extent to which Kijuma was i nfluenced by this teacher*
This
inscription and the previous one deal with the m o r t a l i t y of every one but
Allah.
T h e y also show that that m o s q u e was wh e r e M u s l i m s of W i t u used to
b ri n g their dead to pr a y to A l l a h for them, b efore they w e r e buried.
"When the preacher asc e n d s the pulpit,
Let every one be silent"
T h e preacher is the one who delivers the sermon to the Fri d a y
congregation.
That sermon is gi v e n just before the prayer begins.
This
i n s c r i p t i o n is d e rived f r o m the m e a n in g of one of the p r o p h e t ' s Hadith.
T h e H a d i t h is:
"If you say to your companion on Fr i d a y - wh i l e the Im a m
71
gives the speech:
'Listen',
then you have offended".
O n e important p o i n t has to be r e p e a t e d here, n a m e l y that the art of
carving in the K e n y a n coast was and still is p r e s e r v e d only thanks to
K i j u m a ' s talent and hard work.
72
-
295
-
K ijuma as an artist of drawing
and C a l l i g r a p h y
Be fore w e speak about the signboards which Kijuma drew and for which he
did the calligraphy, we should speak about the mat e r i a l he used for
de signing these signboards,
i.e. the pens,
the ink, and the paper.
was e a s y for K i j u m a to make ink or pens, as we have a l r e a d y seen,
but to make paper was not.
This ne e d s an explanation.
It
73
H e could make
paper himself in the following way:
- Co l l e c t i n g pieces of old cloth.
- Soaking
them in water for some time.
«*• B o iling
t h e m on a fire.
- Mixing them with cornstarch.
- Stretching them after p u t t i n g out the fire.
- Ironing
th e m with a cowrie- s h e l l (d o n d o ).
- Putting
t h e m out in the sun for some time
Thus, Kijuma had his own h a nd-m a d e paper.
K i j u m a was, as always,
start to finish.
74
to dry.
Hence, w e can say that
capable of pro d u c i n g something all on his own from
In this respect,
he was not only a call i g r a p h e r and a
painter, but also a maker of ink, pens, and paper.
also the one w h o framed the signboards.
dr awing from his calligraphy,
In addition, he was
W e cannot se p a r a t e Kijuma's
b e c a u s e he used to com b i n e the two in most
of the signboards which he made.
It seems that K i j u m a had begun his
c a l l i g r a p h y on the walls of houses, b efore he p r a c t i s e d it on signboards,
be cause I d i s c o v e r e d that the first c a l l i graphy he made, as far as we
know?.is the one found on the ho u s e wall of M u a l i m Kari
in Mamburui.
-
296
-
This M u a l i m was a friend of Bw. Ali A m a n for w h o m Ki j u m a scribed the book
r 75 .
of a l ~ S a i f u al-Qatii
xn 1895,
h a n d w r i t i n g of Kijuma,
when this M ualim saw the beautiful
he ask e d h i m to do this calligraphy.
76
That
house is now o c c u p i e d by Sh. Mu h a m a d i Saidi, and the text of this
call i g r a p h y reads:
"Xn the name of Allah,
the Beneficient,
the
Merciful
0, Allah:
Open the doors of T h y mercy for us
Make us rich from Th y treasures
A n d spread th e m upon us by T h y favour
0, Allah, 0, The Kind, 0, T h e Compassionate,
0
01
— ------ ~ * L
0, The Benefactor
0, Allah,
Bless our Master Muhammad,
His lineage, and his c o m p a n i o n s and grant
\_ *j _—
th e m salvation".
-
Th e first framed signboard whi c h K i j u m a drew and for w h i c h he did the
c a l l i g r a p h y was one for Mzee S a l i m Kheri
Al-A k h i r 1 3 33/March 1915.
pot d r a w n on the signboard.
77
of Lamu on 30 t h Rabii
T h e date is w r itten on the base of the tree
78
it reads in Arabic:
"It was c o m p l e t e d on 30th R a b i l
Al-Thani 1333
The signboard includes the 99 att r i b u t e s of Al l a h w r i t t e n
down inside a
tree's f o liage drawn in the centre of
the signboard.
tree is
s u r r o u n d e d by a rectangle-shape.
sides o f this rectangle, excluding
the lowest,
Th e
co n t a i n the names of the prophet Muhammad,
some of h i s companions.
The
his family, and
-
297
-
At t h e b o t t o m of t h e rectangle, he w r o t e the following:
■It w a s m a d e by K i j u m a for Salim,
C o n c e r n i n g the 99 attributes of Allah,
nu mber as 99.
foliage.
Kijuma.
80
79
the Captain,
in L a m u town".
there is a H a d i t h specifying that
K i j u m a wro t e all these attributes inside a tree's
Such a tree was calle d T u b a in another sig n b o a r d made by
In reality,
these attrib u t e s are only a d j e c t i v e s derived
fro m H i s e s sence through its va rious m a n i festations
in the universe which
81
He alo n e h a s formed.
The s e attrib u t e s are wri t t e n in Arabic,
and in
su c c e s s i v e order as follows:
"He is Allah,
than w h o m there is no other.
T h e Merciful.
T h e Compassionate.
T h e H o l y One.
The Peace.
T h e H e l p in peril.
T h e Majestic.
T h e Bestower.
T h e Mighty.
The Provider.
T h e Closer.
T h e Exalter.
T h e H u m i l iator.
T h e Dominant.
T h e Opener.
T h e Uncloser.
The Honourer.
T h e All Hearing.
T h e A r b i t e r of All.
H e w h o is Aware.
The Al l Seeing,
T h e Equitable.
T h e Clement.
T h e V e r y Forgiver.
T h e V e r y Great.
The All C o mpelling.
T h e Artificer.
The Forgiver.
T h e A l l Knower.
T h e Abaser.
T h e Faithful.
T h e Creator.
T h e Fashioner.
The King of Kings.
T h e G r a c i o u s One.
The Strong.
T h e Thankful.
T h e Preserver.
The Exalted.
The Maintainer.
T h e R e ckoner,
T h e Beneficent.
T h e Watchful.
The Hearer of Prayer.
T h e J u d g e of Judges.
Th e Bountiful.
T h e Loving,
Th e Al l Comprehending.
The A l l Glorious.
T he Raiser F r o m Death.
The Guardian.
The Beginner.
Providence.
The Hidden.
The Good.
T h e Al l Praiseworthy.
The All Powerful.
Th e One.
T h e Ever-Indulgent.
Th e Last.
T h e Withholder.
The One above Reproach.
T h e Avenger.
The Sufficer.
The Harmful.
T h e Unerring.
The Gatherer.
The Provider.
T h e Propitious.
T h e Light.
The Eternal in the Future.
Th e Patient."
Has this tree any symbolic significance?
Paradise,
The Pardoner.
The Equitable.
The U n i q u e Creator.
T h e Inheritor.
Th e Manifest.
Ki n g of the Kingdom.
Lord of Spl e n d i d Power.
T he All Sufficing.
T h e Eternal.
The Forewarner.
T h e All Gove rning.
The Relenting.
The Guide.
The Self-Subsisting.
T h e Glorious.
The First.
T h e Accountant.
The Quickener.
The Ever Living.
The Fulfiller.
Th e Truth.
T h e Firm.
The Restorer.
T h e All Existing.
-
T h e Witness.
The Almighty.
T he Nearest Friend,
The Slayer.
298
Yes.
82
It is a symbol of
joy, happiness and the b l e s s i n g with wh i c h A l l a h will reward
His prophets from A d a m until Muhammad,
and their followers.
The
connection b e tween this tree and the 99 attributes s y m b olises the
c onnectio n between Paradise and faith in the religion of Allah.
Kijuma is comparing the attribu t e s of Allah
he is comparing the tree with Paradise,
Hence,
wi t h all of H i s religion,
That is
and
w h y he showed the tree
surrounded by the 25 prophets m e n t i o n e d in the Quran, b y wh i c h is meant:
"The Prophets'
m e ssage w a s to p r e a c h these attributes".
Ev e r y M u s l i m is
expected to believe in all the 25 prophets, oth e r w i s e he is
because he does not believe in the Quran.
not a Muslim,
At the same time,
299
-
the M u s l i m should bear in mi n d that A l l a h has sent
other prophets of w h o m He revealed neither the names nor the number.
K i juma wrote these 25 prophets'
r ight-hand side of the tree,
on the le ft-hand side.
names on his s i g n board twice, once on the
inside the arch, and again in the same order
A l t h o u g h K i j u m a did his best to pu t their names
in order according to the c h ron o l o g y
made
some mistakes.
of their a p p e a r a n c e as prophets, he
E.g. he put the name of the p r o p h e t Moses, after he
had put Harun, alt h o u g h the other w a y round is more correct.
these p r ophets is m e n t i o n e d more than once in the Quran,
6:85-6.
7:73.
21:86.
H e r e are the prophets'
26:124-5.
Isma*el.
Moses.
Each of
2:136.
3:33.
A n d 33:40.
names which he men t i o n e d on the signboard:
"Adam, peace be upon him.
Lot.
84
but here are
some of the Qu r a n i c Ayas which m e n t i o n these 25 prophets:
4:163.
83
Isaac.
Elisha.
Enoch.
Jacob.
Noach.
Hood.
Joseph. Job.
Dhu-al-Kifl.
David.
Salih,
shu%yb.
Solomon.
Abraham.
Harun.
Elias.
Jonah.
85
Zechanah.
John.
Jesus.
Taha
(i.e. Muhammad)".
R e g a r d i n g the rectangle which c o n t a i n s the prophet M u h a m m a d ' s name, some
m embers of his family, a n d some of his companions, K i j u m a w r o t e these
names twice.
He put these names in the following order:
"Muhammad the pr o p h e t of A l l a h pe a c e be upon him,
Abu-Bakr.
- 90
*Ali.
87
.
88
'Omar ibn al - K h a t*t•a b al-Faruk.
«
_
91
Fatimah.
i
'Abdu-Llahi.
. 97
Zainab.
Sawdah.
101
95
95
Tahir.
t
98
Rukayyah.
102
Hafsah.
105
Hind.
92
Hasan.
«
Tayyib.
95
103
Maymunah.
—
94
Kasim.
*
in ,
L , 100
Aishah.
Safiyyah.
107
zainab.
89
'Othman.
- —
96
Ibrahim.
,
99
Ummu-Kulthum.
106
Ramlah.
93
Husain.
#
86
104
108
Juwayriyah*.
-
300
-
■All the p rophet's w i v e s we r e w i d o w s or divorcees except Aishah.
p r o p h e t m a rried some of them on urgent hu m a n e grounds,
The
others on the
g r o u n d of A l lah's orders to legislate new laws or to cancel old customs
of the p r e - I slamic era*
109
After these laws had been established,
A l l a h ordered His p r ophet not to m a r r y any more, nor to div o r c e any one
h e had already m a r r i e d .1 *0
But,
what is the signficance of K i j u m a ’s ma k i n g the names of the prophet,
his companions,
prophets'
and his family surround All a h ' s att r i b u t e s and the
names?
It seems probable that K ijuma wa n t e d to symbolise by
this that Al l a h ' s m e ssage to the p r o p h e t M u h ammad a n d his followers
cont a i n s the w h o l e me s s a g e whi c h H e gave the other prophets.
w o r d about the general image of the signboard as a whole.
i t carefully,
One final
When we study
w e find that the arch-s h a p e and the r ectangular shape with
t h e floral d e c o r a t i o n in and b e t w e e n th e m are similar in shape to the
m o s q u e ' s niche.
Thus, we can say that that niche is a symbol of a m osque
i n w h i c h A l lah's a t tributes are to b e praised.
The a b i l i t y of our artist
i n creating such a r t i s t i c touches on paper gave h i m the n e c e s s a r y
e x p e r i e n c e to d e s i g n a niche such as the niche of the Li w a i i Seif's
. T
>mosque m
Lamu.
111
For the same M z e e S a l i m Kheri K i j u m a did the c a l l i g r a p h y for, decorated,
•and framed another magnificent signboard on 2 3 r d J u m a d a A l - A u l a
J.343/December 1924,
reading:
112
-
301
0, A l l a h
-
0, A llah
I have five
(persons)
0, Allah
The c hosen one
by w h o m I put
The s a t i s f i e d one
out the fire of
Al-Fatimah
0, A l lah the destroying
A n d their
He l l
0, A l l a h
sons
M u hammad
fAli bin
p e a c e be -
Ab*i T a l i b - F a t i m a h - H a s a n - H u s a i n
*
*
•
r
upon him
0, Allah
0, A llah
Made b y Muhamadi Kijuma for Salim,
0, Al l a h
the Captain,
on 23rd J umada
A l - A u l a 1343
Our calligrapher discl o s e d the names of the five p e r s o n s
as the p r ophet Muhammad, Ali ibn Abi-Talib,
in his signboard
his wi f e Fatimah, and their
113
sons H a s a n and Husain.
Insi d e the outer dec o r a t e d margin,
he wrote:
"O, Allah" eight times, a s k i n g H i m that He m ight keep h i m from the fire
of the He l l of the Hereafter
persons.
in the honour of the five men t i o n e d
The daughter of the prophet,
her husband,
and their two sons
114
have been pr a i s e d in the Q u r a n
family.
as faithful me m b e r s of the prophet's
T h e y w e r e p r a ised becau s e they have been lo v e d by Allah.
Hence,
302
-
the p e rson who loves th e m m ight also get the same love from Allah,
rescued from that Hell.
On the 21st of Safar 1344/September
1925, Kijuma did the c alligraphy for
115
and drew a splendid signboard
b o ttom of the signboard,
for Mzee Salim Kheri of Lamu.
At the
the c o l o p h o n reads as follows:
"On 21st Safar 1344.
by Muh a m a d i Kijuma's hand.
For Salim Kheri,
the Captain".
A t the centre of the signboard, K i j u m a drew a tree ca r r y i n g the 99
attributes of A l l a h inside its foliage.
The 99 a t t r i b u t e s with their
symbolism and the symbol of the tree have been explained.
116
Before
leaving these 99 attributes inside the foliage on this signboard, we have
to me n t i o n the p r ophet's Hadith w h i c h Kijuma inscribed inside an
arch-shape, a n d in w h ich the p r o p h e t specified the n umber of these
attributes as 99.
The H a d i t h is:
"The prophet peace be upon hi m said: A liah has nin e t y - n i n e names,
one h u ndred but one, who ad h e r e s to them (i.e. b e l i e v e s in them and
behaves accordingly),
he wi l l attain Paradise".
At the end, K i j u m a furnished this H a d i t h with his own appendix:
"0, Lord, T h y splendid power
At the foot of the tree,
"The tree is Tuba".
is great".
he w r ot e its name:
-
303
-
M e ha v e to explain in detail the m e aning of tuba to make its significance
- d e a r for the reader, and thus the significance of the s i g nboard as a
w h o l e will be better understood.
•end the Hadith.
T h e word tuba is d e r i v e d from the Q u r a n
It is m e n t i o n e d in the following Q u r a n i c Aya:
""Those who b e l i e v e and do right: J o y is for them, and b liss
j o u r n e y ' s end".
word tuba.
The wo r d "Joy"
(their)
in this A y a is the t r a n s l a t i o n of the
This m e aning is app l i c a b l e to the e x p l a n a t i o n given by ma n y
g r e a t scholars of Islam,
like Ibn A b b a s and others,
^scholars, like Ibn Gareer and others,
Paradise,
117
118
118
but other
^
say that tuba is a tree in
and that all the trees of Paradis are ext e n d e d f r o m it, and
t h a t every p a l a c e in P a r a d i s e has a twig from it.
Moreover,
they say:
"Allah, t h e M e r c i f u l pl a n t e d it by His hand from a p e a r l y seed, He
o r d e r e d it to extend,
so it extended to wherever He wished.
11^
.
roots, the -springs of the rivers
calyxes,
ailk".
of P a radise emerge,
and from its
the inhabitants of P a r a d i s e wi l l be d r e s s e d in ev e r y kind of
A b u - S a i d a l - K h u d h r i y y reports that the p r o p h e t P.B.U.H.
'"There is a tree in Paradise.
said:
The rider of a s peedy and w e l l trained
h o r s e m a y gallop for a hundred years
shade)
Fr o m its
but he wi l l find it endless."
(hoping to a r r i v e at the end of its
118
Clearly, K i j u m a ha d leaned
•towards the i n t e rpretation of the scholars who consider tuba a tree in
0 ^n
Paradise.
It is also clear that K i j u m a had the k n o w l e d g e of the tuba
b e i n g grown f r o m a p e a r l y seed, p l a n t e d by Allah, b e c a u s e he coloured his
p a i n t i n g in gold, a n d wrote the following within its roots:
" T h e pebbles.
"Allah" •
T h e throne".
A n d wi t h i n its trunk,
he wrote:
-
304
-
T h e pebbles here' might be a symbol of the tree's soil,
Al l a h ' s power,
the throne of
by w h ich the tree is growing, and from w h i c h the
inhabitants of P a r a d i s e will be fed and dressed,
and the w o r d A llah
inside the tree's trunk m a y signify that the tree was p l a n t e d by Him.
The r e is one p o int left to be made about the tree.
It is drawn in a way
which makes it appear upside-down to symbolise its eternity,
and
uniqueness, and to make its twigs wh i c h carry the fruits m o r e obtainable
ev e y w h e r e for the inhabitants of Paradise.
It s ymbolises eternity
because all the trees in this wo r l d wi l l be uprooted just before the day
of Judg e m e n t in the Hereafter.
Ma k i n g tuba u p s i d e-down me a n s that this
uprooting wil l not be a pplicable to it, because it w a s not p l anted in the
soil of this world.
in w h i c h Par a d i s e
Because our a rtist wrote on his s i g n board the H adith
is mentioned, he d i d not leave us w i t h o u t illustrating
some of his k n o w l e d g e about Paradise.
Paradise, m a k i n g them eight.
H a dith which says:
Indeed,
they are eight acc o r d i n g to a
"There are eight doors to Paradise".
Kiju m a d i d not only illustrate the
eight,
Hence, he dr e w the doors of
but he also named them.
number of the doors of P a radise as
T heir names are given inside the two
posts w h i c h carry the arch's shape.
Th e y are given in the following
order:
"The G a r d e n of Eden.
The G a r d e n of Paradise.
Th e G a r d e n of Eternity.
Th e
T h e G a r d e n of Approach.
Th e G a r d e n of Settlement.
T h e G a r d e n of Delight.
120
G a r d e n of Peace.
Th e G a r d e n of Refuge".
All of the se names are m e n t i o n e d
in the Quran.
121
T h e name "The Garden
of Approach" w h i c h is given here b y K ijuma is replaced by "The G arden of
Honour",
in the works of some scholars
of the doors of Paradise.
122
who m e n t i o n e d the eight names
A p a r t from this one, all the other names are
the same as they are m e n t i o n e d in Kij u m a ' s signboard.
If we study the pos t s which are carrying the a rched shape, we will see
that Kiju m a has left some spaces empty inside these posts.
It is likely
that our artist meant something by leaving those spaces empty,
he w o u l d not have ma d e them.
A l t h o u g h the number of the doors of
P a r a d i s e are speci f i e d as eight,
specified.
otherwise
the number of levels of Pa r a d i s e are not
So m e M u s l i m scholars have said that they are 100 levels
a n d others that they are more than 100.
Hence,
123
it seems p r obable that
the e m p t y spaces in the posts are symbols of these ma n y different
levels.
The d i s t a n c e be t w e e n each level and the other is similar to that
b e tween the e a rth and the sky.
124
O n the top of the doors of Paradise,
Kijuma drew a kind of dome-shape,
in
w h i c h he wrote:
■The doors of Paradise".
It is not unli k e l y that that dome is a symbol of the s ource of the rivers
o f Paradise,
be c a u s e it is said that the source of the rivers of P a r adise
emerges from un d e r n e a t h a dome w h i c h is beside a tree.
A t the b o t t o m of the doors of Paradise,
signboard contains:
"The H o l y Kingdom".
123
Ki j u m a c a l l e d that w hich his
Inside the ou t e r two long sides
of the r e ctangle w h i c h surround s the H o l y Kingdom, K i j u m a wrote two
Hadiths.
T h e first, on the r i g h t - h a n d side is:
-
306
■The pro p h e t of A l l a h P.B.U.H.
-
said:
'I had a look at P a r adise and
I found the m a j o r i t y of its inhabitants are the poor.
had a look at Hell,
A n d then I
I found the m a j o r i t y of its inhabitants are the
rich and the women".
K i j u m a a d ded his own appendix saying:
"The pr o p h e t P.B.U.H.
said the truth".
This H a d i t h is n a r r a t e d in Sahih M u s l i m
126
al-Salihin,
but the word "Rich"
125
and also in R i y a d h
is not included in the Hadith.
What
is m e n t i o n e d in these traditions on these pages is that the rich will
enter Par a d i s e after the poor.
H a v i n g read this Hadith,
the reader might think that the number of women
who enter Para d i s e will be
true,
less than that of the men, but the opposite is
b e c ause the ratio of wome n to men in P a r a d i s e w i l l be 2 to 1
a ccor d i n g to other Hadiths.
127
Th i s shows that the .number of women
will be more than that of m e n in both P a r adise and Hell.
T h e s e c o n d H a d i t h on the left ha n d of the signboard is:
"The p r o p h e t of Allah, P.B.U.H., said:
a r e three (types): A
p e rs o n of power
just and ri g h t l y guided.
'The inh a b i t a n t s of Paradise
(e.g. a K i n g or leader) who is
A c o m passionate p e r s o n w h o is gentle
he arted towards every rel ative and Muslim.
p e rson who has d e p e n d a n t s " .
A n d a c haste virtuous
-
307
-
At the end of the Hadith, Kijuma wrote:
"The pro p h e t of A l l a h P.B.U.H* has said the truth".
The r e
are two points, in the signboard, which remain unclear.
Th e first
point concerns what is written inside the shape, w h i c h is similar to a
sun w i t h arrows,
Firstly,
l o c ated b e twee n the tree and the r i g h t - h a n d post.
Kijuma maybe drew this shape to create a kind of b a lance in
d ist r i b u t i n g his objects in equal distances over the a v a i l a b l e space.
After he had found out that the clear space between the tree and the
right- h a n d post
is wider than the same space b e t w e e n the tree and the
left-hand post,
he might draw this s hape to cover up his inaccuracy.
Secondly,
according to my reading of what is w r i t t e n inside this shape,
it
is read:
"There is no god but Allah", but
as
to make the reader confused.
w o r d s reads "La*clearly,
the reprod u c e d signboard,
And,
it is w r i t t e n in
such a wa y
because the first part of these
I pref e r r e d to put L a m u i n side this shape,
to avoid such confusion.
in
T h e s econd point,
c o n c e r n s the four little flowers d r a w n over every two doors of P a r a d i s e
on the reproduced signboard.
developed,
After I had the photo of o r iginal signboard
I o b s e r v e d a word w r i t t e n over every two doors,
but I had not
not i c e d it while I was holding the o r i ginal signboard in Lamu.
Although
that w o r d might be read through a m a g n ifying glass as "Allah", I
p r e f e r r e d to replace it by a flower, because X was not a b s o l u t e l y sure
about the exact reading.
K i j u m a inscribed and drew other signboards, but r e g r e t t a b l y he did not
date them.
I had three of them dated by their owners.
in the po s s e s s i o n of J.W.
Kijuma
in 1936.
Th e first one is
H e told m e that that s i g n b o a r d w a s ma d e by
Its main subject
308
-
is the cross s u r r o u n d e d by flowers,
of the original signboard,
128
kindly given to me b y J.W.
it is a copy
A s we see, this
copy is reduced and prod u c e d in such a wa y to make f r o m it a title piece
for. religious books.
J.W.
entrance to his flat.
has hung the original on the w a l l of the
He obtained it through one of his colleagues
. .
129
called Miss M a r j o r i e Murry.
wrote:
In one letter of K i j u m a ' s to E.D., he
"I made three signboards of the cross,
one for Miss Murray,
one for Miss Lloyd,
and the third wa s for Bw. E.D,
130
and I sent it to h i m
131
on 2nd Rabii
1356,
(1937)".
Furthermore, J.W.
inf o r m e d me that he
gave Dr. Charles G. Richards a signboard on the same sub j e c t made by
Kijuma.
Supposing we knew that Kijuma had the intention to s y m b o l i s e the
crucifixion of J e s u s with the cross, we would have to ask ourselves this
question.
D i d K i j u m a believe that Je s u s was crucified?
It is doubtful
that Kijuma bel i e v e d in the c r u c i f i x i o n because of the following reasons:
1.
Wh e n Kiju m a c o mposed his p o e m K i s a cha S a y yidna Isa for the first
time in 1912,
he adopted the wh o l e story of this p o e m from an
Islamic source,
not from a Chr i s t i a n one.
132
H e d i d not include
the c r ucifixion in it.
2.
In 1942, Kijuma com p o s e d another p o e m about J e s u s entitled: Hadithi
ya S a yyidna I s a , not in the same words as the one of 1912, nor with
the same number of stanzas,
concepts.
132
In the last stanza
W a salamu nimekoma
but with the same Islamic
(No. 314) of the poem,
Wi t h the peace,
Hadithi ya T u m w a mwema Th e p o e m
Kurani y a losema
. Na zuo H a d ithi pia
I finished
of the right pr o p h e t
A c c o r d i n g to what the
A n d also
K ijuma said:
Q u r a n sa i d
the books of the Ha d i t h
It h a p p e n e d that J.W.
309
asked K i j u m a the cause of not composing this
p o e m in a C h r i s t i a n concept,
and Kijuma a n s w e r e d h i m in a letter:
"This p o e m is not difficult.
archaic.
-
It is in m o d e r n language, not
A n d when I have a chance,
ac cording to the Gospel".
133
I shall w r i t e you another one
But unfortunately,
he died before
he got that chance.
3.
W e must also bear
in mind that K i juma by then w a s translating the
G o s p e l fr o m M ombasa-diale c t into the dialect of L a m u
Kimvita into Kiamu).
134
Furthermore,
(i.e.
from
he was the one who scribed
134
the G o s p e l of K i mvita for W.T.
Re g a r d i n g the flowers surrounding the cross, they s y m b o l i s e the
p r o s p e r i t y which was y i e l d e d by the suffering of Jesus.
three lines,
K i j u m a scribed
in Swahili in Arabic script, over the cross.
q u o t a t i o n from the Gosp e l according to John:
"For G o d so loved the world,
T h e y are a
135
that he gave his o n l y be g o t t e n son.
That whosoever believeth in h i m should not perish,
but have
e v e r l asting life.
For G o d sent not his son into the world to
condemn the world,
but that the wo r l d through h i m mi g h t be saved".
A nd down the cross, K i juma wrote a stanza in Swahili in A r a b i c script.
It is likely that Kijuma w a s the one who composed it.
follows:
K u y a duniani
The
coming into the w o r l d
J e s u ni hakika
Of Je s u s is true
Takaomwamini
Who will believe in h i m
It reads as
Hoyo taokoka
H e will be safe
Alomshindani
Whoever
Kesho t a s u m b u k a
Wi l l suffer tomorrow.
This stanza deals wi t h Jesus'
end.
fights him,
second coming to this w o r l d just before its
K i j u m a r e ferred to this second coming in his p o e m of Ki s a cha
S a y y i d n a I s a , p u b l i s h e d by E.D.,
b e l i e v e in this s e c o n d coming,
stanza No. 347.
136
T h e Muslims
but w h e n he comes, he w i l l pr e a c h Islam.
The r e are m a n y H a d i t h s n arratin g this, and enjoining Mu s l i m s to follow
Je sus at this time.
•137
After that, K i j u m a deco r a t e d the ma r g i n of this s i g n b o a r d in two
d i f f e r e n t styles.
The inside m a r g i n is decorated in a floral style
similar to the one which he m a d e and sent to W.H.
t i t l e -piece for A l - I n k i s h a f i .
138
is d e c o r a t e d in, mo r e or less,
to m a k e it the
Th e o u tside m argin of this signboard
similar w a y to the c a r v i n g w hich he put on
one of the doors w h i c h he carved in Lamu.
139
T h e second signb o a r d w h i c h w a s d a t e d by its owner
containing the slipper of the p r o p h e t Muhammad.
is a signboard
140
E.D. k i n d l y a l l o w e d me to take f r o m his original.
ma d e it for h i m in 1936/7.
It is a copy which
H e told me that K ijuma
A l l that is w r i t t e n in the m a r g i n s of this
s i g n b o a r d is: A d e s c r i p t i o n of the slipper of the prophet,
fr o m w h i c h it w a s made,
its colour, h o w he used to p u t it on and take it
off, t h e number of slippers and boots w hich he had,
re ference
141
the material
f r o m w h i c h this s i g n b o a r d w a s adopted,
the original
and the
142
benefits
w h i c h t h e p e rson w o u l d ob t a i n from keeping a c o p y of this
slipper with him.
of the signboard.
T h e s e benefits are men t i o n e d in the right-hand margin
I wi l l translate these benefits,
311
-
so that the reader will get a wider view
of the aims of m a k i n g such a signboard, and whether
it is Islamic or not.
"Its benefits: A l - Q i s t a l a n i y y and al-M a q q a r i y y n a r r a t e d from the
scholars who experienced the b l e ssing of this e x alted example
of the slipper),
(i.e.
that the one wh o keeps it w i t h the intention of
getting bl e s s e d by it, it will be a pro t e c t i o n for h i m against the
injustice of the oppressors,
a defeat for the enemy,
a protection
from eve r y rebel devil, and from the eye of ev e r y envious person.
If a pre g n a n t w o m a n in her ve r y labour holds
it by her right hand,
it will ease her deli v e r y by the strength and the p ower of God.
is a s e curity fr o m the looking
(the evil eye),
and f r o m magic.
It
The
one who keeps it for life, he will be given c o m p l e t e a cceptance by
the people,
he will visit the tomb of the p r o p h e t P.B.U.H., he wi l l
see the p r ophet
in his dream, he will not be in a n y ar m y and get
defeated even if it were one thousand, he wi l l not be in a ship
which will sink, nor
in a h ouse which will be burned,
p r o p e r t y that wi l l be stolen.
prophet P.B.U.H.,
Its keeper,
nor own
through the love for the
never looks for any good thing but he gains it,
he will never be put in a spot but will find the w a y out, and he
will never be sick or he will recover".
As w e see from the translation,
the narrators who n a r r a t e d these
"Benefits" d i d not rely on a n y a u t h e n t i c references upon w h i c h Muslims
rely,
the Q u r a n or Hadith.
I we n t through these two a u t h e n t i c
authorities but I found nothing about these benefits.
In fact,
there is
not one Aya nor one Hadith, m en t i o n i n g or referring to such benefits.
Thus,
roots.
the n a rration of such benefits on' the signboard has no Islamic
Hence,
312
-
I all o w myself, without any hesitation to say: A l t h o u g h the
subject of this signboard is Islamic,
the context is nothing but
s uperstition w h i c h is strongly c o n d e m n e d in Islam.
finds its w a y to the ignorant people.
Such superstition
It is interesting to know that
such a slipper has recently been p r i n t e d in a book of Islamic
Calligraphy,
but wi t h those benefits excluded.
143
T h e final s i gnboard which was dated b y its owner is a signboard owned by
Bw. A b d a l l a K h a t i b u of Lamu.
This signboard was m a d e by K ijuma in 1940.
It h a s nothing but the lineage of Bw. A b dalla Kh a t i b u ' s family.
T h e name
of the paternal m e mbers of the f amily are w r itten inside foliage of a
shape more or less like a tree,
first ancestor,
offspring.
144
its root carries the name of the
and its top twig carries the name of the present
W i t h i n this signboard, K ijuma copied eight lines of Swahili
p o e t r y comp o s e d b y Bw. Khatibu's family.
145
This p o e t r y is likely to
deal w i t h the a f fairs of the same family.
T h e rest of the signboards which could be traced are not dated.
But we
could give them a n a p proximate date, because all of t h e m were made for
M z e e S a l i m Kheri who was one of Kijuma's best friends in Lamu.
Wh e n we
know that the first dated signbo a r d ma d e by Kijuma for Mz e e S a l i m Kheri
w as in 1915,
146
a n d the last da t e d signboard made by the same artist
for the same client was in 1925,
147
we can say that these undated
signboards we r e m a d e between 1908 and 1930's, b ecause M z e e S a l i m Kheri
was a member of Kij u m a ' s faction in the singing c o m p e t i t i o n s during this
period.
A n d as h a s been said before, Kijuma used to ma k e these
s ignboards for Mz e e S a lim Kheri as com p e n s a t o r y p a yment for the latter's
s ervices for that faction.
.323
—
-
T h e first of these .undated si g n b o a r d s r e a d s . a s follows:
* I n t h e n a m e of A l l a h ,
Ifluhammad.
Abu-Bakr.
the Beneficent, t h e Merciful-Allah.
rOmar.
fothman.
*Ali*«
A s w e see, the s i g n b o a r d includes the n a m e o f Allah, H i s p r o p h e t
^Muhammad, and the f o u r successiv e caliphs .who r e i g n e d a f t e r the p r o p h e t
.had died.
On this signboard, th e r e a r e three let t e r s , e v e r y o n e of w h i c h
i s w r i t t e n in s u c h a w a y a n d p u t i n s u c h a p l a c e so that i t can be used
for rea d i n g mo r e than one word.
t h e w o r d Allah.
T h e f i r s t l e t t e r i s t h e a~H -f (=
a
) of
T h i s letter is not o n l y read a s t h e f i r s t letter for t h e
w o r d Allah, b u t also a s the first letter f o r t h e w o r d A b u - B a k r .
s e c o n d l e t t e r is t h e D a l
The
(= D ) , -.the f i n a l l e t t e r of t h e w o r d "Muhammad.
O u r calli g r a p h e r w r o t e th i s D a l s o t h a t it w o u l d f o r m a p a r t of t h e
l e t t e r fAin.
T h i s *Ain is also us e d in the s i g n b o a r d for t h e w o r d s -Omar,
O t hman, a n d ..All, b e c a u s e these th r e e w o r d s b e gin, i n Ar a b i c , w i t h t h e
l e t t e r rA i n .
T h e t h i r d l e t t e r is a r - R a a
i s a l s o used in the w o r d Omar.
(= R) o f t h e n a m e A b u - B a k r -
It
W e m i g h t assume t h a t -Kijuma i n s c r i b e d his
t e x t i n such a way t o symbolise t h e f a i t h f u l r e l a t i o n or c o n n e c t i o n
b e t w e e n every one m e n t i o n e d in t h e s ignboard.
A t t h e end, he d e corated the m a r g i n o f this s i g n b o a r d w i t h a f l o r a l
p a t t e r n a s usual.
"The second undated s i gnboard reads a s follows;
" I n t h e n a m e of Allah,
o n l y in Allah-
the Beneficent,
In H i m I trust-
149
the Merciful.
M y w e l f a r e is
A n d unto H i m I tu r n ( r e p e n t a n t )".
-
314
-
This text is part of the Q u r anic A y a 8 8 , Surah 11.
/
Th e third signboard reads as follows:
"In the name of Allah,
150
the Beneficent,
the Merciful.
Allah is the
c
^
151
friend of success.
May the b l essings and peac e of Al l a h be upon h i m
152
(i.e. the
p rophet Muhammad)".
T h e fourth of these undated signboards reads:
"In the n a m e of Allah,
153
the Beneficient,
the Merciful.
given thee (0, Muhammad), a signal victory.
Loi W e have
154
—
155
Help fr o m A l l a h and p r esen t victory".
T h e fifth one has a Swahili stanza w r i t t e n in A r a b i c script.
s t anza No. 19 fr o m the Acr o s t i c p o e m Du r a L - M a n d h u m a .
to recite this p o e m by heart.
"In the name of Allah,
158
157
156
It is
K i j u m a used
He r e is that stanza:
the Beneficient,
the Merciful.
Wh a t will
you answer, 0 stranger whe n A l l a h says: Dis a p p e a r and get out of my
sight.
Let
illusions and w o r l d l y corruption save you then fr o m the
fire of Hell.
The posse s s i o n of Salim,
the Captain".
K i j u m a did the cal l i g r a p h y for another s i g n board including a Swahili
stanza in A r abic script, but this time it was his own composition.
-
315
-
A l t h o u g h he made two signboards for that stanza - one for the same Mzee
S a l i m Kheri and the other one for a m a n calied Mzimba Kheri in L a m u - I
could not obtain either of them, b e cause they had both be c o m e
/
■
159
m pth-eaten.
m
In spite of this, Mzee Sa l i m and Bw. K i r o m e could
recite the stanza from them by heart.
Here is that stanza in which we
see K i j u m a as a preacher:
U k i m u o n a kiumbe
Wh e n y o u see a human-being
K a d h a imemshukiya
Upon w h o m Pate has d e s c e n d e d
A s i z i n g e asitambe
So that he no longer w a n d e r s or walks round
U s o w e utende haya
but has become shamefaced,
N a k u u s i a simwambe
I a d v i s e y o u not to slander hi m
K w a wi n o na kwa zinaya
By b l a c kening
H e n d a yakawa z i n g i y a
Perhaps Pa t e will d e scend on yo u
K w e n u yakawa m a moya
Then,
(his defects)
or by m o ckery
the same will h a p p e n to you.
Is this stanza one of the mirrors reflecting the c o n d i t i o n of Kijuma
am ongst his compatriots?
W i thou t h e s i t a t i o n the answer
is yes.
A l t hough
Ki j u m a w a s fully aware of the h e a v y b urden wh i c h he w o u l d carry on his
shoulders
in case he wro t e his biography, he was a w a r e that his biography
wo uld not be ve r y bright.
When W.H.
in detail for publication,
a big w o r k " . 1 6 ^
However
160
asked h i m to w r i t e his own biography
Ki juma answered:
"It is a troublesome and
it is likely that W.H. got K i j u m a ' s biography,
but it w a s lost fr o m the S.O.A.s.
162
Kijuma's com p a t r i o t s had reason
to slander him, e s pecially after he had made his m a n d a r i .
163
Wh e n a
rumour of the slander found its wa y to him, he, the c o m p e t i t i v e
character,
did two things.
First,
316
-
he foll o w e d up and detected all the mistakes and the sins that
c o m p a triots had c ommitted
future,
his
and those that would be c o m m i t t e d in the
to w r i t e them down in a special copy-book.
Th i s book would
remind him of the defects of whomever he wan t e d to satirise,
164
55
Secondly, he carved the following stanza on his n o w lost house-door:
Yaliyomo yamo momo
The secrets of the house remain inside
Aso taa una tomomo
He w h o has no big defect,
Y o nda haoni kundule
But the b a boon does not see his own bottom.
has a little one
He is a d vising e v e r y one to occupy h i mself with his own d e fects instead
of t h inking about other p e o p l e ’s.
If every person o c c u p i e d himself thus,
he w o u l d be too busy to seek and detect other p e o p l e ' s defects.
A l t h o u g h this c a r v e d stanza should go under the s e ction of "Kijuma as a
w o o d - c a r v e r " , it is better to locate it here, b e c a u s e of the clear
co n n e c t i o n between it and
signboard.
Hence,
the stanza, w hich w e are dis c u s s i n g now,
the stanza
in the
of the signboard of our pre a c h e r seems
a p p l i c a b l e to his cond i t i o n acco r d i n g to what has b e e n m e n t i o n e d
previously.
W e h a v e to refer to two other signbo a r d s d i s played in the Lamu-Museum,
and on whi c h t h e r e is no information.
