SUFI POETRY IN SOMALI

Caaqib Cabdilaahi's poems are very popular among the Somali

Sufis and his reputation, which was first limited to his

native region of Jigjiga, has now spread to all the Somali-

speaking territories.

I have not used in this thesis all the sources which I

have studied, and I hope other researchers will be attracted

to this rich field. They may find in it an ample oppor-

tunity for translating valuable Sufi poems and for exploring

further the characteristics o£ this fine poetic tradition.

During the summer vacation of 1976 I visited Somalia

and collected some further materials which I had no time

to translate and edit for the inclusion in the present

thesis. I have deposited the tape-recordings, however,

at the Tape Library of the School of Oriental and African

Studies (Catalogue No. SOMjXIIjS-6) for use by future

researchers.

Sufi poetry in Somali is essentially an oral art.

12.

Before the spread of the portable taperecorders and the

introduction of a national orthography for Somali, the

possibilities of research were very limited. Now this field

of study offers new prospects for documentation and research.

My visit to Somalia in 1976 revealed an interesting and

highly significant fact for the study of the contemporary

Somali culture. The recent social and political changes

have not resulted in any diminution in either the preservation

of older Sufi poems or the creation of new ones. In fact

the opposite has happened: the use of Somali in religious

poetry has increased in a spectacular manner in the last

few years.

The poems used as representative texts in this thesis

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