Arabic Literature of Africa: The Writings of Western Sudanic Africa (Handbook of Oriental Studies Handbuch Der Orientalistik)

839 Pages·2007·3.1 MB·English

by  John O. Hunwick

ARABIC LITERATURE OF AFRICA
Volume IV
The Writings of
Western Sudanic Africa
HANDBOOK OF ORIENTAL STUDIES
HANDBUCH DER ORIENTALISTIK
SECTION ONE
THE NEAR AND MIDDLE EAST
EDITED BY
H. ALTENMÜLLER · B. HROUDA · B.A. LEVINE · R.S. O’FAHEY
K.R. VEENHOF · C.H.M. VERSTEEGH
VOLUME THIRTEEN
ARABIC LITERATURE OF AFRICA
GENERAL EDITORS
J.O. HUNWICK and R.S. O’FAHEY
EDITORIAL CONSULTANTS
ALBRECHT HOFHEINZ, MUHAMMAD SANI UMAR
and KNUT S. VIKØR
Volume IV
The Writings of Western Sudanic Africa
ARABIC LITERATURE OF AFRICA
VOLUME IV
THE WRITINGS OF
WESTERN SUDANIC AFRICA
COMPILED BY
JOHN O. HUNWICK
WITH THE ASSISTANCE OF
OUSMANE KANE, BERNARD SALVAING,
RÜDIGER SEESEMANN, MARK SEY andIVOR WILKS
BRILL
LEIDEN (cid:127) BOSTON
2003
This book is printed on acid-free paper.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Arabic literature of Africa / general editors J.O. Hunwick and R.S.
O’Fahey
p. cm.— (Handbuch der Orientalistik. Erste Abteilung, Der
Nahe und Mittlere Osten, ISSN 0169-9423 ; 13. Bd. = Handbook of
oriental studies. The Near and Midle East)
Includes bibliographical references (p. 331- ) and indexes.
Contents: v. 1. The writings of eastern Sudanic Africa to c. 1900
/ compiled by R.S. O’Fahey with the assistance of Muhammad Ibrahim
Abu Salim ... [et al.]
ISBN 9004094504 (cloth)
1. Manuscripta, Arabic—Africa—Cataloge. 2. Africa—
Civilisation—Manuscripts—Catalogs. 3. Africa—Civilization—
Sources—Bibliography—Cataloge. 4. Arabic literature—Africa—Bio-
bibliography. I. Hunwick, John O. II. O’Fahey, R.S. (Rex S.)
III. Series: Handbuch der Orientalistik. Erste Abteilung, Nahe und
Mittlere Osten ; 13. Bd.
Z6605.A6A73 1993
011’S.31’096—dc20 93-33250
CIP
ISSN 0169-9423
ISBN 90 04 12444 6
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printed in the netherlands
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CONTENTS
Arabic Literature of Africa: Foreword ..................................................ix
Preface ..................................................................................................xi
Introduction .........................................................................................xiv
Transliteration, Dates and Proper Names .............................................xv
Abbreviations .......................................................................................xvi
Short Titles of Works frequently referred to ......................................xvii
General Works of Reference, Journals, and Catalogues ......................xx
Writings of Western Sudanic Africa: an Overview ...............................1
1. The Middle Niger to 1800 ..............................................................8
2. The Middle Niger in the 19th-20th centuries ...............................43
3. The Saharan Fringes of Mali I:
The Kunta .....................................................................................67
4. The Saharan Fringes of Mali II:
Other Writers of Azawd ..............................................................49
5. Central Mali in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries ...........207
6. Senegambia I:
The Niassene Tijnı Tradition ....................................................272
7. Senegambia II:
Other Tijnı Writers ...................................................................308
8. Senegambia III:
Writers of the Murıd ‡arıqa .......................................................396
9. Other Writers of the Senegambian Region ................................ 463
10. Writers of Guinea .......................................................................491
11. Writers of Niger. .........................................................................530
12. Writers of the Greater Voltaic Region ........................................539
viii CONTENTS
13. Anonymous Chronicles, King-Lists and Historical Fragments
chiefly of Mali and Niger ...........................................................631
APPENDIX:
Unassigned Writers ............................................................................652
Addenda. ..............................................................................................664
SOURCES AND BIBLIOGRAPHIES
(a) Manuscript Collections and Archives ...................................667
(b) General Bibliography ............................................................673
(c) Editions and Translations ......................................................701
(d) Unpublished Reports and Papers .........................................707
INDICES ...............................................................................................709
Index of Authors .........................................................................710
Index of Titles
(1) Arabic ....................................................................................722
(2 Dagbane ..................................................................................761
(3) French. ..................................................................................761
(4) Fulfulde .................................................................................762
(5) Gbanyito ................................................................................763
(6 Hausa ......................................................................................763
(7) Kotokoli ................................................................................763
(8) Songhay ................................................................................764
(9) Wolof. ...................................................................................764
Index of First Lines of Poetry
(1) Arabic ....................................................................................765
(2) Fulfulde .................................................................................795
(3) Hausa ....................................................................................795
(4) Wolof. ...................................................................................795
General Index ..............................................................................796
ARABIC LITERATURE OF AFRICA
FOREWORD
We have pleasure in presenting to readers the fourth volume of our
projected series of six volumes whose purpose is to provide a bio-
bibliographical account of the Arabic literature of Saharan and sub-
Saharan Africa, and, in so far as is feasible in the present state of re-
search, the literatures in African languages used by Muslims. Our aim is
to provide for these regions a reference tool comparable with those of
Carl Brockelmann and Fuat Sezgin for the wider Islamic world. Indeed,
in so far as we attempt to include material in languages other than
Arabic, we go beyond the parameters of their work.
Since the publication of volumes I and II several advances have been
made in terms of research relating to the Islamic intellectual tradition of
Africa. In the first place, some new collections of manuscripts have
come to light, and some have had catalogues of their contents published
by the Al-Furqan Islamic Heritage Foundation. Secondly, we, the editors
of the series Arabic Literature of Africa (ALA), have initiated an
Institute for the Study of Islamic Thought in Africa, based at
Northwestern University (Evanston, IL, U.S.A.) , in partnership with the
University of Bergen (Norway). There is still a long way to go before
the Islamic thought traditions of Africa become fully accessible to
scholars of Islam. More volumes of ALA are planned, even beyond those
listed below. The first two volumes have been translated into Arabic,
and will be published by the Al-Furqan Islamic Heritage Foundation.
Volume I, concerned with Eastern Sudanic Africa down to c. 1900
appeared in 1994. Volume II, The Writings of Central Sudanic Africa,
covered Nigeria and some neighbouring territories from earliest times
right down to the 1990s, and was published in 1995. The remaining parts
of the six-volume series are as follows:
IIIA The Writings of the Muslim Peoples of Northeastern
Africa, 2003
IIIB. The Writings of the Muslim Peoples of Eastern Africa (in
press)