It is very likely that those two
s i gnboards wer e m a d e by Kijuma, b e c a u s e they show his own style of
calligraphy,
and decoration.
Each of those two sig n b o a r d s
the one of p l ate No. 21, on the l e f t -hand side.
Thus,
is similar to
they might have
been inscribed b e t w e e n the same dates as the pre v i o u s u n dated signboards
(i.e.
1908-1930's).
The first of those two signboards reads as follows:
317
C ^ \s
0 , Allah:
Ease, and do not harden
165
0, Helper: We ask Th e y help*^^^
A n d the second signboard reads:
—
All a h is the friend of success.
Finally,
267
there are two other signboards made by K i j u m a and which are
still to be discussed,
though I could not trace them.
had been m e n t i o n e d already.
Th e first of them
It is the one which con t a i n s the dhow of the
, .
168
ngo m a ya dhili us e d in the singing competition.
T h e second is a signboard whi c h c o n tains an animal called:
Buraki.
(he) was c alled Buraki because its speed is the same as a l - B a r k .
m e ans
'flash of lightning'.
It
Al-Bark
It is the animal w h i c h c a r r i e d the prophet
Mu hammad during his nocturnal journey from Mecca to a l - B a i t u
in J e r u s a l e m and coming back aga i n to Mecca.
U t e n d i wa M i i r a i i 169 of Kijuma.
‘L-Muqaddas
It is d e s c r i b e d in the
Ki j u m a made this si g n b o a r d for Miss
170
Mary Werner.
of Buraki,
O n 6 th June 1934, W.H. asked Kijuma to make a painting
like the one he had ma d e for Miss Werner,
on 5th Rajab 1353
So,
H e ma d e two paintings bec a u s e he was not
sure whether he h a d made the Buraki of Miss Werner
m
171
(1934), K i j u m a g e n e r o u s l y made two p a i n t i n g s of the
Buraki a n d sent t h e m to W.H.
small one.
for him.
in a large size or a
So, he made two for W.H., one in a large size and the second
a small size.
2
W i t h this Buraki, we come to the end of the
signboards w h ich K i j u m a made.
But before we leave the art of Kijuma, we
have to ask the following question: D i d Kijuma teach his expertise in
making signboards to someone else?
Helewa.
In £act yes, he taught
it to his son
H e l e w a in his turn p a s s e d it on to his stu d e n t s in the Islamic
172
Institute of Mombasa.
It w a s m y fortune to find a sign board made by He l e w a in Lamu,
showing a
tree car r y i n g the lineage of Bw, A b d a l l a K h atibu f r o m his m a t ernal
side.
173
At the b o t t o m of this signboard, He l e w a wrote,
"By the hand of Helewa,
dated 1365,
in Arabic:
(1946)".
Kijuma as a designer of title-pieces
W e m u s t n o w deal w i t h the a v a i l a b l e title-pieces w h i c h K i j u m a made
be c a u s e they are artis t i c a l l y related.
for b o o k s or Mss.
He made those t i tle-pieces either
to be p u b l i s h e d b y E u r o p e a n Scholars.
It is remarkable
that K i j u m a ' s fame in making those t i t le-pieces goes back to the time of
Prof.
Mein h o f ' s contact with East A f r i c a aro u n d 1913.
174
W.H. asked
K i j u m a once to send h i m a t i t l e - p i e c e in the style w h i c h he had m a d e for
Prof.
Meinhof.
175
Kiju m a ma d e several other t i t l e - p i e c e s for the
E u r o p e a n s w h o w e r e interested in col l e c t i n g Swahili l i t e r a r y works.
T h e s e Euro p e a n s a r e W.T.,
176
177
A.W.,
Prof. Meinhof,
_ „
180 _ „
181
. ^
. _ 182
E.D.,
J.W.,
and Dr. Ch. Richards.
178
W.H.,
17Q
Th e s e v a r i o u s
title - p i e c e s are sho w n in the chapter on "Kijuma as a p o e t and a scribe",
b e cause they w e r e ma d e as titles for works wh i c h he w r o t e out, whether
that w o r k was his own comp o s i t i o n or not.
W h a t is on l y shown here are
two t i t l e - p i e c e s a d o pted by othe r s f r o m Kijuma.
a d o p t e d b y J.W.
e.g.
T h e first one was
see Pig. J w h i c h was ado p t e d by J.W.
for his own
usage a n d compare it with Fig. A, ma d e by Kijuma.
T h e s e c o n d one was a d o p t e d by a n artist of the East A f r i c a n L i t e r a t u r e
B u r e a u for the covers of short Swahili stories entitled:
v i tendo e.g.
Ha d i t h i na
see Pig. L and compare it with Pig. of A l - I n k i s h a f i
m a d e b y K i j u m a and p u b l i s h e d by W.H.
:; :
183
T h e Fig.
319
-
L was a d o p t e d by that a rtist for the East A f r i c a n Lit e r a t u r e
B u r e a u from the tit l e - p i e c e of A l - I n k i s h a f i .
In spite of that, K ijuma is
not m e n t i o n e d b y nam e as the designer of the original f r o m which the
adapt a t i o n has been made.
this art,
However,
this shows the i n f l uence of K ijuma on
and the extent to w h i c h he contri b u t e d in this field.
Kijuma as a tailor and a knitter
U n t i l now we have u s u a l l y seen Kijuma as a man who o b t a i n e d profits out
of his m u l t i t u d e of talents by using th e m to c r eate t h ings for other
people.
However,
he also us e d his talents to do sewing and knitting for
h i m s e l f and for the members of his faction Skochi
competitions.
185
184
of the singing
He used to sew his own garment K a n d u and his hat
C Q
Kofia.
Not only did he sew his hat but he also e m b r o i d e r e d it.
could he learn this and pra c t i s e it?
He wa s not taught by any one.
le a r n e d it through his own observation.
thread for sewing.
the p o r c u p i n e
iron it.
from?
186
How
He used scissors,
He
needle and
In a d dition to these tools, he used the pri c k l e of
to embroider his hat, and a c o w r i e s h e l l
(Dondo)
to
Wh a t kind of mater i a l s did he make his ga r m e n t and his hat
He used to make his garme n t f r o m the cheapest m a t e r i a l which is
c a l l e d Hami or fr o m one called Thamanini.
Th e r e are two kinds of cloth
for s e wing the g a r m e n t a ccording to the q u ality of the material.
The
first is called kandu ya cherehe or kandu ya u k o s i , the second is c alled
kandu va mkono or kandu ya d a r i z i .
Th e first one is u s u a l l y for the
poor, and the s e cond for the rich, because the first on e ^ i s always sewn
by sewing m a chine wi t h o u t any embroidering,
or Thamanini.
and the m a t e r i a l used is Hami
-
320
-
T h e second one is sewn by hand b y a s pecialised tailor,
wi t h embroidery
stitched on the front side of the garment, and the m a t e r i a l used is the
most expensive type c a lled Melimeli or the less e x p e n s i v e type called
Duria.
Be cause sewing machines of e very kind have bec o m e available
ev erywhere nowadays,
the tailors who used to sew by h a n d have become too
expensive on the K e n y a n coast.
garment by hand,
187
A l t h o u g h Kij u m a used to sew his
he did not embr o i d e r it as his c o m p a t r i o t s used to.
This suggests that,
in this field, K i j u m a p r o d u c e d a n e w kind of article
which requires a new name, b e cau s e he used the ma t e r i a l of the first type
kandu ya ukosi w i t h the sewing of the second type
(sewing by hand).
It
was a new m e t h o d or a new choice and a new model.
A n d his hat is also of the type ca l l e d Thamanini.
Af t e r sewing it, he
drew the type of embroi d e r y w h ic h he likes with a pencil.
well-k n o w n types are:
the kulabu an d the b u l i b u l i .
The two
Af t e r that, he traced
his em b r o i d e r y w i t h the prickle of the por c u p i n e ma k i n g ho l e s to
embroider them with silk later on.
H e kept ironing the mat e r i a l during
the d i fferent stages of its manufacture.
A s for the remaining item of app e a r a n c e of the typcial L a m u - m a n - the
shoes.
Kijuma liked to walk w i t h o u t s h o e s ,58
and if h e had wished to
wear them, he wou l d have made t h e m w i thout doubt,
we end this chapter on Kijuma as a craftsman,
but he did not.
B efore
we sh o u l d consider this
question: D i d he ever consider his talents by wh i c h he c r eated all the
ft
previo u s l y m e n t i o n e d articles as sufficient,
need to try his hand at other crafts?
1938),
No,
so that there would be no
O n 27th Safar
i.e. whe n he was not less than 85 years old,
in a letter
188
1357
(April
he a s k e d Mrs. D a m m a n n
to send h i m strands of wo o l of d i f f erent colours,
because he w a n t e d to learn the art of knitting, an d there was no such
w o o l in Lamu.
-
321
-
40ur craftsman we n t on to pr o m i s e Mrs. Dammann:
•
35.end y o u m y work".
T h e pr e s e n t writer
"If I can do it, I w i l l
is p o sitive that he could have
4 o n e it, but the Second W o r l d War p r e v e n t e d the p r o m i s e fr o m being
fulfilled.
-
322
-
Chapter V - Notes
1.
See: p. 289.
2.
Ms. 253028.
3.
See: P l a t e No. 8 .
4.
See: Stanza No. 209 of the S i r a j i , p. 470.
5.
See: p. 29.
6.
Ms. 53503.
7.
Stanza 30 of Utendi wa S a f a r i , p. 240.
8.
Ms. 53823.
9.
See: p. 29.
10.
See: p.
11.
See: p. 29.
12.
1 Rupia = 2 Sh., See: Ms. 53503.
13.
British East A f rica protectorate,
475,
29.
Colonial Re p o r t s
(Annual) No.
1906, p. 237.
14.
Ms. 380066.
15.
See: Song No.
16.
Interview with Bwana A b d a l l a Sk a n d a in Lamu.
17.
See: p. 287-294.
18.
Kijuma's sojourn in W i t u is dis c u s s e d on p.
19.
Salim,
20.
See: Pla t e No.
7, p.
113.
165.
1978, p. 36.
1.
It is al s o p r i n t e d in Knap p e r t and Pearson,
Also, Abdulaziz,
1979, p. 53.
21.
See: p. 165.
-22.
See: p.
23.
See: P l a t e No. IA.
24.
See: p.
166.
165.
1978,
p. 9.
25.
See: Plate No* 2.
26.
See: p. 336.
27.
See: P l a t e No.
28.
See: p. 340., p. 325.
29.
See: pp. 202-206.
30.
See: p. 165.
323
-
3.
31.
See:
P l a t e No. 3.
32.
See:
P l a t e No. 4.
Owi n g to g r a s s covering the stone for a long time,
I could h ardly
read the inscription on it.
33.
See: Pla t e No.
5.
It is p l a c e d in southern Lamu.
34.
H e was the son of Kijuma's p a t e r n a l aunt.
you die b e f o r e I die,
Ki j u m a said to him:
I shall e n grave your tomb",
"If
so, he did.
Inte r v i e w w i t h Bwana A b d a l l a K h a t i b u in Lamu.
35.
36.
37.
See:
p. 25.
See: pp.
See:
291-294.
p. 292.
38.
Tafsir Ibn K a t h i r , 1390/1971,
the introduction to surah 18.
39.
Owin g to the lack of day-light inside the m o s q u e I could not
photo g r a p h the niche, but I copied down the w h o l e inscription found
there.
40.
I n terview wi t h Bwana A b d a l l a Khatibu, and Mz e e S a l i m Kheri in Lamu.
41.
See:
p.
107.
42.
See:
p.
165.
43.
See:
Pla t e No. 6 .
A photo of this door is also p r i n t e d in: Nasir,
44*
See:
p-» 166.
45.
Allen,
1972, p. 24.
1977, p.
15.
-
324
-
46.
See: P l a t e No. 7.
47.
See: P l a t e No.
48.
I n terview w i t h Dr. P. El - S e w a i f y of Egypt, Ph.D.
8.
It stands in H a r ambee Rd., Lamu.
and Finish in 19th Cen t u r y E u r o p e a n Sculpture",
49.
Kenya Past and Present,
50.
Steere,
51.
1928,
in "Preparation
in London.
1976, p. 15,
p. viii.
A f t e r a succe s s f u l ar m y career
in Wo r l d War I Mr. W h i t t o n settled
with his wife in Lamu w h e r e he started a p r o s p e r o u s business and
eng a g e d in farming.
He b e c a m e known as "Coconut Charlie".
1930's, he was a Ju s t i c e of the Peace.
In 1940,
a p p o i n t e d Pri c e Inspector and A s s i s t a n t Censor.
In the
he was also
He died
in 1953,
at the age of 78.
See: Ms.
53829,
and Martin,
1973, p. 30.
52.
Inter v i e w wi t h Bwana O t h m a n i A b u - B a k r in Lamu.
53.
See: P l a t e No. 9.
54.
See: P l a t e No. 10.
55.
Inter v i e w with Sheikh M u ha m a d a Ad n a n a l - M a h d a l y in Lamu.
56.
Inte r v i e w w i t h Mzee S a l i m K h e r i n in Lamu.
57.
I n t e r v i e w wi t h Dr.
It is in Ken y a t t a Rd., Lamu.
M u hamad i S a l i m Badamana
w h o interviewed Bwana
O t hmani A b d a l l a a l - K i n d y known as Othmani Ka s h a in Witu.
tV
58.
I n t e r v i e w wit h Bwana A b d a l l a K h a t i b u in Lamu.
59.
See: Pla t e No.
60.
It is a pa r t of A y a 9 in S u r a h 62.
61.
Ashur,
62.
See: Pla t e No. 12.
63.
Q u r a n 23,
64.
Q u r a n 4, 79.
11.
1391/1972, pp. 281-4.
118.
325
See: Plate No, 13.
3?here is the word "Muslims"
at the end of the inscription,
iias no m e a n i n g in this context.
Thus,
but it
it must be related to other
i n s c r i p t i o n s which were d e s t r o y e d w h e n the m o s q u e fell down.
66.
A s hur,
1391/1972,
;67.
H e h a s e n graved his name on the pu l p i t as he was the one who
r e s t o r e d it.
p. 38.
It is dated Sun d a y 7th Ju m a d a a l - A u l a 1356/1936.
'6 8 .
I t is wel l known that this is the Islamic creed.
69..
Q u r a n 55:26-7.
70.
See: p. 217.
71.
Ashur,
72.
See: p. 33.
73.
See: p.
74.
I n t e r v i e w w i t h S a y y i d Has a n B a d a w y in Lamu.
75.
-See: p.
76
i n t e r v i e w w i t h Bwa n a Abdul a t i f i O t hmani No o h in
77.
Mz e e S a l i m Kheri was a member of K i j u m a ' s f a ction in the singing
1391/1972, p.
186.
158.
168.
compet i t i o n s .
Mamburui.
He used to hold the standard for his faction.
As a
r e w a r d for that, Kijuma ma d e this signboard and o thers to follow
.for him.
Moreover, Kijuma taught Mzee S a l i m K heri the A rabic
-language at his request.
K i j u m a ' s own sentences,
M z e e S a l i m K heri remembers one of
in t ended to teach the p r o n u n c i a t i o n and the
w r i t i n g of the letter K a f .
It is wo r t h m e n t i o n i n g that sentence,
--because it shows the metho d of Ki j u m a ' s tea c h i n g the A rabic
•alphabet.
A l s o every w riter wr i t e s "writer" as so
-
326
A s we see,
every word in the sentence contains the letter K a f .
only this,
but also the sentence itself is meaningful.
Moreover,
forms
in w h i c h it can occur in A r a b i c writing.
78.
See: P l a t e No.
79.
See: p. 302.
80.
See: p. 302.
81.
Dawud,
1980, p.
in Lamu.
14.
13.
The main refe r e n c e of mine in tran s l a t i n g these a t t r ibutes was:
Arnold,
1978.
83.
Q u r a n 4, 164.
84.
Quran 19:51-53.
85.
Not
the letter Kaf wh i c h is underlined is w r i t t e n in all its
I n t e r v i e w w i t h Mzee Sal i m Kheri
82.
-
One of the p r o p h e t Muhamma d ' s names.
K ijuma also used this name in
his S i r a j i , stanza 208, p. 470.
86.
T h e p r o p h e t received the revelation for the first time
a t Mecca w h e n he w a s 40 years
old. In 622 A.D., he was a sked
Allah to e m i g r a t e fr o m Mecca to Madina,
Meccans to I s l a m for 13 years.
in his life
by
after he h a d invited the
He died at Madina,
after he had
spent 10 y e a r s preac h i n g Is l a m there.
87.
T h e first c a liph was elected in 11 A.H./632 A . D . , after the pro p h e t
had died.
88.
H e died in 13 A . D . / 6 3 4 A.D.
The second caliph was elec t e d after A b u-Bakr
killed in 24/644.
He was given the
had died.
H e was
ni c k n a m e a l - F a r u k because
he
was e x t r a o r d i n a r i l y capable of dist i n g u i s h i n g b e t w e e n truth and
falsehood.
89.
T h e third c a liph w a s elected in 24 A.H.,
killed.
He was killed in 35/655.
after Omar had been
St).
327
-
T h e fourth c a l i p h w a s e l e c t e d a f t e r Ot h m a n h a d b e e n killed-
B e was
f 'I^killed i n 40/660.
As w e see, th e four caliphs m e n t i o n e d h e r e a r e
p u t i n c h r o n o l o g i c a l order, a c c o r d i n g to their c a l i p h a t e .
SI-
The y o u n g e s t daughter of the prophett h e p r o p h e t was about 41 ye a r s old.
She was born a t Me c c a w h e n
She m a r r i e d Ali.
she died
at
M a d i n a 6 m o n t h s after the p r o p h e t had died92-
H e was the son of Ali and Fatimah.
H e was born at Ma d i n a in.
(
.3/625.
H e w a s e l ected as a c a l i p h in 40/66(3', after his f ather h a d
b e e n killed.
After 6 months and 2 0 days of h i s election, he gave
o p t h e caliphate a n d hande d it over to Mu a w i y a h ibn A b i - S u f y a n .
He
died, a f ter he had been p o i s o n e d in 49/669.
S3-
H e was Ha s a n ' s brother,
bo r n a t Ma d i n a in 4 / 6 2 6 -
H e w a s k illed in
£1/680.
“The s e l a s t four p e rsons
(Ali, Fatimah, Hasan, a n d Husain)
are
-considered in M u s l i m s 1 vie w a s m e m b e r s of t h e P r o p h e t ' s family.
IThis e x p l a i n s the cause of m e n t i o n i n g t hese four p e r s o n s a f t e r each
-other, regardless of their -chronological p o s i t i o n w i t h the other
Barnes m e n t i o n e d after them.
94.
O n e of the Proph e t ' s sons.
H e had been born at Mecca, b e f o r e t h e
p r o p h e t r e c e i v e d his message.
^huwailid,
:years old.
H i s m other w a s K h a d i j a h bint
the first l a d y th e p r o p h e t h a d m a r ried, w h e n h e wa s 25
T h e p r o p h e t d i d not m a r r y a n y o ther l a d i e s d u r i n g
K h a d i j a h 's life, a n d he ha d a l l h i s children b y h e r e x c e p t
Ibrahim.
T h e s e c h ildren are: Al- K a s i m , A b du-Llahi, Zainab,
dRukayyah, Ommu-Kulthum,
and Fatimah.
In a b o u t 619 A.D. "Khadijah
d i e d at M e cca at the-age of 65, wh i l e t h e p r o p h e t was 5 0 years
old.
T h e ye a r in which K h a d i j a h died was c a l l e d the y e a r of
<&adness.
A l - K a s i m d i e d a t M e c c a at t h e a g e of 2 an d a o m e m o n t h s .
95.
328
-
Abdu-Llahi, Tahir, and T a yy i b we r e the p r o p het's sons.
Some
scholars said that the mother of Tayyib and Tahir w a s Khadijah and
they we r e born and died at Mecca.
Other scholars say that T ayyib
and Tahir are nicknames for Abdu-Llahi.
96.
One of the prophet's sons.
His mother was Mary, w h o m the ruler of
Egypt a l - M u q a w q i s gave to the prophet.
8/629.
97.
H e died at the age of 17 months,
She was the second daughter
99.
The third daughter of the prophet.
The daughter of Abu-Bakr.
the prophet had.
Her hand wa s sought by the prophet at
Mecca, a n d they were m a rri e d at Madina.
101.
in 10/631.
She was the first daughter of the prophet.
98.
100.
He was bo r n at Madina in
She was ma r r i e d to the prophet,
She died in 58/677,
after K h a d i j a h had died.
She died
during O m a r ' s c aliphate (13-24 = 634-644).
102.
She was ma r r i e d to the p r o p h e t in 3/624.
103.
She ma r r i e d the prophet in 7/628.
104.
She was m a r r i e d to the p r o p h e t in 7/628.
105.
In 2/623,
She d i e d in 45/665.
She di e d in 51/671.
She di e d in 50/670.
she married the prophet.
Y az i d bin Muawiyah
She d i e d du r i n g the reign of
i
(60-63 = 679=682).
'1
106.
The pr o p h e t married her in 6/627.
107.
The p r ophet married two w i v es ca l l e d Zainb.
Zainab K i juma meant,
the m that name.
al-Harth.
marriage,
She died in 40/660'.
It is not known which
but it is likely that he m e a n t both by g iving
T h e first Zainab was a daughter of Khuzaimah ibn
She was m a rried in 3/624.
she died.
w a s ma r r i e d in 5/626.
After about 3 m onths of her
The second Zainab was Zainab bint Gahsh.
In 20/640,
she died.
She
108.
329
She married the prophet in 5/626.
She died in 675 A.D.
T h e attention is drawn to the fact that the main reference for the
dates concerning the prophet,
his family, and his companions
menti o n e d here on the sign b o a r d was: Al-Makdasiy,
1285/1868.
109.
Quran 33:36-39.
110.
Q u ran 33:52.
111.
See: p. 286.
112.
See: P l a t e No.
113.
The text w r itten in the centre of the square ab o v e is also found,
in Arabic,
15.
in Ms.
by Dammann,
279888, Vol.
8 , Ms. 371,
It was also pub l i s h e d
1940 A, p. 277.
114.
33:33.
115.
See: P l a t e No.
116.
See: p. 296.
117.
13:29.
118.
Tafslr Ibn K a t h i r ,
119.
There are rivers of sweet water,
16.
Surah 13, A y a 29.
honey, wine, an d milk.
See: Q u r a n
47:15.
120.
Sahih Muslim# Vol.
4
121.
m
158-9.
A c cording to the order given,
6:127,
122.
3, pp.
*
17:57,
Al-Kadhiy,
122
40:39,
see: Q uran 16:31,
31:8, 79:41.
1276/1859, p. 140.
Also, see: A l-Safuriy,
.
123.
Al-Kadhiy,
124.
Tafslr Ibn K a t h i r #
125.
Vol. 5, p. 580.
126.
p. 2 2 2 .
127.
Sahih M u s l i m # Vol.
• *■ *
18:107, 25:15,
1276/1859, pp. 40-41.
Surah 17, A y a 21.
5, p. 692.
1358/1939, p.
128.
See: P l a t e No. 17.
129.
She w o r k e d at T a ita hill
Lamu in 1936,
330
-
inKe n y a as a Missionary.
W h e n she w a s at
she went to K ijuma and asked h i m for the signboard.
She died in En g l a n d about 20 y ears ago.
Interview with J.W.
130.
in Bromley.
Miss Edith B.M. L l o y d work e d as a Mis s i o n a r y
been in L a m u with Miss Murry.
She asked Kij u m a
in Mombasa.
for
Sh e had
a similar
signboard.
131.
A letter of which I have a copy.
132.
See: pp.
133.
The Swahili Co l l e c t i o n of Rev. J. Williamson, R e e l I.
134.
See: p.
135.
John 3:16-17.
136.
See: p.
137.
Tafslr Ibn K a t h i r , Surah
138.
See:
p.
139.
See:
Plate No. 8 .
140.
See:
Pla t e No. D.
141.
It is given as" Fath al-Mutafal Fi-Madh a l - N i a l , b y a l - S heikh Ah m e d
183-186,
170.
185.
4,A y a 159.
215.
bin M u hammad al-Ma g h r i b i y y al-Maqqariyy.
S.O.A.S., publi s h e d in India 1916.
is drawn, but Kijuma added,
T h e r e is a copy of it in
See: p. 340 w h e r e the slipper
in his slipper floral d e c o ration
surrounding the slipper.
Also, see: Ms. 279888, Vol, 4, Ms.
319 w h e r e the slipper
is
illustrated.
142.
These b e nefits are also given in the book of al-Maqqariyy, p p . 320-1.
143.
Sijelmassi,
144.
See: P l a t e No. 18.
1976, p. 245.
145.
331
-
I n terview w i t h Bwana A b d a l l a K h a t i b u in Lamu.
146.
See: p. 296.
147.
See: p. 302.
148.
See: P l a t e No.
19.
149.
See: Pla t e No.
20, the
one on
the right-hand side.
150.
See: P l a t e No.
20, the
one on
the left-hand side.
151.
This is an Islamic saying inscribed and hung on the w alls of many
Muslims'
houses.
152.
This saying has no connection,
153.
See: P l a t e No.
21, the
one on
in the text, wi t h the p r e c e d i n g one.
the left-hand side.
154.
It is the first A y a of Sur a h 48.
155.
It is a part of A y a 13 in Surah 61.
156.
See: P l a t e No.
157.
See: p.
182.
158.
See: p.
182.
159.
Interview w i t h Mzee S a l i m K heri and Bwana A b d a l l a M. K irome in
Lamu.
21, the
one on
the right-hand side.
Bw. K i rome saw this s tanza inscribed on sig n b o a r d hung on a
wall of Bw.
Mzimba's house be f o r e Bw. M zimba died.
160.
A letter dated 25th November 1935, Ms.
161.
A letter dat e d
It says:
Dhu A l - Q a d a 1354
253028.
(= 1935), Ms. 47796.
"Wewe w a t a k a khabari zangu zote.
162.
Ms. 279888, Vol.
163.
See: pp. 349-352.
164.
Mzee A b d u l a t i f i Othmani of Mam b u r u i said:
Ni udhia na kazi k u b w a " ,
I, p. 8 .
"Yeye ali na buku meandika m a c h a f u ya kulla mtu".
165.
It is a saying based on the m e a n i n g of A y a No. 5-6,
166.
It is a sayi n g based on the m e a n i n g of
167.
It is part of the text found in Pl a t e No. 20, on the left-hand side.
Aya.No.
Surah 94,
5, Surah
I.
-
332
-
168.
See: pp. 46-47.
169.
See: p.
170.
She was a sister of
A.W.
She used to lecture at the A f r i c a n Dept,
of the S.O.A.S.
1930,
she retired,
Ashton.
213.
In
She died on 1st O c tober
and w a s r e p l a c e d by E.O.
1938.
Interview with Miss M, Bry a n in S.O.A.S.
Also,
171.
see: Ms. 253028.
W.H. told Kijuma that Miss W e r n e r showed h i m the p a i n t i n g of Buraki
on that day, but he
f r o m Kijuma.
did not m e n t i o n wh e n or ho w Mi s s Werner got it
See: Ms. 253028.
172.
See: P- 32.
173.
See: Pla t e No. 2 2 , on the l e f t-hand side.
174,
See: P- 251.
175.
A letter dated 14th Novemb e r 1933 from W.H. to Kijuma,
176.
See: P*
177.
See; P. 180.
178.
See: p. 180.
179.
See: P« 224.
180.
See: P- 238,
181.
See: P- 242.
182.
See: P- 208.
183.
See: P* 215.
184.
See: P* 70.
185.
interview with Bibi Patuma, M. A l - B a k a r i y of La m u in London.
Ms. 253028.
170.
186.
F r o m time to time,
333
-
that pr i c k l y animal gets rid of its p r i ckles or
some of th e m to allow new p r i c k l e s to replace the old.
A n y one
w andering about its hole m ight be able to pick up these prickles.
Until now the people of Lamu use these pri c k l e s to make holes in
the hat for e m b r o idering them with a coloured thread which is
usually m a d e from silk.
Kij u m a composed a song m e n t i o n i n g these
prickles as needles used in sewing.
have used them in sewing,
See: the song in p.
This suggests that K ijuma may
esp e c i a l l y as he w a s a man of invention.
147.
187.
Interview with Sheikh Y.A. Omari in S.O.A.S.
188.
I have a co p y of it.
-
334
-
C H A P T E R VI
Kij u m a ' s R e l igion
;:On t h i s subject,
the first r equi r e m e n t is a review of the main published
.-data dealing w i t h K i juma's religion.
G e r m a n or Swahili,
T h e y were p u b l i s h e d either in
and only a few lines are av a i l a b l e in English.
t h e r e f o r e b e gin b y setting them out here,
We
in c h r o n o l o g i c a l order:
3L+
M i s s i o n a r y H e y e r 1 p u b l i s h e d in 1914,
that which he r e p o r t e d on 17th
Grrne 1893:- *Three young Swahili men want to b ecome C h ristians,
particular
the scribe M o hamadi
2
is out s p o k e n about his conversion.
raihis h a s caused qui t e a d i s t u r b a n c e in the town.
=threatened that they will lose their
t a k e the converts
in
jobs.
T h e y h a v e been
So, the M i s s i o n will have to
into its care and under its wing*.
3
4
i n t h e s a m e p u b l i c a t i o n of 1914,
M i s s i o n a r y Pieper
rep o r t e d on 20th
^Jnne 1893:- "'The scribe Moha m a d i w h o m w e offered e m p l o y m e n t for
^translation work
is now going th r o u g h a crisis*.
t e a r s of contrition.
prayers.
L a s t night,
he wept
H e cried to J e s u s and st r u g g l e d d u ring his
We a r e confident that he will soon come to a breakthrough,
^ h i s raises p r o b l e m s for us b e ca u s e we shall ha v e to p r o t e c t him, employ
^him, p a y his bills,
look after him, and keep h i m busy.
Mohamadi is
^busily doing his o w n m i s s i o n a r y work b e cause he w o u l d like to ha v e some
p e o p l e with h i m .
-
335
-
Since he will b e come unemployed as a result of his c o n v e r s i o n to Je s u s he used to do w r i t i n g work for the m o s q u e - the m i s s i o n a r i e s will keep
h i m bu s y copying p r overbs and other verses from the Bible, which the
miss i o n a r i e s d istribute as pamphlets.
saying:
Now,
'Anger and h ostility are great.
the pe o p l e of the town are
In the past all the people of
the town were your friends but now you are corrupting people.
turn to the m i s s i o n a r i e s are expelled'.
A n d then a few days later, on
24 t h J u n e 1893, it is reported that all has finished.
'A m o m e n t ago our
scribe declared that he does not want to be a Christian.
pe r s u a d e d him.
Those who
T h e y have
Th e y have invented accusations against him, saying that
they will t h row h i m in jail.
Mohamadi was unable to resist,
A g a i n s t this terrifying opposition,
so he withdrew.
U n f o rtunately,
certain
things indicated that the accusations which we r e l e v e l l e d a g ainst h i m
w e r e not ent i r e l y without foundation.
disappointment for the Missionaries.
This was of c ourse a bitter
W e had p laced gr e a t hope in him.
It is doubtful if the Mission St ation can continue.
be e n closed,
T h e schools have
and the children no longer want to learn stories from the
B i b l e . '*
M i s s i o n a r y Piep e r continued reporting just after 1912:- "Mohamadi
remained all that time in contact with the missionaries,
faithful to them.
Until now,
no clear devotion to the Lord.
a n d has remained
there is no clear breakthrough.
There is
H e has not been b a p t i s e d yet."
3.
5
In 1932, Missio n a r y W. May reported:b a p t i s m of Mohamadi Kiju m a al-Bakri.
"A great stir c a u s e d by the
For all of us being together with
this nice old man and his b a p tis m was a time of great joy and inner
strengthening for the who l e Dis t r i c t including Kipini and Lamu.
-
336
-
T h i s step by Kijuma is of great s i g nificance and we ho p e that it will
.have good results and blessings for us for further work.
This step of
'K i j u m a has made a strong impression on the M u h a m madans of Lamu,
w a s among them a man of some importance.
times.
since he
He had been to Mecca several
He knew the Q u r a n better than most, and is a master of ma n y arts
-which few p e o p l e know.
■skilled craftsman.
These talents won h i m the title F u n d i , that is,
A b out his pre v i o u s life, we have a l r e a d y seen a
report b y Brother L a ngenbach wh o m Ki j u m a called his teacher because
Brother L a ngenbach taught h i m reading and writing in the R o m a n script.
.Sere is in t r anslation what K i j u m a himself has wr i t t e n about his
experiences:
’Every one who can read may.learn my report.
I was born in
L a m u a n d learned to read the Q u r a n there.
Already
another took m e with her to Mecca,
sanctuary of the Muhammadans.
to the
at the age of ten
my
Later,
I travelled again several times to Mecca,
There,
I often vi s i t e d al-Kaaba, and I have be e n to M a d i n a three times,
w h e r e I saw the tomb of Muhammad.
of Islam,
then m y mother died.
a n d P i eper came to Lamu.
in total four times.
W h e n I grew up, I l e arned the doctrine
Not long after that, mis s i o n a r i e s Heyer
F r o m th e m I heard the m e s s a g e of G od's word.
-also remember the other missionar i e s Miihlhoff, Kraft,
a n d Langenbach.
letters.
I
Schmidt, Eckhart,
The latter taught me to read and to wr i t e the European
A l l these E uropeans taught me the Gospel,
-missionaries later on.
-and of Christianity.
and also the younger
In this w a y I learned both the doctrine of Islam
A n d I know that Muhammad was a liar, and that the
iSon of G o d is our saviour.
I wa n t to follow the Son of God."
^Missionary May c ontinued reporting:jplace in accordance wit h the
the congregation on the bank
rules.
"The celebration of b a p t i s m took
O n e Sunday morning,
of the T a n a river
{at Ngao).
we gat h e r e d with
The choir sang some songs,
337
-
then B r others Steubing e x p l a i n e d again the
significance of b a p t i s m quoting the words of the A p o s t l e Paul: R o mans 6 ,
3-4......... Mohamadi w i s h e d fro m then to be ca l l e d M a s i h i i i.e. a
follower of the Messiah or a man of Jesus,
I had p r e v i o u s l y explained to
h i m and in a most urgent w a y the n ature of the c o n f e s s i o n he,
baptism, w o u l d be making in front of G o d and mankind.
into the water with, we must assume,
through his
N o w he descended
the strong resolve never more to be
the servant of evil.
May the good lord now keep our dear black friend
going by His spirit.
Aft e r the baptism, we c o n g r e g a t e d in the C hurch for
a short speech and finished with the community h a ving an evening meal
with the newly baptised".
4.
Thi s fourth point is the most
important of all, b e c a u s e it represents the
only document to be found w r itte n b y K ijuma h i mself a bout his
conversion.
When E.D. a s k e d Kij u m a in 1936 to wr i t e about his
conversion, he wrote in A r a b i c script
"In 1318
(= 1900),
the time of
ruin me but I w a s saved
6
in Swahili the following:-
the D.C. Rogers,
by the Europeans.
gave me the book of al-Madih
9
to copy.
Prophet.
He said:
wa n t e d to
Th e Sh a r i f u A b d a l l a bin Zubeir
He wo u l d gi v e me three Rupees.
I told h i m that I can not write twenty - n i n e letters
Rupees.
8
the S h a r i f u
7
10
for three
'It does not matter because it is the book of the
Also you may be rewarded in Heaven.
Y o u can a c c u r a t e l y wr i t e
it whenever y o u get the
chance to do so'.
one letter of this book
in one day except the good m a n (scribe) who does
his best.
After
ten days had passed,
had finished the book.
Th e r e is no one who can copy
he saw m e again.
I a n swer e d h i m to wait a little.
shall sue y o u in front of the elders'.
H e asked me if I
H e said:
'I
-
338
-
I thought that he was going to sue me before Bw. T a j i r i or Sheikh Ali
Kitole
11
because it is they who are m y fathers.
But one day, I was
with Mr. Pieper when we heard som e b o d y ask if he could come in.
a l lowed h i m to come in.
It was Sha r i f u Ab d a l l a bin Zubeir.
He
His p u rpose
was to put the case of the book in the E u r o p e a n ’s (Mr. P i e p e r 1s) hands.
The Eur o p e a n a s ked me (about what has been said),
said:
'No one can do it for four Rupees,
the sake of the Prophet.
copy it for h i m ’.
four R u p e e s ’.
b o o k 1.
So,
H e must be p a t i e n t and I shall
Mr. Pieper told him:
But he (i.e. the Sharifu)
The E u ropean a s k e d h i m
answered:
but he told me that it was for
I accepted.
The European,
I c o n f i r m e d it, and
said:
'I w o u l d give you
’I w a n t n o thing but the
to give m e a further f i f t e e n days.
He
’I c a n only give seven days a n d on the e ighth day he must give
me the b o o k 1.
At that time,
he had a l r e a d y r e p orted m e to the D.C., Mr.
R o gers who was ve r y strict and a ma n w hose orders one obeyed.
people of La m u were afraid of him.
but m y heart w a s extremely down.
handwriting.
That made m e tell him:
Al l the
'I am ready',
I left and wrote it in ve r y hasty
I delivered it to h i m on the seventh day.
w h e n he looked
at it and found it had been wr i t t e n in very h a s t y handwriting, he became
sad and went to Mr. R o gers to ma k e a big issue of it
I w a s at Shee T a l i b ’s house,
Rogers.
(against me).
Wh i l e
a p o l i c e m a n came and c a l l e d me to see Mr.
The latter reprimanded m e ve r y severely then he told me;
'The
Sharifu A b dalla bin Zubeir was
sent to m e by his c o m p a t r i o t s to tell me
that you are taking their sons
and y o u go with them to the
Mission-station.
Y o u are forbidden to acc o m p a n y these y o u t h s or to be
a cco m p a n i e d by them'.
Utukuni-mosque.
I left the D.C.
and went f o r w a r d to the
I abused the S h a r i f u more b adly than the abuses w hich I
received from Mr. Rogers.
He
(the Sharifu)
did not utter even one word.
He went to Mr. Rogers and Mr. Ro g e r s informed h i m that he had c alled
Kijuma and rebuked h i m severely.
The Sharifu asked:
called me,
-
'In w h i c h w a y did yo u rebuke him?
m u c h and with no respite'.
arrest Kijuma.
339
Ki j u m a abused me so
Mr. R o g e r s then ordered five soldiers to
T h e y went to the ho u s e of Shee T a l i b bin Ahmadi.
shouting.
I a s k e d Shee T a l i b to tell them that I was not in.
He told them so, but when I fixed m y eyes on his face,
was afraid.
So, I left the house.
realise that Kijuma was m y nickname.
I asked h i m why.
I realised that he
W h e n I went out into the street,
saw a p o l i c e m a n call e d A b b u d standing by.
w a s there.
Th e y
He knew me,
Therefore,
I
but he did not
he a s k e d me if K i juma
He ans w e r e d that he w a s standing by to
watch for Kijuma until the other p o l i c e m e n a r rived a n d to break into the
house to arrest him.
Then,
I a n s w e r e d him:
'Yes, he is in'.
went home, I w o u l d not be able to avoid arrest.
al-S h e i k h Salih bin Abdur Rahamani,
You
m y relatives, b e c a u s e
During this conversation,
sister of the same mother came in.
bint Abbasi also came in.
shiraa
14
Then,
I said:
'What have
do not know what h a p p e n e d to me*.
A l - S h e i k h Salih a n d his wife are
the same.
