Professors Jean Boyd and Beverly Mack's Ajami Collection

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    Excerpt from: Collected works of Nana Asma’u, daughter of Usman ‘dan Fodiyo (1793-1864)
    (Michigan State University Press, 1997) Asma'u, Nana; Boyd, Jean; Mack, Beverly
    This manuscript is a collection of poems written by Nana Asma'u Bint Usman 'dan Fodiyo, a nineteenth-century Muslim scholar, who lived in the region now known as northern Nigeria and was an eyewitness to battles of the largest of the West-African jihads of the era. The preparation and conduct of the jihad provide the topics for Nana Asma'u's poetry. Her work also includes treatises on history, law, mysticism, theology, and politics, and was heavily influenced by the Arabic poetic tradition. Asma'u rallied public opinion behind a movement devoted to the revival of Islam in West Africa, and organized a public education system for women. The poems are written in Fulfulde Ajami.