Suukuwo, Jaamaŋoolu aniŋ Pakaawu Alimamoolu: Poems, Mosques, and Imams of Pakao

Abstract

The collection contains three small copies of Mandinka Ajami manuscripts. The first is a poem praising God that was originally written in Soninke and translated in Mandinka Ajami by the current owner in the 1960s, when he was pursuing his advanced Islamic studies. Boubacar Sakho, a Soninke colleague, assisted him in the translation of the poem from Soninke to Mandinka. The current owner decided to translate the document from Soninke partly because he was interested in the knowledge it contained (especially figh and tawḥid), and partly because he wanted to render the ideas in his native language to enable other Mandinka speakers to understand and benefit from the contents of the poem. The poem includes sections (with Arabic titles) dealing with various aspects of Islamic rituals. The second one-page document is a copy of a poem by Kang Kalifa Diaby, one of the most famous Mandinka scholars and educators of Senegambia. The poem was copied from the original by Arfang Saloum Diadhiou. The last manuscript documents the founding of the earliest mosques and the people who served there as Imams prior to the advent of French colonization. The current owner copied the document from the original in the 1970s. However, because his copy was getting old, he asked his son to make a second copy from his version, which is the one digitized in this collection.