I rushed
He bl a m e d me about this
'Suppose that m y w i f e had been here'.
I got to do w i t h your wife.
our grandmother is
M t a mbake bint Muhamadi,
M y m o t h e r ' s cousin,
12
my
Bibi Jahi
13
I told Bibi Jahi to let me go in her
,
and be led to the house of m y aunt, Bibi J u l a bint Omari,
my father's full sister.
She d i d as I asked her.
I found Bibi Esha bint Oma r i
me at once:
16
with
'What have you done,
if I
I hurried to
and shouted out to him.
into the house before he gave me permission.
rush and said:
Thus,
Now,
15
W h e n w e arrived there,
her sister, Jula. Bibi Jula asked
m y son?
The s o l diers
again until we got tired of replying to them.
come here time and
D u r i n g this conversation,
a m a n called Mpampaja came in and c a l l e d me in a w a y w h i c h showed that he
had been instructed by the police- c h i e f .
m e n t i o n e d above) answered:
But my m o t h e r s
'He is not i n ' .
(i.e.
the ladies
-
340
-
O ur slave M ili z a w a s there, w h o m I asked:
Heyer and Mr. Pieper'.
matter.
I replied:
Mr, Heyer an d Mr. Pieper came and a sked about the
'The Sharifu A b d a l l a bin Zubeir has g a i n e d the upper
hand of Mr. R o g e r s over me.
me then:
T h e ca u s e of this is his book'.
'There is no problem.
went, Mr. H eyer
in front,
ready*.
Let us go home'.
home.
Then,
they told me:
except from the religious side'.
I slept there until the morning.
W h e n we arrived,
I said:
T h e D.C.
Then,
a n d I was behind,
until we ar r i v e d on the top floor.
Then,
w a n t it'.
answered:
m e along.
then Mr. Pieper,
'We want you'.
then Mr. Rogers,
T h e y sat down w h i l e
Mr. Pieper and Mr. R ogers had a ve r y long conversation
in a n Europ ean language
him'.
'I am
it f r i g htens even
Mr. Pieper told the D.C.:
Mr. Heyer in front,
Rogers asked me:
'We cannot
Mr. Pi e p e r told him:
W e we n t upstairs,
I w a s standing.
We
Then, we all w e n t to the D.C.
he looked at me wi t h stern eyes.
laughed.
'Come on'.
I said:
'Do not look at- Bw. Mohamadi in such a stern manner,
me'.
Th e y told
I in the middle, and Mr. P i eper behind me until
we a r rived at these Europeans'
speak with the D.C.
'Go and c a l l the E u r o peans Mr.
(kanena sana kwa k i z u n g u ).
'Do y o u not want Muhammad?
he a s k e d me:
I answered:
'Do you not want Islam?'
He a s k e d me for the third time:
'I do not wa n t him'.
In the end, Mr.
'I do not want
I answered:
'I do not
'Do y o u not w a n t M u h a m m a d ? ’
He a s k e d Mr. Heyer a n d Mr. Pieper to take
I w a s free to go with the Europeans.
Now,
yo u see h o w the
Sharifu w a nted to ruin me while it w a s the E u r opeans who s a v e d me.
w a s the beginning of m y following Christianity.
By M u h a m a d i bin Ab u
Bakari Kiguma a l - B a k a n y Masihii, w r i t t e n on 20th R a m a d h a n 1355".
17
5.
In 1969, E.D. w r o t e : -
18
I
"Kijuma seems to have s t arted a rel a t i o n s h i p
with the m i s s i o n a r i e s at an early date.
That
A l r e a d y in 1893,
341
-
it was said that the scribe Mohamadi,
i.e. Kijuma who
was often e m ployed by the m i s s i on a r i e s for t r anslation work, w o u l d soon
convert to Christianity.
A l t h o u g h t this significant step followed only
after 4 decades, he was suspected by m a n y Muslims.
the missionaries.
He says in a text wh i c h he himself w r o t e down in
19
1936:
He be c a m e close to
20
'In the year 1318,
during the time of the D.C., Mr. Rogers,
a Sharifu tried to destroy me, but I was s aved by the Europeans'.
The
Europeans who saved h i m from M u s l i m persecu t i o n s we r e the missionaries
„
•
Heyer and Pieper.
A.W.
21
^
m a d e a v e r y deep impression on him.
Again
and again he says admiringly, how she took great pains in order to do her
scientific research.
Ng a o on the Tana,
40 years.
About 1930, he w a s b a ptised by M i s s i o n a r y May in
after he had be e n dealing with C h r i s t i a n questions for
In those years, a British free missionary, Rev. Ch e e s e who
also appeared in one of Kijuma's poems as Bwana Tj i z i
strongly.
22
influenced h i m
P e r haps K i juma had the g o o d fortune to have got to know the
Europeans only from their good side.
O n the other h a n d h e came into
conflict wi t h the strongly M u s l i m p opulation in L a m u after sympathising
with Chris t i a n i t y and more fully after his baptism.
It is u nderstandable
that they regarded Kiju m a who knew much about Is l a m and wh o had been four
times to Mecca and three times to Madina as an enemy a n d fought against
him.
That could be one of the reasons why he, as A l l e n
23
writes, was
not regarded as being very important by his own fellow townsmen.
What
else could he have done but feel close to the Europeans since also
economically life was difficult for him?
Nasara wa Arabu
24
in which he praises the Chr i s t i a n s in e v e r y respect
as compared with the Arabs.
renegade.
This is e x p r e s s e d in the p o e m
In spite of that, he w a s far f r o m being a
I remember
in 1936, wh e n the first c o nflict bet w e e n the J e w s and Ar a b s
took pla c e in Palestine,
he was fi r m l y on the side of the Arabs, an d said
that if he w e r e younger,
he wou l d go an d b ecome active as an Emir,
other words a m i l i t a r y leader, among the Arabs in Palest i n e .
stands before us as a man with ma n y talents.
in
So, Kijuma
It is th a n k s to h i m that he
became an i ntermediary and interpreter for m a n y s c holars of the old
S w ahili literature.
c lass i c a l poetry.
character.
25
His own c omp o s i t i o n s do not b e l o n g a n y m o r e to the
Wha t had the strongest effect on h i m w a s his firm
He stood up for what he regarded as being right.
A n external
sign of that is that he did not c h a n g e his n a m e when he was baptised but
he added the nisbe Masihii
former name.
m y wife.
Therefore,
(The one wh o belongs to the Messiah)
he let h i m s e l f be called B w a n a M a sihii by me and
In his individuality he w e n t a lonely way.
after his baptism, and his only son left h i m too.
have never seen him embittered.
w o r k of Kijuma so critically.
Hi s w i f e left h i m
But de s p i t e all that I
It is well known that strong
p e r s o n a l i t i e s give rise to criticism.
truth has to be found.
to his
It is Mr. A l l e n
that regards the
Here, as in the w h o l e of science,
the
M y task wa s to show h o w an e v e n t u a l l y justified
c r i t i q u e on K i juma's way of wo r k i n g is not to be e x p l a i n e d fr o m ethical
aspects but fr o m the h i story of his life.
It w o u l d b e d e s i r a b l e to bring
together in one m o n o g r a p h all the mat e r i a l s about K i j u m a that are
p r o b a b l y p r e sent in the Neukirche n e r Mission.
K i j u m a di e d in L a m u during
or shortly after the S e c o n d World War when all the links with Eu r o p e had
been broken.
M i s s i o n a r y May writes about that in a letter:
war, we heard that he had died*
'After the
I do not know wh e n the C h r i s t i a n s w a n t e d
to bur y him, but the M u s l i m family w a n t e d to bury h i m a c c o r d i n g to their
custom.
-
343
-
T h e y could not get an agreement until the C h r i s t i a n s w e n t to the English
D.C, and talked it over with him.
the b o d y to the family,
He told them that they should leave
since the real Masihii w o u l d be in Heaven.
In
that w a y the conflict about the body of the faithful follower of Jesus
w a s resolved.
I do not know exactly when that took place'.
Inf o r m a t i o n f r o m Mission Inspector H. Lenhard in N e u k i r c h e n " .
6
.
In 1980, E.D. wro t e : -
26
"Kijuma was m a r r i e d four times.
left h i m after he was baptised.
Helewa,
His last wife
Furthermore, his on l y child,
a son n a m e d
who was working at the pr i n t i n g office at Zanzibar when I* met h i m
(in 1937), did not agree to his conversion.
In add i t i o n to these
p rob l e m s due to his c o nversion his p r o p e r t y at Lamu was also taken away
f r o m him.
After his baptism, he was
M u s l i m relatives and acquaintances.
exposed to m a n y har d s h i p s b y
his
W h e n he w a s disinherited, an
action
contrary to the law of Ken y a at that time,
his services to make this d e cisi o n invalid.
p r e f e r r e d to live in poverty.
About
the B r i t i s h officer offered
Kij u m a r e f u s e d the h e l p and
K i j u m a ' s c hoice of themes in
his
compositions, he seems not to be intere s t e d in t r a d i t i o n a l subjects.
T h i s concerns the treatment of the Maghazi - n a r r a t i o n s as well as the
r e p r esentation of important char a c t e r s in the Q u r a n like Jacob, Joseph,
Job, or Jonah.
The reason for this lies certainly
a t t i t u d e towards Islam.
in his critical
A n o ther reason is that this kind of poe t r y is
firmly e m bedded in M u s l i m piety.
T h e s e poems are r e c i t e d on certain
o c c a s i o n s like death, and serve to express piety, an d also to increase
it.
K i juma's relations w i t h the m i s s i o n a r i e s and his e s t e e m for
Ch r i s t i a n i t y even before his con v e r s i o n p r o h i b i t e d h i m f r o m choosing
t h e m e s from the I s lamic world.
for other subjects".
Hi s conduct of life c a u s e d him to look
-
344
-
Wit h these six p r e c e d i n g points, w e come to the end of the main points
p u b l i s h e d concerning K i juma's religion.
revi e w e d in the same order.
Th e s e poi n t s w i l l now be
The a i m is to try and answer the following
questions: W a s K i j u m a real l y a Ch r i stian?
neither a c h r i s t a i n nor a Muslim?
Was he a M u slim?
Was he
A n d if so, was he a believer or an
atheist?
1.
T h e first point of M i s s i o n a r y Heyer does not need discussion, because
apart from showing how eager the M i s s i o n was for K i j u m a ' s conversion,
it
is super s e d e d by the second poin t of M i s s i o n ar y P i e p e r when he later
reported:- "A m o m e n t ago, K i j u m a d e c l a r e d that he does not want to be a
Chrisitan"•
2
.
A l t h o u g h this p o i n t of Mi s s i o n a r y P ieper shows that K i j u m a refused to
b ecome a Christian,
compatriots'
it p i c t u r e d his refusal as an e s c a p e f r o m his
p r e s s u r e and the threat of jail.
M i s s i o n a r y Pieper's
r epresentation of the events is exaggerated, b e cause apart from knowing
that there is no c ompulsion in religion,
of his compatriots.
27
K i j u m a never feared any one
The only one w h o m he feared w a s the D.C. of Lamu,
Mr. Rogers, as w e shall see in this thesis.
the report of M i s s i o n a r y Pieper
Furthermore,
is not acceptable.
chronologically
It is not a cceptable
be c a u s e it a p pears that two of the events reported b y hi m in 1893
a c t u a l l y took p l ace in 1900.
T h e first was the a c c u s a t i o n s w hich we r e
l e velled against Kijuma by his com p a t r i o t s w h o w a n t e d to ha v e h i m in
jail.
The second one is the clo s u r e of the M i ssion school.
event will be explained
T h e first
in detail w h e n the fourth p o i n t is reviewed.
28
-
345
-
The second event took p l a c e as a result of the first one
be a d ded here that Kij u m a * s son Helewa, with others,
29
, but it mu s t
c o n t i n u e d to attend
30
this Mission school until 1900.
the D.C.
of Lamu
Moreover, K ijuma wa s forbidden by
in 1900 to accom p a n y or to be a c c o m p a n i e d by the
ch ildren of his c o m p a triots to attend the Mi s s i o n school.
it appears that M i s s i o n a r y Pieper ga v e the year 1893
31
Therefore,
to date for events
happ e n e d s u b s e q u e n t l y in 1900.
T h r e e important points are still to be made here.
a)
M i s s i onaries Heyer and Pieper gav e the year 1893 as the year
in wh i c h
K i j u m a tried to convert to Christi a n i t y , and failed to report about
K i j u m a fs co n v e r s i o n in 1900, yet K i j u m a himself gave no other date but
1900 as the year of his conversion,
in a document in his own
32
handwriting.
Furthermore,
the two m i s sionaries w e r e the ones who
o f f e r e d C h r i s t i a n i t y to Kiju m a in 1900, and ma d e his a c c e p t a n c e the only
alte r n a t i v e to being
jailed;
33
a l t h o u g h these m i s s i o n a r i e s di d not
report Kiju m a * s conversion of 1900 per h a p s to avoid b e i n g a c cused of
involvement in the offence w h i c h K i j u m a c o m m itted aga i n s t the wh o l e town
in 1900.
34
But by this avoidance,
it becomes more d i f f i c u l t for us to
b e lieve that Kijuma was a c t u a l l y f a i thful to this c o n v e r s i o n of 1900,
since it w a s not rep o r t e d by these same mission a r i e s wh o w e r e with him,
w itnessing the c onversion in front of the D.C.,
b)
Mr. Rogers.
35
,
It may be d o u b t e d that K i j u m a tri e d to convert to C h r i s t i a n i t y in 1893,
b e c a u s e he himself did not even refer to this date in his ow n record of
36
his conversion.
-
346
-
c)
Th i s point relates to what was re p o r t e d by M i s s io n a r i e s Heyer and Pieper,
i.e. that Kijuma became unempl o y e d as a result of h i s con v e r s i o n to
Christianity.
1882
37
In fact,
from the time that K ijuma left the chuo in about
until he died in 1945, he found various kinds of e mployment with
his compatriots in Lamu.
Th e y used to e mploy h i m for his talents
38
.by carving w o o d items for them,
(e.g.
39
composing songs for them,
or by
40
scribing
as
for t h e m what they wanted)
from b e fore 1893 until his death,
indicated elsew h e r e in this thesis.
In other words,
K i juma was not
t h e r e offic ially e m p l o y e d by a m o s q u e or by any one of his compatriots as
a n employee with a regular
job, re c e i v i n g a regular salary,
and did not
b e c a u s e of his religion, beco m e jobless.
3.
T h i s point has two main elements.
T h e first is K i j u m a ' s report about his
experience with C h r i s t i a n i t y and Islam.
The second is his ba p t i s m at
N g a o on the T a n a by M i s s i o n a r y May of the N e u k i r c h e n M i s s i o n in 1932.
Co n c e r n i n g the first element,
Ngao,
I t r a velled to that M i s s i o n in Lamu and in
to try and see a co p y of this report.
In 1980,
I i n terviewed the
B r i t i s h m i s s i o n a r y Eric R o e in La m u a n d the G e r m a n m i s s i o n a r y Fritz
G i s s e l in Ngao.
M i s s i o n a r y R o e informed me that they had nothing written
b y or about Kijuma in the Mission.
M i s s i o n a r y Gissel,
a s s u r e d me that K i j u m a was b a ptis e d at Ngao in 1931,
a n d his wife,
but told me that the
M i s s i o n had nothing written by or a bout Kijuma, and they p r o m i s e d to send
m e every thing w r i t t e n by or about Ki j u m a which could be found in the
jsame M i ssion in Germany.
W h e n they v i s i t e d G e r m a n y in J a n u a r y of 1981,
th e y sent me all that could be found there about Kijuma.
T h i s was a copy
of the report of Missio n a r y M a y wh i c h we are p r e s e n t l y reviewing.
could not trace K i juma's report in his own handwriting.
They
-
347
-
.in spite of that, the report .will -be dealt with as if it were actually
written by Kijuma*
The report readsi— *2 know that Muhammad-was a liar,
and that the Son of God is our saviour*
1 want to follow the Son of God"*
if Kijuma really did write this, the judgement on him as a writer would
b e one of two*
Either he was sincere or he was not*
if he was at that
time (1932) sincere, he must then have changed his mind later, in 1942,
to become a Muslim again, because in this year (1942), he .composed a long
-41
poem about Jesus called: Kisa cha Sayyidna Isa.
In this poem, he
said that Jesus was nothing but a great prophet who was born of Mary, and
.^not the Son of God*
Furthermore, he took the Quran .and the Hadith of the
prophet Muhammad as his only sources for his poem.
42
It is very
important to realise that this poem was the last one Kijuma composed,
three years before he died*
i f Kijuma was not sincere in his report, it would be-due to the following:
He knew very well that he should respect .and obey the missionaries
because they were the ones whom he believed had saved him from being
□ailed-
43
Hence, he had to pretend in front of them that he was still
.faithful to his conversion of 1900*
looked after,
44
And in return he also would be -well
especially when we realise that he was then an old man
of 80.
The second element in this point concerns Ki juma’s baptism.
There was
nothing written by Kijuma that could be traced, referring to this baptism
.of 1932*
The name Masihii which he wrote at the -end of his name in the
^45
^document which he wrote in .1936 for ;E*D.
might be considered .a
reference to this baptism, since this name w a s the one which Kijuma chose
to b e called by, as Missionary May wrote*
46
It is well known that the
baptised persons want to sign their baptised names'Wherever theyput
•their signatures*
Kijuma was not one of those*
As.far as we know, b e
signed h is baptised name ^about; four times in his whole lif e*
-
348
-
It so h a p p e n s that each time he did so was in his c o r r e s p o n d e n c e with
re ligious Christ i a n s
like E.D.
(including his letters)
and J.W.
N u m erous wo r k s of Kijuma
w h ich he sent to his E u r o p e a n / C h r i s t i a n clients
b efore a n d after 1932 were signed by him, using his I s l a m i c name only
w i thout the word Masihii.
This su g gests that his b a p t i s e d name was
s o met h i n g which he ve r y rarely used, an d according to circumstances.
Missionary May wrote:-
"This step of Kijuma's b a p t i s m m a d e a strong
i m pression on the M u h a m m a d a n s of L a m u " .
W h e n I went to L a m u in 1980,
I cou l d not find one elder M u s l i m who had
he ard about this baptism, a l t h o u g h those elders w h o m I i n terviewed still
remember the acc u s a t i o n s which w e r e levelled against K i j u m a in 1900,
47
W h e n I r a ised this q u e s t i o n of b a p t i s m amongst the M u s l i m s of Lamu, the
reply w h i c h u s u a l l y received was in the form of a question:
"Did he?"
4.
This p o i n t r epresents the only document w r i t t e n by K i j u m a about his
conversion,
for E.D.
The d o cument contains three m a m
first is about the reason for w h i c h the D.C. of Lamu,
Ki j u m a ' s arrest.
station.
points.
48
Th e
Mr. Rogers, ordered
T h e second is K i j u m a ' s taking r efuge in the Mission
T h e third is his co n v e r s i o n as the only w a y to avoid
p e rsecution.
W h i l e Kijuma,
in this document,
focuses on the story of copying the book
of a l - M a d i h as the m a i n cause b e h i n d his a r r e s t - o r d e r , a n d briefly refers
to the acc u s a t i o n s of his compatri o t s that he a c c o m p a n i e d their children
b e h i n d their bac k s to the Mission school, he fails to m e n t i o n the main
offence, w h i c h g a v e rise to the order of his arrest.
W h e n I w e n t to La m u
in 1980, I found that the elders w h o m were inte r v i e w e d still remember
this o f fence w h i c h led to K i j u m a ' s arrest being ordered.
-
349
-
It happened that Kijuma himself told one of these elders,
Mzee S a lim Kheri,
the story of the o f fence in detail*
T h e Swahili text
of the story is given in the appendix under the title:
picnic".
49
his best friend
Mandari
"The
This mandari was an event which upset all the people of
Lamu as a result of their religious beliefs.
Be f o r e explaining in detail
what happened at this m a n d a r i , its cause should be mentioned.
After
Kijuma had started devoting his time to the singing competitions,
50
he
became addicted to alcohol to the extent that all his compatriots knew
about it.
W h e n they found out that K i juma had tried not only to tempt
their sons to come to his house for singing,
dancing,
and probably
drinking, but also to attract them to go to the M i s s i o n school,
w a r n e d their sons not to go to K i j u m a ' s home.
Then,
they
all these people
called Kijuma "M p o t o f u " an evil p e r s o n who leads others to evil".
Knowing what he was called by the p e o p l e of the town, he, with his
competitive character,
insisted on teaching th e m a lesson.
can be compared to a mil i t a r y raid.
He invaded the town.
T h e lesson
To be
successful, h e had to train his "military detachment" wh i c h was composed
of a young r epresentative from every family in the town,
the raid.
The training was carried out in secret.
to take part in
T h e weapons which
were to be used on the b attlefiel d we r e thirty-two v i n a n d a
his own hand;
"troops"
raid.
he also p u rchased two cases of whisky.
51
made b y
He had trained his
in using this equipment for some time, b e f o r e carrying out the
When he was sure that these "troops" had a t t a i n e d the desired
level of p e rfection in using their equipment, he p e r s u a d e d his teacher
Mwenye Mansabu
52
to be present as a represe n t a t i v e of his mother's
clan, and Bwana Nahudha as a represen t a t i v e of his father's.
This persuasion
350
-
(or it might be ca l l e d "invitation")
of mandari "The picnic",
went under the name
on one T h u r s d a y afternoon in 1900,
at a farm
just outside the town and b e s i d e the house of a p e r s o n ca l l e d Muhamadi
bin Abdalla.
T h e representatives went to the army barracks, where they
had been invited,
their "military"
only to find out that the "troops" w e r e ready to start
operation.
After
they had started the operation by
playing the thirty-two v i n a n d a , and before they drank the whisky, Kijuma
gave p ermis sion to his family representatives to leave.
The two
representatives left the field after finding out the p u r p o s e of the
invitation.
The a i m was to show that Kijuma was not the only mpotofu in
the town, but that he w a s one of m a n y who had similar traits.
interesting that K i juma gave orders to his "troops"
after most of them had got drunk.
It is
to invade the town
H e was careful not to let the leaders
of the troops get drunk lest they w o u l d be incapable of carrying out his
orders and leading the troops.
Th e two persons wh o s e roles were to carry
the flags of the "army" and to lead the troops to w h e r e v e r the
c ommander-in-chief ordered, w e r e A and B„
The "army" p e n e t r a t e d the
streets of the town under the com m a n d of. Kijuma and "shot" any one they
saw by dancing and muttering: Ta ta ta ta ta ta and puh p u h puh,
in a
singing voice.
Because the p e o p l e of La m u were taken by surpise, they could not stop the
"troops" before they had occupied the whole town.
following day,
the great "conqueror"
town without a n y resistance,
insisted on announcing
On Friday,
the
found himself o c c u p y i n g the w hole
so he pl a n n e d a pub l i c d e c l a r a t i o n which he
in the p r e s e n c e of "newsmen".
H e attracted about
fifty of them around him after he had given every
one of them some
biscuits,
h i m 24 Cents,
if the "newsman" was a man,
was a boy, he p r o m i s e d him 12 Cents.
he pro m i s e d
and if
he
-
351
-
Also, Kiju m a gave every one of these 50 "newsmen"
gimmick,
a bell as a p u b licity
and p l a y e d his kinanda while the chorus m a d e up of "newsmen"
shaking their bells,
sang the fol lowing d e claration p r e p a r e d by Kijuma:-
K u f a n a n a kumezie
(We all)
Wapi
W h e r e are those who we r e laughing at each
kutekana
became similar
other.
A s o t e n d a yeye
W h o is not doing it h i m s e l f
Ni wake kijana
His son is doing it
I k izinga ni nduuye
Or his brother
Y a tundeni sana
Watch carefully
When his comp a t r i o t s considered this,
end to such raids of Kijuma,
i.e. whisky,
a g ainst them.
(what is happening)
they found it n e c e s s a r y to p u t an
in w h i c h he also used p r o h i b i t e d weapons,
Th e y h e l d an urgent m e e t i n g to d i scuss the
case, a n d ar r i v e d at the v e rdict that Kijuma should be s e n tenced to life
imprisonment.
But they had no power to enforce the v e rdict because the
civil a u t h o r i t y over Lamu then w a s in the hands of the Bri t i s h D.C. Mr,
Rogers.
Therefore,
their case wa s put to Mr, Rogers.
H e p r o mised them
to enforce their verdict, and or d e r e d five p o l i c e m e n to arrest Kijuma and
put h i m in jail.
That
is w h y five p o l i c e m e n were sent to ar r e s t him, but
K i j u m a m a naged to h i d e himself until M i ssionaries H eyer and Pieper came
to take h i m with th e m to their Mission.
Th e y o f fered C h r i s t i a n i t y to him
as the only w a y to escape fr o m the town's verdict.
be able to tell the D.C.
they would
that the M u slims of Lamu w e r e trying to ruin
K i j u m a because of his co n v e r s i o n to Christianity.
pl a n w a s carried out.
W i t h that,
K i j u m a agreed,
and the
So, Kijuma went free, and the p e o p l e of the town
found themselves w i t h o u t a case, and could do not h i n g but try and avoid
Kijuma socially.
-
352
Alt h o u g h they b o y c o t t e d h i m socially,
they could not b oy c o t t his talents
because they need e d his services as the other chapters of this thesis
explain.
Six points are still to be made.
a)
It is not known h o w exactly Kijuma could get hold of two cases of whisky,
but it is likely that the Europeans,
w o rking or staying in Lamu, w e r e the
ones who supplied h i m with this whisky, because they, at that time, were
the only people to have access to whisky.
b)
It is this m a ndari that w a s in the mi n d of M i s s i o n a r y Pi e p e r when he
reported:- "Unfortunately,
certai n things indicated that the accusations
w h i c h were l e velled against K i jum a were not e n t irely w i thout
fo u n d a t i o n ".53
c)
When these accusations forced Kij u m a to seek refuge in the Mission, the
m i s s ionaries in La m u saw in Kijum a an o pportunity to get a follower.
Ki j u m a on the other hand saw in the Mission an o p p o r t u n i t y to save his
skin as well as make more money.
created.
Hence, a mar r i a g e of convenience was
T h e m i ssionaries w o uld not help K ijuma u nless he was ready to
accept Christianity.
The alleged conversion was t h e r e f o r e invalid,
since
it w a s not out of conviction towards the Ch r i s t i a n faith on the part of
Kijuma,
but a w a y to save himself from a long jail sentence.
missionaries'
The
c o ndition was itself an unscrupulous act an d therefore
contrary to C h rist's teachings.
.
•••'
‘
••
•'
•••' '
'••••
•.
•
‘
■ .. '/»’>’ '
■
••••
'
•
V ’.
’
- ,y-■
On the other han d K i juma's saying that he was ready to accept
Ch r i s t i a n i t y (in order to be rescued, fr o m p r o s e c u t i o n by the peo p l e of
Lamu) had no t h i n g to do with the c rime he mi g h t have c o m mitted against
the p e ople of L a m u whose minors he ga v e wh i s k y to get t h e m intoxicated a clear offence against both Islamic and British Law.
d)
When the p e o p l e of La m u found themselves without a case and saw that the
M i ssion p r o t e c t e d Kijuma against their will, they m i g h t ha v e begun to
oppose its b e i n g there.
It is not u n l ikely that this opposition was
b e h i n d M i s s i o n a r y P i e p e r * s report w h i c h said:
Mission station can continue.
"It is doubtful if the
Th e schools have be e n closed, and the
children no longer wa n t to learn stories from the Bible".
54
e)
Kijuma may h a v e c h o s e n to m e n tio n S h a r i f u A b d a l l a b i n 2ubeir b y na m e in
his report to E.D., as the one wh o w a n t e d to ruin him,
55
b e cause this
Sharifu was a c t u a l l y at the head of the town's d e l e g a t i o n which went to
put the verdict of the town before Mr. Rogers.
56
f)
Should this c o n v e r s i o n of Kiju m a in 1900 be c onsidered a true one?
It is doubtful that it was for the following reasons:
i)
Missionaries H e y e r and Pieper failed to report this conversion,
though they we r e wi t n e s s to it.
even
-
354
-
li)
A c c o r d i n g to K i j u m a ' s report to E.D.,
cne.
this con v e r s i o n w a s a conditional
The condition was for K i j u m a to accept c o n v e r s i o n in return for the
anissionaries saving h i m f r o m jail,
iii)
T h e most
important reason of all is that there is no e v i dence at all in
k i j u m a 1s poems to show that he wa s a Christian,
O n the contrary,
p o e m he c o mposed after 1900 shows that he was a Muslim.
every
Th e s e po e m s are
•discussed in the review of p o int No. 6 .
iv)
fina l l y ,
M i s s i o n a r y P i eper*s report cl e a r l y shows that this con v e r s i o n of
1900 was not a true one.
reported:-
Ju s t after 1912
(i.e.
in ab o u t 1913), he
"Until now, there is no clear breakthrough,
^devotion to the Lord.
there is no clear
K i j u m a has not been baptised yet".
57
5..
I n p o ints 1, 2, 3, and 4, w e dealt w i t h some a s pects w h i c h are relevant
--to p o i n t number 5.
W h a t remains to be considered in this po i n t are the
^views of Allen about K i j u m a w h ich we r e qu al i f i e d b y E.D.;
^that K i juma's family (his wife and on l y son)
^baptism;
and the story of his funeral.
tfellow-townsmen - d i d
left h i m b e c a u s e of his
A l l e n - fol l o w i n g Kijuma's
not regard K i j u m a as being a v e r y important poet.
'When I we n t to Lamu in 1980,
dist i n g u i s h e d ,
the que s t i o n
in their
I f ound that the p e o p l e of L a m u
judgement on Kijuma, b e t w e e n his p e r sonal life
•and his artistic and literary achievements.
C o n c e r n i n g his personal
iiife, they regarded him as a pers o n with little morality.
W he n I a s k e d t h e m why,
355
-
the direct answer of the m a j o r i t y w o u l d be:
Because of his mandari and his singing competi t i o n s in w h i c h he used to
sing, dance, and p l a y music,
part
in such a c tivities
it was v e r y shameful for a p e r s o n to take
in Lamu,
because,
in Islam,
music could b e either p r o h i b i t e d or allowed.
singing and playing
It w o u l d be prohibited,
if
it was acco m p a n i e d by activities w h i c h are against Islamic teachings,
e.g.
drinking alcohol, w o m e n and men dancing in front of e a c h other, or
singing offensive words;
and it w o u l d be allowed,
if it was not
58
a c c o m panied by such activities.
K i j u m a used to a s s o c i a t e himself
.59
w ith the p r o h i b i t e d activites in his singing a n d pl a y i n g of music,
and these were therefore consider e d as shameful.
a n d literary works,
C o n c e r n i n g the artistic
every one in La m u respected and a d m i r e d them.
One of
K i juma's relatives®^ s u mmarised these two aspects of K i j u m a ' s life,
when he was shown a picture of Kijuma in w hich he is h o l d i n g a k inanda
and singing.
this way.
He said:- "Let us go on.
I feel sorry to see my uncle in
I d i d not see h i m p l ay i n g a
He w a s a real poet,
this I know,
it is
k i n a n d a , I only h e a r d about it.
of great value, but I did not like
h i m to be a poet p l aying music in front of the people".
E.D. wrote that Kij u m a ' s last w i f e an d
he had been b a ptised in 1931/2.
his only son H e l e w a left h i m after
All the elders of L a m u w h o m the present
writer i n t e r viewed there still remember that K ijuma never ma r r i e d after
he had d i v o r c e d his third wife in 1900.
61
Also,
in the same year
(1900), H e lewa left La m u for good and went to Zanzibar to find a
job.
62
H e l e w a himself - as E.D. w r o t e - did not a g r e e w i t h his
father's "conversion".
63
is confirmed b y Kijuma,
T h e fact that H e l e w a left L a m u in about 1900
64
in his p o e m S i r a j i ,
when he w r i t e s that he
had not seen his son for a long time.
W h e n we know that K i j u m a composed
the Siraji in 1927, we will realise that Helewa m u s t have left L a m u a
long time b e fore 1931/2.
/
-
356
-
.About K i juma's death and his burial w h i c h w a s d e s c r i b e d in a letter from
-Missionary May,
and p u b l i s h e d by E.D;,
the following is a complete
t r a n s lation of a stamped letter f r o m the Kadhi of L a m u w r i t t e n b y Bwana
65
.Abdalla K h a t i b u in Swahili:
"I, A b d a l l a Muha m a d i K h a tib u of P.O. Box 38, Lamu,
Kenya,
swear by
T h e A l m i g h t y Allah that:
1.
.Bwana Muhamadi A b u Ba k a r i y bin Omari Kijuma w a s my uncle,
66
f
b e c a u s e he was a cousin of my father M u h amadi bi n Khatibu, because
the father of B w ana Muhamadi A b u Bakari Ki j u m a and the m other of m y
father Muha m a d i bin Kha t i b u
(Mwana Esha bint Omari)
are full
br o t h e r and sister.
.2*
J n 1915, when I finished st u dying the Quran,
m y father sent me to
Bwa n a Muhamadi A b u Bakari K i j u m a to teach m e A r a b i c w r i t i n g and
mathematics.
3.
Either
in 1945 or in 1946, he s u d denly died at seven o'clock in the
morning.
After the news of his death had spread,
C h r i s t i a n s ca m e to take his body,
the Po k o m o
but his co u s i n B w a n a Abd a l l a
67
Muhamadi Imam
Lamu,
refused.
T h e C h r i s t i a n s went to the D.C. of
Mr. C.A. Cornell, who wa s a First C lass Magistrate.
Th e D.C.
called B w a n a A b d a l l a Muhama d i Imam, but Bwana A b d a l l a sent me to
the D.C. with a letter which was w r i t t e n b y B w a n a Muhamadi Ab u
Bakari b i n Oma r i K i juma himself.
Th e letter said:
bury me according to the Islamic tradition'.
'When I die,
W h e n the D.C. had
r e a d the letter, he realised that Bwana Muh a m a d i K i j u m a was a
Muslim,
not a Christian.
Islamic way.
T h e D.C. as k e d me to b u r y h i m in the
It was a Friday.
W e took the b o d y to the
Ij u m aa-mosque which is near Kij u m a ' s home.
a l - J u m a - p r a y e r , we p r a y e d for him.
o f his family in Mkomani at Lamu.
A fter we had p r a y e d the
Then, we b u r i e d h i m in the tomb
-
357
-
I have sworn this in front of the Kadhi of Lamu,
in Lamu on 26th
J u l y 1980.
The signature of
,
A b d a l l a Khati b u
Th e signature of the
Kadhi
in Lamu, and the
stamp"•
It is clear from this letter that a controversy had ar i s e n between
Kij u m a ' s family and the Christian s on the question of K i j uma's burial.
T h e D.C. as a judge was involved and resolved that Kij u m a was a Muslim.
So, K i j u m a w a s b u r i e d in accordan c e wi t h Islamic traditions.
w o u l d seem to be m o r e reliable than Mis s i o n a r y May's,
grounds.
.
This letter
on the following
O n the one hand, Bw, A b d a l l a Khatibu was the representative of
Ki j u m a ' s fami l y before the D.C. and showed h i m K i j u m a ' s will.
pr e s e n t at the actual event.
So, he was
On the other hand, M i s s i o n a r y May was
neither involved in the event, nor was he an eye w i t n e s s .68
6
.
E.D. wro t e : - "Kijuma married four wives.
His last wi f e left h i m after he
was b a p t i s e d in 1931/2".
A l l t h e p e o p l e on the K e n y a n Coas t w h o m I i nterviewed c o n f irmed that
K i juma ma r r i e d a total of three wives during his lifetime, and his third
and last w i f e h a d been divorced b efore he went to the Sultan's palace in
Zanzibar
m
, 6 9
1901/2.
No one knows of any marriage taking place
bet w e e n Kijuma a n d a n y woman since his divorce from his third wife before
his 1901/2 journey to Zanzibar.
songs
70
In a d dition to this, one of Kijuma's
w h i c h he c o m p o s e d just after his return f r o m Zanzibar shows
that he had no intention of remarrying.
71
-
358
-
E.D. wr o t e : - "Owing to Kijuma's c o n v ersion his p r o p e r t y at La m u was taken
aw a y from him, a n d when he was disinherited,
law of Kenya at that time,
the British District officer offered his
services to make this decision invalid.
p r e f e r r e d to live in poverty".
E.D.
d i d not mention by
nor did he give details of his
If he was told this by Ki j u m a himself, K i j u m a mu s t have been
forgetful,
be c a u s e Kijuma's parents had died long b e f o r e the question
regarding K i j u m a ' s religion arose.
Pieper,
Kijuma refused the help and
Unfortunately,
w h o m Kij u m a ' s p r o p e r t y was taken,
sources.
an a ction c o n trary to the
the q u e s t i o n arose in 1893.
Acc o r d i n g to M i s s i o n a r i e s Heyer and
72
In that year
(1893), Kijuma had
a l ready inherited his mother's property, b e cause his m other died in
1881,
73
after his father had died.
Wh e n Kijuma's mother, who was
74
rich,
d i e d and left her estate to her three sons an d to her only
75
daughter.
T h e s e children inherited their mother's p r o p e r t y according
to Is l a m i c law.
wells,
T h e bulk of the p r o p e r t y was invested in houses, water
gold, and m o n e y in cash.
76
Af t e r Kijuma had rec e i v e d his share,
no one took it a w a y from him until he died in 1945.
poor?
He w a s not poor
he m a y have been poor
in the sense that he spent all that he had at once,
be c a u s e he had a gre a t amount.
used these to earn money.
the rains.
He
78
although he co u l d ha v e save some,
As a p e rson of many talents,
(Kijuma)
he must have
We may a gree with one of the elders of
"God will e d him to be clever.
himself used to say:
compete wi t h Him, G o d and I.
at once)'.
W a s K i juma
in the sense of not having the me a n s to live, but
w i t h o u t saving a n y for the ne x t day,
Lamu who said:-
77
G o d g a v e h i m m o n e y like
'God gives me money, I
G o d gives me m o n e y and I throw it (spend it
All that he wanted,
(he got).
He used to e a t g o o d food".
79
W h a t remains to be reviewed in this p o i n t 6 , is the op i n i o n of E.D. about
the choi c e of themes
in Kijuma's poetry.
c o n f i n e d himself
.^mentioned
in
80
-
to eight w o r k s composed by Kijuma, wh i c h he
his art i c l e when making, his own obs e r v a t i o n s on Kijuma's
p e r s o n a l i t y and his works.
Isa
359
2. Utendi wa Mkunumbi
These e ight works are:
81
1. K i s a cha Sayyidna
3. Dtendi or Hadithi ya F u m o Liongo
4..
U t e n d i wa
83
84
Siraji 5.Nasara wa A r a b u
6 . Cu s t o m s of o l d
7.
U t e n d i wa
86
Safari 8 .
Hini
87
(ni) A.I.U.
Lamu
82
85
.
..Comparing these eight w o r k s with the total number of K i j u m a ' s poems, we
.find that these eight poems represent about half - not m o r e - of all the
p o e m s c o m p o s e d by Kijuma.
All the other poems which E.D. o m itted deal
.•with t h e m e s from the Islamic w o rl d - as the chapter of Kijuma as a scribe
a n d a poet reveals
88
- themes about w hich E.D. wrote:
"Kijuma's esteem
o f C h r i s t i a n i t y p r o h i b i t e d h i m from choosing themes from the Islamic
-world",
in spite of that, no work w i l l be d i s c ussed h e r e but n a mely the
-eight w o rks whi c h were menti o n e d by E.D., and from w h i c h he made his own
observations.
