Encyclopedia of Islam

African languages and literature

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A tradition of oral poetry also arose in Somalia, 

through which poets discussed themes ranging 

from moral lessons to failed romance. The Somali 

“praise-singing” tradition provided an avenue 

through which women could participate, singing 

songs of praise dedicated to female saints. Other 

praise songs venerated holy men in languages 

such as Oromo and Amharic. Epic stories, praise 

songs, and poetry all combine Islamic and Afri-

can cultural themes and contain examples of the 

different elements that create a uniquely African 

Islamic style.

A larger number of works have been composed 

in the indigenous languages of African Islam dur-

ing the modern era. Many languages were first 

written down during the 19th century, often in 

the Arabic script. The 19th-century 

Jihad

 states 

of West Africa produced a considerable amount 

of literature, much of it in the Fulfide and Hausa 

tongues, and 19th-century poetry frequently 

combined religious imagery with anticolonialist 

themes, as seen in the writings of the great Somali 

poet Mahammad Abdullah Hasan (d. 1921). Some 

oral works took longer to find written expression. 

For instance, Somali epic poems were first written 

down only in the 1970s.

During the 20th century, African literature 

expanded in variety and scope, as the short 

story and the novel gained in popularity. Some 

of this literature was written in the languages 

of the colonizers (English and French) but nev-

ertheless expressed anticolonial messages. One 

popular theme highlighted the tensions in Afri-

can societies between 

secUlarism

, mysticism, and 

scripturalism. Allegorical tales contrasted expres-

sions of pure Islam (often as practiced by simple 

characters) with the hypocrisy of stern religious 

figures. Other literature expressed mystical, secu-

larist, socialist, and a variety of other perspectives 

within the African Muslim community.

See also 

alphabet

;  a

rabic

 

langUage

 

and

 

lit

-

eratUre

; e

ast

 a

Frica

; W

est

 a

Frica

.

Stephen Cory