Figure 13
Ustadh Mahmoud Mau and his photo album
This section features twenty selected poems. Nineteen are by Ustadh Mau himself; one, Hapo zamani za yana (âOnce upon a Timeâ), was composed by his fatherâa poet, most of whose poetry has been lostâwith the intention of guiding his son on how best to live a decent life in the typical style of the wasiya genre, an admonitory poetic genre that Ustadh Mau himself would later frequently explore. With the exception of the poem Kiswahili, the poems are published here for the first time in Swahili, with English translations.
The poems that Ustadh Mau has selected for this publication are ones that the poet himself considers important compositions, also representing the different facets of his varied poetic practice; accordingly, they have been grouped in five thematic fields: 1. jamii (âsocietyâ), critical poetry about topical events on Lamu; 2. ilimu (âeducationâ), poems that place emphasis on education; 3. huruma (âempathyâ), poetry that reflects this signature ethical quality, defending the rights of the downtrodden; 4. matukio (âeventsâ), poems with the function of a diary in which the poet reflects on his own experiences; and 5. maombi (âprayers/wishesâ) conveyed in poetry, either didactic or devotional, seeking Godâs blessings. The categorization is not meant to be rigid, but to offer the reader a rough guide to the variety of his compositions.
The edited poems are not only different in topic but also in tone. Many were composed in response to burning societal questions, which Ustadh Mau, as a respected member of society and an imam, is supposed to address, thereby also addressing the umma at large and seeking to make lasting statements. Some were also composed on the occasion of meetings or conferences, like the Za Washirazi athari (âThe Influence of the Persiansâ) or Kilio huliya mwenye (âChange Begins at Homeâ), addressing the specific audience of the conference. As elaborated further in Part 1, most poems come with some advice (in those poems referred to as wasiya, shauri, or nasaha), warning, or call to action in the first-person plural; for instance, in Mola zidisha baraka (âGod Increase Your Blessingsâ), stz. 12: tufundisheni kwa ghera âLet us work harder.â They create a sense of community by focusing on the common obstacles and weaknesses humans confront in life,1 but also by sharing knowledge on overcoming these difficulties.2 Other poems have a much more personal, self-reflexive tone, like the melancholic Mlango (âThe Doorâ), or the poems dedicated to his own children, which overflow with fatherly pride and emotion. Much of his poetry is narrative in style, whereby the narrative perspectives vary greatly: while some poems employ dialogue as a major dramatic device, like Mchezo wa kuigiza (âPlayâ) or Jilbabu (âVeilâ), other poems play with changes in narrative perspective, such as the Wasiya wa mabanati (âAdvice to Young Girlsâ), where character dialogue complements an external narrator, or Mama msimlaumu (âDonât Blame My Motherâ), in which the narrative perspective is that of the unborn child.
The poems also belong to different poetic genres, from the shorter shairi and wimbo, to the long narrative or didactic utendiâlike Haki za watoto (âChildrenâs Rightsâ), the longest poemâor even less common forms, like the long meter found in the Wasiya wa mabanati, which are part of the cultural history of the Swahili coast and have traditionally framed local discourse. How much Ustadh Mauâs own poetic and intellectual practice is shaped by local genres and discourse, as discussed in the contributions in Part 1, is also reflected, for instance, in his use of metaphors and metaphorical poetry. In Jahazi (âThe Dhowâ), he follows the typical model of dialogic riddle poetry, hiding the meaning behind a well-chosen metaphor (mafumbo) that he urges his audience to decode at the end of the poem, telling them: Suwali si la jahazi, hili katika shairi âThe theme of the poem is not the dhowâ (see Jahazi, stz. 6). Ustadh Mau learned how to compose Swahili poetry in Arabic script and the prosodic rules entirely on his own, thanks to his fatherâs poetry, the madrassa, and self-practice, and he is among the few on Lamu still using the Arabic script to compose. Some samples of his handwritten Arabic manuscripts are included here.
The poems make ample intertextual references. Some characters, lines, and expressions in Ustadh Mauâs compositions are taken from the QurʾÄn; for instance, the figure of the rich tyrant Qarun, who appears in sura 28:76â84 (referred to in Mchezo wa kuigiza) or Ḥawqala, a verse commonly recited in the case of calamity (in Amu, stz. 18). We have included cross-references to specific ÄyÄt in the majority of such cases. Unless otherwise specified, the English translations of the QurʾÄn provided here are those of Arthur John Arberry.3 The Arabic books that Ustadh Mau keeps at his home library have also been sources of inspiration for his poetry. This is the case of the Wasiya wa mabanati, inspired by Ê¿AlÄ« al-Ṭaná¹awiâs Arabic booklet Ya-bintÄ« (âOh My Daughterâ), and Mchezo wa kuigiza, inspired by a prose version of the same story that the poet read in an Arabic textbook for class six in Saudi Arabia, where the story bore the title Bayna al-ghanÄ« na al-faqÄ«r (âBetween the Rich and the Poorâ). Furthermore, his poetry is full of references to Swahili proverbs and oral traditions, like the woman Mwantau from Siu, mentioned in his fatherâs poem Hapo zamani za yana.
The language of Ustadh Mauâs poetry reflects the mosaic of Swahili cultural interaction and maritime connections. Besides terms like achari (âchutneyâ) and rupiya (ârupeeâ) which create obvious links with Indian Ocean material culture, the ocean and its maritime vocabulary permeate his verse: the port and the waves (bandari, mawimbi), the sail (tâanga), the mast (mongoti), and above allâcertainly the Lamuan maritime symbol par excellenceâthe jahazi (âdhowâ). Metaphors involving the dhow and the sea are abundant, as in the poem Jahazi âDhow.â Arabic terms are abundant, but also terms taken from the so-called northern Swahili dialects. Besides Kiamu, the poetâs own variant of Swahili, we also find terms from Kibajuni (e.g. the verb kutoma âto fishâ)âwhich the poet mostly knows from his second wife, who was born in Fazaâor Kimvita (e.g., the negative relative construction asiye instead of aso). We give Standard Swahili equivalents for many unusual dialectal forms and lexical items in the commentary.
There are some structural features that recur in many other Swahili compositions. A number of Ustadh Mauâs poems start with the Islamic eulogistic formula Bismillahi ar-raḥmÄn ar-raḥīm, addressing God. In the concluding stanzas, the poet often âsignsâ the poem by providing his name and address (as in the last stanza of Amu). In poems composed on commission for someone else, the poet concludes the poem by mentioning the name of the individual on whose behalf he composed itâin case of Mola zidisha baraka (âGod Increase Your Blessingsâ), for example, his daughter Hannanâa phenomenon that is not unusual in poetry on commission. In shorter compositions, he often uses the widespread rhetorical formula of underlining the beauty of a short text, namely that it is easier to keep in mind (see Bandari ina mawimbi, last stanza).
Each poem in this part is preceded by a short introduction, and many verses are followed by comments drafted by the editors through ongoing conversation with Ustadh Mau and occasionally also his daughter Azra.
See Mama Musimlaumu (âDonât Blame My Motherâ), stz. 3: Na nyuteni mwafahamu, kuna dhaifu wakati/ Hushindwa kuidhibiti âAs all of you know, there are times of weakness in which we fail to control ourselves.â See also Wasiya Wa Mabanati, stz. 17 Kuwa insani mwana Adamiya âBe Human, son of Adam!â
See Kilio Huliya Mwenye (âChange Begins at Homeâ), stz. 7: Ilimu si ya fulani wala haina mipaka âKnowledge does not belong just to one people, nor does it have limits.â
Arthur J. Arberry, The Quran Interpreted (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2006). First published 1984.