E . D . ' s o bservation s about Kijuma's rel i g i o n from these
weight w o r k s read:- "The choice of themes.
..interested in traditional subjects.
Kijuma seems not to be
This concerns the treatment of the
unaghazi - narrat i o n s as well a s the representation of important
-characters in the Q u r a n like Jacob, Joseoph, Job, or J o n a h
......
£Kijuraa's relations with missi o n a r i e s a n d his e s teem of C h r i s t i a n i t y even
- b e f o r e his c o n v e r s i o n p r o h i b i t e d h i m f r o m choosing themes fr o m the
I s l a m i c world.
^subjects."
H i s conduct of life caused him to look for other
89
^Actually, Kijuma c o m p o s e d many po e m s about the important characters in
* h e Q u r a n such a s Jacob, Joseph, Esha,
p o e m f r o m the Bible.
and
However, as has been
90
Moses,
said before, the w orks
^discussed here are namely the eight w orks to which
ihimself.
T h e first of these wor k s is:-
but not one single
E.D. confined
to be
-
360
-
1 - Kisa cha Sayyidna Isa
K ijuma h i mself w r ote in a letter to E.D.
J e s u s a c cording to Quran.
is Q u ranic,
80
So,
80
that he com p o s e d this p o e m about
the per s o n a l i t y of Jesus,
and from the Islamic world,
not from another.
this poem, with his own translation and comments.
f ollowing con c l u s i o n in p . 75:
91
in this po e m
E.D. published
H e came to the
"When w e arrange the p r e s e n t work on the
basis of our comparative study of religions,
it is a syncretistic
p r e s e n t a t i o n of the life and work of Je s u s in which Is l a m i c and Christian
t r aditions are fou n d side by side w i t h o u t attempting to h a r m onise them.
It is d i fficult to dr a w any c o nclu s i o n about the a t t i t u d e of the author
(Kijuma)
based on the poem".
c onclu s i o n by writing:
s yncretistic.
Later on,
in 1980, E.D.
"Formally r e g arded K i s a cha Isa is rather
N e v e r theless it contains a genuine C h r i s t o l o g y which is
c ontra d i c t o r y to the Islamic doctrine*.
92
T h e a t t i t u d e of K i j u m a in this p o e m is quite clear.
c o mposed in metaphor.
r e ferred to.
93
S wahili poets,
have in mind,
it.
revised this
N o stanza is
In other words, the p o e m has no m a f u m b o as E.D.
M a fumbo is a kind of figurative language used by
in whi c h they do not speak d i rectly a bout the subject they
but about another su bject which bears some resemblance to
It includes,
for example, met a p h o r s and riddles,
d i fficult to interpret.
94
and is often
It is important to state he r e that Kijuma
n ever u s e d m a f u m b o in his poems, alt h o u g h he used th e m in many of his
songs.
T h e d i f f e r e n c e between poems and songs is c l e a r l y explained in
m an y w o r k s of other Swahili scholars.
95
However, all K i juma*s songs
w h i c h c o ntain m a f u m b o , and whi c h could be traced, are m e n t i o n e d and
e x p l a i n e d in this thesis.
96
In add i t i o n to this, all the poems wh i c h
w ere c o m p o s e d by Kiju m a can be c la s s i f i e d into: Utendi,
97
Ukawafi,
97
or Kisarambe.
97
Shairi,
97
-
361
-
T h e tendi whi c h he c o mposed are: L a m u or Al i k a kama h a r u s i , Utendi wa
?nana W e r n e r , Ki s a cha Sayyidna Isa, Hadithi ya S a y yidna I s a , Utendi wa
M k u n u m b i , U t e n d i wa Y u s u f u , Uten d i or Hadithi ya L i o n g o . U tendi wa
m i i r a j i , Ngam i a na p a a , Kisa cha Kadhi na H a r a m i i , Utendi wa E s h a , Nasara
w a A r a b u , Wed d i n g customs of old Lamu, Abdur Rahmani na S u f i y a n i , Utendi
w a S a f a r i , Utendi wa Musa na Nabii K h i d h r , and
98
Siraii.
^Concerning S h a i r i , K i juma c o mpose d three poems
of this type.
They are:
99
B a b u k h e t i , Binti Y u s u f u , and Shairi la P i s i .
X n U k a w a f i , he composed Kozi na n d i w a .10^
X n K i s a r a m b e , he com p o s e d A.I,u.
101
T h e mea n i n g of the words and the ob j e c t of the
p o e m (i.e. Kisa cha
Sayy i d n a I s a ) are clearly expressed.
shows that its content
The poem
t h e a t titude of the poet are p u r e l y Islamic.
and
A t t e n t i o n is drawn to this
p o e m b e cause it clarifies the beli e f of Kijuma in Jesus.
We should
^concentrate on this p o e m to k n o w e x actly what the be l i e f of Kijuma in
J e s u s was.
102
H e comp o s e d it after he had followed C h r i s t i a n i t y - as
she h i mself w r o t e in his report to E.D. - for 13 years.
Th a t is wh y this
p o e m wi l l be s u m m a r i s e d and comments will be given on it:
S t a n z a s 1-3:
Na m i n g Allah,
The One who has no partner, and b l e s s i n g the prophet
(Muhammad), his companions,
kinsfolk, a n d all other prophets.
A l t h o u g h Kijuma d i d not mention the prophet by name, he is named here,
sbecause this resembles the formula of the M u s l i m cr e e d w h i c h reads:
"I
w i t n e s s that there is no god but A l l a h and M u hammad is a pr o p h e t of
Allah*.
Also,
K i juma writes in stanza 344
103
that J e s u s as k e d his
•people to follow the p r ophet M u h a m m a d w h e n he comes.
In addition to
^this, the M u s l i m is asked to give, an eulogy after the na m e of the prophet
M u h a m m a d and also the names of the others prophets a r e mentioned.
-
362
-
JStanzas 4-13:
3 & e s e tell us about Mary's a g e , a n d her service in the mo s q u e with
Joseph.
X t Is r e m a r k a b l e to note that the w o r d
(mosque)
in K i j u m a ' s Arabic
BO
.source
reads k a m s a = church, but he used the word m s i k i t i - mosque,
i.n his composition,
instead of k a n i s a .
^Stanzas 14-26:
3?hen M a r y left J o s e p h and w e n t to the w e l l to fetch water,
A n g e l Gabriel,
a son.
the
the Messenger of Allah, d e s c e n d e d to be s t o w on Mary
T h e follo w i n g c o n v e r s a t i o n took pl a c e b e t w e e n Mary and
Gabriel:
rMary:
flow c a n I have a son w h e n no mo r t a l has t o u c h e d me, neither
.have I been unchaste?
asabriel^
So,
1Q4
(it will be) T h y L o r d saith:
It is easy for me.
And
(it
- w i l l be) that w e m a y ma k e of h i m a rev e l a t i o n for man k i n d
iand a m e r c y from us, and it is a thing ordained.
.Gabriel breathed into her.
A s w e see,
105
Then,
106
the Q u r a n i c Ayas are g i v e n here as proof of that w h i c h the
p o e t com p o s e d about the conv e r s a t i o n wh i c h took pl a c e b e t w e e n Ma r y and
^Gabriel, i.e. K i j u m a beg a n the st o r y of Jesus'
b i r t h in an Islamic
^tradition.
S t a n z a s 27— 48:
Ttoese deal w i t h Mary coming back to the m o s q u e fee l i n g pregnant.
P e o p l e s u s p e c t e d Mary's pregna n c y , and even J o s e p h did.
:*y£ b h e di s c u s s i o n between Ma r y and Joseph,
At the end
she re m i n d e d h i m of A d a m
w m d B v e w h o m A l l a h cr e a t e d w i t h neither a father nor a mother.
-
363
-
A l t h o u g h there is no Q u r anic A y a m e n t i o n e d throughout these stanzas,
it
m a y be suggested that Kijuma adopted-for his stanzas the following
107
Aya:
"Lo! the likeness of J e s u s wi t h A llah is as the likeness of
Adam.
He cr e a t e d h i m of dust,
then He said unto him: Be! and he is".
S tanzas 49-52:
Deal wi t h the conversation between Mary and the m other of John.
John's mother told Mary before giving birth that J o h n p rostrated
inside his mother's womb for Jesus.
K ijuma gives a part of a
Qur a n i c A y a as proof of what he said.
Th e following underlined
w ords are the part w h i c h K i j u m a gave:"And the a n g e l s called to h i m (referring to zachariah) as he stood
praying in the sanctuary: A l l a h giveth thee gl a d tidings of (a son
whose na m e will be) John
Lordly, Chaste,
The
(word),
(who cometh)
to con f i r m a w o r d from A l l a h ,
a prophet of the righteous".
in the above Aya,
108
is referring to Jesus, b e c a u s e he was
c r eated by the w o r d "Be!"
Stanzas 53-54:
G a b riel d e scended to ask M a r y to depart from there,
w o u l d be killed.
otherwise she
Kijuma gave the following Q u r a n i c Ay a : - "And she
109
conceived him, and she w i thd r e w with h i m to a far p l a c e " •
Stanzas 55-57:
Mary tells J o s e p h what she w a s told by Gabriel.
her a donkey to ride ou t s i d e the town.
So, Jo s e p h brought
Stanzas 58-59:
J o s e p h i n t ends to kill Ma r y on'their w a y to that far pl a c e wh i c h is
near Egypt.
But Ga b r i e l is sent to tell J o s e p h that that wh i c h is
i n side M a r y ' s womb is not a result of fornication,
but it is the
hol y spirit.
The h o l y s p i r i t is a ter m referring to the angel of revelation, Gabriel.
T h e h o l y s p irit is m e n t i o n e d in the Q u r a n mo r e than once and each time it
is m e n t i o n e d it refers to Gabriel.
h o l y spir i t m e ans e.g.
children of Isr a e l : -
T h e r e are some A y a s showing what the
the f o llow i n g A y a
110
is a d d r e s s e d to the
"And veri l y W e gave unto Moses the s c r i pture and we
c a used a train of M e s s e n g e r s to f o l l o w after him, a n d W e gave unto Jesus,
son of Mary,
spirit.
clear p r o o f s
Is it ever so,
(miracles),
and W e support h i m w i t h the holy
that, w h e n there cometh unto yo u a messenger
(from Allah) w i t h that w h ich y e y o u r s e l v e s desire not, y e grow arrogant,
a n d some y e t d i s b e l i e v e and some ye slay?"
S t a n z a s 60-66:
About
the p e r i o d of p r e g n a n c y during wh i c h M a r y c a r r i e d Jesus.
S t a n z a s 67-77:
M a r y sits d o w n besi d e a dry p a l m - t r e e to lie d o w n for giving
birth.
S u d d e n l y the p a l m b e comes g reen and fruitful.
Mary finds
h e r s e l f s u r r o u n d e d b y fresh w ater and angels to r e c e i v e Jesus, and
to p r o t e c t him.
Thi s h a p p e n e d in Bethlehem.
T h e n Ki j u m a relates
f r o m the Q u r a n what M a r y s a i d an d what was s a i d to her:- "And the
p a ngs of c h i l d - b i r t h d r ove her unto the trunk of the palm-tree.
S h e said: Oh, w o u l d that I had died before this and had b e c o m e a
thing of naught,
forgotten.
Then
(one) cried unto her fr o m be l o w
-
365
-
T h y lord hath p l a c e d a rivu l e t beneath thee.
of the p a l m - t r e e toward thee,
A n d shake the trunk
thou wilt cause ripe dates to fall
upon t h e e " .
S t a n z a s 78-79:
J o s e p h gathers f i rewood and makes a fire to keep M a r y warm.
S tanzas 80-90:
T h e devil does his best to touch Je s u s and sting h i m as he tries to
do to e v e r y new-born baby,
but he is protected.
S t a n z a s 91-108:
A g r o u p of people, who saw the star in the sky w h i c h wa s pr o m i s e d
a s the sign of Jesus'
t h e m to Mary.
birth,
On their way,
take their p r e s e n t s an d go to give
they pass by one of the Syrian
K i n g s w h o as k s t h e m w h e r e they are going.
as k s th e m to inform h i m of Jesus'
i n f o r m him.
112
T h e y answer him, and he
whereabouts.
T h e y promise to
T h e y give the p r e s e n t s and on their w a y back to the
King the angle descends and a s k s th e m not to go to the King because
the K i n g w a n t s to kill Jesus.
So, they ob e y the an g e l and do not
go back to the King.
S t a n z a s 109-112:
J e s u s begs his mother to drink,
to eat, and not to speak.
If
som e b o d y insists on a s k i n g her any questions, J e s u s himself will be
ready to answer.
S t anzas 113-114:
J o s e p h h e lps Mar y and J e s u s to enter a cave.
s t a n z a s 115-128:
iWhen J e s u s is 40 days old, his- mother goes home with him, but their
x e l a t i v e s feel disagreed, and according to the Q u r a n they say to
Mary:- "Thy father was not a w i c k e d man nor wa s thy mother a
harlot"•
113
Then,
Zachariah asks Jesus about the truth.
a n s w e r s that A l l a h gave him the prophecy,
Gospel),
a h o l y Book
and He wi l l give us the seal of the prophets.
Jesus
(i.e. the
After the
relatives had intended to stone Mary, they left her because of
J e s u s 1 miracles.
1 d r a w a t tention to the fact that Ki j u m a meant the p r o p h e t Muhammad when
^he -said that J e s u s told Zachariah that A llah wo u l d give them the seal of
<fche prophets.
This is because of the following r e a s o n s :-
1.
.Although J e s u s d i d not reveal the na m e of this last of the prophets in
astanza 125, he revealed it in stanza 344 and named it as Muhammad.
-2 .
T h e words
(Khatima ya Nabia) whi c h Ki j u m a used in his stanza are the same
=words w h i c h are m e n t i o n e d in the Q u r a n referring to the prophet
^Muhammad.
T h e r e is an A y a reading:- "Muhammad is not the father of any
;sinan a m ong you,
prophets,
but he is the Messenger of Al l a h and the seal of the
and A l l a h is A w a r e of all things".
114
iSianzas 129-137:
T h e King Her o d e s insists on killing Jesus, but G a b r i e l is sent by
A l l a h to tell Mary and Josep h to go to Egypt with J e s u s and return
w h e n H e r o d e s dies.
-
367
-
Stanzas 138-143:
J ose p h brings a donkey for t h e m
Egypt.
to mount.
He a c c o m p a n i e s th e m to
K i j u m a gives the following underlined
pa r t of an A ya:- "And
we made the son of Mary and his mother a portent,
refuge on a height,
an d we gave them
a place of flocks and water springs".
115
Stanzas 144-171:
Although J e s u s has been at an elementary school since he was one
year old,
it was accepted that he was more e d u c a t e d than his
teachers, p articularly in religious matters.
Stanzas 172-178:
Tell us about Jesus'
wor s h i p Allah.
a p peara n c e
and about
Jesus heals the
his e x e rting himself to
leper and raises the dead by
Allah's leave.
It is worth mentio n i n g that K i j u m a w r o t e that Jesus p e r f o r m e d these
miracles by Allah's will,
not by his own will.
with what is m e n t i o n e d in the Q u r a n : -
116
Messenger unto the Children of Israel,
with a sign from your Lord.
Lol
This is in accordance
"And (Allah)
(saying):
'Lo2
will make h i m a
I come unto you
I fashion for you o u t of clay the
likeness of a bird, and I b r eathe into it and it is a bird,
leave.
I heal h i m who was born blind,
dead, by Allah's leave.
store up in your houses.
and the leper,
by Allah's
an d I raise the
And I ann ounce unto yo u wh a t ye eat and what y e
Lol
her e i n ve r i l y is a p o r t e n t for you,
if ye
are to be believers".
Stanza 179:
Jesus knows the affairs of this wo r l d and the hereafter,
is a great prophet.
because he
-
368
-
A g a i n Kijuma tells us that Jesus knows this,
simply b e c a u s e he is a
prophet.
S tanzas 180-182:
Joseph builds a humble room for Mary and her son in Egypt to live,
but they are invited to stay with Ndahakani,
Ndahakani should be Dahakani, without
because it is so m
the letter N in the beginning
the A r a b i c source of Kijuma, p . 421.
b i ography of this Dahakani is not found in this source.
80
The
O n l y it is
u nderstood from the Arabic text that he (i.e. Dahakani) wa s a very kind
rich Egyptian.
Stanzas 183-200:
One day,
the wealth of the host
(Dahakani)
is st o l e n by one of the
poor p e ople w h o m Dahakani used to invite to feed.
Alt h o u g h Jesus
does not see the thief, he identifies h i m to the host.
S tanzas 201-212:
One day,
water.
some guests come to Dahakani at a time w h e n he has no
Then, Jes u s touches the empty containers with his hands,
suddenly these containers b e c o m e full of water.
miracles, Jesus was accused of using magic.
B e cause of these
So, the boys of his
age avoided p l a ying wi t h him, because their mot h e r s were af r a i d of
him.
Every time Jesus calls on a friend to p l a y w i t h him, he is
told that the friend is not in.
But every time J e s u s knows that
that friend is in, and his m o t h e r is the one w h o w ants to keep her
son away fr o m him.
-
369
-
Stanzas 213-252:
During this time,
the Je w s pla n a' plot to kill Jesus.
her son move out of the town to another town,
accepts Mar y and her son to be her guests.
this lady falls
So, Mary.and
A ve r y kind lady
One day,
the husband of
ill, because he is not able to give the banquet
which he should give according to the orders of the town's
Governor.
This Governor
is very greedy and a tyrant.
He imposes a
banquet upon every compatriot to be given when his turn comes.
turn of this lady's husband comes.
his mother,
Suddenly,
are filled with meat,
broth,
that known to the people,
When the Governor
The y answer:
this'.
When Je s u s is told the story by
he tells his hosts to bring the ve s s e l s and the
containers empty.
it?'
but
all the empty v e ssels and containers
and wine, wine w h i c h is not similar to
is something special fr o m Allah.
sees the wine,
he asks:
'From w h e r e did you bring
'Jesus is the one who turned the water into
W h e n the Governor
his dead son.
is ans w e r e d this, he w ants Je s u s to raise
Jesus accepts on the condition that he and his
mother w i l l be allowed to leave the town.
Jesus
T h e G o v e r n o r agrees.
invokes Allah for the dead son to come back to life.
revives,
Th e
The son
and a big riot breaks out in the town b e c a u s e the son was
not loved among his compatriots,
but Jesus and his mother leave the
town for another town in w h ich J e s u s can play w i t h other boys.
Stanzas 253-272:
Unfortunately,
one of these boys, with w h o m J e s u s ,plays, dies.
Although J e s u s has no hand in his death, he is a c c u s e d of causing
his death.
J e sus asks the Judge,
who is p r o s e c u t i n g him, to go to
the tomb of the dead boy, and the boy himself will confess the
truth.
T h e y go to the tomb.
-
370
-
Then, J e s u s raises the dead boy who tells the crowd who killed
him.
T h e crowd is a s tonishe d and returns after the boy dies
again.
Then, Mary becomes af r a i d that her son w i l l probably be
harmed,
but he sets her mind at rest by saying:
'Allah is taking
care of us and He will pr o t e c t us'.
Stanzas 273-285:
Mary accompanies Jes u s to a dye i n g - s h o p in order to get h i m a job.
He gets a job as a dyeing-labourer.
A l t h o u g h he mi x e s all the
different cloths' materials together with all the various colours
in one p l ace and at one time, he gets these cl o t h s dyed according
to the instructions of his employer.
No one can u nderstand how
Jesus gets each material dye d with the p a r t i c u l a r colour which his
employer specifies.
Whe n the employer sees this,
and the people gather to wat c h what is going on.
he is astonished
All of them
realise that J e sus is p erfo r m i n g a miracle.
Stanzas 286-305:
Ga b r i e l is sent to tell Mar y that H e rodes has died and she should
go back home.
12.
Wh e n Mary returns home, Je s u s at t a i n s the age of
In a village called Nasara
(in Kijuma's A r a b i c source is
called Nasirah), Jesus invites the inhabitants ar o u n d hi m to preach
to th e m and to heal the sick, particu l a r l y the b l i n d and the
lepers.
Also, Jesus fashions out of clay the likeness of a bird
and breathes into it and it becomes a real bird b y A l lah's leave.
Whe n the birds fly away,
after Stanza 296:- "I
they die.
(Jesus)
The following Ay a
is m e n t ioned
fashion for you out of clay the
likeness of a bird and I br eathe into it and it is a bird, by
Allah's leave.
-
371
-
I heal h i m w h o was born blin d and a leper, and I raise the dead, by
All a h ' s l e a v e ".116
A m o n g s t the dead who were raised by Je s u s was his friend Lazarus.
This n a m e Lazarus
is written in the t ransliterated S w ahili text as
Lazura, but it could be t r a n s l i t e r a t e d as al-Azur, b e c a u s e it is written
so in the A r a b i c source of Kijuma,
p . 426.
S t a n z a s 306-315:
K i j u m a c o m p o s e d these stanzas according to the m e a n i n g of the
^
.
f ollowing
A y as:-
117
"When the disciples said: 0 Jesus,
son of Mary!
Is thy Lord able
to send down for us a table spread with food f r o m heaven?
O b s e r v e your duty to Allah,
said):
if ye are true believers.
W e wish to eat thereof,
He said:
(They
that we ma y s a t i s f y our hearts and
know that thou hast spoken truth to us, and that thereof we may be
witnesses.
Jesus,
son of Mary,
said: 0, Allah, L o r d of us!
down for us a table spread w i t h food from heaven,
feast for us,
G i v e us sustenance,
All a h said: Lo!
d i s b e l i e v e t h of you afterward,
for T h o u art the best of
I send it down for you.
An d who so
h i m surely will I p u n i s h w i t h a
pu n i s h m e n t w h e r e with I ha v e not pu n i s h e d any of
Actually,
that it may be a
113
for the first of us and for the last of u s ,
and
a sign fr o m Thee.
sustainers.
Send
(My) creatures".
the table was sent and every one b e c a m e satisfied with
every kind of food he liked.
S t a n z a s 316-322:
O n e day,
the Jew s decide to kill. Jesus.
T h e y s u r r o u n d him, but he
m a nages to e s c a p e from them an d runs to the sea.
-
372
-
Th e y follow him, but he is able to walk on the water of the sea
until he is out of sight.
T he r e is a
the water.
as follows:-
Hadi t h of the prophet M u h ammad confirming Jesus' wa l k i n g
It is m e ntioned in the Ar a b i c source
on
of Kijuma, p . 429, and is
Abu-Mansur a l - K h amsh a w y n a r rated that M u a d h ibn J abal said
that the prophet of A l lah
(S.A.A.W.)
said:- "If you kn o w A l l a h as the
knowledge of H i m should be, you will know the knowledge after which you
will have no ignorance.
level
And there is no one wh o has
(of knowledge)".
They (i.e. the companions of the prophet) asked
him:- "And not you 0, prophet of Allah?"
said:- "We have hea r d that Jesus,
s aid:- "Yes, and if he
w ould walk
a r r i v e d at this
He answer e d : - "Nor me".
son of Mary, w a l k e d on the water".
(Jesus) gre w fearing
on the air".
They
(Allah) an d believing,
The y said:- "0, prophet
known that the p r ophets may fail to reach
this!"
He
he
of Allah. W e have
not
H e said:- "Allahu
TaTala
is too Great to be m a tched by any one".
Stanzas 323-337:
After 3 days, J e s u s comes back to his home.
coming back.
Th e y surround h i m again.
T h e J e w s learn of his
Je s u s enters a house n earby
and there he disappears by A l l a h ' s leave.
W h i l e they are looking
for him, A l l a h changes one of them into the fo r m of Jesus.
is this man who is caught.
Jesus,
it
T h e man tells that that he is not
but they do not b e lie v e him.
bury h i m thinking
So,
Finally,
they c r u c i f y hi m
and
that he is Jesus.
Stanzas 337-343:
After three days, J e s u s appears standing in t h e air.
shout from astonishment.
h i m to take her with him.
Th e y cry and
During this scene, his m other Ma r y calls
-
373
-
He asks forgiveness and tells her that A l l a h w a n t s it so.
Stanza 344:
Then, J e s u s says to the crowd:Muh a m m a d wil l come after me.
"You have i l l - t r e a t e d me, but
F o l l o w him.
He will be a prophet".
It is important to know that the data in this stanza is not found in the
A r a b i c source of Kijuma.
Ay a:- "And when Jesus,
So, he m u s t have derived it f r o m the following
son of Mary said: 0, children of Israel!
am the messenger of A l lah unto you,
confirming that wh i c h was
Lo!
I
(revealed)
before me in the T o r a h and bri n g i n g good tidings of a m e s s e n g e r who
119
cometh after me, whose name is A h m e d
(i.e. Muhammad)".
S t anzas 345-346:
J e s u s advises them:- "Do not op p o s e disbelievers".
says fa r e w e l l to his mother,
Then, Je s u s
a n d is taken up to heaven.
Ki j u m a refers to the followin g A y a s : -
120
Here
"And b e c a u s e of their
saying: W e slew the Me s s i a h J e s u s son of Mary, A l l a h ' s m e s s enger T h e y slew h i m not nor crucified,
lo! those who d i sagree concer n i n g
but it a p p e a r e d so unto them, and
it are in d o u b t thereof, they
have no k n owledge thereof sav e pu r s u i t of a conjec t u r e ,
h i m not for certain.
they slew
But A l l a h took h i m up unto Himself.
A llah
was ever Mighty, Wise"..
S t anzas 347-348:
Som e scholars say that J e s u s w i l l descend to this w o r l d when it has
nearly come to its end.
That is the end of the poem.
After studying this poem,
K i juma's v i e w p oint:-
one may co n c l u d e the f o l l o w i n g as being
:
-
374
-
a)
T h e r e is not even one stanza referring to Je s u s as a Son of G o d or an
e lement of the trinity.
one parent,
Mary,
w ithout a father.
prophet of Allah.
In the poem, Jesus is a h u m a n be i n g born of only
in a similar w a y to the creation of A d a m who was also
121
K i juma calls J e s u s either the son of Mary or the
Kijuma does not refer to Je s u s even once as a "Son of
God".
H e r e are the titles and names w h ic h K i juma used to refer
to Jesus in his
poem:
In stanza
60,
he calls Jesus:
Isa Ra s u l i Jesus the prophet.
In stanza
64,
he gives h i m the tit l e M a ulaya T h e Master or Lord.
In stanza
84,
he calls h i m Wetu Isa N a b i y a ka Our Jesus,
In stanza
100,
he calls h i m Mtu m e T h e prophet.
In stanza
116,
he calls him Masiha T h e Messiah.
In stanza
310,
he calls h i m Isa Bunu Mariama Jesus,
In stanza
316, he. calls h i m Bwanetu Isa Sayidi Our L o r d l y Je s u s Master.
T he s e names and titles are a l l fr o m the Quran,
122
in h i m as a great pr o p h e t of Allah.
son
According
M u s l i m b e cau se h e /she w o u l d t h eref o r e be d i s b e l i e v i n g
However,
Mary.
s i m p l y because they
who does not be l i e v e that Jes u s is a p r ophet of Allah,
Quran.
of
M u s l i m s all over the
w o rld use these names and titles to refer to Jesus,
b elieve
the prophet.
to Islam, a n yone
he / s h e cannot be a
in some of the
these names and titles used by K i j u m a ar e only few among
the names and titles m e n t i o n e d in the Quran.
b)
A c c o r d i n g to K i j u m a ’s poem, J e s u s had not been c r u c i f i e d nor b uried
before he wa s taken up to heaven.
The one who had be e n c r u c i f i e d was one
123
of the J e w s trying to arrest Jesus.
K i j u m a neither used the word Resurre c t i o n nor referred to it in
c onnection with Jesus,
in this poem.
So, E.D. was not relying on
reference fr o m the p o e m when he wrote:- "In K i s a cha Isa of Kijuma
a remarkable feature is that Jesus met. his mo t h e r after his
r e s u r r e c t i o n " . 124
c)
K i j u m a did not q u o t e any v e r s e f r o m the Bi b l e as evi d e n c e for what he
said abo u t Jesus.
d)
J e s u s d e c l a r e d in front of all the crowd before he a s c e n d e d to heaven
that M u h a m m a d w i l l come, and they should follow h i m b e c a u s e he will be a
prophet.
Here is the stanza
125
m
wh i c h Kijuma said so:
W a s i m e m e wote p i a
As all
(the crowd) w e r e standing
Mirai m m e n i o n e a
(Jesus said)
M u h a m a d i atakuya
M u h a m m a d will come
M w a n d a m e n i ni N a b i a
Y o u should follow him.
you have o p p r e s s e d
He is a
me
prophet.
In s p ite of this, E.D. w r ote:- "When we arrange the p r e s e n t work on the
b asis of our comparative study of religions,
it is a syncretistic
p r e s e n t a t i o n of the life and work of Jesus in wh i c h I s l a m and
C h r i s t i a n i t y are standing - side by side - without a t t e m p t i n g to
h a r m o n i s e them.
of the author
It is difficult to draw conclusions a bout the attitude
(Kijuma) based on this poem."
1 2fi
-
376
-
If this po e m is a "syncretistic pres e n t a t i o n
....... as E.D, wrote,
the
conclusion w o u l d be stated that there is no d i f ference b e t w e e n Islam and
C hristianity,
and then it w o u l d not be necessary for K i j u m a to say he was
either a Musl i m or a Christian,
and converted to Christianity.
different*
But E.D. wrote that K i j u m a left I slam
127
So, Islam and C h r i s t i a n i t y must be
The m a i n d i fference - according to what E.D.
said
that the Christ i a n s do not accept M u h a m m a d as a prophet.
not believe in the Q u ran as a H o l y Book,
w a y round, we can say,
H o l y Book, so,
128
Hence,
- is
they do
To put this sentence the other
the C h r i s t i a n s do not b e lieve in the Q u r a n as a
they do not believe
in Muhammad - to w h o m the Q u r a n was
r e v e a l e d - as a prophet.
But K i ju m a accepted Mu h a m m a d as a prophet in
v i e w of what he composed,
not only in this poem, but in all of his poems,
i ncluding the ones from whi c h E.D. d e r i v e d his own o b s e r v a t i o n s on
K i j u m a ' s personality, as we shall p r e s e n t l y see.
Later,
in 1980, E.D.
revised his ideas by writing:- " F o r mally seen Kisa
cha Isa is rather syncretistic.
Nev e r t h e l e s s it contains a genuine
C h r i s t o l o g y w h i c h is contradictory to the Islamic doctrine".
A c c o r d i n g to all what is a l ready w r i t t e n about this p o e m of Kisa cha I s a ,
this should be revised as follows:- "Formally r e garded K i s a cha Isa is
Islamic:
it contains a genuine Isl a mology which is c o n t r a d i c t o r y to the
C h r i s t i a n doctrine".
2 - Utendi wa Mkunumbi
E.D.
81
took this p o e m as evidence for the change of K i j u m a ' s choice of
themes.
129
I.e. K i j u m a c h anged his c hoice of literary subjects from
the Islamic wor l d to look for other subjects than Islamic.
E.D. w rote
that the reason for this lay certa i n l y in Kijuma's c r i t i c a l attitude
130
t owards Islam.
-
377
-
T his is not a c c e p t a b l e because of the following:- K i j u m a com p o s e d many
I s lamic poe m s before and after he had composed this one,
c o m p o s e d and copied for A.W.
■ 81
in 1913 at her request.
88
which he
The subject of
the p o e m is the singing competitions in the Ngoma ya Beni wh i c h was a new
s u bject
introduced to Swahili soci e t y by the colonial g overnment on the
East A f r i c a n coast
Muslim,
.
I.e.
it was not neglected by K i j u m a when he was a
and it w a s not because of his critical at t i t u d e towards Is l a m -
as E.D. w r o t e - that he selected it to make a p o e m on it.
this,
In addition to
such a subject as the singing competitions should na t u r a l l y attract
Kijuma,
regar d l e s s of his religious attitude,
to com p o s e a p o e m about it,
b ec a u s e he w a s a chief p r o t a gonist an d an important factor
t h ose c o m p e t i t i o n s alive.
59
in keeping
T h e important religious p o i n t found in the
p o e m a n d on whi c h E.D. made no comment is that the p r o p h e t Muhammad is
m e n t i o n e d in this p o e m seven times m
seven suc c e s s i v e stanzas.
131
K i j u m a ' s p u rpose in menti o n i n g the p r o p h e t is to ask his blessing, and to
p r a y t o Allah, T h e One,
for him.
Furthermore, K i j u m a m e n t i o n e d Fatimah,
the p r o p h e t ' s daughter with the same respect.
132
At the same time, he
d i d n o t m e n t i o n J e s u s even once.
3 - Utendi or Hadithi ya Lio n g o
82
E.D. w r o t e : - "When the epic of L i o n g o was recited b e f o r e an Islamic
\
a u d i e n c e it p l e a s e d w i t hout aiming to intensify piety.
T h e story of
L i o n g o w a s a somewhat n e utral theme that could be en j o y e d by both the
M u s l i m p e o p l e and the author
C h risti a n i t y . "
(i.e. Kijuma) who was i n c lined to
133
W a s the author tru l y inclined to C h r istianity?
-
378
-
It is not acc e p t e d that he was because if he really was,
he wo u l d either
have p r e f a c e d his epic with praise of Jesus as son of G o d or would have
ref erred to h i m in the epic,
but he did neither.
On the contrary, he
p r e f a c e d his epic w i t h a reference to A l l a h and His p r o p h e t Muhammad in
the first stanza,
thus:-
B i s millahi n a b u t a d i
In the name of Allah I begin
Kw a ina la Muh a m a d
oi
As well as in that of M u h a m m a d
N a n dikie
auladi
A
ft
Let me write for the children
N yuma w a t a k a o k u y a
Who will follow after.
.
..83
4 - siraii
T his p o e m should have been excluded fr o m E.D.'s obse r v a t i o n s on Kijuma's
c hoice of themes,
because after E.D.
had w r itten that Ki j u m a seemed not
to be interested in the traditional subjects w h i c h e m b o d i e d the Islamic
piety,
133
he wrote:
"I think that Ki juma's intention of composing
Siraji was to lead men to a life of piety.
co m bines teaching m
This p o e m for Kijuma's son
religion wi t h teaching m
. .134
ethics*.
clear that E.D. m e ant the Islamic religion and its ethics.
It seems
E.D. adds:
"It seems that K i j u m a composed this p o e m especially for the benefit of
his only son Helewa".
135
Ki j u m a com p o s e d this p o e m for his son H e l e w a and as k e d h i m to give it
p u b l i c i t y and to p ropagate it amongst men and women,
136
not only on the
137
Ea s t A f r i c a n coast,
but all over the world.
Hence,
addressed to everyone everywhere.
the p o e m w a s
In this poem,
Ki j uma s t ressed his
strong belief in Muhammad as a p r o p h e t of Allah by
saying in the third
stanza:-
-
379
-
B e l e w a twaa hadithi
r*
Helewa,
iJiiaekwambia thuluthi
I have told you one third
atwa haki ya Mabuuthi
I swear by the truth of the prophet
U t a e l e w a na ndia
That through it you will understand the
take my advice
right way.
A s w e see, Kijuma swore by the truth of Muhammad as a prophet.
K i j u m a m e ntioned only the word "prophet"
± ± d s prophet,
A l t hough
in this stanza without naming
he did name h i m as Mu h a m m a d in stanza 208 b y saying:
U a jamii Isilamu
A l l Muslims
.Xlahi tawakirimu
W i l l be ble s s e d by A l l a h
:;Bijahi Taha H a shimu
In-honour of Taha H a s h i m (i,e» Muhammad)
A Jtiyozawa Makiya
W h o wa s born in Mecca.
p o e m Siraji is a clear mirror,
in which K i j u m a ' s essential being is
83
^reflected.
A n a l y s i s of the p o e m reveals the real be l i e f s and
^convictions of Kijuma.
The conclu s i o n must be that he accepted the creed
T h e r e is no g o d but A l lah and Muha m m a d is a p r ophet of Allah.
A p e r s o n who has this belief, mu s t also believe that the Qu r a n is the
- w ord of God, bec a u s e it confirms the p r o p h e t h o o d of Muhammad.
Although
-4:he Muslims believe that the Bible must also have c o n f i r m e d this
^prophethood/
138
the C h ristians do not believe so.
■m.C h r i s t i a n , as he wrote in 1936 to E.D.
139
'32)00,
Hence,
if Kijuma was
about his c o n v e r s i o n of
140
he w o u l d never,
M u h a m m a d 1s. prophethood.
^ n r a n as a H o l y Book.
in 1927,
have sworn by the truth of
H a ving sworn thus, he must ha v e b e l ieved in the
Since he b e l i e v e d in the Quran,
because as we said,
prophet,
380
-
he could not have be e n a Christian,
the Christ i a n s believe neither
nor in the Q u r a n as
the w o r d of God.
in Mu h a m m a d as a
Th i s be l i e f explains why
K ijuma used to support his compositions with m a n y Q u r a n i c Ayas, whether
Q O
these compositions were composed before or after 1932.
Kijuma is also seen as a believer.
in this poem,
141
5 - N a s a r a w a Arabu
84
E.D. wrote:- "In Nasara w a A r a b u , K ijuma neither q u e s t i o n e d Christians
nor Muslims about Jesus."
134
K ijuma qu e s t i o n e d neither of them about Jesus,
b e cause he said in the
s econd stanza that the p o e m was not about the c o m p a r i s o n of religions,
but of customs.
Here is the stanza:
W ala si neno la dini
A
It is not an argument on the subject of
religions
Zitendo za muwilini
(But)
W a z u n g u mwao nyumbani
In the houses of the E u r o p e a n s
Ukingia angalia
If you enter, note .....
on physical behaviour
In spite of that, there is here a religious point to be made.
the poem, m e n t i o n e d Jesus as a prophet,
Kijuma,
in
not as a n y t h i n g else, a l though he
w a s free to mention the belief in J e s u s according to the C hristians and
not the Muslims since the stanzas after all were about the belief of the
E uropeans w h o m Kijuma c o nsidered as Christians.
h i m as a prophet in the following way:
Instead,
he mentioned
-
381
-
Hi ,kuu heshima yao
Their
U u tAu k u z a tumwa wao
Th e y
S i y a o n a a i twao
I have not met one (of them) who was called
I s a hal i y a t u k i a
Jesus.
T h e remaining stanzas
142
respect is great
(the Europeans)
exalt their prophet
This has not happened.
in which he mentioned J e s u s and also the
p r o p h e t M u hammad are the following:
Kwa kulla chombo chendao
For ev e r y ship sailing
.Wanaye n a h o d h a wao
There is a caption w h o m
Wamezoamini
T h e y be l i e v e in
H a
kwao
bandari ni mo y a
~ H a manah o d h a idadi
rt A
Musa.
But the harbour is one.
T h e number of the ca p t a i n s
Isa, M u hamadi
(are)
Moses, Jesus and Muh a m m a d
4W ak o na mazidadi
T h e r e are even more
JSahaba m i t u m e pia
P r o p h e t s and companions
A b i r i a jamiina
A l l the passengers
sKwa wote
r\ w a o hunena
All of them say:
:Hi sisi watu wa janna
W e are the p eople of P a r a d i s e
■^Wanginewe mb w a hawia
A n d the others belong to Hell,
Jin these stanzas,
Kijuma compares religions to a ship,
-the captains of the ships,
the prophets to
the followers of each p r o p h e t to the
:>passengers of each ship, and the goal of the religion to the harbour.
*Each s h i p ’s p a ssengers think that they are the only p e o p l e who will
arrive
in the safe harbour and that the others wi l l be drowned.
A s w e see,
it is clear
p e rsona l i t i e s ,
382
-
fr o m the text that K ijuma is including the three
Moses, Jesus a n d Muhammad, as prophets.
6 - C u s t o m s of o l d Lamu or W e dding C u s t o m s in Lamu
85
This p o e m has no stanzas which refer to any religious concepts
wh atsoever.
that E.D.
So,
it contains nothing in particular to be reviewed,
except
took it as one of the eight works by K i j u m a fr o m which he
d e r i v e d his own o b s e r vations on Ki juma's personality,
r e l i g i o u s attitude.
O n e general observation of E.D.
including his
is that Kijuma
c h a n g e d his choice of themes f r o m the traditional s u bjects
n a r r a t i o n s a n d Q u r a n i c characters)
subjects.
E.D.
C hristianity.
133
(Maghazi
to look for other than Islamic
saw this change as being due to K i j u m a ' s conversion to
However,
the fact of the matter is that Kijuma
c o m p o s e d ma n y p o e m s on such traditional subjects b e f o r e an d after he
c o m p o s e d this p o e m on wedding customs.
p r o p h e t Moses
143
For example,
the p o e m on the
c o m p o s e d after We d d i n g customs, was der i v e d directly
f r o m t h e Q u r a n not the Bible.
In addition to this, w e ha v e to take into
a c c o u n t Kijuma's d e e p p a ssion for singing whether this singing was in a
competition
59
or at a wedding.
144
F r o m a person w h o h a d abandoned
s c h o o l for the singing competitions,
145
it was only to be expected that
he w o u l d compose poems about such subjects as singing.
A n d that is what
he did.
7 - Uten d i wa Safari
86
A l t h o u g h K i j u m a d i d not m e n tion pr ophet M u h ammad or J e s u s by name, .he did
refer to th e m by implication in this poem.
-
383
-
T h e r e a r e three s t a nzas in the p o e m in wh i c h he referred to them.
The
JEirst of these three is the first in wh i c h Kijuma r e f erred to p r ophet
M u h a m m a d thus:
T a n e n a y a n g u hadithi
I shall tell my story
N a ingawa ni thuluthi
Even one third of it
K w a h a k i ya Mabuuthi
I swear by the truth of the prophet
M un g u t a t u s ahilia
T h a t Al l a h will ma k e it easy for us,
C o m p a r i n g this s t a n z a to the third stanza of the p o e m Siraji composed by
t h e s a m e author, w e find them having the same idea an d m o s t l y the same
146
..-meaning.
Therefore,
it is likely that K ijuma me a n t p r o p h e t Muhammad
when h e m e n t i o n e d the word Mabuuthi
in this stanza.
s t a n z a s in w h i c h K i j u m a refe r r e d to Jesus,
T h e r e are two other
T h e s e s t a n z a s are No. 55 and
^56 thus:
K u w a s i l i kwetu A m u
On our arriving at La m u
Siku kuu imetimu
A
It wa s the end of the gr e a t day
Y a mw o k o z i m k a r a m u
Of the honoured saviour
M w ana w a pweke m m o y a
T h e son of only one
K w a sute tukabarizi
W e together went out
S i k u kuu ya mwokozi
On the great day of the saviour
'Sluhindi n a Bwana chizi
T u k a o m b a kwa pamoya
Tt
is clear
W i t h the Indian, and Mr. C h e e s e
A n d w e p rayed together
that K i j u m a was referring to Je s u s in th e s e two stanzas,
^because the author
identified h i m by "The son of only one."
-
384
-
A s we a l r eady know from Kijuma's long p o e m Kisa cha S a y y i d n a Isa, J esus
w a s born of only parent,
i.e. Mary.
Th e po i n t w hich should be discussed
here is that K i j u m a used the word Mwokozi "Saviour",
referring to Jesus.
A l t h o u g h the concept of this word can be explained both in a Christian
and an Islamic perspective.
of God.
T h e Chr i s t i a n s believe that Je s u s is the Son
They also believe that he was a Saviour b e cause G o d sent h i m to
save all human beings from the sin w h i c h A d a m committed by eating the
f orbidden fruit.
B e cause of this sin, A d a m was d i s m i s s e d from Paradise
and all human beings have been bur d e n e d with his sin since he was their
father.
All human beings need to be freed from this guilt.
Hence, G o d
sent His son, J e s u s to free th e m fr o m the guilt through Jesus'
crucifixion.
saved.
That is why this s ac r i f i c e was n e c e ssary for man k i n d to be
Therefore, J e s u s was called the Saviour.
K ijuma meant this C h r i s t i a n concept,
It is not a c c epted that
simply b e cause he co m p o s e d nothing
w hi c h supported this Chri s t i a n concept.
There is not one single stanza
in Kijuma's own compositions showing that he thought so.
Moreover, there
is no other stanza in Kijuma's composi t i o n s which co n t a i n s this word
mwokozi.
O n the contrary,
his two long poems of Kisa cha s a y yidna Isa
(the first of whi c h he had com p o s e d before this p o e m of S a f a r i , and the
80
second of which he composed after S a f a r i )
show that he mu s t have
m eant the Islamic concept by refer r i n g to Je s u s as Saviour.
C o ncerning the Islamic concept of "Saviour", the M u slims be l i e v e that the
m e ssage of each p r ophet
(including Adam, Jesus,
and Muhammad)
is to gu i d e
pe ople to the right way, and to lead them from the d a r k n e s s of infidelity
to the light of faith.
Jes u s as a great prophet of Allah,
p e op l e from this darkness.
Hence,
saved the
it is quite in keeping wi t h Islamic
c oncepts to call J e s u s and the other prophets Saviours.
-
385
-
Coining to the p o int of K i juma's prayer with E.D.,
\
the I ndian and the
M issionary Cheese, as the above stanzas reveal, we find K ijuma - as a
M u slim - is al l o w e d to pr a y anywhere with anyone.
Quran as a Ho l y Book, and also m
K i j u m a believed in the
M u h ammad as a prophet.
147
Anyone who
b elieves in the Qur a n as a H o l y Book, and, Muhammad as a prophet of Allah
cannot be a Christian.
148
he was not a Christian,
It is known that K i j u m a used to pray.
it follows that he p r a y e d as a Muslim.
to eye witnesses such as S o m o y Bena
interviewed,
and many others
150
According
whom I
Kiju m a p e r f o r m e d Islamic prayer rituals in accord a n c e with
Islamic practices.
W e also kn o w that Kijuma p rayed together with E.D.,
the Indian, and M i ssionary Cheese.
Christian.
149
Since
Th i s does not make K i j u m a a
A M u s l i m is al l o w e d to pray, even in a church,
so long as in
his heart he believes in the one G o d and that M u h a m m a d is His prophet.
8 - A . I . U .8 7
The last comment E.D. made on this p o e m is that:
"Kijuma's special liking
for tradition is seen in his para e n e t i c a l acrostic
construction,
patterns,
(i.e. A.I.U.).
In
structure of verse and contents he follows the known
for instance Dura
'1-Mandhuma
151
"The strung p e a r l " .
The
e xhortations w h i c h he prono u n c e s a c c o rding to the p a t t e r n do not differ
f rom the admonitions of M u s l i m poems.
This is amazing,
c omposed this p o e m after his baptism.
He pra c t i s e d his new faith without
fear,
resulting fr o m his conversion.
and he accepted any conseque n c e s
think it w a s his close c o nnection with
since Kijuma
the old kind of p b e t r y which
c aused h i m also to follow the old pattern.
Wh e n Mr. A l l e n writfes 'that
some of his work, perhaps m u c h of it, wa s written for his E u r opean
clients and is therefore suspect as not indigenous in spirit'.
152
I
-
386
-
I should ask w h y K i j u m a did not refer to the C h r i s t i a n faith.
his a c rostic for me and sent it to Germany.
common C h r i s t i a n faith?*
He wrote
W h y did he not refer to our
124
T o answer the q u e s t i o n of E.D., wh y K ijuma did not refer to the C h r i s t i a n
faith,
because he was a M u s l i m not a Christian.
Furthermore,
it is very
likely that K i j u m a was a d monishing himself in this p o e m because all its
admonitions refer to the sins whic h he may have c o m m i t t e d in his life, as
w e shall see in this thesis.
So,
it is important to e x amine this p o e m in
brief.
St a n z a s 1-14:If a p e r s o n remembers that he will join the dead,
he will accept
the admoni t i o n w h ich enables h i m to gain wisdom.
The one who
accepts it, wi l l go to Paradise.
Th i n k of the Her e a f t e r
in order
to be steadfast in your steps, ma y they lead y o u to good deeds all
the time.
Do not delay repentance.
but obey the c o m m andments of Allah.
Do not o b e y w h a t you desire,
If you de l a y repentance,
later
yo u may not have time for it, because your de a t h co u l d take place
at any moment,
whether you are rich or poor,
w h e n you find
your s e l f in front of your tomb's door w i thout repentance, you will
repent on a day which has no reward for rep e n t a n c e but the severe
p u n i s h m e n t of Hell.
Do not hurt people.
A v o i d com m i t t i n g sins.
Supply your s e l f with the weapons of good deeds to a ttain the
K i n g d o m of Eternity.
Stan z a 15:;
T h e poet, Kijuma, w a rns everyone who does not p r a y to Allah.
a one will never find a plac e of refuge in the Hereafter.
Such
He does not omit to tell us,
387
-
in the same stanza,
that he means the
Islamic prayers:-
D h a r a u na sala kwenda kusali Neg l e c t going to the prayers,
Dh idi na ziumbe kula mahali
Behave badly against the p e o p l e everywhere,
Dhuha adhuhuri sizikabili
Do not go to pray Dhuha and A d h u h u r i ,
U n a p o mahala pa kupatama?
Will you then have a p l a c e of refuge?
It seems that Kiju m a is referring to the two kinds of Islamic prayers by
m e nti o n i n g the wor d s Dhuha and A d h u h u r i .
The I s lamic pr a y e r s are either
Fardh "Obligatory"
A d h uhuri is an obligatory,
or Sunnah "Optional".
and
D hu h a is an optional prayer.
Stanzas 16-27:Behave we l l in front of every person.
obeying this, you make your heart pure.
your lust.
Do not oppress people.
suffering and death.
the one to come.
punishment,
Do not s u spect any one. By
F ollow neither s atan nor
Th i n k all the time about
P r a y an d fast, to be sa v e d in this w o r l d and
If y o u have any other w a y to es c a p e death and
tell me about it a n d I shall be ready to join you.
But
I would remind you that all kings and other p e o p l e wh o had thrones
and power in the past, died an d left be h i n d e v e r y thing they had.
They did not take anything w i t h them.
S tanza 281-
La ilaha, Yey e na mt u m e w e
T h ere is no god but Allah,
and
(Muhammad)
His pro p h e t
'
153
L i pije shahada likuokowe
R e pea t the Shahada,
ma y it save you
is
-
388
-
L u g ha ya msaha u m wamkuwe
Pray to A llah in clear l a nguage
B w a n a mbwa imani a t asimama
The Lo r d is Trustworthy, H e will stand (by
you)
Sta nzas 29-31:Des c r i b e how the dead pers o n is pl a c e d in the tomb in his final
position.
The w a y which Kijuma describes it is the Islamic custom
of pl a c i n g the corpse in the tomb.
is the composer of the poem.
is f r o m the al-Ba k a r i y family,
the Banu-Hashim,
After that,
he tells us that he
H e p r oudly reminds us that his father
and his mother fr o m the family of
the same family a s the pr o p h e t Muhammad.
S t a n z a 31:H e gives the date of composing the poem.
This is the end of the
poem.
W i t h this, we have come to the end of the list of po e m s w h i c h E.D.
studied, and from which he derived his own o b servations on Kijuma's
personality.
Be f ore c o ming to a final conclusion on Kijuma's religion,
let us refer to
the views whi c h I found among the pe o p l e of Lamu in 1980.
Those wh o knew
K i j u m a can be d i v ided into three groups.
The first g r o u p did not know
w h ether Kijuma was a M u slim or a Christian.
W h e n a s k e d why,
the answer
wa s :- "We have seen h i m go to the Mission of Mlimani f r o m time to time,
an d at the same time,
we have seen h i m praying either
in the mosque or in -
his house".
T h e second g r oup b e lieved that he was not a true Muslim.
to why they thought he was not a true Muslim,
When queried as
they a n s w e r e d that he
49
c o r rupted the m o r a l i t y of the M u s l i m boys by his m a ndari
and singing.
-
389
-
When q u e r i e d further as to whether this ma d e h i m a Christian,
a n s w e r e d that it is quite likely th a t he was a Christian.
they
A n d they added
that the m i s s i o n a r i e s p r o t e c t e d h i m after his mandari affair,
and they
used to give him a lot of money.
T h e third g r oup said that K i juma was a Muslim.
Wh e n a s k ed why,
the
a nswer was that he d e sired to be buried in the Islamic tradition.
It is r e m a r k a b l e to note that these three groups di d not m e ntion at all
that w h ich had been w r itten by the mis s i o n a r i e s or by hi m s e l f about his
religion.
It is also worth noting that not one of th e m tried to make any
connection be t w e e n K i juma's writing s and their
religion.
judgement on his
T h e s e three groups represent the views of Kij u m a ' s compatriots
on h i s religion.
S t udying the c o r r e s p o n d e n c e between Ki j u m a and all his E u r o p e a n
clients,
154
w e realise that this corresp on d e n c e shows that Kijuma was a
M u s l i m with some of these clients and that he was a C h r i s t i a n with
others.
We see that the bulk of Kij u m a ' s c o r r e s p o n d e n c e was that which
he sent to W.H.
. 155
Muslim.
All his c o r r espond e n c e with W.H.
.
.
It is important to state here that there is no one wo r d in
this c o r r e s p o n d e n c e between Kijuma a n d W.H.
C hristian.
shows that he was a
showing that he was a
A l t h o u g h their corresp o n d e n c e b egan after 1 9 3 2 , 156 i.e.
after his a l l e g e d b a p t i s m
157
and after he - as E.D. w r o t e
158
- had
p r a c t i s e d his new C h r i s t i a n faith w i thout fear, K i juma never a p p ended the
w o r d M a sihji
Christianity.
In a letter,
to his name, or even told W.H.
O n the contrary,
d a t e d 5 Rajab 1353,
to send the due fees
W.H.)
(i.e.
duri n g Ramadhan,
that he had been converted to
he s h owed himself a M u s l i m in ma n y ways.
159
f r o m Kijuma to W.H.,
the p r ic e for Swahili Mss.
the Islamic month of fasting,
he a sked him
sent by K ijuma to
to enable hi m to buy
what h e needed for the festivities of the Breaking of the Fast.
16Q
Furthermore, he asked W.H,,
390
-
in the same letter, to send h i m a piece of
cloth so that he m i g h t sew it into a.coat to wear during that
160
Feast.
This might lead W.H.,
in a letter d ated 25th November 1935,
to praise the Islamic cultural heritage,
Kijuma,
wonder
found in the Bri t i s h Museum,
saying that "I have seen ma n y good Islamic books.
if any human being could ever achieve such w o r k 160
to
One wo u l d
(i.e. writing
such books)".
. .
161
162
In addition to this, A.W.,
and L a m b e r t
who used to mi x with
Kijuma until the latter died, m e n t i o n e d nowhere that K i j u m a was a
Christian.
On the contrary, L a mbe r t ' s references to K i j u m a in his
writings show that he was a Muslim.
T h e rest of the corr e s p o n d e n c e
be tween Kijuma a n d Europeans was b e tween hi m and both E.D.
-164
J.W.
163
and
A p a r t fr o m the report w h i c h K ijuma w rote in 1936 for E.D.
about his conversion of 1900,
the c o r r espondence b e t w e e n the two shows
that Kijuma was more likely to have been a M u s l i m than a Christian.
one letter
165
of this correspondence,
In
K ijuma has as k e d E.D. not to be
too impatient for the Mss. whi c h were ordered:
"Do not m a k e haste b e cause
hurry has no ble s s i n g as the Q u r a n says:
A l l a h is wi t h the
steadfast".
16 6
'Lol
This Q u ranic quot a t i o n is seen as a sign fr o m Kijuma
showing that the Quran was his only c r i t erion by wh i c h he m e a sured
between right and wrong,
especi a l l y wh e n we realise that K i juma never
quoted the Bible in any of his writings whether they w e r e in prose or in
verse.
Bible,
We can not assume that Kij u m a was,
in 1938,
ignorant of the
if he had truly f o llowed Chr i s t i a n i t y since 1900.
On e might
suppose that K i juma would have taken some of his q u o t a t i o n s from the
Bible since E.D.,
for w h o m he w r o t e his report of his conversion, wa s a
devout Christian,
but he did not.
-
391
-
A s to K i j u m a ' s c o r r e s p o n d e n c e with M i s s i o n a r y J.W., w e f i n d that it
e xpresses no r e l i g i o u s views.
w a s a C hristian,
As w e see,
167
However, J.W. w r o t e in 1947 that K i j u m a
but wi t h o u t gi v i n g any reason for this.
if we rely on what the c o m p a triots of K i j u m a said about his
religion, a n d on w h a t w a s w r i t t e n by E u r o p e a n s on th e sa m e subject, we
w i l l never be able to reach an irr e f utable conclusion on the subject,
b e c a u s e some of t h e m b e l i e v e d that he w a s a C h r i s t i a n and others that he
w a s a Muslim.
writings,
Hence,
particularly
the m o s t rel i a b l e source remains Kij u m a ' s own
in the light of the fact that they are qu i t e
s u b s t a n t i a l both in v o lume and substance.
m o s t c r e a t i v e a n d p r o l i f i c artist,
craftsman,
168
draftsman,
in L a m u during his lifetime.
further clues a s to his beliefs.
into two types.
has.
168
Furthermore,
168
Ki j u m a was the
and
His works m a y give us
His a r t istic w o r k s can be c a tegorised
T h e first has no r e l igious background,
an d the second
T h e bulk of his a r t i s t i c work, wh i c h has religious background*
Islamic.
He ma d e on l y three items - two epitaphs
w i t h C h r i s t i a n background.
m i s s i onaries.
169
is
and a signboard -
T h e s e three items w e r e o r d e r e d by the
T h e y bear no verses c o m p o s e d by K i j u m a ex c e p t a Swahili
stan z a f o und in the signboard.
170
A t t e n t i o n ma y be d r a w n to the fact
that the thought
e x pressed in this s tanza is in a c c o r d a n c e w i t h Islamic
beliefs.
the concl u s i o n of this is that all the verses, com p o s e d
b y Kijuma,
Hence,
c l e a r l y reveal that he wa s p r o p a g a t i n g I s l a m i c concepts and
beliefs.
A s for his p r o s e writings, we find that h e w a s not a C h r i stian,
that in his report to E.D.
C h r i s t i a n i t y s i nce 1900.
report of K i j u m a
in 1936, he w r o t e that he h a d followed
T h e most important p oint of all is that this
is not consid e r e d to be reliable,
f alse information.
171
except
b e c a u s e it contains
-
392
-
T h e account w h i c h K i j u m a gave in his report for the D.C. o r d ering his
arrest
172
in compar i s o n with the accbunt which the L a m u - e l d e r s gave me
. .
49
(i.e. the m a n d a r i )
, shows that the account given by the elders is
m o r e acceptable,
because M i ssionari e s Pieper and Heyer f ailed to report
about Kijuma*s co n v e r s i o n of 1900,
although they we r e the ones wh o m
K i juma menti o n e d in his report as sa v i n g h i m from that arrest.
Furthermore,
Kij u m a ' s c o nversion in 1900 is regarded as a false one,
i
because the same missi o n a r i e s who wi t n e s s e d that conversion reported in
1913:
"Until now,
there is no clear breakthrough.
de votion to the Lord".
T h e r e is no clear
173
One who was in the position of Kijuma,
being a master of Swahili verse,
w o u l d surely have composed some of his important po e m s about the
experience of his conversion by mak i n g a comparison b e t w e e n Is l a m and
Christianity,
and saying why C h r i s t i a n i t y as a faith had a t t r acted him,
but he never did.
Instead,
he wrote,
in his report,
that he had followed
C h r i s tianity since 1900, b e cause he had thus been s a v e d b y the
m i ssionaries f r o m being jailed.
174
Hence,
there is a re a s o n to believe
that his motives were egotistic, not mo r a l or religious.
itself was a c o n d i tional one.
175
T h e conversion
W h e n Kijuma realised that the only
wa y to escape from the verdict of his townsmen and jail wa s to accept
conversion,
he p r e t e n d e d that he wa s r eady to accept this condition.
Th is condition seems to be a manoe u v r e against K i j u m a > rather than one
o r ganised by him, b e cause the town w a s ruled by the Europeans, whether
these Europeans we r e m i s s i onaries in the Mission or off i c e r s
in the
office of the D.C., they we r e the p e o p l e who carried out wh a t they
decided.
As a result of this, Kijuma,
had to live in La m u from 1900
until his death in 1945 with his heart and mind in the I s lamic town, but
with his tongue among the C h ristian authorities which ruled this Islamic
town.
-
393
-
Th e Islamic heart and mind c o uld easily be r ecognised in his verses.
Hence, Kijuma was,
in heart and in mind,
service to Christianity.
Thus,
a Muslim,
but he had to p a y lip
the decision taken by the D.C. of Lamu
for Kijuma to be buried in an Islamic g r a v e 176 was the right one.
-
394
-
Chapter VI - Notes
1.
See: p.
165.
2.
I.e. Kijuma,
3.
Nitsch,
1914, pp. 70-71, and 123.
4.
See: p.
165.
5.
May,
6.
I have a cop y of it, from E.D.
7.
E.D. p u b l i s h e d it.
8.
Kijuma nam e d this Sharifu in this p r e s ented d o c ument
as E.D. wrote.
1932, pp.
See:
p. 341.
160-162,
in Hamburg.
See: Dammann, 1954/5 A, pp.
75
- 79.
as A b d a l l a bin
Zubeir.
9.
10.
See: p.
179.
This is the number of letters in the Ara b i c alphabet.
11.
His father-in-law.
12.
See: p. 22.
13.
See: p. 20.
14.
See: p. 30.
A kind of garment worn by wo m e n when they go out, covering them
from head to foot.
W o m e n inside it were u s ually led by a servant
to wherever they w a n t e d to go in the town.
woman w a s in it.
Also,
see: p. 235.
15.
See: p.
16.
16.
See: p. 16.
17.
= November 1936.
18.
Dammann,
19.
See: p. 237.
20.
= 1900.
21.
See: p.
22.
Utendi wa Safari,
1969, pp. 314-321.
169.
stanza 56, See:
p. 240.
N o b o d y could tell which
23.
I.e. Mr. J.W.T. Allen,
395
-
as is m e n t i o n e d at b e g i n n i n g of the same
article by E.D.
24.
See: p. 230.
25.
E.D.
r e v i s e d d his wo r d wh e n he w r o t e later in: T h e East African
E x p e r i e n c e , p. 27:
"To sum up, when I reflect on K i j u m a and his
rank in Sw a h i l i poetry, my former o p inion has to be as too
one-sided.
W h i l e I classifi e d h i m an e p igone I now think, looking
at his w o r k as far as I know it, that he seems to be a typical
represe n t a t i v e of the traditional period".
26.
Dammann, T h e East A f r ican E x p e r i e n c e , pp. 67 - 72.
27.
Quran: 2 ,256.
28.
See: P. 348.
29.
See: P- 353.
30.
See: P- 32.
31.
See: P. 338.
32.
See: P- 337.
33.
See: P« 340.
34.
See: P- 348.
35.
See: P- 340.
36.
See: pp.
37.
See: P. 27.
38.
See: pp.
280-281
39.
See: PP.
92-108.
40.
See: PP.
158-169
41.
See: P.
42.
See: P. 308.
43.
See: P. 337.
44.
See: P. 334.
45.
See: P* 340.
337-340
186,
-
396
-
46.
See: p. 337.
47.
See: pp. 476-480.
48.
See: pp. 337-340.
49.
See: pp. 476-480.
50.
See: pp.
51.
See:
52.
See: p. 25.
53.
See: pp. 335.
54.
See: p. 335.
55.
See: p.
56.
Interview with Sh. Muhamadi Saidi al-
57.
See: p. 335.
58.
Al-Nabulsiy,
59.
See: pp. 52-58 and 69-79.
60.
Interview w i t h Bwana Ab d a l l a Kh a t i b u
61.
See: p. 35.
62.
See: p. 32.
63.
See: p. 343.
64.
See: Stanza 6 , p. 419.
65.
This is given in its original f o r m in
66.
For their genea l o g y in detail,
67.
See: p.
68.
See: p. 342.
69.
See: p. 35.
70.
F r o m Bibi F a tuma Nyenye,
43-91.
p. 27,
337.
1401/1981.
483.
see: p
16.
Matondoni.
71.
See: p.
72.
See: p. 334.
73.
See: p. 23.
127.
See: p. 79.
a member of
in
-
397
-
74.
See: p. 476.
75.
See: p. 22.
76.
See: p. 21.
77.
I nterview with many elders in Lamu,
amongst t h e m M z e e Salim Kheri,
the best friend of Kijuma.
78.
See: pp. 43-410.
79.
Mzee S a l i m Kheri said:
mapesa kama mvua.
mapesa,
Hiki atakacho,
80.
See: p.
183.
81.
See: p.
186.
82.
See: p. 198.
83.
See: p. 225.
84.
See: p. 230.
85.
See: p. 238.
.
87.
Mwenyewe (i.e. Kijuma akikinena:
h u shindana mimi na Mngu, mi na Mngu.
huyatupa'.
86
"Mngu A l i m j a a l i a hodari yee.
See: p. 240.
See: p. 240.
88 . See: pp. 158-279.
See: p. 343.
90.
See: pp.
91.
Dammanna,
92.
Dammann, T h e East Af r i c a n E x p e r i e n c e , p. 72.
93.
Dammann,
94.
See: p.
95.
E.g.
96.
See: pp. 43-91 and 92-157.
97.
For this term,
98.
For all these tendi,
191, 227 and 244.
1980.
1980 A, p.
145.
107.
See: Knappert,
1971 b, pp.
see: Knappert,
see: pp.
108-129.
1971 b, pp.
171-279.
'Mngu H unipa
Mn g u Hunipa, mimi
ch akula kizuri a l i k i l a " .
89.
Mngu Humpa
108-129.
99.
-
For all these m a s h a i r i , see: pp. 53, 95, 233 and 235.
100.
See: pp.
171-179.
101.
See: pp.
240-241.
102.
398
Kijuma c o mposed two poe m s about Jesus, but the other, which he
composed for J.W.
in 1942,
and w hich was not c o n s i d e r e d by E.D.,
contains the same thoughts and ideas.
Also,
see: pp.
186 and 308.
103.
See: p. 375.
104.
Quran:
19,20.
105.
Quran:
19,21.
106.
Quran:
21,91.
107.
Quran:
3,59.
108.
Quran:
3,39.
109.
Quran:
19,22.
110.
Quran:
2,87.
111.
Quran:
19,23-25.
112.
This is a translation of the w o r d Sham in w h i c h P a l e s t i n e used to
be included.
113.
Quran:
19,28.
114.
Quran:
33,40
115.
Quran:
23,50.
116.
Quran: 3,49
117.
Quran:
118.
This u n derlined A y a is m e n t i o n e d by Kijuma after stanza 309.
119.
Quran:
61,6.
120.
Quran:
4,157-158.
121.
See: Stanza 43.
5,112-115.
322.
Quran;
399
-
3,39 and 45
4,171
2,87
223.
See:
124.
Dammann, T h e East Af r i c a n Experience,
225.
Stanza 344.
226.
See: p. 360.
227.
See: p. 343.
228.
I n t e r v i e w w i t h E.D.
129.
Dammann, T h e East Af r i c a n Experience, p. 68-69
.130*
See: p. 343.
331+
Stanzas 132-138, of L . H . ' s publication,
232.
Stanza 141.
133.
Dam m a n n , T h e East A f r i c a n Experience, p . 69.
234.
Dammann, T h e East A f r i c a n Experience, p . 71.
135.
Dammann, T h e East Af r i c a n Experience,
236.
St a n z a 4 in the text.
137 c
Stanza 168 in the text.
138.
Quran:
:139.
Stanza 330.
p. 70.
in Hamburg.
see: p
p.6 8 .
61,6.
See: pp.
337-340.
140.
Th e date of composinq Siraji, See: p. 470.
141.
See: p. 404.
142.
S t anzas 108-110.
143.
See: p. 244.
144.
See: pp.
145.
See: p.
146.
See: p. 418.
147.
See: pp.
106-107.
28.
378-380.
;
188
-
400
-
148.
See: p.
380.
149.
She was one of K i juma's students in his ngoroas.
150.
Such as Mz e e S a l i m Kheri
and Bw a n a A h m e d J a h a d h m y
of Lamu, and
Bwana A b d u l a t i f i Othmani in Mamburui.
151.
See: p. 152.
152.
Da m m a n n 1969, p . 316.
153.
Shahada is to say: T h e r e
is no go d but A l l a h and M u h ammad is
prophet of Allah.
154.
See: pp.
158-279.
155.
See: W . H . ' s Mss.
156.
See: p. 252.
157.
See: pp.
158.
See: p. 385.
159.
= October 1934.
160.
Ms. 253028.
161.
See: p. 250,
162.
See: p.
163.
See:
pp. 169 and 253,
164.
See:
pp. 169 and 253.
165.
Dat e d 27th Safar 1357/April 1938.
in S.O.A.S.
335-337.
251.
A C o p y of it in the writer's possession.
166.
Quran:
2,153.
167.
Williamson,
168.
See:
pp. 280-333.
169.
See:
pp. 282-284.
170.
See:
pp. 308-310.
171.
See:
pp. 348-354.
172.
See:
pp. 337-340,
1947, p p . 1-7.
’v
a
173.
See: p. 335.
174.
See: pp.
175.
See: p. 340
176.
See: p. 356
340.
401
-
-
402
-
C H A P T E R VII
Kijuma as a Person
W e know that Kijuma was a child of Swahili M u s l i m pa r e n t s who enrolled
h i m in an Islamic elementary school to receive Islamic and A rabic
courses.
When he grew up and became a man, he began to pr a c t i s e the arts
an d crafts which he learned during his studies and sur r o u n d i n g s until he
became a good scribe,
calligrapher,
composer of songs, poet,
translator
craftsman, musician,
for all these professions.
from A r a b i c into Swahili,
dancer, and also a teacher
The contents of all his wo r k s reflect his
S w ahili-Islamic background and environment.
T h e y a l s o reflect an Arabic
cultural e l ement whi c h he observed fr o m his education.
He took the Q u r a n and the Hadith of the Prophet M u h a m m a d either as main
sources for m a n y of his artistic an d literary works,
or a s the criterion
by w h i c h he w o u l d judge and distinguish between the right and the wrong.
His Swahili background and environm e n t - the sea, the land,
the climate -
are reflected in his Swahili literary works.
R eferring to the sea, he m entioned its waves,
shores,
shores.
its tides,
its reefs and
the different kinds of fish, an d even the trees w h i c h grow on its
When referring to the land, he dist i n g u i s h e d two types,
i.e. the
c u ltivated land and the forest, as w e l l as the i nhabitants of both and
their activities.
ginger,
The c ultivated land pr o d u c e d the be t e l plants, maize,
coconuts, and the products fr o m these cocounts.
of the land, both people and animals,
the Swahili women and their ornaments,
Th e inhabitants
are often mentioned.
the farmers,
sailors,
He described
fishermen,
craftsmen, teachers,
m a s h a r i f u , students, people of the n g o m a , and other
local professionals,
like the ones who make m a h a m r a ,1 and so on.
-
403
-
A m o n g the items used or made by these professionals,
spades, axes, various ships,
drills,
pens,
knives,
the fish-traps and hooks, planes,
saws,
scissors, prickles of porcupines used as needles, papers,
ink, books, mosques,
e l ementa r y schools,
R e garding the animals, he m e n t i o n e d cows,
dogs,
he men t i o n e d the
cats, a n d rats.
donkeys,
For the wild animals,
forest, he m e n t i o n e d lions,
snakes,
n g o m a , and even amulets.
i.e.
sheep, goats, hares,
the inhabitants of the
leopards, baboons, and porcupines.
C o ncerning the A r a b i c cultural elem e n t reflected in K i j u m a fs works, he
used the Arabic alphabet to write his Swahili a r tistic an d literary
works.
He translated or a b ridged m a n y works of A r a b i c L i t e r a t u r e into
Swahili.
Furthermore,
Ar abic music,
Lamu,
he was the first person to import the Egyptian
fr o m the pala c e of the Sultan in Zanzibar,
to his native
to use it for the c omposition of his own Swahili songs and dances,
. 2
In Kijuma's p o e m S i r a i i .
the A r a b s are represented as respectable and
wise.
Kijuma's p o e m Siraji can be c onside r e d as the most r e pr e s e n t a t i v e work to
3
he lp us to understand his character.
us to think about his beliefs,
It reflects w h a t K i j u m a w anted
thoughts,
customs,
etiquette, attitudes,
an d feelings w h i c h are all c l early expressed in the poem.
W h e n he
co mposed it, h e w a s not influenced by any external factor or person.
d i d not compose it to earn money.
to satirise anyone,
He
He composed it neither to praise nor
nor to narrate a story but w a n t e d it to be taken as a
4
compass by which everyone could travel through life,
every person s h ould put its advice into practice.
p o e m contains no false praise,
or criticism.
i.e.
he felt
In other words,
the
H a v i n g sa i d that, we should
not omit what is known about Kijuma's actual behaviour and which might be
considered as a contrast to what he advised us in this poem,
will obviously a d d to our knowledge of his personality.
because it
L o oking at the p o e m as a whole,
themes*
404
-
its contents deal with th r e e major
The first is the r elations h i p between a p erson and his creator,
secondly,
between h i m and his family,
society.
Thus,
and finally bet w e e n h i m and his
the following three sub-titles: K ijuma the believer,
Ki juma the family man,
and K i juma as a member of his s o c i e t y will be used
in this chapter to a n a l y s e Kijuma's personality.
K i juma the believer
(Stanzas 3, 5, 57, 70, 207, and 208)
K ijuma has given us the conclusions of his experience an d understanding
of what the r elationship between the p erson and his creator should be.
He came to realise that fearing Allah,
The creator,
is the o n l y w a y for
hu man beings to save th e m f r o m temp t a t i o n and lead t h e m to happiness.
K ijuma himself used to say: Kucha Mungu si matezo.
Mui we t u hakuna mtu
kumcha Mungu kwa kweli kama Mwenye Said. Ali, ami ya al - H a b i b Salih, na
M u a l i m Abdalla,
na Mwenye Abdur-Rahmani.
hawana l o l o t e .
"Fearing A l l a h is not a game.
town,
Salih,
Wa t u wa dini yao, h awana shari,
T h e r e is no person,
fearing All a h truly like Mwen y e Saidi Ali,
5
the uncle of al-Habib
and M u a l i m Abdalla, and M w e n y e Abdur-Rahmani.
people of their religion.
in our
6
T h e y are
They hav e no evil, they h a v e n o t h i n g (bad) at
all".7
It appears fr o m what precedes that a l t hough Kijuma was a G o d fearing man,
his fear was not as p r ofound as it should be.
However, K i j u m a trusted
Allah would accept repentance fr o m the repentant, and u rged the
importance of repentance after any wrong-doing.
In a d d i t i o n to this, he
utterly rejected complaining about his condition to a n y one but to
Allah.
-
405
-
He considered a p e rson complaining to any one but A l l a h as a polytheist.
At the end of S i r j a i , he prays Alla h to protect and bless all the
Muslims,
in honour of the Prophet Muhammad.
Kijuma the family man
A.
As a son - (Stanzas 75, 84, a n d 209)
H e was proud of his family.
of: The husband,
relatives.
the wife,
in the Swahili concept consists
their children,
their parents,
and their
K i j u m a respected and ob e y e d his parents to the extent of
taking his mother,
B.
T h e family,
Mwana Kamari, as his example.
As a husband = (Stanzas 169-197)
H e p referred a man to m a rry amongst relatives.
his relatives.
his relatives,
respects.
8
He h i mself married one of
If the pers o n coul d n o t find a sui t a b l e partner among
he should look in a family equal to his own in all
In each of his own marriages,
he tried hard to m a k e his wife
happy, and he believed that h a ppine s s could be achieved,
if the husband
was generous to his wife wi t h money and time, but u n f o r t u n a t e l y none of
his own marriages lasted for many years, because he c o u l d not endure his
wi ves arguing.
If the argument led a
w i f e to ask h i m for divorce,
q u i c k l y would give her what she a s k e d
even if he still lo v e d her.
Although divorce is allowed in Islam,
it is c o n s i d e r e d as the most
u ndesirable thing allowable in the eyes of
is why All a h enjoined every M u s l i m to
if he begins to dislike her,
A llah a n d his Prophet. That
live with his w i f e in kindness, but
it m a y well be "that he di s l i k e s a thing
9
wherein Allah has placed much good".
he
•-
406
Th e Pr o p h e t M u h a m m a d too, has said:
eyes of A l l a h is d i v o r c e ” .10
d i v o r c e his wife
•
Allah.
11
That
-
"The most undesi r a b l e Halal in the
is why the M u s l i m w h o wants to
is asked to go through some pro c e d u r e instituted by
A s the above m e n t i o n e d st anzas of Kijuma state,
he did not
refer to such p r o c e d u r e nor to the fact that divorce is u n desirable even
though it is a l l o w e d in Islam,
to solve problems.
T h i s a t t itude of
K i ju m a ' s is expla i n e d by the fact that he was a very ho t tempered
person.
12
H e could also be a very arrogant,
h a ughty husband.
explain why he d i v o r c e d all the three wives he married.
C.
A s a father =
13
(Stanzas 1, 2, 6 , and 111)
H e w a s a caring a n d fair father.
force h i m to f o l l o w it.
H e gave his son advice,
He w a s a frank father.
the b o t t o m of his heart to his son.
went to Zanzibar to see his son,
14
but did not
He r e v e a l e d what was at
He was kind and sympathetic.
H e l e w a w a s away f r o m Lamu, K i juma m i s s e d h i m very much.
of carved furniture.
This may
When
H e frequently
taking wi t h h i m s o m e v a l u a b l e pieces
15
A t the same time, he was a serious father.
spoilt their children,
H e dis l i k e d fathers who
parti c u l a r l y in the p r esence of their guests.
K i juma was a r e pentant father.
In his writings,
he a d v i s e d all the
fathers not to e n c o u r a g e their c h il d r e n to d i sobey Allah,
the footsteps of the devil.
by following in
Thi s last pi e c e of ad v i c e m i g h t be a
reference to K i j u m a ' s repent a n c e for what he had done w i t h the youngsters
16
of La m u during h i s m a n d a r i .
D.
407
As a relative = (Stanzas 38, and 55)
Ki juma loved his relatives,
and was h appy to be with them,
w h en they were sick, and indulgent towards them.
Only
nursing them
Bw.Zena,*^
K i juma's cousin, w a s excluded from this kindness.
Kijuma as a member of society
His appearance and his manner of life in his s o c i e t y ;
K ijuma used to appear holding
and hat and barefooted.
garment.
19
18
a wa l k i n g stick, we a r i n g a
d i r t y garment
H e used to wi p e the ink off his pen onto his
His house had only one room.
It wa s always
in disorder.
It was difficult for any person entering his house to dif f e r e n t i a t e
b etween the p l ace for sitting,
sleeping, and the toilet.
the p l a c e for cooking,
the place for
20
Kijuma's c arelessness about his house might be the e x p l a n a t i o n of the low
st andard of his advice about p e rson a l cleaness.
In s t anzas 106 and 107,
he advises his son not to blow his nose or to wi p e it on the bedspread,
but on a wall or a foot.
One might have expected Ki j u m a to say that
one's nose should be wiped on a handkerchief.
A t ten t i o n may be drawn to the fact that Kijuma was c a l l e d a lolo2 Jt
character.
W i t h such a character and appearance,
K ijuma w e n t on to live
his life and m i x with all the diffe r e n t types of p eople
his friends and also his opponents.
in his society
1.
408
Kijuma the f r i e n d : (Stanzas 18-32,
39, 44, 65, 83,
110,
117, 119,
1 2 0 , and 2 0 1 )
He was a sincere helper and a good friend, helping his friends with
self-denial,
consulting them, visiting the sick and n u rsing them.
never avoided a friend if any m i sfor t u n e h a ppened to him,
same time,
him.
and,
He
at the
never hesitated to avoid the friend who had first avoided
He was tolerant and just and a cheerful friend, g u i d e d in this by
22
the p o e m Tabaraka
of his teacher Mwenye Mansabu.
hu m iliate his friends,
He w o u l d never
nor disappoint the needy a m ongst them.
His
p h i losophy in making friends was to like any one liking him, even if that
one were a cat.
creatures.
In fact,
it was cats that loved Kijuma, m o r e than other
He used to have many of t h e m at his home,
th e m very well.
He was so keen to buy them meat regularly that the
p e o ple of La m u said:
only cats".
and looked after
"Huyu K i juma an a penda paka t u ' ."
"This Kijuma likes
This w a s the e x planatio n for his leaving 15 cats when he
* 23
died.
The only thing one could consider as strange in the p h i l o s o p h y of
Kijuma's f rien dship is his attitude towards rich people.
himself m e ntioning death in front of them;
He stopped
instead, he e n t e r tained them.
Th i s p hilosophy m i g h t be what mo s t rich p eople want,
but it cannot be the
m e ssage of the religious teachers.
rich p eople should
be admonished about death,
O n the contrary,
because by thinking about death,
they might
gain the spiritual strength needed to spend their w e a l t h on charity, not
on evil,
since death will bring them punishment,
their wealth.
A t that Day,
what they spent it on.
if they have misused
they wil l be asked about their w e alth and
-
409
-
It is likely that K i juma made use of this philos o p h y w h e n he cultivated
rich friends,
espec i a l l y when we realise that most of the rich people
wi t h w h o m h e mix e d were also in pos i t i o n s of power.
H e frequented and
e n t ertained S u l t a n Sayy i d Hamoud and his son, S ultan Ali, of
Zanzibar.
24
He al s o frequented and e ntertained Mr, Whitton.
did the same wi t h all Maliwali of Lamu?
Salim
26
and H e m e d bin Suud (1911-1922),
Zanzibar
in 1908.
25
He
particu l a r l y w i t h Seif bin
after he had r e t urned from
When Liwali H e m e d bin Suud went to m a r r y Mwanagongwa,
the sister of the Sult a n Omari bin M u hamadi of Witu
gave h i m a little present.
L iwali w a s c a l l e d Rupia.
Liwali w h ile singing:
(1895-1923), Kijuma
T h e p e r s o n wh o carried this p r esent to the
Then, Kij u m a accompanied by Rupia, went to the
27
Ru p i a - K a m a na majasi -
O' R u p i a - Re c e i v e this
(gold) necklace and
pokea
(the silver) ear ring
R u p i a - Kam a na majasi -
O' Rup i a - Receive this
meesa
(the silver) ear ring w h e r e
(gold) necklace and
(the
arrang e m e n t s of the marriage)
have been
settled.
K i juma might also tell these Maliwali good stories or con v e n i e n t words of
advice w h i c h they w a n t e d to hear.
bin S a l i m to give advice.
In fact, he was a s k e d b y Liwali Seif
One day, Li w a l i Seif w a n t e d to retire from
being the Liwali of Lamu, and all his friends a greed that he should
retire,
but when he asked Kijuma,
not retire,
you".
Liwali,
the latter said:
because as long as you ar e Liwali,
T h e L i wali Seif asked h i m why.
"Look Bwana Liwali, do
it wi l l be the best for
H e answered:
"If y o u are not
you will be an o r dinary per s o n like the rest;
the people will
neither pay r e gard to you, nor take proper care of your property.
a n t as long as y o u are the Liwali,
h a k e care of it.
410
-
the people will p a y r e spect to you and
I have finished m y words, Bwana Liwali,
an d the rest
.depends on y o u to take t h e m or leave them".
Ifhen, the L i wali Seif said to his friends:
r i ght".
'7
So, he did not retire.
M a l i w a l i of Lamu,
.the D.C.
"The words of K ijuma are
.
K i j u m a did not mix on l y w i t h the
but also with all the D.C.*s of Lamu.
with w h o m Kijuma mixed most.
Mr. T. Smith was
Mr. Smith e m p loyed K ijuma for some
± x m e as a govern m e n t carpenter and carver.
28
He wa s the D.C.
of Lamu
w h e n Liwa l i Seif bin S a l i m was in office for the second time in 1922-29.
.2.
K i j u m a the o p p o n e n t : (Stanzas 34, 35, 78, 200, a n d 204)
=£e w a s a competitive,
vindictive,
secretive,
and a r g u m e n t a t i v e character.
„
.16
‘H i s m a n d a n
_ .
....
29
and singing competiti o n s
.^showing these
attitudes towards his opponents. For Kijuma,
competition
w a s ^something
so common that he use d its Swahili wo r d
abbreviated. In
s t a n z a 78, he
abbr e v i a t e d mashindan o to m a s h i . It is not u n l ikely
can be taken as examples
that
h e w a s the first poet to use this wo r d abbreviated in Swahili poetry.
Although,
in the same stanza, Kijuma advised his son to be argumentative
.with opponents,
he advised h i m not to be so at the w r o n g time,
t h e r e is no competition taking p l ac e between them.
i.e. when
It is likely that the
f o l l o w i n g w a s one of the stories wh i c h made Kijuma com p o s e this stanza:
I h e r e was once a British D.C.
c o n v e r t e d to
in L a m u called Mervyn Beech.
Islam, but he did not tell any one about
A l l h e d i d w a s to write a will
30
He
his conversion.,
saying that he was a M u s l i m and a sked
dae h u r l e d in
L a m u according to the I s lamic
tradition. W h e n he died
^around 1920,
all the women and men of Lamu
(including K ijuma and a
31
uSharifu called A h m e d Baday)
took part in his funeral.
to
-
411
-
W h en the funeral cortege came near the grave where the b o d y would be
interred,
the Sh a r i f u A h m e d Badawy said to the w o m e n wh o were taking part
in the funeral:
"You may go back home.
What remains is only putting the
body in the grave and this is the w o r k of men".
When K i j u m a heard that,
he argued with S h arifu B a dawy that the women should be a l l o w e d to attend
the funeral cortege until the body w a s put in the grave.
time, Kijuma a s ked the women:
"La,
ndooni,
At the same
i.e. No, come".
women had thought about it for a few seconds,
After the
they p r e f e r r e d to follow
what the Sharifu Badawy said to the m and so they r e t urned home.
Then,
K i j u m a felt ver y bitter that the w o m e n d i d not do wh a t he asked them, and
after returning home, he wrote a satirical letter and gave it to Sharifu
Badawy.
The letter was prob a b l y wr i t t e n in poetry.
32
in fact,
w omen were right when they followed S h arifu B adawy because,
the
in Islam,
it
is considered prefe r a b l e for women not to partic i p a t e in the funeral
cortege.
T h e main reason for this is that women are su p p o s e d to be more
e motional than men.
Being more emotional,
the dead person is buried.
they m i g h t start wailing when
A l t h o u g h crying over the dead person is
a l lowed in Islam, w a iling is not allowed.
ar guing that the women should attend,
K ijuma k n owing this and still
he revealed h i mself that he was
arguing not only on insufficient grounds,
but also at an inappropriate
time.
3.
Kijuma as n e i g h b o u r : (Stanzas 46, 51-53)
He loved his neighbours whether they were good or bad.
t r ustworthy neighbours.
one.
H e often lent to
The loan could be a big sum of m o n e y or small
If it was a small s u m and the neighbour was not trustworthy,
refusing to pay it back, K i juma would not bother mu c h a bout
it was a big sum, he w o uld make a legal issue of it.
it.
But if
4.
Kiiuma
412
-
as e m p l o y e e ; (Stanzas 86- 8 8 , 115, 126,
127, 202, and 203)
He liked to p r o d u c e excellent w o r k m a n s h i p in his work.
However, he did
not like to e x c e e d the proper bounds of the agreed wage.
to s a t i s f y his employers,
expecting th e m to pr a i s e his w o r k for them.
a craftsman, h e car e d much for his tools.
w e l l as to work,
5.
Kijuma
As
He was ve r y keen to learn as
believing in this as the w a y to success.
as e m p l o y e r ; (Stanzas 62, 63, and 85)
He u s e d to treat his servants v e r y well,
services,
He did his best
thanking t h e m for their
and never blaming th e m for bad service.
n o r m a l l y had s e rvants to serve him.
Famuni w h o m I i n t e r v i e w e d in 1980.
at t h e end of Kij u m a ' s life.
In fact, Kijuma
One of his s e r vants wa s Somoe Bwana
H e served K ijuma for ab o u t ten years
He said that he liked K i j u m a because the
latter used to p a y h i m high w a g e s and treat h i m well.
6.
K i juma
a n d the needy and the h a n d i c a p p e d ; (Stanzas 46, 49, 50,
56, 58, 72-74,
H e w a s charitable,
them.
54,
and 76)
loving the n e e d y v e r y much and be i n g generous to
H a n d i c a p p e d people were w e l c o m e d in his house,
to p u t t h e m up in his house, and never mo c k e d them.
he was always ready
Wh e n he h i mself was
sick, h e p r a y e d A l l a h to cure him, but with, no complaints nor regrets.
7.
413
-
Kijuma and the lazy and troubl e m a k e r s : (Stanzas 9, 36, 37, 79, 82,
95, and 104)
He urged the lazy people to stop their laziness and be creative.
condemned slander,
intrigue,
backbiting,
rumour and spying.
He
He swore by
the A l m i g h t y that such activities are not done by c i v i l i s e d people.
On
this subject of backbiting, Kijuma used emphatic language to condemn it,
wh i c h reflects his strong feelings against it.
It w a s the main reason
w h i ch led K i j u m a to rebel against his compatriots by org a n i s i n g his
m a n^d a n• .16
Co n c e r n i n g spying on people to know their p e r sonal affairs,
it seems
likely that Kijuma was advising agai n s t something he used to do himself.
As we remember he used to have a note book in w hich the defects of p eople
w e r e w r itten down.
8.
33
Kijuma as a g u e s t : (Stanzas 105,
He was sometimes invited as a guest,
108,
111,
124,
125,
and 128-167)
either to a banquet or to a
meeting.
He was a ve r y c i vilised pe r s o n at table, as s t a n z a s 128-166
reflect.
If the invitation w a s for a meeting,
he w o u l d neither sleep
during the meeting, nor show any kind of disrespect for it, but he w ould
give it his utmost respect and concern.
9.
Kijuma p e r s o n a l l y : (Stanzas 7, 8 , 10-17,
33, 40-43,
47, 48, 59, 60,
61, 64, 66- 6 8 , 77, 80, 81, 85, 89-94, 96, 97-103,^109,
116, 118,
121-123,
198,
112-114,
199, and 205)
In speech, Kijuma was not wordy or repetitive.
He w a s very well aware of
the danger that the tongue of a huma n being can cause.
-
414
-
A l t h o u g h he advises us not to be quick and s p ontaneous in answering
people,
he hi m s e l f was just that.
As his c ompatriots
a l ikuwa mtu mpesi wa jawabu pasi na k u f i k i r i ".
34
said: Kijuma
K i j u m a was quick and
spontaneous".
Wh e n we know this, we realise that he was advising his son to be better
than himself.
So, he might find out that he has m issed ma n y points
b e cause of his has t e in answering the q u e s tions of other people.
As regards his general behaviour out-of-doors, he a d v i s e d the passer-by
not to walk proudly,
not to show off his smoking,
not to ogle women,
and
to greet everyone.
He himself w a s also courteous in gr eeting people.
As his compatriots
35
agreed,
K i juma used to greet any one who gr e e t e d him,
somebody gr e e t e d h i m by saying: Hello,
hello,
and so on.
twice.
If
Kijuma's reply w o u l d be: Hello,
Whe n he was asked about the p h i l o s o p h y behind this
habit of his, he said:
"If any one g r e e t e d me once,
twice, and if any one h a rmed me once,
I should greet h i m
I should ha r m h i m twice".
He w a s not a par a s i t e nor lacking in consideration for other people.
w a s as much a generous as a c o m p e ti t i v e person.
insufferable character,
He
H e was not an
nor was he dull.
He did not bargain, nor did he take interest on a loan.
H e was of good
faith in dealing with the rich, but d i d not deal wi t h the nouveaux riche.
In time of financial straits, he w a s not angry, nor vexed,
chatting, and asking Allah to p r ovid e for him.
a brave person in bearing it.
other people's misfortunes.
In m i sfortune, K ijuma was
H e wa s not a mal i c i o u s p e r s o n towards
T h e best treatment for any misfortune,
Kij uma's view, w a s for the unlucky to be patient.
Kijuma m e ntioned imprisonment,
example of misfortune.
time twice.
36
but smiling,
in
It is interesting that
even for a short time, as being a v ivid
In fact, K ijuma e x perienced
jail for a short
-
415
-
T h e first one has been already mentioned.
37
Th e second wa s in 1914,
wh e n martial law was d e clared during . W o r l d War I,
O r d e r s we r e issued in
La m u to capture as many men as pos s i b l e for m i l i t a r y conscription.
Ki j uma was c a p t u r e d wh e n he was going to buy milk for his tea early one
morning.
He stayed in detention until the D.C.
about 10.00 a.m.
to inspect the captives.
amongst them, he said to him:
Go".
38
of La m u went,
Wh e n the D.C.
"0, you are herel
at
saw Kijuma
We do not want you.
There we r e about 200 men captives from La m u d uring that particular
..
39
time.
-
416
-
Chapter VII - Notes
1-
See: p. 121*
2*
Stanzas 85, 69, and
3,
See: p* 225.
4*
S t a n z a s 4,
5*
Por al-Habib Salih,
6.
168,
203.
and 206.
see:
p. 91.
R e g a r d i n g M u a l l i m Abd a l l a and M w enye A bdur-Rahmani,
it it likely
that K i juma meant his teachers in the chuo and in the Arraudha
mosque,
7.
see: pp.
25-26.
I n t e r v i e w with Mzee A bdulatif i Othmani in Mamburui.
8*
See: p* 33.
9.
Quran, 4:19,
10.
Mazrui, p. 27.
11.
E.g.
12.
Also,
13.
See: pp. 26,
14.
Intervie w with Bwana Ahma d i
see: A y a s 34 and 35
in Surah 4.
see: p. 29.
28,
30, 31,
33 and 35.
A b d a l l a Masuudi in Mombasa.
He was a
f r iend of Helewa.
15.
See: p. 29.
16.
See: pp. 476-480.
17.
See: pp. 46-79.
18.
See: pp. 80, 84 and
320.
19.
Interview-rwith Bwana A b d a l l a Khati.bu in Lamu.
20.
A s B i b i S o m o e Bena in Mombasa and Mzee S a l i m Kheri in Lamu said:
*Wyumba yake ni mlia mmoya tu.
kiisema, ukisema ni jiko si
iiko;
Nyumban.i kwake ukiingia,
ukisema ni chop,
•mahala maisha mabaya yasokuwa na k i a s i 11.
.
21
See: p. 59.
huwezi
si choo.
Ana
-
417
-
22*
See:
p. 217.
23.
See:
p. 37.
24.
See: pp. 59-69.
25.
See:
p.
289.
26.
See:
p.
107.
27.
Inter v i e w w i t h one of K i juma's students, Bibi So mo e Bena
28.
Inter v i e w w i t h Bwana A h m e d J a h a d h m y in Lamu.
29.
See: pp. 43-91.
30.
H e wro t e a Swahili book called: Ai d s to the S t u d y of K i s w a h i l i ,
London,
31.
in Mombasa.
n.d.
His father w a s al-Habib Salih,
He died in about 1358/1940.
c onsidered h i m as one of his opponents,
Kijuma
b e cause of the fatuwa
conce r n i n g the ngoma ya b e n i , see: p. 84.
32.
I nterview w i t h Sayyid H a s a n A h m e d Badawy,
33.
See: p. 316.
34.
A m o n g s t t h e m w a s Bwana Faraji B wana Mkuu.
A l s o see: Ms.
and m a n y others in Lamu.
380066.
35.
A m o n g s t t h e m w a s Sh. Muhamadi Saidi.
36.
See: S t a n z a 59.
37.
See: p. 50.
38.
It is p r o b a b l e that the D.C. of Lamu, by then, w a s Mr. Reddie,
b e c a u s e he w a s the D.C.
of Lamu until 1913 a c c ording to Kijuma's
p o e m Mkunumbi, see: p. 186.
39.
I n t e r v i e w w i t h Mzee S a l i m Kheri who m a naged to e scape from capture.
-
418
-
A P PENDIX A
. .1
Siram
1.
Keti hapa sikuliwe
2
Sit down here,
do not get tired;
Mimi sina ilia we w e
I have no one except you.
L i kup a t a o uyuwe
Y o u must know that w h a t ever happens to you
Babangu alinambia
3
•My father told m e " .
2
.
Ya moyoni niyatowe
I have to express what is in m y heart.
Nikwambie mfanowe
I should tell you about the example it set.
F a siliyepo ni wewe
The rest depends on you,
Kuwata na kutumia
To take it or leave it.
3.
H e l e w a twaa hadithi
Helewa,
N i m e k wambia thuluthi
I have told you one-third.
take my story;
4
Kwa haki ya Mabuuthi
I swear b y the truth of the Prophet
Utaelewa
na ndia
rt
A
Th a t t h rough it you will understand the
right way.
4.
C h u o hiki ina lake
T h e na m e of this book
Ni Siraji uishike
Is "The Lamp"; you mu s t be gui d e d by it.
Kwa w a naume na wake
Pa s s it on to men and w o m e n
W a p e w akitembelea
W h e n they visit you.
-
419
-
5.
K wanda baba mcha Mungu
Firstly; m y dear son,
Utaokoka mwa n a n g u
A n d you will be saved, m y son.
Huku huko kwa utungu
Yo u are not here in a p l a c e of suffering
K u k o s a cha kutumia
F r o m lack of sustenance.
6
fear Allah,
■5
.
Siku nyingi sikuoni
I have not seen you for m a n y days;^
Sute hatudirikani
*
A
Neither of us have had time for seeing each
other.
Ndipo nami katamani
That is why I long
Kama haya kukwambia
To speak like this to you.
7.
Te n a baba uwa mtu
Again, m y dear son, b ehave like a man.
U k y enda nyumba sa w a t u
If y o u go to people's houses,
U s i mshikiye zitu
Y o u should not touch any one's things
Ilia yeye kukwambia
Unless he tells—you to.
8.
zitu zake za nyumbani
Do not ask the price
U s i ulize thamani
O f his things at his home,
Na kunena natamani
A
A n d do not say "I long to have",
K a m a hiki kuzengea
Or "I a m looking for things like this".
-
420
-
9.
K u m fatishi m w enyewe
Do not spy on h i m in order
Mambo yake uyayuwe
to know his personal affairs
Na kunena kwa mayowe
Do not speak loudly (in case)
A p i tao kasikia
A p a s s e r - b y should hear.
10 .
Makasi kisu meweka
Let us say the owner of the house has a pair
of scissors and a knife,
W i n o ukaudirika
A
Or you see some ink:
Siinuke na kushika
Do not get up and take it
K u t eza pasina ndia
To p l a y with without reason.
11 .
U k i o n a zimekaa
If you find them (knife and scissors)
lying
around,
Z isikungie tamaa
Do not show your m o t i v a t i o n
K u nyowa kukata nyaa
So that y o u want to shave and cut your nails
N a w e hukuazimia
W h e n that was not your
12
intention.
.
Ukyenda ukawaona
Wh e n yo u go and see before yo u
W a t u mbee hunyowana
P e ople cutting each o t her's hair,
Ni m a kosa ukinena
It is a mistake to say:
Na mimi mai tatia
I shall put water
m y hair
cutter)
7
(i.e.
on my head to cut
freely, wi t h o u t p a y i n g the hair
-
421
-
13.
Na kinyozi mbwa
8
rjara
The hair cutter needs wages.
Kwa mwenyewe sio sura
It is not fair for him (if you ask him):
Hun inyoi nami mara
W h y can't you shave me also?
Kheri kwake kumwendea
It is better if you go to his place.
14.
Ilia mwenye masikani
But if the owner of the house
Kat unuka usikhini
Offe r s it to you, do not deny yourself.
U k i nyoa hapo kwani
Y o u are not to bl a m e if you have your hair
cut
Si kwa we w e kumwambia
Since you did not ask h i m
15.
R a fiki mwenye ahadi
A friend who keeps promises
K i kutuma msaidi
A
A n d has sent for you to help h i m -
Uti liye na juhudi
Do your best
Shughuli kumfanyia
T o finish the work for him.
16.
.
U t u mwapo sikilia
9
If y o u h a v e been sent
(to the town), go
there at once.
Moyoni sipate ndia
Do not look for an excuse in your heart.
Ukenda na kutembea
A
A nd do not roam about:
Enda rudi mara moya
G o and return at once.
-
422
-
17.
U s i n e n d e na p a n g i n e
Do not go to other places,
N a urongo u s i n e n e
A n d do not tell lies.
„
Rudi
f%
^ 10
n a mwendo
n
asone
Si haki k u limatia
11
R e t u r n to your friend to let h i m rest
It is not right to delay.
18.
F a n y a Sahibu w a kheri
Make good friends
Kw a kutakana
shauri
A
By a s k i n g each other's advice.
12
U g a wadi
tus i k i r i
S a h i b u akikw a m b i a
Do not accept,
if your friend offers
to pr o c u r e (a woman).
19.
N a mwen drs
o u k imkuta
If you me e t your friend
Y e y e n a m t u h u teta
Q u a r r e l l i n g with someone,
S i w a p e n ^ e l e e zita
Do not condone the fighting,
A m u a ukyang u k i a
But sep arate them by intervening.
20
.
M w e n dAo m u k i f u a t a n a
If y o u are a c c ompanying your
Kaya mtu wakawana
A n d som ebody comes to fight with him,
. . 13
Kitangiliwa
si sana
Or he is attacked,
S is hawiri nawe ngia
to h e si t a t e to intervene.
21
friend
it is not right
.
N a mmoya kwa mmoya
If it is one against one,
Us i we wa k w a n g a l i a
Do not stand and watch.
Kati mw a o kheri ng i a
T h e right way is to s e p arate them
K w a haki ukiamua
And
judge justly between them.
-
423
-
22.
Sipendelee moyoni
Do not favour what is in your heart,
Fanya haki kwa mizani
But judge without bias.
Usi lihishe wendani
A
R e c o n c i l e friends
Kwako safi yako nia
By your
sincere intention.
23.
Mwendo
kikuhitajia
A
A
If a friend needs you
Bure karidha akiya
A n d comes for a loan,
M a pesa nguo rupia
Money,
U l i c h onacho ridhia
O b lige with what you have.
clothes,
or rupees,
24.
Te
a n a mpe taisiri
a
Then,
Usi fanye utiriri
Do not postpone it;
"Kisa rudi"
A si uzuri
For telling him,
give it to h i m s t r aight away,
"Come back later",
is not a
good thing;
Kheri kweli kumwambia
It is better to tell h i m the truth.
25.
Uk i mpa mwendo tunu
If you g i v e your friend a special present,
U s i m p e kwa zitunu
Do not give to hi m w h i l e you are grumbling.
U k i nena kwa mifano
Do not speak equivocally
Khabari ukimtolea
A
W h i l e spreading news.
-
424
-
26.
Sahibu kapatikana
If something has gone wr o n g for your friend,
K e n d a kushitakiyana
A n d they sue each other,
U y u walo baba nena
Say wha t yo u know, my dear son;
Usiliyua kimbia
Steer clear of what you do not know.
27.
K u w a shahidi
A wa zuri
D o not ag r e e to be a w i t n e s s to falsehood
Hata kwa nduyo sikiri
Even for your brother.
K ikupa fedha johari
If he gives you mo n e y or valuables,
Ni kheri kutopokea
It is better for you not to accept them.
28.
N a sahibu masikini
If A l l a h helps
Mungu akamuawini
Your fr i e n d who was poor,
A s i w e kama zamani
A n d he is no longer as f r i endly as he used
to be,
Ni njema kuyepukia
It is a good thing to a v o i d him.
29.
Sahibu kiwa hawezi
If your friend is not well,
Enda kwake mtilizi
V i s i t h i m frequently
Na dawa
hizi kwa hizi
A
Do your best
Shime kumzengelea
to look for medicines for him.
-
425
-
30..
JSimkimbie sahibu
Do not run away from your friend.
A k i w a una aibu
If he has a blemish,
.J.araha au taabu
rv
A sore,
•Kwa Mungu utaitongea
O t herwi s e you will d i s p l e a s e Allah.
or troubles,
31.
N a akiwa masikini
A n d if he is poor,
K w a uwezalo sikhini
Do whatever you can for hi m
K h e r i naye muawini
It is best to help him
:Mbili tatu au moya
By
(giving him money)
two,
three or one.
32.
<Na akiwa ni tajiri
If he is rich,
^Mpumbaze kwa uzuri
Y o u can entertain h i m ni c e l y
K w a hadithi zenye kheri
W i t h go o d stories,
jMauti kutomtaiya
Wi t h o u t men t i o n i n g death
33.
N a upuzi sipuzike
Do not talk rubbish
H i
To make people laugh.
ziumbe wateke
.Usilifanye lepuke
iKusi
15
wata k u p i g i a
Never do it.
A v o i d it.
(If you did it), they w o u l d clap hands
(scorning) you.
-
425
-
34.
Kuruani
imenena
T h e Q u r a n has said,
N i m e s o m a n a w e ona
A n d I ha v e read it, and you s hould observe
it,
A n d a o shari ni sa n a
W h oever
starts a g g r e s s i o n
(against you),
it
is right
Kujibu alokwambia
For y o u to give h i m a dose of his own
medicine.
T h e p o e t w r i t e s what
is under l i n e d in the f o l l o w i n g Q u r a n i c A y :16
"And one w h o a t tacketh you,
a t t a c k e d you.
a ttack h i m in like m anner as he
O b s e r v e your duty to Allah,
a n d k n o w that A l l a h is
w i t h tho s e w h o wa r d off evil".
35.
Lakini ukitukuwa
But if y o u tolerate h i m
N a l o ni zito lika w a
A n d it b e c o m e s difficult,
W a l a k i n i kwa M u l i w a
Y o u wi l l enter
Mahabani
A l l a h ' s favour.
u t angia
36.
U s i z i n g e na f i t i n a
Do not w a nder
U k y e n d a ukinong’ona
D o not wa l k
(among people)
Ziu mbe w a k a p a m b a n a
(Otherwise)
they gather
Kwa m o t o w a k a k u t i a
A n d put you into fire (i.e. p u n i s h you).
(among people)
sowing discord
inventing rumours
-
427
-
37.
Itwae hiyo dalili
Y o u can take the proof
Kuruani huratili
A
T h e Q u r a n says so
I some aya ya pili
R e a d the second Aya
Ma a n a yatakwelea
The mean i n g will be clear to you;
"For p e r s e c u t i o n is worse than slaughter".
17
38.
Nduuzo wa p e n d e sana
Love your relatives;
U t e k e ukiwaona
Smile wh e n you see them;
Iwapo hu k u t u k a n a
If they abuse you,
I fanye hukusikia
P r e t e n d that you di d not hear
(their abuse)
39.
Bui wako msibani
If your friend is in distress,
U pesi enda sikhini
G o a n d he l p him willingly,
Zaidi ya karamuni
Q u i cker than you w o u l d go to a banquet.
S i k itiko nawe ngia
Y o u shou l d share with h i m in his sorrow.
40.
Na mkuu mtukuze
*
R e s p e c t an aged person,
Na mtoto simtweze
A n d do not humiliate a yo u n g person
K w a maneno wapumbaze
A m u s e th e m with f r i endly words,
U s i f u na kuwetea
A n d p r ai s e them.
—
,428
-
41*
Y o y o t e simdharau
D o not i n s u l t a n y o n e
K u m g u t i a m a guu
B y b u r r i n g a w a y from him,
K i s a h u z inga m a k u u
A n d do n o t wander proudly,
N a Mun g u am e t w a m b i a
(.Look to) what A l l a h has t o l d us:
*Say, O' Allah]
Owner of sovereignty]
T h o u g i v e s t s o vereignty
unto w h o m Th o u wilt, and Thou wit h d r a w e s t s o v e r e i g n t y from w h o m
T h o u wilt.
wilt.
T h o u exaltest w h o m T h o u w i l t a n d T h o u a b a s e s t w h o m T h o u
In Thy hand is the good.
Lol
Th o u art a b l e t o do all
*
things"
.18
42*
..■Ambao alotukuka
A
D o m o t h u m i l i a t e a p e r s o n wh o used
K a z i n g a a kadhilika
-to b e in a h i g h p o s i t i o n and after
iSimfanyize dhihaka
t h a t w a s reduced i n status, but
rinuka kikutokea
-.stand u p for h i m when he a p p e a r s to you.
43 o
U k i m u o n a terema
B e glad w h e n y o u see him.
B a n y a za kwanda heshima
R e s p e c t h i m as yo u us e d to.
-Nala siteke kiyema
D o not laugh at his affl i c t i o n ;
Siara -Mungu hukwetea
A l l a h m i g h t send t h e s a m e to you.
-44.
A k u p e n d a o hakika
T t i s a g o o d thing for y o u to keep
N a w e kheri kumshika
o n friendly terms w i t h one wh o
T y a po kuwa ni pa k a
•really l o v e s you, even if it is o n l y a cat
Bibiyo alinambia
-So your g randmother told me.
-
429
-
45.
Bibi yako mwanamke
T h e nam e of your g randmother
Ni Kamari
is Kamari.
ina lake
L a l i k u w a neno lake
What I a m telling you w e r e the words
Kulla siku kinambia
whi c h she told me everyday.
46.
Sit ukie masikini
H a t e neither the poor
W a l a m u ovu jirani
Nor the bad neighbour.
W a tni i uwe taani
A
Ob e y t h e m and be obedient;
Mu n gu takubarikia
A l lah will bless you for it.
47.
W e n u wana wa chuoni
Never let your p upils
Kabisa siwalicheni
beg fro m house to house
W a k i o m b a majumbani
O t h e r w i s e they mi g h t get u s e d to it.
Kumoba watazoea
A
48.
A m b a o hukukimbia
It is better not to pa y a t t ention
Kheri kutomzengea
to the p erson who a v oids you.
Uk yenda kumwandamia
If you seek his company
Kisa utaiyutia
Y o u wil l later regret this.
49.
Si mtowe
mtu kwako
A
D o not send someone aw a y f r o m your house
Hata kiwa na ukoko
Even if he has elephantiasis.
K a kutia maudhiko
If he annoys you when he speaks to you,
Subici akikwambia
be p a ti e n t
-
430
-
50.
M u w e e kukuwalia
If a sick man comes to stay with you,
Siku z i k a e n d e l e a
A n d time elapses,
U k a l i kikufa n y i a
So that he causes h a r d s h i p to you,
T u k u w a m o y a l e huya
Endure it until his release comes
(i.e.
recover y or death).
51.
Na u k iwa na jirani
Wh e n y o u have a t r u s t w o r t h y neighbour
H a k u p o k i ni amini
Wh o has not stolen a n y t h i n g from you,
K a k i r i d h i simukhini
Do not refuse to give h i m a loan if he asks
you.
Ni k h e r i kumridhia
It is right to oblige him.
52.
A k i t o k u l i p a tena
If he does not pay you back your loan,
R u h u y a k o itasona
Your soul will be at rest,
Te n a n i p a hato n e n a
Because he will not say to you: Gi v e m e some
more,
T a h a y u r i a t a ngia
Because he wo u l d be a s h a m e d of himself.
53.
Na y a k i w a mengi mali
If the loan is a big s u m of mo n e y
K u y a w a t a huhi m i l i
W h i c h y o u cannot let h i m keep,
W a t i y e wa k e ahali
P u t the matter before h i s relatives.
K i t o o n a ni sharia
If he does not agree to pay,
legal issue.
it becomes a
-
431
-
54.
Mtu kaya nguo hana
If a p e r s o n comes to y o u w i t h o u t clothes,
U n a tupu akanena
A n d with nothing on, and speaks,
Mpe hata kwamba huna
Give h i m some clothing even if you do not
have (any to spare);
Una mbili mpe moya
If you have two, give h i m one.
55.
Na wako kikuwalia
19
If one of your relatives becomes ill,
Mu w a ze 20 kwa yako nia
Do your best to nurse him,
M o yoni kikutukia
Even if in your heart yo u ha t e him;
Onya moyo kulla ndia
W a r n your heart in every w a y
(not to hate
him).
56.
If y o u are ill
U k i w aa wewe mara
Uk i z idi mihayara
21
and the pa i n s have s u d denly increased,
Kheri kuwa na subira
It is better to be pa t i e n t
U k i m uomba Jal i a
B y pr a y i n g to The Gr e a t One.
57.
Ziumbe ukishitaki
If y o u complain
N a k hatari
hushiriki
A
Y o u will be in danger of being a polytheist,
Ilia kunena ya haki
But speaking the truth
. 22
Hiyo dawa
m t ^u l i a
A
(about your pains)
Is a medicine, p r epare it (also)
to people,
for me.
-
432
-
58.
Subiri subira njema
Exercis e patience,
a p a t i e n c e of beautiful
contentment.
Si d umu na kulalama
Do not go on complaining.
M w i s o w e huya mala m a
In the end comes blame;
U k i l a l a m a si dawa
A
Blaming
is not a medicine.
59.
Subiri kulla baa
En dure every misfortune -
K w a kufungwa na ku w a a
Being in jail and s u f f ering illness -
Hata
A kuwa hut/»o k a a
Even for a short time
Mol iwa takulipia
A l lah will reward you.
60.
N a lingine nim e k u p a
I shall g i v e y o u some m o r e
. . 23
Uiz iwiye
na pupa
Pre v e n t yourself from being greedy.
N i katiti
nipa
A ^ tena
•*»
*
D o no say:
U s i n e n e vu m i l i a
Be patient.
(advice):
"Give me a l i ttle bit more".
61.
Ki t u ukyawanya
24
wewe
K a titi
a chako kivuwe
Za jamaa na zikuwe
25
If y o u share out something,
T a k e the small portion,
A n d leave the bigger p o r t i o n for other
people.
Dh a hiri na siri pia
(Carry this out)
public.
in p r i v a t e as well as in
-
433
-
62.
Na mtu ukimtuma
If y o u send somebody (e.g.
S i m r udishe si njema
A
Do not send h i m back a gain if it is bad.
Ni
It is better for yo u to bear w i t h it.
jaala imekoma
Boca kuisubiria
to buy s o m e t h i n g ) ,
because this is an a c c o m p l i s h e d fact.
63.
Mimi babako yatosha
It is enough I am your father
Moyo h u isubirisha
Who
Mtu siyamrudisha
I myself do not make som e b o d y go back
Je m a bovu hupokea
But I accept it whether good or bad.
is resigned in his heart.
64.
Kwa mambo ukaikota
I do recommend you to leave the affairs
Nim e k u usia wata
which snare you alone,
M w isowe utaiyuta
O t h e r w i s e yo u will regret it in the end.
Ilia kwanda shawiria
A
(But there is no blame on you)
ha r d first.
65.
Rafiki wako wa kheri
A c cept your good friend
A k u p e n dao mkiri
who likes you
Huyo mtake shauri
This is the one whose g u i dance
U y a n d a me yenye ndia
Y o u should ask and follow.
if you think
-
434
-
66.
Na hasira ukingia
W h eneve r you are angry
W a t u w akakuilia
A n d peo p l e come to see you,
N i kheri kuwasikia
G i v e them a fair hearing
M s h indani huumia
The competitive will be hurt,
67.
U n e napo mkarami
My resp e c t e d son: W h e n y o u speak,
Y a t e u w e ya usemi
C hoose your words.
M a j araha ya ulimi
T h e wounds caused by a h a s t y tongue
H u p o i yakikungia
C a nnot be cured once they ha v e penetrated
(the h e a r t ) .
68
.
K h e r i neno kuteuwa
/%
It is best to choose your words,
La upanga litapowa
(Because the wound)
L a ulimi hukuzuwa
W h e r e a s the wound c a u s e d b y an evil tongue
of the sword heals,
will always sting.
J a r a h a nimekwambia
Believe what I tell yo u about this wound.
69.
W a m e p i j a Waarabu
T h e A r a b s said
Ms h abaha umesibu
A saying which came to be a true one
S o m a usiiatibu
A
Here yo u read it, and do not b lame me.
Y a s h i k e na kutumia
Ke e p it, and make go o d use of it:
26
•Jurhu al-kalami ashaddu min- jurhi al-husami".
-the w o r d is harder than the w o u n d of the s w o r d " .
"The wound of
-
435 -
70 .
Kuruani hutwambia
T h e Q u r a n tells us,
H a w e soma h i y o Aya
A n d y o u .can read this Aya:
T o o b a ukitubia
I f y o u repent b e fore Allah,
T o b a Mun g u hupokea
H e w i l l .accept yo u r repentance,
T h e poe t n o w writes what is u nderlin e d in the f o l l o w i n g Aya:
"And H e it is who accepteth repentance from His bondmen, an d
p a r d o n e t h the evil deeds, and k n oweth what y e do".
27
71.
H a ukyenenda ndiani
If y o u a r e w a l k i n g on t h e road
U k a o n a masikini
A n d y o u s e e a n eedy p e rson,
fflonacho mfukoni
sGive h i m f r o m what is in yo u r pocket,
-35pe naye ngaa
28
moya
S v e n if it is o n l y som e t h i n g s m a l l .
72.
M w e n y e kiyema y a s h i k e
K e e p t o m y advice a b o u t a n invalid;
S i m w i t e kwa ila yake
D o not call h i m by his defect,
K u m f a n y a ni babake
A s if hi s father w h o h a d m a d e it,
He n d a mukawa mamoya
L e s t y o u should b e c o m e like him.
73.
T o n g o k i g u u a k iya
I f -a -one-eyed p e r s o n or a l a m e pe r s o n comes
b o you
. 29
H a g o njo
limemwenea
W i t h s o r e s a l l over his b o d y .
;J41ango kakugongea
A n d he knocks on yo u r door,
C h o c h o t e humwat i l i a
O f f e r h i m something.
-
436
-
74.
H a rabali ukayepua
A n d do not a void h i m
Y a p o harufu kutoa
If he smells,
U s i s h i k e yako pua
Do not ho l d your nose
H a w e Mungu h u kwetea
Lest A l l a h should bring the same fate to you.
75.
■Kwa mamangu w a likiya
(Although)
M a g o n j w a y a mewenea
d i sease s to my mother,
S i k u o n a siku moya
I did not see her not even once
Pu a akiwashikia
Holding her nose.
they would come full of
76.
-Wakiya kwako nyumbani
ilukata
30
na m a s i k x m
If both a poor and a n e e d y person
Co m e to your home,
W a s i r u dAi w a awini
Do not send them away,
H a o m b w a kusaidiwa
A
Th ose are the ones to be helped.
help them.
77.
M aneno yayo kwa yayo
Do not repeat y o urself using the same words,
dnene
(because)
h u n g o z a ^ moyo
it makes the s t omach heave,
Hibali mbali huwa ndiyo
But use dif f e r e n t w ords wh i c h
H i ladha h u yasikia
are ple a s a n t to the ear.
-
437
-
78.
U s i n ene kwa ubishi
Do not be a r g umentative wh e n yo u speak,
Uta ipunguza m a s h i 32
O t h e r w i s e you will reduce
(the effect)
of
your competitions;
3;
I ngoje siku ya mashi
But wai t for the day of competitions,
Ndio siku kutumia
W h i c h is the day to use it.
79.
U shindani na uzivu
33
If you insist on o b s t i n a c y and
U si utilie nguvu
laziness,
Ut a guguna zifuvu34
Y o u will gn a w the hard inner shell of the
coconut
W e n dA o tamu
h u ilia
A
W h e r e a s your friends eat the sweet parts.
80.
. . .35
Na mtu kakujamili
If some b o d y is g e n erous to you
Kwa nguo au kwa mali
Wi t h clothes or money,
Zema zilipe kawili
»
36
Lipa na kumshashia
Pay h i m back doubly for his kindness;
P a y and ma k e him happy.
81.
A k i w a mekufadhili
If a ve r y rich person
Mtu mwenye mangi mali
is kind to you,
Hu n a la kumjamili
A n d you do not have the w h e r e w i t h a l to repay
his kindness,
Mtii ukinyenyekea
O b e y h i m with due deference.
-
438
-
82.
Na kwamba na kunongona
I swear by Al l a h that b a c k biting
Wallahi si kiungwana
a n d w hi s p e r i n g are not the n a ture of
civi l i s e d people.
Hapendi Mola R a b bana
A l m i g h t y Allah does not like that
Na w e soma hiyo Aya
A n d you can read that Aya:
"0 ye who believel Shun much suspicion,
crime.
for lo! some suspicion is a
A n d spy not, neither b a ckbite one another.
you love to eat the flesh of his dead brother?
abhor the other)I
Relenting,
Ye abhor that
A n d keep your duty (to Allah).
Merciful".
W o u l d one of
Lo!
(so
Allah is
37
83.
Mw e ndo
A mukifuatana
If y o u a c c ompany a friend
Kaya mtu wakanena
A n d a (third) p erson comes to speak with him,
Kun goja wachoka sana
Y o u may be tired of waiting,
Si njema kumkimbia
But it will not be go o d to leave him.
84.
Mtii
A baba na mama
Ob e y your father and mother
Hata
A wakikusukuma
Ev e n if they reject you.
Inyamaze yatakoma
Be quiet,
Simjibu ovu moya
Do not answer back.
and they w i l l stop
-
439
-
85.
NdAi a enda kwa adabu
A
Be quiet on the road
W a t u mwa na Wa a r a b u
Gre e t both slaves and Arabs;
Wa a m k i e na karibu
if they pass by you,
W a k i pita kuwambia
Say: Hello.
86 .
Kwa fundi sishike zombo
Do not touch a c raftsman's tools.
Na ukiazima yambo
If you borrow something,
U s i l i w e k e kitambo
D o not keep it even a short time.
Kheri kumrudishia
A
It is better to give it back
(quickly)
87.
Na kwa mtu ukingia
If you enter a p e r son's house,
W a tAa kumfunulia
Do not take the lids off
Masanduku kwangalia
Boxes to look inside,
Na zingine kuzengea
Or to look for other things.
88
.
Na kazi fanya nadhifu
By makin g your work neat,
Utakuwa ma a r u f u
Yo u will be famous.
Na ujira uraufu
A n d be m o d erate wi t h fees;
Na ukali kutotia
A
Do not deal sharply (with people).
38
-
440
-
89.
Us i iyone mwenyewe
Do not see yourself
(i.e. do not be proud of
yourself)
Kama hakuna kamawe
Ujuba naupunguwe
39
Na kiburi kuitia
A s if there were no b o d y like you.
Reduce your illusions
A n d pride within yourself.
90.
Wangi tumezowaona
Ma n y w h o m w e have seen
u-i n e n a
Kwa sakara 40 w a k
Speaking proudly;
Na mato y a mefumbana
Their eyes closed,
Mtangani wame n g i a
Th e y hav e entered the sand (i.e. are now
buried).
91.
Na ukyenenda dukani
If you go to a shop
K a pima mwenye mizani
A n d the owner weighs som e t h i n g on the scales
N d i o haki usikhini
(For you)
S i m uudhi tena tia
Do not vex h i m by saying:
justly,
A d d some more.
92.
N a ndiani si fakhara
On the road there should be no showing off
U r a i bu na sigara
(By smoking)
U k i o m b a sio sura
To beg for a smoke is not right;
Ni kheri kuiziwia
It is better to restrain yourself.
tobacco and cigarettes.
41
-
441
-
93.
U k y e nenda na warabu
If y o u walk on the road with Ar a b s
Ndiani na m a s a h i b u
and friends
U k i o n a uraibu
Wh e n y o u see tobacco,
K u omba hukuziwia
T h e y stop you from begging for it.
94.
Una na haja moyoni
If in your heart there is a need (which you
are unable to acquire),
Se n d e kuweka rahani
Do not resort to usurers'
Kwa faida
r\ madukani
^
For their profit
Uza kisia
42
potea
Instead,
shops
sell the item, o t h e r w i s e you will
lose it.
95.
Uwate
A uzivu wako
Y o u must give up laziness,
Funga sana zitu zako
A n d lock up all your things firmly,
Sanduku na nyumba yako
Including your chests and house,
Mara utaiyutia
Or you wi l l regret it.
43
96.
Na kupiga hayawani
To beat animals
Bila ndia ndio nni
Without cause is not logical?
Ilia hao aduani
A
But it is logical
Kuwaua ndio dawa
to kill the hostile ones.
-
442
-
97.
M ambo yakik u z i n g i a
If you are surrounded by problems,
N y umbani huna rupia
An d you have not a rupee in your house,
Wata hasira kungia
Do not let yourself get angry,
N a zitunu kuzitia
And do not grumble inside yourself.
98.
N a ikiwa yeo huna
If you ha v e nothing special today,
Kheri teka na kunena
It is better to smile an d chat.
U s i s ikitike b w ana
Do not be sad,
Khaberi ikaenea
Lest the news
/*•
sir,
(of your sadness)
should
spread.
99.
Na kuomba omba Mungu
If you h a v e to beg,
Aaw a n yao mafungu
Who divides the lots.
U k i o m b a walimw e n g u
If you ask people,
Wata w a t u kuwambia
Do not tell others.
100
ask A l l a h
.
Ku o n a mtu ndiani
*
Me t i a kitu kapwani
If y o u see a p e rson on his way,
44
Carrying something under his arm,
Usi u lize ni nni
Do not ask him: Wh a t is this?
Ilia yeye kukwambia
But if he tells you,
it w i l l be all right.
-
443
-
101.
A m a kuwa mfukoni
Or if he is carrying it in his pocket,
W a a m a karatasini
Or in a p iece of paper,
A u metia bindoni
Or in his loin-cloth,
Kuu lako angali a
The m a x i m u m you are p e r m i t t e d is to look at
it.
102 .
U k i u liza ni nni
If you ask: What is this?
.45
K a jibu w a t a k i a m
An d he answers:
U t akuwa hali gani
H o w will you feel
K w a ghadhabu kukungia
Because of the anger w h i c h w e l l s up inside
Wh y do y o u wa n t
(to know)?
you?
103.
Wa l o a m b i w a kwa siri
Wha t has been told to y o u in secret
U s i e leze dhahiri
Do not explain in public,
M w e nyewe humuhayiri
N a fazaa humtia
46
Be cause it causes embarra s s m e n t
A n d a l a r m for him.
104.
Kus i mama milangoni
A v o i d standing by doors
Ku s i kia walo ndani
To listen to those inside,
Uya y uwe hunenani
To know what is being said.
L e p u k e khatua mia
Keep a hun d r e d paces away.
-
444
-
105.
U k i k eti na rijala
If you take a seat wi t h people,
Mtu hasifu chakula
Do not pr a i s e your food,
Na kuitia kulala
A n d do not be drawn towards sleep
H u tAu kiwa w a t u pia
Because every one h ates that.
106.
Ukiketi
A kitandani
If you sit on a bed
Una kamasi puani
A n d you want to bl o w your nose,
S i f u tie firashani
Do not w i p e it on the bedspread,
U k u t a guu futia
But on a wall or a foot.
107.
Kwamba ukuta huoni
If you do not find a w a l l
K heri futia guuni
It is better to wipe it on a foot.
N a kohoo hadhirani
If y o u ha v e to cough up p h l e g m in the
(to wipe mucus on).
pre s e n c e of other people,
Enda nde
A kufutia
G o o u ts i d e to wipe it away.
108.
Pe n y e watu ni makuu
W h e r e peo p l e are gat h e r e d together
is
important,
Na hilo usidharau
So do not treat it w i t h c o n t e m p t
Kun y owa yako maguu
By stretc h i n g your legs
Ilia udhuru kungia
Wi t h o u t an urgent excuse.
(in front of them)
-
445
-
109.
TAe n a siwe mshu t«
*u f u
Do not be a nuisance again,
Iweke uwe latifu
A
But be a gentleman.
K w a w a t u uwe khafifu
Be brief with people;
S i keti
Do not sit and forget the time.
ukawemea
110 .
T a b a r a k a imenena
U t e s h iteshi
47
T a b a r a k a ^ ** says:
ni sana
Ch e e r f u l n e s s is good
N a h a dithi za m a a n a
An d if you tell friends mea n i n g f u l
W e n d ani ukiwambia
stories it is also good.
"Wa-kun bash a n kariman dha en-bisatin
w a - f i m a n yar t a j l k a gamila
49
raiyin".
"Be cheerful,
generous, a p e rso n of joy
and of good counsel for
wh o e v e r wan t s it".
111
.
S i m s h a u z e kijana
D o not spoil a child
Ziumbe w a k i k u t a n a
W h i l e p e o p l e are me e t i n g together.
K i p i g a kiwatu k a n a
If he hits them and insults them,
Ka b i sa
Do not encourage him.
simpe ndia
112.
Mtu k ikwambia neno
If s o me b o d y tells you something,
Sijibu upesi mno
Do not answer h i m in haste.
Ing a wa dakika tano
It is better to listen first
K h e r i kwanda kusikia
even if it is five minutes.
-
446
-
113.
L e m a ovu kunenani
for you cannot recognise if it is
H u l i t a m b u i mwendani
A
worth or worthless speaking, m y friend
Ilia mpako mwisoni
But only at the end
N d i p o h u k u f unukia
Does it become clear to you.
114.
U k i j ibu kwa upesi
If y o u answer hi m quickly,
.50
N a w e m w ando
A hulnsi
A t the beginning, w i t h o u t fully
understanding,
U t a j ibu ukaisi
51
F a i dA a takupotea
a
A
Y o u will guess the answer,
Missing the point
115.
Uk y e nda kufanya kazi
If y o u go to do work,
Ijara u s imuuzi
Do not an n o y the employer
(by asking h i m too
high wages)
Ambawo wamkirizi
If the p e r s o n you have lent something
Mp e m u h u l a akiya
appears,
give h i m respite.
116.
N y u m b a ya watu kungia
If y o u enter someone's house
C h o o ukahitajia
A n d you need to use the toilet,
Kh e r i kwako kimb i l i a
It will be better to hu r r y
Nena yakikuzidia
And to say:
It is b e c o m i n g too much for you.
-
447
-
117.
U k i w a k o ugenini
If you travel abroad
U k a m u o n a mwendani
A
A n d see a friend,
.52
Wa ishifaki
amini
Be sympathetic and sincere
Shauri n a liwe m o y a
Make your plans together.
(with him),
118.
Na mw ano kumuawlni
Do not he l p a young person
Kwa kuasi Rah a m a n i
To d i s o b e y The Bene f i c i e n t Allah,
S i i t ie shirikani
A n d do not put yourself in that sort of
company.
S a n d a m e hapana ndia
Do not follow immoral ways.
119.
M w e n d o n i mekuusia
I advise y o u about your friend
Zema u katangulia
A v o i d bringing your friend
M a tushi kum t
Ao l e a
into disgrace,
T a h a d h a r i kama haya
(something)
after you do
good for him.
.
120
Uki t eta na rafiki
If you have a dispute wi t h a friend,
Se n d e mbe e kushitaki
A
Do not go on to c o mplain about him.
Hat
rta kiwa m e kudhiki
Even if he annoys you,
M a r a h u m z u ngukia
Maybe the tables will turn.
-
448
-
121.
Na kukupa usitwaye
If someb o d y gives you something,
do not take
it,
Ilia tajiri wa kaye
Except from a p erson w h o h a s been rich for
long time,
Na w a sasa maanaye
B ecause
K h a b a r i takutolea
A A
He will talk about you.
122
if you take it fr o m a nouveau riche,
.
N a k wa mtu u k in gia
If you enter a p e rson's room,
C h u o dafutari pia
T h ere will no need to read his
Si haja kumsomea
books,
N a barua
Nor all his letters.
zote pia
or exercise books,
123.
P e n y e mtu a s o m a o
When someone is reading
N a y o yote a n dik ao
Or when someone is w r i t i n g in a place,
Sin e ne na watu h a o
Do not speak to these people,
N g S m b e na wewe mamo y a
O t h e r w i s e you will be like a boar
(lit. a
cow).
124.
Penye w a t u u k a w e k o
Na m v e
53
ukaya kwako
If you are in a p lace w h e r e there are people,
A n d you feel a belch c oming up,
U l i f u m b e kanwa lako
Shut your mo u t h
Kama n g &mbe utalia
A n d do not make a noise like an ox.
-
449
-
125.
Na nyaya
54 ,
.
k a n w a m mwako
Do not make a habit of put t i n g
S i fanye ni ada yako
Your finger-nails
U w e k e mkono wako
But keep your hands down.
U s i o n e kanwa pia
Do not feel your m o u t h either.
into your mouth,
126.
Na fundi ukimwendea
If y o u go to a cra f t s m a n
Hi l o wata
A kumwambia
Avoid telling him:
Ni f a n y i a mara moya
Do it for me straight away;
Sahali
But make it easy for him.
kumfanyia
(to order something)
127.
lie kazi siiteze
A
Do not scorn the work;
K i i fanya itukuze
Wh e n he does it, pr a i s e it.
U l e fundi kazi
R e ward that craftsman for his work;
jaze
N a o n a takufanyia
He will do it for you (to perfection).
55
128.
Na sasa tataya kula
Now, I shall mention eating.
Lah a wula lahawula
There is no escape from it.
T u s i tiri
Rabbi Mola
A
May A l l a h cover up (for us)
A i b u nyingi hungia
The m a n y bad table m a nners w h i c h ma y crop up
(during the meal)
-
450
-
129.
Na ukiketi maha l a
If you sit down in some place/
Us i i s i f u kwa kula
Do not pr a i s e yourself in your eating
(habits),
K u p o wa kata na ila
(And do not) m e n t i o n the fat meat
Zinono kuwataia
banquet)
given,
to others.
(of your
W h a t y o u ha v e been
cut it and eat it.
130.
N a ukyenda karamuni
If you go to a banquet
U k aketi
A n d sit on the tray,
siniyani
S a n g a l i e zisahani
Do not keep looking for the dishes
A m b a z o zataka kuya
W h i c h are about to come.
131.
N a karamu yand a w a o
D o not interrupt what y o u are
Zile zitu zandikwao
saying,
Me n e no uyanenao
w h i c h they are p r e p a r i n g a n d the
Si w a te ukyangalia
things w h i c h are being served.
to look at the ban q u e t
132.
Na ukiketi kulani
If y o u sit to eat,
U m o hula siniyani
A n d you are eating from the tray,
Mato an g a l i a tini
Look down,
S i z a ngalie za kuya
A n d do not look at the food wh i c h is coming.
-
451
-
133.
Na m aha l a w a m b u a p o
W h e r e y o u start c u tting off
U k a t a t u l i a papo
(Do not)
(a p iece of food)
shake your h a n d off to c lean it
there,
M l o n y ute w a l i o p o
(Otherwise)
Ik i r ahi h u w a n g i a
W i l l be disgusted.
all the ea t e r s who are there
134.
N a k ufuta ukungoni
A n d p u t t i n g your fingers into
Kwa m k o n o s a hanini
your m o u t h is even m o r e
Zanda kutia kanwani
d i s g u s t i n g than wip i n g your
H a y a h u y a s h i n d a pia
hand on the edge of the dish.
135.
N a kuteua
zinofu
A
To sele c t choice pi e c e s of meat
A m b a z o zilo n a d h i f u
W h i c h a r e good,
Hi
T o sa t i s f y your greed,
ruhu k u i d h i f u 36
Aibu hukuvutia
Wi l l bring dis g r a c e upon yo u
136.
K i n o f u k i k y a ngukia
If a sc r a p of meat falls do w n
Pa m w endo k i k a m wendea
A n d lands near
Aibu kukyandamia
It wi l l be shameful to f o l l o w it,
Ikirahi utatia
A n d you w i l l d i sgust people.
to your friend,
-
452
-
137.
Ku l a upesi upesi
If you eat quickly,
Na hilo huinukusi
Y o u will lower your reputation.
P a n y a mambo kwa kiasi
Do things in moderation,
Ma r a zitakupalia
O t h e r w i s e the food will stick in your throat.
138.
K u n a lingine nda kwanda
The r e is another thing w h i c h has priority.
Kula ukiramba zanda
If you lick your fingers w h i l e eating,
F a h amu watu hutunda
A
U n d e r s t a n d that p e o p l e w i l l be watching,
W a t a k w a m b a kisa pia
A n d then they w i l l talk about you as well.
139.
W a l i o p o w akyondoka
W h e n the p e o p l e who are a t t e n d i n g get up to
go,
Nawe siketi
inuka
Do not stay on but get up
K w a furaha na kuteka
W i t h gladness,
U k i h imidi J a lia
A n d pra i s i n g Allah.
smiling,
140.
Ilo njema karamuye
P r a i s e the p erson w h o s e b a n q u e t is go o d
Pe n y e watu w a s i f i y e
In the pre s e n c e of the gathering.
Na m b o v u inyamaliye
A n d be reticent
K h a bari kuwatolea
about a bad one.
J
-
453
-
141.
Ka r a muni
Kheri
kisa kula
toka kwa ajila
H a v i n g eaten the banquet,
57
It is best to leave quickly.
H a p a n a tena m u h u l a
The r e
Ni kheri k u itokea
It is better to get y o u r s e l f up to go.
is no need to delay;
142.
Wenyewe wakikwambia
If the h o s t s tell you:
M b o n a h a raka hutia
W h y are you in a hurry?
Uz u r i kuiketia
It is c o u r t e s y to sit down
Ha y a chuo hutwambia
Th a t
is what Th e Book
(i.e.
the Quran)
tells
us:
"0 ye who believe, Enter not the d w elling of the P r o p h e t for a meal
wi thout w a iting for the proper time,
you.
But if ye are invited,
then disperse.
enter,
unless p e r m i s s i o n be g r anted
and, w h e n your meal is ended,
Linger not for conversation.
Lo,
an noyance to the P r o p h e t , and he w o u l d be shy of
go),
that would cause
(asking) you
(to
but A l l a h is not shy of the truth".
143.
C h a k u l a akikwambia
If s o m e b o d y invites y o u to eat,
Kheri huyu kumwendea
It is best to go al o n g w i t h him.
A s i o kuarifia
(On the other hand)
if he does not invite
you,
Siwe na haja kungia
There
is no need for y o u to join him.
-
454
-
144.
Mtu aloipikia
T h e p e r s o n who cooks for himself,
Na w e w e h a kukwambia
A n d does not invite you,
Si haja kutaradhia
T h e r e is no need to rep r o a c h him:
N d i k o kuomba netea
That
is begging.
145.
Uk i o n a mtu hula
If you see a person is eating,
59
Moya k a n b u
nda mi la
A n d he invites you at once,
custom,
U s i n ene b i s i m i l l a
60
Ilia kukurai ghaya
as is the
to join him,
D o not go up to eat wi t h h i m
U n l e s s he begs you to eat.
146.
U k i o n a meudhika
If y o u see hi m an n o y e d and
H u k u k a z a kwa hakika
sorry (about your refusal)
Na yeye h u sikitika
in sisti n g
H a p o kheri kuilia
Then,
a n d really
(that you join him),
it is better to eat.
147.
Karibu akikwa m b i a
If he tells yo u to join him,
M guvu k itokutilia
But not in an emphatic way,
Ni kheri kuiziwia
It is better to restrain yourself.
K u s u biri ndio ndia
Patience
is the best virtue.
-
455
-
148.
Uki k e ti na ziumbe
If y o u sit down wi t h p eople
61
L i k a y a nzuri bembe
A n d the delicious s w e e tmeats come,
Sonde wala usira mbe
Do not taste and do not lick
Wa t u w a k i k w a n g a l i a
W h i l e p e o p l e are looking at you.
149.
K u w a na zitu kanwani
If there is something in your mouth,
M u s i n e n e fahamuni
Do not speak,
Kwanda miza zende ndani
Fi r s t l y you should s w a l l o w it so it has gone
do you unders t a n d ?
down.
Ki s a salamu p o ke a
Aft e r that you can e x c h a n g e greetings.
150.
Na kanwa kulitakasa
T o c l ean round your mo u t h
Kama upijao tasa
Maki n g a lo u d noise as
if y o u are beating a
drum
Ba b a n gu nimeku w a s a
(Is also wrong).
fumba kanwa n akwambia
To close your mouth.
I ad v i s e you, my dear son,
151.
Y a k i w a mai kunawa
W h e n the water comes for the w a s h i n g of
hands,
Mno iza ukipowa
And
if yo u are given it (first),
refuse
firmly.
W a k i k u t i l i a .kuwa
•
But if they insist,
Ni kheri kuinawia
It is better
to (accept)
w a s h your hands.
62
-
456
-
.152«
Okiwa mkuu wao
If y o u are their teacher or their
Ny a k a a u fundi wao
elder
B k a n a w a mbee yao
A n d w a s h e d your hands b e f o r e them,
N d i o ada w a t u pia
T h a t wi l l be okay,
it is a l s o a cus t o m of
people.
153.
N a chai kikidhihiri
W h e n the tea (or any other drink)
U s i n w e kwa utiriri
Do not dribble w h e n you drink,
K u v u t a kwa kujihiri
Or ma k e a loud noise
A u zumari kulia
Like a clarinet.
appears,
154.
U s i n w e kwa usaumu
63
Do not dr i n k with a g r e e d y appetite,
N a kuvuta ufahamu
U n d e r s t a n d that sucking
K u s h a b i h i b a ragumu
Ju s t like b l owing a horn,
Sauti
/%
Makes the noise spread.
ikaenea
155.
N w a a kwa kiasi chako
D r i n k acc o r d i n g to your need.
U s i t u p e ada yako
Do not d e v i a t e fr o m your g o o d usual
H a s i b u unwayo kwako
Take into account that h o w y o u drink in your
own home
Na k w a watu ni mamoya
Should be the same as in other people's
homes.
-
457
-
156.
U k y a m b i w a karamuni
If y o u are invited to a banquet,
S i w a t e kwako n y umbani
Do not leave your f a m i l y at home.
W a k a p u n g u z a wizani
R e d u c e the q u a n t i t y (of their d a i l y food).
F a n y a kama mazoea
But let t h e m cook as usual.
157.
K a r a m u kwa siku hizo
T h e s e days,
Y a p o k u w a nda matezo
*
a
the first thing you should
do at the time of an informal
La kwanda w a m b i e nduzo
b a n q u e t is to invite y o u r brothers.
Kisa m a sa h i b u pia
A n d then your friends as well.
158.
N a ukipika azizi
If y o u cook rice
Wall hauna mtuzi
w i t h o u t a sauce, m y dear son,
Jir a n i
usimuuzi
D o not emba r r a s s your n e i g h b o u r
Z ikombo kumpekea
B y sending cups to hi m / h e r
(for supplying
y o u with sauce).
159.
Wata na kupapatika
Do not fret,
M oliwa wako kumbuka
A n d remember Allah,
Mo l a hupa na kupoka
T h e O n e who gives and takes.
Subiri A t a k w e t e a
Be p a t i e n t a n d H e will gr a n t your wish.
-
458
-
160.
.64
Na u lapo na unasi
(Beware of your)
M a k o hoo na kamasi
while eat i n g ' w i t h people.
U s i i f a n y e nuisi
Do not p r e t n e d that you do not know (the
sputum and mucus
right wa y of wiping spu t u m and mucus away)
M a o v u h u shinda p i a
B ecause that is the w o r s t fall.
161.
Na akiya m a sikini
If a poor person comes to join
Hata
a kwenu karamuni
Your banquet,
S i m t i l i e wayani
65
Do not put
(the food)
on a broken piece of
crockery;
K heri sahani z e n g e a
It is better to look for a dish.
162.
N a a k itaka
sahani
A
If he wa n t s a dish
K u t u k u l i a nyu m b a n i
To take the food home in,
S i m t i l i e bindoni
Do not put the food in loin-cloth;
Ni kheri kuraridhia
It is better to satisfy him.
163.
Na l i n g i n e l e m u n i k a 56
There is something else y o u should observe
Meno wata kuya s h i k a
Do not touch your teeth
Kutotoa
By picking them and s m e lling it
ukinuka
P e n y e watu ni udhia
In front of people.
-
459
-
164.
Ku t i a chanda kanwani
To put your finger
Ukit
Aoa matavuni
A
to shift
K u z i tia ulimini
Onto the tongue,
Ukiraiza hutukia
A
And then to swallow it,
in the side of your mouth
(the remains of the food)
is disgusting.
165.
Ziliyo tavuni mwako
Re move what remains in the side
To
A a kwa ulimi wako
of your mouth with your tongue.
Na watu w a kiwa wako
If there are pe o p l e there,
Kwa siri utende haya
Do it discreetly.
166.
Na lingine likamate
The r e is another thing yo u should grasp.
S i l e hutezea pete
Y o u shou l d not pl a y wi t h your ring while you
a r e eating.
Wa l a sitawanye mate
I a m also telling you,
N a l o hilo nakwambia
to spit
not
(while you are eating).
167.
N a ukyenda hadhirani
If y o u attend a meeting
D arasa au nyumbani
A t a school or at a house,
Nya m aa mtu haneni
Y o u should be silent,
Wa t u watakutuki
a
A
A
O t h e r w i s e people will di s l i k e you.
-
460
-
168.
N a k u usia Helewa
I advise yo u Helewa,
N a wana na wayukuwa
68
Together with your chi l d r e n and
grandchildren,
Kwa baraka Mwen y e kuwa
With The A lmighty's blessing,
U t a n g a z e na dunia
To make this advice known all over the world,
169.
Baba wangu uoapo
My son, when you marry,
P a z e n g e e papo hapo
Look in that place wh e r e there is
P e n y e nasaba ilipo
A good pedigree.
Ha p o baba tegemea
Rely on that place, m y dear son.
Th e poet now writes what is underl i n e d in the f o l lowing Aya:
As for the good land,
its veget a t i o n cometh forth by p e r m ission of
its Lord; while as for that w h i c h is bad,
(from it).
thanks".
only evil cometh forth
Thus do W e recount the takens for p e o p l e who give
69
170.
Zengea mwana wa kwako
By looking for a girl wh o is descended from
your relatives,
A u w a daraja yako
Or w h o is equal in rank to you,
Lisitawi
A
Your name will flourish
ina lako
Na wenye kukwangalia
A m o n g those who look up to you.
-
461
-
171.
Mke wak o mpumbaze
Make your wife happy;
K w a u w e z a l o mweneze
G i v e her as mu c h as you can afford.
Na w e w e simteleze
Do not upset her
Nd e uk a l i m a t i a
By delay i n g when you are out.
172.
Na siku ya kukwambia
Th e day she says to you;
Niwat
Aa na w e ridhia
'Divorce me', you should comply.
Ni kheri kuitokea
A
It is better to let her go,
A m a utaiyutia
O t herwis e you will regret it.
173.
K w a upesi umuwate
Divorce her quickly,
P i n d i kisa uiyute
Even if you are going to regret it later.
N a u k i n g i w a na kete
70
Kwa m n g i n e kimbilia
If you feel frustrated,
Hur r y
(to marry)
another woman.
174.
W e t u bin tAi sikia
Listen,
M w a n a m u m e kikwambia
If your h u sband says to you;
T
Aa k u w a tAa buraia
I shall divorce you; w h e n he
A k i t i n d a nena haya
A
A
finishes speaking,
daughter of ours,
c l a i m (on him).
renounce any kind of
-
462
-
175.
T e n a nguvu utilie
Again,
J u hudi mshinde yeye
h i m (in the divorce).
Moyoni ukungizie
If he has entered your heart,
Ni kheri kuiziwia
It w o u l d be right to stop y o u rself
do your best to e n c o urage
(loving
him) •
"'i
176.
S i k i a sana binti
A
Listen carefully,
Na siketi
A usiketi
A
Neither he nor you should stay.
Ut
a dA u m u na laiti
A
A
71
U k i tAo a n dAa m a haya
m y dear girl,
If you do not follow this advice,
Y o u will regret it for ever.
177.
M o y o huba ukingia
If love enters your heart,
Ni kheri kuiziwia
It is better to stop it
Ui o n ye kula ndia
B y showing yourself the right way,
Kisa m o y o husikia
Later,
the heart will get us e d to it.
178.
N a mapendi ni hakika
Lo v e is a reality
H u p a n d a na kukushuka
W h i c h increases and de c r e a s e s in you,
N a siku ya kukereka
A n d on days when y o u wo r r y
I z i w i e kula ndia
A
Do your best to prevent yourself,
t
-
463
-
179.
Kwani mwenye kusubiri
Because a patient p erson
Sharuti hunali kheri
Will obtain all that is good.
Na ambao huyakiri
But if yo u do not accept that,
Enda utaiyutia
C a r r y on,
you will regret it.
180.
Zikazapo mno nyonda
Ukarudi
72
kama kwanda
I'f love overwhelms you
.
And you return to your first
Kwa sababu ya kupenda
B e cause of your love for her,
Enda utaiyutia
G o ahead,
(wife),
and you will regret it.
181.
Ut a n e na kwa moyoni
Y o u will say in your heart:
Kurudi natakiyani
W h y have I returned?
Ut
Aa dAu mu mayutoni
^ A
A n d you will carry on reg r e t t i n g it,
Na kutoka huna ndia
Y o u will find no escape route.
Th e poet n o w writes what is u n derlined in the following Aya:
"Spend your wealth for the cause of Allah, and be not cast by your
own hands to r u i n , and do good - lo!
Allah loveth the
73
beneficent"•
182.
U s i i w eke matandi
Do not get yourself caught
Baba a n galia pandi
Look at the moth, my dear son.
Kwenda taani hatindi
W h e n it flies into the lamp,
Hata akateketea
Until it is destroyed
lamp).
in a trap;
it does not stop
(by the heat of
the
-
464
-
183.
U k ipenda mtu wewe
If you love a person,
F ahamu siishauwe
Un d e r s t a n d you do not pra i s e yourself
Ku i s haua mwisowe
It wou l d in the end
M a o v u hukuzulia
Bring you trouble.
184.
A k w i tao usiize
Do not refuse an invitation
who
74
from someone
invites you;
Ma o v u simweleze
Do not m e ntion any n e gative aspects to her;
En e n da kapulikize
But go and listen
U t a t eua yakiya
(In this case) you can choose when
time)
(to what
is being said).
(the
comes.
185.
Mara huiza ada kheri
So metime s y o u may refuse wh a t is good,
Mara kwenda ndilo shari
A n d another time you m a y ac c e p t what is
wrong.
Ukiiza
si uzuri
So,
M fano wa hio aya
if you refuse,
it will not be good.
For this read the f o l l owing Aya;
"Warfare is ordained for you,
though it is hateful unto you, and it
may happen that ye love a thing w h i c h is bad for y o u .
-
knoweth, ye know not".
75
Allah
-
465
-
.186.
K i p e ndi akakimbia
If y o ur. l o v e d one runs away
U k y e n d a kumwandamia
And you go and follow her
A k a j i b u nitakuya
A n d she says to you:
Hayi wata kurejea
But she does not come back,
I shall come back,
do not go back
for her again.
187.
-Huisi mambo yaliyo
Y o u do not know how things are,
Ni hapendi mtu huyo
That
N a afuatao moyo
Customarily,
K a i d a huiyutia
his heart regrets it.
is,
she no longer loves you.
the pe r s o n who follows
188.
A n g a l i a hunu wimbo
H e e d this song
U l i o t u n g w a kitambo
W h ich w a s composed long ago
Nali nyaka kumi umbo
I used to listen to it at school,
Ni c huoni kisikia
when I w a s ten years old.
189.
N i n a wayo wayo
I a m uncertain
H u tAu n d^a kiwata
«s
W hether to take it or leave it (the things
which are connected wi t h love)
"Kwa tandi la moyo
Because the noose of the he a r t
Limezonikota
Has lassoed me.
M u f u a t a moyo
T h e follower of the h eart
M w i s o huiyuta
Will regret it in the end.
-
466
-
190.
Ilia kirudi kwa yeye
But if she returns
(to you)
of her own
accord,
N a moyoni
ungiziye
Ja u r i usiitiye
A n d she enters your heart,
Do not be too proud
(i.e.
do not show her
your pride)
Kwani adabu mengia
Because she has b ecome polite.
191.
H a t h u b u t u yambo tena
(In this case)
she w i l l no longer have the
courage
Ku w e ta liso maana
T o bring up useless affairs.
Na baa utamuona
(On the other hand) you wi l l see misfortune
A m b a y o hukudhania
Whi c h you d i d not expect f r o m her,
192.
Na w e ukababaika
If in co n fusion
Uk e n da ukamtaka
a
y o u go and ask her to come back,
N a yeye akaridhika
A n d she accepts,
Hayi siri nakwambia
But does not come back.
Th i s is a secret I
d i sclose to you.
193.
Na k utumiana nguvu
By using v i o lence ag a i n s t each other,
Lema litakuwa ovu
G o o d will become bad,
T a k w e t e a maumivu
A n d she will cause y o u suffering
Na mato kikutolea
(Like just)
staring at you.
-
467
-
194.
Na mahaba kupigana
To like quarrelling
Ni uovu sana sana
Is a ver y bad thing.
H a l i f idishi maana
It brings no benefits,
Si tamu kuyasikia
And it is not nice to hear
it.
195.
T a k w a d h i n i a kitwani
A
She will broadcast
{her orders)
over your
head,
Ki t w a kiwe sakarani
A n d her head will swell w i t h pride.
Kula kitu tatamani
A
She will covet everything
K i nena ninunulia
An d she will ask you:
Buy it for me.
196.
M wiso mwako utachoka
In the end, you will be tired of this matter,
U t a t aka kumwepiika
Wanting to avoid her.
U z e n gee pa kutoka
Th e n y o u will look for an outlet.
U s i p a t e kamwe ndia
But you will not find one at all.
197.
Y a m b o kungia sahali
It is easy to get involved in a conflict,
Ku tAo ka ni uthakili
But it is hard to get out.
Na makuu mashughuli
An d all you will feel is
Am b a yo yatakungia
great embarrassment.
"Dukhulu al-mari fi-al-shabakat i sahlan w a - l a k i n tafakkar fi
al-khuruji"
"It is easy for the p e r s o n to get involved in a conflict, but he
should think in the w a y of getting out".
-
468
-
.198. "
O k y e n e n d a hadhirani
If you walk about in public,
P e n y e wake dhahirini
Where there are women on the way,
M m o y a ukatamani
A nd there is one that y o u fancy,
;Z i w i a kumwangalia
P revent yourself from l o o k i n g at her.
199.
M a t o ya k o kuyavua
If you raise your eyes
W a l i y o p o wa t a y u a
T h e p e op l e who are there will know.
Y a siri utafunua
Y o u wi l l disclose the secret,
Eat
aa h u k u k usudia
Even if you do not intend to.
200
(to her),
.
N a u kyam b i w a h a r a m u
W h e n y o u are told something offensive,
:Hukyondi ni kama sumu
You should not enjoy it,
U s i f a n y e usaumu .
B e cause it is like poison.
H a r a m a r a kumwambia
Do not insist on telling h i m (the p e rson who
has offe r e d it to you)
about it every time
(you see him).
201
.
H a wend
rto usiwateke
A
Do not laugh at your friends.
M a s i k i n i simwepuke
Do not avoid the needy.
A k u s h i k a o mshike
T h e pers o n who stands by you,
H w a uwee
77
na afia
stand by h i m
In times of sickness and health.
-
469
-
202.
B k i t a k a kuifunda
If you want to learn,
M t u kazi huipenda
Y o u mu s t like the work,
M w isowe utaishinda
A n d you will succeed in the end.
U k i c h o ka hupotea
But if you get weary,
A
A
you will fail.
203.
W a a r a b u wa saada
The p rospe r o u s Ar a b s
W a m e i s i f u kwa joda
T a k e pride in their generosity,
M a n jitihada wajada
perf e c t l y in a proverb):
(they said
T h e pe r s o n who
works hard, he succeeds.
K a m b a jiwe angalia
Look,
this is like (the story of) stone and
rope.
204.
Si f u n u w e siri yako
Do not disclose your secret,
K h a s a kwa adui
A wako
p a r t icula r l y to your enemy.
N a kwa yoyote ni miko
It is tab o o to everyone,
Ilia m e z o k usafia
Except to the one who is honest to you.
205.
N a kuA
tolea makosa
If y o u point out the mi s t a k e s
U s o u l i z w a kabisa
Of a p e rs o n who does not ask you at all,
-Helewa nimekuasa
H e will be annoyed with you
A t a kukasirikia
A
I forbid you to do it Helewa.
-
470
-
206.
M us h ike was i a wangu
Ke e p to'the advice which
N imewambia w a nangu
I have told you, my children.
T a w a b arikia Mungu
A l lah wi l l bless you.
Him
78
dira s a f i n a
This advice is a c o mpass and by it you
should travel.
207.
Utuvishe, ya sitara
Mungu kandu m i dirara
O Allah:
79
cloak us c o p i o u s l y wi t h
Your pro t e c t i v e garment.
K a m a taa m k ingara
A l l a h will make you shine like
Ilahi tawajaalia
a bright lamp.
208.
Na jamii Isilamu
O Allah:
Ilahi A t u k i r i m u
we all Muslims
.80
Bi^ahi
Taha H a s himu
In honour of Taha H a s h i m
Aliyozawa
W h o was born in Mecca.
Makiya
Bless us,
81
209.
H e l e w a twaa alam
Helewa, master K ijuma h a s given you
M ekupa fundi Kijuma
a token,
Bini bwana ikirama
H e is the son of a most no b l e man;
A l - B a k a r i y asiliya
His lineage is al-Bakariy.
keep it.
(It was completed on) 9 J u mada a l - T h a n i y 1346.
82
-
471
-
Siraji - Notes
1.
See: p. 225.
2.
Sikuliwe = sichoke = do not get tired.
3.
The father
(Kijuma)
advises his son about the right behaviour
the son must adopt.
which
When his son He l e w a faces p r oblems in his
life, he should remember what his father has ad v i s e d h i m to do.
Then, he should act accordingly,
otherwise he wi l l regret and he
will say: 0 , m y father had told me.
4*
Mabuuthi = the one who is sent
5.
This implies that the p o e t ’s town, Lamu, was a ve r y poor town by
then,
6.
(i.e. by Allah).
in 1927.
It is known that H e lewa left Lamu for Zanzibar in about 1900,
see:
p. 32.
7.
People of La m u put water on their heads before cutting
8.
Mbwa = ni wa = is of.
9.
Sikilia = f i k i l i a = arrive at.
10.
Mwendo - m w e n z i w o = your friend.
11.
-Sona = to rest.
12.
Ugawadi = ukuwadi = p r o c u r i n g
13.
Kitangiliwa = (he) has
14.
Mtilizi = frequently.
15.
their hair.
(in sexual sense).
been mobbed.
Kusi = Sound made by clapping hands, but it is not used without
-piga.
K u piga kusi = to clap.
16.
2:194.
17.
2:191,
18.
Q u ran 3:26.
19.
-Waa = to b e come sick;
Uwee = sickness,
20.
Muwaze
form of Waa "to nurse him".
: the causative
-
472
-
.2 1 .
Mihayara = pains.
22.
- T u a = to pr o d u c e medicine by rubbing the substance wh i c h has been
p r e s c r i b e d b e tween
also to e n able
two stones,
adding water to ease the rubbing and
the medicine maker to form the s u b stance
into the
required item of medicine.
After the poet had advised his son to take this a dvice and to carry
it out, he a s ked him to return it to h i m to put into pr a c t i c e
himself.
23.
Uiziwiye = ujizuie = prevent yourself.
24.
Ukyawanya = ukigawanya = if you share (something).
25.
Its verb is - vua = save.
26.
I have to a cknowledge that the Ar a b i c pr o v e r b scribed by Kijuma,
the text,
is not readable, because its d i c t ation isnot fully
.correct.
However,
in
the part that could be read was enough to
indicate Kijuma's intention.
He must have meant this proverb,
w h i c h is well known in Arabic.
27.
Quran,
28.
Ngaa - Even if.
29.
Gonjo = Wound,
30.
42:25.
sore.
This wo r d M u k a t a , in the text,
reads Ashigi
"lover* but I replaced
i t b y M u k a t a , because Mukata is found so in all other versions of
t h e poem,
see: p. 226.
I n addition to
^stanza, nor in
31.
this,
the word Ashigi has no e q u i v a l e n c e in this
the stanzas befo r e and after it.
HNgoza = feel sick; hungoza moyo = y a eleza moyo = itmakes
stomach heave.
32.
Mashi = m a shindano = competitions.
33.
Uzivu *= uvivu = laziness,
■34*
Zifuvu = v i fuu = the hard inner shells of coconuts.
the
35.
36.
37.
473
-Jamili = to grant a favour,
Kaw.ili = twice,
Quran 49:12.
-
to be generous to.
double.
K i juma gave wh a t is underlined only.
38.
This shows the con c e r n of Kijuma as a cra f t s m a n for his tools.
39.
This na should be c o n n e c t e d wit h its following verb U p u nguwe
b e cause it implies an i m perativ e pr o n o u n for 3rd p e r s o n singular
and plural.
40*
Sakara = pride.
41.
It is a fact known to K i j u m a * s c o m p a t r i o t s that K i j u m a was a smoker.
42.
Kisia = kisije = not to come.
It is c o n t r a c t e d f r o m the class
concord k i , the neg a t i v e s i t an d the verb kuja "to come".
43.
There is a Swahili p r o v e r b whi c h supports this stanza:
haiumizi mkono
"Locking firmly does not h a r m the hand".
44.
Kapwa = armpit.
45.
Watakiani = unatakia nini - w h a t do yo u w a n t
It is c o n tracted f r o m unatakia n i n i .
construction is contracted,
46.
-Hayiri = to embarrass.
47.
Uteshiteshi = cheerfulness.
JK---- K-----
48.
See: p. 217.
(to know)
it for?
W h e n this par t i c u l a r
it implies b l a m e upon the questioner.
If lame is not to be implied,
49.
F u ncato
we must say: W a t a k a nini?
This A r a b i c verse, g i v e n b y Kijuma,
is t r a n s l a t e d into Swahili
verse in stanza 141 of T a b a r a k a .
50.
This verb is always us e d in a n e g a t i v e sense.
51.
Ukaisi « without thinking,
exact measurements.
52.
Ishifaki = sympathy.
53.
Mve = belch.
54.
Nyaya = nyaa = finger-nails.
w i t h o u t taking care,
w i t h o u t takine
55.
474
-
In these two stanzas (126 and 127),
the poet is gi v i n g his
experience about the best way for the employer to treat the
employee.
56.
-Dhifu = suffice,
satisfy,
add.
57.
Ajila = quickness.
58.
Qur a n 33:53.
59.
This line is a reference to the Swahili p r o v e r b which says: K aribu
Kijuma gave what is underlined only.
ni mila si kula "Come on (to eat with us)
is a c u s t o m not actually
eating".
60.
Bisimilla means = In the name of Allah,
Th e po e t used this
because eve r y Muslim is asked to name Al l a h
word
just b efore eating.
The poet considers this as an acceptance of the invitation to join
the person who is eating.
61.
Bembe = a collection of different kinds of dishes sent as a
present,
especially during the mo n t h of Ramadhan,
by a bride to her
husband to be*
62.
It is a c u s t o m that the p e r s o n should give wa y for other people in
front of h i m to wa s h their hands before him, p a r t i c u l a r l y before
and after eating.
Otherwise,
he might be c o n s i d e r e d a proud person.
63.
U s aumu = kero = utiriri = bad conduct.
64.
Unasi = people.
65.
Waya = gae = potsherd.
66.
Munika = angalia = to note,
67.
Kutotoa = kutotora =
68.
W a y u k u w a = Wajukuu =
69.
Quran 7:58.
70.
Kete = anxiety.
to observe.
to pick the teeth or the nose.
grandchildren.
71.
When the poet said:
475
-
U t a d u m u na l a i t i , he was p r o b a b l y referring to
the Swahili proverb:
U t akufa na laiti na c handa k a n w a n i .
die w i t h regrets and the finger
in your mouth".
"You will
It is said to the
person who does not f o llow the advice of his elders.
72.
Nyonda = penzi = love.
73.
Q u r a n 2:195.
74.
T h e invitation here is likely to be for p r o p o s i n g m a r r i a g e because
the poet
75.
is speaking about marriage,
Q u r a n 2:216.
What
is giv e n by Ki j u m a is underlined.
76.
This A r a b i c verse is given by Kijuma.
77.
Uwee = u g o njwa = sickness,
78.
Hini = hii - this.
79.
Midirara » in plenty,
80*
Bijahi = in honour.
81.
I.e.
82,
= 4
illness.
copiously.
the Prophet Muhammad.
December 1927.
remarriage and divorce.
-
476
i
-
APPENDIX B
Mandari
"The picnic"
*Ye ulee Kijuma m w ando wa kuifunda khabari hii ya kinanda, w a t u w a l ikuwa
hawaifundi,
y a l i k u w a ni ai b u kuu.
Ye y e aliifunda.
chake a l i k i m z i w i a ku m w a n d a m a Kijuma.
Ma m a k e a l i k i m z i w i a kipija.
Musendeni.
u k atibu tu.
huifunda.
Hawataki
lingine.
W a n g i n e huifunda
kwa K ijuma atawapoteza.
khati wakaziwiwa.
Lakini wengi w a l i p a t a khati.
h umkimbia.
twataka kwenda.
mtu.
H a p a n a wa kumshinda.
W a n g i n e huupija, wot e . . t e m b o ,
K u l l a mmo y a m u sendeni
Laki n i
Y e h u p i j a kinanda.
Lakini a l i k u w a mekufa.
N a zijana w a l e e wa n g i n e w a l i k e n d a kuifunda khati.
Kula mwe n y e kijana
Ha t t a wenye
Basi, w e n d e w a k e
H u n g o j a pa l e e m s h u k o w a Isha, hakuna
Maana haya m a d a k a u m e z o y a o n a yote y a l ikuwa na watu.
Isha, huketi wa t u kuzung u m z a yot e yote.
kwenda kwake.
W a n g i n e huifunda khati.
twarabu, w o t e w a k i p i j a tembo.
mwanga,
ngoja wataona.
Akafanya
Y e y e mwen y e w e akaziunda,
mamake.
Basi,
Basi,
Kisa kuswali
z ijana h i y a u h u k imbia
W a n g i n e ni y a u yau w a k i p i j a
akinena:
Hawa baba zao h u nambia mimi
zinanda thineni w a t h a l a t h i n i zinanda.
A l i k u w a na mapesa.
A l i k u w a handa kurithi ya
Yal e e m a d u k a ya K i n a B a i b a n d a y a l ikuwa ya mamake.
kisima kim e z o z i w a k i lee palee.
A l i p o w a yeye na nduye.
Duka la Hama d i Mk a t e pia ndake.
Mmmm.
zinanda kwa mko n o w a k e thineni wa thalathini
A k a f a n y a akaweka.
nduye m a m a k e .. si khali yake?
ami yake.
akamwambia:
A k a w a l i k a mandari.
Mimi
A l i k u w a tajiri
Basi, Y e y e kafanya
.. zinanda.
A k a n u n u a na
Maana kwa M w e n y e M a nswab ni
Na mmoya ulee B wana Nahudha,
A k a w a a m b i a tumewaalika.
.. mandari ya zijana...!!
Manswab a k a i z a , .akamwambia:
Na kilee
lie nyumba yo t e dari yali nda mamake.
(mamake) A l i k w a nduye M w e n y e Shee Hamadi.
w i s k i sanduku mbili.
na kinanda
Akamwambia:
a l ikuwa ni
O l e e Bwana
Aaah!!
Mi Sitaki mandari ya zijana.
Mwenye
Akamwambia:
Na Bwana N a h u d h a
477
.. aah,
ulee Bwana Umari
., B wana nyani
..
n a B wana N a h u d h a uko.
A k a o n a ni waz e e wengi walioko.
ulee umo,
Akaandika.
hatoona ni w a zee wengi?
Akataka.
H u s i k i a ulee umo,
Ka l a m a wa l e e ni w a w i l i
tu.
At a k a
kuonyesha si mi pweke.
Basi,
kulee kwa M o h ammadi bin A b d a l l a kuna nyumba
.. n yumba nzuri hiyau.
Wakenenda, Wa k e n e n d a walee w a t u wazima,
huona
w o t e ni zijana
.. barobaro wa nyaka khamusta a s h a r a na s i t a a s h a r a na
ishirini.
.. A k a w a a m b i a Bwana eeh!
Aah
W a z a l i a w a l i k u w a wawili tu.
mabwana.
Akawaambia:
K i j u m a Akawaambia:
Akamwambi a :
n a m n a gani?
wakapija.
Akawaambia:
ha p a n a wazalia.
W o t e wakainuka, wote
hapa twataka boi w a kutumikia hapa,
Hay a watu wote.
A l o w a e t a si yeye
Basi,
kampa boi
Ha y a t utwaiiini nyimbo,
tini ya
Zinanda thineni wa tha l a t h i n i husikizwa
H u p i j a nyimbo, maana nku s h u k i a muini.
Wakapija, wakapija,
Ki s a ulee Mwenye Manswab a k a m wambia ulee ami yake.: Wa y u a huyu
hataki mandari.
Uy a o kutuonyesha sisi huku kuwa m a m b o haya si ye pweke,
m a m b o haya ni ye na wende.
babake.
Bwana eeh!
Nataka Bwana hu y u alo t u w e t a huku.
m m o y a kamwambia; Watumikie.
m i embe kulee.
wote mabwana,
Mimi ni ma m a k e
Mekuya kutuonyesha,
umeona?
(si khali yake?)
Akamwambia:
Nimeona.
na we ni
Akamwambia:
M a a r i fa yake ha y a umeona...?
h u t u k u a wende wo t e tini ya miembe,
Basi,
hawa wa u n g w a n a baba zetu kutuona sisi
sisi si kushuka?
kufanya ulevi si haki.
Basi,
Akenda kuwaambia:
c h a k u la cha iyoni tutawetea.
Wakamwambia:
Basi,
lingi.
Sasa nyinyi n e ndani zenu muini
Basi, w a k i s a kuswali adhuhuru
Basi, wak a p i j a s a nduka mbili,
Waka p i j a hata hawana fahamu tena.
Si kazi yao walee.
w a thalathini.
sikulewa,
Wamo nao.
ni tembo
wengi wa l e e w a a n d i k a o haaah.
Lakini ni walee w a p i j a o wote, w a t u thineni
Basi kaangalia limewashika.
sababu sitopata yalee maana yangu.
kawaweka wawili wawili hiyau.
...
Maana wa p a t e kufanya s h u ghuli yao.
tumefurahi zaidi.
(Alasiri?) wa k e n d a zao muini.
kula
Yeye m w e n y e w e hunena:
Basi, w a k a s h u k a muini
Mimi
-
478
-
K a w a p anga kama beni hiyau, wawili w a w i l i kawatenga.
al i w a pa bendera.
Maana w a z a l i a wawi l i wa k u u kawapa b e n d e r a mmoya huku,
mmoya huku, w akatangulia.
W a k a s h u k a ha t a hapa hiki ki s i m a cha Baoni,
hapa chalikuwa ni baraza ya ulee Shek h e Umari,
W a k a p i j a pale:
puh puh puh.
fahamu watais i t a ?
mbee.
Angaliani
zijana za Mkomani.
zijana zenu, maana.
W a k a p i j a w a k a p i j a w a k a k e t i robo saa.
Hapa ilee dari ya pili nda M o h a m m a d i Umari,
^
^
yal i k uwa ni bao la M o hammadi Umari - zijana zao.
Ta ta ta ta ta ta.
H a w a mewaona zijana zao?
M w e n y e Shee Hamadi,
batiti yake.
Khiyari.
palee.
yake,
W a l e e w a z a l i a wakuu
ilee ni ulee,
W a k a s h u k a w a k e n d a kwa
A
A
W a k a p i t a palee, maana kuonyesha si mi pweke.
Nahudha.
Wakapita.
P a l e e kapita,
ki j a n a chake.
B w a n a Maawiya.
Aka'panda kule e kwao,
kapita,
Mtamwini
m a h a l a huketi robo saa.
kapita,
kapita,
kapita.
M a a n a hapa si kwa
kapita h a t t a k a s i k i l i a kwa
h awana akili.
W a n g i n e hanguka.
a m b a o handika khati hawakulewa, w a o h u t engeza walee.
siku ya Khamisi.
Juma,
Wakipita
Wa l e e
W a k a s h u k a kwa pwani
w a k a ya zao hata hapa kwa Moham m a d i Umari kwetu palee.
kenda zake,
A
W o t e kula m m o y a humuona
Walee,
Na ngoma na hiyau.
La k i n i wote wako
hapa k aribu na kwa Bwana
kapita hoyoo.
K w a Bereki wakapita,
Kwa lina bao
P a l e e p a l i k u w a na batiti
Mwenye Sh e e H a m a d i na Mwen y e Sh e e A b d e r e h e m a n i .
jamaa zake?
kwa Ta l o
^
W a k a p i j a ngoma palee:
Hapa m e w a k w a nyumba palee, ha p a kwa Luwali Sefu?
rt
kwao.
H a y a wa k e n d a
Hapa m e wakwa nyumba p a l e e Mohammadi
Kwa kina M w enye Shee Hamadi kulee.
palee.
A s a hawana
a l i f a n y a chenjele.
Basi,
akapanda
K u l e e Y u m b e ndio
Ka f a n y a C h e n j e l e kula kijana, ma a n a Ju m a ha k u n a kazi, h akuna
kijana cha chuoni,
p e s a nne.
upije*.
khamsini.
hakuna kijana cha kazi.
Pe s a nne wakati hono ni mali,
Basi,
Yeyote,
akampa na biskoti:
zijana wakapata labuda khamsini wote.
Ki n a n d a chake na C h e n j e l e :-
K u f a n a n a kumezie — Wapi kutekana
K u f a n a n a k u m e z i e — Wapi kutekana
kula a p i t a o humpa
"Keti
Ni t a j i r i , •wap a t a
-
479
-
A s o tenda y e y e — ni w a k e kijana
A u ni nduuye — ya tun deni sana
Sikweli?
Basi,
k u fanana t u m ezie m u t a n t e k a nni?
tenda yeye ni w a k e
kijana .. una mwan a
sana.
Basi,
lake.
Ato k a kulee kwake.
Isa.
... au zinga ni nduye,
kapita Sharifu mmo y a h a m k u l i w a Mw e n y e
Endao kulee msikitini
Hapa kwa Kai hapana.
sasa kamjibuni.
Aso
tundeni
.... n i m e m s a h a u ina
Hini n y u m b a ya H amadi
saa nne kuswali Juma.
kanena: Hoyoo mwana wa w a t u h u r e r e s h a hoko.
hoyoo,
M u m e o n a y a n a nyute.
K a w a o n a hupija,
Mwali kiwambia:
H a y a kamjibuni: W a t a n e n a nni?
Sendeni
Y a n a wameona.
Kamjibuni: Y a n a wal i k u w a w a m e l e w a wote, w a k a k i m b i a wote, w a k a k i m b i a
wote.
A s a h u faani?
S h i h abu huyu wetu.
Baba zao hawame o n a ?
Sikumuyua we Moha m m a d i ?
kanambia: Y e p w e k e ndio hakuni'kimbia:
W a t a n e n a iye.
utanena?
ndima.
Ilia kijana mmoya, A b d a l l a
W e w e humo, nduyo
"Ikawa h akuna tena amnenao?"
.. utanena?
B i n a a m u ya k o uko utanena?
B a b a k e nd i o hak u m k i m b i a
Humo,
kijana chako umo,
W a t u thineni wa t h a l a t h i n i ni Am u
Kulla m l a n g o a l itwaa kijana m m o y a mmoya.
Na w a l e e wote w a k a u p i j a
... wote, w a l e e w a n g i n e w a i w i k a n a wa l i k w e n d a kw a n d i k a tu.
kwandika ni M w e n y e A b dalla Zubairi,
w a k u pija kinanda,
wake.
Basi,
hawakulewa.
na w a n g i n e w a m e k u f a na w a ngine
hawakulewa, w a o wa l i k i t a k a khati,
zijana kama sita sabaa wamekufa.
k u i f u n d a ulee m kono
Akanam b i a :
Kama waliewa h a w a n g a l i p a t a kushika bendera,
W a k a n g a l i a mshuko w a m a gharibi tena,
kawapa zijana pe s a nne nne: Ndooni,
kupowa pesa nne nne,
ni mambo makuu.
kangia kwao.
ndoo,
...
Y e ufundie che n j e l e juuni huteza:-
ndoo,
Basi,
Haaah, w a l e e
hawakulewa.
a s ubuhi ndio
w e n d a o w api?
Kijana
W a l i k i m t u m a mt u u k ampa pesa nane.
Ki j a na apate p e s a nne, huona iye Bwana?
Ku f a nana kumezie
Walokiifur.da
Ka w a p a na biskoti,
tajiri ye.
-
480
-
Wapi kute ......
Zijana hupija kusi:Wa p i kutekana*
K u f a n ana k u m e z i e - W a p i
kutekana
Aso tenda yeye — ni wake kijana
Au zinga ni n d u y e — Yatundeni
sana
Wa t u wa mji waki s i k i a khabari ile, wak a sirika sana, wakasema:
ataharibu mji mzima na amesha kuharibu.
kabisa.
Ni lazima kutukua Khatwa mbaya
Wakenda kushitaki kwa Balozi wa kiengereza.
a n aitwa Rajisi.
Ule Rajisi akasema:
Huyu
Na ule Balozi
Hiki ni kitendo kibaya sana.
Ni
kuvunja mji, na mtu anavunja mji katika sharia - na sisi p a t a o kuja
kuwahami hatukuj a kuwatawala - ni lazima mwitoyo huyu mwanyotaka.
wa Ki amu wakasema:
Hukmu yake afungwe maisha mtu huyu?
khabari kama ile akaenda kuifita nyumbani kwake.
Watu
Kijuma akisikia
Ha k u n a anayeyua mtu
y e y o t e kuwa Kiju m a uko wapi ilia mishi wake".
T h e rest of the story is identical with the story of Ki j u m a himself
w r itten in his report to E.D. about the w a y he got in con t a c t with the
M i ssionaries Hey er and Pieper and how he took refuge in the station of
their Mission.
-
481
-
Appendix C
The account of Mzee S alim Kheri on
S ult a n H a m o u d * s visit to Lamu
^ A l i k u y a Sayyid H a mudi
kwangu.
(= S.H.)
Balozi ni Rajisi.
m a tezo yote yake
(Kijuma)
Basi,
Rajisi alinena:
Mefanya,
nimeona mimi.
katowa.
Ulee m w a n a m u m e uvee koti na suruwali
Mefanya kwa mashini mwen y e w e ulee.
M a s a n a m u w a k ipija
M w a n a m k e alimfanya
... alokipija kinanda ni mwanamke.
mz u r i kamvisha ng u o za kizungu.
Na mar w a s i pia
... sigara na moshi
Na m w a n a m k e m moya alimfanya
K a m f a n y a na nyee hana.
k im w angalia a l i k i p i j a uso h i y a u na ak a p i j a S hingo hiyau.
a k a m fanya Kengewa,
katika
N a m m o y a h upija marwasi
... walee m a s a n a m u wak e - m m o y a hupija marwasi.
mwanamke.
Basi,
A l i f a n y a m a s a n a m u kupija
Mmoya huvuta sigara na moshi katowa.
hu p i j a kinanda
H u y u Bwana mekuya
akamfanyia, matezo.
yali k u w a bora.
kinanda, na swauti kapokea.
kinanda.
hapa.
Basi, S.H.
N a mmoya
kiruka na kulia:
K e n g ewa lolo kipata nyakua,
nyakua.
A l i k i t e z a ya ulee kengewa,
alikiteza
kiteza.
A k a f a n y a na m a yezo pwani.
akafanya.
N a N i d h a m u akafanya.
Basi namna hizo.
A l i m f a n y i a m a t e z o mengi.
w a k i t e z a y a lee
S.H.
akapenda m atezo ya M. Kijuma.
A l i w a f u n d a na w a n a w a k e w a h e d r w a ishirini hapa
... wan a w a k e
.. ye y e a l i w a f u n d a ngoma zake ye y e pwekee.
Y e y e mewnyewe alizua ngoma ya Kinanda,
rukani,
kipija n a m n a kadhaa,
aliwafunda
Bwana Zena:
...
Zena:
Basi,
kadhaa
T a n g u nyumbani
kisa ulee Rajisi kamwambia
(Bwana Zena maana alifanya a s kari ya ulee na prede
na hini yake na magoma.
akamwambia Bw.
hiyau kipija n a m n a kadha,
kadha zungukani huku.
.. siku kumi moya huwafunda.
'Mimi
Na ile pumwani
A t a k a m a t e z o ya kienyeji.)
Mimi n i mekupa
Basi, Rajisi
livu kufanya matezo.
Hu m f a n y i z i a matezo S. ya askari?
matezo,
Muhindi h a kuona India,
sikuona Ulaya,
Basi,
kapata
482
-
N a e mekuya na askari?
na M w a r a b u hakuona Arabuni,
Basi wao walikiteza.
W a l e e w a z a l i a wake.
Haswa walee w a n a w a k e
Nae k a funde watu wake.
Yalee,
ni hini,
... w a l i kizunguka,
w a k i z unguka kwa ilee ngoma kufuata mlio.
zungukani kuvuli,
dharba kadhaa rukani.
ilee dua ya m a make alomwombea.
hi y a u wan a w a k e walikiruka,
ya mbali mbaali.
m a tezo
i k i pijwa D u d ududu
Mezie k u w a f u n d a huku nyumbani.
K i p i j a dharba kadha nyinyi zungukani mk o n o wa shoto,
ku f ahamu mtu?
na mimi Mzungu
na nyinyi w a t u wa A m u handa kuyaona s k w e l i ’
.. S. ali p o s a f i r i kamtukua Unguja.
yalimpendeza.
Kij u m a mefanya
d h arba kadha
Fikra ya k e nzuri,
Basi na m n a hiso.
na m a guu wakapija.
nzuri.
Basi k ipija hiyau,
Hili nafahamu.
Si khabari
Maana yake n a l i k i p a t a nyaka sabaa wakafci hono.
Si
Wa l i k u r u k a hiyau:
Wa n a hiba kisha shime pah p a h pah, wa l i k i p i j a ma g u u m a r a tatu.
wak a p ija namna nyingine.
Basi Rajisi uko palee.
U n g u ja akafa.
Ni
N i m e s a h a u ni ya ujana
S.H.
kampendeza.
Mathiwis alikufa.
Na S.
... W a kazunguka.
S, uko hapa,
Kuini kamwambia:
ulee Balozi wa
ukaliko p a p a hapa,
khabari p a lee kwa Nidhamu: H o o p Mat h i w i s mekufa Unguja.
kwenda Unguja.
Kisa
Ikaetwa
K i s a S. kasafiri
N i k w e t e e waziri gani hoko?
Maana U l e e
Mathiwis a l ikuwa waziri.
Kamwambia:
Simtaki mtu y o y o t e ila D.C. w a Lamu, Raj.isi.
A
A
Basi katukuliwa
yeye kwa sababu yalee m a t e 2o y a l i m f u r a h i s h a S. Basi, eeeheel
Baada ya S. ni yeye.
mno.
H a t t a y e y e m w e n y e w e alikinena:
Niko awali mara nimekhitimu."
^
waziri.
Mimi n i m e d u p i z a
-
APPENDIX D
-
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484
-
BIBLI O G R A P H Y
Microfilms
in S.O.A.S.
The Swahili c o llection of Rev. J. Williamson, Re e l 1:
The book of St. John.
Hadithi ya Y a a k u b u na Ibnihi Yusufu.
Hadithi ya Nabii Khidhri na Musa.
Hadithi ya Sayyidna Isa,
Khabari ya Katirifu.
Hadithi y a Ayubu.
Shairi: A n A c r o s t i c p o e m (= Wajiwaji).
Letters fr o m K i juma to J.W.
G l ossaries
M . 1008-1009:
M i c r o f i l m of Swahili and A r a b i c Mss.
library of U.C.D.
25 Reels.
M.1008, R e e l I, Ms.
M . 1008, Ree l C.l,
collection in the
118.
Mss.
53,
103,
M.1008, Re e l 2, Mss.
49 and 51.
M.1008, R e e l C2, Ms.
276.
M.1008, R e e l 4, Ms.
131,
126.
M.1008, R e e l 5, Ms. 58.
M.1008, R e e l 6 , Mss.
M. 1008, Reel 8 , Mss.
182 and 183.
247 and 264.
195,
169,
179, 204 and 244.
A Ms.
Ms. No. Or.
485
-
in the British Li b r a r y
4534.
Mss,
in S.O.A.S.
The col l e c t i o n of Rev. C.G. Richards,
pp. Ms.
general serial number at the time of writing.
1.
MS.
25303
2.
Ms.
41960
3.
Ms.
41961
4.
Ms. 47707
5.
Ms,
6.
Ms. 47754
7.
Ms.
8.
Ms. 47770
9.
Ms.
47779
10.
Ms,
47781
11.
Ms. 47795
12.
MS.
47796
13.
Ms.
47797
14.
Ms. 53489
15.
Ms. 53490
16.
Ms.
53491
17.
Ms.
53493
18.
MS. 53495
19.
Ms. 53496
47708
47755
12/12,
not gi v e n a
-
20.
Ms. 53497.
21.
MS.
22,
Ms. 53500.
23.
Ms.
24.
Ms. 53823.
25.
MS.
26.
MS. 53829.
to
.
486
Ms.
54022.
28.
Ms.
193291.
29.
Ms.
193293.
30.
Ms,
193295.
31.
Ms.
205000.
32.
Ms. 2 1 0 0 0 2 .
33.
Ms.
34.
MS. 2 1 0 0 1 1 .
35.
MS.
210013.
36.
MS.
210015.
37.
MS.
253028.
38,
MS.
253029.
39.
Ms.
255733.
40.
Ms.
256191.
41.
MS. 279888.
-
MS.
-
Ms. 279888, Vol.
-
Ms.
279888, Vol.
, Mss. 319 and 323
-
Ms.
279888, Vol.
, Ms.
-
MS.
279888, Vol.
, Mss.
-
MS.
279888, Vol.
, Ms. 351,
53498.
53503.
53824.
210010.
279888, Vol.
1.
2, Ms,
307.
330.
314 and 341
—■
42.
487
”
Ms.
279888, Vol.
Ms.
279888, Vol. 12, Mss. 485 a n d 496.
Ms.
279888, V o l . 18, Mss. 2533 and 2534.
Ms. 380066.
8 , Mss. 360, 366, 371 a n d 384.
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D a n c e and S o c i e t y in Ea s t e r n A f r i c a , London,
Heinemann.
103.
Hobert,
Shaaban,
1960.
104*
Sahlh M u s l i m , n.d.
Vol.
W a s i f u w a Siti Binti S a a d , Tanga.
3, pp.
158-9., Vol.
5, p. 692, Cairo.
105.
Salim, A.I.,
1973.
496
-
Sw a h i l i - S p e a k i n g P e oples of K e n y a ' s Coast
( 1 8 9 5 - 1 9 6 5 ) , Nairobi.
106.
Salim, A.I.,
107.
Sijelmassi,
1978.
M.
P e o p l e of Coast,
and Khatibi, A,,
Kenya's P e o p l e 3 , London.
1976.
The Spl e n d o u r of Islamic
C a l l i g r a p h y , U.K.
108.
Skene, R . , 1917.
"Arab and Swahili D ances and C e remonies", Jou r n a l
of the R o y a l A n t h r o p o l o g i c a l I n s t i t u t e , Vol. XLVII,
109.
pp. 413-434.
A S t a n d a r d E n g l i s h - S w a h i l i D i c t i o n a r y , (Founded on Madan's
E n g l i s h - S w a h i l i Dictionary),
110
. Steere,
111
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112
. Stigand,
E.,
1928.
O.U.P.
Swahili T a l e s , London.
Stigand, C a p t a i n C.H.,
changes
1973.
C a p t a i n C.H.,
1913.
T h e L a n d of Z i n j , London.
and Taylor W . , 1915.
A G r a m m a r of Dia l e c t i c
in the Kiswahili Language, wi t h an I n t r o d u c t i o n and a
R e c e n s i o n a n d Poe t i c a l T r a n s l a t i o n of the P o e m Inkishafi - A
Swahili S p e c u l u m M u n d i , M.A. Cambridge.
113.
Swahili St. John,
Society,
N e w T r a n s l a t i o n , 1914.
B r i t i s h and For e i g n Bible
London.
114.
Tafsir I b n K a t h i r , 1390/1971.
115.
Wehr, Hans,
1956.
K i t a b al-Shafab, Cairo.
Das Buch der W u n d e r b a r e n E r z a h l u n g e n Und
S e l t s a m e n G e s c h i c h t e n , (Bibliotheca Islamica 18), Mit B e n u tzung der
v o r a r b e i t e n von A. von B u l m e r i n c q H e r a u s g e b e n von Hans Wehr in
K o m m i s s i o n bei Franz Steiner V e r l a g GMBH.
306-339.
116.
(No.
Werner, A.,
117.
Werner, A.,
pp. 113-127.
12, H a d i t h al-Mi q d a d w a - a l - M a y a s a h ) *
1917.
S t u d i e s , Vol.
W iesbaden, p.p.
"Utendi wa M w a n a Kupona", H a r v a r d African
1, Cambridge,
1918.
Mass., pp.
"Swahili Poetry",
147-131.
.
B . S . Q . A . S . , Vol.
1, Part II,
118.
Werner, A.,
497
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1919.
I n t r o d u c t o r y Sketch of the B a n t u L a n g u a g e s ,
1920,
"Moslem L i t e r a t u r e in Swahili", Th e M o s l e m
London.
119.
Werner, A.,
W o r l d , Vol. X, No.
120.
Werner,
. 85-115,
121.
A.,
1921-23.
297-320,
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123.
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B . S . O . A . S . , Vol,
1926.
IV, P a r t II, pp. 247-255.
Werner, A.,
1926-27.
"Swahili Poetry", J o u r n a l of T h e Af ri c a n
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1926/27a.
101-111.
"Some Mi s s i n g Stanzas F r o m the Nor t h e r n
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125.
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S o c i e t y , Vol. XXVI, pp.
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347-416.
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T i k u u Dialect",
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1, pp. 25-29.
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1927.
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Werner, A.,
No, 3, pp.
127.
Werner, A.,
1928.
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1,
348-357.
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"H a d i t h i ya Mik i d a d i Na Mayasa:
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I, pp.
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The
Also,
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Th e A d v i c e of Mwana Kupona Upon
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131.
1974.
"The use of A r a b i c Script In
Supplement to Afr i c a n S t u d i e s , Vol. VI, No.
Younghusband,
London.
498
E.,
1908.
4, pp.
1'
G l impse s of East A f r i c a and Z a n z i b a r ,
-
499
-
Informants and other persons con s u l t e d
1.
Bwana A b d a l l a Fadhili in Matondoni,
,
2.
Bwana Ab d a l l a K h atibu in Lamu.
3.
Bwana Ab d a l l a Skanda in Lamu.
4.
Bwana A b d a l l a M. K i r o m e in Lamu.
5.
Bwana Abdu latifi O t hmani Nooh in Mamburui.
6.
Bwana A d a m Ismaili
7.
Bwana Ahma di Ab d a l l a Masuudi
8.
Bibi A m i n a Salim Kheri
9.
Bibi Asia M. A l - B a k a r i y of Lamu in London.
in Lamu.
in Mombasa.
in Lamu.
10.
Bibi Azani W a Swedi in Mombasa.
11.
Miss Bryan,
12.
Prof. Dr. Damman, E. -in Pinneberg, Hamburg.
13.
Bwana Faraji Bwana Mkuu in Lamu.
14.
Bibi Fatuma M. al - B a k a r i y of La m u in
15.
Bibi Fatuma Nyenye in Matondoni.
16.
Dr. Fuad E l-Sewaify of Egypt in London.
17.
Revd. Gissel, Fritz of G e r m a n y in Ngao, Kenya.
18.
sayyid Hasan Ahmed B a d a w y in Lamu.
19.
Dr, I b rahim Noor s h eriff of Zanzibar
in London.
20.
Dr. Knappert, J.
University.
21.
M. in S.O.A.S.,
London University.
in S.O.A.S., L o n d o n
Mzee Kuwe Abdalla,
known as Bakowe,
London.
in Matondoni.
22.
Bwana Mahmoud Mau in Lamu.
23.
Bibi Maryamu M. al - B a k a r i y of La m u in London.
24.
Sheikh Muhamadi Adnani a l-Mahdal i y in Lamu.
25.
Dr. Muhamadi S. Badamana in Lamu and London.
26.
Sheikh Muhamadi Saidi al-Beedh
in Lamu.
-
500
-
27.
Bwana Muhamadi Seif K h atibu of Zanzibar
28.
Bwana Othm ani Abu-Bakari in Lamu.
29.
Revd. Roe, Eric of E n gland in Lamu.
30.
Mzee
31.
in S.O.A.S.
S a lim Kheri in Lamu.
M u a l i m Sagqaf bin Mwen y e A l a w y of Wasini
in Mombasa.
32.
Mzee
Simaru Mabruki in Lamu.
33.
Bibi
Somoe Bena in Mombasa.
34.
Bwana Somo e Bwana Pamuni in Lamu.
35.
Revd. Williamson, J.
36.
Sheikh Y a h y a Ali Omari in Mombasa and S.O.AiS., Lo n d o n University.
37.
Bibi
in Bromley,
Zena M. a l-Bakariy of Lamu.
England.
-
501
-
List of Illustra t i o n s
Ex. K.
K i juma in Zanzibar
in 1900's, pla y i n g the
kinanda.
Ex.
S.
A carved door of Bwana Omari Faruqi in Mombasa.
Ex.
4.
A decorated and drawn letter w r i t t e n in A r a b i c
script.
Pig. A.S.
A n A r abic love song wr itten in Ar a b i c script.
Fig. A.
A title-piece,
reading;
Injili kama a l i y o e t a
Yuhana.
Fig. W.
A title-piece,
copied by J.W.
Fig.
A title-piece,
entitled:
Figs.
I.
2 & 3.
T w o title-pieces,
from Fig. A.
Hadithi ya S a y y i d n a ^ I s a
reading:
Utendi wa M k u numbi
Fig,
4,
A title-piece:
Kisa cha Yusufu.
Fig,
5.
A title-piece:
Hadithi ya Ya a k u b u
na Y u s u f u .
Fig, 6 .
A title-piece:
Hadithi ya Yafa kubu
w a Ibnihi
..
Y u s u f u.
Figs.
7 & 8.
Two title-pieces:
Uten d i wa M wana K u p o n a .
Fig.
9.
A title-piece:
Huno ni U s h u h u d a .
Fig.
10.
A title-piece:
H a dithi ya Ayubu.
Fig.
11.
A title-piece:
Utendi wa A y u b u ^Alaihi e s - S a l a a m .
Figs.
12 & 13, Two title-pieces:
Hava ni Mashairi ya W a t u wa
Amu
Fig,
14.
So m e illustrated animals,
birds,
and insects
m e n t i o n e d in the Swahili p o e m I n k i s h a f i .
Fig.- 15.
A title-piece:
Utendi w a * E s h a .
Fig.
16,
A title-piece:
Kisa cha K a d h i .
Fig.
17,
A title-piece:
Utendi wa Safari.
-
502
-
Pl a t e 1 .
An epitaph
P l a t e l.A.
An epitaph in the name of Sultan Simba of Wi t u
Plate 2 .
An epitaph in the name of Miss Lydia Pieper.
P l a t e 3.
An epitaph in the name of Mrs. Jane Heyer.
P l a t e 4.
An epitaph in the name of Bwana A hmed bin Bakr
P l a t e 5.
An epitaph in the name of Bwana Muhamadi bin
in the name of Sultan Simba of Wi t u
Khatibu.
6.
A carved house-door
Pl a t e 7.
A carved house-door
8.
A carved house-door
Pl a t e 9.
A carved house-door
Plate 1 0 .
A c arved house-door
Plate 1 1 .
A carved board.
Plate 1 2 .
A c arved board.
P late 13.
A carved board
P l a t e 14.
A signboard.
P late 15.
A signboard.
P late 16.
A signboard.
P l a t e 17.
A signboard.
P l a t e D.
A signboard
P l a t e 18.
A signboard.
P l a t e 19.
A signboard.
Plate 2 0 .
A signboard.
Plate 2 1 .
A signboard.
Plate 2 2 .
A signboard.
Pig. J.
A t i t l e -piece adopted b y
J.W.
Fig. L.
A t i t l e -piece adopted by
an artist in E.A.L.B.
Plate
Plate
f r o m Kijuma's work.
from Kijunta's work.
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y m
< T
S T O R I E S
HADITHI
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(Swahili)
A
V
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Book I
OF L O N D O N PRESS
L t d
SQUARE, L O N D O N , E.C.4.
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